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Remaining SHINE title tournament qualifiers announced for SHINE 10

SHINE 10 rosterAt SHINE 9, four women – Saraya Knight, Rain, Jessicka Havok & Jazz – qualified for the promotion’s upcoming title tournament due to take place in July. On May 24, the remaining four women will compete to qualify as part of the SHINE 10 lineup.

Fresh off her victory in the main event of SHINE 9, Leva Bates will look to get into the title hunt when she faces Valkyrie member Taylor Made. Elsewhere, the loser of the Arkham Asylum Cage Match, Kimberly, will look to get back to winning ways when she takes on SHINE’s rising star and ultimate baby face Santana Garrett.

Mercedes Martinez – who seems to have incurred the ire of Daffney through her actions at SHINE 9 where she gatecrashed and spoiled Nikki Roxx‘s birthday celebration – wrestles Mia Yim, who was part of the main event of SHINE 8 and was a sixth of the trios tag at SHINE 9, while Roxx rounds off the last of the qualifying matches, when she steps into the ring against Taylor’s Made In Sin tag team partner and fellow Valkyrie member Allysin Kay. Read the rest of this page »

Jessicka Havok booked in intergender match at WSU Queen & King of the Ring iPPV

Jessicka Havok Sami CallihanWomen Superstars Uncensored was presented with a problem in its preparation for May 11′s Queen and King of the Ring iPPV. Its title match between WSU Champion Jessicka Havok and LuFisto – which came about after Havok defeated Athena and LuFisto beat Mercedes Martinez at An Ultraviolent Affair on February 9 – had to be scrapped due to the Super Hardcore Anime requiring surgery for a fractured kneecap, suffered during the SHIMMER Volume 53 iPPV on April 6.

With most of the roster tied up in the mixed tag team tournament, the promotion decided to get creative with an opponent for Havok, so WSU released a video with the titleholder throwing down a challenge based on what happened at the Combat Zone Wrestling show on the evening following An Ultraviolent Affair, and she wanted to take on LuFisto’s opponent in the mixed tag team match which took place.

Havok and Sami Callihan had an exchange or two in the match, and that wasn’t forgotten by the WSU Champion. In the video released last week, Havok lamented WSU for not finding her a challenger, then got proactive by calling out CZW’s Best of the Best XI tournament winner, though it would be six days of tentative waiting before the challenge was accepted, meaning that next Saturday in Voorhees, NJ, Jessicka Havok will take on Sami Callihan in a non-title, interpromotional, intergender affair. Read the rest of this page »

Ringbelles Retro: Lots of Miss Elizabeth

Miss ElizabethToday marks ten years to the day that Elizabeth Hulette died at the age of 42 from an overdose of painkillers and vodka. It was a sad end for a woman who usually represented a clean and wholesome image on screen. However, her TV character presented us with something of a problem as part of the Retro, as she’s not a wrestler – in fact, she competed in fewer than half a dozen matches in her life, and all of those were at the tail end of her career.

Instead, what we have elected to do is highlight some of the bigger moments in her career which aren’t the Match Made in Heaven at SummerSlam 91. But what else did she do? Well, most of her moments are intertwined with Randy Savage, either being the calmer foil to his more frantic style, or as an antagonist to him in World Championship Wrestling.

After the jump are a lot of videos – some of which you may have seen, others which you may not, but most are a little more outside the usual Elizabeth fare which you may see… Read the rest of this page »

Daffney to become a manager in SHINE?

daffney1Looks like SHINE 9 was the straw which broke the camel’s back when it came to Daffney.

After witnessing what she views as insolent and disrespectful behaviour, the former WCW Cruiserweight Champion has decided that enough is enough, and a change of direction is required. In a statement on the SHINE website, she writes:

An Open Letter to you all ~

Last spring when I first got together with Sal, Howard, and Lexie about forming a new Womens Federation I cannot tell you how exciting it all was. To be a part of a revolutionizing product from the ground up has been such a fullfilling project and I am so proud to watch it soar. BUT – and it’s quite a big but – it seems as though things have changed in my absence from the locker room.

From early on I found myself a little disheartened by some of our athletes’ attitudes. Throughout our first year, quite a few of the ladies on our roster have shown a lack of good sportsmanship and have been very disrespectful to myself, SHINE management, and the other women that work for our company. And it all came to a head at SHINE 9. Read the rest of this page »

Ringbelles Roundup (30 April 2013) – Io Shirai’s comeback, Knockouts website and more

Io ShiraiIf the original Triple Tails members of Kana, Mio & Io Shirai were to hold a party and bring along their biggest accomplishment, Io would be last to arrive, but would be sporting the shiniest trinket. That’s because the 22-year old claimed the World Of Stardom Championship from Alpha Female at the promotion’s Ryogoku Cinderella show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan in front of a reported crowd of 5,500 paid fans (though some reports say that may have been inflated). Using a rolling cradle, Shirai put down the massive German for the pin, claiming her first singles championship, and a prestigious one at that.

While Kana held the SMASH Divas Championship on two occasions, the belt is now defunct and she never managed a successful defence in either reign, and Mio Shirai’s run with Ice Ribbon’s ICEx60 belt was more successful than Kana’s SMASH stints, it isn’t as prominent a championship as her sister’s current hardware – which is a big sign that the nightmare of last year is well behind her… Read the rest of this page »

Io Shirai, Dark Angel win major titles and Yuzuki Aikawa retires at historic “Ryogoku Cinderella” event

Goodbye Yuzupon
It was a historic day today at the fabled Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall) in Tokyo as Stardom presented Ryogoku Cinderella – their most ambitious card to date – in the hallowed building, and it was a day of change, as three of the promotion’s titles changed hands while the curtain came down on the career of Yuzuki Aikawa. Attendance was announced at 5,500, though it seems from live reports that the actual attendance was quite a bit smaller than that (inflated attendances are fairly common in wrestling worldwide, but especially in Japan – although reports last week suggested 3,000 tickets had been sold), which while impressive for a joshi crowd in 2013 appears disappointing given the size of the venue and the hopes/expectations Stardom had to have had for the event.

Shirai as ChampionIn title changes, Io Shirai won the World of Stardom Title (aka “The Red Belt”) from Alpha Female, who drops the title that she won last month from inaugural champion Nanae Takahashi. Alpha’s transitional run lasted just 43 days, but you have to imagine Shirai is now going to be considered Stardom’s “ace” going forward. It was a bad day for Monster-Gun, as the recently dominant stable lost the Goddesses of Stardom (Tag) Titles also, as Kyoko Kimura & Hailey Hatred fell to the team of Hoshow Tennyo (Kairi Hojo and Natsumi Showzuki) when Hojo upset Hatred. The other new champion in Stardom is Dark Angel (aka Sarah Stock), who won the decision match against Act Yasukawa to determine only the second ever Wonder of Stardom champion. That title had been vacated earlier this month by inaugural champion Yuzuki Aikawa ahead of her retirement.

Speaking of Aikawa, she fought one of her toughest rivals one last time – finally losing to Yoshiko in her farewell. During her retirement ceremony, the ring was bathed in yellow streamers. The win for Yoshiko sets her up as the first challenger for Io Shirai’s World of Stardom title – with that match announced for Stardom’s June 2nd show back at Korakuen Hall. Click through for full results. Read the rest of this page »

Pro Wrestling: EVE – Special Edition III results (now updated with photos and thoughts)

Leah Von Dutch Pro Wrestling EVEPro Wrestling: EVE says goodbye to its original home of the Delphi Centre in Sudbury, England today with Special Edition III, a card shrouded in mystery.

With the main advertised draws for the show being the appearances of Tommy Dreamer and the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, the top female attraction has been the UK debut of Leah Von Dutch, who has made a lot of waves in her short time in wrestling, and is the guest of the latest edition of the Women Of Wrestling Podcast, which you can download here. What we do know is that apart from Von Dutch, the rest of the roster for the show consists of Kay Lee Ray, Erin Angel, Carmel Jacob, Sara-Marie Taylor, Shanna, Rhia O’Reilly, Amazon Ayesha Ray, Bete Noire, Viper, and Kasey & Leah Owens, with the first match revealed being Ray v Viper in singles action, and the promotion’s Twitter has also made reference to Shanna and Von Dutch being involved in a tag team match.

EVE will also be looking to get things back on track after having to cancel its Special Edition II show in February following a chaotic No Man’s Land 2 show earlier in the month where Taylor won the chance to challenge for the EVE Championship, which was recaptured by Nikki Storm from Emi Sakura on the same show – however Storm is not on this card, as she is competing in Japan at the moment.

In addition, the promotion has also said that it is “trying something new out and redeveloping ourselves in terms of format, structure etc while at the same time going back to our original foundation that people appreciated so much”, which also seemingly involves blurring the face/heel line a little. We’ll see what comes of it during the show – the results of which you can see after the jump…
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In Video: Scuffles in Scandinavia – Mina v Penelope

Miss Mina PenelopeThe European women’s wrestling scene is growing all the time, with grapplers from all over the continent improving their skills and characters at a startling pace – so much so that more and more wrestlers like Australia’s Storm, and Canada native Leah Von Dutch are making extended trips to the continent to face new opponents and acquire new skills.

Two Europeans who are also expanding their portfolios are Penelope and Miss Mina, whose careers seem to be intertwining. The pair had a good match at Bellatrix 4 last November, and on the strength of that match, the British flier was booked to wrestle in the Norwegian Wrestling Federation last month, again against Mina, but with a slight difference – that being that the normally happy and smiley babyface Penelope was a moody, greasy heel. How did she fare against her opponent, who was on home turf this time and enjoying the full fan support from the audience in Oslo? Click the jump to find out…
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Fight Like A Girl: Heidi Lovelace

Heidi Lovelace
She wrestles regularly for OVW, AAW, Wrestling Is Heart, Wrestling Is Cool and AIW, she made her debut on the SHIMMER main card earlier this month, she also debuted recently for St Louis Anarchy. In addition, she’s part of the upcoming SHINE 10 show next month and is entered in the Chikara Tag World Grand Prix in Chicago. It’s Heidi Lovelace, and if you don’t know the name yet, prepare to get to know it.

In this half-hour one-on-one website exclusive interview, you can hear about how exciting a time it is to be Heidi right about now, from inauspicious starts through training (with guys) at Billy Roc‘s School of Roc through making a big impression at National Pro-Wrestling Day earlier in the year, working and training in Ohio Valley Wrestling and their growing women’s scene now, to being part of the international SHIMMER locker room. Heidi discusses her evolution so far as a wrestler from both a training and gimmick perspective, and discusses her hopes for the future. A really enjoyable chat – check it out.

(left click on picture to stream, right click and “save as” to download)

Follow Heidi on twitter and facebook

My Name Is… Violet O’Hara

Violet O'Hara

She may be small in stature, but Violet O’Hara has some BIG plans. After getting into wrestling through some fairly unique circumstances, the Pocket Princess of Wrestling has spent the last year and a half facing some large challenges and accumulating some great experience along the way.

As part of her My Name Is interview, O’Hara talks about wrestling on iPPV with Bellatrix 5, taking on Saraya Knight, having to encourage guys to hit her properly and whether her size bothers her. And as for that size, she goes into detail on how tall she is, and the number isn’t very big!

(left click on picture to stream, right click and “save as” to download)

Keep up with Violet O’Hara: Facebook | Twitter

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