Last night at AAW’s Legacy event in Lasalle, Illinois, long time indie veteran Jessicka Havok was crowned the inaugural AAW Women’s Champion following a months long tournament to determine the first woman to hold the newest title for AAW.
The winner of the tournament and NEW AAW WOMEN’S CHAMPION Jessicka Havok! #AAWLEGACY pic.twitter.com/yvdE0VxKVO
— AAW Wrestling (@AAWPro) December 3, 2017
The tournament was first announced in July of this year and featured twelve women competing for the gold, that also featured Allysin Kay (aka Impact Wrestling‘s Sienna), Britt Baker, Candice LeRae, Delilah Doom, Ivelisse, Kylie Rae, Leah Vaughn, Rachael Ellering, Samantha Heights, Su Yung, and Veda Scott. Jessica Havok defeated Vaughn in her first round match-up in August, then Candice LeRae in her semi-final match, before facing Ivelisse and Rachael Ellering in the Triple Threat Finals.
Over ten years on the indie circuit, Havok got her start with Main Event Championship Wrestling (MECW) out of Ohio back in 2005 and by 2009 was also working for Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) and Ohio’s Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW). By 2013, she was a featured regular with SHIMMER, SHINE and AAW as well, and was a 2x WSU World Champion and AIW Women’s Champion.
In 2014 she joined TNA and Impact Wrestling, becoming the #1 Contender for the Knockouts title in her debut, by winning a Battle Royal against Angelina Love, Santana Garrett (then known as Brittany), Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Taryn Terrell and Rebel. The following month, she defeated Gail Kim to win the Knockouts title. She lost her title to Terrell late in the year but their feud was interrupted by a returning Awesome Kong and Havok briefly turned her attention to Kong. But after a loss to Kong in February, Havok disappeared off Impact for months and was finally released in the summer of 2015. She was given a WWE tryout shortly after, but after Wrestling Observer Newsletter and online fans discovered all tweets that were deemed “homophobic and racist”, she was never offered a WWE contract.
She returned to the indies, working with Ring of Honor in 2016, as well as House of Hardcore, and entering the UK scene, with Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE) and Fight Club: PRO. This past year saw her make her debut with Stardom in Japan, as well as Glory Pro and IWA Mid South. But with her wrestling career fully back on track and making waves globally once again, raising the AAW Women’s Champion is a great story of redemption and a rise to prominence for one of women’s indie wrestling pioneers, whose last taste of championship gold was the Knockouts title in 2014, over three years ago. Things are looking up for a great 2018 for Jessicka Havok. Women, you’ve all been warned.
