Beyond Wrestling and Women’s Wrestling Revolution presents a full intergender card with Lit Up for WrestleMania weekend, and Beyond and WWR are the only companies to due so. Intergender wrestling has been a staple of Beyond and some of the top independent talent in North America have been featured in these matches on the most watched independent wrestling YouTube channel. Kimber Lee returns after being released from her WWE contract with NXT (where she was known as Abbey Laith) and she was in some of the greatest Beyond matches in history with the likes of Kassius Ohno and Chris Dickinson. It’s been announced a week before the event that Kimber Lee will be challenging for the Powerbomb.tv Independent Championship. There are two mixed tag team matches, and the unique thing about Beyond is the fans will vote which match should main event on Social Media. David Starr has been taken off the card and replaced – he has been proclaiming he is the companies “Ace” for years but Beyond announced Starr will no longer compete for the company, effective immediately. We will see on Thursday, April 5 if “The Product” crashes the show and if there is more is to come from David Starr. Let’s take a look at the full card with predictions on each match. Beyond Lit Up will be available live on WWN Live and Fite TV online.
Twisted Sisterz (Thunder Rosa & Holidead) vs. Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka)
Thunder Rosa and Holidead have been a tag team two years now on the independents, combining beauty with theatrical horror. Rosa is a member of the Lucha Underground roster as Kobra Moon and Holidead was recently knocked out of the first round of the tournament to crown the first Women Of Honor champion for Ring Of Honor Wrestling by Deonna Purrazzo. They have chemistry for miles but the rough and rugged team of Jaka and Chris Dickinson should be as big of a challenge as any. Dickinson has a tendency to throw any opponent with the dangerous Pazuzu Bomb into the ropes, man or woman. Respect will be earned in the ring, and maybe even by pinfall for The Twisted Sisterz, but Doom Patrol don’t lose very often. Dickinson and Jaka almost stole WrestleMania weekend last year with a match against South Pacific Power Trip (Travis Banks and TK Cooper) in a special EVOLVE Wrestling vs. PROGRESS Wrestling match and they likely get the win again this year.
Prediction: Doom Patrol
Jessicka Havok vs. Jimmy Havoc
Jessicka Havok is the reigning and inaugural AAW Pro Women’s Champion and Jimmy Havoc is the reigning Defiant Wrestling Hardcore Champion. Two of wrestling’s most vicious will bring innovative ways to win the match, even if there are no weapons involved. Jessicka has the experience just like her opponent and with just as deadly of a move-set. Havoc has won almost every one of her AAW Women’s Championship title defenses with a Tombstone Piledriver from the second rope. There are chances that the Acid Rainmaker might not even put Jessicka Havok down for the three-count. A match fans have asked to be booked before for a long time is presented only by Beyond Wrestling/WWR and could be one of the most buzzed about matches of the week. Jimmy Havoc tries to bring a special weapon into the ring only to have it turned on him in the end and Jessicka Havok stands tall is the prediction here.
Prediction: Jessicka Havok wins
Janelope (Joey Janela & Penelope Ford) vs. Session Moth Martina and Orange Cassidy
Joey Janela and Penelope Ford are a real-life couple that parlay their love for pro wrestling together, often teaming in Beyond together while they are singles acts in other independent companies. Penelope Ford is no stranger to the hardcore style of Janela, Ford was in a wild tag team match months ago against Da Hit Squad, where Monsta Mack pounded her across the ring. Session Moth Martina always brings the party with her wherever she goes, from the Flats to the Big Easy. Orange Cassidy is a regular tag team partner with Chuck Taylor as the Gentleman’s Club, and Chuck Taylor will be in New Japan Pro Wrestling for bookings for the time being. Cassidy and Martina are going to bring lots of fun and lots of adult beverages to this event and even if it’s a losing effort, it won’t feel that way for the fans in attendance. Joey Janela has faced a career resurgence with spectacular matches in companies like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, so the momentum surely continues here with a victory.
Prediction: Janelope win
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Matt Riddle
Both have great technical acumen is why these two are paired up but the similarities don’t end there. “Virtuosa” Purrazzo is 23 years old and Riddle is 32 years old, but both have just five years experience (with big popularity) in a short amount of time. New Jersey native Purrazzo will have to use her speed to try to throw Riddle of his game, but they aren’t many flaws in Matt Riddle’s game. The longer it goes the more it favors “The King Of Bros” but Deonna Purrazzo will surprise a lot of people with how easily she can match up with the larger Riddle and apply some arm-wrenching submissions of her own. Matt Riddle has a busy WrestleMania week, wrestling for EVOLVE Wrestling and his very own GCW presented Bloodsport show against Low–Ki in a shoot-style match. Purrazzo has quite the schedule herself and this should be one of her best matches to date, even if it’s one in the loss column. “The Fujiwara Armbar Specialist” may have to submit to the Bro-Mission.
Prediction: Matt Riddle wins
4-Way: Mia Yim vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Wheeler YUTA
David Starr proclaimed he represented Beyond Wrestling, more than anyone else from Donovan Dijak to Kimber Lee to Matt Riddle to Biff Busick (WWE NXT’s Oney Lorcan) and is announced as “Mr. Americanrana” at every single wrestling event. That seems to have all ended, unless there is more than meets the eye, but Starr has been replaced by the young Wheeler YUTA, with just as unique of a look to go with his innovative style.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: David Starr will no longer be competing for Beyond Wrestling. He will be replaced by Wheeler YUTA at "Lit Up" in NOLA.
— Beyond Wrestling (@beyondwrestling) March 26, 2018
YUTA is a smaller competitor to match up with Tessa Blanchard and the returning Mia Yim with Maxwell Jacob Friedman playing the ultimate brash heel as always. Friedman is on the rise quicker than people realize and it’s only a matter of time before he goes on a winning streak leading him to gold while berating fans. There are no championships in Beyond so MJF could use WrestleMania weekend as a springboard to bigger things (Editor’s Note: He’s just signed with MLW for their new TV production). Twenty-eight year old Mia Yim would benefit the most from an inspirational victory against three very different opponents. Every time Yim is faced with a setback, like losing in the WWE Mae Young Classic, the ferocity comes out and shines at any event against any type of opponent (Editor’s Note: This is her first match since November 2017 following a leg injury). Tessa Blanchard brings as much fire to the ring as any as well so she won’t be hard to put down for the three-count, considering Blanchard brought the fight to Brian Cage just one month ago for WrestleCircus.
Prediction: Mia Yim wins.
Team PAWG (Jordynne Grace & LuFisto) vs. EYFBO (Santana & Ortiz)
Jordynne Grace and LuFisto have defeated tag teams of all sorts from top females to The Gentlemen’s Club (Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy) (Editor’s Note: Team PAWG is also one of the few teams to beat Doom Patrol). Beyond has been the home of Team PAWG and the power displayed is awe-inspiring, where the match is flipped on its head and the men are the underdogs. LuFisto has been diagnosed with cervical Cancer but she is optimistic and still competing with a regular schedule in wrestling. LuFisto has provided twenty years of excellent wrestling and she should be commended for being so strong in this situation. EYFBO have been thrown to the wolves in hardcore matches across the world, so they are prepared for a great match and will do whatever it takes to win. Impact Wrestling has made EYFBO into LAX and it’s put the spotlight to how amazing of a duo they really are. The double-team moves will be a competitive, EYFBO has just a bit more high-flying in the back pocket and that offense should be the ticket to another tag team win.
Prediction: EYFBO win.
Powerbomb.tv Independent Championship: Tracy Williams (c) vs. Kimber Lee
BREAKING: Kimber Lee challenges Tracy Williams for the https://t.co/PoXsp77R5F Independent Wrestling Championship one week from tonight at "Lit Up" in NOLA!
— Beyond Wrestling (@beyondwrestling) March 30, 2018
Not only is this a Beyond rematch, but it’s Kimber Lee’s first Championship match since leaving WWE. Powerbomb.tv has already had technical clinics between Tracy Williams and Jonathan Gresham and this will be no different. Tracy Williams has some of the best ground-game in independent wrestling from his time under the wing of WWE Superstar star Drew Gulak in Catch Point, and now Tracy Williams leads that faction in EVOLVE. Kimber Lee, another student of Gulak’s, has submitted male counterparts in the past and is the only female CHIKARA Grand Champion in history. A redemption story looks very possible for Kimber Lee against the savvy champion “Hot Sauce.”
Prediction: Kimber Lee becomes the new Powerbomb.tv champion.
Toni Storm vs. Timothy Thatcher
Toni Storm had had an incredible career already at the age of twenty-two. She’s World of Stardom Champion in Japan’s Stardom, the reigning wXw Women’s Champion in Germany, and PROGRESS Wrestling Women’s Champion in the United Kingdom. That’s a lot for a young Aussie trying to perfect her craft and Timothy Thatcher is the next step to defining her toughness. Thatcher has been a throwback to the golden age of pro wrestling since he debuted and uses that catch style for every match without fail. Thatcher wrestles some of the toughest in the world as a member of Ringkampf and will look to end it early with a Sleeper Choke. If Toni Storm hits successive Strong Zero Piledrivers, like she has in the past, that could be the key to one of the biggest wins in her career, defeating the longest reigning EVOLVE Champion in history. History shows Thatcher has a way of out-wrestling just about anyone and the Choke could finish a great attraction of a main event.
Prediction: Timothy Thatcher wins
