WAYBACK WEDNESDAYS #6: Tara Thunder's Argument Is Invalid

Welcome yet again to Wayback Wendesdays, where we dig out buried treasures from FFW’s past, dust them off, and show them to the world, whether you wanted us to or not.  

So last week, Future Shock alumnus Jodie Gray faced Future Shock hater Tara Thunder.  In the war of words leading up to the match, with Tara Thunder slamming the veracity of our beloved intorductory competition on all sides, Jodie Gray came up with an approach best summarized by:

“Hanna Elliot  Your argument is invalid.”

And anyone who started following SVW in the last three years got this vacant look on their face, blinked a couple of times, and asked no one in particular- “who?”

Hanna Elliot came into Femme Fatale Wrestling in later 2011 as a member of Future Shock Season Four, the same season that gave us Desirae Kain, Arabella Black, and Gigante, and was actually won for a period of time by Casey Atherton (don’t ask).  Elliot was eliminated second in the competition, only outlasting train-wreck-in-waiting Deven Knight.  She would go on to have a remarkably unremarkable 2 year run in the company, managing only five wins and becoming more known for fairly epic self-pitying Twitter meltdowns.

Oh, and one of those five wins were over Tara Thunder.

There are some upsets that you look back on and realize that they’re not so much upsets in hindsight- the other person was just better than you expected.  Mika beating Camilla is a prime example of this.  Then there are those upsets that you can go months- years, even decades looking back and still wondering “how the fuck did she pull this off?”

This is one of the latter, kids.

This was supposed to be a warmup match for Tara, who was about to walk into Violent Night in Dallas to face Crystal Hilton for the Evolution Championship.  For Hanna, it was an opportunity, but one no one in their right mind thought she would capitalize on.  Hanna would instead remind everyone one of the harshest and most forgotten truths in wrestling.

You’re always only three seconds away.

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VELOCITY #24- Seattle, WA- November 3, 2011
(match written by Josh)


Ben: Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall.

"Thunderstruck" starts playing and along with the starting riff out walks Tara Thunder dressed up in a pink and black combination there she stands at the top of the ramp as the crowd resents the usual sing along chanting to "Thunder!" resorting to boos and jeers at her.  Entrance way goes dark she walks to the ramp way the lights in the arena flash like a lightning during a thunderstorm and light back up before she heads rushingly towards towards ringside refusing to slap hands of the fans then she jumps on the apron letting the pyro explosions go off around the ring before flipping herself over the top rope. Once in the ring she takes of her pink jacket, flicks her long curly hair back swinging her curvy body a bit doing some hits and kicks as the music dies down.

Ben: Introducing first, from Miami, Florida……..Tara Thunder!

Showtime: Crazy don’t even begin to describe this woman but whatever the state of her mind is, one thing’s for certain……..she’s next in line for a shot at the Evolution title!

CCM: She is. Tara has a match with Crystal Hilton coming up at Violent Night where she once again has a shot to get the Evolution Championship and with all this talk of conspiracies on her end, I think that’s a do or die match for her if there ever was one.

“Mannequin” starts to play over the PA System and the lights start to flicker in blue flashes as Hanna Elliot appears from a cloud of smoke that had formed around the entrance ramp. Showing no concern from the boos coming from the female fans, Hanna blows a kiss out into the crowd, bending over in the process before she starts her walk down to the ring. Once she reaches ring side, Hanna looks at the ring and runs a hand down her body, shaking her ass at the crowd to a series of cat calls from the male fans. Hanna walks up the steps and places her hands on the ropes as she places half her body inside the ring and the other half still on the outside, straddling the ropes, Hanna gives an innocent wink before entering the ring and awaiting the bell to ring.

Ben: And her opponent…………from Richmond, Virginia, Hanna Elliot!

Showtime: Man, I love Hanna’s entrance! Those ring ropes are lucky!

CCM: Well, Hanna Elliot has a match coming up at Violent Night as well when she takes on the delusional Casey Atherton in a clash of Future Shock stars. That should be…..interesting, but tonight she’s got her hands full with Tara.

The bell rings and Hanna just stares across the ring at Tara for a few moments before she charges her and goes for a clothesline. Tara ducks, spins Hanna around and nails an uppercut that rocks her. Hanna holds onto her jaw and staggers back, but Tara nails another. This backs Hanna into a corner, but Tara stays on her and nails some rapid fire kicks to her in the corner before she grabs her by the arm, takes a running start and gives her some pretty good hang time with a hip toss. Hanna holds the small of her back as she gets up, but Tara catches her with a scoop power slam. Hanna is slow to get up, but does so holding her back again. As she turns around, Tara comes to life and nails a bicycle kick that catches Hanna right on the skull.

Showtime: Tara is teeing off on Hanna and this is getting ugly fast! We’re talking Deas ugly, here!

CCM: Tara’s come out of the gate looking to dominate and make a point and so far she has.

Hanna crawls over to the ropes and slowly pulls herself up to her feet as the crowd gets behind her and claps to try and will her back into the match. She turns around and Tara boots her in the gut, then reels her in and nails a snap suplex. Hanna holds her back and kicks the mat in pain as Tara gets up with a smirk on her face. She stomps Hanna to the gut a few times, then grabs her by the legs. She goes for her sharpshooter, but Hanna responds with some kicks that causes Tara to stagger backward. This only seems to anger Tara, though, who catches Hanna with a knee to the gut as she makes it to her feet, then grabs her by the arm and rockets her across the ring and into the ropes. As Hanna comes back, Tara goes for a discuss clothesline but Hanna manages to duck it. She springs off the other side of the ring and when she comes back at Tara, leaps up with a Thesz press.

Showtime: Hanna FINALLY manages to take Tara down here and it’s about damn time. Up until now this match has been all Tara!

CCM: It has, Tara’s absolutely dominated here but Hanna has a spark of life left and that’s all she needs to get something going here.

Hanna makes it to her feet and begins nailing a flurry of kicks to Tara. She reaches down after a boot to her head and pulls Tara to her feet before she reels her in with a piledriver. Before she can bring Tara back and spike her into the mat, though, Tara lifts her up with a back body drop. Hanna manages to twist herself around and land on her feet behind her, however. This gets the crowd to cheer as Hanna twists Tara around and then grabs her by the head and snaps her back with a DDT. She rolls Tara over and quickly hooks a leg.

One!

Showtime: Hanna’s got a cover on Tara!

Two!

CCM: Tara kicks out and Hanna is showing nothing but heart here.

Hanna makes it up and nails a few kicks to Tara again before she backs into the ropes and looks for an elbow drop on her. Tara rolls out of the way and Hanna gets nothing but mat. As she gets to her feet, Tara rakes her eyes and then nails several vicious knife edge cops to her chest before she grabs her by the head and reels her in with a vertical suplex. She stalls as she gets Hanna in midair and lets her hang there for a moment before snapping her back into the mat! Tara quickly floats over and gets on top of her.

One!

Showtime: She ain’t even bothering to hook Hanna’s leg!

Two!

CCM: Hanna shoots an arm up and I think all that’s done is irritate Tara!

Tara gets to her feet and places a foot across Hanna’s neck as she chokes her. Tara grabs a hold of the top rope for leverage and continues to choke Hanna as the crowd rains down some boos on her and starts a “you suck” chant. Tara lets up on Hanna after a few moments, but nails a stomp to her for good measure before she looks around at the crowd with a smirk. Hanna crawls over to the ropes and begins to get up using them, but Tara seems to lay in wait for her and once she makes it up to her feet and turns around, lifts her up for an atomic drop. Hanna grabs her by the head, though and manages to spin around and spike Tara down into the mat with a tornado DDT that gets the crowd cheering again.

Showtime: Good counter there from the former Future Shock competitor and I’d say that shocked Tara pretty well!

CCM: We saw a hell of an upset last week when Pink, Inc. won the Unity Tag Team titles, imagine if Hanna won here? That’d have to be considered an upset as well and the second one in just as many weeks, too!

Hanna gets up slowly and shakes the cobwebs from her head. She looks around and realizes that Tara is pretty much laid out on the mat. She quickly rushes over to her and gets down on top of her and then hooks a leg.

One!

Showtime: This could be it!

Two!

CCM: Hanna’s got it!

NO! Tara literally tosses Hanna off of her and the crowd rains down more boos onto the ring as Tara gets to her feet. Hanna starts getting up, but Tara goes to cut her off with a clothesline but Hanna ducks it to cheers and then spins Tara around. She kicks her in the midsection and then grabs her by the head and goes for a vertical suplex. Tara manages to fall behind her, however and grabs her from behind. Before Hanna even seems to know what’s going on, Tara pops her back with a German suplex!

Showtime: Beautiful German suplex from Tara Thunder and Hanna’s in a baaaaaaaad spot here.

CCM: Agreed, she’s down………Tara’s up. This isn’t where I would want to be in a match like this.

Tara seems to wait for Hanna to get up and the crowd boos as she grins and once Hanna makes it to her feet slowly, closes in and grabs her by the head. She seems to be looking for the Down and Dead, but Hanna shoves her off of her and into the ropes. As Tara comes back, she flies through the air with a shoulder block that takes her down. The crowd roars their approval as Hanna gets up to her feet and as Tara gets up, winds up and smacks her right on the face with a bitch slap. The fans seem to know what’s coming and get louder as Hanna goes for a big boot, but Tara ducks it. As Hanna turns around, Tara goes for the Down and Dead again but Hanna drops to the mat and quickly rolls her up!

One!

Showtime: Hanna with a rollup!

Two!

CCM: Does she have her?

Three!

Ben: Here is your winner of the match via pinfall, HANNA ELLIOT!

The crowd explodes and Hanna rolls from the ring and the referee raises her hand on the ringside floor. Tara is pissed as she gets to her feet in the ring and stares at Hanna in shock. The crowd cheers and they only get louder as Crystal Hilton walks out onto the top of the ramp with the Evolution title over her shoulder and a grin on her face as she shakes her head.

Showtime: HANNA ELLIOT WON! SHE GOT THE WIN OVER TARA THUNDER?!

CCM: WHAT A HELL OF AN UPSET, BUT LOOK AT WHO’S ON THE RAMP!

Showtime: Crystal seems amused that Tara lost here but I can’t believe it! Hanna beat her?

CCM: Hanna gets the win here tonight and you HAVE to wonder what kind of state of mind this puts Tara in going into her title match!

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Crystal Hilton might have been amused then, but she certainly wasn’t three weeks later when Tara beat her to win the Evolution Championship, and go onto hold the belt for eight months.  Her first defense?  Hanna Elliot of course, but history wasn’t going to repeat itself this time, and Tara walked out with a fairly easy victory.  The two would have a rubber match eight months later, with Tara walking out the victor yet again.

That second match would prove Hanna’s only title shot with FFW, as she would flounder for the next two years, her only other notable win coming over Vanessa Cade, which more or less destroyed Cade’s career.  After her seventh consecutive loss (and tenth in twelve matches) Elliot quietly departed the company in September of 2013.

Tara never let the loss to Elliot hold her down with anything, as she’s amassed two lengthy title reigns, and is almost a surefire future Hall of Famer.  She will also be entering a triple threat elimination match at Chaos Theory hoping to earn her second chance at the FFW Championship. Whatever this woman's opinions on Future Shock might be, she's at least earned the chops to have the right to say her piece.