In the mid-1980s, women's wrestling got no respect. When women appeared at pro wrestling events at all, they were treated like an oddity or a side show. Promoter David McClane had the unpopular idea to fill a wrestling show entirely with women, and started holding auditions in Los Angeles. Most of the women recruited had no experience wrestling, but they'd receive training from Mando Guerrero and Cynthia Peretti—and anyway, GLOW was never intended as a showcase of technical wrestling skill. It was about characters and comedy and over-the-top good-versus-evil melodrama.
GLOW stood for Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, and each of the ladies in the company developed a character she'd portray in and out of the ring. The women were divided into the super-heroines and arch-villainesses of GLOW, with the good girls including the patriotic Americana, glamorous Tina Ferrari, and Island Goddess Mount Fiji. Bad girls included the Voodoo Priestess Big Bad Mama, Soviet superwoman Ninotchka, and the fascistic Matilda the Hun.
Meanwhile, McClane brought in TV producer Irv Holender to help develop GLOW as a syndicated TV show, businessman Meshulam Riklis to produce and provide a ritzy-looking venue in Las Vegas, and B movie filmmaker Matt Cimber to direct.
