A Big Weekend for Match Announcements

Will Storm be known as Toni Four Belts on December 1?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

So in case you were distracted by other things, two huge indie match announcements were made this weekend. One pits two teams from the East Coast/deathmatch scene against each other in a match that shouldn't seem as exciting as it does, and the other is a SHIMMER World Championship match between two Mae Young Classic competitors. For those who think the indies aren't doing work here in America, they aren't following Beyond Wrestling or the women's wrestling network that likes names patterned after laundry detergent.

Beyond Wrestling is moving down south into New Jersey for the first time since it ran secret shows at the Combat Zone Wrestling Academy, teaming with Game Changer Wrestling for a show called Denim Recruits on October 28, and it announced an epic tag match that might not leave anyone in attendance alive. In one corner is the legendary indie tag team of Monsta Mack and "Mafia" Dan Maff. In the other is the H8 Club, featuring Nate Hatred and Nick Gage. DHS was one of the cornerstone teams of the early indie renaissance that reformed in the last few years and has owned the New York/New Jersey/Philly indie scene. They're rough and tumble, a team that knows how to use its HOSS status for maximum effect. Meanwhile, Hatred and Gage have terrorized teams with their brand of violence. Of course, if DHS wanted to add some extra juice to the match and pocket some coin or at least a free meal, they could reach out to Buffalo Wild Wings for an endorsement, but maybe I'm just talking out my ass here.

The other big match announced was for the RISE Promotion, which is the wrestling company arm of Kevin Harvey's initiative to train the next generation of women's wrestlers and promoters. While the venture feels like an arm to enhance SHIMMER and to an extent SHINE Wrestling, it has some big marquee names attached to it at times, and it will have a mammoth match taking place at its December 1 show in South Gate, CA. Should Mercedes Martinez survive the next round of SHIMMER tapings with her World Championship, she will put it on the line against international superstar Toni Storm. Storm and Martinez both were semifinalists in the Mae Young Classic, and one could argue that their standing in that tournament raises the stakes in this match if only to put more eyes on it. Additionally, it appears neither one signed with WWE, so I appreciate the hustle.

Storm is looking to add another title to her collection. She won the World of STARDOM Championship from Mayu Iwatami following her big win in the Five Star Grand Prix. Add that to her Scottish Wrestling Alliance and PROGRESS Wrestling Women's Championships, and she's amassing a veritable Ultimo Dragon-esque number of titles. Martinez, if she's still the Champion then, will be no easy task, but regardless of what the circumstances are, this should be one hell of a match.

Indies across America are still putting on great shows with great matches. Beyond and RISE giving their audiences those two matches is just the latest in examples of providence still being given stateside.