Sorry Guys, This Weekend Belonged to the Women

One of the stars of the weekend, in her native habitat
Photo Credit: John Hyperion/Dirty Dirty Sheets

There was quite the bit of independent wrestling going down this weekend. More than a couple of promotions, Chikara being the most prominent (aside, I am going through serious Chikara withdrawal right now), ran shows this weekend. There were a lot of happenings, story advancement and big title matches, but the weekend didn't belong to the mystery assailants who assaulted the Chikara sekigun (more on that later) or Petey Williams or Silas Young or even Team FIST. It belonged to three women, all making their marks on Friday night.

The first was Rachel Summerlyn. For a name who has wrestled for ROH on TV and a SHIMMER mainstay, she's really not all that established with the Northeast crowds. However, when I say she's a big deal, she's a big deal, at least to fans of Anarchy Championship Wrestling she is (and not just for having fine assets if you know what I mean). She's among the most decorated and popular wrestlers in that promotion because she goes balls to the wall against all comers, male, female, hermaphrodite or ursine (well, maybe not the last one yet, but I'm bound and determined to get someone to book an awesome wrestler against a bear). Whether in yoga pants or soaked in her opponent's blood, she brings the goods. Austin knows this. Brandon Stroud, Sergio Hernandez and John Hyperion know this. But Northeast fans by and large don't.

That's why Summerlyn winning 2CW's Girls Grand Prix in Syracuse Friday was such a big deal. By going through three different women who have made it in the Northeast and in Ohio, including tapping Sara del Rey in the finals (!!!), she's pretty much told the biggest hub in indie wrestling that she's here and there's nothing anyone can do about it. That's fine by me, obviously. The limited amount of work I've seen from Summerlyn has been impressive enough that I'm hungry for more, and hey, I'm going to get more if ACW ever gets off their Texan tuchus and releases their first two shows from 2012 on DVD.

The other two women wrestled against each other in what was the hardest hitting match of the entire weekend. AAW in Chicago had a Falls Count Anywhere match between MsChif and Mena Libra. On one hand, the maxim of "Women work twice as hard to get half the respect" felt like it rang somewhat true here, as by all accounts, this was the kind of brawl that left jaws dropped and was better suited for the last match before the main event, not as pre-intermission fare. On the other, is card position really that important when two wrestlers lay it out on the line? The important thing is that they left their imprimatur on the crowd at 115 Bourbon Street. I'm sure most people who left there remembered Chif giving Libra the Desecrator off the bar through a table more than anything else.

While there was indie action for anyone who wanted it in so many different locales this past weekend, the unquestioned stars to me were the women. In a perfect world, I wouldn't have to point this out, but we're not close to the point where we can stop referring to wrestlers by gender (or race or ethnicity) and just refer to all of them as wrestlers, part of a combined club where differences are measured in character and ability, not by nature and genetics.