Women’s Wrestling Wrap-Up: Ruby Soho Advances, GCW Diamond Cup Announced, Jordynne Grace Defends Digital Media Title

As 2021 soon wraps up, the state of women’s wrestling rounds of the year on a high: Ruby Soho advances in the TBS Championship Tournament, Jordynne Grace is set to defend her Digital Media Championship, Generation Championship Wrestling announces its second annual Diamond Cup, IMPACT unveils their year-end awards, and more! Let’s break it down in this week’s edition of Women’s Wrestling Wrap-Up!

TBS Tournament Updates

Last week on AEW Dynamite, Ruby Soho solidified her spot in the finals of the TBS Championship Tournament.

Ruby Soho faced stiff competition in the form of former AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose in the semifinals of the TBS Championship Tournament. On the special “Holiday Bash” episode of Dynamite, the two fierce competitors collided in hopes of advancing to the finals. Rose, accompanied by Vickie Guerrero, certainly utilized her strength and numbers advantage.

At one point, Guerrero’s distraction caused Soho to collide with the steel steps. Later on, Guerrero again distracted the referee, giving Rose an opportunity to land the Beast Bomb onto Soho. But the heart of Ruby Soho prevailed. In the end, Soho landed the No Future move on Nyla Rose to secure the victory, and her position in the finals.

Ruby Soho now moves on to the finals, where she will vie for the first-ever TBS Championship on the premiere episode of Dynamite on TBS on January 5th. However, her opponent for the final match of the tournament is still yet to be determined.

Jade Cargill and Thunder Rosa are scheduled to commence their semi-finals matchup tomorrow on AEW Dynamite. The winner of that match will go on to face Soho in the finals of the tournament next week, where the first-ever TBS Champion will be crowned.

RELATED: Ruby Soho Advances To Finals Of AEW TBS Women’s Championship Tournament

Jordynne Grace To Defend Digital Media Championship At Beyond Wrestling

IMPACT Wrestling Digital Media Champion Jordynne Grace has a series of upcoming title defenses.

Coming up on December 31st, Grace will defend the Digital Media Championship against “The Babe With The Power”, Willow Nightingale. This New Year’s Eve bout will take place at Beyond Wrestling’s Heavy Lies The Crown event.

This marks the second time this year that Nightingale has challenged for an IMPACT challenging. She previously teamed with Brooke Valentine to vie for the Knockouts Tag Team Championships against former champions, Fire N Flava back in April.

If she successfully defends her title against Nightingale, Jordynne Grace will then take on former Knockout, Kiera Hogan. Again set to defend the Digital Media Championship, Grace is currently slated to lay the title on the line on January 16th at the debut show of TERMINUS.

Grace became the inaugural Digital Media Champion at Bound For Glory in October and has gone on to successfully retain the championship twice by defeating John Skyler and Chelsea Green. This upcoming title defense against Willow Nightingale marks Grace’s first defense outside of the IMPACT Zone.

Generation Championship Wrestling To Hold Second Annual Diamond Cup Tournament

The Diamond Cup soon returns to Generation Championship Wrestling.

Slated to run down their second annual Diamond Cup show on January 22nd, GCW recently announced the the lineup for this women’s wrestling spectacular, including an epic championship match.

The Diamond Division Championship will be on the line as current champion Queen Aminata is scheduled to defend against Skye Blue. Last year, Queen Aminata and Skye Blue reached the finals of the inaugural GCW Diamond Cup Tournament to vie for the vacant championship. Blue had previously defeated the likes of the then Knockouts Champion, Deonna Purrazzo, and “The Bionic Beast” Jennacide. Aminata overcame Tesha Price and Shaul Guerrero to reach the finals before the two met in the finals. In the end, Aminata walked away the victor and first-ever Diamond Division Champion.

Now, Skye Blue has a chance to reverse last year’s fate, as she challenges Queen Aminata for the Diamond Division Championship on January 22nd.

Additionally, the Diamond Cup Tournament will also be making its return, featuring eight fierce competitors. Block A will pit A.Q.A (formerly Zayda Ramier) against “The Too Turnt Party Unicorn” Laynie Luck. “The Killer Bae” Heather Monroe is also slated to face the FSWW Women’s Champion, Sandra Moone.

Block B of the tournament features two more intriguing matchups, including Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Rok-C squaring off with the PCW Ultra Women’s Champion, Viva Van. Furthermore, “The Submission Savvy Strategist” Killa Kate faces “The Submission Sniper” Jordan Blade in the first round.

The upcoming Diamond Cup event also features two more non-tournament matches. Missa Kate will take on Kelsey Raegan, while Mazzerati and Katalina Perez will also do battle.

Here is a full rundown of the current card:

Diamond Division Championship: Queen Aminata (c) vs Skye Blue

Diamond Cup Tournament:

Block A – 

• A.Q.A vs Laynie Luck.
• Heather Monroe vs Sandra Moone

Block B – 

• Rok-C vs Viva Van
• Killa Kate vs Jordan Blade

Non-Tournament Matches:
Missa Kate vs Kelsey Raegan
Mazzerati vs Katalina Perez

IMPACT Wrestling Unveils Year-End Awards

Last Thursday on IMPACT Wrestling, the company premiered part one of its year-end shows and awards. Throughout the evening, two Knockouts Division awards were unveiled.

Firstly, the Knockouts Match of the Year was up for grabs. Here were the official nominations:

• Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James (Bound For Glory)
• Deonna Purrazzo vs. Thunder Rosa (Slammiversary)
• Tasha Steelz vs. Jordynne Grace (BTI: May 13)
• Fire N Flava vs. Havok & Nevaeh (Hard To Kill)
• Deonna Purrazzo vs. Masha Slamovich (Knockouts Knockdown)

Subsequently, the Knockouts Match of the Year was awarded to the Knockouts World Championship match at Bound For Glory between Deonna Purrazzo and Mickie James. This match pinned “The Virtuosa” in a hard-fought battle with the “Hardcore Country” Mickie James. Match highlights included an intense pre-match brawl, Mickie James kicking out of the Queen’s Gambit, and Purrazzo mocking James’ signature DDT. In the end, Mickie James would end Purrazzo’s outstanding 343 day title reign, securing her fourth Knockouts Championship.

Deonna Purrazzo and Mickie James will soon face up in a rematch for the Knockouts Championship at Hard To Kill on January 8th in a Texas Death Match.

Deonna Purrazzo also earned herself a second award last week, in the form of the Knockout of the Year.

The official nominees were as follows:

• Deonna Purrazzo
• Mickie James
• Jordynne Grace
• Tasha Steelz
• Mercedes Martinez

This marks the second time that Purrazzo has been crowned Knockout of the Year in IMPACT. In fact, she was last year’s winner of the award as well. This year, Purrazzo dominated the Knockouts division with impressive victories over Jazz, ODB, Melina Perez, Thunder Rosa, Taya Valkyrie and many more in her second reign as Knockouts Champion.

INTERVIEWS

Former MPW Champion Jazmin Allure chatted with Alicia Atout about their love of ginger-ale, being feisty in the ring, her badass Mission Pro faction, training with Thunder Rosa, and the thrill of wrestling for AEW.

Smackdown star Toni Storm joined Out of Character with Ryan Satin to discuss her time spent in NXT UK, moving to the United States during the Pandemic, feud with Charlotte Flair, main roster goals, and more.

WOW Superhero Danni Bee recently spoke with MuscleManMalcolm about moving to Texas, training with Booker T, her hometown of Oklahoma City, getting into pro wrestling, and much more.

AEW star Ruby Soho recently joined Jim Varsallone to discuss the Rancid collaboration, AEW theme music, punk rock, the AEW vibe, and more!

Ring of Honor star Willow Nightingale appeared on Wilde On to discuss how she found wrestling, appearing on AEW, working in a tattoo parlor, and more.

AAW Women’s Champion JC Storm joined The Bob Culture Podcast to discuss wrestling in Nepal, becoming the first ever AAW Women’s Champ, future goals and more!

Former MCW Women’s Champion Amber Rodriguez appeared on Women’s Wrestling Talk to discuss beauty standards in the industry, advice wrestling legend Jazz gave her, how her new character came about, and more.