Dave Finlay
Hall was originally trained by Roger Ruffen in Cincinnati. Later she trained with Dave Finlay at his professional wrestling school. Debuting in 1998, Fletcher wrestled under the ring name Macaela Mercedes on the independent circuit as a villainous character. Mercedes won numerous championships on the independent circuit, including Southern States Wrestling's Women's Championship. She wrestled for women-only promotions, including G.L.O.R.Y., the Professional Girl Wrestling Association (PGWA), and the Women's Wrestling Alliance (WWA), and held both the WWA Women's Championship and the PGWA Championship. She also competed for other promotions including Hoosier Pro Wrestling (HPW), where she won both the HPW Cruiserweight Championship and HPW Ladies' Championship, Canadian International Wrestling (CIW), where she won the CIW Indy Women's Championship, Mid–States Championship Wrestling, where she won the MCW Mid-American title, and Blue Water Championship Wrestling, where she won the BWCW Women's title. Her greatest independent circuit success was in the Superstar Wrestling Federation (SWF), where she held the SWF Women's Championship and also competed in numerous intergender matches. She held the SWF Tag Team Championship twice, once with Tiny Tim and once with Randy Allen. In 2002 and early 2003, Mercedes wrestled regularly for the Apocalypse Wrestling Federation and Wrestle And Respect, where she competed in intergender matches and was involved in a scripted rivalry with the "Fabulous Firebird" Phoenix over the G.L.O.R.Y. Ladies' Wrestling Championship. On January 23, 2003, Mercedes won the G.L.O.R.Y. Ladies' Wrestling Championship, when she defeated the "Fabulous Firebird" Phoenix via referee's decision at an Apocalypse Wrestling Federation show.