“Midwest is Best”: World-Class Roller Derby Came to Lansing and Delivered

Sometime around 1 pm on Sunday, with about 100 fans gathered inside the Lansing Center, a chant broke out from the Ohio Roller Derby cheering section.

“I say ‘Rat’! You say ‘Chet’!”

“RAT-”

With cheeky grins, the crowd replied “CHET”, sounding suspiciously like the sh-word.

The chant was for Ohio jammer Ratchet. It was also, somehow, a perfect introduction to what the 2026 WFTDA North American Playoffs brought to downtown Lansing over Memorial Day weekend: a hard-to-explain, genuinely compelling sport with a devoted community, an irreverent sense of humor and stakes most people don’t realize exist.

The stakes were a berth in the WFTDA Championships this October in Malmö, Sweden.

Twelve of the top roller derby leagues in North America, including two from Michigan, competed May 29-31 at the Lansing Center, hosted by Lansing Roller Derby. The winner of each game earned points toward their global ranking, and top finishers secured their spot in Malmö. For a sport that has spent two decades building itself from the ground up, it was a big deal.

Walking in on Friday afternoon, that wasn’t immediately obvious. The track was tucked into the back of the Lansing Center with minimal signage guiding the way, giving the whole thing the feel of stumbling onto something you weren’t supposed to see. Think Fight Club, but with roller skates and a full rulebook.

By Sunday evening, it felt like something else entirely.

Detroit Roller Derby came in as the sixth seed and played like a team with something to prove. Jammer Melissa “Donnie” McDonald was a standout, racking up multiple 20-point jams to secure Saturday’s win over St. Louis’s Arch Nemesis, 232-155. Detroit’s fans leaned into the city’s Coney dog reputation with full commitment and a few of them showing up in hot dog costumes.

The best bout of the weekend, though, was Ann Arbor Roller Derby versus Ohio on Sunday. It was a defensive clinic where the pack of skaters seemed to move clockwise as often as it went counterclockwise, the usual derby direction. Most of the game was played in grinding walls of blockers, jammers fighting for every inch. Ann Arbor led 111-87 with nine minutes left, then Ohio rattled off 34 unanswered points, capped by a Ratchet jam, defying gravity as she wickedly tiptoed along the boundary line to sneak past Ann Arbor blockers. Ann Arbor scored eight in the final jam, but it wasn’t enough. Final: Ohio 121, Ann Arbor 119. The Michigan squad finished 0-2 for the weekend.

The 17th and final game of the weekend, the regional championship, was not a nail-biter. The Arch Rival All Stars of St. Louis dismantled the Gotham All Stars of New York, 250-54. Arch Rival jumped out to a 76-14 lead before Gotham ever controlled a jam. Arch Rival jammers Swanson and Hart were dominant throughout, and “Midwest is Best” became the arena’s unofficial motto. About 300 fans were on hand and many more watched via the WFTDA’s pay-per-view stream, which averaged around 900 viewers per day across the weekend, according to Karen Kauffman, WFTDA Senior Director of Global Programs.

“From all accounts, the tournament was, and not surprisingly, very well-run by Lansing Roller Derby,” said Kauffman. “We look forward to seeing Arch Rival and Gotham again in Malmö.”

One thing worth knowing before you chase down a local bout: what played at the Lansing Center last weekend was elite, optimized derby. The games were heavy on defensive walls and lighter on the speed and chaos that make the sport insanely fun to watch.

Lansing Roller Derby’s home bouts are a better entry point. The action is faster. The game is more accessible to newcomers.

And, there’s a much lower chance you’ll accidentally yell “SHIT!” in front of strangers.