Jeanie Buss is hopeful that WOW is something that will outlast her and reward women’s wrestling forever.
LA Lakers owner Jeanie Buss recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked why she wanted to help be part of the relaunch of WOW: Women of Wrestling, Buss spoke about her childhood and the importance of women in sports.
“When I was growing up, the passage of Title IX really changed my life,” Jeanie Buss said. “When I was in high school, one day they told me, “You’re on the girls golf team” and I said, “I’ve never played golf in my life, why am I on the team?” And they said, “Well, because of Title IX, we can’t have a boys team unless we have a girls team, and we’ll teach you.” So because of that, I got an opportunity that I never would have taken, I never even would have thought of, and learned how to play a game that I’ll play the rest of my life. So I knew that in my position, being a high-profile woman in sports, that people would look to me and say, “How are you investing in women’s sports?” There are so many great collegiate athletes that participate in sports because of Title IX. It’s great for them because they earn a scholarship and get to play, but once their eligibility expires, what do they get to do unless you’re going in the WNBA or a professional tennis player or an ice skater or something? There’s not a lot of places for women to go and participate in sports in front of their hometown.
“Being a businesswoman on the sports side had to be something that I would invest in that would be sustainable — that would be something that if we built would outlast me; it would be giving back something that could reward women in wrestling forever. Wrestling was the right platform to give these women an opportunity to shine and be center stage. Certainly women have been featured in wrestling before, but WOW is the only all female-wrestling [organization]. Usually women would be given the undercard match or the sideshow, never center stage, so that’s why I thought this was the right property for me to get involved in, and invest my own personal money. This isn’t Laker money, this is my money.”
When asked if there are any big changes with WOW this go around, Buss said they are trying to expand diversity and inclusion.
“It’s character driven. What I like to point out is how diverse our cast is, that every young woman will be able to see herself in our characters and performers,” Jeanie Buss said. “So I think that as time has evolved, and we’re trying to expand diversity and inclusion, that’s what you’ll see in our wrestling.”
Later Buss was asked if there are any similarities between running WOW and the Lakers; she said they are both very different.
“It’s very different, certainly I’m not working on WOW day-to-day,” Jeanie Buss revealed. “I’m the investor, it’s my personal funds, I’m a fan of WOW, but it’s not my day job. My day job is with the Lakers and that’s where I am day-to-day. They’re very similar, but they’re very different, meaning that we’re dealing with larger-than-life personalities in both; we have to deal with the day-to-day reality that they’re athletes, and with athletes comes injuries. You hope for health and well-being, and you do your best in training but sometimes it’s inevitable. You have to figure out how to solve the problems that an injury might bring up, so they’re very similar, but different. And I enjoy both of them.”
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What do you make of Jeanie Buss’ comments? Are you excited about the relaunch of WOW: Women of Wrestling? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
