A Look at the Recent Wave of Women's Wrestling Factions

I love women's wrestling with a passion, and I have been really happy that it has continued to evolve in recent years. However, while we have seen more screen time for the women, longer matches, better angles, and epic elevation, the development still didn't include a number of actual factions. We have seen alliances, but I'm talking about factions. It takes at least three to make a faction (alternately known as a stable).

For many years in the top wrestling promotions, the only time we see women involved in a faction is when they are part of mostly men's factions, with The Judgment Day being a recent example; as Rhea Ripley was one of the founding members until an evil Liv Morgan became the group's sole member once Rhea turned babyface. We almost never see women's factions in the main promotions, and while the Women's Revolution nearly a decade ago did give us three separate triumvirates, not much was really done in that regard.

We have finally seen a recent development in women's wrestling factions, which brings me to the main photo, which features NXT's highest elevated women's wrestling faction: Toxic Attraction. The trio was led by Mandy Rose, who returned to NXT after a couple of years on the main roster, and served as mentor for up-and-comers Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin. The trio dominated NXT's women's division, holding all of the titles available to them, with Mandy holding the NXT Women's Championship for over a year. It was rare case of a women's wrestling faction actually gaining a lot of steam in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world, and that is absolutely epic.

But it doesn't end there. We are seeing quite a wave of women's wrestling factions in recent months, and they are as follows.

Pure Fusion Collective

This isn't the first time that WWE's done a UFC-style faction, but this one seems much better...mainly because a certain primadonna isn't involved. Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark had been teaming up for a good bit, and at that time, Zoey was coming off being Trish Stratus' evil protege during the Hall of Famer's feud with Becky Lynch. We would see the pair approached by a surprising figure: Sonya Deville, who returned after about nine months of being sidelined. In true devious fashion, Sonya had a proposition for the pair, but Shayna wanted nothing to do with Sonya's plans. A few weeks passed, and minds were changed, and it resulted in this dangerous triumvirate.

I have really enjoyed seeing the Pure Fusion Collective (whose name didn't come until months later), mainly because of Sonya Deville. I have said many times that Sonya being a villainess is typecasting, but holy cow, it fits her. She still has that same ruthlessness she had when she was a corrupt official, and it's brought out the best in Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark for sure.

Fatal Influence

This really intrigues me. So once Toxic Attraction ended, Jacy Jayne feuded with former cohort Gigi Dolin, and we would suddenly see Jazmyn Nyx serve as an ally to Jacy in a budding feud with Thea Hail. As for Fallon Henley, she was originally on Thea's side in that feud, which saw Thea get a huge win over Jacy, but in a big time shocker, Fallon turned heel on Thea and attacked her. We would see Jacy and Jazmyn get involved in Fallon's favor a few times, and vice versa, and it was about a month ago that the trio officially banded together and formed the faction known as Fatal Influence.

There are two things I find interesting about this. One, there appears to be a shared leadership between Jacy and Fallon, which does make a bit of sense considering they are the veterans in comparison to Jazmyn. Secondly, and more glaringly, Fallon. I can't help but dwell on this. The focal point of Fallon's heel turn was "Fallon comes first," meaning that she was only out for herself. Yet just weeks later, she's part of a faction. But I'm not going to let this bit of logic get in the way of this beautiful thing on NXT.

So that's two factions getting some good time in WWE. But that's not all, as we could see another one elsewhere:

The main reason for this piece: I read a few days ago that AEW could be planning to build a faction around Deonna Purrazzo, who recently turned villainous and feuded with Thunder Rosa. The feud saw Deonna on the winning end several times, but their last match was won by Rosa. The faction rumors were posted on Thursday, September 19, and on the following day's episode of Rampage, we see Deonna talking about how she wanted to make "violent art," and stated that she accumulated a network of people who were willing to repay her generosity with their loyalty. And like clockwork, one such epic person appears next to her, and it's someone we all expected: the evil Taya Valkyrie.

Taya had been in Deonna's corner during a good bit of Deonna's feud with Thunder Rosa, so it does make sense that she'd be a key part of Deonna's budding faction. I'm beaming over this because Deonna and Taya are two of my all time favorites in women's wrestling, so seeing these two aligned together, especially as villainesses, is absolutely iconic! I'm excited to see who else will be joining those two. Maybe Mercedes Mone and Kamille will be part of this faction? Maybe, in a weird twist, Thunder Rosa turns heel and joins the pair. Stranger things have happened in wrestling. I see this being a four-woman faction, meaning that if we get the Thunder Rosa heel turn and alignment, I can see a fourth woman join them.

Women's wrestling factions have come a long way. Usually, they were relegated to women's wrestling promotions, but finally, we are seeing a good bit of them on main promotions at the same time. Pure Fusion Collective and Fatal Influence have been very awesome so far, and I am really loving Deonna's new budding faction in AEW, as well as Taya Valkyrie's villainous presence as well! I'm very excited to see what develops!