The WWE has been opposed to intergender wrestling, except in very few cases, for a long time now. The late Chyna got to hold the IC title, but that was because the champ was leaving the company. Losing to a woman was considered a career ender, and with the way the women were presented, it was.
Now, as we're in the midst of the "women's evolution" in WWE, two factors seem to indicate a change may be coming.
The first is the way Ronda Rousey was presented during Wrestlemania. Historically, if a woman took any kind of bump (a hit) from a man, she had to act as if she was run over by a tractor. Rousey was allowed to absorb a serious hit from HHH, one of the biggest and hardest hitting guys on the roster, and just got up and lit him UP. This was new and exciting!
The second is the signing of Candice LeRae, generally considered the greatest intergender wrestler in the world and the innovator of the Ballsplex. LeRae has had amazing, historic matches, both as one half of The World's Cutest Tag Team and as a singles competitor. Just look at her match against then-boyfriend and current husband Johnny Gargano:
If you've never seen intergender wrestling, it takes a while to get used to seeing a woman take this level of violence. Raised in a society that views women are victims, knowing that in real life they often are, it can be difficult to make this switch. But what Candice does is entirely realistic, and it is absolutely empowering. There's a match, and I'm not going to embed it, because it is brutal, but I will link to it because it is amazing. In this match, Candice LeRae takes a kick, directly to the face, from a loaded boot. She bleeds. She's down for a while. But then she gets up, her face a crimson mask, and she wins the goddamn fight for her team. That's the match where she got the moniker "tougher than you." And she sure damn is tougher than me. I have seen some of the messages she gets sent from women, specifically, from survivors, who have drawn power and inspiration from that match, and it is inspiring.
So, yeah, having Candice LeRae under contract is a potential gamechanger, especially with the door opened by Rousey's performance. It doesn't mean they'll take advantage of it. But if they do try it, they'll do it in NXT, the development brand where LeRae is currently working. They even have a readymade match. In my TakeOver recap, I highlighted the match between Gargano and his former tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa. Could Ciampa's revenge come in the form of an attack on LeRae, leading to a match? I mean, they've already wrestled. Googling to try and find the match, I saw that I was not the first to come up with this idea, possibly hinted at by HHH after TakeOver.
So, is it time for intergender wrestling in the WWE? I'm gonna say yes. I think WWE will be dipping their toes, in NXT, with the smaller audience, and on their own network. I believe the door is open, just a crack. Now, if given the opportunity, it will be up to the workers to bust it open, and up to the audience to support it.
