Posted By James Walsh on 07/04/17


Andy Kaufman had the World Inter-Gender Wrestling Title. The joke was he could beat any Southern belle in a match. The opponent was usually not a very athletic female. And yet, we watched and got sucked in to the angle.

Fast forward about 40 years, give or take, and you see Inter-Gender matches creeping up on mainstream programming from time to time.

Of course, we had Chyna and Jeff Jarrett.... Chyna and Chris Jericho.... Heck, Chyna set the bar high for women's wrestling before her fall from grace after getting railroaded out of the WWE. TNA/GFW Impact Wrestling did Inter-Gender matches early on with Trinity and Kid Kash and In Demand PPV nearly blew a gasket.

But, Lucha Underground takes the cake. On Wednesday night, a PJ Black versus Sexy Starr match will air that is sure to excite. PJ Black is a 225 pound jacked South African male athlete whereas Sexy Starr is about a 150 pound toned Mexican female athlete. Of the two, Sexy Starr is the former Lucha Underground champion having won the 3rd Aztec Warfare (like the Royal Rumble) pinning Mil Muertes. She is a legitimate performer as a woman in a male, or mostly male, division.

Cody Rhodes recently stated he did not much care for Inter-Gender matches. His reasons are commendable. I share many of those views. But, I do not fault the girls that can do it if they are up to snuff.

Not to brag but I was a fairly decent mat wrestler, amateur wrestling, in high school. I was very thin so I was pitted against a girl who I will leave nameless on here in case she should read the ramblings of a guy she hasn't spoken to in 20 years or in case my wife is reading.

She was in her tight gray sweats and got down on all 4's to start the mat match.

I opted out.

There are two reasons why I opted out of this match.

1. I know I could beat her and would feel bad if doing so would hurt her.
2. I had pictured her in this position before and could not say how uncomfortable it would be to try and control animal urges.

Bottom line?

Women are different from men. They can be athletes. Trust me, every single woman in the WNBA would beat me at a game of 1 on 1. BUT, wrestling is simulated violence and sometimes rather extreme violence. It takes a special kind of woman to keep up with a beefy dude and take, like a man would, his physical abuse convincingly... Even with wrestling's predetermined nature, not every woman could take a shot from a much larger male opponent and keep coming. It just is the truth.

While I agree morally with Cody Rhodes' recent comments, I simply am saying in the year 2017, if someone can hang in the ring even if they have nothing hanging between their legs, I'm OK with it!