She had her first pro match on her 17th birthday and by the time she turned 20 she had wrestled in Japan and Europe as well as throughout western Canada and much of the West coast of the United States. And that's only the beginning. No, we are not talking about Penny Banner or Ann Casey or any of the other true legends of women's wrestling. We are talking about a legend of the future. Melissa Anderson, "The Cheerleader".

This charming young lady was honored this past April in Las Vegas by the CAC as its first-ever female Future Legend award recipient. A totally shocked and almost speechless Melissa stood before a room full of her heroes and thanked them for their belief in her. "I never expected to receive that award," recalls Melissa. "When I heard my name I was shocked and sort of confused. It’s a great honor that the legends of the sport think that highly of me"

"Las Vegas was a great experience for me. The Harts took a big interest in me and spent a lot of time offering me advice. Penny Banner, who is probably one of the greatest women wrestlers ever, also sat down with me and gave me some great tips." The "Cheerleader," who was also heavily involved in the Training Seminar, said, "Scott Casey and Les Thatcher were great to work with and I really hope I can train with Les some more. I learned so much from him"

Melissa can't remember when wrestling was not a part of her life. Being a second generation wrestler, she grew up around wrestling and wrestlers. Her father, Doug Anderson, and his brother, Billy Anderson, made up the popular west coast tandem of The Fabulous Andersons. Melissa said, "Whenever the WWF came to the Los Angeles area, my uncle was the ring announcer and he got my father and I backstage. I remember meeting and getting autographs from guys like Ted Dibiase, Marty Jannetty and Beau Beverly. I was just a young kid then."

Being a natural athlete and somewhat the "tomboy," Melissa excelled in soccer as well as being a part of the high school track and wrestling teams. By the time she was 15, her father was driving her to uncle Billy's pro wrestling School in San Bernardino every Saturday morning. "We went one weekend to watch and I just knew I wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “After that my dad drove me there every week. The only time I missed a training session was if we had a high school wrestling meet." When Billy ran a show, Melissa was there, helping set up the ring, selling programs, doing the sound or whatever else she could to help.

About 9 months after she had begun her training, Melissa met a young tag team called The Ballard Brothers. They bore a strong resemblance to the Hanson brothers from the hockey movie Slapshot, and were developing a gimmick based on them. They decided they needed a valet/manager and Melissa the Cheerleader was born. Not your typical bubbly cutesy cheerleader, but one with hair slicked back who would do anything to assure the victory of her charges.

It was while working alongside the Ballards that Melissa was first made aware of APW, the extremely successful Bay area indie promotion. Melissa said, "APW liked us and used us a lot. We also worked around California and Arizona and up into Canada a bit. The APW fans really took a liking to me and some -- even had t-shirts made with my picture on them. The APW shows were great, always real smoothly run and professional. All their guys were well trained and it was almost an honor for us to work with them."

Eventually jumping in and out of the ring to interfere was not enough and Melissa took the step into the ring as a wrestler. Her first pro match took place on August 17th in Douglas Wyoming against Lexi Pfyfe. It was the day of her 17th birthday.

"My senior year of high school was a lot of fun and my teachers were very supportive. I was trying to get a wrestling career going and keep up with my school work. If I had to travel to a booking and miss school teachers would e-mail me work and I could e-mail assignments in. They were great to me."

Shortly after she graduated high school she moved from LA to the San Francisco area to become a permanent part of the APW. She got a full-time job working in department store security, trained at the APW facility and wrestled as often as she could.

The first turning point of her career came about in the summer of 2002 when she was approached by the Japanese wrestling promotion ARSON. "They took Taylor (the girl who came second to Nidia in the first Tough Enough) and myself to Japan for 4 months. We were in Japan from June until September. We trained at their dojo with the other girls and worked very hard. I learned a lot while I was there. I worked with a Japanese girl named Yoshida almost every night. She had been wrestling around 13-14 years and I really learned a lot from her. There was another great Japanese girl I really respected, Ohmuki. She was very beautiful -- almost like a model -- but when she got in the ring she was so intense and violent it was almost scary. That's the kind of image I really want to present: pretty and very polished when I come to the ring, and then when the bell rings I become totally intense and scary."

After Japan, Melissa the valet/manager was no more, and Melissa the full-time pro wrestler emerged. Due to the internet and APW tapes being viewed in Europe, Melissa developed a large following. Stampede Wrestling of Germany contacted her and invited her to come wrestle against the winner of a tournament they held. Melissa traveled to Germany in October of 2003 and faced Europe's top women wrestler, Wesna. "She was a great worker and we had a real stiff Japanese style match," she said..

Shortly after her return from Germany, another door opened for Melissa, "Chad Colier (another young indie wrestler) invited me to go to a WWE event and I got to meet Johnny Ace, who gave me Dr. Tom Prichard's phone number. I started calling Tom regularly and he was kind enough to allow me to attend several WWE events and participate in the workout sessions. I got a chance to get in the ring with Ivory, Molly Holly and Jazz. One afternoon, Fit Finley was watching a bunch of us in the ring and asked to see me work with Jazz. It’s very exciting getting to go to these events and workout with the superstars. You never know who is watching so you really push yourself. "My ultimate goal is to be a WWE wrestler. I am not the best, but I believe I am a good wrestler and always trying to learn and get better. I really admire Molly's technical work on the mat, Jazz for her aggression in the ring, and Lita's ability to work the crowd."

Hungry for knowledge and the chance to show her stuff to those who can help her achieve her dreams, Melissa attended both the 2003 and 2004 CAC wrestling Training Seminars where she was a standout in the eyes of trainer Les Thatcher. "Melissa's match with Ms. Natural this year was probably the best indie women’s match I have seen in a very long time," Thatcher noted, "Based on what I have seen of her, I feel she is destined to be working for one of the big companies. She is the best young female wrestler I have seen come along in the past several years."

Melissa has been featured several times in Pro Wrestling Illustrated over the last three years, as well as other wrestling publications.