Diva Dirt presents its third 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, followed a countless number of wrestlers and reviewed tons of matches. Now, as we come to the end of 2013, we have picked the best of the best to be awarded our Writers’ Choice trophies.
Indy Star of the Year: Cheerleader Melissa
Though she is one of women’s wrestling’s true veterans, Cheerleader Melissa isn’t coasting on the achievements of her past. In fact, 2013 was one of her most successful years to date, easily earning her the distinction of Diva Dirt’s Writers’ Choice for Indy Star of the Year.
Melissa always seems to be well decorated, this year’s accessories of choice being the PWR Women’s Championship, the RCW Angels Division Championship and the SHIMMER Championship. She won the latter at April’s SHIMMER 53 iPPV, defeating longtime rival Saraya Knight in a Steel Cage match.
When she wasn’t busy dominating SHIMMER, Melissa traveled across the country, performing for numerous indy promotions and maintaining her reputation as one of the hardest working women in wrestling. She even headed overseas for the Bellatrix vs. SHIMMER event, tirelessly wrestling Saraya to a 20-minute draw.
At the fall set of SHIMMER tapings, Melissa overcame a number of challengers and a busted open forehead to emerge with her SHIMMER Championship reign intact. She wrestled LuFisto with a veritable “crimson mask”, retaining her title, heading to the hospital for some stitches and returning in time to interfere in the final match of the tapings, costing LuFisto her match and getting some sweet revenge. Now that’s dedication.
If all of that wasn’t enough, Melissa put in an appearance as Alissa Flash at TNA’s Knockout Knockdown PPV, wrestling Gail Kim in one of the most acclaimed matches of the night.
She even gave fans a never-before-seen peek into the life of an indy women’s wrestler in Diva Dirt’s exclusive series Independent Women. When the series returns in 2014, you can be sure that Melissa will take us even further into that world.
When considering all of that, it’s no surprise that she topped this year’s PWI Female 50 for the first time her her career, beating out the likes of Mickie James, AJ Lee, Jessicka Havok and Saraya Knight. Clearly, a consensus has been reached: 2013 was the year of Cheerleader Melissa.
Come back tomorrow to see which women were crowned 2013’s Diva, Knockout and Wrestler of the Year.
