For the first time in three years, Girl Fight Wrestling is bringing its women’s wrestling action back to the Midwest, and for this occasion, there’s a new sheriff in charge.
That sheriff is the reigning Girl Fight Champion Billie Starkz, who is tasked not only with organizing GFW’s return event, but also defending her championship at it. In a new interview with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay, Starkz revealed how she landed the roles of booker and promoter for Girl Fight Wrestling.
According to Starkz, her transition into booking/promoting materialized after conversations with GFW’s former owner, Mad Man Pondo.
“I was like, ‘Hey, it’s kind of crazy, the stuff you guys did for me and my career. Now this isn’t really a thing for girls anymore coming up on the independents.’ It was sad for me to see they don’t have a place to go wrestle and show what they can do against other women. And yes, there’s a spot here, there’s a spot there, but there’s nothing in the Midwest right now,” Starkz said. “I was like I love my girls in Indiana and Kentucky. I need to show out for my people because this is where I’m from.”
With Pondo’s blessing, Starkz then began the tedious process of planning Girl Fight’s return event, titled Your Lost Valentine, for Sunday, February 15 in New Albany, Indiana. This included marking over 150 talent names on a list, then creating a number of potential matches for the show. From there, Starkz said she made a series of phone calls to gather talent availability and interest, with 15 other women ultimately filling the final lineup.
“I truly am happy that I’ve been such a good person in wrestling. I’ve made great friends,” Starkz said when asked about her approach to these new roles. “Honestly, I’ve made such a great group of people in wrestling with the women’s wrestlers. Especially on this first show, they’ve made it amazingly easy for me. Stuff has been great. They are excited to wrestle, excited to put on a great show for people. It’s weird to me because I don’t like being in this position of power. I will say that very much. I feel weird being able to use my wrestling brain to be like, ‘Yeah, you and you would do great together. Have fun, fight each other.'”
Starkz Continues To Learn From Her Mentor, Athena
At Your Lost Valentine, fans will see Starkz defend her Girl Fight Championship against Emily Jaye, Allie Allbright, and Lili Ruiz. Elsewhere, VertVixen will take on ROH Women’s World Champion Athena.
On ROH programming, Starkz and Athena have fostered a student-mentor partnership. The same applies to backstage, where Starkz says Athena has helped her adjust to booking and promoting work.
“When I decided I’m going to do this all-women’s show, she definitely was one of the first people I called,” Starkz said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, I really like this idea, but I know it’s going to be hard. Can you help me?’ She was 100% game…[she taught me] about just having a voice backstage. I’m a very like, oh, I love wrestling, this is what I want to talk about, and I’ll talk about that stuff [kind of person]. But there’s some times where I have to be more serious and more mature in a tone. She’s definitely helped me get that voice back in control of like, yes, this is not going to be goofy, serious time. This is get work done.”
The full lineup for GFW’s Your Lost Valentine is as follows:
- Laynie Luck & Shazza McKenzie vs. Kenzie Paige & Kylie Paige
- Rachael Ellering vs. Ashlyn Alexander
- Girl Fight Title: Billie Starkz (c) vs. Emily Jaye vs. Lili Ruiz vs. Allie Allbright
- Athena vs. VertVixen
- Killer Kelly vs. Jada Stone
- Rachel Armstrong vs. Maya World
