Way back over a decade ago Cheerleader Melissa was on top of the female indy scene, she was the centerpiece  ( or on of the ))of promotions like Shimmer and Chickfight, lots of people wanted her to get signed to WWE, and she was considered one of the best female talents out there.



Despite all this she never really got a substantial push in a more "mainstream " promotion as she was a jobber in both  TNA and LU, and her career just ind of seems to be slowly petering out with little fanfare. 
If you look at her peers and the success and notoriety they have achieved Melissa's career seems lacking. Sara Del Rey had prominent roles in both ROH and Chikara  and has subsequently been hired as one of the head trainer at the PC where she has received lots of praise and attention.  Mercedes Martinez while never having a sustained run in a major promotions was spotlighted far more in both MYCs than Melissa ever was in TNA or LU. 
So why did Melissa never really get a shot a s major player in a more mainstream promotion? Is it because of her lack of mic skills? Was she a little to bland for more casual audiences? Did she just come around at the wrong time?

Something I've always pondered. She was attractive and all that. Could never understand why she wasn't given the rocket in TNA after changing gimmicks as Alyssa Flash where she basically stole the thunder from Hamada's debut. Not sure if that was them or her leaving or what. Been quite a few years. You'd think with Mr. H signing anyone with any name value and plenty of veterans showing up she'd get a look at this point, but nothing.

I think partly because of how women's wrestling was in mainstream wrestling at the time.

However, having said that, while Impact was using the Knockout's, a hell of a lot better than WWE was with their women, they also had a tendency to not use some talent to the best of their abilities (Cheerleader Melissa, Ayako Hamada, Taylor Wilde, Sarita). At thirty-seven, I don't think the chance to work in WWE full time is gonna happen, I would have loved to see Melissa pop up in the Mae Young Classic though but that never happened.

Speaking of Melissa, I've had this idea for the last year or so, where her (as Arn Anderson's kayfabe niece) and Tessa Blanchard are brought in to the WWE, aligning them with Charlotte Flair. The three of them then feud with the other NXT Horsewomen (Sasha, Becky & Bayley), leading up to a three-on-three elimination match inside of the Elimination Chamber (like you could in Here Comes The Pain), even though I know it'll never happen.

Aug 26, 2019 1:28:24 GMT @ness said:

Something I've always pondered. She was attractive and all that. Could never understand why she wasn't given the rocket in TNA after changing gimmicks as Alyssa Flash where she basically stole the thunder from Hamada's debut. Not sure if that was them or her leaving or what. Been quite a few years. You'd think with Mr. H signing anyone with any name value and plenty of veterans showing up she'd get a look at this point, but nothing.

I think you mean Sarita? Hamada debuted against Daffeny of all people.

I also wonder how much of Melissa' getting a better reaction in her first match as Alissa with Sarita, was due to the impact crowd  being ore familiar with her than Sarita who was basically an unknown due to wrestling in the Lucha scene that the US audience did not get much exposure to.  People really wanted Melissa to get rid of the Raisha Saeed persona for something more similar to her Indy gimmick and thus were overjoyed to see her get that chance in TNA , while most ddn't know who Sarah Stock was. 

I also think if I'm being honest that Melissa's style was kind of bland .She was more of  pretty basic brawler who had a couple cool moves in her arsenal. Because of this she struggled to have good matches with those who also didn't have innovative fast paced offense. My point is a lot of the time if you saw one Melissa match you saw  them all. Her style really didn't change when she was wrestling as Raisha, Alissa, or Mariposa.  

This match with ODB was just super bland for example



As was this match with Tara 



She was usually a good deal better than this obviously but she did/does have her limitations as a wrestler. 

Aug 26, 2019 2:14:11 GMT dex said:

Aug 26, 2019 1:28:24 GMT @ness said:

Something I've always pondered. She was attractive and all that. Could never understand why she wasn't given the rocket in TNA after changing gimmicks as Alyssa Flash where she basically stole the thunder from Hamada's debut. Not sure if that was them or her leaving or what. Been quite a few years. You'd think with Mr. H signing anyone with any name value and plenty of veterans showing up she'd get a look at this point, but nothing.

I think you mean Sarita? Hamada debuted against Daffeny of all people.

I also wonder how much of Melissa' getting a better reaction in her first match as Alissa with Sarita, was due to the impact crowd  being ore familiar with her than Sarita who was basically an unknown due to wrestling in the Lucha scene that the US audience did not get much exposure to.  People really wanted Melissa to get rid of the Raisha Saeed persona for something more similar to her Indy gimmick and thus were overjoyed to see her get that chance in TNA , while most ddn't know who Sarah Stock was. 

I also think if I'm being honest that Melissa's style was kind of bland .She was more of  pretty basic brawler who had a couple cool moves in her arsenal. Because of this she struggled to have good matches with those who also didn't have innovative fast paced offense. My point is a lot of the time if you saw one Melissa match you saw  them all. Her style really didn't change when she was wrestling as Raisha, Alissa, or Mariposa.  

This match with ODB was just super bland for example



As was this match with Tara 



She was usually a good deal better than this obviously but she did/does have her limitations as a wrestler. 

Guess it's pne of those Mandella Effect moments. Always remembered it as Hamada and may be because they feuded shortly after. I thought the bench brawl and eventually street fight thing was all part of the same arc with "her" debut. Color me surprised. But yeah now that you mention it, her style wasn't super... heh, flashy. Obviously her finisher is off the books in the WWE, not that she used it very often after becoming Shimmer champion then onward from what I recall.

No idea why she wasn't a bigger deal. I thought she had everything and TNA still used her as a jobber in two roles. But I guess that why TNA hired her they wanted someone who could wrestler well, talk a good game, and have creditably with their fans from past work. I think that is why she didn't use the Cheerleader Melissa name there so not to tarnish it.

dex this is a great question and something I've been curious about as well. Now it has me thinking what's next? I honestly would not mind seeing her return to Impact.

Aug 26, 2019 3:43:51 GMT bodyslam said:

dex this is a great question and something I've been curious about as well. Now it has me thinking what's next? I honestly would not mind seeing her return to Impact.

Meh there are better talents out there than Melissa at this point in her career. I don't think there's too much left for her career to be honest she she seems to be slowly winding down, she's only wrestled 12 matches in 2019 and I want to say over half of those  of those were for Shimmer or one of it's sisters promotions.  I could be wrong though maybe she gets another chance somewhere. 

I think that maybe she's just a really talented indy wrestler who doesn't have the necessary charisma/it factor to be more than jobber who is there to make the stars look good in a more mainstream promotion, as seen in TNA and LU. 

I mean I know Shimmer doesn't have quite the significance and/or buzz for a variety of reasons that it did 5-10 years ago, but her run there is of real significance. She really has been the backbone of that promotion the entire time.

It's already been covered but I think she (along with Hamada and Sarita) did get unlucky with their timing in TNA with things largely going to shit in 2010.

Aug 26, 2019 4:25:00 GMT @admin said:

I mean I know Shimmer doesn't have quite the significance and/or buzz for a variety of reasons that it did 5-10 years ago, but her run there is of real significance. She really has been the backbone of that promotion the entire time.

It's already been covered but I think she (along with Hamada and Sarita) did get unlucky with their timing in TNA with things largely going to shit in 2010.

It's sad that this is her last (non- knockouts knockdown)  match on Impact.



I do find it weird that she wasn't brought in for either MYC, and hasn't even guest coached at the PC despite having worked closely with Sara and Sarah in the past. Although in terms of the MYC her LU contract was probably a problem. 

Cherleader Melissa and Chantelle Taylor were two of my favorite female indy wrestlers. I don't know why she never made the splash on the bigger stage. I think you can put her Indy legacy easily up against someone like Sara Del Rey yet Del Rey has been able to translate her Indy notoriety into a career as a trainer whereas Melissa is just seemingly going to fade into obscurity.