On December 2nd, wrestling fans gathered in the Knights of Columbus Hall in Lasalle, IL to see AAW, a popular independent promotion, crown it’s first-ever Women’s Champion. This is a significant event because today’s wrestling fans are hungry for significant women’s storylines and matches. Thus, adding a prestigious title into the equation heightens the significance of AAW’s Women’s Division and gives them something that other popular independent promotions don’t have.
The table was set when AAW announced that they would be hosting a Women’s Championship Tournament including 12 competitors spanning over a few months of shows.
Pictured above are 12 amazing wrestlers all with their own unique sets of strengths and skills. For a majority of the wrestlers in the image above, this was their AAW debut. Now having these 12 competitors wrestle alone would have been a progressive step in the right direction. But having them wrestle for a title and a chance to defend that title, increases the excitement that wrestling fans had for these matches that took place from August to early December of 2017.
Before the fans of AAW were introduced to these new faces and the tournament, the Women’s Division mostly consisted of Jessicka Havok, Candice LeRae, Heidi Lovelace (Now Ruby Riott in WWE), and Kimber Lee (Now Abbey Laith in NXT). These four stars would often open AAW shows and have great matches, but the matches failed to build to any significant story. With Abbey and Ruby’s departure to NXT, this left a void in the division and AAW management realized that it was time to make a statement. Thus, the tournament was born much to the delight of the AAW fans.
At a first glance, AAW fans could suspect Jessicka Havok and Candice LeRae to be early favorites considering their history with the company and years of experience with other promotions. Jessicka Havok has been featured in many upper mid-card matches alongside her fellow faction members, Sami Calihan and the Crist Brothers (Oi4k), and hasn’t shied away from mixing it up in inter-gender skirmishes with mid-level and top AAW protangonists.
Jessicka’s journey to this high level of credibility in AAW has not been without adversarial trials and tribulations. Jessicka has unfortunately been the victim of actions taken by hateful wrestling fans that have robbed her from opportunities to elevate her career. Furthermore, she feels she has not received a certain level of vindication from other promotions that she has worked with in the past. After a down period in her life, she found the strength to pick herself up off the preverbal mat and make improvements and adjustments to her body of work. Certain failures and hardships only made The Havok Death Machine a stronger individual inside and out, and this emotional roller coaster came to a head on December 2nd.
The finals of the AAW Women’s Championship Tournament saw Ivelisse, Rachel Ellering and Jessicka Havok square off in an intense elimination triple threat barnburner for the right to become the first-ever Women’s Champion in AAW history.
In the end, the stars aligned and Jessicka Havok stood victoriously in the squared circle with her new AAW Women’s Championship. The crowd showered her with “You Deserve It” chants, and were pleased to know that women’s wrestling in AAW has been elevated to a whole new playing field.
So proud of this girl! First @AAWPro Women’s champion! pic.twitter.com/ab3WNTp22X
— Callihan Death Machine (@TheSamiCallihan) December 3, 2017
Photo credit for picture above — @GoddessOfCats on Twitter
The following audio is an interview with Jessicka Havok that took place after her emotional AAW Women’s Championship victory. This audio was recorded by 2 Heels and A Face Wrestling podcast for the Diva-Dirt viewers.
Congratulate Jessicka Havok in the comment section below and let us know your thoughts on AAW crowning their first-ever Women’s Champion!
