WOW, a New Women’s Wrestling Show With a Heavy Dose of Empowerment

Local television stations, reeling in their fight against online entertainment, are now tagging the Beast and her colleagues into the ring. They’re the stars of a syndicated weekend program called “WOW—Women Of Wrestling” starting Sept. 17.

The “WOW” wrestlers, with names like Foxxy Fierce, Kandi Krush and Ice Cold (a former college diver and weightlifter whose wrestling outfit evokes the princesses from the “Frozen” movies), are backed by one of the National Basketball Association’s most powerful women, Los Angeles Lakers controlling owner and Chief Executive Jeanie Buss. Ms. Buss has invested several million dollars into the all-female wrestling company in an attempt to leverage the growing clout of female athletes, a marketing message of gender empowerment and the enduring appeal of the choreographed battles and melodrama that is professional wrestling.

Add some family-friendly theatrics and a major TV rollout through

Paramount Global’s

syndication network, which distributes “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” and Ms. Buss hopes she has the makings of a hit. Paramount has already locked in commitments from stations in all 210 U.S. television markets to air “WOW” weekly, a rarity for a brand-new show without a track record of success.

Each episode features four bouts taped in front of live audiences at a theater in Los Angeles. Between matches, pre-produced video profiles dramatize the wrestlers’ back stories, and hype their over-the-top personas and rivalries.

Ms. Buss has been trying for a decade to make “WOW” happen. Her co-owner, David McLane, has been trying even longer, going back to “GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling,” which aired in the 1980s (and was later dramatized in a

Netflix

series). They’re joining a market crowded with wrestling companies including the dominant

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.,

which had $1.1 billion in revenue last year. Between the WWE and rival operation All Elite Wrestling, there’s a combined 10 hours of wrestling programming airing weekly on broadcast and cable networks.

“WOW” has a retro shtick, less intense and more campy than most contemporary wrestling shows. The Beast hails from “the darkest depths of your mind,” according to a ring announcer, and growls in a promo video that shows her pulling a train car with chains. Female empowerment is the prevailing theme. “WOW” calls its wrestlers “superheroes.” In the premiere episode, Mr. McLane describes the women “blasting through glass ceilings and becoming powerful and empowering role models to boys, girls and others of all ages.”

WOW wants to lure casual viewers and families. But the company also needs core wrestling fans. Men typically make up around 60% of adult viewers for flagship WWE shows, according to Nielsen data. Whether “WOW” can find a niche may depend less on its gender focus than the caliber of its product and personalities, said Brandon Thurston, editor of Wrestlenomics. “Fans are interested in good wrestling they can connect with emotionally, whether that’s with men or with women.”

Women are playing a bigger role in the wrestling industry than ever thanks to a surge of serious female starpower in the last decade, including Ronda Rousey, who migrated from mixed martial arts.

Yet Ms. Buss contends that at most wrestling companies, female bouts often remain an undercard attraction—“a sideshow,” she said. “Why can’t women be the main event? Why can’t women carry the card?”

“WOW” scored cred points with wrestling aficionados by hiring AJ Mendez as an executive producer and color commentator. As a champion in the WWE, Ms. Mendez was a star performer of the 2010s who boasted a Geek Goddess persona, wore Chuck Taylor sneakers, and helped change the mold for WWE “Divas”—the company’s then-label for female talent. Ms. Mendez is now a mental-health advocate and writer, with a bestselling memoir that included critiques of the wrestling business.

“When I was a fan, the matches I saw on TV were literally bra-and-panty matches and dance contests. When I got into wrestling, I was told, ‘women are the popcorn matches’” giving fans time to hit the concession stand, she said. It was Ms. Buss and her commitment to an all-female roster that convinced Ms. Mendez to return to the wrestling world, she said.

When it comes to talent in the ring, “WOW” is hitting the air without any major stars. Mr. McLane described the company as a startup without the financial resources to lock in big names, and said he wants to cultivate the brand with homegrown talent: “Stars get made through their feuds, battles and rivalries.” His 45-woman lineup relies on veterans from earlier iterations of WOW, a few performers from the independent circuit, plus new recruits who turned up for tryouts.

“It’s a non-expensive roster,” said Lavie Margolin, a wrestling industry analyst and podcaster.

In July, at a spartan training facility in a strip of low-slung warehouses in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, a dozen women leapt in and out of a wrestling ring, practicing leg scissors, arm drags, and other moves and counter moves. The din from their feet and bodies whomping the canvas sounded like someone slamming a door over and over as the women hollered, grunted and cheered.

They were preparing for a “WOW” taping in late August, which would provide the company with enough material for 12 of its 52 episodes for the year. The weekend taping at Los Angeles’s Belasco theater would involve 48 matches over three separate live shows.

The Los Angeles-based wrestlers train about three hours a day, Monday through Friday, with WOW creative director Selina Majors. She still has the trademark mullet haircut she wore when she wrestled under the name Bambi, starting in 1986. Now she’s called Meemaw by the WOW wrestlers she mentors. One of the first things she teaches the uninitiated: how to take a fall without biting their tongue.

After training, many wrestlers head to their main jobs (fitness trainer, logistics manager, computer programmer). They don’t earn enough from “WOW” to make wrestling a full-time gig. The wrestlers get paid for matches they perform in, with the potential for bonuses and a cut of merchandise and licensing revenue. WOW declined to discuss specifics about pay, but executives say compensation will grow if the show succeeds and if the wrestlers hit benchmarks in popularity, such as their social-media followings.

“I would love for this to be their full-time job and to make them household names. Maybe we’ll find the next Dwayne Johnson,” Ms. Buss said.

Ms. Buss said WOW reminds her of the scrappier days of the Lakers, when her father, the late Jerry Buss, bought the team in 1979 and recruited Magic Johnson. The team saga, which later included power struggles among Ms. Buss and her siblings, has recently been chronicled in the drama series “Winning Time” and two documentary series, “They Call Me Magic” and “Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers” (executive produced by Ms. Buss).

On the side, Ms. Buss had underdog sports ventures, including a short-lived tennis team (the Los Angeles Strings) and a roller hockey team (the Los Angeles Blades) meant to capitalize on the in-line skating craze of the 1990s.

One thing that survived her roller-hockey chapter was a friendship with Mr. McLane, who also worked to get that sport off the ground. In 1986 Mr. McLane had launched “GLOW,” but left after two seasons as the wrestling show doubled down on campy comedy.

Now the market is different, said Mr. McLane, whose attempts to get “WOW” established on TV go back to 2000. “Never in the last few years have I had people ask, is it oil wrestling, is it mud wrestling, or anything less than powerful women kicking butt in the ring.”

That kind of spectacle hooked Ms. Buss in 2001 when she first attended a match with Mr. McLane, an invitation she’d avoided, she said, expecting something “cheesy and bad.” She bought in as a co-owner of WOW in 2011.

Starting in 2018 they produced 32 episodes for Mark Cuban’s cable network, AXS TV, but “WOW” got bumped when AXS was acquired by a company with a wrestling operation of its own. Story lines from that phase, such as the Beast’s reign as a champion, carry over in the relaunch.

WOW’s deal with Paramount Global Content Distribution is of a much bigger scale.

Dan Cohen,

Paramount’s chief content licensing officer, said he knew station owners would be hungry for unique programming, especially for weekends. He was also drawn to what the show’s talent represented: a mix of body types, back stories, and ethnicities. “They’re not all the same cookie cutter mold, and I do think there’s an audience that wants to see that,” he said.

Syndication was a major force in wrestling’s television breakout in the 1980s. Now, it will be a challenge for “WOW” to get discovered in a flood of content. Younger audiences, especially, may not even be aware that such TV channels exist.

Ms. Buss knows wrestling might seem like an unlikely entrepreneurial choice. “I’ve been approached about [investing in] women’s professional ice hockey, volleyball, soccer. None of those really resonated with me,” she said. “I get as excited about seeing these women as the Lakers.”

Write to John Jurgensen at [email protected]

Local television stations, reeling in their fight against online entertainment, are now tagging the Beast and her colleagues into the ring. They’re the stars of a syndicated weekend program called “WOW—Women Of Wrestling” starting Sept. 17.

The “WOW” wrestlers, with names like Foxxy Fierce, Kandi Krush and Ice Cold (a former college diver and weightlifter whose wrestling outfit evokes the princesses from the “Frozen” movies), are backed by one of the National Basketball Association’s most powerful women, Los Angeles Lakers controlling owner and Chief Executive Jeanie Buss. Ms. Buss has invested several million dollars into the all-female wrestling company in an attempt to leverage the growing clout of female athletes, a marketing message of gender empowerment and the enduring appeal of the choreographed battles and melodrama that is professional wrestling.

Add some family-friendly theatrics and a major TV rollout through

Paramount Global’s

syndication network, which distributes “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” and Ms. Buss hopes she has the makings of a hit. Paramount has already locked in commitments from stations in all 210 U.S. television markets to air “WOW” weekly, a rarity for a brand-new show without a track record of success.

Each episode features four bouts taped in front of live audiences at a theater in Los Angeles. Between matches, pre-produced video profiles dramatize the wrestlers’ back stories, and hype their over-the-top personas and rivalries.

Ms. Buss has been trying for a decade to make “WOW” happen. Her co-owner, David McLane, has been trying even longer, going back to “GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling,” which aired in the 1980s (and was later dramatized in a

Netflix

series). They’re joining a market crowded with wrestling companies including the dominant

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.,

which had $1.1 billion in revenue last year. Between the WWE and rival operation All Elite Wrestling, there’s a combined 10 hours of wrestling programming airing weekly on broadcast and cable networks.

“WOW” has a retro shtick, less intense and more campy than most contemporary wrestling shows. The Beast hails from “the darkest depths of your mind,” according to a ring announcer, and growls in a promo video that shows her pulling a train car with chains. Female empowerment is the prevailing theme. “WOW” calls its wrestlers “superheroes.” In the premiere episode, Mr. McLane describes the women “blasting through glass ceilings and becoming powerful and empowering role models to boys, girls and others of all ages.”

WOW wants to lure casual viewers and families. But the company also needs core wrestling fans. Men typically make up around 60% of adult viewers for flagship WWE shows, according to Nielsen data. Whether “WOW” can find a niche may depend less on its gender focus than the caliber of its product and personalities, said Brandon Thurston, editor of Wrestlenomics. “Fans are interested in good wrestling they can connect with emotionally, whether that’s with men or with women.”

Women are playing a bigger role in the wrestling industry than ever thanks to a surge of serious female starpower in the last decade, including Ronda Rousey, who migrated from mixed martial arts.

Yet Ms. Buss contends that at most wrestling companies, female bouts often remain an undercard attraction—“a sideshow,” she said. “Why can’t women be the main event? Why can’t women carry the card?”

“WOW” scored cred points with wrestling aficionados by hiring AJ Mendez as an executive producer and color commentator. As a champion in the WWE, Ms. Mendez was a star performer of the 2010s who boasted a Geek Goddess persona, wore Chuck Taylor sneakers, and helped change the mold for WWE “Divas”—the company’s then-label for female talent. Ms. Mendez is now a mental-health advocate and writer, with a bestselling memoir that included critiques of the wrestling business.

“When I was a fan, the matches I saw on TV were literally bra-and-panty matches and dance contests. When I got into wrestling, I was told, ‘women are the popcorn matches’” giving fans time to hit the concession stand, she said. It was Ms. Buss and her commitment to an all-female roster that convinced Ms. Mendez to return to the wrestling world, she said.

When it comes to talent in the ring, “WOW” is hitting the air without any major stars. Mr. McLane described the company as a startup without the financial resources to lock in big names, and said he wants to cultivate the brand with homegrown talent: “Stars get made through their feuds, battles and rivalries.” His 45-woman lineup relies on veterans from earlier iterations of WOW, a few performers from the independent circuit, plus new recruits who turned up for tryouts.

“It’s a non-expensive roster,” said Lavie Margolin, a wrestling industry analyst and podcaster.

In July, at a spartan training facility in a strip of low-slung warehouses in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, a dozen women leapt in and out of a wrestling ring, practicing leg scissors, arm drags, and other moves and counter moves. The din from their feet and bodies whomping the canvas sounded like someone slamming a door over and over as the women hollered, grunted and cheered.

They were preparing for a “WOW” taping in late August, which would provide the company with enough material for 12 of its 52 episodes for the year. The weekend taping at Los Angeles’s Belasco theater would involve 48 matches over three separate live shows.

The Los Angeles-based wrestlers train about three hours a day, Monday through Friday, with WOW creative director Selina Majors. She still has the trademark mullet haircut she wore when she wrestled under the name Bambi, starting in 1986. Now she’s called Meemaw by the WOW wrestlers she mentors. One of the first things she teaches the uninitiated: how to take a fall without biting their tongue.

After training, many wrestlers head to their main jobs (fitness trainer, logistics manager, computer programmer). They don’t earn enough from “WOW” to make wrestling a full-time gig. The wrestlers get paid for matches they perform in, with the potential for bonuses and a cut of merchandise and licensing revenue. WOW declined to discuss specifics about pay, but executives say compensation will grow if the show succeeds and if the wrestlers hit benchmarks in popularity, such as their social-media followings.

“I would love for this to be their full-time job and to make them household names. Maybe we’ll find the next Dwayne Johnson,” Ms. Buss said.

Ms. Buss said WOW reminds her of the scrappier days of the Lakers, when her father, the late Jerry Buss, bought the team in 1979 and recruited Magic Johnson. The team saga, which later included power struggles among Ms. Buss and her siblings, has recently been chronicled in the drama series “Winning Time” and two documentary series, “They Call Me Magic” and “Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers” (executive produced by Ms. Buss).

On the side, Ms. Buss had underdog sports ventures, including a short-lived tennis team (the Los Angeles Strings) and a roller hockey team (the Los Angeles Blades) meant to capitalize on the in-line skating craze of the 1990s.

One thing that survived her roller-hockey chapter was a friendship with Mr. McLane, who also worked to get that sport off the ground. In 1986 Mr. McLane had launched “GLOW,” but left after two seasons as the wrestling show doubled down on campy comedy.

Now the market is different, said Mr. McLane, whose attempts to get “WOW” established on TV go back to 2000. “Never in the last few years have I had people ask, is it oil wrestling, is it mud wrestling, or anything less than powerful women kicking butt in the ring.”

That kind of spectacle hooked Ms. Buss in 2001 when she first attended a match with Mr. McLane, an invitation she’d avoided, she said, expecting something “cheesy and bad.” She bought in as a co-owner of WOW in 2011.

Starting in 2018 they produced 32 episodes for Mark Cuban’s cable network, AXS TV, but “WOW” got bumped when AXS was acquired by a company with a wrestling operation of its own. Story lines from that phase, such as the Beast’s reign as a champion, carry over in the relaunch.

WOW’s deal with Paramount Global Content Distribution is of a much bigger scale.

Dan Cohen,

Paramount’s chief content licensing officer, said he knew station owners would be hungry for unique programming, especially for weekends. He was also drawn to what the show’s talent represented: a mix of body types, back stories, and ethnicities. “They’re not all the same cookie cutter mold, and I do think there’s an audience that wants to see that,” he said.

Syndication was a major force in wrestling’s television breakout in the 1980s. Now, it will be a challenge for “WOW” to get discovered in a flood of content. Younger audiences, especially, may not even be aware that such TV channels exist.

Ms. Buss knows wrestling might seem like an unlikely entrepreneurial choice. “I’ve been approached about [investing in] women’s professional ice hockey, volleyball, soccer. None of those really resonated with me,” she said. “I get as excited about seeing these women as the Lakers.”

Write to John Jurgensen at [email protected]