Gender Disparity in Professional Wrestling (GDPW)

Professional wrestling has thrilled audiences for over a century, evolving from radio broadcasts to TV and digital streaming.  Women’s matches have been held since wrestling’s earliest days, but they have been and still are significantly underrepresented. At major events, women often get just one match (or none) compared to multiple men’s matches.

The GDPW Project

This digital project analyzes professional wrestling data to highlight a significant gender gap in final event matches. Using Cagematch.net data from 1934 to 2024, GDPW examines year-end events at wrestling’s top venue, NYC’s Madison Square Garden, and creates data visualizations to illustrate the disparity of women’s matches compared with men’s matches.  We found gender gaps in other areas of the sport as well. 

What to look for:  

• GDPW’s Data and Research: This page connects the narrative to data from the matches at Madison Square Garden from Cagematch.net. Immersive data visualizations put you in the ring with these and other gender inequalities.  You can also read about what we learned through our research into the history of women’s professional wrestling. 
• The GDPW Blog: This page celebrates heritage and recognition months by exploring topics relevant to the gender disparity in professional wrestling through some of the sport’s biggest names, as well as some of the events we’ve attended as part of this narrative project.

Despite more female wrestlers than ever, the numbers don’t lie—women’s matches are still rare. Explore the data visualizations and draw your own conclusions!