Friday, April 15, 2011

What a Difference a Year Makes: Yim v Carlisle

Kacee bullies Mia in ACW

Sometimes taking a look at history can be instructive.  It's my opinion that Mia Yim is the best young wrestler never to have won a title.  Mia has been wrestling professionally for just over 20 months (beginning in August of 2009).  Now, one day shy of her 22nd birthday, she will be in contention for a championship belt for only the third time.  Mia is a girl who has always had big dreams and is one of the smartest and most talented young wrestlers on the indy scene today.  Why do I say that?  Consider these points:

1) She trained for nearly a year before setting foot in a professional ring.  Why?  She wanted to be prepared.  She wanted to get it right.  All aspiring young wrestlers should learn from Mia's example on how to prepare yourself for the ring.

Mia v Mickie in NEW, fall 2010

2) She worked locally with good people; took what work was available; became committed to strong companies with excellent mentors.  She worked in the Chesapeake Bay area with VCW, ACW, and smaller companies in Virgina and West Virginia.  But when she got her break with JAPW, she hit a home run and endeared herself to Sara Del Rey who was one of her fierce advocates when she was only six months into the business.

3) She made the decision to get breast aumentation surgery in order to keep her options open for top TV promotions like WWE and TNA. 

4) She continued to train with men and desired to work with men in training and in the ring.  This shows that she acknowledges where the expertise and money is in the sport and wants to learn from the best so as to be a more dominant competitor against female opponents (and not intimidated by male opponents).

5) She became known as a hard worker and a fan favorite on the indy scene between D.C. and NY.  Therefore she got gigs with RCW and NEW and eventually CZW, SHIMMER, and ROH.  In these affiliations, Mia has worked Daizee Haze, MsChif, Mickie James, Sara Del Rey, Annie Social, and recently the likes of Allison Danger, Leva Bates, and Tomoka Nakagawa.  There are few 22-year-old wrestlers that can post an opponent list like that!

6) She is willing to manage/valet with CZW and ROH in order to keep her options open for ring work and in order to make strong wrestling world connections with promoters and wrestlers.

7) Apart from a TNA tryout last June, she has resisted the temptation of the two big promotions due to her desire to finish college and get her degree.  I admire this greatly and think she has her priorities exactly right. 

Kacee chokes Mia in EWE 4.24.2010

For all these reasons and more, Mia Yim has catapulted herself to the first rank of challenger who can legitimately contend for the JAPW, RCW, ACW, or SHIMMER title.  At this point all of these would be a reach except the ACW title that she challenges for tomorrow night in Baltimore, MD, versus Kacee Carlisle. 

Back to our history lesson.  The only time that Mia has faced Kacee in a 1 v 1 match was nearly one year ago, on April 24, 2010, when she was just coming off her implant surgery and had a tender chest and plenty of ring-rust.  They battled in EWE and Kacee squashed Mia who looked great but could not put up much of a fight.  The match would have been lucky to last 5 minutes.  Tomorrow will be a whole different matter.  Mia is in top physical condition and has faced more high-profile opponents in the last year that the highly experienced Kacee has.  Mia is poised to battle an indy icon for 10 minutes or even 15 minutes and take home her first title belt.  it's not guaranteed to happen, but mia has never been better situated to take a championship, or more well prepared to do so.  I believe she is due to win and I predict that on her birthday, Mia will be the ACW Women's Champion.

Mia makes her entrance vs. Kacee (EWE)

It's a big moment for both women -- it's Kacee's first title defense -- and I wish I could be there in person to see the action.  Congratualtions to ACW who have a great card!  not only do they have a mouth-watering women's championship match, they also have a phenomenal main event with Sabian taking on Shelton Benjamin -- Bam!

Mia taking and delivering a bump after her surgery

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