Revisited Question: How do you feel about interender wrestling matches in general?

[Aztecwarrior480]

Like are you offended of it or do you think it's sometimes a good thing if done good and only for every once in a while?

My views are a little mixed. While I do believe that top tier wrestling organizations like the WWE should start give their female wrestlers/"Divas"(I've always kinda felt that this is a really stupid name created by the WWE for female wrestlers) a fair shake(giving them a bit more time to tell stories, wrestle in their matches longer and compete in certain wrestling matches that they've always been prohibited from), I also believe that intergender wrestling matches don't have much of an appeal.

Don't get me wrong, I still don't mind it if it's only a once in a while thing and not some bullshit PC excuse to allow female wrestlers to cleanly defeat male wrestlers often(because it's more socially acceptable to do so to not be seen as "sexist" or a glorification of women physical abuse) but I still prefer man-on-man and woman-on-woman wrestling matches mainly because they produce more quality wrestling matches.

What do you think?

 

[Leo C]

I'm cool with it.

 

[seabs]

It depends on the story being told and the workers, I don't have a particular annoyance about the type of match though.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

It doesn't offend me, but I think it typically makes the male superstar look weak. Although, Trish Stratus & Lite vs Y2J & Christian in Eric Bischoffs Battle of the Sexes was hilarious but had a decent storyline and match.

And this to me is one of the funniest things i have ever seen lmao

 

[Messiah1]

Hate it... A tiny ass woman should never beat up on a man in wrestling. It makes the male talent look incredibly weak. It's one of the reasons i can't watch Lucha Undeground because of that garbage. Doesn't matter what the story is or anything, keep it man vs. man and woman vs. woman.

 

[Majour]

Depends on the story and the actual wrestlers.
I don't really want to watch a totally one sided match where a woman gets the absolute dog piss knocked out of her, but I wouldn't believe a very petite woman beating a huge guy.
There have been a few intergender matches that I enjoyed. Jessicka Havok Vs Sammi Callihan springs to mind.

 

[Rogue]

Whenever it happens the main two outcomes are that the guy wins, or the woman wins via surprise. It's really rare that a woman goes over clean, unless it's a tag match.

I don't mind it personally, just as long it's a somewhat back and forth match.

 

[seabs]

Hate it... A tiny ass woman should never beat up on a man in wrestling. It makes the male talent look incredibly weak. It's one of the reasons i can't watch Lucha Undeground because of that garbage. Doesn't matter what the story is or anything, keep it man vs. man and woman vs. woman.

I don't really get this viewpoint if I'm honest, it's prowrestling. It's supposed to be wacky, also you're missing a great product in LU.

 

[Prince Bálor]

I'm semi-okay with it.

 

[Wacokid27]

This is a complex question to me. Part of it's cultural. I grew up in east Texas with parents who taught me that men hitting women is wrong outside of a man defending himself. So, from that perspective, I'm not a fan of intergender wrestling. It actually doesn't offend me to watch an intergender match; it's just not something I typically enjoy.

But.....I'm also a business realist and a creative type and a long-time pro wrestling fan.

This tells me that, if there's an interesting story and it draws and it can built as a competitive match, then it can be entertaining. I will use LU as an example. The first time that I saw an intergender match on an LU show, I grumbled. But, the way the storyline was constructed and the way they booked the match made sense from a storytelling standpoint and the audience was into it. Watching the match the other night between Ivelisse and Mil: the match made sense and the audience was into it and the match was well-constructed and ended logically, so it was good and entertaining.

This doesn't change the fact that, if I were a wrestling promoter/booker, it would be very unusual for me to approve of an intergender match in my promotion.

wk

 

[Snowman1]

In large part it works in Lucha Underground because they actually explain stuff to the point where there's no real gray area. The women aren't forced out there necessarily, those are the rules.
They can just leave the temple at any time, or they can nut up and stay and fight and wrestle the men just as effectively as a man would. And they damn sure can.
The only time it was a problem - as Majour and Messiah mentioned - was when Star beat the hell out of Pentagon Jr. That was complete garbage.
But the other times I think of situations like Star vs Big Ryck, which I didn't like at first either, BUT... Dario put her in a match with Ryck for the chance to fight someone else. Star ran in there against this jacked up 300 pound dude and threw strikes and bounced off the ropes and blasted him with everything she had, even knocking him back at one point, before Ryck just grabbed her shoulders and stuck her on the mat for the 3... Not really an intergender "match" per se, but because of this Star looked courageous, Ryck looked sympathetic, Dario was the biggest piece of shit imaginable, and it was all due to the gender roles. They've unlocked countless story possibilities.
Chicks getting kicked in the face is a little hard to watch, but in kayfabe, they signed up for it and are much stronger for taking it, fighting back, and usually overcoming the "dominant" male and it's cool to see.

On the other hand, there's two specific WWE examples... one is Stephanie being able to do whatever she wants to whomever she wants with no fear of retaliation from anyone. She can - and has - given the top babyface a black eye and he could do nothing about it. That, to me, is not the answer either (dislikes incoming!). Also all the Pringles matches we sit through on Raw where we just kinda smile and nod along as we watch a dead crowd not caring about two guys going in there and beating each other up. I'll take the slight cringe of the intergender stuff over that.

 

[The GOAT]

I have no moral issue with it, but I prefer to see them kept separate 99% of the time. Every now and then, you'll get a rare specimen like a Chyna or a Nicole Bass who look tough enough to the point where people find it easy to believe they could hang with most of the men, or you might get someone who's portrayed as superbly athletic and tougher-than-nails, who can believably get in some good offense on a man, take a beating, and possibly even survive long enough to win the match via upset (usually because the guy gets too cocky and sure of himself that he ends up making mistakes and gets caught with the right maneuver and loses), but I sure as shit don't want to see men and women wrestling each other on a frequent basis.

Like others said, it depends entirely on the specific story and character that you're doing it with.

 

[Aztecwarrior480]

I have no moral issue with it, but I prefer to see them kept separate 99% of the time. Every now and then, you'll get a rare specimen like a Chyna or a Nicole Bass who look tough enough to the point where people find it easy to believe they could hang with most of the men, or you might get someone who's portrayed as superbly athletic and tougher-than-nails, who can believably get in some good offense on a man, take a beating, and possibly even survive long enough to win the match via upset (usually because the guy gets too cocky and sure of himself that he ends up making mistakes and gets caught with the right maneuver and loses), but I sure as shit don't want to see men and women wrestling each other on a frequent basis.

Like others said, it depends entirely on the specific story and character that you're doing it with.

I honestly hated the Chyna vs Chris Jericho fued. It was a pretty stupid idea to have Chyna cleanly defeat Jericho, of all people. From what I've heard, Chyna nearly had him buried.

Like I said, I wouldn't mind intergender match(hell I don't even mind if the female wrestler wins) as long as it isn't a common occurance or very over-the-top and ridiculous like a tiny woman beating a big burly man, cleanly or at least any woman beating a very talented wrestler very cleanly.

 

[The GOAT]

I honestly hated the Chyna vs Chris Jericho fued. It was a pretty stupid idea to have Chyna cleanly defeat Jericho, of all people. From what I've heard, Chyna nearly had him buried.

Like I said, I wouldn't mind intergender match(hell I don't even mind if the female wrestler wins) as long as it isn't a common occurance or very over-the-top and ridiculous like a tiny woman beating a big burly man, cleanly or at least any woman beating a very talented wrestler very cleanly.

Oh yeah, I hated that, too. Although in hindsight, I'm almost cool with it because I can buy within the boundaries of pro wrestling that a woman could defeat a man if she managed to hit him with a maneuver like a pedigree from the top rope like Chyna did at Survivor Series '99. For the most part though, she mainly wrestled and defeated mid-range guys like Val Venis and Jeff Jarrett, which is fine with me.

According to Y2J in his second book, Chyna complained about getting a busted nose while wrestling Jericho and Vince gave him a tongue-lashing over it. Pissed me off just reading it because I can't imagine 99.9% of men complaining about something as small as a busted nose, yet she had the audacity to do so. She was having male wrestlers do her a solid by putting her over in the ring, least she could do was suck up a little insignificant bloody nose and not behave like a prima donna over it.

 

[Aztecwarrior480]

Oh yeah, I hated that, too. Although in hindsight, I'm almost cool with it because I can buy within the boundaries of pro wrestling that a woman could defeat a man if she managed to hit him with a maneuver like a pedigree from the top rope like Chyna did at Survivor Series '99. For the most part though, she mainly wrestled and defeated mid-range guys like Val Venis and Jeff Jarrett, which is fine with me.

According to Y2J in his second book, Chyna complained about getting a busted nose while wrestling Jericho and Vince gave him a tongue-lashing over it. Pissed me off just reading it because I can't imagine 99.9% of men complaining about something as small as a busted nose, yet she had the audacity to do so. She was having male wrestlers do her a solid by putting her over in the ring, least she could do was suck up a little insignificant bloody nose and not behave like a prima donna over it.

Yeah. I once watched a "Hardcore" Bob Holly shoot interview on youtube(most likely taken down because I couldn't find it anymore) about the busted lip complaint from Chyna regarding Y2J. Holly was one of the few men who put Chyna over. He said he didn't mind putting her over but was irritated of her whiny attitude about a busted lip or being hit "too hard". Hell, he was even there when Vince nearly fired Jericho for busting Chyna's lip, and started to call out Chyna's bullshit(well not directly to her but on his shoot interview). This is probably one of the reasons why most male wrestlers in the WWE/F refused to work with Chyna back then, along with the fact that they loathed the idea of losing to a woman and putting her over.