The ultimate ranking of wrestlers on Netflix’s GLOW

Jackie Tohn, Gayle Rankin in Netflix’s “GLOW” Image via Erica Parise/Netflix

7. Sheila the She Wolf

Sheila the She Wolf is… well, honestly, she is a furry. Her wrestling persona is her actual persona. Sheila wears a wig, paints her teeth with nail polish, and wears fur. All the time. Ruth misinterprets this behavior as Sheila being really into method acting, but discovers when they share a room together that Sheila “knows [she] is a human, but spiritually, [she’s] a wolf.” Sheila has dressed this way for five years and has lived alone all that time. She says that she does it for herself and no one else, which is something Ruth cannot seem to understand.

Sam and Bash do not even attempt to create a character for Sheila. They let her embody the She Wolf and then put her in the ring. Neither of them believes that there is anything that they can add to make Sheila more interesting as a wrestler.

That being said, they also totally misunderstand her. She is continuously mislabeled as a werewolf, something she fights tooth and nail. Ruth is the first person to call her a wolf, which makes Sheila open up about her furry sense of self.

Gayle Rankin plays Sheila the She Wolf with a surprising amount of vulnerability. A character that could easily be a complete caricature ends up with deep emotions and moments of sensitivity that stick with the audience long after watching. It is an impressive feat, especially since any mention I saw of Sheila prior to watching GLOW made me say “no thanks.”