Longstanding WWE fans know better than to look back at 2018. It was the year the crowds booed Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, and DX returned from retirement to battle a 52-year-old Undertaker and the newly-elected mayor of Knox County. But last weekend I made an exception to rewatch the original Evolution premium live event (PLE).

Seven years later, it remains the only all-women’s wrestling event in WWE history. That will change this Sunday, when Evolution gets its second outing in Atlanta.

Advertisement

Given that Evolution 2025 will feature Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley in their first PLE singles match in half a decade, maybe I should refrain from looking a gift horse in the mouth. But even a solid card with five titles on the line can’t distract from the obvious question: Do we really need an all-women PLE in 2025?

Steady the cavalry — there will be no diatribes against women’s wrestling here. Quite the opposite. If anything, the sheer quality of today’s product makes me wonder whether or not putting female talents on a separate event does them a disservice. Isn’t the whole point that they’re just as worthy of a spot on a typical PLE as their male counterparts?

Likewise, the original Evolution may have shown that it was possible to fill an entire card with female talent. But these days that’s practically taken for granted in WWE. Up until a few weeks ago (when Roxanne Perez, Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer were all promoted to the main roster), you could have done it using NXT talents alone.

In truth, having an all-women event wasn’t an obvious decision the first time around either. While WWE tends to present Evolution as a big turning point for women’s wrestling, the chronology suggests otherwise.

Advertisement

By the time it happened in fall 2018, the now tainted “Divas” championship had been retired for two years, around the same time that Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks brought the house down at WrestleMania 31 to crown the first WWE Women’s Champion. Elsewhere, Ronda Rousey had made the switch to pro wrestling by putting Triple H in an armbar at WrestleMania 33, and Nia Jax was in full “Irresistible Force” mode, dominating “WWE Raw.”

Maybe there was a more cynical motivation to holding that inaugural event, given that it came a few months after WWE hosted its first-ever PLE in Saudi Arabia and just days before its second. Back in those days, the desert kingdom still prohibited women from competing in any wrestling events on its soil (a position criticized by WWE at the time, in fairness), making a separate all-women’s event a savvy way of getting ahead of any PR nightmare.

Funnily enough, the Saudi relationship is another example of just how much things have moved forward since 2018. These days, the women don’t just participate in those shows, they get the full star treatment. Remember Crown Jewel 2023, when Rhea Ripley made a special entrance in which Saudi men in ceremonial garb bowed to her like some warrior queen? Now that felt like a turning point.

Given everything that’s changed, then, what exactly is the rationale for Evolution 2025? I’m not so sure. At the same time, who’s going to say no to a bonus PLE featuring Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley, our first Naomi vs. Jade Cargill rematch, and a potential masterclass with Lynch, Valkyria and the latest member of their three-way feud in Bayley? Not me.

Advertisement

Perhaps that’s the best way to approach Evolution 2025: Not needed, but still welcome. Yes, the buildup has felt a little rushed (to put it mildly), the plans have suffered from the lack of Liv Morgan, and the stipulation of champions choosing their opponents has been questionable. But the overall card still looks as exciting as any of the PLEs we’ve had since WrestleMania 41. Maybe even more so.

And if Ripley and Sky can deliver the kind of barnburner we’re expecting, then perhaps it’s the male talents who should be thankful that it’s happening on a separate event. Given what those two are capable of producing in the ring together, you don’t want the pressure of having to follow it.