Hello everyone it’s me Brendan Bradley again and recently I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the prospects of intergender wrestling. The world in general has been getting more progressive over the past couple of decades, which in turn has helped professional wrestling evolve as a storytelling art, with the women being on a par with the men all across the board for the first time ever!
Look no further then the all women’s main event at WrestleMania 35 for WWE, and the increased spotlight on Tessa Blanchard in IMPACT Wrestling prior to her leaving for proof of this ideology spreading all around major wrestling companies. So in order to celebrate that I thought of some intergender wrestling matches I would like to see and why… let’s get started!
Match 1. Toni Storm VS Will Osprey.
First up on this list is a clash between two of the youngest and fastest-rising athletes in professional wrestling – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Will Osprey and former NXT UK women’s champion Toni Storm. Contrary to popular belief Toni is actually the veteran between these two athletes, having made her pro wrestling debut in 2009 whereas Osprey made his in 2012. I think that would lead to an interesting dynamic because both competitors are used to being the rookies in most of their contests.
This could potentially lead to a lot of questions of how Storm would handle that as a character and if the extra experience would change her approach in any way against the ever-popular aerial assassin. In terms of their many accomplishments, both stars are loaded with countless successes that people twice their ages would be lucky to have, including but not limited to their incredible tournament victories. The tournaments in question were the second annual Mae Young Classic for Toni Storm which she won at WWE’s first-ever all women’s PPV Evolution in October of 2018, and the 2019 Best Of Super Juniors for Will Ospreay.
I really do believe that these two athletes would pull out all the stops, in their quest to prove that they are undisputably the best young athlete in the sport regardless of gender or promotion,and it would be fantastic to see unfold on a big stage that is deserving of their talents!
Match 2. Asuka VS Daniel Bryan.
The second match on this list is one that features two of my favorite wrestlers in WWE today, in former WWE champion Daniel Bryan and the longest-reigning NXT women’s champion of all time in Asuka. I understand that at first glance these two competitors may seem drastically different as a result of Asuka’s confident but quiet swagger, by comparison to the loud and in your face pride of Daniel Bryan. But it’s those differences combined with some unique career parallels that could make this match so fun.
Both of them have spent years traveling around the world cultivating a vicious high risk-taking style making them pioneers of that offense for their respective genders, along with the fact that both are incredibly popular with WWE fans despite neither of them fitting the traditional mold of what WWE superstars usually are perceived to be. I really do feel like these competitors could craft a fun story if they are given the chance, since both of them have proved that they can have great matches with a variety of styles while receiving critical acclaim in recent times for their performances. I’m sure that this bout would be no exception.
Match 3. Andrade and Charlotte VS Adam Cole and Britt Baker.
Third on this list is a tag team bout between two of professional wrestling’s most prominent power couples, with all four of them making history in pro wrestling on an almost daily basis. For example, between the two men involved they have a combined 543 days as NXT champion and countless incredible matches that I’m proud to have witnessed. However that doesn’t mean their female counterparts have just let them take all the spotlight, because they have also been major cornerstones of some of professional wrestling’s biggest stories in the past couple of years.
Charlotte was one of the participants in the historic all women’s main event at WrestleMania 35, the winner of the 2020 Women’s Royal Rumble and has held more championships than any women in WWE history. Britt Baker took part in the major women’s 4 way at the historic AEW All In in September of 2018, and is being positioned as one of AEWs biggest women’s stars every week! Which all that together, makes this a incredibly enticing tag team bout anyway you look at it!
Match 4. Brock Lesnar VS Ronda Rousey.
Next on this list is a match between two of the most adaptable and recognizable stars in WWE history. Out of all the matches on this list, this is the one that may actually be the easiest to imagine happening, as a result of both competitors’ combat sports backgrounds and WWE successes. Ronda broke incredible ground in UFC as a major star in the women’s divisions before becoming a major names in WWE. Brock has been a huge star both both companies now for the best part of 15 years.
I think it would be surreal and unpredictable to see these two face off in the ring but in the best way, because of the perfect combination of athleticism and mainstream marketability that both of them possess. Not to mention it would be a really interesting scenario if Lesnar was confronted by Ronda’s Four Horsewomen stable during the build up, because he’s usually a lone wolf type of guy and it would be real cool for fans to see how he would handle the numbers game.
I would be really intrigued to see what would happen if the baddest woman on the planet faced the baddest beast in what would be a fight for the ages without a doubt!
Match 5. Johnny Gargano VS Io Shirai.
Fifth, on this list, is a match between two of WWE’s fastest rising stars who have both captivated audiences with their incredible speed and character work. I am of course talking about none other than former NXT Triple Crown Champion Johnny Gargano and NXT women’s champion Io Shirai. Both of these competitors have been standouts of WWEs black and gold brand over the past few years with incredible critically acclaimed matches, such as Gargano’s with Tommasso Ciampa, Adam Cole and Keith Lee, along with Shirai’s matches against Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, and Toni Storm.
I think it would be really interesting to see what these two could come up with as a story especially after Johnny turned heel recently, turning up his aggression immensely and making him the perfect contrast for Io’s incredibly simple underdog babyface persona. I also believe that in terms of fresh marquee matchups this could be one of the biggest that WWE could throw onto NXT during its run on USA programming, since both competitors have yet to cross paths at all even in mixed tag-team variants.
Match 6. Jay Lethal VS Becky Lynch.
Last but certainly not least on this list, is a contest between two incredibly athletic and charismatic stars that each transcend the pro-wrestling bubble.
The two in question are two time Ring Of Honor World Champion Jay Lethal, and former RAW and Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch.
Both superstars had arguably the biggest years of their professional careers simultaneously in 2019 while churning out classic match after classic match along the way. I am a huge fan of both athletes and they are undoubtedly on top of their professional games more so than ever as of this writing, despite Becky having to step away from WWE temporarily. Evidence of this can be found in the fact that Lynch was one of the first women to main event WrestleMania in 2019, while Jay Lethal was a major centerpiece of the biggest show in Ring of Honor history that same weekend at Madison Square Garden.
Thinking about what would happen if the two biggest stars in ROH and WWE faced off makes me shiver with anticipation and excitement at the possibilities in this contest, and out of the six matches I’ve written about here I honestly would have to say that this is the one I would most like to see!
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