WWE: Nia Jax vs. Dean Ambrose Could Help Revive Intergender Wrestling

It has just been announced that Nia Jax will wrestle Dean Ambrose one-on-one at a WWE live event in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Feb. 22. If done right, this could bring intergender wrestling back to WWE in a serious way.

There was once a time when intergender wrestling was a normal thing to see in WWE. A regular episode of Raw may feature someone like Mae Young getting driven through a table by a wild Dudley Boy, or perhaps we’d see Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin delivering a gang style beatdown on Lita with steel chairs.

Frankly, when we look back at stuff like that, it makes all the sense in the world why we don’t see intergender wrestling in WWE anymore. (It’s also another example of why the Attitude Era was kind of trash, but that’s a discussion for another day.)

With that said, intergender wrestling wasn’t always all bad and not every example of intergender wrestling in WWE can be looked back upon with a cringe. In fact, in a weird way, intergender wrestling was pivotal to the WWE’s Women’s Revolution. A big reason why Trish Stratus and Lita got over so well is because fans respected how these two ladies could handle punishment from the guys and dish it right back to them.

In the same vein, some of WWE’s best storylines were those where intergender wrestling was a focal point. Chyna’s feuds with Chris Jericho and Jeff Jarrett over the Intercontinental Championship are especially memorable. The Battle of the Sexes between Trish and Lita against Jericho and Christian was actually handled very tastefully in retrospect.

Intergender wrestling in WWE had a lot of good and bad, but because the bad is so glaring, it was quietly phased out. Which is a shame because intergender wrestling has reached its peak in the wrestling world everywhere else except WWE. We live in a world now where someone like Sexy Star can win a promotion’s World Heavyweight Championship that’s typically contested by males.

In independent promotions, intergender wrestling has served a purpose in providing equality for women’s wrestlers whilst also providing something positive in the name of female empowerment. It’s disappointing to see that WWE is missing out on the action given the company’s latest boom in women’s wrestling. Thankfully, it seems as though WWE is taking active steps to play catch-up in this department.

In the last year or so, we have seen James Ellsworth respectively wrestle both Becky Lynch and Asuka in one-on-one action inside of a WWE. However, no one was raving about the use of intergender wrestling here because these were comedy matches. Intergender enthusiasts hoped for something that could be taken seriously, but we may be finally getting that sooner rather than later (thank you, flairsnia).

More recently, Nia Jax has notably had her own foray into intergender wrestling, but instead of being presented as comedy, Jax is presented like a serious contender who can believably stand toe-to-toe with future Hall of Famers like Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio. Now, after a few weeks of feuding with Dean Ambrose, it looks like The Irresistible Force will be taking on The Lunatic Fringe at a live event in Arkansas.

This appears to be WWE’s way to test the waters for their modernized brand of intergender wrestling by bringing it on a house show before going to TV with it. If this is truly what it appears to be, then this could be a sink or swim situation. If the return of intergender wrestling on a serious format goes swimmingly, however, then this is excellent news for WWE’s women’s division.

For the same reason why women like Lita and Trish Stratus got even more over, women in WWE today could be able to raise their stock in a similar manner: by looking tough enough when taking on the male roster and looking even tougher when beating them.

Most importantly, it opens up the possibility where a woman could believably challenge for – and maybe even win – the WWE Championship; something that never seemed possible since Chyna was still in a WWE ring.

These could all amount to wonderful things for the women’s division that we hope come to fruition. Nia Jax vs Dean Ambrose has a 50/50 chance at succeeding, but by jove, we hope it succeeds. Making intergending wrestling the norm in WWE is the kind of change many of us have been begging to see from the promotion.