Monster-gun members win Stardom titles
The reign of inaugural World Of Stardom Champion Nanae Takahashi is over. Her run with the title – which began on July 24, 2011 – came to an end at today’s Korukuen Hall show in Tokyo, Japan at the hands of Alpha Female.
The 6’1″ German – who went to a 30 minute draw with the Takahashi last October – snared the title in the main event of the show which was hyped by a hell of a show poster last month. The win is a massive boost for Alpha as she is the first European to hold any top joshi championship – which is a landmark moment and something that she can use as a marketing point in the future – and remains undefeated in the promotion. More pressing is the fact that as champion, she has a future in Stardom as she will have to defend the belt at some point.
Alpha is one quarter of the imposing Kimura Monster-gun stable, which enjoyed more success on the card… (more…)
Amapola loses hair following loss to Estrellita
It’s a big sacrifice to make, but Amapola had her head shaved as part of CMLL‘s Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show last night.
Both she and Estrellita had put their locks on the line for the match at Arena Mexico in Mexico City. The excellent Luchablog provided live results for the show, and reported that Estrellita won the match by 2 falls to 1 – Estrellita took the first and third with a casita (La Magistral) and arm submission respectively.
Despite being the longest reigning CMLL World Women’s Champion for a massive 1,442 days between 2007 and 2011 (by far the longest reign in the the title’s 20+ year history) Amapola’s Luchas de Apuestas record hasn’t been great. The 36-year old lost her mask back in 2006 after falling to Dark Angel, but beat Diana La Cazadora in a hair v hair outing the following year. However, she had her head shaved in 2008 after she lost to Lady Apache, meaning last night’s scalping is the second time she has gone bald. (more…)
Yuu Yamagata to make US debut for SHIMMER
Until today, the joshi contingent making its way to the US for the SHIMMER volumes 54-57 DVD tapings on April 13 and 14 in Berwyn, IL, have been returning grapplers. Ayako Hamada, Kana and Tomoka Nakagawa are all ingratiated with the fans, though the promotion made an announcement this morning which means a new female star will be making her way across the Pacific.
12-year veteran Yuu Yamagata started in the ARSION promotion, debuting in December of 2000 against Mariko Yoshida, but has been spending the last couple of years wrestling for Pro Wrestling WAVE after going freelance following her departure from K-DOJO, where she had spent the bulk of her career. After leaving K-DOJO on July 31, 2011, she initially spent most of her time in Stardom, but made a more permanent switch to WAVE in February last year, save for some cameo appearances in places like DDT and Ice Ribbon. (more…)
Could Kharma be on her way back to WWE?
It could be something, or it could be nothing – but PWInsider is reporting that WWE is doing something with the Kharma name, to which it owns the rights.
The report claims that the company revived the trademark application to the moniker, which was abandoned this year. The news has caused a rumble or two that the former TNA Knockouts single and Tag Team Champion could be on her way back to WWE after her original run was cut short due to her release in July last year following more than a year of inactivity, barring a cameo appearance at the 2012 Royal Rumble. Indeed, you would think that WWE would not be that interested in renewing the rights to the name unless that they are planning to do something with it – a name which Kharma still uses for her Twitter despite going by her original name of Amazing Kong since her return to the indies at SHINE 5 back in November. (more…)
Daffney/TNA Workers’ Compensation update
On Friday, Daffney squared off with TNA over the mediation table in Nashville, TN over her Workers’ Compensation lawsuit which started in March 2011. If an agreement was not reached, she was willing to take the issue to court and let a judge decide if wrestlers were independent contractors, or if because of their circumstances they should be classified as employees and enjoy the benefits that a member of staff should have, such as medical insurance and a basic wage.
Daffney (Shannon Spruill) was willing to open Pandora’s Box in order to help out her fellow wrestlers who may have been injured in the past and were left out of pocket because of it, or for wrestlers who may get hurt in the future to be able to make the companies sort out the money for injuries they suffered while on the job.
A development in the case happened on Friday. Click the jump to read what happened. (more…)
Lei’D Tapa wins TNA Gut Check, with video
If last night’s Gut Check segment on TNA Impact Wrestling taught us anything, it’s that winning isn’t everything.
After winning her match against Lei’D Tapa on the February 28 episode of Impact, it seemed that the smart money would have been on Ivelisse Velez being offered a deal to join the TNA roster. Both received praise for their work in the match – which was doubly impressive considering the stinker between Velvet Sky and Tara earlier on in last week’s show – with calls for the company to sign them both. However, only one would go forward to the evaluation stage, live in the ring… and Velez was not picked, despite winning the match.
Later on in the broadcast, Tapa faced the music, with Ohio Valley Wrestling‘s Danny Davis and Al Snow giving her the nod, seeing her earn the contract by 2 votes to 1, much to the chagrin of the live crowd, who were audibly upset that Velez was eliminated. (more…)
Daffney/TNA situation could change wrestling
It has been around nine months since we had any update on Daffney‘s Workers’ Compensation claim against TNA, but Ringbelles has secured some information on the situation, and it could potentially lead to one of the biggest shake-ups in wrestling history. It could cause ripple effects not just through TNA, but also to WWE.
It was always telling that Daffney (Shannon Spruill) filed a Workers’ Comp lawsuit instead of a personal injury one, which could have been another avenue for her to be compensated for concussions which she suffered on TNA shows and effectively ended her in-ring career. The reason for that is because she wants to test the claim that wrestlers are “independent contractors”, which means that they are responsible for their own medical insurance and do not enjoy the same sort of protection and benefits that a regular employee would – similar to the lawsuit that Raven, Mike Sanders and Chris Kanyon filed against WWE back in 2008 – but was dismissed, partly because their claims were barred by statute of limitations.
(more…)
SHINE 8 card: Eight Woman Warfare, Leva & Kimberly pick some poison and a career is on the line
On the heels of a well received SHINE 7 iPPV which saw the newly formed VALKYRIE stable complete a clean sweep of victories, going 3-0 across the board, the newly released SHINE 8 card offers the Home Team a chance to gain a measure of revenge in the form of an eight-woman tag team main event. Rain will lead VALKYRIE, consisting of Made In Sin (Allysin Kay & Taylor Made) and this week’s TNA Gut Check contestant Ivelisse Velez, against a team consisting of Amazing Kong, Mia Yim, the returning Christina Von Eerie and the debuting Angelina Love. The heel team picks itself, naturally, but it’s an interesting choice on the Kong side, as it seems that the people who ran in to help at the end of SHINE 7 (Nikki Roxx, Santana Garrett, Tracy Taylor & Su Yung) have all been passed over in deference to Von Eerie & Love. We have no great issues with the choice, as the match looks tasty in any event, but it seems a shame that someone like Santana, who has been quietly improving show by show and looked to potentially have a chance to move up the card, remains anchored to the midcard. (more…)
Ivelisse Velez & Lei’D Tapa do the TNA Gut Check
Eight months after Taeler Hendrix became the first woman to vie for (and earn) a TNA contract, two more women had the chance to take part in the promotion’s Gut Check. Ivelisse Velez (named as Ivelise Felez) and the Barbarian‘s niece Lei’D Tapa fought on last night’s Impact Wrestling, with Velez gaining the victory with tap out via a guillotine choke. The pair will return next week for evaluations.
Both had the chance to talk a bit about themselves before their match in individual profile videos, but while Ivelisse’s struck the right chord – talking about going into wrestling against her mother’s wishes, causing their relationship to be fractured – Tapa’s felt wrong for the heel role that she played later, as it showed her crying over the opportunity she was about to receive. It didn’t sit well with her monster character that she portrayed in the match.
As for the match itself, it only went four minutes so didn’t have the chance to make much of an impression – and Velez’s match with LuFisto at SHINE 7 last week was much better due to having more time to tell a story and make you care – but it was a decent enough TV outing, and the visual tale of Tapa being much bigger and more aggressive while Ivelisse used an MMA style made sure that the way they were presented was sufficiently different. (more…)
Shanna to defend ABC Catch Women’s Title on Friday
Remember Queens Of Chaos? The French promotion launched about six months before SHIMMER in May 2005, and faded away about 18 months later. However, despite a decent enough start, it had its problems.
The wrestling wasn’t much to write home about, there were too many random US imports, the fans were rude and embarrassing, and some of the booking was really weird – for example, there was one match where babyface champion Saraya Knight defended against heel April Hunter with a babyface Christy Hemme as the referee doing her best to screw Hunter, in some of the most bizarre storytelling I’ve seen. It reportedly left such a mess that women’s wrestling in France has been in the doldrums for a long time. However, wrestling is still popular in the country – so much so that fans will go to a show without knowing who’s on or what the promotion is – and the time has arrived for another go at an all-women’s show. (more…)
Tsukushi wins first ICEx60 Championship
Tsukushi is gonna be the only Triple Crown Champion taking the high school entrance exam!
That’s the quote from Hailey Hatred in reaction to 15-year old prodigy Tsukushi emerging victorious in the tournament to crown a new Ice Ribbon ICEx60 Champion, following Maki Narumiya being forced to vacate the belt through injury. She defeated newly-crowned Triangle Ribbon Champion Miyako Matsumoto in the finals earlier today to add a third title to her trophy cabinet – going along with her International Ribbon and REINA x World Tag Team Championships which she holds with Aoi Kizuki.
It’s a massive achievement for the hugely-talented three year pro, who’s been gaining plaudits along the way, including former Ice Ribbon matriarch Emi Sakura – with the two holding the tag straps in the past – and the legendary Manami Toyota, who gave her the seal of approval 18 months ago.
(more…)
Jessie McKay returns to SHIMMER; facing Madison Eagles on volume 53 – plus, iPPV news
Another comeback has been announced for the upcoming SHIMMER volume 53 in Secaucus, NJ on April 6, and it also clears up who fellow returner Madison Eagles will face on the show. In fact, it’s the woman who she debuted with all the way back on volume 21 on October 19, 2008 – Jessie McKay, who returns after missing the last tapings.
The pair made their first appearance in the promotion as the Pink Ladies in the Tag Team Championship Gauntlet to determine the first titleholders – still the longest match in SHIMMER’s history. They were the first team eliminated by the Canadian Ninjas of Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews, and also fell to The Experience – Lexie Fyfe & Malia Hosaka – on the next taping.
However, while it was plain to see at the time the hierarchy in the team, an illness suffered by Eagles on the second day of the volume 23-26 tapings in May 2009 gave McKay a break. She took on Cheerleader Melissa on volume 25 – going down in defeat, but she was rubbing shoulders with bigger names – won a 4-way on the next edition, and when SHIMMER returned in November, stood across the ring from Sara Del Rey. At the time, she was plucky but lacked the edge to get the win over the top talent, though her feud with Nicole Matthews over a number of volumes saw her make her way into a #1 contender’s match against Ayako Hamada and Del Rey on volume 34… and guess what happened? (more…)
Alpha Female to challenge for the World Of Stardom Title; Amazon Ayesha Ray to debut in Stardom
First off, just look at that poster. It’s bloody awesome.
Right, now that you’re back, here are the details: Alpha Female is returning to Japan in March to wrestle for Stardom, and is gunning for the big one. The 6 feet tall German will challenge Nanae Takahashi for the World Of Stardom title on March 17 at Korukuen Hall in Tokyo. It’s likely to be a big challenge for the current champion, considering their previous bout was inconclusive.
On October 21 last year, the pair fought to a 30 minute draw in a bout which was so hard hitting that one of Alpha’s teeth was knocked out. It was one of two matches that she wrestled while there – the other being a victory alongside Hailey Hatred & Kyoko Kimura to defeat Act Yasukawa, Cherry & Hikaru Shida 11 days previously. She must have made a good impression, as to be invited back to face Takahashi with her belt on the line is big.
However, she is not the only European to be heading to Stardom next month. Making her debut in the promotion two weeks before will be the Amazon Ayesha Ray… (more…)
Pro Wrestling: EVE Special Edition II postponed
In the last few minutes, we have received an email from Pro Wrestling: EVE informing us that Saturday’s Special Edition II show has been postponed.
We are very sorry to have to announce that for the first time in EVE history our event entitled Special Edition II – The War Games this Saturday (February 23) at The Delphi Centre in Sudbury has had to be postponed due to a family emergency beyond our control.
We are working on a rescheduled date so we can produce this show with as close to the advertised card as possible and you will be kept informed of this.
All tickets can be refunded or they can be moved forward to one of our following announced events such as the rescheduled date to be confirmed next week.
Click after the jump to see what choices patrons have: (more…)
First SHIMMER title match on British soil announced
On Saturday, we ran down the card for March 24′s Bellatrix 5, knowing that there was one match still to be announced. Earlier today, that final match was revealed, and it’s groundbreaking on a number of levels.
When Saraya Knight faces Destiny in the main event of the show in Norwich, England, it will be fought under British rounds rules with the first woman gaining two falls winning the match – and to sweeten the pot a bit more, Saraya’s SHIMMER Championship is on the line, making it the first time that the title has been put up for grabs on British soil. (more…)
King v Kong at next CHIKARA event
Wink Vavasseur is a man who won’t be disrespected and manhandled, if his reaction to what happened to him last weekend is anything to go by. At CHIKARA‘s 2013 debut show, All The Agents And Superhuman Crew, the promotion’s Director Of Fun got in the way of a fight between Grand Champion Eddie Kingston and Kevin Steen – the latter of whom interfered in Kingston’s match with Green Ant. As a punishment, Vavasseur said that he intends to take legal action, and that Kingston’s opponent on the March 8 show in Tampa, FL – entitled Just Shadows in the Fog – will be Amazing Kong. (more…)
Pro Wrestling: EVE War Games lineup completed
In her interview with HONOUR Magazine, Alpha Female insisted that she was happy to go it alone in the War Games match at Pro Wrestling: EVE – Special Edition II on February 23 against Champion Nikki Storm, Shanna, Amazon Ayesha Ray and Rhia O’Reilly. She told HONOUR that she would “rather fight alone than alongside three people who don’t understand what going to war involves”.
However, it seems that some like-minded souls have been found, as it has been revealed today that it won’t come to that, as the promotion has revealed that three wrestlers have stepped up to stand by her side. Joining Alpha will be April Davids and the She-X tandem of Viper and Bete Noire. There are a lot of intertwined backstories spanning all the way back to last November’s Wrestle Fever show, and continued at No Man’s Land 2 earlier this month. (more…)
Serena Deeb is back
SHIMMER Volume 53 at WrestleCon in Secaucus, NJ on April 6 seems to be the show of the Comeback Queens. Last December, promoter Dave Prazak revealed on the Christmas edition of the Women Of Wrestling Podcast that both Amazing Kong and former SHIMMER Champion Madison Eagles would return to action following WWE stints and injury respectively. However, earlier today, another huge return was announced, with news that Serena Deeb would be returning from a debilitating concussion to compete at both the Volume 53 show and the four DVD taping the following weekend back in Berwyn, IL.
It has been 18 months since her injury took place during her match with Yumi Ohka on Volume 44 on October 2, 2011. At the time, she was aware that she had had her bell rung, but it wasn’t until a few days later that the full extent of her concussion was diagnosed – a topic which she discussed with us at length on episode 30 of the WOW Podcast. The time could not have been worse – as she was having great matches, was in amazing shape and was expanding her horizons by wrestling in Japan for the now-defunct SMASH and establishing a rivalry with Kana. Back on home ground, she put together great matches with Five Star Amanda Fox in Anarchy Championship Wrestling, and venturing to Women Superstars Uncensored to challenge then-champion Mercedes Martinez. In SHIMMER, she had finished up wrestling Portia Perez at volume 43, winning a heated no-DQ match by spearing the Canadian off a table, and had also been half of a great title match on volume 41 against Eagles which included a crazy Spider German Suplex which has to be seen. (more…)
SHINE 7 card: Valkyrie in action, LuFisto debuts, plus Leva & Kimberly knock it up a notch
Afer last month’s big conclusion to the SHINE 6 iPPV, we’ve been having a look down the card for SHINE 7, which lands two weeks from now in Ybor City, FL. Surprisingly, all the members of the quintet known as Valkyrie will be in action, which means one wrestler returning from injury, and another making her SHINE in-ring debut.
In the main event, Amazing Kong - the woman who suffered the beating at the end of SHINE 6 at the hands of the stable – looks to gain a measure of revenge against Valkyrie’s leader Rain, who will be returning after breaking her wrist at SHINE 5 back in November in a tag match where she and Mercedes Martinez took on Kong and Jazz, with the Rhythm and Bruise tandem gaining the victory. Elsewhere, April Hunter officially steps into the ring with her Made In Sin charges of Allysin Kay and Taylor Made to face the trio of Mia Yim, and the West Coast Connection of Su Yung and Tracy Taylor (with Taylor making her first SHINE appearance since SHINE 3 back in September). On paper, this seems to be set up for a heel win, though stranger things have happened in wrestling.
The final Valkyrie member faces her biggest challenge so far in SHINE, as Ivelisse Velez faces the debuting LuFisto in singles action. The outcome of this encounter is harder to predict, as even though the Super Hardcore Anime has more experience under her belt, Velez has four other women watching her back and protecting her interests. This is set to be an explosive encounter, though for us at Ringbelles, we feel the real money match is away from the Valkyrie action… (more…)
Sammy “Bambi” Hall makes Future Legend final four
In 2004, Cheerleader Melissa became the first female winner of the Cauliflower Alley Club‘s Future Legend award, with Mariko Yoshida repeating the success in 2006. This April, Canadian wrestler Sammy “Bambi” Hall hopes to become the third winner.
The 20-year old is one of four wrestlers up for the honour, with her being the only woman in the running. She’s currently riding a high after winning her first championship on January 26, scoring the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance Women’s Championship by defeating her mother Raven Lake in Cloverdale, picking up the CNWA Rookie of the Year title for 2012 and also scoring a runner-up mention for the same honour in Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Her profile also received a boost by appearing on the second season of World Of Hurt and earned her stripes by participating in what the CAC describe as the “infamous Tony Condello northern Manitoba “Death Tour” across the ice roads of the Canadian wilderness”.
In addition to the Death Tour, Hall has also cut her teeth in other promotions in western Canada, including Big Time Wrestling, Big West Wrestling, Monster Pro Wrestling and Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, taking on the likes of Kc Spinelli, Nicole Matthews, Taya Valkyrie and the fantastically-named Riea Von Slasher and Andrea The Giant. (more…)
Bellatrix forms external working relationship
It’s changed its name from the World Assocaition of Women’s Wrestling, has its first show under the new name on March 24, and now Bellatrix has announced a new working relationship with another wrestling promotion – and it’s quite a surprising one, considering it’s one which hasn’t really dealt with women’s wrestling in the last five years.
Since LDN Wrestling‘s Capital TV show came to an end in 2007, the promotion has only held a handful of women’s matches. Most of them were intergender affairs and all of them containing Jetta – which, when you consider how long it has been since she gave up full-time wrestling, show you how long it has been since women wrestled in LDN.
In the past, LDN featured matches involving Jetta, Skye, the Jezebel Eden Black, Kelly Adams, Violet (now Janey Britannico) and more, though it was Jetta who was the main attraction. As her horizons expanded, the promotion’s interest waned and eventually petered out. However since then, women’s wrestling has grown and expanded in the UK at a huge rate, and LDN is venturing into that world again, and is doing so with Saraya Knight‘s promotion. Click the jump to read the official statement: (more…)
WWE cans Divas DVD
You may wonder why we would be bothered about such an occurrence, but there are residual effects to this announcement.
WWE DVD News reports that a planned DVD for the Divas for 2013 has been canned. Top 20 Divas Countdown would have been the first Divas DVD in the last seven years – following presentations like Divas’ Postcard from the Caribbean and Divas Undressed – and was due to have been released in September of this year. However, said release has now been dropped in favour of a piece about Mid-South Wrestling and the Universal Wrestling Federation, which admittedly will be a great historical feature to watch.
The issue is that in the past, there was lots of Divas merchandise to choose from, and with the sales comes the royalty cheques, which is a great way to supplement your income – and can keep making you money long after you leave, as Madusa proved last year when she revealed she had received $305,563.46 for for appearing on video releases – like the Greatest Superstars of the 90s DVD – sold between October 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. These days, WWE shop offers just a handful of products, and none of them are specific to any wrestler – though there are products like the Divas Calendar, which has Kelly Kelly as the main image, embarrassingly enough.
Having a DVD would have generated some extra money for the women who would have made the DVD, but that’s not going to happen now. Hopefully the division will surge this year, warranting a Divas DVD to be put onto the schedule for 2014.
- Lee Burton
TNA live: Blossoms win, plus Gut Check news
It says something very positive when two people who aren’t officially a part of the TNA roster elicit as much of a reaction as anybody else on a TNA card, because that’s exactly what Hannah and Holly Blossom did last night.
The twins were the third match on what was a great card in Nottingham, England, beating Knockouts Champion Tara and PWI Female 50 winner Gail Kim, with Velvet Sky as the special ref – inserted into the role possibly due to Miss Tessmacher (along with ring announcer Christy Hemme) coming down with the flu, causing them to miss this date as well as the Glasgow, Scotland card the previous night. It makes you wonder what match we would have had if Tessmacher was well, as with four babyfaces and two heels, there would have been a discrepancy. I can only assume we would have got a three way tag team match, with Sky and Tessmacher teaming up…
Even before the match began, there was tension among the heel team, with Tara wanting the play the queen bee, pushing Kim aside so she could do her bending-over-the-ropes pose before the match, and said friction would be important as the contest reached its conclusion. As the the match, it was your regular tag team fare with Holly taking a beating from both of her opponents, with them both looking to one-up each other to the point where a missed dive by Gail led to the hot tag and Hannah cleaning house. However, her opponents’ experience saw Kim hit her Eat Defeat finisher for what would have been the win, had Tara not broken up the pinball, claiming that she should be the one to get the victory with the Widow’s Peak in what was a fun tag team match. (more…)
Twitter drama: Alicia & Brittney Savage attack WSU; WSU responds
The situation appeared to arise from a perceived knock on Alicia by WSU who, when answering a fan’s question on whether they can expect to see Alicia brought back to the WSU roster, responded with a simple “Not Happening”. Picked up on by fellow wrestler, Missy Sampson, who tweeted “It’s disgusting watching you be so disrespectful to someone whose back your company was built on! @AliciaDidIt”.
Alerted to the slight, Alicia posted a multi-tweet exposé of her thoughts on WSU. She tweeted… (more…)
February 21, 2013 | Categories: Commentaries, News | Tags: Alicia, Brittney Savage, Drew Cordeiro, Luscious Latasha, Rain, WSU | 2 Comments »