Inter-gender wrestling has always been a touchy subject. Lots of people like it , but others find it uncomfortable or find it hard to suspend their disbelief . Recently  promotions like Impact have made it a more prominent feature of their shows. 

My question is on the whole do you find it to be a positive thing for women's wrestlers, in that do you think it makes them better wrestlers? Also do you think it has a place in mainstream wrestling?

Im of two minds on this , I think wrestling men can help women wrestlers learn to wrestle a more hard hitting impactful style instead of being too soft or hesitant like you see a lot with some women wrestlers, especially in the past. Tessa Blanchard and Jordyne Grace imo are two examples of the positives results of women having matches with men 

On the other hand I agree with what Gail Kim had to say in this video interview she did with Pete Rosenberg. 




A lot of times you see women wrestlers getting talked up for their matches with guys and the different spots they can pull of in those matches (I'm looking at you Candice Lerae before your time in NXT), when their matches with other women are not nearly as good. So I think in some regards focusing too much on inter-gender wrestling could maybe result in women wrestlers and their fans having a bit of overinflated of their ability as wrestlers especially when it comes to wrestling women.

I'm not really in favour of long term storylines because I don't think there's a real way that it can be booked well. It's largely forgotten now because the payoff was great, but the storyline building up to Trish's WMXX heel turn had some pretty huge logic holes in it. To Impact's credit I think what they are doing with Tessa at the moment is about as good as it can be done - there's a real purpose/motive behind it and it's working to turn someone well ensconced as a heel into a babyface who genuinely gets cheered.

One area that I think it can be really effective is for individual moments and establishing characters. WWE shying away from male/female interaction has come at the cost of some of this (and the MMC was a refreshing reminder of how valuable it can be). There's no doubt that the popularity that Trish and Lita went onto achieve was because they were introduced alongside men and given major moments that meant fans had a reason to care about them. Lita taking that powerbomb from Eddie Guerrero on the floor was a crazy moment, same with Trish getting put through the table by Bubba Dudley - those were real legitimising moments which showcased how tough they were and are still iconically memorable almost 20 years later. On the flipside, the extra strength that men have can help make the girls moves look fantastic. The way the Crist brother took Tessa's Magnum this week made that move look better than it ever has before.

Jun 11, 2019 6:52:53 GMT @admin said:

I'm not really in favour of long term storylines because I don't think there's a real way that it can be booked well. It's largely forgotten now because the payoff was great, but the storyline building up to Trish's WMXX heel turn had some pretty huge logic holes in it. To Impact's credit I think what they are doing with Tessa at the moment is about as good as it can be done - there's a real purpose/motive behind it and it's working to turn someone well ensconced as a heel into a babyface who genuinely gets cheered.

One area that I think it can be really effective is for individual moments and establishing characters. WWE shying away from male/female interaction has come at the cost of some of this (and the MMC was a refreshing reminder of how valuable it can be). There's no doubt that the popularity that Trish and Lita went onto achieve was because they were introduced alongside men and given major moments that meant fans had a reason to care about them. Lita taking that powerbomb from Eddie Guerrero on the floor was a crazy moment, same with Trish getting put through the table by Bubba Dudley - those were real legitimising moments which showcased how tough they were and are still iconically memorable almost 20 years later. On the flipside, the extra strength that men have can help make the girls moves look fantastic. The way the Crist brother took Tessa's Magnum this week made that move look better than it ever has before.

Would you agree with Gail though that you can't fully judge a women's talent level by their work with men due to men being better bases, and physically stronger?

I think it definitely works a a way to get female talents over , like you mentioned with Trish, Lita, and especially Chyna . Even Melina was a bigger star because of her interactions with male wrestlers. I think the segregation of the women from the men in WWE is a major negative. We need more interactions like Zelina doing highspts to men on NXT. 

Most of the time the stories are crap which is why people hate intergender stuff. When it is done well, it is amazing though. Sara Del Rey's SHIMMER run from BDK on was amazing and most of the time she fought men. Her match with Kingston is one of my favorite matches as it was so insane. Her match with Cesaro in the 12 Round was amazing as well. Kimberly's battles with Dev Corp and Ruby Riott's intergender work was also good.

In all of these matches the women were portrayed as wrestlers, not women's wrestlers, and worked as equals. The reason I loved Kingson vs Del Rey is as stiff as Eddie is, Del Rey worked stiffer and beat the living hell out of him. She matched up well with Claudo and while she was not as strong, she was smarter beating him in the end.

Took some time, but some of the Del Rey Kingston match here. Full match not online for free.





Another video not online is the pay off of the Dev Corp / Wrecking Crew vs Princess Kimberlee feud.  While many of these are one off's this was a longer feud that ended with her beating Max Smashmaster without help and surviving a brutal beating long enough to get a window to lock in the Allegator clutch and retain the title.  While the Crown and Court win was good, this was better.  Del Rey's arc was longer too with the guys kicking her out of the crumbling BDK when her and Haze demanding respect from the BDK and them telling her she is just a woman.  She then went on to beat Claudo in the match I linked showing him she was better than even the leader of the BDK himself.  

If done properly with a good story I don't have a problem with it. I prefer it more as a special attraction. Like a lot of things if you get too much of it. It loses what made it special.

With Tessa build her against the Crist brothers she didn't really look that out of place. Oddly enough she is shorter and smaller then I thought.

I am alright with it but it is almost impossible to book the male as a face and female as a heel. I know one time I think it would have work in WWE was the Cedric, Alicia, and Dar feud.

Jun 11, 2019 18:31:51 GMT X-zero said:

With Tessa build her against the Crist brothers she didn't really look that out of place. Oddly enough she is shorter and smaller then I thought.

I am alright with it but it is almost impossible to book the male as a face and female as a heel. I know one time I think it would have work in WWE was the Cedric, Alicia, and Dar feud.

Trish in the Christian vs Jericho feud is an example of it working with the women as the heel. 

Jun 11, 2019 19:48:43 GMT dex said:

Jun 11, 2019 18:31:51 GMT X-zero said:

With Tessa build her against the Crist brothers she didn't really look that out of place. Oddly enough she is shorter and smaller then I thought.

I am alright with it but it is almost impossible to book the male as a face and female as a heel. I know one time I think it would have work in WWE was the Cedric, Alicia, and Dar feud.

Trish in the Christian vs Jericho feud is an example of it working with the women as the heel. 

All the ones I remember she was face. Atleast at the start of the match if she turned at the end I don't really count those.

But do any feature a heel woman at the start of the match that is competitive. (not just dodges, roll ups, and degrading moves)

I don't think inter gender matches are bad for the women, but once a woman has won a match or a feud with a man who is typically larger than the women, I wonder "now what". If tessa can beat Samir Callahan, why would she have any trouble with any of the other women.

When Ronda was throwing around triple h it made any future matches with women seem unbelievable, why would she have trouble with ruby or Alexa if she can toss triple h like a rag doll?

Jun 15, 2019 8:30:30 GMT nazzer said:

When Ronda was throwing around triple h it made any future matches with women seem unbelievable, why would she have trouble with ruby or Alexa if she can toss triple h like a rag doll?

She beat them both super convincingly in every match she had with those two, did she not?

Jun 16, 2019 9:14:41 GMT @admin said:

Jun 15, 2019 8:30:30 GMT nazzer said:

When Ronda was throwing around triple h it made any future matches with women seem unbelievable, why would she have trouble with ruby or Alexa if she can toss triple h like a rag doll?

She beat them both super convincingly in every match she had with those two, did she not?

Yes exactly. If one woman (Ronda, tessa) can defeat men then she should have more trouble with other women. So there is ko suspense or intrigue. Its kind of boring to expect one person to dominate a division.

So intergender wrestling detracts from women s wrestling

Tessa vs Jake Crist was really good.

As far as if a woman can beat a man she should have no problem beating women thing goes. Is true. Until she loses to another woman. Kind of like Ronda's MMA career. All the MMA "experts" were saying she is the greatest. Then she lost and a lot of the same "experts" started pointing out all her flaws.

Jun 22, 2019 13:11:12 GMT bodyslam said:

Tessa vs Jake Crist was really good.

Just got around to watching this and totally agree. I think they did a fantastic job of presenting this match as exactly that, just another match. Josh and Don deserve a lot of credit for their commentary (Josh's new "Tessa B ain't nothing to mess with" line is great) putting over Tessa without making the whole thing feel like a sideshow. 

Finally, it all just works because Tessa is legitimately just a great wrestler. She's so good it's perfectly believable that she could hang with a man.

Jun 27, 2019 0:26:26 GMT @admin said:

Jun 22, 2019 13:11:12 GMT bodyslam said:

Tessa vs Jake Crist was really good.

Just got around to watching this and totally agree. I think they did a fantastic job of presenting this match as exactly that, just another match. Josh and Don deserve a lot of credit for their commentary (Josh's new "Tessa B ain't nothing to mess with" line is great) putting over Tessa without making the whole thing feel like a sideshow. 

Finally, it all just works because Tessa is legitimately just a great wrestler. She's so good it's perfectly believable that she could hang with a man.

I thought the match was fine but I didn't like the reference. I don't know much about her but it feels like the Tessa B was a reference to Cardi B since she is in the news alot. Maybe I am reading to much into it.

Jun 27, 2019 21:09:28 GMT X-zero said:

Jun 27, 2019 0:26:26 GMT @admin said:

Just got around to watching this and totally agree. I think they did a fantastic job of presenting this match as exactly that, just another match. Josh and Don deserve a lot of credit for their commentary (Josh's new "Tessa B ain't nothing to mess with" line is great) putting over Tessa without making the whole thing feel like a sideshow. 

Finally, it all just works because Tessa is legitimately just a great wrestler. She's so good it's perfectly believable that she could hang with a man.

I thought the match was fine but I didn't like the reference. I don't know much about her but it feels like the Tessa B was a reference to Cardi B since she is in the news alot. Maybe I am reading to much into it.

It probably is, but it's also this:

Jun 27, 2019 21:09:28 GMT X-zero said:

Jun 27, 2019 0:26:26 GMT @admin said:

Just got around to watching this and totally agree. I think they did a fantastic job of presenting this match as exactly that, just another match. Josh and Don deserve a lot of credit for their commentary (Josh's new "Tessa B ain't nothing to mess with" line is great) putting over Tessa without making the whole thing feel like a sideshow. 

Finally, it all just works because Tessa is legitimately just a great wrestler. She's so good it's perfectly believable that she could hang with a man.

I thought the match was fine but I didn't like the reference. I don't know much about her but it feels like the Tessa B was a reference to Cardi B since she is in the news alot. Maybe I am reading to much into it.

could B but I think you might be reading to much into it.