The summer of women.

• Author: Zirin, Dave
• Position: EDGE OF SPORTS

Normally, summertime represents dead months on the sports calendar. Baseball fans and writers have center stage, so the large majority of sports buffs make the decision to simply yawn and check out (sorry, baseball fans).

But this summer has been different, even historic. It will be remembered as a moment when the place of women in sports took a consequential turn.

On the field of play, this has been, above all else, the Summer of Serena. It was the moment when Serena Williams was roundly recognized as the greatest player in the history of women's tennis. Serena's combination of strength, precision, and charisma has left tennis fans in a state of awe and jacked up ratings for women's tennis on par with or in excess of the men's game.

The women's World Cup soccer tournament in Canada went beyond anyone's expectations, with the U.S. team beating the Japanese defending champions 5-2. The game included what is being called the greatest goal in U.S. soccer history, women or men--the midfield floater by tournament MVP Carli Lloyd. That final contest had ratings higher than every single game of the NBA finals. Among people ages eighteen to forty-nine, the ratings were up an astounding 68 percent from the 2011 Women's World Cup finals.

Then there is Ronda Rousey. The Mixed Martial Arts champion starred in the Summer Blockbuster Furious 7 and also won the sports ESPY award for "Best Fighter." Upon winning, Rousey talked a very particular--and very gendered-brand of smack to fellow nominee Floyd Mayweather. Referencing his repugnant history of domestic violence, Rousey said, "I wonder how Floyd feels being beat by a woman for once."

Another sign that we are in a sea-change moment is a spectacle that is not a sport at all: pro wrestling. Seriously. A new group of women pro wrestlers in World Wrestling Entertainment are changing the way people view women in the sport. They are Sasha Banks, Charlotte (real name Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr), and Becky Lynch. And they are setting this part of the sports world aflame.

Normally, pro wrestling...