In late 2018, a small wrestling show was held in Atlanta, Georgia. The venue was small, the audience smaller, but the passion in the ring was overwhelming. Every competitor was a woman and each one of them wanted to be remembered as the best wrestler of the night. This was the start of a special time in pro wrestling. This was the start of Wildheart Wrestling Club.
From Wrestler to Promoter
“Wildheart” Rand Wolfe may not be a household name, but he built a respectable wrestling career throughout his Canadian homeland, Europe, and Japan. By mid-2018, Wolfe’s in-ring career had come to an end. A serious back injury kept him out of the ring in 2012 and though he made a return one year later he knew his time as a wrestler was running out.
Wolfe learned from the promoters he worked for throughout his career and decided to start his own wrestling promotion. He began scouting talent for his first show and was impressed by the quality of women’s wrestling. Wolfe thought he could be different from other promotions by focusing his on women’s wrestling.
A Place for Dreamers
Wolfe had been watching Hazardous Awesome Wrestling and Rapid Fire Wrestling and was impressed with the women on their rosters. The HAW and RFW women were locked into contracts so he had to look elsewhere.
Wolfe began to put together a roster of relative unknowns with the hope of creating new stars with his promotion. Among his early roster members were future Masters of Wrestling stars Claudia Winter, Meghan DeWitt, and current MoW Champion Shannon Worth. Wolfe brought in powerhouse Sheena, the charismatic Kassidy Fortune, and up and comers Mia Mercury, Carolina Deene, and Joslyn Sky.
Wolfe debuted his new promotion, Wildheart Wrestling Club, on December 1st, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. The show had a small audience but the women put on a show that praised by the audience and critics alike. It would be the only WWC show in 2018 with the promise of regular shows starting early in the new year.
Superstar Infusion
WWC began promoting more frequent shows in February 2019. The women were eager to make their mark in wrestling on a platform that they could call their own. Audiences grew as word of mouth spread and WWC was on track to have a successful year ahead. Behind the scenes, Rand Wolf was working on two deals that he hoped would grow the promotion even faster.
Rapid Fire Wrestling completed its third series of shows in October of 2018 and unofficially closed its doors by January. Wolfe reached out to several of RFW’s women in hopes of signing them to WWC. The women of RFW had quickly signed elsewhere, were considering several offers, or had stepped away from wrestling altogether.
One RFW star was eager to join WWC. Aurora Starkey had crossed paths with Wolfe before, was an international wrestling star, and was a big name to boost WWC’s status.
Timing worked in Wolfe’s favor a second time when Kagero Sato, one of the top stars in Japan, was looking to make an impact in the United States. Wolfe traveled to Japan to meet with Sato and signed her to WWC, making headlines throughout the wrestling industry.
Champions
WWC announced its intention to crown a champion in April 2019. A company-wide tournament was held to determine the champion. The final round came down to Kassidy Fortune and Aurora Starkey, an intense match that saw Starkey besting Fortune to be crowned the inaugural WWC Champion. Fortune defeated Starkey for the title a month later and went on to a lengthy title reign that cemented her place as WWC’s top star.
The tournament would be known for a notable injury. Claudia Winter, a favorite to win the tournament, fell out of the ring and injured her neck. Winter never competed in the WWC ring again, however, she continued to appear at shows and built a reputation for being a manipulator. This trait would later become key to her success in MoW.
WWC crowned tag team champions in June 2019. The underdog team of Mia Mercury and Meghan DeWitt defeated the superstar pairing of Aurora Starkey and Kagero Sato in a huge upset. The loss caused a rift between Starkey and Sato that would begin a brutal feud between the two that continued throughout the summer.
Departures
WWC was building momentum by the end of the summer. Kagero Sato, fresh from her feud with Aurora Starkey, entered the title scene to challenge Kassidy Fortune. Sheena was generating buzz for her dominance over her opponents. Shannon Worth was rising through the ranks. WWC was doing better than anyone had expected but suffered a big loss when several stars left the company.
Masters of Wrestling relaunched after a 22 year dormancy in October 2019. Unlike the original MoW of the 1990s, the new MoW included a women’s division. Because MoW and Rapid Fire Wrestling shared an owner, much of the RFW roster joined MoW, including former WWC Champion Aurora Starkey.
MoW was looking to feature more than RFW stars and it also signed Claudia Winter, Shannon Worth, and former WWC Tag Team Champion Meghan DeWitt. Despite the loss to the roster, WWC continued building a reputation as a place for quality women’s wrestling as the calendar turned to 2020.
New Stars
WWC remained popular into 2020 but growth slowed in the spring. Despite the slowing momentum, WWC’s core audience was treated to highly acclaimed matches, new feuds, and improved show production.
Kassidy Fortune lost the WWC Championship to Kagero Sato which brought new energy and matches to the main event scene. Mia Mercury broke out from the tag team scene and became one of the most popular stars on the roster. Carolina Deene rose to become the most hated woman in WWC, causing the live crowds to reject her so loudly, the sound was deafening.
WWC rebuilt its roster with several key additions. The vampiric Dezzy Nightshade joined the company in May and wasted no time confronting Sheena, giving Sheena her toughest challenge to date. “Undeniable” Chez Everett appeared a few weeks later and developed a reputation as one of WWC’s workhorses, competing at every show. Siobhan Wild burst into WWC with a high energy performance that captivated audiences.
WWC’s roster was strong once again and the promotion enjoyed a summer with some of the best matches in WWC’s history. Carolina Deene dethroned Kagero Sato and became WWC Champion but quickly lost the title to Chez Everett. Deene would regain the title late in the year and carry it into 2021.
Big Changes and a Big Return
WWC’s output in 2020 was strong but business had not picked up. Rand Wolfe realized that changes to the promotion were necessary.
2021 saw WWC’s touring reduced to a smaller circuit of Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. The tag team division was one of the areas of the promotion that cooled in early 2020. The WWC Tag Team Championship was deactivated and WWC focused on singles matches.
Carolina Deene’s championship reign ended in January when Kassidy Fortune regained the WWC Championship. Fortune had little time to celebrate, however, because Aurora Starkey appeared post-match, returning to WWC and confronting the new champion. Fortune would lose the title to Starkey soon after, beginning a lengthy title reign where Starkey fought the best in WWC.
The Last Days
Aurora Starkey’s return brought attention to WWC once again, but the promotion continued to struggle becoming profitable. The shows continued to be well-received by fans, though, and many considered 2021 to be even better than 2020.
Rand Wolfe made a difficult decision at the end of the summer. Wolfe addressed the roster after a show and announced that WWC would be shutting down by the end of the year. Wolfe thanked everyone for helping to make WWC a reality and believed they had all created something special. Although WWC was ending, Wolfe announced that he would continue to run shows until the end of the year. Every woman on the roster stayed with WWC to the end.
WWC’s final show was held on December 5th, 2021. Aurora Starkey and her greatest rival, Kassidy Fortune, battled once more for the WWC Championship. Fortune defeated Starkey and became champion for a record third time. Mia Mercury and Carolina Deene collided in a match that ended with Mercury suffering a serious knee injury. Dezzy Nightshade dominated the roster late into the year until Siobhan Wild defeated her in a stunning upset at this final show.
Rand Wolfe assembled everyone backstage after the show and congratulated them for making WWC possible. Wolfe then introduced Masters of Wrestling President C.W. Sunderland. Sunderland told the roster they should be proud of what they accomplished with WWC and though he was sad to see their promotion close, he saw a great opportunity to grow MoW and offered everyone in WWC a contract.
Wolfe and Sunderland had another announcement. MoW would host a special WWC farewell show in February 2022, celebrating WWC and giving it the send off it deserved.
Wildheart Wrestling Club Farewell Show
The women of WWC are now a part of MoW and the WWC Farewell Show is two weeks away. Join us on February 26th for the celebration of a bright moment in the history of professional wrestling.
The WWC Farewell Show will feature Aurora Starkey challenging Kassidy Fortune for the WWC Championship, Mia Mercury vs. Carolina Deene, Kagero Sato vs. “Undeniable” Chez Everett, Sheena vs. Joslyn Sky, and Siobhan Wild vs. Dezzy Nightshade.
Rapid Fire Wrestling 