We will have a SHIMMER roster coming over to fight Bellatrix girls. I’m not going to release who’s coming over but they’ve all okayed it; they’re all ready to come over, we’re sorting out work visas right now.

I’ll be letting you know exactly who is coming over – but there is five SHIMMER girls coming over for Bellatrix on October 6.

Speaking later on the BritWresChat show, she also informed us that one of the names will be the SHIMMER Champion, whomever that may be – which, if things don’t change by then, means Cheerleader Melissa will return to the UK for the first time since ChickFight in 2008. In addition, you would imagine that Bellatrix World Champion Courtney Rush must be in the frame.

As part of the interview with Bryan Alvarez, Saraya talked about being the mother of WWE Diva in waiting Paige, her relationship with husband Ricky, the current feeling between she and Melissa, and a couple of other stories which you would have heard in previous Women Of Wrestling Podcasts with her – namely, going blind from a kick to the eye, and fighting with a fan earlier this year. If you have a F4W subscription, have a listen to her latest chat – but if you don’t click the links and listen to Saraya being her open and honest self.

In addition, leave us a comment below with which SHIMMER roster members you would like to see, and any potential matches you would be interested in. You may want to come back to this after Sunday’s show, when you can assess which names impressed you the most.

- Lee Burton

This one sees Molly Holly in action under her Mighty Molly gimmick. Her persona from the female Holly cousin happened after she turned on her boyfriend Spike Dudley to align herself with The Hurricane who was part of the WCW and ECW conglomerate known as The Alliance. To match in with his superhero persona, she became his ever-faithful sidekick – though the gimmick was so over that it eventually started to be cheered – and once the Invasion angle was over with, the pair turned babyface.

This match from December of that year sees Molly take on Dee Dee Venturi – a woman who at the time was doing jobs on WCW and WWF TV. Starting her wrestling career relatively late – at the age of 33 – she had been wrestling for three years when this match rolled around. Earlier in 2001, she had fallen to Lexie Fyfe in a WWF dark match, and had also wrestled Molly herself in WCW on a few occasions when Holly was competing under the name of Mona.

Fair play to TNA, James and Sky – this angle has been booked and executed beautifully. Everyone involved has done a great job to get the new Knockouts Champ over, and it looks like she is having a great time finally having something she can really sink her teeth into… and it’s long overdue.

To be brutally honest, both WWE’s and TNA’s writers have been coasting with Mickie James for the past six years. Following the epic angle between she and Trish Stratus which hit its zenith at WrestleMania 22, nothing of real note has been given to the 33-year old. Once she turned babyface in the summer of 2006, there were a few feuds with Lita, Melina, Beth Phoenix and Maryse, but she was portraying the typical white meat babyface with no real reason as to why you should cheer for her apart from that she was smiley and was wrestling heels. The only other big storyline she was part of was the “Piggie James” deal with Lay-Cool which felt like it was an unfair public rib on her – and she lost that feud, which meant that she never even got her redemption. Considering how well she had played a character in her first 8 months in WWE, it’s still staggering that she was not given the opportunity to do anything like that again during her run, except for being the punching bag to get Michelle McCool and Layla over in a nasty, bullying fashion which seemed to make people hate WWE’s writers than Lay-Cool.

The thing is, TNA’s writers were no better. Giving her the star treatment as a former WWE employee, she was promoted on the strength of her name rather than the contributions she could make as a character. While her wrestling has never needed to be questioned, there seemed to be a disconnect – why was I cheering for her? Sure, she had a great cage match with Tara in December 2010 which was deserving of the main event of Impact Wrestling – and the feud surrounding it wasn’t bad – but it wasn’t going to stand the test of time. Taking three months out last year to have surgery to remove a benign tumour halted her momentum, but it may have done her the world of good because when she came back, the seeds for a heel turn were starting to be sown…

There had been a few signs of frustration from Mickie, including going public in a series of interview to promote her new album where she bashed TNA for not being regularly booked. Some at the time thought she was doing it to make a point or to get released, while others argued that it was a work and there was no way she would say these things without TNA’s permission, and it seems that the latter group were more accurate. She also discussed if she was turning heel, but claimed that she was just being honest, which is in hindsight, her setting up the turn. She discussed being more ruthless and heartless after losing a title challenge to Velvet Sky, and eventually did so, winning the belt on May 23 after clipping Sky’s injured knee from behind. While not a full heel at that point, she then started to be more disingenuous towards the former titleholder, doing nothing when Sky was attacked by Gail Kim, and subtly mocking Taeler Hendrix during the June 8 episode.

It’s clear that when you give Mickie something for her to get her teeth into, she goes for it – and as a result, her character is the most interesting that it has been in seven years. Sure, it’s possible that James herself was happy to travel down the road without wanting to upset the gravy train too much, but it can’t have been as fulfilling as being able to have something to work with. It just shows how great the Trish angle was when you see that writers have been coasting with her ever since.

**

Brittney Savage has revealed her reasons for her decision to quit wrestling at the end of the year. Speaking to Jon Harder, she admitted there were professional, financial and physical reasons which all factor into the big picture of her life.

I’ve been doing a lot of contemplating for the last several months and there comes a point in time where you say that you just can’t do it anymore.

I can’t have a normal job – you can’t have a normal job when you need to do wrestling because every single weekend is occupied by that. For you to have a good, successful job, you need your weekends left free. I just weighed up pros and cons as ‘should I keep wrestling?’

I moved to Florida, I’m on my own, I’m paying rent, I’m paying everything on my own – I’ve been doing that since I was 18 years old. Back home, I had a really good job as a manager and I demoted myself as a manager so I could start with wrestling because I loved it.

Some people could criticise me and say ‘oh, she doesn’t love the business enough’ – no, it just comes to a point in time where you just have to think knowledgeably and just say ‘I’m going to be 30 years old in 4 years and – as all of us know in female wrestling – there’s going to be a time limit’.

Do I want to wait another four years to see where this could possibly go? At first, yeah – at first, 30 was my time limit – but I just want to have a job, have a good career, be able to have a family one day and not walk around like a little crippled old lady.

Right now, my body feels like it’s 90 years old. It feels worn and torn already and I don’t want it to get any worse.

She also discussed her frustration at non-wrestlers being hired to WWE and being overlooked, admitting that she feels bitter about others getting a shot when she feels that they give it up because of the pain and the lifestyle – which is a little ironic, considering she also cited the lack of career structure and injuries taking their toll on her.

As she points out, nobody should criticise her for the decision she has made – she is looking beyond the ring and has come to an acceptance that if she isn’t going to get paid big money for it, there’s no real point in continuing. More than anything, I commend her for treating the wrestling business as a business and not as a pastime, as the physical toll on your body for something where the chances of being financially rewarded for it are dwindling seems to be an internal battle that many wrestlers must go through.

If anything, you could commend Brittney Savage for her decision, arguing that loves wrestling enough to walk away from it to give others a chance to better the business and in turn, themselves.

**

On Sunday at Payback, AJ Lee won the Divas Championship from Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn tapped out from a Black Widow, which made her look weak. In fact, the whole evening did no favours for her as she also didn’t go straight for a pin after delivering the spear, so she looked stupid and weak. The following day, she was humbled – and she wasn’t the only one.

On last night’s Raw, AJ came out to gloat about her victory and bask in her own awesomeness, which she did very well, as she has recovered from being a nonentity a few months ago. However, on challenging any woman in the back to face her, out came Stephanie McMahon to say there were plenty of Divas wanting to come out but she requested that she did so first. In her promo, she warned AJ about getting too cocky, and the pair exchanged back and forth, with the cocky titleholder throwing personal barbs about Stephanie marrying a wrestling and her having “daddy issues”. However, Stephanie then threatened AJ, ostensibly saying that she could be fired at any time.

Kaitlyn’s music hit and out came the babyface Divas – though as she started her promo, Stephanie said that she would let it go this time, but the former champ should never interrupt her again. Afterwards, Kaitlyn and AJ had a brawl in the ring before the Divas Champion was carried away by Big E Langston.

The gloating and the brawl were fine and did their job. However, I hated Stephanie’s involvement, which can be boiled down to her flexing her muscles as being the top woman in the promotion – which makes General Manager Vickie Guerrero look like a massive puppet, by the way. She stepped on AJ’s heel heat, stepped on Kaitlyn as she tries to regain some babyface fire, and for what? Is this to lead to a Stephanie v AJ feud? Fine – but that negates the ongoing AJ v Kaitlyn programme, and telegraphs the ending. It was an unnecessary piece of ego stroking that benefited nobody apart from Stephanie herself.

Had Stephanie come out and warned AJ that she was supporting Kaitlyn in her quest to get her pride, dignity and title back, that would be fine. Had she said that in the past, she had been the baddest of bad girls and warned her that it was a dangerous road to go down with very few true friends who will look out for her, I would have been OK with that too. But Stephanie put over nobody but herself, and buried the women who are trying their best to revitalise a Divas division which is a pale imitation of its former self. No matter who holds the title, it’s clear that they will not be the number one woman.

The thing is, the fans were into the fight between Kaitlyn and AJ. It didn’t need Stephanie sticking herself in the middle of it. Hopefully it’s the last we see of her, and the regular Diva roster is being given the chance to shine without someone lording over the top of them, reminding them that there is a pecking order and they are way down it.

**

After a successful show in March – which was watched online across Europe and North America, and as far afield as Brazil, Australia and New Zealand – Bellatrix: Female Warriors returns to iPPV with Bellatrix 6 on Sunday in Norwich, England. Hyped as having most of the best female talent in Europe and featuring a lot of first-time matches, the show is promising to offer fans new experiences, with one of the title matches being an example of that.

Liberty puts her RQW European Women’s Championship on the line against the debuting Shanna, while the other title match sees rivals Rhia O’Reilly and Erin Angel (the latter of whom returned from a tour of Canada mere days ago) battle over O’Reilly’s Bellatrix British Championship. “Erin and I have had a fair few encounters both inside and outside of Bellatrix,” points out O’Reilly. “But guess what? Last time we wrestled at Bellatrix, I beat her. In the two times we have locked up this year already, I’ve pinned her for a 3 count. I’m confident that it will be a challenge, it will be a fight, but I’m also confident I’m going to win.”

Saraya Knight takes on Carmel Jacob in another of the featured outings, though the devious Scot is looking to shock the former SHIMMER Champion’s hometown fans, saying “Everyone is expecting this match to go one way, and I am expecting to prove everyone wrong.”

In all, there are 20 wrestlers on the card, many – like Bete Noire, Alpha Female, Kay Lee Ray and Nikki Storm – making their first appearances, while others like Aurora Flame and Viper are returning after being away for a while.

A sceptic may say that the show’s biggest draw may also be a potential weakness, as because many of the matches are originals, it could be that some may not gel. However, it seems as if most of the first-time contests are between experienced wrestlers, or will have had a lot of time to learn about what they’re dealing with, considering the matches were announced a month ago.

The promotion is currently going in the right direction – especially after the success of Bellatrix 5 in March where Saraya and Destiny had a hard-hitting and bloody main event while Liberty & Queen Maya had a great outing and Erin Angel & Penelope arguably stole the show – so it will be interesting to see how things turn out. There is a lot of star power from the continent on the show and it has received good local and international promotion from the roster plugging it, so a large audience – both at the venue and watching online – is expected. We will be in attendance in Norwich to see how it all goes down.

**

Anarchy Championship Wrestling’s American Joshi Queen of Queens tournament also returns on Sunday, and last year’s winner Athena is throwing down a gauntlet to herself. The Wrestling Goddess is putting her Anarchy Televised Championship on the line every time she steps into the ring for the proceedings, and is also looking to become the first ever two-time winner of the event.

This isn’t the first time that a title is being defended throughout the tournament. In 2010, the American Joshi title was given the same stipulations, and changed hands in every round of the event. Incoming titleholder Rachel Summerlyn was defeated by Daffney, who then fell to Jessica James in the semi-finals. However, because of an attack by her opponent in the finals, James came out for the deciding contest as Lady Poison, but was beaten by Portia Perez, who walked out with the trophy and the belt.

In the past, the American Joshi Queen of Queens tournament was a who’s who of the top female stars in North America. Boasting names like MsChif, Daizee Haze, Sara Del Rey, Serena Deeb, Daffney, Jazz and Jessicka Havok took on ACW regulars like Summerlyn, Athena, James, Perez, Amanda Fox and more. Barring the first year where Haze won, it has been a showcase to push wrestlers or storylines to do with ACW. That’s why subsequent tournaments were won by Perez, Summerlyn and Athena. This year, the ACW regulars are there, but the ones being brought in from elsewhere are your up and comers for the most part, rather than stars who are as widely recognised.

Joining the likes of Barbi Hayden, Angel Blue and Athena are a returning Su Yung (who made her first ACW appearance at last year’s Queen of Queens, losing to Athena), as well as debutantes Claudia Del Solis, Angelus Layne (who spoke about the show in our most recent Fight Like A Girl interview), Addy Starr and Leva Bates. Instead of it being a stamp of someone who has already established themselves as a draw, this year’s winner is more likely to be able to use the victory to skyrocket themselves.

As there has been a pattern in recent years, I expect an ACW roster member to win the whole deal. If it isn’t Athena retaining the trophy, look towards Blue or Hayden to win. Either one would benefit a great deal from being added to its lineage. If I had to choose, I’d say Hayden due to her expanding profile – she recently made her Ring Of Honor debut – and it would be a happy ending for the show.

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Elsewhere on the site, we have video of Sara Del Rey in a match from 2005, an enjoyable interview with Ireland’s Katey Harvey, and the most shared article on the site this month – a piece shouting about the greatness that is Madison Eagles.

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Got any news, results or upcoming events that you want to tell everyone about? Are you a female wrestler looking to tell us about upcoming bookings? Are you a fan who went to a show and saw a match, and would like to tell others about it – what you liked, what you didn’t and would like to encourage others to check it out for themselves? Send us an email!

Also, we add loads more links, video and thoughts on women’s wrestling on our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Like and follow us for even deeper coverage.

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The best of the rest

WWE
Following her humiliation on last week’s Raw, Kaitlyn attacked Aksana before the opening bell rang for their match on SmackDown on Friday, and was “fined” for striking a referee. She apologised on Twitter afterwards… WWE filmed some more footage for Total Divas in Las Vegas – a bachelorette party for Natalya, who’s engaged to Tyson Kidd… Alicia Fox advanced in the NXT Women’s Title tournament on last Wednesday’s episode by defeating Bayley… Tamina Snuka suffered a concussion during her match with Natalya on the June 3 Superstars taping from a clothesline… When interviewed by Sports Town Chicago, Nikki Bella said “you are getting the real deal with Total Divas”. Yeah, OK… The featured Hall Of Famer for WWE Classics On Demand in July is going to be Sunny. That’s a turnaround from them pulling sponsoring rehab for her earlier this year after she publicly slated them. Speaking of Tammy Sytch, is is going to be inducted into the New England Wrestling Hall Of Fame this weekend… Looks like July 8 is going to be a big day for WWE developmental. Freelance reporter Brittany Fetkin, actress/dancer CJ Perry and Erika Hammond (who took part in a month’s training earlier this year) have publicly confirmed – on their way to Florida.

TNA
Shanna came second in the TNA Gut Check Challenge behind Germany’s “Bad Bones” John Klinger, though the result was not without controversy. It was alleged that some of Klinger’s supporters had spotted another technical loophole with the voting that meant that you could only vote once per email account, but it didn’t log your IP. Consequently, if you had multiple email accounts, you could vote for all of them from the same internet address. While it’s a valid argument, there’s nothing to say that people didn’t do that for Shanna too, despite her asking them not to. Whoever is coding TNA’s website needs a serious conversation… Brooke Hogan is to deliver a “State of the Knockouts” address on this Thursday’s Impact Wrestling.

North America
Taeler Hendrix got a win over Ohio Valley Wrestling Women’s Champion Trina Thompson on last week’s episode. She used her (faux) partner Heidi Lovelace as a human shield to launch an attack outside of the ring, ramming Trina into the ringpost before pinning her in the ring with her feet on the ropes… Jenny Rose returns to Women Superstars Uncensored for August 10’s Uncensored Rumble 6 show… Miss Natural defeated MsChif in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Dynamo Pro Wrestling on Friday… Serena Deeb made her debut in CWF Mid-Atlantic on Saturday, pinning Amber O’Neal with her feet on the ropes… More matches have been announced for July 26th’s Bombshell Ladies Of Wrestling show, which you can see in the Upcoming section. In addition, veteran wrestler Heidi Lee Morgan will be in attendance… Jordynne Grace debuted in Mexico last week, losing to Polly Star in the main event of Lucha Libre Feminil’s show… Alexxis Nevaeh retained the World Women’s Wrestling Championship on Friday, beating Mistress Belmont… Congratulations to Addy Starr, who won the ISW Undisputed King Of Crazy Championship from Pinkie Sanchez at the weekend.

Japan
Yumiko Hotta & Keiko Aono made their first successful defence of the Diana Tag Team Championship on Sunday, beating singles champion Kyoko Inoue & Sareee… Maki Narumiya has returned to training with Ice Ribbon after injuring her neck in January, mere weeks into her first ICEx60 title reign.

Europe
A four-woman tournament will take place on July 7 to determine the first European Catch Tour Association Women’s Champion. Queen Maya, Lady Lory, Morgane Leigh and Skarlett are vying for the belt… Penelope was rushed to hospital after suffering a stinger in her neck during a World Association of Wrestling show on Sunday. It happened during a Tombstone piledriver from Destiny – Penelope’s head slipped below Destiny’s knees as she jumped to execute the move, meaning her body weight was compressed into her head and neck. She is still intent on wrestling at Bellatrix 6 on Sunday against Alpha Female.

Mexico
Dinastía, El Elegido, Faby Apache & Pimpinela Escarlata defeated Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Silver King & Taya Valkyrie at AAA’s TripleMania XXI on Sunday. At the same time, CMLL ran a show to clash, with Dalis la Caribeña winning a 10-woman cibernetico.

Australia & New Zealand
Evie will defend the PWWA Interim Championship against Kellie Skater and Jessie McKay in a 3-way at the PWA show on July 5. It will be Skater’s first match in Australia in 2013.

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Results

June 12: Sendai Girls (Sendai, Japan) – Miyako Morino b Sareee; Sakura Hirota b Mio Shirai; Carlos Amano & Hiroyo Matsumoto b Meiko Satomura & Syuri; DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko b Manami Katsu & Reideen Hagane; Ayumi Kurihara b Kagetsu

June 12: Ice Ribbon “Hikaru Shida Produce” (Saitama, Japan) – Sai v Kyuri went to a time limit draw; Neko Nitta & Hamuko Hoshi b Tsukasa Fujimoto & Kurumi; Ryuichi Sekine v Meari Naito went to a no contest; Ryuichi Sekine b Meari Naito; Miyako Matsumoto b Risa Sera; Hikaru Shida & Aoi Kizuki v Hanako Nakamori & Sawako Shimono went to a time limit draw

June 12: WWE NXT (Winter Park, FL) – Alicia Fox b Bayley

June 12: Ohio Valley Wrestling (Lousiville, KY) – Hannah & Holly Blossom b Lylah Lodge & Epiphany; Lei’D Tapa b Jessie Belle; Taeler Hendrix b Trina Thompson

June 14: WWE (Terre Haute, IN) – Kaitlyn b AJ Lee

June 14: Big West Wrestling (Kelowna, BC, Canada) – Cremator Von Slasher & Riea Von Slasher b Toni Baroni & Kc Spinelli

June 14: TNA (Charleston, WV) – Mickie James b Velvet Sky

June 14: New England Championship Wrestling (Randolph, MA) – Alexxis Nevaeh b Mistress Belmont

June 14: Lucha Libre Feminil (Monterrey, Mexico) – Zaga b Reyna de Corazones; Lady Flamer & Lady Jaguar b Gacela & Shekina Elijah; Angelica b La Chacala; Polly Star b Jordynne Grace

June 14: AAA (Guanajuato, Mexico) – Gran Apache, Mari Apache & Mini Abismo Negro b Atomic Boy, La Jarochita & Octagoncito

June 14: WWE SmackDown (Greensboro, NC) – Kaitlyn v Aksana went to a no-contest

June 14: Dynamo Pro Wrestling (Glen Carbon, IL) – Miss Natural b MsChif

June 15: Ice Ribbon (Saitama, Japan) – Hailey Hatred b Kurumi; Tsukushi & Rabbit Miu b Hikaru Shida & 235; Risa Sera b Miyako Matsumoto; Tsukasa Fujimoto & Aoi Kizuki b Hamuko Hoshi & Cherry

June 15: WWE (Bloomington, IL) – Kaitlyn b AJ Lee

June 15: TNA (Lexington, KY) – Mickie James b Velvet Sky

June 15: Capital City Championship Combat (Ottawa, ON, Canada) – Vanessa Kraven b Twiggy

June 15: Pro Wrestling Experience (Chicago, IL) – SoSay & Tony Atlas b Melanie Cruise & Robo De Luna

June 15: Wrestling On Fire (Parsippany, NJ) – Aida Marie b Jessie Brooks

June 15: CWF Mid-Atlantic (Gibsonville, NC) – Serena Deeb b Amber O’Neal

June 15: Florida Underground Wrestling (Kissimmee, FL) – La Rosa Negra b Solo Darling & Cherry in a 3-way

June 15: WrestleForce (Calhoun Falls, SC) – Jessie Kaye b D’Arcy Dixon

June 15: Inter Species Wrestling (Ottawa, ON, Canada) – Addy Starr b Pinkie Sanchez to win the ISW Undisputed King Of Crazy Championship

June 15: Shockwave Wrestling Entertainment (Havelock, NC) – Mia Svensson b Fantasia via DQ

June 15: New York Wrestling Connection (Deer Park, NY) – Marti Belle b Rick Cataldo

June 16: Stardom (Fukuoka, Japan) – Kyoko Kimura b Miho Wakizawa & Mayu Iwatani in a 3-way; Natsuki*Taiyo & Yoshiko b Kaori Yoneyama & Eri Susa; Hiroyo Matsumoto & Kairi Hojo b Hailey Hatred & Christina Von Eerie; Io Shirai & Takumi Iroha b Nanae Takahashi & Yui Yokoo

June 16: Diana (Kawasaki, Japan) – Hamuko Hoshi b JJ; Tomoko Watanabe b Raideen Hagane; Jaguar Yokota b Rabbit Miu; Kaoru Ito b Yuiga; Yumiko Hotta & Keiko Aono b Kyoko Inoue & Sareee

June 16: Wrestling New Classic (Gifu, Japan) – Yusuke Kodama & Makoto b Takuya Kito & Sawako Shimono; Osamu Nishimura, Syuri & Gran Hamada b TAJIRI, Lin Byron & El Hijo del Pantera

June 16: JWP (Tokyo, Japan) – Tsubasa Kuragaki b Raideen Hagane; Leon & Moeka Haruhi b Sachie Abe & KAZUKI; Hanako Nakamori & Morii b Kayoko Haruyama & Fairy Nipponbashi; Command Bolshoi b Rabbit Miu; Arisa Nakajima b Manami Katsu

June 16: New Breed Wrestling Association (Banbury, England) – Alpha Female & Nikki Storm b Pollyanna & Kay Lee Ray

June 16: WWE Payback (Chicago, IL) – AJ Lee b Kaitlyn to win the WWE Divas Championship

June 16: Quintessential Pro Wrestling (Monrovia, CA) – Cheerleader Melissa b Candace LeRae

June 16: AAA TripleMania (Mexico City, Mexico) – Dinastía, El Elegido, Faby Apache & Pimpinela Escarlata b Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Silver King & Taya Valkyrie

June 16: CMLL (Guadalajara, Mexico) – Princesa Blanca b Luna Mágica

June 16: CMLL (Mexico City, Mexico) – Dalis la Caribeña b Dark Angel, Lluvia, Estrellita, Goya Kong, Tiffany, Princesa Sugheit, La Comandante, Zeuxis & La Seductora in a cibernetico

June 16: Smash Wrestling (Toronto, ON, Canada) – Jewells Malone b Seleziya Sparx

Upcoming

June 21: Family Wrestling Entertainment (New York, NY) – Maria Kanellis & Ivelisse Velez v Angelina Love & Katarina Leigh

June 22: RAD:PRO Wrestling (South Shields, England) – Freya Frenzy v Kirsty Love

June 22: British Championship Wrestling (East Kilbride, Scotland) – Nikki Storm v Carmel Jacob

June 22: World Xtreme Wrestling (Minneola, FL) – Kimberly v Brittney Savage

June 22: Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (Chilliwack, BC, Canada) – Nicole Matthews v Cat Power

June 23: Bellatrix 6 (Norwich, England) – Liberty v Shanna; Penelope v Alpha Female; Rhia O’Reilly v Erin Angel; Nikki Storm v Miss Mina; X-cute Sweet v Skarlett; Kay Lee Ray v Queen Maya; Destiny v Aurora Flame; Bete Noire & Viper v Violet O’Hara & Chanel; Saraya Knight v Carmel Jacob

June 23: I Believe In Wrestling (Orlando, FL) – Chasyn Rance v Santana Garrett v Jayson Falcone

June 23: Anarchy Championship Wrestling American Joshi Queen of Queens (Austin, TX)

June 23: Ring Of Honor (Baltimore, MD) – Veda Scott v MsChif

June 29: REINA x World (Tokyo, Japan) – Dump Matsumoto v Goya Kong; Makoto v Estrellita; Leon, Ray & Rabbit Miu v Mima Shimoda, Tiffany & Marcela; Hanako Nakamori & Syuri v Storm & Mighty Mel

June 29: Herts and Essex Wrestling (Takeley, England) – Saraya Knight v Violet O’Hara

June 30: Absolute Intense Wrestling (Cleveland, OH) – Veda Scott & Gregory Iron v Obariyon & Kobald

July 4: GOUGE (Raleigh, NC) – Mia Svensson v Tori Lynn

July 4: Ring Wars Carolina (Fayetteville, NC) – Mia Svensson v Devyn Nicole

July 5: Pro Wrestling Alliance (Campbelltown, Australia) – Evie v Kellie Skater v Jessie McKay

July 6: Ring Wars Carolina (Fayetteville, NC) – Mia Svensson v Aida Marie

July 6: nCw Femmes Fatales XII (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) – Mercedes Martinez v Sweet Cherrie; Angie Skye v Christina Von Eerie; Midianne & Deziree v Leah Von Dutch & Xandra Bale; Courtney Rish v Cheerleader Melissa; LuFisto v Kimber Lee; Missy v Sassy Stephie; She Nay Nay v Veda Scott

July 11: Ring Of Honor (Chicago, IL) – Michael Elgin, BJ Whitmer & MsChif v ACH, Tadarius Thomas & Athena

July 12: SHINE 11 (Ybor City, FL) – Mercedes Martinez v Nikki Roxx v Su Yung v Taylor Made; Angelina Love v Amazing Kong v Ivelisse Velez v Kimberly; Jessicka Havok v Saraya Knight; Leva Bates v Mia Yim

July 13: Melbourne City Wrestling (Tullamarine, Australia) – KC Cassidy v Siren Munroe

July 13: Extreme American Wrestling (Corby, England) – Shanna v Alpha Female

July 20: Pro Wrestling Elite (Ayr, Scotland) – Mickie James v Nikki Storm

July 20: Battling Bombshells: Stars, Stripes & Bombshells (Hollywood, FL) – Chelsea Diamond v Cherry Layne; Mercedes Justine v Silvie Silver; La Renne v Brittney Savage; Luscious Latasha v Solo Darling; Jewells Malone v La Morena Aleishka; Santana Garrett v Melissa Coates; La Rosa Negra v La Amazona

July 26: New Horizons Pro Wrestling (Perth, Australia) – Eliza Sway v Portia Perez; Kellie Skater v Nikita Naridian; Storm v Saraya Knight; Tomoka Nakagawa v Miami

July 26: Bombshells Ladies Of Wrestling (Iselin, NJ) – Cheerleader Melissa v La Rosa Negra; Angelina Love v Shelly Martinez; Annie Social & Missy Sampson v Amber Rodriguez & Jennifer Cruz; Sumie Sakai v Jessie Kaye; Alicia v Alexxis Nevaeh; Craig Steele & Amber O’Neal v Johnny Silver & Silvie Silver

August 3: Pro Women’s Wrestling Alliance (Parramatta, Australia) – Evie v Madison Eagles

August 10: Women Superstars Uncensored (Voorhees, NJ) – Jessicka Havok v Athena

August 25: Insane Championship Wrestling (Edinburgh, Scotland) – Kay Lee Ray v Carmel Jacob

September 22: Insane Championship Wrestling: Fierce Females (Glasgow, Scotland)

October 6: Bellatrix 7 (Norwich, England)

October 6: Absolute Intense Wrestling Girls Night Out 9/10 (Cleveland, OH)

October 19-20: SHIMMER: Women Athletes (Berwyn, IL)

- Lee Burton
- Photos by TNA, Gerweck.net, Snapmare.com, WWE, Jordynne Grace, Saraya Knight, Valerie Bishop
- Data collated from (but not limited to) Cagematch, joshifans.com, PuroLove, Dramatic DDT, Luchablog, Lords Of Pain, Wrestling Observer, Open The Puroresu Gate, PWInsider, NHB Girls

© Ringbelles

This weekend, Angelus Layne is one of the entrants in the 2013 version of ACW‘s Queen of Queens tournament – a big opportunity for this Midwest grappler who has been having a very productive 2013 so far. With that in mind, Stew caught up with Angelus for what was *in theory* meant to be a quick chat – but soon turned into a near podcast length discussion.

We talked Queen of Queens (and who she’s got her eye on in that tournament), getting advice from former QoQ winner Rachel Summerlyn, representing St Louis Anarchy and the fun times she’s had there (including working against babyface Jessicka Havok earlier in the year). We discuss working for AIW in Ohio (debuting at the last minute at Girls Night Out 8 earlier this year), and wrestling Darkness Crabtree for Wrestling Is Intense. We also have an in-depth discussion of hairstyles (yes, really), WWE hiring practices, social media, dig out a couple of comic book references and Angelus tells the story of “The Curse of July” and how it killed her chance to appear at NCW: Femmes Fatales last year.

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The Background
• For the last two months, Kaitlyn has been receiving gifts, messages and notes from a secret admirer, with her interest piqued on last Monday’s Raw when she was to find out who her secret admirer was. As it turns out, it was Big E Langston, who was setting her up to break her heart as part of a plot by AJ. You can read more on that here.
• On Friday’s episode of SmackDown, Kaitlyn was fined for attacking a referee and beating up Aksana before their match started. It appeared that AJ’s head games had worked, and Kaitlyn had gone off at the deep end.

The Match
• Reminding her of what happened on Raw, AJ began by blowing a kiss to her former pal, which saw Kaitlyn lose it again and start wailing away on her former Chickbusters teammate, throwing her over the Spanish announce table and brawling on the outside. However, the challenger recovered by baiting Kaitlyn for another chase on the outside and delivering two feet to the face as a reward.
• From there, AJ took over inside the ring with a methodical gameplan to wear down her larger and more powerful opponent with headlocks, but also delivered a very nice pair of neckbreakers, holding on after the first one to execute the move again.
• A short flurry by the defending champion was stopped with a sleeperhold, but Kaitlyn backed AJ into a corner to break it, and then mounted a comeback consisting of big hoss offence after a dropkick to her ex-friend.
• A crucifix attempt by AJ was countered by Kaitlyn into a gutbuster but before she could go for a cover, the challenger was scooting away. The titleholder held on to her and ripped her belt off her gear. While the ref was distracted, AJ levelled Kaitlyn with the belt then played possum to not give away her shady tactics, but only garnered a two count.
• A top rope bodypress by AJ was caught by her more powerful opponent, but was countered again into the Black Widow submission. However, Kaitlyn re-countered with a backbreaker and hit her spear – but instead of going for a cover, she decided to blow a kiss before going for the pin, which gave AJ enough time to recover and kick out.
• A second spear attempt failed as Kaitlyn hit hard in the corner, and AJ locked in the Black Widow for a second time to gain the tap out victory and the Divas Championship.

Thoughts
• At 10 minutes, this is the longest Divas match that we have had on either TV or pay-per-view in a long time. The crowd was more up for the contest than crowds usually are for Divas matches too – partly because of the storyline history, but also because this show was in Chicago, which is usually a lively crowd which likes its heels (Mickie James was cheered heavily at WrestleMania 22 in her match against Trish Stratus, which was held in the same city).
• As for the match, it was the best Divas contest we have seen in a long time. Nothing world-beating, and it won’t go down in history as being an all-time classic, but both did a very good job, sold the storyline and didn’t lose their way at any time, so thumbs up to both of them for the execution of the contest.
• However, Kaitlyn’s character was made to look really stupid and weak. She was over-emotional, as evidenced by her flying off the handle at the start; unfocussed, which was highlighted by her deciding to blow a kiss at AJ instead of pinning her after the spear; and a loser babyface who taps out. Jim Ross discussed the final point on a recent podcast Steve Austin about babyfaces in Bill Watts‘ Mid-South territory – babyfaces shouldn’t quit, as fans lose faith in them. Well, Kaitlyn quit from the Black Widow while on one knee, which made it look like she wasn’t completely done – yet she still tapped out. As a result, Kaitlyn is a beltless, emotionally broken loser in the eyes of the fans who now has nothing positive to highlight. Horrible booking for her.
• It’s also sad that Kaitlyn’s highlight of her 6 month run as Divas Champion was the night she lost the belt. She had only two title defences on PPV – the other beating Tamina Snuka at Elimination Chamber - and did pretty much nothing else apart from being made to look like a mug with the secret admirer storyline. Kaitlyn got messed around as champ.
• As for AJ Lee, she’s officially the top Diva in the division now that she holds the title. However, where does she go from here? Challengers are very light on the ground at the moment, and Kaitlyn is hardly a threat to her after how this match went. If anything, as far as prospective title programmes are concerned, she may be in a tougher situation than Kaitlyn was when she won the belt.
• Also, with her boyfriend Dolph Ziggler seemingly turning babyface as part of a double turn with Alberto Del Rio where Ziggler also lost the World Heavyweight Championship, where does this leave heel AJ? Sure, she was cheered here, but Chicago fans are the exception to WWE supporters and not the rule. Will she stay by his side and turn too, or will they go their separate ways? We’ll have to wait and see.

- Lee Burton

Say hello to the first My Name Is guest from the Republic of Ireland. Katey Harvey got in touch to get a spotlight on herself as she goes for world domination. After having made a number of trips to the UK last year – including a feud with Portugal’s Perfect Athlete Shanna – the karate instructor and pole dancer wants to create more ties with Britain to see more talent going to Ireland, and Irish wrestlers crossing the Irish Sea.

Katey discusses how a documentary got her into training, whether her karate and kickboxing background helped or hindered her development, her biggest achievements in her two year career, the possibility of relocating to get more bookings, and how Rebecca Knox‘s signing with WWE may have helped to highlight Irish wrestlers.

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For example, at the start of this month, Taeler revealed to Nikki St John that things may not be as lovey-dovey as we may have been led to believe. More recently, Hendrix made out that Women’s Champion Trina Thompson was trying to drive a wedge into the “Teidi” relationship, which sent Lovelace off the handle and saw her unsuccessfully challenge for the title at the most recent Saturday Night Special, and was used as a patsy the following week so Hendrix and St John could attack the titleholder.

On this week’s episode of OVW TV, Hendrix faced Thompson in a non-title match. As you’ll see, Lovelace was trying to calm down her other half because Taeler was flapping about Trina’s unbeaten record since her return to the promotion and about Nikki St John’s absence. You can watch the match after the jump.

For her first piece, Rhi has selected a wrestler close to her heart. As we progress, other wrestlers will be highlighted…

The very first time I saw Madison Eagles was over ten years ago at the Australian Wrestling Supershow in Sydney that was telecast on FOX Sports on subscription TV. She accompanied one of the wrestlers to the ring, and halfway through the match intervened – climbing onto the top rope – and made her mark. I had heard of her, so to finally see her in action even if it was for a brief second, was just inspiring.

Over the years I’ve seen her wrestle here in my home town of Melbourne and every time she has gotten better, sharper & more of a force to be reckoned with. She seemed to be the type to really make things happen for herself, setting goals and going for it, surpassing these aspirations completely. She headed to the US & made a splash in SHIMMER, Ring of Honor & Chikara, just to name a few – and in a way she went out and made such a tremendous path way for so many women in Australia & New Zealand overseas. It was no surprise to me when she defeated Mschif to become the SHIMMER Champion on Volume 31.

The day she was announced as the #1 position in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Female 50 was such an incredible turning point for women’s wrestling in Australia and independent wrestling as a whole. The sense of pride when it came to being Australian and an independent wrestling fan is a feeling that is almost indescribable, but at this point the world was forced to sit up & take notice. She had done (& continues to do) so much for women in Australia – even as far as forming an all women’s wrestling company in PWWA and giving the women an avenue and their very own stage to perform on. To date, no other promotion in Australia has established an on-going commitment like this. Wrestlers all around Australia and New Zealand (and even further afield) want to wrestle in PWWA with the opportunity to learn and get feedback from the crew being such an enriching and rewarding experience that no doubt could fed on for days.

When she first got injured, so many rumours flew around the place. “She’ll never come back,” and “She’s done, it’s over. We’ve lost her.” Her optimism and positivity of taking the time to recover from her injury was encouraging. She never, ever lost faith. She didn’t relinquish her PWWA Championship, with just a tournament to name an Interim Champion in her absence (Evie defeated Jessie McKay in the tournament final to become the Interim Champion). She never gave up.

The last 18 months is when I have really paid attention to the quality of talent we have in Australia and New Zealand – and I mean really paid attention. With Madison only making her return to the ring in January this year, a lot of wrestlers stepped up and seized the opportunity to really shine. When the PWWA show rolled around last year, Madison’s absence was a hefty loss to the card but the women made up for it, each in their own ways.

Once Madison Eagles set foot back in the ring in January 2013, it was an entirely different scene. So many names had stepped up and worked hard – and whilst she is still the elite and the best, I am sure it’s under her guidance and influence that so many wrestlers from PWWA had risen to the occasion. But at that moment she was back in her element and she did not miss a beat – not a hint of ring rust. Nothing.

She continued to impress right through to her recent USA trip (where you would have seen her in SHIMMER & SHINE), affirming what this Aussie has known for a long time – she’s clearly a bionic robot from a superior race from an alternate world.

Picking up where she left off at SHIMMER nine volumes earlier, she wrestled every available show, picking up wins & even drawing the crowd back to the wrestling after Allison Danger‘s retirement announcement on volume 56 and final match on volume 57. It’s special wrestlers like Madison that are so few and far between and light years ahead of the field. She’s athletic and she oozes confidence; her ability to tell a story through her matches and make her opponent rise to the occasion is nothing short of remarkable.

In fact, Madison’s match with Jessicka Havok at SHINE 9 had the fans begging for it to happen, when it was discovered she was merely on the card. To see these two women go toe-to-toe was a sight to see and did not disappoint. The tone of the match was punctuated by Madison’s commentary to the crowd with both drawing in the audience in until they were clamouring for more, even when the match had concluded. In my opinion it was one of the greatest matches to ever take place in SHINE history.

On August 3, the PWWA championships will be unified with Evie taking on Madison and again PWWA will have only one champion. There is so much Madison has sacrificed and clawed her way through, so there’s no doubt that she won’t be letting go of her claim on the PWWA Championship without a fight. I am sure that as the date gets closer we will hear some murmurings from both, as neither have been the type to stay quiet before a big match.

It has truly been a pleasure to watch someone like Madison grow and evolve in wrestling. It is because of her that I’ve become such a fan of women’s wrestling in the first place. To witness her make leaps & bounds across the world and make that pathway for like-minded, dedicated wrestlers like her from across the pond makes me feel proud to be an Australian and a wrestling fan.

Now… who can say – Wrestling… YAY!

- Rhi Lockwood
- Get more news, results and upcoming match details from the women’s wrestling scene in Australia and New Zealand at NHB Girls
- You can also follow Rhi on Twitter.

Fresh off a two month trip to Mexico, then-four-year pro Del Rey returned to her home of All Pro Wrestling in Hayward, CA for its ChickFight III tournament, which was held over two days at the end of October in 2005. She and Cheerleader Melissa were disqualified in the opening round, so she was booked into another contest on the second day against APW Worldwide Internet Champion JJ Perez – that’s the match we have for you for this week’s Retro.

A week later, Del Rey would help to put SHIMMER: Women Athletes on the map by going to a 20-minute draw with Mercedes Martinez in the penultimate match on the first volume.

Last night on Raw, Kaitlyn took the ring to ask for whoever had been sending her the notes and gifts, and had a look of bewilderment on her face as it was Big E who was revealed to be the one behind it all. He pointed out that it does appear to be a bit weird and awkward, but softened her with his words. As he moved closer for a kiss, he learnt her back for a romantic smooch, but let her fall to the floor. At that moment, AJ’s music hit and she came skipping to the ring to reveal that it was all one big head game ahead of their title match this Sunday at Payback.

AJ’s reasoning for doing it was that she felt that Kaitlyn had not supported her enough after Daniel Bryan dumped her last year and she went off the rails, and was more focussed on winning the Divas Championship. What Lee is leaving out is that Kaitlyn actually was there for support and to get her back on track, but AJ slapped her on two separate occasions before the friendship fell apart. The pair briefly reunited at the end of last year before AJ turned full-blown heel at TLC and aligned herself with Dolph Ziggler, but it was never meant to last.

AJ became the number one contender to the Divas strap by winning a battle royal on April 22, and since then it has been pushed to one side when it wasn’t convenient to address it. The pair had a backstage set-to at Extreme Rules, but that has been the only real storyline development until last night.

The execution of the angle itself has been praised, with names like Jim Ross saying it was AJ’s best work to date, and thumbs up for Kaitlyn for squeezing out some real tears. That’s a talent.

The nice thing about this match is that the pair’s histories are heavily interwoven. Both made their main TV debuts on the same day with season 3 of NXT in 2010, formed a friendship and a tag team in the Chickbusters, and have risen to the top of the Divas division both because of their links, and also separately because of their booking and character development. If anything, it’s a reminder of Trish Stratus and Lita, who debuted within a month of each other in 2000, and saw their paths cross all the way through their WWE tenures. That’s a good thing – there is a strong backstory to this Sunday’s match. However, the reveal on Monday may have hurt Kaitlyn’s character.

For the last six weeks, the Divas Champion has been made to look like a teenager wondering who cared about her. She was curious of everyone, and wanted to know who was showing her this affection. When she found out it was a ruse by Lee and Langston, she broke down in tears, lashed out and was left helpless in the ring, looking rather pathetic. This isn’t how a babyface Divas Champion should look, especially when she is the top babyface in the division. Why would fans want to support someone who is so easily distracted by the slightest hint of attention?

Flipping it again, it could be that the angle lights a fire under Kaitlyn. As she said to WWE.com afterwards, “all I cared about were those stupid text messages and I lost sight of what’s important, and that’s the title. She right – and it hurts – but that’s all I have. Now that this is out of the way and I’m humiliated and I’m rock bottom, I don’t care about anything else but the title and the pay-per-view. AJ doesn’t deserve the title – but she deserves payback.”

It is more likely than not that AJ is winning the match at Payback, though whether she walks out with the championship is a question mark. Sure, she may win the belt – as has reportedly been the plan for a while – but that leaves Kaitlyn a loser in more ways than one, and doesn’t leave AJ with many immediate challengers. Another option is that AJ wins the match by DQ because Kaitlyn lets her emotions get the better of her and she flies off the handle, leading to a return match down the line. We’ll watch on Sunday and see what happens.

**

At this point, I’m going to hand over to this website’s co-founder Stew Allen for a few words on the revelation that Kalamity is withdrawing from wrestling for an undisclosed amount of time. The reason he’s contributing this part is because she is one of his favourite performers, who he can do this write-up more justice than I ever could.

When NCW:FF booker Stephane Bruyere filled me in on the news that Kalamity was taking a step away from wrestling for what was described as “an undisclosed period of time”, I didn’t really know what to say. A few days later and truth be told, I’m still feeling a bit weird about the whole situation. We’ve been requested to respect her privacy as to her reasons for stepping away, which we are of course doing – so laying my cards on the table, I have *no* idea what’s happening other than the fact that someone I have supported as one of my favourite wrestlers over the last few years is abruptly gone from the scene, and from my point of view as a fan, that makes me sad. Although we have been reminded that it’s for a “period” rather than a permanent thing, I couldn’t help but think as I read the statement put out by LuFisto (full of “thank you” notes to promoters and opponents for helping her out during her career) read more like a ‘thank you and goodbye’ than an ‘au revoir’.

So as I sit down to write something about Kalamity, I apologise if any of this sounds like a career obit – I very much hope she’ll be back – but there’s never a bad time to tell someone how much you’ve enjoyed being a fan of their work… and that’s exactly what I was (and am) for Kalamity.

I first saw her wrestle on the DVD of the debut show of NCW: Femmes Fatales, and I was struck by her immediately. Although she’d been wrestling before coming under LuFisto’s guidance, stylistically she was every inch LuFisto’s trainee (short, powerful, moved well around the ring and looked like she could fell an elephant) but she also had a look that set her apart from everybody else too. While she’s spent much of the last few years shortening the outfit (to avoid stepping on it), she had this unique gear that looked like she was still wearing a ring robe, and it was really something different. The look, the talent and the intensity all combined to make me sit up and take notice from day one. Kalamity may be 5’2”, but she walks like she’s twenty feet tall and could elbow a building to the ground.

It was fairly clear from the debut of Femmes Fatales that Kalamity was the hand-picked successor to LuFisto as the next leader of the female wrestling scene in Quebec (and beyond), and while that undoubtedly would heap a bunch of pressure on someone, it seemed that Kalamity was the perfect choice – she knuckled down, worked hard, and by the time she beat LuFi at Femmes Fatales VII in October, 2011 for the Femmes Fatales championship (in the first all Quebec main event in the promotion’s history, by the way), she had truly arrived. I was over the moon for her. Her feud with LuFisto netted them both the award for ‘Rivalry of the Year’ in Quebec that year, and her title reign lasted through until March this year, when she fell in her seventeenth defence to Mercedes Martinez.

Just a week before she won that title, she also made her debut for SHIMMER Women Athletes in Chicago, IL – and I had the chance not only to witness Kalamity wrestle live, but got to make her acquaintance too – and while her English wasn’t always great and my French was even worse – in the few brief conversations I had with her, I found her to be both gracious and friendly. Kalamity’s SHIMMER career to date (while sometimes a bit stop/start as far as momentum) saw her mix it up with the best in the world, literally… including singles matches with Kana, Cheerleader Melissa and the last two winners of Ringbelles’ Wrestler of the Year award – Hailey Hatred (2011) and Ayako Hamada (2012). What was superb was that she delivered regularly, and I was surely hoping that this October (and beyond) would be more of the same. Heck, I’m still genuinely disappointed we’re not getting Kalamity vs Courtney Rush at Femmes Fatales XII next month (arguably my two favourite Canadians going one on one).

Whatever’s going on, I’d like to send my genuine love and appreciation for what she’s done in wrestling so far. People like her don’t come along very often – and I hope our paths cross again some day soon.

**

“Over the past month I have done some serious thinking and come December I will have to say goodbye…”

That was the announcement by Brittney Savage on her Twitter on June 5, announcing her intent to retire from wrestling at the end of this year, though the timing is curious, considering she relocated from New York state to Florida earlier this year, presumably in the hope of securing more bookings, considering how busy the scene is in the state. She is due to challenge Kimberly for the World Xtreme Wrestling Women’s Championship on June 22 after winning a 3-way at the promotion’s last show on June 1.

26-year old Savage debuted in November 2008 under the name of Brooke Carter, and within four months had won the Women Superstars Uncensored Tag Team Championship from Annie Social and Roxie Cotton. However, that first reign was ended after just three months when her partner Miss April departed for WWE to gain fame under the name of AJ Lee. Rebounding quickly, she recaptured the belts with new partner Alicia by beating Hailey Hatred and Jessicka Havok, but dropped the belts back to them in August, turning heel on her partner in the process. On November 6, 2009 – approximately a year after her debut – Savage found herself in a WWE ring, doing a quick job for Beth Phoenix on SmackDown under the name of Brittney Carter – a mixture of her original ring name, and of new moniker Brittney Savage, which she had changed to following her heel turn.

Before her SmackDown appearance, Savage won the Spirit Championship but lost the belt to former partner and rival Alicia in December, recapturing the title in March and then losing it back to Alicia in October, before winning it back on the same show.

Savage was separated from the belt in March 2011 when Sassy Stephie won the title, but got a measure of revenge in April by beating Stephie in the final of the J-Cup tournament. The forming of Havok, Stephie and Allysin Kay into the Midwest Militia turned Savage babyface as a result, but more often than not came out on the losing end of singles and tag team encounters. She won the J-Cup again last year, but as a character she was treading water even before the takeover by Beyond Wrestling.

Since moving to Florida, Savage has wrestled three matches in SHINE, though none have been world-beaters. She has also worked for the aforementioned WXW, Florida Underground Wrestling and Vintage Wrestling, but it seems as if her heart doesn’t belong to wrestling anymore.

Brittney is currently dating former TNA star Jesse Neal – he and Christina Von Eerie split last year and Von Eerie is now engaged to Combat Zone Wrestling’s MASADA – so it is possible that her relationship means more to her than wrestling does. There is nothing wrong with that at all, and you should follow your heart. Wrestling will always be there if she changes her mind.

It is debatable as to how big of a hole her departure will leave. As mentioned, there are a lot of women wrestlers in Florida, so any spots she held will be filled very swiftly. In addition, she was miscast during her last year and a half in WSU as a babyface, as she works better as a heel. Is it possible that she looks at the fortunes of her former partner AJ Lee and wonders if her window of opportunity has passed, or is she looking ahead to a loving relationship without wrestling? Whatever the reason may be, we wish her well in her final months as a performer, and for life outside of the ring.

**

It has been a tumultuous June for a former WCW valet and girlfriend of Randy Savage. Stephanie “Gorgeous George” Bellars Frankenstein turned to her Facebook on the 3rd to issue a cry for help, saying “If I can’t get a car and drive to find a job this week, I am going to end it. I can’t take it anymore. My life has too many problems. I am nothing but a burden on people. I wish God would get me out of here.” The 37 year old has also posted messages saying that she is short of money, and has offered herself up for part-time or odd-jobs to pull in some income. It is a disappointing fall from grace for the former WCW star, who still makes the odd wrestling appearance, though they have been sporadic since she appeared as a manager for Women Superstars Uncensored in 2008, though also made some in-ring appearances.

However, things took another dark turn this weekend when she posted photos of her with a black eye and alleging that her partner was responsible. On Saturday, she wrote a message saying she needed help, asking for food, a ride and hotel to stay at, as she claimed she couldn’t “get hit again”. The following day, she uploaded two close-up photos of her swollen eye, and followed it up yesterday by saying “I am single I guess”, offering up a diamond ring for sale.

It is sad to see someone in such a desperate situation, regardless of whether it is of their own doing or not. While it is unclear who struck Bellars Frankenstein (which is really her surname, as she married Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (Paul Caiafa) in 2001), it is obvious that something has caused that black eye.

For that reason, we’re throwing out a (semi-related) message here.

While wrestlers get bumps, scrapes, bruises and breaks from time to time, that is something that happens in the ring – not behind closed doors. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The National Institute of Justice, nearly 25% of women in the US experience at least one physical assault during adulthood by a partner. Another survey from the National Institute of Justice says that 22.1% of women and 7.4% of men reported being physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, or date in their lifetime. In the UK an incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every single minute of every single day. On average, two women a week are killed by a current or former male partner.

The telling (and unknown) figure is the one of women or men who are abused by a partner – be it physically, emotionally or financially (as in restricting money so a partner cannot afford to get away) – which are not reported to the police. Statistics from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence say only 25% of all physical assaults, 20% of all rapes, and 50% of all stalking perpetrated against females by their partners are reported to the police. The Domestic Abuse Shelter claims a woman will be assaulted by her partner or ex-partner 35 times before she reports it to the authorities.

Male or female, domestic abuse is not something that should be stood for accepted, justified or excused, and there are people who are willing to help. In the US, there is the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which you can contact on 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, women can contact Refuge on 0808 2000 247, while men can contact the ManKind Initiative on 01823 334244. Don’t delay – the next attack could be the fatal one.

**

Elsewhere on the site, we’ve had an interview with Priya Sharma, who’s the director of a new documentary of women’s wrestling called Breathe It; a Retro with Reggie Bennett in Japan; and video of Dark Angel winning the World Of Stardom Championship.

**

Got any news, results or upcoming events that you want to tell everyone about? Are you a female wrestler looking to tell us about upcoming bookings? Are you a fan who went to a show and saw a match, and would like to tell others about it – what you liked, what you didn’t and would like to encourage others to check it out for themselves? Send us an email!

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**

The best of the rest

WWE
Two matches were filmed specifically under the Total Divas name before the SmackDown tapings in Uniondale, NY on Tuesday. Both of the show’s stars, Cameron and Naomi, were beaten by Aksana and Alicia Fox respectively… Another Total Divas hype video has been released, with it clear that the main focus was the Bella Twins. Natalya was barely seen… Natalya visited the NXT facility last week to film more footage for the show though – and bought he dad Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart with her… Paige defeated Tamina Snuka to become the first woman to be shown advancing in the NXT Women’s Title tournament… WWE.com named the late Sensational Sherri as the “Most Wicked Witch”. No arguments here – she was a great heel manager… Nikki Bella will be one of the judges in this Sunday’s Miss USA pageant, while both Bellas attended a Special Olympics event at the weekend… Footage leaked out of the developmental roster practicing promos from last December. One of the notable ones was Paige, Summer Rae and Anya acting as a female version of the Shield… Alicia Fox worked babyface at house shows over the weekend. I’ve no idea whether I’m supposed to like or dislike her.

TNA
Eric Bischoff praised Taryn Terrell for her work at Slammiversary against Gail Kim, saying she is “one of the best acquisitions to the talent roster in the last year”… Terrell was also featured on TMZ, showing off her bruises from the Last Knockout Standing contest… Knockouts Champion Mickie James dodged a request for a rematch from former titleholder Velvet Sky by saying that Velvet’s injured knee still needs more time to recover. As a result, James wrestled Taeler Hendrix – making her second Impact Wrestling appearance since winning her Gut Check last June – faking a knee injury at one point before hitting the Mick Kick for the pinfall. As another example of her slow heel turn, James also mockingly applauded Hendrix during her entrance. Mickie has thrown herself into this angle – it just shows what a bit of motivation and encouragement can do.

North America
Ring Of Honor’s July 11 show in Chicago, IL pits Michael Elgin, BJ Whitmer & MsChif against ACH, Tadarius Thomas & Athena in an intergender six-person contest… Athena will be at Anarchy Championship Wrestling’s American Joshi Queen of Queens on June 23, though it unclear if she is participating in the tournament or will be defending the Anarchy Televised Title. She won last year’s event… Heidi Lovelace faced Trina Thompson again on last week’s episode of Ohio Valley Wrestling after Taeler Hendrix faked being upset at the Women’s Champion. Before Lovelace arrived, Hendrix and Nikki St John talked about how Taeler was manipulating Heidi, and the heels came out to attack Thompson during the match, causing Heidi to be disqualified. The lovestruck Lovelace is seemingly a puppet in a game for Trina to be softened up so Taeler can snatch the Women’s Championship… Jessicka Havok and Athena will clash for a second time in Women Superstars Uncensored with Havok’s Championship on the line. For this match on August 20 in Voorhees, NJ, it will be contested under two out of three falls rules. The show will also see the return of the Uncensored Rumble match.. Congratulations to Kristin Astara and Mercedes Martinez, who both got married last week (but not to each other)… Tammy Lynn Sytch says her autobiography is finished. She tweeted that it should be out next spring… La Rosa Negra will defend the Pro Wrestling Syndicate Bombshells Championship against Cheerleader Melissa on July 26th’s Bombshell Ladies Of Wrestling show after beating Angelina Love on Saturday night… Absolute Intense Wrestling will hold two Girls Night Out tapings on October 6… Don’t be confused – there are two wrestlers will incredibly similar names on the US scene at the moment. There is an Amber Rodriguez and and Amanda Rodriguez. They should wrestle with the loser being forced to change their name… Because of Kalamity’s withdrawal from wrestling, the card for Femmes Fatales XII has been altered. Kalamity’s scheduled opponent Courtney Rush will now take on Cheerleader Melissa, with the winner becoming the number one contender to Mercedes Martinez’s International Title. LuFisto will return to action after her knee surgery against the debuting Kimber Lee; Sassy Stephie faces Missy, while She Nay Nay wrestles Veda Scott… Nicole Matthews and Kc Spinelli went to a no-contest over Matthews’ Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling Women’s Championship at the weekend. Matthews will next defend the belt against Cat Power on June 22… Jazz is out of the SHINE Championship tournament at SHINE 11 next month due to ongoing neck injuries. To fill the gaps left by that and Allysin Kay’s suspension, two four way matches featuring the losers of the qualifiers will take place, with the two winners going into the quarter finals. Also announced for the quarters are Leva Bates v Mia Yim and Jessicka Havok v Saraya Knight… Leilani Kai has recorded a shoot interview with RF Video. The teaser which has been sent out is a clip of an encounter with Vince Russo when he was in charge of WCW. He allegedly asked her to wrestling in mud and she claims she laid into him with a string of expletives before saying was responsible for killing the wrestling business.

Japan
Shoko Nakajima made her wrestling debut at Thursday’s Tokyo Women’s Wrestling show, going to a 3 minute time limit draw with KANNA… Aoi Kizuki is the next contender for Cherry’s Fly To Everywhere Championship after she pinned the titleholder in a tag team match at Saturday’s Union show.

Europe
Saraya Knight puts the Herts and Essex Wrestling Women’s Championship on the line against Violet O’Hara on June 29. The pair have had a number of well-lauded scraps in the past. Former titleholder Skarlett will be the special referee… Insane Championship Wrestling: Fierce Females returns to Glasgow, Scotland on September 22. Promoter Mikey Whiplash is after suggestions for the name of the show – one of the better ones was “Angry Birds”… Speaking of ICW, the scheduled match on Sunday with the Owens Twins taking on Nikki Storm and a partner of her choosing never happened after Storm picked Joe Coffey as her partner. Sean Maxer made the save for the Owens.

Australia & New Zealand
Matches for New Horizons Pro Wrestling’s Global Conflict tournament next month are being announced – Eliza Sway will take on Portia Perez; Tomoka Nakagawa meets Miami; Saraya Knight wrestles Storm; and Kellie Skater faces Nikita Naridian… Eliza Sway retained the Riot City Wrestling Women’s Championship on Saturday, beating Kellyanne English, Savannah Summers & Arianna Snow in a 4-way.

**

Results

June 4: WWE Total Divas (Uniondale, NY) – Alicia Fox b Naomi; Aksana b Cameron

June 4: CMLL (Mexico City, Mexico) – Princesa Blanca & Princesa Sugheit b Dalis la Caribeña & Luna Mágica

June 5: Ohio Valley Wrestling (Lousiville, KY) – Taeler Hendrix b Jessie Belle; Trina Thompson b Heidi Lovelace via DQ; Nikki St John b Epiphany

June 5: WWE NXT (Winter Park, FL) – Paige b Tamina Snuka

June 6: Tokyo Women’s Wrestling (Tokyo, Japan) – KANNA v Shoko Nakajima went to a time limit draw; Miyu Yamashita b Chikage Kiba

June 6: WWE Superstars (Hartford, CT) – Natalya b Tamina Snuka

June 6: TNA Impact Wrestling (Duluth, GA) – Mickie James b Taeler Hendrix

June 7: McKinnon Madness (McKinnon, Australia) – Siren Monroe b Nikita Naridian & Arianna Snow in a 3-way

June 7: Destination 1 Wrestling (Charlestown, IN) – Crazy Mary Dobson b MsChif

June 8: Ice Ribbon (Saitama, Japan) – Hikaru Shida b Kuzira Oshima; Kurumi b 235; Aoi Kizuki & Tsukushi b Neko Nitta & Miyako Matsumoto; Hailey Hatred & Hamuko Hoshi b Risa Sera & Tsukasa Fujimoto

June 8: Newcastle Pro Wrestling (New Lambton, Australia) – Shazza McKenzie b Madison Eagles

June 8: Riot City Wrestling (North Adelaide, Australia) – Eliza Sway b Kellyanne English, Savannah Summers & Arianna Snow in a 4-way

June 8: Italian Championship Wrestling (Brescia, Italy) – Doblone b Queen Maya

June 8: Zero 1 USA (Rantoul, IL) – Thunderkitty b The Great Cheyenne

June 8: New England Championship Wrestling (Beverly, MA) – Nikki Valentine b Kasey Ray

June 8: Pro Wrestling Syndicate (Monroe, NJ) – La Rosa Negra b Angelina Love

June 8: Southern Championship Wrestling (Sanford, FL) – Santana Garrett b Justine Silver

June 8: Smash Wrestling (Kincardine, ON, Canada) – Leah Von Dutch b Seleziya Sparx

June 8: Florida Underground Wrestling (Clearwater, FL) – Solo Darling b Luscious Latasha

June 8: Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (Vancouver, BC, Canada) – Nicole Matthews v Kc Spinelli went to a no-contest

June 8: WWE (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – Alicia Fox & Layla b Aksana & AJ Lee

June 8: Victory Commonwealth Wrestling (Toronto, ON, Canada) – Jewells Malone b Sabrina Kyle

June 8: TNA (Aiken, SC) – Velvet Sky b Gail Kim

June 9: Union (Tokyo, Japan) – Tsukushi & Aoi Kizuki b Cherry & Masako Takanashi

June 9: OZ Academy (Tokyo, Japan) – Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima b Sonoko Kato & Hikaru Shida; Manami Toyota b Yumi Ohka; Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada b Dynamite Kansai & Tomoka Nakagawa; Ayumi Kurihara b Hiroyo Matsumoto; Carlos Amano & Kagetsu b AKINO & Aja Kong

June 9: Diana (Kawasaki, Japan) – Kaoru Ito b JJ; Jaguar Yokota b Piyota Mask; Yumiko Hotta & Keiko Aono b Kyoko Inoue & Sareee

June 9: JWP (Tokyo, Japan) – Arisa Nakajima b Raideen Hagane; Command Bolshoi b KAZUKI & Leon in a 3-way; Sachie Abe & Rabbit Miu b Manami Katsu & Raideen Hagane; Kayoko Haruyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki b Hanako Nakamori & Morii

June 9: WAVE (Tokyo, Japan) -Mio Shirai b Arisa Nakajima; Misaki Ohata b Tomoka Nakagawa; Hikaru Shida v Syuri went to a time limit draw; Ayako Hamada v Kagetsu went to a time limit draw; Tsukasa Fujimoto & Sakura Hirota b Kana & Ryo Mizunami; Yumi Ohka b Ayumi Kurihara; Shuu Shibutani b Moeka Haruhi; Yuu Yamagata b GAMI

June 9: WWE (Fayetteville, NC) – Alicia Fox & Layla b AJ Lee & Aksana

June 10: Wrestling New Classic (Aomori, Japan) – GAMI & Moeka Kasuga b Yuu Yamagata & Shuu Shibutani; AKIRA, Syuri & Minoru Tanaka b TAJIRI, Lin Byron & El Hijo del Pantera

Upcoming

June 14: Dynamo Pro Wrestling (Glen Carbon, IL) – Miss Natural v MsChif

June 15: CWF Mid-Atlantic (Gibsonville, NC) – Serena Deeb v Amber O’Neal

June 15: Shockwave Wrestling Entertainment (Havelock, NC) – Mia Svensson v Fantasia

June 16: WWE Payback (Chicago, IL) – Kaitlyn v AJ Lee

June 16: AAA TripleMania (Mexico City, Mexico) – Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Silver King & Taya Valkyrie v Dinastía, El Elegido, Faby Apache & Pimpinela Escarlata

June 21: Family Wrestling Entertainment (New York, NY) – Maria Kanellis & Ivelisse Velez v Angelina Love & Katarina Leigh

June 22: RAD:PRO Wrestling (South Shields, England) – Freya Frenzy v Kirsty Love

June 22: British Championship Wrestling (East Kilbride, Scotland) – Nikki Storm v Carmel Jacob

June 22: World Xtreme Wrestling (Minneola, FL) – Kimberly v Brittney Savage

June 22: Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (Chilliwack, BC, Canada) – Nicole Matthews v Cat Power

June 23: Bellatrix 6 (Norwich, England) – Liberty v Shanna; Penelope v Alpha Female; Rhia O’Reilly v Erin Angel; Nikki Storm v Miss Mina; X-cute Sweet v Skarlett; Kay Lee Ray v Queen Maya; Destiny v Aurora Flame; Bete Noire & Viper v Violet O’Hara & Chanel; Saraya Knight v Carmel Jacob

June 23: I Believe In Wrestling (Orlando, FL) – Chasyn Rance v Santana Garrett v Jayson Falcone

June 23: Anarchy Championship Wrestling American Joshi Queen of Queens (Austin, TX)

June 23: Ring Of Honor (Baltimore, MD) – Veda Scott v MsChif

June 29: REINA x World (Tokyo, Japan) – Dump Matsumoto v Goya Kong; Makoto v Estrellita; Leon, Ray & Rabbit Miu v Mima Shimoda, Tiffany & Marcela; Hanako Nakamori & Syuri v Storm & Mighty Mel

June 29: Herts and Essex Wrestling (Takeley, England) – Saraya Knight v Violet O’Hara

June 30: Absolute Intense Wrestling (Cleveland, OH) – Veda Scott & Gregory Iron v Obariyon & Kobald

July 4: GOUGE (Raleigh, NC) – Mia Svensson v Tori Lynn

July 4: Ring Wars Carolina (Fayetteville, NC) – Mia Svensson v Devyn Nicole

July 6: Ring Wars Carolina (Fayetteville, NC) – Mia Svensson v Aida Marie

July 6: nCw Femmes Fatales XII (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) – Mercedes Martinez v Sweet Cherrie; Angie Skye v Christina Von Eerie; Midianne & Deziree v Leah Von Dutch & Xandra Bale; Courtney Rish v Cheerleader Melissa; LuFisto v Kimber Lee; Missy v Sassy Stephie; She Nay Nay v Veda Scott

July 11: Ring Of Honor (Chicago, IL) – Michael Elgin, BJ Whitmer & MsChif v ACH, Tadarius Thomas & Athena

July 12: SHINE 11 (Ybor City, FL) – Mercedes Martinez v Nikki Roxx v Su Yung v Taylor Made; Angelina Love v Amazing Kong v Ivelisse Velez v Kimberly; Jessicka Havok v Saraya Knight; Leva Bates v Mia Yim

July 13: Extreme American Wrestling (Corby, England) – Shanna v Alpha Female

July 20: Ring Wars Carolina (Fayetteville, NC) – Mia Svensson v Amanda Rodriguez

July 20: Pro Wrestling Elite (Ayr, Scotland) – Mickie James v Nikki Storm

July 20: Battling Bombshells: Stars, Stripes & Bombshells (Hollywood, FL) – Chelsea Diamond v Cherry Layne; Mercedes Justine v Silvie Silver; La Renne v Brittney Savage; Luscious Latasha v Solo Darling; Jewells Malone v La Morena Aleishka; Santana Garrett v Melissa Coates; La Rosa Negra v La Amazona

July 26: New Horizons Pro Wrestling (Perth, Australia) – Eliza Sway v Portia Perez; Kellie Skater v Nikita Naridian; Storm v Saraya Knight; Tomoka Nakagawa v Miami

July 26: Bombshells Ladies Of Wrestling (Iselin, NJ) – Angelina Love v Shelly Martinez; La Rosa Negra v Cheerleader Melissa

August 3: Pro Women’s Wrestling Alliance (Parramatta, Australia) – Evie v Madison Eagles

August 10: Women Superstars Uncensored (Voorhees, NJ) – Jessicka Havok v Athena

August 25: Insane Championship Wrestling (Edinburgh, Scotland) – Kay Lee Ray v Carmel Jacob

September 22: Insane Championship Wrestling: Fierce Females (Glasgow, Scotland)

October 6: Bellatrix 7 (Norwich, England)

October 6: Absolute Intense Wrestling Girls Night Out 9/10 (Cleveland, OH)

October 19-20: SHIMMER: Women Athletes (Berwyn, IL)

- Lee Burton
- Photos by WWE, Gilda Pasquil, Eric Salottolo, Stephanie Bellars Frankenstein, Natalya, April Hunter, TNA, Elizabeth Ellen Haddow
- Data collated from (but not limited to) Cagematch, joshifans.com, PuroLove, Dramatic DDT, Luchablog, Lords Of Pain, Wrestling Observer, Open The Puroresu Gate, PWInsider, NHB Girls

© Ringbelles