When Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was a young teen, she started attending San Diego Comic-Con. She said in the convention’s first years, she would attend the event to buy comic books of her favorite characters and talk to other super fans.
Now, Buss gets to bring her WOW: Women of Wrestling league to SDCC.
Buss, the co-founder and co-owner of WOW, co-founder and co-owner of WOW David McLane, WOW superheroes coach Coach Campanelli and WOW superhero Genesis joined the PvNew Studio presented by Google TV to talk female representation in sports.
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The wrestling show is distributed by Paramount, and Buss said she is glad to be able to watch the growth of women’s sports.
“More and more female athletes are putting in the time and the dedication and the focus because there’s a possibility of getting a scholarship to pursue their education,” Buss said. “I look at the success of the WNBA, women’s tennis, women’s golf, now women’s soccer, and there’s so many more athletes that don’t have a place to show the years of dedication and the athleticism.”
She said she wanted to revitalize the Women of Wrestling brand to help provide female wrestlers with a platform to show off their discipline, dedication and sacrifices they made to become the athletes they are.
“Women’s sports need people like me to invest back and create opportunities,” Buss said.
Genesis, one of the female wrestlers a part of the WOW team, said she feels fortunate to have Buss spearheading the company and girls on the roster.
She said she hopes the wrestlers can inspire the next generation of young girls who want to be athletes and are interested in sports and entertainment.
“Those are our favorite fans,” Genesis said. “When we see little girls in the audience, those are the ones we really want to shout out because that was us before, just a fan trying to find a way. Just to see them in the crowd, even though I’m a very tough wrestler, that warms my cold heart.”
