Amid the Mixed Match Challenge, it's important to look to the history of intergender wrestling and the possibilities of it becoming mainstream in the WWE.
Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan make up the popular independent wrestling tag team "World's Cutest Tag Team". source: Pinterest
Three weeks ago following Smackdown Live, WWE debuted a new tournament live on Facebook called the Mixed Match Challenge. Raw faces Smackdown in mixed tag matches that will air over a span of 12 weeks.
In a time where women's wrestling is more prevalent than ever, I think this tournament is a great opportunity to further prove what the women are made of. With all the intergender wrestling matches going on in the indies (see Candice LeRae or Abbey Laith, who are both now signed to NXT), is it possible that we may see intergender wrestling come into play here?
WWE has always been relatively strict about intergender wrestling: as soon as the female gets in the ring in a mixed tag match, the female of the opposing team has to get in the ring as well. There have been a few exceptions to this rule, however.
Chyna is a WWE Hall of Famer and was known for wrestling men more often than she did women. Chyna was a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWF Women's Champion, and was even the number one contender to the WWF Championship. She was the first woman to compete in the Royal Rumble match and the only woman to compete in the King of the Ring tournament. She has victories in singles matches over numerous stars such as Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and Triple H. WWE once stated that she had a "lasting legacy as the most dominant female competitor of all time".
Chyna was a force to be reckoned with, whether she faced men or women.
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Chyna dominated the roster throughout the Attitude Era and left an impact in women's wrestling, and in my opinion, she should not be deemed an "exception" to the men's-only rules when it comes to WWE competition. I'm not saying that women and men should be wrestling one another in every match on the card (as that would be way too complicated when it comes to mens and womens championships and rivalries), but I feel like removing the taboo when it comes to men vs. women could inspire young girls who may want to become wrestlers or who want to excel in a male-dominated business.
Intergender wrestling can be seen as a hot topic among wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans, as it can be seen as promoting domestic violence. While this notion definitely makes sense, there is a way that it can be presented that promotes female empowerment and equality. Professional wrestling shows are a place where you suspend your disbelief, like any other work of fiction. It is clearly never okay and illegal for domestic violence to occur, but isn't it also illegal to assault someone in the first place? Wrestling is built on the concept of beating someone up so one can win something (a championship, money, bragging rights, etc.). If we suspend our disbelief and make it temporarily okay for people to hurt each other in the center of a ring, why not suspend our disbelief a little more? Besides, it's not uncommon for children to disregard the "do not try this at home" anyway--boys are going to beat up their little sisters whether they see it on TV or not.
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Joey Ryan, who has worked several independent promotions such as PWG, ROH, TNA, and Lucha Underground, has always been a proponent for intergender wrestling and promoting equality for women in the wrestloing business. He took to twitter to defend his point of view.
WWE NXT's Abbey Laith, formerly known on the independent scene as Kimber Lee, is a proponent and former participant of intergender wrestling (before joining the WWE, of course). Laith compared intergender competition as a woman superhero fighting a man on screen. She noted that "it gives them a strong character to look up to and want to aspire to be".
NXT's Abbey Laith (FKA Kimber Lee) was the first woman to hold a top title in a major non-female promotion when she won the the Chikara Grand Championship.
I agree with Laith completely. As a female who grew up watching wrestling, I was (and still am) captivated by what some of the female wrestlers like Lita, Chyna, Trish Stratus, and Beth Phoenix could do. Even before the Women's Evolution, young girls like me looked up to these stars when they had 10 minutes or less of TV time each week. With women's wrestling becoming more mainstream and important, I can only imagine that even more girls are inspired by Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Naomi (to name a few).
Women empowerment is what our society needs right now—with all of the sexual abuse and pay discrepancies between men and women at the forefront of the media in the past few months, young females are actively looking for ways to be inspired and other strong women to look up to. Putting a female in the ring with a man and watching her win is more likely now than ever to encourage young women.
Becky Lynch faced James Ellsworth on Smackdown last year, giving an introduction of intergender matches to the WWE Universe. Could it happen again?
If WWE allows in-ring competition between males and females, there will have to be limits. The women who participate in intergender matches know what they're getting themselves into: there would be legal work involved to ensure that participation is voluntary for both parties. There also should be division of weight classes so the weight is somewhat matched up, for example, so Braun Strowman doesnt actually hurt someone like Alexa Bliss.
So, while limits would have to be established, there is no better time to introduce the concepts of intergender wrestling to the WWE. There may be a long road ahead and a slow transition may be necessary, but now is an ideal time to show a preview of what's to come.
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