Talk about timing. This past Wednesday as the first round of the Mae Young Classic concluded, Canadian indie star Nicole Matthews defeated Scottish indie star Isla Dawn to advance to the second round to face Tegan Nox. A day later, and news broke from Dave Meltzer that Nicole Matthews was recently given a 5-year ban from entry in the US due to not having a work visa in place before attempting to cross the border from her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia into Washington state for her match against Allie with DEFY Wrestling a few weeks back. Today, as Meltzer’s report began to circulate around the internet, Matthews took to her Twitter to comment.
https://twitter.com/nmatthewsninja/status/1045360919746830337
A 12-year veteran of the Canadian indies, all primarily with her hometown promotion Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW), Matthews has been a huge part of the indie boom of women’s wrestling that has infiltrated WWE. The 3x ECCW Champion and 4x ECCW Women’s Champion has also been a major star with SHIMMER in the United States since 2007. Originally known for her tag team with Portia Perez, the 2x SHIMMER Tag Team Champions Canadian Ninjas, in 2014 she won the SHIMMER Championship and held it for a whopping 357 days, defending it against the likes of Candice LeRae, Kay Lee Ray, Ruby Riott (Heidi Lovelace), Dakota Kai (Evie) and Madison Eagles. Late last year, she made her UK debut with Pro Wrestling EVE and has been used by the WWE on several occasions, both in NXT, and as an alternate in last year’s Mae Young Classic. This year, the 31-year old Canadian was selected as one of the main competitors. She made her DEFY Wrestling debut last year as well, debuting in a Tacoma Cup fatal four way with Christina Von Eerie, Angelina Love and Su Yung at DEFY 4: Gigantic (Night 1) last June and has worked for the company regularly since, due to it’s close proximity to her home in Vancouver.
With the US no longer an option until late 2023, many have wondered what her options could be to continue wrestling, suggesting more dates in the UK and her native Canada, or perhaps a run with IMPACT Wrestling, who has been doing extensive work in Canada the past year due to their Canadian’s owners, Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Mexico is another option, and there’s always the chance that if WWE was indeed interested, a deal could be worked out to fight the 5-year ban. Matthews’ next match is against another Canadian indie star in Cat Power in two weeks at ECCW’s Halloween Hell.
Wanna spend Halloween with us? Wanna drink some beer and watch wrestling in a kick ass new venue? Well you better buy tickets now because the first two front rows have sold out ! Come see if @nmatthewsninja will try and take out your eyes with candy! pic.twitter.com/mHyEl8Z7xo
— ECCW Professional Wrestling (@ECCW) September 19, 2018
