RE-POST: 1 Stop Wrestling 17th November 2003

Recently, wrestling fans were treated to the site of Team FWA competing on the Challenge TV show Fort Boyard. The show, hosted by Jodie Penfold, featured Doug Williams, Paul Birchall, James Tighe, Nikita & Sweet Saraya undergoing a number of physical tasks in order to win the big prize.

The appearance of Saraya on the team has met with a great deal of debate among the FWA faithful on the Internet, leading many to ask the question - is Saraya headed to the FWA to feud with their one and only active female wrestler? The fact of the matter is that this feud has already taken place, and in this writer's opinion was woefully underbooked by the powers-that-be.

Cast your mind back to June 2002. At the FWA's Carpe Diem show in Walthamstow, Nikita came to the ring as a guest announcer for an upcoming match. As she was about to speak, the Sweet Saraya stormed the ring from the crowd, and battered her rival, taking her down with her trademark power bomb, before taking the microphone and lambasting Nikita's claim to be the best female wrestler in Britain.

One month later at No Surprises 4 in Telford, Saraya teamed with former New Breed member Kruiz against Nikita and Hade Vansen, who had aided Nikita one month earlier in Walthamstow. In a match that earned a lot of praise, Nikita pinned Saraya.

And then, nothing happened.

It's obvious to every wrestling fan outside of Japan that women's wrestling takes second place, despite the fact that there are a great number of female grapplers who are far more talented than their male counterparts. In the WWE, the women are treated as nothing more than eye candy for their male-dominated audience, especially on the Smackdown brand.

In Britain, while the number of male wrestlers far exceeds those in the female ranks, at this moment in time there are two names who come to mind when one thinks of women wrestlers - Sweet Saraya & Nikita.

Saraya has been the dominant force in British wrestling for a number of years now. Two years ago she was recognised as the Unified British Champion, even by promotions she hadn't even competed for. Saraya comes from the same training system that brought us the likes of the Zebra Kid and Hot Stuff. She is also regarded as one of the top trainers in the country right now. Those who come through her training school hold her in high regard.

Nikita won almost instant attention not long after graduating from Hammerlock's wrestling school, by winning the televised Transatlantic Wrestling Challenge on ITV, just months after she began her training. She later jumped ship to the FWA where her career has prospered. Despite a poor, nationally televised match with U.S. Indy star Lexy Fyfe at Revival in February 2002, she has improved a great deal. Even though she has competed mainly against her male counterparts, she has shown that she can be as tough in the ring as they are.

But the fact is that at the moment, the number of active female wrestlers in the FWA numbers just one. There are other women coming through the Academy ranks, but whether any of these women will make the grade remains to be seen.

So this now leaves British wrestling fans wondering if Saraya and Nikita will ever step into the ring again in a one-on-one encounter. They have competed against each other before, in Scott Conway's now-defunct TWA promotion, and for Premier Promotions last year. But will these two ever meet in an FWA, or perhaps in a WAW ring, again?

In my opinion, if Nikita wants to continue to improve as a wrestler, and if she wants to get to the top, she shouldn't be competing against men. These matches are all well and good, but to some fans they are not what women's wrestling is all about. They want to see Nikita competing against other female athletes.

To her credit, since I first saw her at Revival, Nikita has come on leaps and bounds. Before the Walthamstow in June 2002 Nikita, and Alex Shane, attended the WAW training camp in Norwich for a few hours. I remember on that day while Saraya & Nikita worked out a few moves in the ring, Jimmy Ocean, who had spent the morning putting the trainees through their paces, offered his own advice as Saraya and Nikita tried move after move after move. I stood at ringside watching Saraya give Nikita a few pointers, and it was good to see Nikita make drastic improvements in the mere hour or so she spent in the ring with Saraya. And those improvements have been obvious for all to see during the last eighteen months or so. She was won rave reviews for her brutal encounters as Alex and Ulf Herman's partner in their feud with The Family.

But while she continues to improve, Saraya will always be regarded as the best in Britain, perhaps even in Europe right now. This may de-humanise her but she is nothing more than a wrestling machine. She can wrestle in any style - high-flying, technical, brawling, roughousing. You name it. She can do it. And in her time, she's gone up against some of the best in the business - Klondyke Kate, Julie Starr, Angel, Nikki Best, Luna Vachon, Venom, Sheena Summers, and up-and-coming stars such as Kharisma and Destiny.

But the fans want more - they want Nikita v Saraya, Part II. They are literally crying out for this. The FWA fans are growing tired of seeing Nikita in meaningless matches against men. They want to see her in the ring with the best that Britain has to offer.

So will Nikita v Saraya ever happen again? This is not for me to decide. Nikita represents the FWA, while Saraya represents the WAW. If it doesn't happen in one promotion, it will happen in the other, there's no doubt about that. But where and when is not up to me. The powers-that-be will have to get together and thrash this deal out. It's something that wrestling fans in Britain want. It's something that the wrestling journalists want. But it's up to the promoters to give us what we want.

In conclusion, there is one thing that has to be said - if Nikita wants to be considered the best, then she has to beat the best. And the best at the moment is the Sweet Saraya. Will this match ever happen?