Here are the WILDest Moments of 2011 - in chronological order. We want you to vote for your favorite on the poll to your left and the winner will be announced soon.
1. LUCKY O'SHEA OUTS AMANDA, NULLIFYING HER TITLE VICTORY.
1/21/11 - In January, WILD World Champion Lucky O'Shea had cheated her way to a victory over "The Bloodthirsty Vixen" Amanda at LuchaPro in Los Angeles. Days later, they squared off again, this time in a 2 Out of 3 Falls Match at IWL in Chino, CA.
Amanda won the grueling match - cleanly and with no interference. The audience cheered as they witnessed the fan-favorite achieve her dream of becoming a World Champion. But Lucky called over WILD Promoter Travis Leland and told him something. He asked Amanda if it was true and she said it was. After a few tense moments, he took the belt from Amanda and gave it back to Lucky O'Shea, stating that due to a violation of rules, although Amanda won the match, she was ineligible to win the WILD World Championship.
It turns out that Amanda is a transgendered wrestler, having been born male and only becoming legally female in recent years. This started a chain-reaction as Amanda was suspended for months pending a formal review. Leland was vilified, but promised that he was on Amanda's side and fought for her reinstatement. Fans were equally divided, as some felt that Amanda should have been allowed to keep the title and others did not. Months later, Lucky O'Shea's mystery opponent at IWL in May turned out to be a reinstated Amanda, who easily beat her for the WILD World Championship, for real this time. Amanda became the first transgendered athlete to win a major championship in any sport.
2. AIDEN RILEY DEFEATS TAB JACKSON BY...HAIRSPRAY?
2/25/11 - TNA Knockout Winter made her WILD debut as a fan. She told the IWL crowd in Chino that she would be carefully watching the match between Aiden Riley and Tab Jackson and the winner would be her first WILD opponent. During the hard-fought match, Riley rolled out and grabbed a bottle of hairspray, then distracted referee Jay Stone and used the spray to blind Jackson long enough to get the victory. While Riley celebrated, Winter announced that although Riley got the victory, the true winner in her eyes was Tab Jackson. Months later, Tab and Winter did face off for the vacant WILD World Championship.
3. AMANDA QUITS WILD, FORFEITS TITLE.
6/01/11 - Shortly after all the dust had settled and Amanda was settling into her World Championship reign, she unexpectedly tweeted that she was leaving WILD and giving up her title. She never gave any kind of explanation, either. She just... quit. It left fans and WILD Promoter Travis Leland scratching their heads in wonder.
4. ASHLEY MASSARO RETURNS TO WRESTLING, GOES WILD!
In late August, former WWE Diva and Playboy Covergirl Ashley Massaro tweeted that she wanted to return to the world of professional wrestling, and that she wanted to do it the right way - working the indys and moving up from there. Furthermore, she said she had been watching WILD Wrestling and wanted to start here! She contacted Travis Leland, and by the end of the day, they had made a deal. While Ashley trains for her in-ring return, she is acting as the co-General Manager of WILD.
The internet flew into a frenzy over this. Some good, some bad. But either way, Ashley is a WILD Warrior and the eyes of the world are watching what she does next.
5. REFEREE REVERSES DECISION AFTER DISCOVERING THAT BUGGY NOVA CHEATED TO WIN.
8/21/11 - In the world of professional wrestling, there is only one rule that is sacred: the referee's decision is final. But on this day, even that rule was broken. During the match for the LuchaPro Women's Championship (now the WILD North American Championship), Buggy used the title belt to hit Champion Terra Calaway over the head with it for the pin. The referee did not see the rulebreaking, and counted a pinfall for Buggy. She raised the belt,celebrating with her manager Shannon Ballard, when a fan loudly protested. The referee listened to the fan explain what had happened, and ordered the match to be restarted. While trying to pry the belt from Buggy's hands, he called for the bell. Buggy lost her grip and fell backwards over Terra, who rolled her up for the victory. The referee handed the belt back to Terra.
Buggy is still very angry about this outcome.
6. WINTER ATTACKS SHELLY MARTINEZ BACKSTAGE.
12/10/11 - The Setup: Shelly Martinez was supposed to battle Tab Jackson for the vacant WILD World Championship in Las Vegas. But a scheduling conflict forced her to pull out of the match. Winter was selected to take her place, and defeated Tab to become the WILD World Championship.
On December 10th, Winter successfully defended the title against WILD North American Champion Terra Calaway. Backstage, Shelly congratulated her old friend Winter on the victory, then brought up the fact that she could have been the champion instead. She then challenged Winter to a friendly match for the title. Here was Winter's response.
There you have it - The craziest, the weirdest, the...well... WILDest Moments of 2011. But only one can rise above the rest. What do you think? Vote for your favorite in the poll on the left side of the page.
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