I pray to our Lord that everyone is healthy and with the ones that you love during the holiday season. As this year comes to an end, we are blessed to have survived the hardships that 2008 has brought. Many of my good friends and family members have passed on this year and several of my friends have become ill or lost jobs and businesses, but we must all remember that our Lord does not bring these challenges to us, but he is here to carry us through the crosses that we walk with in our everyday life and if we believe that God is good all the time, we will make it!
There are always so many people to thank for the past 12 months and too many to list, but I do want to say a special thank you to our dear Georgiann for her dedication to this great sport and for keeping her Chatterbox going for all of us, and to the McMahon family who are near and dear to my family, thank you for everything!
I wanted to thank all of the WSTC students and WXW wrestlers who give their all to support what we are doing and I want to recognize the women of WXW who have competed in the recent WXW Elite 8 Tournament. WXW Wrestling had its 7th Annual Elite 8 Women's Tournament on Saturday, November 15th in Leesburg, Florida. Fans were not disappointed as history was made by Mercedes Martinez who became the first woman to win the prestigious honor for the second time. Mercedes became the 2006 Elite 8 winner after beating Amber Oneal in round one, Hailey Hatred in round two and Kacee Carlisle in the finals. This year she once again held her own by defeating Ferrari in round one, Rain in round two and Lexie Fyfe in the final round. All of the women participants gave their all and are all winners in their own right.
(Quote from Afa) The Elite 8 Tournament is special to WXW because it gives women the spot light on their own ALL WOMEN event to allow them the chance to showcase their athletic ability and wrestling skills with hopes of one of them being recognized by the big league for all of their hard work.
The 2008 results are:
1st Round
1.Rain defeated Becky Bayless
2 Lexie Fyfe beat Amber Oneal
3.Leva beat Betsy Ruth
4.Mereceds Martinez beat Ferrari
2nd Round:
1.Mercedes Martinez beat Rain
2.Lexie Fyfe beat Leva
FINALS
Mercedes Martinez beat Lexie Fyfe
Mercedes Martinez can now have the bragging rights to the first ever (2) two time WXW Elite 8 Tournament winner!
The 2008 Elite 8 Tournament will be released on DVD on Monday, December 1st through the on line merchandise store at: www.wxwwrestling.com Past Elite 8 Tournaments 2002 - 2007 and other WXW women events can be found under the merchandise link on the site.
I want to thank the fans for all of your continued support of women wrestling and to Independent wrestling as a whole. I assure you that if you want to see a young athlete give his or her 100%, go and support an Indy wrestling promotion and help these kids to live the dream that only a true wrestling fan can relate to.
Happy Holidays to all of you loyal Chatterbox readers.
God Bless and may 2009 be the year that brings us all that we desire!
Afa "The Wild Samoan"