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WSU sale update – buyer backs out

Women Superstars Uncensored‘s planned sale to an “independent buyer” – which we discussed in Tuesday’s Roundup – has fallen through, though owner Sean McCaffrey is still looking to sell the promotion, with the reason for a rapid sale being cited as “other issues in life to address right now”.

The latest update was delivered earlier in a multi-tweet message. Here are the excerpts:

Sale update: Original buyer backed out today, we are negotiating with two other parties, one being a prominent indy promotion to buy… But to answer all the DM’s, reason I personally leaving is I have other issues in life to address right now that are time consuming. I do not want to put out a half ass effort, and if I can’t run the company at the level i want and used to, because of other matters. It is time to hand the keys to someone who can dedicate the time, energy and passion that I was able to as owner… But end of the day, health issues, job opportunities and newborn babies come before wrestling, & I don’t want to 1/2 ass anything…

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May 17, 2012 | Categories: News | Tags: WSU | Leave A Comment »

In Video: Gatoh Move kicks off in Thailand

Emi Sakura has certainly been busy since leaving Ice Ribbon at the start of January. For the most part, she has been teaming/battling Kaori Yoneyama, as well as travelling to Thailand to get a new promotion off the ground. As time has passed, the two elements have been drawn together to the point where they came together yesterday in Bangkok.

On April 22, Sakura and Yoneyama wrestled on a JWP card with stipulations for both women. If Yoneyama won, Sakura would have to become a full-time member of the JWP roster and abandon her plans to set up a promotion in Thailand. However, if Emi won, Kaori would be forced to join her new Thai venture. As it turned out, Sakura got the winning pinfall in 31 seconds using La Magistral to force Yoneyama to join her project. However, before flying out to Thailand, Sakura secured some new trinkets with her new colleague by winning the JWP and Daily Sports Tag Team Championship by beating Command Bolshoi & Rabbit Miyu for the vacant belts.

Up until now, matches filmed under the working title of BKK Pro had taken place in a number of unique settings against Masa Takanashi, including around a hotel swimming pool and on the beach… that is, until yesterday, when Sakura’s new promotion – now known as Gatoh Move – staged its first ever contest in a ring. Admittedly, it was a Muay Thai ring which is harder than your regular wrestling ring, and the ropes are more for keeping combatants inside rather than for running and jumping, but it’s progress. After all, Ice Ribbon started without a ring, and that has grown into a respectable joshi promotion over the years.

The match featured the Tag Team Champions wrestling against each other in a match that went longer than 31 seconds. Wrestled inside the MBK shopping mall in Bangkok, it was viewed by around 300 spectators who were poised for some Muay Thai action, though Sakura and Yoneyama reportedly received “please come back” chants from the crowd, who were receptive of what they had just witnessed. As starts go, that’s a pretty positive one, and couple with the added credibility that people with title belts brings, it should garner some more attention in the future. Click after the jump to watch the match for yourself.

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May 17, 2012 | Categories: Video | Tags: Emi Sakura, Gatoh Move, Kaori Yoneyama | Leave A Comment »

Ringbelles Retro: A look at Klondyke Kate

Many happy returns (albeit belatedly) to Klondyke Kate, the British grappler who has been strapping on the boots for 30 years, and still occasionally steps into the ring.

Raised in Stoke-on-Trent in England, she first got into wrestling at the age of 15 when she attended wrestling shows in Lancashire, and on one occasion, she got a wrestler’s blood on her white dress. She then confronted promoter Bobby Barron, who offered her the chance to join the wrestlers at the gym and join in if she liked. She went along, and later debuted as Big Bertha, before changing her name to Klondyke Kate, and worked the bulk of her career as a heel. She is fondly remembered by William Regal, who talked about her on a recent episode of Florida Championship Wrestling TV during a triple threat match between Raquel Diaz, Audrey Marie and Paige, pointing out that the former Britani Knight received training from Kate.

After the jump, there is an example of how Klondyke Kate could work a crowd into a frenzy. We’ve got fans throwing things into the ring, a woman who does her level best to climb in, and Kate giving them hell before, during and after her match against Lisa Jane from November 1991. Oh, and the referee has a positively awesome mullet. Read the rest of this page »

May 16, 2012 | Categories: Retro | Tags: Klondyke Kate, retro | Leave A Comment »

Ringbelles Roundup (15 May 2012)

In news that landed on the Internet yesterday morning, Women Superstars Uncensored has been sold to what the official Twitter referred to as an “independent buyer”. In a statement in the newsletter, the promotion stated: “WSU is in the process of changing ownership. The sale will not affect any WSUVideo.com purchases or upcoming events. We will have a press release once the sale is signed.”

We understand that the press release will arrive by the end of this week, though there is no official word on whether this will affect the current direction of the promotion, the booking, the storylines, the upcoming Uncensored Rumble V iPPV next month, or the working relationship with nCw Femmes Fatales.

There is a possibility that the “independent buyer” who has bought WSU has plans to expand the brand. After all, there are elements which make it valuable. It is the busiest women’s promotion in the US, holding around a dozen cards a year – either officially or in collaboration with other companies – as well as having episodic storylines, a strong bunch of top-line characters like the Midwest Militia, Mercedes Martinez, Alicia and Brittney Savage, and it has ironed out a lot of the kinks that it suffered while it found its feet on iPPV. We hope that if there are changes, they don’t happen too suddenly, as it may be jarring for fans who are used to the current setup. We also hope that this buyer has a plan, and isn’t a money mark who throws a shedload of money at it, and pulls out if he or she does not see a return, killing the promotion as a consequence. After all, there is some evidence that WSU is not as profitable as it could be at the moment…

As we have pointed out on this site, attendance numbers have been pretty weak since WSU moved from its regular base of the ACE Arena in Union City, NJ to the NYWC Sportatorium in Deer Park, NY, though we have no real indication on how financially successful the iPPVs have been – for all we know, they could be bombing, or they could be booming. While we have a few bits and pieces of information about the current situation, it would be best to wait until there is an official word to try and get more of a handle on the situation.

We will bring you more on this sale as we get it. Read the rest of this page »

May 15, 2012 | Categories: Roundup | Tags: Cherry Bomb, Courtney Rush, Gail Kim, Melanie Cruise, NCW:FF, Nikki St John, OVW, REINA, Resistance Pro, Shanna, Tara, TNA, WAWW, WSU, WWE, Yumiko Hotta | Leave A Comment »

Courtney Rush challenges the Midwest Militia

It is probably the most mouth watering prospect in the whole working relationship with Women Superstars Uncensored and nCw Femmes Fatales: the Midwest Militia heading north of the border for Femmes Fatales IX in Montreal, Quebec to take on what Canada has to offer.

Comprised of the WSU World and Spirit Champion Jessicka Havok and Tag Team Champions Allysin Kay and Sassy Stephie, the Militia have had their way in the New York/New Jersey area over the past six months, taking on and getting the best of the promotion’s most popular stars like Mercedes Martinez, Brittney Savage and Alicia. On July 7 – following the arrival of Femmes Fatales in WSU at the Uncensored Rumble V on June 16 when Kalamity takes on Sweet Cherrie – the Militia will work as a triumvirate in what is being described as a 6-Woman Awesome Fight against a team which is yet to be fully revealed, but we know who the captain will be – Winnipeg’s Courtney Rush,.

In a new video released by Femmes Fatales yesterday evening, Rush points out that she was the one who went to nCw to request a match against the trio of terror with a hand-picked team called the Rush Revolution, and said she would be keeping their identities a secret for now, though she does reveal that Sara Del Rey would not be one of them, as her SHIMMER Tag Team Championship partner is taking on Kalamity that night for the International Championship. She also compares herself to a rottweiler, though you should click the jump and find out for yourself what she means by that… Read the rest of this page »

May 14, 2012 | Categories: News | Tags: Allysin Kay, Cherry Bomb, Courtney Rush, Jennifer Blake, Jessicka Havok, Leah Von Dutch, NCW:FF, Sassy Stephie, WSU | Leave A Comment »

Sacrifice: Gail Kim Eats Defeat… yet still retains

Brooke Tessmacher rolls into TNA Sacrifice to challenge Gail Kim for the Knockouts Championship that she has held onto for the past six months, turning back challenges from the likes of Mickie James, Tara, Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky.

The Background
• Tessmacher earned this title opportunity after returning from booking obscurity to defeat Kim three weeks in a row on Impact Wrestling.
• To ratchet up the emotion, Tessmacher even used Gail’s Eat Defeat finisher to get one of the pinfalls.
• This build-up is based on in-ring activity and a desire to be champion – no angles, no personal vendettas, just the spirit of competition.
• It was a quick, yet effective way to establish a new challenger, as Brooke seemed to be a legitimate threat to Gail’s title reign because she had a psychological edge over the champion – Kim had been beaten by the Tessmacher on three occasions in rapid succession – would the same thing happen with the title on the line? Read the rest of this page »

May 14, 2012 | Categories: Report | Tags: Brooke Tessmacher, Gail Kim, Impact Wrestling, TNA | Leave A Comment »

REINA dissolved

Word coming out of Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall today confirms that the show which was initially billed as REINA‘s first anniversary show has ended up being their final show. Ice Ribbon’s Ray took to twitter following the show tweeting “I was surprised at the dissolution of REINA, but it gave me the opportunity to fight lots of overseas stars and go to Mexico. I will be forever grateful. Happiness to everyone” (translated from original Japanese).

REINA (or to give the promotion its full name – Universal Women’s Pro Wrestling REINA) was formed a year ago by reina CEO Riki Tamashiro and produced by Tamashiro along with veteran figurehead Yumiko Hotta & Aki Kanbayashi. REINA was unique amongst the joshi scene as it had a specific talent agreement with CMLL in Mexico to bring over their luchadoras, often for extended tours, to give the REINA promotion a very lucha flavour. In the last year, CMLL regulars Zeuxis, Silueta & La Commandante have been amongst the most common luchadoras (although pretty much all the CMLL luchadoras have made at least one visit to Japan), and the promotion has hosted title matches for both the CMLL World Women’s Title and the CMLL National Women’s Title. REINA even created their own World Champion (Yumiko Hotta), a set of tag team belts (currently in possession of Mima Shimoda & Zeuxis), and joined with CMLL to create the co-promoted CMLL-REINA International Junior Title (currently with Silueta). REINA didn’t only look to Mexico for inspiration, and used a lot of other international talents, such as Sara Del Rey, Courtney Rush, Kellie Skater, Roxie Cotton, Simply Luscious, Luscious Latasha, Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews on shows. In fact, CZW’s Kimber Lee debuted for REINA on this final show. Read the rest of this page »

May 13, 2012 | Categories: News | Tags: REINA, Yumiko Hotta | Leave A Comment »

In Video: A bloody affair for the WWW Championship

The World Women’s Wrestling Championship has a longer history than both the SHIMMER and Women Superstars Uncensored Championships, and boasts a champion who is pushing two years with the belt – albeit with one of those years didn’t feature any defences as the parent company, New England Championship Wrestling, was inactive. Its current titleholder is Alexxis Nevaeh, AKA former WSU Tag Team Champion Lexxus, who won the title in the match that we bring to you today.

This is Alexxis’ third reign as WWW Champion. The first reign began after she won a four-way in August 2007, but ended at WWW’s 2nd Anniversary show the following March at the hands of Ariel, who turned heel in the process. To regain the belt, Nevaeh had to defeat 10 top WWW stars to get the shot, which she successfully did, and won back the title in March 2009.

He second run with the championship was cut short by Mistress Belmont, who took the WWW title for her first reign in March 2010, with the feud between the two escalating to the point that they had to settle their differences inside a steel cage in Quincy, MA on August 8 of that year. Click after the jump to see a hard-hitting cage affair with a pre-match brawl, chairs, blood, and crazy bumps… Read the rest of this page »

May 12, 2012 | Categories: Video | Tags: Lexxus, Mistress Belmont, WWW | Leave A Comment »

Shanna has knee surgery

“Portugal’s Perfect Athlete” Shanna is currently on the shelf after having long-overdue surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The six-year professional from Lisbon has been waiting for the operation for a year, and finally had the surgery on Monday from a surgeon who she described as “the best doctor in Europe”, though she predicts that she will be back sooner than many would expect.

While the time frame for a return from surgery on a torn ACL is about a year – as we have recently seen with the amount of time Layla was out of action with a similar ailment – Shanna’s recovery seems to be a little more swift. In fact, early consultations with her doctor suggest that she may be running and back in the gym in about a month, which is astonishing progress, when you think about it. Part of this is down to the skills of the surgeon, who she points out has a technique which won’t leave scarring and lends itself towards a faster recovery time. It could be compared to Kurt Angle’s choice of neck surgery in 2003, where he selected a new procedure instead of having spinal fusion which would have kept him out of the ring for at least a year, and returned after three months.

Click after the jump for an official statement from Shanna. Read the rest of this page »

May 11, 2012 | Categories: News | Tags: Shanna | 1 Comment »

Review: AIW Girls Night Out 6 (15 April 2012)

Opportunity knocks for Mia Yim & Allysin Kay, promoted to the main event of Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Girls Night Out 6 in a match for the AIW Women’s Championship. Oh yes, and there’s that whole business of a broken nose to settle too.

Results
1. KC pinned Miss Heidi with a Rydeen Bomb
2. Hailey Hatred pinned Leva Bates with a Running Liger Bomb
3. Melanie Cruise pinned Taylor Made with an Argentine Backbreaker faceplant
4. Death Match: “Crazy” Mary Dobson pinned Trash Cassidy with a rollup
5. Cherry Bomb pinned Sassy Stephie with a BSE
6. Taeler Hendrix pinned Annie Social (w/ Sammy Geodollno) with a schoolgirl
7. Jennifer Blake pinned Kimber Lee with a pump-handle Michinoku Driver
8. Sara Del Rey beat Veda Scott via submission to a YES! Lock
9. Hailey Hatred pinned Jenny Rose with a Tiger Suplex
10. AIW Absolute Women’s Championship: Allysin Kay pinned Mia Yim with a back suplex in an unsanctioned, no rules grudge match to win the vacant AIW Absolute Women’s Championship. Read the rest of this page »