This is a list of women's wrestling promotions in the United States, sorted by founding date, and lists both active and defunct women's promotions from the 1980s through the present.
Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, also known as GLOW or G.L.O.W., was founded by David McLane and began in 1986 (the pilot was filmed in December 1985) and continued in various forms after it left television in 1990. The television series combined women's wrestling with comedic skits and raps. The promotion was revived in 2001 by Riviera Hotel & Casino.
Powerful Women of Wrestling (also known as POWW) was founded by David McLane in 1987 after he left Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. The promotion lasted until 1990. Unlike GLOW, POWW focused more on women's wrestling than comedic skits. During its existence, POWW was aligned with World Wrestling Alliance in Indianapolis and the American Wrestling Association.
| Founded | 1988 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 1988 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
Delta Tiger Lilies was an all-female wrestling company that operated in 1988 and produced direct-to-video matches.
Unlike most other organizations, the Delta Tiger Lilies did not have an official championship. Instead, they recognized the existing champions from other national promotions, including AWA World Women's Champion Madusa Miceli and NWA United States Women's Champion Misty Blue Simmes.
During one of the events, Simmes challenged Miceli to a title unification match (NWA United States Women's Title and AWA World Women's Title), but the match never happened.[1] At another event, former NWA World Women's Champion Debbie Combs challenged Simmes for the NWA United States Women's Championship, but Simmes was unable to accept due to an arm injury she had sustained.
Managers
Commissioner
Ladies Major League Wrestling (LMLW) was an all-female wrestling company founded in 1989 by Howard Brody and operated in the late 1980s through the early 1990s. Their matches, which were aired promoted under the "Wild Women of Wrestling" (WWOW) banner, were featured on the Universal Wresting Federation television series and sold on home video.[2]
Ladies Professional Wrestling Association (LPWA) was an all-female wrestling promotion founded in 1989 by Tor Berg and operated from 1989 through 1992. The LPWA produced two television series, The Super Ladies of Wrestling and Ladies Championship Wrestling from 1990-1992. Many of their matches were also distributed and sold on VHS tapes. They held their first and only pay-per-view, Super Ladies Showdown, on February 23, 1992 before closing down operations shortly after.
| Acronym | FLAIR |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Defunct | 1990 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
Fabulous Ladies in International Rings (FLAIR) was founded in 1990 shortly after the closing of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and Powerful Women of Wrestling. In addition to filming all-women's wrestling events for video distribution, the short-lived company also promoted women's matches on various men's wrestling events.
Katie Kincaid was recognized as the FLAIR Champion. She later lost the title to Dream Maker (Lori Weathers).
| Acronym | LSC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Founder(s) | David McLane |
| Owner(s) | David McLane |
Ladies Sports Club (LSC) was founded in 1990 by David McLane.[3] It was the third female wrestling promotion created by McLane, who also created Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) and Powerful Women of Wrestling (POWW). Shortly after the closing of POWW (which had a working agreement with the American Wrestling Association to co-promote matches), McLane formed LSC. The LSC roster consisted of many of the women that were then part of the AWA roster, as well as former POWW wrestlers. Most of the LSC matches were aired on the AWA television series. The company closed in 1991.
Tina Moretti was recognized as the LSC Champion and Trudy the Farmer's Daughter was recognized as the LSC Television Champion.
Professional Girl Wrestling Association (PGWA) was founded in 1992 by Randy Powell. The organization promotes matches, which typically run from 15–30 minutes in length and are more "old school" in style, throughout the United States, Mexico, and United Kingdom.
| Acronym | WPW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1992 |
| Defunct | 1993 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Founder(s) | Debbie Combs |
Women’s Pro Wrestling (WPW) was founded in 1992 by Debbie Combs. The organization operated from 1992–1993 and produced direct-to-video matches.[4]
| Acronym | DWOW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Founder(s) | Dan Kowal |
| Formerly | Gorgeous Ladies of Outrageous Wrestling (GLOOW) |
| Website | http://www.dangerouswomenofwrestling.com/ |
Dangerous Women of Wrestling (DWOW) was founded in 1999 by then-Extreme Championship Wrestling promoter Dan Kowal. The organization was originally known as Gorgeous Ladies of Outrageous Wrestling (GLOOW), but changed the name to DWOW in 2003 to avoid confusion with Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.[5] The company features a mixture of extreme wrestling along with some nudity and oil wrestling.[6][7]
Note that the Beautiful Babes of Wrestling (BBOW) promotion is separate from DWOW/GLOOW. Although they used a similar roster, BBOW was composed mainly of women from Maryland Championship Wrestling and women from DWOW/GLOOW.[8] DWOW/GLOOW is also separate from Women's Extreme Wrestling, which was founded in 2002 by Dave Milan, Dan Kowal, Steve Karel and Greg Bagarozy and used a similar talent roster. Whereas WEW ran pay-per-view events, DWOW focused on television and served as a developmental territory for WEW.[5]
DWOW aired a television series in the local Pennsylvania and Northeastern Atlantic markets until the company want on an intermittent hiatus in 2004. They announced a new television deal in 2010. The Dangerous Women of Wrestling Underground television series debuted on August 28, 2010, on The Fight Network.
The roster of wrestlers includes female wrestlers, male wrestlers, and midget wrestlers.
Announcers
Producer
Referees
Women of Wrestling (WOW) was a professional wrestling promotion founded in 2000 by David McLane. WOW produced a syndicated television series that ran from 2000-2001. They held their first and only pay-per-view, WOW Unleashed, on February 4, 2001 before closing down operations shortly after.
Women's Extreme Wrestling (WEW), also known as Women's Erotic Wrestling, was founded in 2002 by Dave Milan, Dan Kowal, Steve Karel and Greg Bagarozy. Their storylines usually are filled with erotic and sexual themes. Due to the shows having adult sexual content, audience members that attend live shows must be age 21 years of age or older. Although the promotion continues to offer previously taped matches on DVD and digital download, they have not promoted a live event since 2008.
| Founded | 2002 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Founder(s) | Johnny Cafarella |
| Website | http://crushwas73594.yuku.com/directory |
CRUSH was founded in 2002 by former Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling host Johnny Cafarella. Cafarella developed an idea for a new television series that was loosely based on the original concept for GLOW and later used for Women of Wrestling (WOW). Along with Steve Blance, Jimmy Hart, and the Flying Farley Brothers (brothers of late comedian Chris Farley), he filmed matches for the pilot episode of a proposed all-women's wrestling/sketch comedy television series called CRUSH in February 2003.
Although Hart stated in radio interviews that the series would debut on the Comedy Central network in fall 2003 and that Tom Arnold would be involved in the series, the pilot was not sold to any networks or distributors.[9] In 2008, Cafarella and Hart partnered with Jonathan Vargas, who won a Powerball jackpot of $35.3 million the same year. Reusing many of the characters (although portrayed by different wrestlers and models/actresses) from CRUSH, they filmed matches for the pilot of Wrestlicious during the summer.
The roster also included former WOW wrestler Patti Pizzazz/Patti Pep as "Cousin Haley", Allied Powers Wrestling Federation's NYX as "Griselda", World League Wrestling's Miss Natural as "Kickstart Katie", All-Star Championship Wrestling's Kendra as "Leena from Fargo", independent wrestler Luxurious Lynne as "Shyly O'Reilly", independent wrestler Celeste as "Smiley O'Reilly", former WOW wrestler Slam Dunk as "South Side Slick", and Minnesota Independent Wrestling's Candy as "Tyranny".[10][11][12]
X-Terminator won the CRUSH Championship Crown at the initial and only television taping.
| Wrestler: | Times: | Date: | Location: | Notes: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| X-Terminator (Erica Porter) | 1 | February 3, 2003 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Defeated Felony to become the initial champion[13] |
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The Naked Women's Wrestling League (NWWL) was founded in 2004 by Howard Mann. The organization promotes pay-per-views featuring female wrestlers wrestling in both clothed and nude matches.
| Founded | July 2, 2004 |
|---|---|
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters | Florida |
| Founder(s) | Lexie Fyfe |
| Website | http://www.slamminladies.com/index.html |
Slammin Ladies was founded on July 2, 2004 by Lexie Fyfe and films custom matches that customers may design the match type (including frequent intergender matches) and book the talent.
ChickFight was founded in 2004 by Jason Deadrich. The promotion originally began as an eight-woman tournament that was held from 2004-2008. Since 2008, ChickFight has promoted several matches on cards for other wrestling promotions, particularly the California-based Pro Wrestling Revolution. In 2010, ChickFight announced a partnership with the website Diva-Dirt.com to co-promote matches in 2011.
| Acronym | HLOW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
Hottest Ladies of Wrestling (HLOW) was founded in 2005 and filmed direct-to-DVD matches. The promotion utilized women wrestlers formerly from World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, and the independent circuit.
Christie Ricci was crowned the first HLOW Champion after winning a battle royal that included Amy Lee, Bobcat (with Gorgeous George), Casey, Claudia, Jazz, Lollipop, ODB (with Francine), Passion, and Venus. Ricci continued to defend the title outside of HLOW after the organization closed in 2005.
Managers
Referee
Shimmer Women Athletes (stylized as SHIMMER Women Athletes and often referred to simply as SHIMMER) was founded in 2005 by Dave Prazak and Allison Danger. The company films direct-to-DVD matches that are sold as single volumes initially through Ring of Honor's online store before being nationally distributed through retail outlets.
World Women's Wrestling (WWW or Triple W) was founded in 2006 by Sheldon Goldberg. Their matches were promoted on numerous New England Championship Wrestling cards until the closure of WWW and NECW on November 6, 2010.
Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) was founded in 2007 and works closely with National Wrestling Superstars. WSU films direct-to-DVD matches, as well as internet pay-per-view events. They also launched a television series, UNCENSORED, in 2010.
| Founded | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 2007 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
Exotic Ladies of Wrestling was founded in 2007 and filmed direct-to-DVD matches.
Managers
| Founded | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters | Memphis |
| Founder(s) | Thomas Darnell |
| Formerly | Memphis Ladies Wrestling |
| Website | http://www.mlwonline.com |
Magnificent Ladies Wrestling was founded in 2007 by Thomas Darnell and films custom matches that customers may design.
Wrestlicious was founded in 2009 by Jonathan Vargas, along with partners Johnny Cafarella (former Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling host and producer ) and Jimmy Hart. Similar to GLOW, Wrestlicious combines women's wrestling with comedic skits. Cafarella filmed a pilot for the CRUSH series in 2003 using many of the same characters and gimmicks that were eventually reused in Wrestlicious. The promotion airs television series Wrestlicious TakeDown in the United States and Canada.
| Acronym | WILD Wrestling |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 2010 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters | California |
| Founder(s) | Travis James Leland |
| Owner(s) | Travis James Leland |
| Website | http://officialwild.blogspot.com/ |
World Independent Ladies Division (WILD) Wrestling was founded in May 2010 by Travis James Leland and filmes direct-to-DVD matches. Matches are held on cards promoted by various independent promotions in California and Nevada.
See WILD World Championship and WILD North American Championship.
| Founded | November 2010 |
|---|---|
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
| Founder(s) | Amber O'Neal |
| Website | http://www.arenachicks.com/ |
ArenaChicks was founded in November 2010 by Amber O'Neal and films direct-to-DVD matches, as well as coordinates appearances by female wrestling personalities at wrestling conventions and reunion shows.
| Founded | March 20, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters | Jackson, New Jersey |
| Founder(s) | Allison Danger |
| Sister | Pro Wrestling Zero1 |
| Website | http://world1online.com/ |
Pro-Wrestling SUN was founded on March 20, 2011 by Allison Danger and films direct-to-DVD matches.
Pro-Wrestling SUN recognizes the World-1 Womens Championship (currently held by Sara Del Rey) as their championship, and the World-1 Womens Tag Team Championship (currently held by Sumie Sakai and Roxie Cotton) as their tag team championship.
| Founded | June 12, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters | Canton, Ohio |
| Founder(s) | Jessica Havok |
| Website | http://dropkickdivas.com/index.html |
DropKick Divas was founded on June 12, 2011 by Jessica Havok and films direct-to-DVD matches, as well as custom matches that customers may design the match type and book the talent.