'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Intergender matches are being teased on WWE, but they aren't necessarily new. Here are ten times women have been locked up with men in the squared circle.
In terms of social, political, and cultural gains, women have come a very long way in a short period of time. While there were some societies that were Matriarchal, meaning the women were in positions of political authority--The People of the Longhouse, a Native American Tribe, are a good example--there are many more civilizations where women were kept out of positions of power, or even treated as second class citizens.
Even a place that might seem progressive toward women's rights--the USA--has some ugly history. Women were not granted the right to vote until after massive protests and decades of struggle by suffragettes. As recently as the 1970s, unmarried women were not granted credit card accounts.
So it's quite heartening to see the leaps and bounds by which women have been catching up to men in society. One area where men and women are often kept strictly segregated, even in modern progressive societies, is the realm of sports. Due to physiological differences, many women lack the essential upper body strength to engage in certain sports.
In the world of pro wrestling, there have been women who stood toe to toe against men. Most of the time, it doesn't end well for the female competitor, but there have been exceptions. With Nia Jax entering the men's Royal Rumble at number 30, she seemed to be making a statement about how women are booked in pro wrestling in the modern era.
Here are ten times women have wrestled men in the squared circle.
#1 Laurie Anderson
Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, a certain comedian became a cultural icon by virtue of his quirky, offbeat humor; Andy Kaufman.
Andy Kaufman had a successful run on programs like Taxi, but began to be attracted to the world of pro wrestling. He came up with a shtick where he would go on tour, spout many misogynistic tropes, and then challenge "any woman" in the house to come and beat him in a wrestling match.
While the record says that Kaufman won over 400 intergender matches--and declared himself intergender champion--the woman he wrestled most of those times was Laurie Anderson. A close friend and performance artist herself, Anderson was the 'plant' in the audience whose job it was to answer Kaufman's challenge. She would often 'punish' Kaufman with some painful submission holds, to give the crowd some satisfaction, before doing the job and letting Kaufman pin her.
Kaufman would go on to feud with Jerry "the King" Lawler, but he remained close friends with Anderson until his death.
The wrestling world has often been known to connect with showbusiness that helped the former get mainstream attention, and this was one of the earliest examples of the same.
#2. Chyna
The Ninth Wonder of the World Chyna made an instant splash when she first appeared on WWE television as the manager/valet of Triple H, and she didn't have to utter a word. Her powerful physique spoke for itself. Triple H once stated that Chyna could bench press more than he could at her peak.
Chyna was very over with the WWE universe, and gained a lot of mainstream attention for appearing in Playboy magazine. However, one major achievement of hers often gets downplayed, and that is the night she captured the Intercontinental championship from none other than WWE Hall of Famer--and former WCW world champion--Jeff Jarrett.
Part of the reason why her title win is rarely mentioned has to do with Jarrett holding the IC belt hostage and demanding 100,000 dollars as a bonus for dropping it when he was technically no longer under contract to the WWE.
Some think having him lose the belt to a woman was a punishment for demanding the cash, but when the woman you lose to is the ninth wonder of the world it hardly damages your reputation.
Chyna regularly competed with men like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and Val Venis for mid-card titles. She was hardly seen as a Diva back in the day.
#3 Madusa (Alundra Blayze)
While many fans could understand why Alundra Blayze/Madusa was frustrated with her role in WWE, it was a real head-scratcher when she chose to jump ship and join WCW. After all, even though it wasn't prominently featured on television, at least the WWE had a women's division
WCW did not. While they hastily came up with one, they had to decide what to do with Madusa, a ten-year veteran and international star. She was booked into a match with Meng/Haku as a form of punishment for complaining about the lack of a women's division backstage (kayfabe,) and though she certainly didn't back down an inch the outcome was never in doubt.
Meng would quickly devastate the much smaller Madusa, which was to be expected since he regularly devastated male opponents of a much larger size. Though she was not successful in her match, many credited Madusa with a lot of courage just for getting in the ring with one of the most legitimately feared men in wrestling history.
Alundra Blayze was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2015.
#4 Maria Kanellis
Before the advent of Samoa Joe, there was another Samoan machine smashing his way through the WWE: Umaga.
Originally part of six-man tag team 3 Minute warning, Umaga was repackaged as a 'savage' Samoan, which might not play well to today's audiences but was a smash hit back during his run with the WWE. Umaga was built up not only as a credible wrestling champion but as an unstoppable monster who would often act as an attack dog by the backstage powers in WWE.
Such was the case when Maria asked some difficult questions during a backstage interview. She was forced, literally, into a match against Umaga, who didn't pull any punches and demolished the lovely young woman. We're betting that this is on highlight Maria would rather forget from her previous WWE career. Good thing John Cena was there to save the day.
Maria's bout with the Samoan Bulldozer was a total mismatch on paper and just served as a segment for Cena to cement his position as the hero more than anything else.
#5. Lita
During her run with the WWE in the early 2000s, Lita turned a lot of heads for her dare devil high flying, toughness, and ability to wrestle.
She spent time first as the manager to Essa Rios and then was paired with the Hardy Boys to form Team Extreme. In the course of her relationship with the Hardys, she often found herself facing off against men like Rhyno, Edge, and Christian.
Lita never backed down an inch, not even when the Man of 1000 holds developed a very, very creepy interest in her. In an angle that would never be done in the #metoo era, Malenko would stalk Lita for weeks, and even attacked her physically.
During their feud, Lita actually wrestled Dean in a match. The fans were amazed that she was able to take powerbombs and top rope maneuvers and still come back fighting. The angle isn't spoken about much on television anymore, probably because it would be quite controversial in today's environment, but Lita certainly stood her ground against a decorated international wrestling champion.
#6. Molly Holly
Back in 1999, Molly Holly wasn't working for WWE, she was employed by their competition WCW. Though a women's division was still a ways off for the promotion, they still were hiring wrestlers to build up their potential locker room of women challengers.
One such woman was Molly, who was christened "Miss Madness" and wrestled in an evening gown. She greatly impressed the fans watching with her high flying and ability to mix it up with male competitors.
When she joined the WWE, she was packaged into the Holly family stable, consisting of Crash Holly and Bob "Hardcore" Holly. Though they served together quite capably for a time, the stable was disbanded and Molly wound up facing off against her 'cousin', Crash.
The match is widely remembered for being quite competitive and giving Molly a chance to shine against a journeyman wrestler, who many believe was underrated in his own right.
Despite his diminutive appearance, Crash packed a punch and will be remembered for his hardcore title shenanigans.
#7. Beth Phoenix
Oh, Beth Phoenix, our beloved Glamazon. If only you'd been born about five years later, you could have been part of the Women's Evolution and had matches against the likes of Charlotte, Asuka, and Bayley.
Alas, she was not. Beth Phoenix joined the WWE at a time when bra and panties matches, fulfil your fantasy dress-up battle royals, and hog slop matches were the norm for women. While you can give Phoenix a lot of credit as a trailblazer, and for changing the way that female wrestlers are seen and booked, there's no doubt she was way ahead of her time.
Perhaps that's why she made such a good opponent for Santino Marella, answering his open challenge--and defeating him. Of course, WWE ruined what could have been a great feud by putting them into a romantic storyline together, but at least we have this match to remember.
Santino can feature in this list either as himself or his twin sister Santina.
#8. Miss Jacqueline
In addition to Beth Phoenix, another woman who was way, way ahead of her time was Miss Texas, who became Miss Jacqueline when she joined the WWE.
The former Southwestern women's wrestling star finally made it to the big leagues, the WWE, at a time when women's wrestling was largely filler or used to titillate the overwhelmingly male audience of the era. Nonetheless, she would go on to have a reasonably memorable career, winning the Divas championship and being a prominent part of WWE Television. She was also the only woman tough enough to be a part of the APA stable.
Towards the end of Jackie's WWE career, they would wind up having her answer Chavo Guerrero's open challenge for the cruiserweight title. Jackie actually defeated Chavo and became the first woman to hold the celebrated belt.
The cruiser weight division was a celebrated setup in the WWE owing to its action-packed sequences and Jackie winning the belt just brought in another dimension that was not previously explored.
#9 Stephanie McMahon
These days it might be hard to imagine that Vince McMahon would ever do harm to his beloved, precious daughter Stephanie. After all, she is the mother to his grandchildren and an integral part of the WWE's backstage operations.
However, back in 2003, the McMahons put the D in Dysfunctional families. Vince McMahon would wind up butting heads with daughter Stephanie. Things got so bad that they were actually booked into a pay-per-view match against each other at No Mercy.
Stephanie would go toe-to-toe with the WWE's chairman of the board, using the hardcore rules to her advantage. However, she would be unable to overcome Vince McMahon, who choked his own daughter out with a lead pipe. Still, you have to admire Stephanie McMahon's toughness, fearlessness, and dedication to her company for even accepting the match in the first place.
Vince has often ensured that nothing impedes him and his goals, including his family, and has shown Shane, Stephanie and even Linda for that matter that there will be collateral damage.
#10. Haruka
When it comes to pro wrestling debuts, it might seem like there have been some pretty young people in the ring. Randy Orton was just nineteen years of age when he joined WWE and became a part of Evolution. Brock Lesnar was one of the youngest WWE world champions of all time. And men like Pete Dunne and Roddy Piper lied about their ages so that they could enter the pro wrestling world as teenagers.
However, they all take a backseat to Haruka, a plucky little girl from Japan who desperately, desperately wanted to be a pro wrestler. When the DDT promotion came calling to the shoot boxing academy she trained at, Haruka was very disheartened that she was not chosen, even though she was only a child.
In an unusual move, the DDT promotion felt sorry for Haruka and offered her a chance to train and work a real wrestling match. However, there were few wrestlers willing to work a match with a nine-year-old girl, for fear it would make them look weak. Only one man was up to the challenge; An up and coming Gaijin talent known as Kenny Omega.
Kenny would train Haruko for weeks, and then they put on a match that, in all fairness, was better than the Wrestlemania 34 main event. Any time you doubt that Kenny is the best bout machine, just look at how he made this match look competitive and believable.
There you have it; Ten women who have faced off against men in the squared circle. Questions or comments? Please leave them below and as always thanks for reading!
