WOW (Women of Wrestling), is, of course, an American all-women's Professional Wrestling promotion. It was started by David McLane, who had previously created GLOW in the 1980s, and debuted in 2000. It closed in early 2001 after their lone PPV, WOW Unleashed on February 4, 2001. It was revived in 2012, the same time SHINE spunoff from SHIMMER, and some of the associated wrestlers were brought to WOW to compete against the established roster. The original show was syndicated, and the current version aired on AXS TV before being canceled in 2020 after two seasons. The promotion went on hiatus during the COVID-19 Pandemic, but relaunched in September 2022, with episodes being uploaded to Youtube
in addition to being carried in syndication nationwide.
The current WOW Champion is Abilene Maverick, the current tag team champions are The Mother Truckers (Big Rig Betty & Holly Swag), and the current trios cupholders are Top Tier (Coach Campanelli, Gloria Glitter, and Kandi Krush).
"Tropes of Wrestling":
- The Ace
- Terri Gold was promoted as WOW's best, and for years was the only wrestler capable of beating Jungle Grrrl. Jungle Grrrl herself became this after the revival. Santana Garrett had some questioning if she could knock Grrrl off but Lana Star interfered with that, so Tessa Blanchard was the one to finally beat her.
- Caged Heat in Tag Team action until The All American Girls came in the revival.
- Afro Asskicker: Foxxy Fierce, who takes a lot of cues from Foxxy Cleopatra and has been compared to Pam Grier by commentary.
- All-American Face:
- The All-American Girls (Santana Garrett and Amber O'Neal, later Santana Garrett and Americana)
- Americana, to the point of her Finishing Move being named Lady Liberty.
- Alliterative Name:
- Patti Pep (who became Patti Pizzazz after her heel turn)
- Randi Rah Rah
- Wendi Wheels
- Stephy Slays
- Reyna Reyes
- Jessie Jones
- The Dixie Darlings
- Samantha Smart
- Penelope Pink
- Sahara Spars
- Gigi Gianni
- Robbie Rocket
- Chantilly Chella
- Foxxy Fierce
- Kandi Krush
- The Tonga Twins
- The Bully Busters
- Coach Campanelli
- Gloria Glitter
- Sasha Sparks
- Top Tier, which gains bonus points for being an alliterative name for a trio who already had alliterative names.
- Badass Bikers: Charlie Davidson, EZ Rider and Thug: Harley's Angels.
- Batter Up!: "The Heavy Metal Maniac" Riot's weapon.
- Battle Rapping: BK Rhythm freestyles on her opponents before every match.
- Bedlah Babe: Farah The Persian Princess dressed this way.
- Big Applesauce: Eye Candy's hometown is listed as "The Big Apple, New York City"
- Braids of Action: Delta Lotta Pain wore them, and Coach Campanelli currently wears them.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The Temptress' "Likes" are listed as "A nice, hot cup of tea, Revenge".
- The Bully: "The Governor's Daughter" Abilene Maverick is sometimes a face, but has a compulsive need to torment those she sees as beneath her, especially Stephy Slays. Which led directly to...
- Bully Hunter: The Bully Busters tag team of Stephy Slays and Keta Rush.
- Captain Ersatz: The Beach Patrol (Summer and Sandy), Tanja Warrior Woman, Jane Blonde, Phantom, G.I. Jane.
- Cheap Heat: The more lighthearted than many more cheesecake than most promotion earned some infamy when Tessa Blanchard blocked off a fan's oxygen supply for cheap heat. There were apologies, but not from the perpetrator herself.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: This happens often, as wrestlers tend to disappear during and between seasons with no explanation.
- A recent example is Leia Makoa, who after reportedly giving Wrecking Ball a concussion went from being heavily featured and a top contender for the world title to gradually being dropped completely from the show.
- Wrecking Ball herself would later disappear from the show with no explanation whatsoever (and production even reusing old footage to change the ending of her final match from a win to a loss).
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The main way to tell the Tonga Twins apart. Kona's bootlaces are green, while Kaoz's are red.
- Electronic Dance Music: Chantilly Chella's gimmick. She was formerly billed from "The Fields of the Coachella Music Festival."
- Even Evil Has Standards: Parodied. After the woman whose name would be revealed to be Mystery stole Terri Gold's WOW Championship belt, all the Heels were being asked if they were responsible or knew who were. "The Heavy Metal Maniac" Riot said, "I'm into vandalism, not theft."
- Everyone's Baby Sister: Leia Makoa and the Tonga Twins view Tiki Chamorro as their little sister, and all three have come to her aid against heels more than once.
- Everything is Big in Texas: Bronco Billie, Abilene Maverick (despite having moved to Las Vegas before returning in 2023), Stephy Slays
- Expy: Caged Heat were like a cross-wiring of The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) and The Dudley Boys, playing wrestling convicts who used the Dudleys' Dudley Death Drop Finishing Move, calling it Capital Punishment, and their "Whazzup" Groin Attack Diving Headbutt.
- Expy Coexistence: After Santana Garrett returned to the promotion in 2024, she teamed up with her own Expy Americana to form The (New) All-American Girls. Similarly, The (second) Disciplinarian returned and formed a Trios team alongside her spiritual successor The Classmaster, G.I. Jane, and Samantha Smart, who'd managed them both at different times.
- Fiery Redhead: Princess Aussie in the 2022 revival.
- The Giant:
- Slam Dunk was tall with little other upside.
- The Classmaster, billed at 6'2", towers over her shorter tag partners and several opponents.
- Gamer Chick: Glitch the Gamer.
- Garbage Wrestler: Riot brought the original Razor into WOW after seeing just how much Razor was willing to bleed, deciding WOW needed more like her.
- Genius Bruiser: Samantha Smart's gimmick, crossed with Academic Alpha Bitch, though heavier on the 'genius' than on the 'bruiser' as she doesn't like to compete in the ring too often.
- Girls Behind Bars: Caged Heat, Loca and Delta Lotta Pain. They wore orange jumpsuits.
- Gold-Colored Superiority: Heel trio Top Tier, who use white and gold as their color scheme and who Coach Campanelli has referred to as the "A-team".
- Gold Digger: Miami Sweet Heat, as the vignette where they introduced Lana Star to Vickie Lynn McCoy outright stated that they met McCoy after Lindsey "fell in love with the money" of one of McCoy's rich relatives.
- Green-Eyed Monster: When second generation wrestler and internationally scouted Santana Garrett came to GLOW, Lana Star feared she would be a dangerous rival and came up with several complicated plans to destroy Garrett. If Star had just left things alone it's likely Garrett would have remained in the Tag Team division, paying the singles belt and Star little mind.
- Hard Truckin': Big Rig Betty, whose first appearance involves her bringing Lana Star and the Fabulous 4 to the arena in her truck after their car broke down.
- Hollywood Voodoo: Siren The Voodoo Doll
- Ice Queen/Emotionless Girl: The original Ice Cold's Backstory was that her parents had abandoned her, forcing her to develop her cold attitude. The 2022 Ice Cold's Backstory, detailed here, invokes the Trauma Conga Line as the reason for her coldness.
- Inconsistent Spelling:
- Is it Miami Sweet Heat, Miami's Sweet Heat, or just Sweet Heat? They are billed on the roster page as Miami Sweet Heat, but the show uses all three at different points.
- Similarly, the Mother Truckers have been both billed as that and as just the Truckers on the show.
- Nikki Krampus, Krumpus, or Krumpas? Officially billed as the first, but all three pronunciations were used at least once during her time on the show.
- Another point of inconsistent pronunciation was Leia Makoa, whose first name was officially pronounced lay-ee-uh but commentary often pronounced as lay-uh.
- Jekyll & Hyde: Jacklyn Hyde, of course.
- Jobber: The Asian Invasion, Lotus and Jade, big time.
- Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Mentioned by the Narrator in Caged Heat's entrance video.
- Kayfabe: And how! The absence of logic in the fact that Caged Heat were supposedly driven to the arena from prison, and then driven back after the match, wasn't even Handwaved away.
- The Klutz: Wendi Wheels prematurely ended Phantom's career by breaking Phantom's jaw with her Blowout Finishing Move.
- The Krampus: Nikki Krampus
- Lady In A Powersuit:
- Sophia Lopez to start out with, to match her lawyer gimmick, though she would get glammed up later.
- Samantha Smart switched from a schoolgirl-type outfit to a white pantsuit in the 2023-24 season.
- Land Down Under: Princess Aussie
- Large Ham: Even by ring announcer standards, Lauren Hunkele stands out with her extremely loud voice, flashy outfits (outlandish dresses, often in fluorescent colors, up until 2023, when she switched to a signature sequined gown), and her habit of raising the mic "Statue of Liberty torch" style after making the "scheduled for one fall" announcement to catch the crowd's responding shout of "ONE FALL!".
- Leotard of Power: Less prevalent than in WOW's 80's predecessor, but they still show up from time to time.
- Ice Cold had one the early episodes of the 2022 revival, though it was eventually swapped out for pants.
- Eighties-themed jazzerciser Gloria Glitter would later sport the look, appropriately enough, even keeping it while dropping the Eighties color scheme as part of Top Tier.
- Adriana Gambino and Goldie Collins wear them, though they're not particularly tied to their respective gimmicks.
- Love Makes You Evil: Paradise returned a lot meaner in 2013, in an effort to make her son proud.
- Mafia Princess: Adriana Gambino, complete with fur, jewels, and an insistence that her family is in "waste management".
- Metalhead:
- The Psycho/Heavy Metal Sistersnote , complete with headbanging.
- Rebel Haze, even before she was adopted into the 2024 incarnation of the aforementioned Heavy Metal Sisters.
- Modesty Towel: Poison's last appearance was her wearing one after taking a shower.
- Odd Friendship: Catwoman Expy Katarina Jynx and dog trainer Goldie Collins, who teamed together to challenge the Mother Truckers for the tag titles. Averts Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines, as they are both heels.
- One-Steve Limit: Utterly averted. There have been multiple Razors, Ice Colds, Disciplinarians, Randi Rah Rahs, and more. None of this is ever acknowledged on screen one way or the other (Are they Legacy Characters? The SAME characters, now
Darrin'd?), even though roster mainstays like Lana Star have met multiple incarnations of the "same" characters. - Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Jane Blonde's British accent could come and go during her promos.
- Parent-Child Team: As David McLane is seemingly fond of pointing out on commentary, Big Rig Betty and Holly Swag are the first mother-daughter team in WOW.
- Parts Unknown:
- Beckie The Farmer's Daughter, from "Hog Hollow, NE"
- Caged Heat, from "The Nevada State Correctional Facility"
- Poison, from "The Toxic Unknown"
- The original Ice Cold, from "The Deep Freeze". The 2022 Ice Cold averts this, as she's billed from Maine.
- Jacklyn Hyde, from "The Sanitarium"
- The Classmaster and both incarnations of The Disciplinarian, from "The Board of Education"
- The Beast's hometown is just listed as "Unknown", with "The Darkest Depths of Your Mind" also used.
- Holidead, from "The Other Side of Darkness"
- Wrecking Ball, from "The Wasteland".
- Pink Means Feminine:
- Lana Star, to the point where it's very rare to see her not wearing anything pink.
- Penelope Pink, Lana's 2022 protege. Not only is it her last name, she rocks a pink feather boa.
- Lana's 2022 faction, the Fabulous 4, including the aforementioned Penelope Pink, all wear black and pink. Miami Sweet Heat even dropped their original orange/teal color scheme to fit.
- Pom-Pom Girl: Team Spirit, who were the good version. Patti became an evil version due to Lana Star's corruption, but Star couldn't make her evil enough and dropped her. She was peppy and enthusiastic throughout.
- The 2022 and beyond versions of Team Spirit continue to be the good version, even causing the initially heel Coach Campanelli to turn face until early 2024.
- Punny Names:
- Harley's Angels, which included Charlie Davidson and EZ Rider.
- Delta Lotta Pain, of Caged Heat.
- Jacklyn Hyde, who would be accompanied by "Dr. Sara Bellum".
- Ariel Sky, the high flying gymnast.
- Sandy Shores and Crystal Waters.
- Pep Riley, wrestling cheerleader.
- Put on a Bus:
- The 2023 season noticeably bussed out Randi Rah Rah (with Coach Campanelli and Ariel Sky soon holding tryouts for a new member of Team Spirit and Kelsey Hornack taking part in a WWE tryout), the Disciplinarian (replaced on her team with the similarly-themed Classmaster, though would later return for the trios tournament), two thirds of the Heavy Metal Sisters (explained as Fury wanting to go solo and Razor returning to retirement), Siren the Voodoo Doll (mentioned as "taking a break" from WOW by commentary, later returned in 2024), Foxxy Fierce (explained as having been injured by Chainsaw, later returned in 2024), AJ Mendez, and commentator Stephen Dickey (mentioned as being "on assignment", with Nigel Zane replacing him).
- Malia Hosaka was bussed out during the 2022 season, with Genesis taking over as leader of Exile.
- Possibly why the Mother Truckers were sent back to jail by Sophia Lopez, as the episode it took place on aired around the same time Holly Swag was scheduled to take part in a WWE tryout. However, her tryout fell through and they returned to WOW not too long after.
- Race Lift:
- Type 3 (Changing The Majority). The Disciplinarian was played during the original run by the Caucasian Kristen Davidson. For the 2018 Revival onward, she was played by the African-American Robyn Reid.
- Type 2 (Changing The Minority). Randi Rah Rah was played during the original run by an African-American womannote . For the 2022 revival, she was played by the Caucasian Kelsey Hornack.
- Remember the New Guy?: Angelica Dante, Chainsaw's formerly missing little sister who was never mentioned in any way prior to making her debut despite David McLane saying she was "making her return" to WOW.
- Revenge: Renege on any deal made with Sophia Lopez, and she'll very likely have this coming for you.
- Sent the Mother Truckers back to jail after they refused to lay down for Las Bandidas, which was the deal they made with her to get them out of jail in the first place.
- Was the one who tipped the Beast off that Lana Star and Vickie Lynn McCoy were responsible for the attack on her, complete with additional security camera footage, all because Lana reneged on their deal to give Tormenta a one-on-one title shot against Penelope Pink and subsequently blew her off backstage. As she later sent Tormenta after the Beast, it's presumed that she didn't get whatever she asked for in return.
- Rich Bitch:
- "The Governor's Daughter" Abilene Maverick's profile listed her Dislikes as "People without means, People who disrespect the upper class".
- Lana Star, with her various proteges becoming one by proxy if they weren't already one.
- "The Governor's Daughter" Abilene Maverick's profile
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Beast embarked on one against the Fabulous 4 and Vickie Lynn McCoy in particular after Sophia Lopez tipped her off that Lana Star had orchestrated the attack on her.
- Sassy Black Woman: "The Total Athlete" Roxy Powers.
- Scunthorpe Problem: During the promotion's original run, there was a message board on the website where fans could interact with the wrestlers. Along with censoring actual profanities, it wouldn't allow the word title because it contains tit. Fortunately, this being a wrestling board, the fans could simply substitute belts or championships or gold.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Jungle Grrrl adapted to post industrial society very quickly and tended to look ready for nightclub dancing off ring. She quickly reverted to her "savage" ways when it was time to work.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Lana Star, who would proclaim WOW to be "The Lana Star Show."
- Spelling Song: Patti Pep's theme, due to her being a cheerleader:"P-A-T-T-I, P-A-T-T-I, PATTI PEP, PATTI PEP"
- Spicy Latina: "The Latina Super Woman" Caliente and "The Greatest Attorney in the World" Sophia Lopez. Loca to a lesser extent and Jungle Grrrl to a lesser one still.
- Spiritual Antithesis: GLOW was a camp, cheesecake, episodic sitcom that happened to be about pro wrestling. WOW is a cheesecake sports league that while still camp compared to most pro wrestling is nonetheless much more focused on build ups and matches.
- Strong Women Can Hunt: Jungle Grrrl talked more than a little about hunting. Jessie Jones is billed from Bardstown, KY and her "Dislike" is "People who can't hunt."
- Superhero: The website calls the roster these.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- Americana, to Santana Garrett. Very similar look, ring gear, and moveset. Even her name can be taken as a reference to the All American Girls, which Santana was a member of and which Americana herself would later become a member of alongside Santana.
- The Classmaster, to the Disciplinarian. Similarly-themed gimmick, even replaced her in her team with GI Jane and Samantha Smart. Like Santana above, she would later team with the Disciplinarian for the trios tournament.
- Pep Riley, to Randi Rah Rah. Both blonde cheerleaders, both have punny names referencing cheerleading, former replaced the latter in Team Spirit.
- Throat-Slitting Gesture: Loca does it in Caged Heat's entrance video.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Usually averted with WOW's 'next week' videos, though from time to time they've been known to spoil the results of matches already in progress.
- Coach Campanelli and Randi Rah Rah's tag title win was spoiled by the 'next week' video for that episode explicitly mentioning Miami Sweet Heat as the former champions.
- The return of Abilene Maverick was spoiled before she even entered the five-way title match as the wild card entrant by the 'next week' video for that episode advertising her versus the Beast. It even spoiled the ending by featuring her with the belt!
- Traumatic Haircut: The original Ice Cold, who lost her hair to Alpha Bitch Lana Star and her Dragon Patti Pizzazz after Poison abandoned her, at WOW Unleashed. The stipulation was Lana's retaliation against Poison and Ice Cold for pouring dye into her shampoo which turned her hair green.
- Troperiffic: Its many gimmicks make it this. Seriously, just count them.
- Unnecessary Roughness: Slam Dunk's Backstory was that she had been thrown out of the WNBA for this.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: From Eye Candy's profile:"Keeps healing crystals in her bra when she wrestles. Seriously."
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Ariel Sky towards Coach Campanelli, after Campanelli bailed on Team Spirit for Top Tier. Eventually, this led to Sky facing Campanelli in a match where, if Sky had won, she would've been allowed into Top Tier. As she lost, she instead became Top Tier's water girl.
- Wild Samoan:
- Averted by Paradise. She was billed from Tonga, but didn't display any of the qualities usually associated with this trope.
- The Tonga Twins play the Wrestling Monster aspect straight.
- Averted by Tiki Chamorro, who is billed from Guam yet doesn't display any of the usual qualities of the trope.
- Leia Makoa makes use of the moveset associated with the trope, but is otherwise a normal Samoan.
- World of Action Girls: It's a women's wrestling promotion, what else would you expect?
- Wrestling Doesn't Pay:
- Hammerin' Heather Steele, wrestling carpenter
- Wendi Wheels, wrestling car mechanic
- The Beach Patrol, wrestling lifeguards
- The Disciplinarian, wrestling teacher
- Bronco Billie, wrestling cowgirl
- The original Team Spirit (Patti Pep and the original Randi Rah Rah), wrestling cheerleaders
- The 2022 Team Spirit (Randi Rah Rah and Ariel Sky), still a wrestling cheerleader and a wrestling gymnast, respectively.
- The 2023 Team Spirit (Pep Riley and Ariel Sky), once again a wrestling cheerleader and a wrestling gymnast, respectively.
- The 2024 Team Spirit (Pep Riley, Sasha Sparks, and Ariel Sky), two wrestling cheerleaders and a wrestling gymnast, respectively.
- Sophia Lopez, wrestling lawyer
- Slam Dunk, wrestling Basketball player
- Coach Campanelli, wrestling coach
- The Mother Truckers (Big Rig Betty and Holly Swag), wrestling truckers/tow truck drivers
- Gloria Glitter, wrestling aerobics instructor
- Goldie Collins, wrestling dog trainer
- Wrestling Family:
- Santana Garrett and Tessa Blanchard are the daughters of wrestling dads.
- Big Rig Betty and Holly Swag are mother and daughter, respectively.
- The X of Y: Obviously.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Jungle Grrrl
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- A recurring theme with Lana Star, who ditches her proteges once she can't get any more usefulness out of them. The Beverly Hills Babe/Amber O'Neal and Faith the Lioness have both been on the receiving end of this from her.
- Having already caused friction with her by adding Sasha Sparks to the team without her input, Coach Campanelli used Team Spirit to get to the trios tournament final before ditching them, forming Top Tier with Gloria Glitter and Kandi Krush.
