Disclaimer: A big thank you for all involved in this article, first for taking time out to answer a question (or two); Dave Prazak, Allison Danger and LuFisto. Also a special thanks to Jeff D Gorman for the editing (help pre-posting) and to contributions from fans.
Change, a lot of change happens over a decade. Men walk on the moon, a tiny cube made up of little coloured squares takes over pop culture and in the nineties we got Springer. But also in the nineties we were given the in ring exploits of Melissa Anderson.
No? Maybe you know her by...Alissa Flash? Still nothing?
Raisha Saeed, Cheerleader Melissa, or even Wildfire? If the answer is still no, then let this piece take you through a decade of dominance: the story of the future legend.
Making her in-ring debut in on her birthday in 1999, Melissa Anderson has garnered support from fans across the world with her unique blend of hard-hitting strikes and technical manoeuvres.
Her wrestling isn't all that has garnered her the status as one of the greatest independent talents, but also her character portrayal. From a Syrian manager to a cheerleader, Anderson is a thespian in every sense of the word.
How many performers in professional wrestling can state they have the ability to effortlessly pull double duty on a show? Some names that spring to mind are Christopher Daniels and Mick Foley. This shows the category some people place her in, but are they right to do so?
Anderson began her career as the “Cheerleader” to the Ballard Brothers (Shane and Shannon) and managed them on the many occasions. She would continually interfere in their matches, which gained her great heat from the crowds.
However when The Ballards moved over to work APW independent shows, she received training from another independent legend and arguably the greatest professional wrestler alive, Bryan Danielson.
This training, along with ever-growing experience through her ringside role, Anderson was able to get into the ring on her 17th birthday for the first time.
Given this opportunity, she was able to take on Lexie Fyfe (now part of The Experience with Malia Hosaka.)
However it wasn’t until two years after, that she began to hone her craft on an overseas trip to the ARSION promotion in Japan. Amongst her matches she had said that one of her favourites was with Mariko Yoshida which took place on Aug. 25 2002.
This match, despite a tentative Melissa, was a great showing of the talent that Yoshida had and it clearly rubbed off on Anderson.
In 2004, Anderson received The Future Legend Award. This award has been given to the likes of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit which shows the ability and impact Melissa has made within her whelm of wrestling. Also being presented the award in front of her father a former wrestler in his own right must have filled herself with pride beyond belief. This is a great honour from which a talent has to be nominated in order to achieve the award.
Just two years later, Melissa was given the pride and honour of giving the award to Mariko Yoshida which should indicate the level at which one needs to be to receive the award.
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