SHINE 11 - Title Tournament Picks

Tonight is a big night for SHINE Wrestling, the 1 year anniversary show and the show that will crown the inaugural champion.  With 14 women in the tournament, fans are all over the board with potential winners.   This tournament has a wide range of women; nationally recognized women like Awesome Kong, Angelina Love, and Ivelisse Valez; staples of the independent wrestling scene list Rain, Mercedes Martinez, Jessicka Havok, and Nikki Roxx; up and coming stars like Kimberly, Su Yung, and Santana Garrett; and some international flavor in Canada’s Lufisto and England’s ‘Sweet’ Saraya Knight.  Of the 14, there are only 4 or 5 women that people aren’t really behind for winning it all.  With 9 women splitting the crowd for championship predictions, tonight is destined to be an exciting show.  Below are my top 3 predictions for the women who could take it all.

Rain has had a long career working for some of the biggest women’s divisions in the country.  Working for promotions such as IWA: Mid South, SHIMMER, WSU, TNA, and Mexico’s AAA, Rain has been a staple of women’s wrestling in the mid-west for more than a decade.  With a reputation as one of the best singles competitors of the 2000’s and as part of one of the US’s most well-known female tag teams, the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew with fellow Minnesota native Lacey, Rain has almost done it all.  Almost, because a major title has continued to escape her.  Since SHINE 1, Rain has been one of “it” girls for the promotion, partially because she isn’t afraid to bend or completely ignore the rules to get the victory.  Consistently one of the best matches of every show and now the leader of the seemingly unstoppable Valkyrie stable, Rain has been a front runner for the title even before the title tournament was announced.  Rain qualified for the Title Tournament after defeating Angelina Love at SHINE 9.  Her first round match tonight is up in the air as she faces the winner of another qualifying match featuring Mercedes Martinez, Nikki Roxx, Lufisto, and Su Yung. No matter who comes out the victor of the qualifier, they will have a tough match against Rain as she hopes to hold a major women’s title before her pending retirement at the end of 2013.  Rain is without a doubt the internet community’s top pick if a heel were to win the strap.

Local favorite, Santana has wowed the SHINE crowd since SHINE 1.  As a relative unknown to the independent scene, Santana has seen her popularity grow exponentially as a result of her work in SHINE.  She has made her SHIMMER debut, won the Tag Team Championship with Amber O’Neal for the revived Women Of Wrestling promotion in Las Vegas, as well working for numerous other promotions.  Although she has significantly less experience that the majority of the other women in the promotion, she has shown that she is a reliable wrestler that always has crowd support.  Santana qualified for the tournament with a victory over Kimberly on SHINE 9.  In her first match of the night, she will face the winner of the other qualifier featuring Angelina Love, Awesome Kong, Ivelisse Valez, and Kimberly.  Out of the women in the tournament, Santana would be one that winning the belt would do the most to help elevate her as a contender on the independent scene.  There was talk on forums when SHINE was being established for it to be a promotion to help bring local Florida workers to national recognition, and Santana is prime example of how effective that strategy has been.

Ivelisse Valez is one of the most technically sound women in the tournament and one of the most recognizable from her work on WWE’s Tough Enough, Florida Championship Wrestling, and WWE’s NXT.  She has had some of the best matches in the promotion, however, against Athena, Lufisto, and Jazz.  She also increased her value in the company when she aligned herself with Rain and Made In Sin as part of the Valkyrie stable.  She is a ferocious competitor and is very hungry to get the win.  However, Ivelisse is somewhat of a dark horse bet for the tournament.  At SHINE 9, she lost her qualifying match to Jazz.  However, after Jazz had to pull out of the tournament due to an injury, Ivelisse was entered into another qualifying match tonight.  Facing Angelina Love, Awesome Kong, and Kimberly, she definitely has her work cut out for her.  While she is favored to win her qualifier, depending on how far she advances will make for an interesting prospect of seeing a Valkyrie vs Valkyrie final.  Would Ivelisse step back and her stable leader take the belt or does she risk shattering the group that has helped her in her rise to the top? Ivelisse has been one of the most talked about participants in the tournament, and personally, she is my pick for the gold.