WWE will bring its NXT to the 2300 Arena that has been made great by the ECW, and in fact we know there will be athletes from the former federation like Dawn Marie, Bubba Ray Dudley and RVD, although it seems that the company also wanted another veteran: Lita, at least according to Fightful.
"Fightful Select has heard that the idea of having Lita work at NXT has been proposed. WWE has been in touch to have more ECW personalities at the show that will be held at the ECW 2300 Arena next week. The federation has already announced that Dawn Marie will be involved, and Bully Ray has appeared on TV.
Fightful learned that a tag team match was proposed that would involve Lita, who appeared in ECW as Miss Congeniality. The idea we heard was about a match of eight or ten participants that would happen in the show. Lita was actually at 2300 Arena last week. However, we were told that it was actually for reasons independent of WWE. The match was offered for the whole week." The match was announced, but without Lita involved.
Lita is a true legend
Speaking at Comic-Con Northern Ireland 2024, Lita was asked what she would do differently in WWE for the women’s division, while also at her side was her best friend Trish Stratus, with the two who have written important chapters of history for women in the wrestler, with the Hall Of Famer who replied: "I would love to see, although now women are represented quite well in the shows, more matches with the women involved that go to occupy half of the show. There may not be only women’s matches, but there could be many more matches during the evening. But what I really would like to see is more interaction between the two genders, thinning that line that separates them, where titles do not have to be necessarily men and women, but are simply titles, and anyone who can hold the opponent’s shoulders on the ground for a count of three becomes the champion, or anyone who can subdue someone else becomes the champion for that night."
Obviously a very complex discourse considering that the WWE has always been rather reluctant to do this thing, perhaps for fear of criticism from people about possible physical violence on women, so much so that every time a woman must attack a man is lawful, and they are still almost always well-adjusted women, while the opposite is never done despite several wrestlers we pushed for this thing saying that there would be no problem for them.
During the Attitude Era regularly took place these Intergender Matches, such as the late Chyna, to which Rhea has been compared many times both for attitude and storyline, played different and with athletes like Chris Jericho and Jeff Jarrrett. She also participated in the Royal Rumble as Beth Phoenix, and also won the Intercontinental title. The last intergender match held in WWE was that between Rhea Ripley and Akira Tozawa on December 19, 2022, with Bash in Berlin who saw the same Mami attack Dominik Mysterio in a mixed tag team match then.
A new scenario
Recently, Dominik Mysterio also opened up the possibility of an intergender match because of his storyline with Rhea Ripley. For a long time, the one formed by Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio was the most dominant couple of WWE. When Rhea was forced to stop due to an injury caused by Liv Morgan the couple began to wobble right at the hand of Liv until the final collapse occurred at SummerSlam, when Dominik openly allied - and not only - with her. Judgment Day then acted accordingly, so we saw Finn Balor boycott Damian Priest until he lost the title to Gunther, effectively terminating the two former champions from Judgment Day.
In the following weeks not only the Terror Twins were born, But the rivalry with Dominik and Liv has escalated so much to come to a Mixed Tag Team Match at WWE Bash In Berlin where the couple formed by Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest defeated that composed by Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan. But in that match there was an emblematic moment that the most attentive fans remember as a dejà vu of 2002 (what you see in the photo) and that lit up hopes to see a 1 vs. 1 match between Dominik and Rhea. Difficult? yes. Impossible? No.
Inside The Ropes recalls that Chyna, Beth Phoenix and Nia Jax participated in the men’s Royal Rumble... However, single matches are rarer. The last one was played by Rhea Ripley against Akira Tozawa on December 19, 2022 and ended with the victory of the Australian.