Fans of professional sports-entertaining are abuzz today with the announcement that John Cena and the Undertaker will indeed square off next month at WrestleMania — and that it will be a “once in a lifetime” mixed-tag match with their respective significant others, Nikki Bella and Michelle McCool.

For weeks, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has been teasing a singles showdown between Cena and the Undertaker, but many fans and pundits worried that such a one-on-one match would be boring and anticlimactic without the inclusion of each man’s fiancee or wife.

As part of its ongoing “women’s revolution,” World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has brought mixed tag matches to the forefront of its programming, stating in a press release that “they are by far the most popular type of match in the history of forever.”

In fact, in accordance with the company’s efforts to be a fully inclusive and egalitarian workplace, WWE mandated that women must receive equal airtime as men in all programming — which means other matches at WrestleMania have also become mixed-tag affairs, including:

  • Roman Reigns and Sasha Banks vs. Brock Lesnar and Sable
  • Charlotte Flair and Ric Flair vs. Asuka and The Emperor of Tomorrow (The Great Muta)
  • Shinsuke Nakamura and Yoshihiko vs. AJ Styles and Claire Lynch

A WWE spokesperson also announced that the company will phase out male performers entirely by 2021.

 

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