Diva Dirt presents its second annual Writers’ Choice Awards, the awards that celebrate the year in women’s wrestling, as decided by the editors and contributors of Diva Dirt. The Diva Dirt team has watched hundreds of episode of wrestling television this year, as well as hundreds of live events on DVD, additionally, we’ve followed a countless number of wrestlers over the year, and reviewed tons of matches. Now, as we come to the end of 2012, we have picked the best of the best to be awarded our Writers’ Choice blue ribbons.
Tag Team or Group of the Year: Midwest Militia
No other group has made quite the same impact as this one – and if any other faction had even tried to lie claim to this award, the Midwest Militia would probably track them down and beat them to a bloody pulp.
The recipients of the same award last year, the Midwest Militia — Jessicka Havok, Allysin Kay and Sassy Stephie — ended 2011 by sending everyone a resounding message: that they were not to be messed with. Backing up their months of trash-talking and threats, the Militia defeated Team WSU (which included then-champion Mercedes Martinez, Alicia and Brittney Savage) in a brutal Steel Cage War Games match. They lived up to their word when they said they’d try to kill Martinez, handcuffing Alicia, Savage AND the special guest referee Amy Lee to the ring ropes, before isolating the champion herself. Allysin Kay introduced a machete and they threatened to stab Martinez if she didn’t quit. Martinez disrespected them by spitting in Havok’s face, which made Havok go crazy and start beating on everyone. Thankfully for Mercedes, she was saved a very bloody ending when both Alicia and Savage quit, ending the match.
The Midwest Militia had arrived.
They began 2012 on a fairly quiet note, with Havok pinning Becky Bayless to retain the Spirit Title (with her girls in her corner, naturally) and Stephie and Kay teaming up with Tina San Antonio and Jennifer Cruz to defeat Marti Belle, Jana, Alicia and Savage… but they also wound up losing in the main event of the evening when they were beaten by Alicia, Savage and TNA Knockout Traci Brooks.
March, however, was truly their month. At the 5th Anniversary show on March 3rd, Sassy Stephie and Allysin Kay defeated Alicia and Brittney Savage in a brutal Uncensored Rules match (it involved chairs, barbed wire and several doors) to become the new #1 contenders to the WSU Tag Team Championships.
Directly after the Soul Sisters won the tag titles later in the evening, Kay issued a challenge. The Soul Sisters’ victory was just a fluke, she claimed, but the Midwest Militia’s wouldn’t be, and moments later, this rang true when Allysin and Stephie became your new WSU Tag Team Champions after Kay forced Latasha to tap out to her now famous jujigatame.
Jessicka Havok was not to be overlooked either – although the Militia were banned from ringside and unable to assist, she required no help when she put Mercedes Martinez through a table in the main event of the show, becoming the new WSU Champion after a long and arduous battle. She was the woman to end Mercedes’ whopping three-year championship reign and she was at the top of the mountain.
The next few months, the Midwest Militia spent defeating most challenges that came their way. Although WSU announced in June that they were being taken over by a new owner and they were taking a small hiatus until October, nothing and nobody could stop the Militia. They even made their way North to Montreal, Quebec in July for NCW Femmes Fatales IX – toppling “The Rush Revolution” (Courtney Rush, Xandra Bale and a surprise return in Cat Power).
Although they spent some of the next few months apart – Allysin Kay formed a team in SHINE with Taylor Made called “Made In Sin” and Jessicka Havok was focused on destroying Reby Sky – by the time WSU’s return show in October rolled around, the Midwest Militia were still a force to be reckoned with. In the “WSU vs. Beyond” pre-show that featured all male vs. female matches, Allysin Kay and Sassy Stephie defeated Sugar Dunkerton and Aaron Epic in tag team action, while Jessicka beat Mark Angel. Havok also demolished Alicia and Lexxus in the main event of the WSU show, while the other two girls made quick work of Annie Social and Kimber Lee.
We love this group because they’re dominating, dastardly and deliciously evil, which sets them apart from the bitchy, snobby princess heel gimmicks that many wrestlers turn to. They’ll fit in quite nicely at WSU’s next show – a joint production with Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) in February 2013 called “An Ultraviolent Affair”. They’ve all ended 2012 as the women to beat, and based on their past victims, who can even stop them?
More awards:
– Most Improved: Brooke Tessmacher
Stay tuned for more Writers’ Choice Awards throughout December.
