Bellatrix 6 card – plenty of first-time matches
Until today, the only match which we knew was going to be taking place at Bellatrix 6 on June 23 was Rhia O’Reilly defending the British Championship against Erin Angel – a match which is likely to deliver, especially since they have tangled twice in the past month with each claiming a victory over the other. However, the promotion has now revealed what its big roster featuring a lot of debuting women will be up to on the show, and there are quite a few first-time encounters on the card… (more…)
Bellatrix 6 roster revealed, many new additions
It’s been a pretty Euro-centric sort of week here at Ringbelles, so we may as well continue in that ethos…
The roster for the Bellatrix 6 iPPV on June 23 has been revealed, with a lot of new names featuring in the lineup. Nine European nations are represented on the show, with women from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Norway, Finland, France, Italy, Germany and Portgual being represented. Representing England are regulars Saraya Knight, rising star Penelope, RQW European Women’s Champion Liberty, rookie Chanel, Destiny, Skarlett, Erin Angel and Violet O’Hara. Other roster members returning are Italian Queen Maya, Northern Ireland’s Rhia O’Reilly and Norway’s Miss Mina, as well as Finn Aurora Flame and France’s X-Cute Sweet, who have both been absent since Bellatrix 2 11 months ago.
There is also an influx of Scottish talent heading to Norwich. Nikki Storm, Carmel Jacob, Bete Noire and Kay Lee Ray all make their debuts, while Viper makes her first appearance in the promotion since teaming with Destiny at WAWW The Return in November 2011. Rounding off the roster are Germany’s Alpha Female and Portugal’s Perfect Athlete Shanna making their first Bellatrix appearances, making it a roster of 20 women participating. (more…)
Fight Like A Guy: ICW Fierce Females promoter Mikey Whiplash
We were in Glasgow at the weekend for the second ICW: Fierce Females show, and we left calling it “the best women’s wrestling card we’ve seen this year” – so a few days after the show and with time to reflect, we thought we’d better get in touch with the promoter/booker of Fierce Females and get up to speed with what’s going on north of the border – so here’s Mikey Whiplash! Mikey’s a longtime veteran of the European wrestling scene as a performer, so we plot the road map which saw him get involved with Insane Championship Wrestling and eventually into promoting women’s wrestling. We talk about a lot of the talent in Scotland, including but not limited to the two main eventers from last weekend’s show, Kay Lee Ray and Viper, discuss possible TV deals in the pipeline, Mikey’s learning curve on international women’s wrestling, and the promoter problems in the last 24 hours before last weekend’s show. You all know about the last minute change of venue? Well, did you know they almost didn’t have a title belt to present to the winner? We also get an inside track on how regularly these shows are likely to be held, the possibility of future international talent and Mikey’s philosophy of what he wants Fierce Females to be. We’ve already told you that the world needs to pay attention to ICW:FF after last weekend – well, here’s the chance to get all the stories. Check it out.
(left click on picture to stream, right click and “save as” to download)
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ICW: Fierce Females – Luke… Who’s Yer Da? results (now updated with photos and thoughts)
After a successful debut show last September, Insane Championship Wrestling‘s all-female off-shoot Fierce Females returns with its second event. Entitled Luke… Who’s Yer Da? (marking the fact that today is Star Wars Day), the card will see the first Fierce Females Champion crowned in the culmination of a tournament which has been running over the last few months on ICW shows across Scotland, though a spanner was thrown into the works a few days ago…
April Davids, who had made it to the semi-finals has been forced to pull out of her match after having an injection into her injured shoulder which means she needs to take some time off to recover. That leaves Viper without an opponent for the evening, and leaves the question hanging about whether a replacement opponent will be found, or if she will advance to the final to face the winner of the other semi between Kay Lee Ray and Rhia O’Reilly.
Elsewhere on the card, Leah Von Dutch – who made her English debut last Saturday at Pro Wrestling: EVE’s Special Edition III show – makes her first appearance in Scotland today, taking on Carmel Jacob. Another woman making her Scottish debut is Crazy Mary Dobson, who is making a flying visit to face Bete Noire.
The Ringbelles team is on hand in Glasgow to bring you results as they happen – click after the jump and find out who’s going to walk away as the first Fierce Females Champion… (more…)
Pro Wrestling: EVE – Special Edition III results (now updated with photos and thoughts)
Pro 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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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…)
Ringbelles Roundup (19 February 2013) – WSU/BLOW clash, Fierce Females and more
Earlier this month, there was a clash of shows, with no more than 70 minutes drive between the two. In Voorhees, NJ, you had a double-header featuring Women Superstars Uncensored in the afternoon followed by a Combat Zone Wrestling card. Meanwhile, 65 miles away in Metuchen, NJ, there was a Bombshell Ladies Of Wrestling event followed by a show from its parent company Pro Wrestling Syndicate. Critically, the WSU show was better than the (frankly poor) BLOW event, though the latter boasted the larger audience number. For all that anybody knows, it could have been more, but there were hundreds of fans down the I-95 watching another couple of promotions running at approximately the same time. It meant that fans had to choose which show they wanted to see, and was a clash which felt unfortunate. It was very unlikely to happen again.
Or was it…? (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (5 February 2013) – Shanna v Emi Sakura, Rachel Summerlyn and more
On Sunday, I sat among 400 people in a hall in a small city in the west of England. The only reason why I had decided to go – well, apart from it being a 15 minute walk from my front door – was that it featured a women’s match that was pretty hyped up about. Unfortunately, the billed contest between Kay Lee Ray and Shanna had to be scrapped because of KLR suffering a broken toe two days previous, then wrestling for about 40 minutes on it the previous day – though as it turns out, her metatarsal had been broken for about a month, which was compounded by the broken toe. As a result, a suitable replacement was brought in to replace Ray, and it would more than compensate.
The fans at Alternative Wrestling World in Wolverhampton had no idea who Emi Sakura was. To them, she was a Japanese woman who wears a lot of fabric, doesn’t show much skin and visually, didn’t look like much to write home about. Around me, I heard some borderline racist jokes about the “Chinese” woman in the ring and some unfunny gags about ordering Chinese cuisine in a mocking Far Asian accent. Her opponent also got the heckles, with a guy yelling “get your tits out” to Portugal’s Perfect Athlete – as if that line has EVER worked. Needless to say, we were dealing with an audience with spectacularly low expectations for the contest, and more than their fair share of xenophobia and ignorance. I’m stunned that I didn’t see anyone get up to go to the bar or toilets. They would have regretted it if they had, as little did they know, but they were going to be treated to a showcase featuring one of Europe’s best against one of the best in the world… (more…)
Pro Wrestling: EVE – No Man’s Land 2 results – now updated with thoughts, photos & Nikki Storm interview
Pro Wrestling: EVE returns today for its first show since its Wrestle Fever iPPV with title controversies to be settled, and the build towards introducing a new championship.
Heading the card is Emi Sakura defending the EVE title against former champ Nikki Storm, who won and lost the belt on the iPPV last November, defeating Alpha Female before losing an impromptu defence to Sakura. The Gatoh Move founder was meant to defend the belt against Carmel Jacob yesterday, but due to a schedule change in her flight, she didn’t make it to the Preston City Wrestling card in time. Instead, Jacob – who presumably will get a title shot in the future instead – defeated Kay Lee Ray, who limped away from the match with a broken toe.
Ray was meant to face Blue Nikita, but that match was scrapped after Nikita suffered head and neck trauma in a car accident earlier this week. As a result, she has been slotted into the match between Alpha and Shanna to make it a 3-way.
Also on the card are three quarter final matches in the EVE Tag Team Championship tournament, with The Lovely Peppers (Kirsty Love & Pollyanna Peppers) facing Kasey & Leah Owens, Ama-Reilly (Amazon Ayesha Ray & Rhia O’Reilly) against She-X (Bete Noire & Viper), and the Glamour Gym (Carmel Jacob & Sara-Marie Taylor) meeting April Davids and a mystery partner. The other contest will be the promotion’s second Three Minute Warning match featuring 15 wrestlers in a mix of a Gauntlet Match and a Royal Rumble.
Lee Burton is at the show in Preston, England, and will be updating the results as they happen, so click after the jump and keep hitting refresh for updates. (more…)
In Video: The GWF Ladies Title goes glam
Scotland’s Carmel Jacob is collecting championships at the moment. The 24-year old from Edinburgh started the run on November 18 last year, winning the World Wide Wrestling League Women’s Championship in a 3-way involving defending champion Nikki Storm and Glamour Gym tag partner Sara-Marie Taylor, and followed it up with the match we have for you this weekend from the German Wrestling Federation.
The GWF Ladies Championship had been vacated when Britani Knight was unable to defend the belt because of joining WWE and being repackaged as Paige, though the belt was only officially held up on December 1 last year – 11 months after she had moved to Florida. Still, a new champion was decided on the same day, and as you can tell from the picture on the right, Jacob won the belt, defeating GWF regular Blue Nikita to snare the championship.
Carmel may add a third title to her collection on February 1 when she challenges Emi Sakura for the Pro Wrestling: EVE Championship at Preston City Wrestling, with her defending the belt against fellow Scot Nikki Storm the following day at EVE’s No Man’s Land 2 if she is successful. Until then, click the jump and watch Jacob win the GWF Ladies Championship… (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (22 January 2013) – Mia Yim, TNA’s reality hits and misses, and more
There are many interesting prospects in North America. One which has been simmering for a while is Mia Yim, who has been honing her skills and gaining more experience by partaking in a number of extended trips to Japan to wrestle for REINA x World. Domestically, she has had some interesting matches which have been of a good quality, and was a beneficiary when one of her kicks broke Allysin Kay’s nose last January leading to a number of well-received matches between the two with greater stipulations reflecting the development of the programme, culminating in a cage match at Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Girls Night Out 7. She had a fine outing against Jessicka Havok at SHINE 3 last September, and also enjoyed outings against the likes of Kana and Yumi Ohka in SHIMMER in 2011.
However, there is one major sticking point when it comes to her work in the US – barring the original nose-breaking match against Kay at GNO5, Yim has lost most of those high-profile outings.
Despite that, she has the opportunity to claim a really big scalp at SHIMMER volume 53 in Secaucus, NJ on April 6, and spoil the homecoming of one of its biggest stars at the same time. (more…)
So how was Kay Lee Ray’s 2012?
Ahead of the announcement of the 2012 Ringbelles Awards – which start on Monday – we thought it would be a good idea to see what happened to the three winners in 2011. How has the last 12 months been for them? Well, let’s start with out pick for Discovery of the Year, Kay Lee Ray…
We selected the high-flier from Scotland for her strong showings over the course of 2011, which included strong showings against joshi talent Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto (the latter as part of a three-way with Erin Angel) at Pro Wrestling: EVE v Ice Ribbon in October and her thrilling deathmatch against old enemy Carmel Jacob at Insane Championship Wrestling. She ventured outside of the UK to wrestle in Denmark, and we surmised that because of the positive opinions garnered by her work, her profile would go from strength to strength in 2012. That’s exactly what happened, and she’s capping the year off being on the other side of the world… (more…)
Pro Wrestling: EVE – Wrestle Fever results (now updated with thoughts, photos and an interview with Angelina Love)
It has been 19 months since their previous encounter, and tonight, the pair meet again. Pro Wrestling: EVE Champion Alpha Female defends the title against number one contender Nikki Storm, with Storm possessing a psychological advantage in that the only defeat on Alpha’s record in the whole of EVE history was by her hands. It’s the main event of Wrestle Fever – EVE’s second foray into iPPV, and you can watch it by ordering it here.
On what is a bumper card of action, JWP Openweight Champion Emi Sakura puts the title on the line against Kay Lee Ray in the first defence of the belt in the UK, while Sakura’s running buddy in Gatoh Move Kaori Yoneyama teams up with April Davids against Hannah and Holly Blossom, with the winners meeting the victors in another tag match involving Kasey & Leah Owens against Amazon Ayesha Ray & Rhia O’Reilly and a mystery team in a mini tag team tournament.
The other high-profile encounter sees former TNA Knockouts Champion Angelina Love take on the Glamour Gym’s Carmel Jacob – elsewhere, Kirsty Love faces Blue Nikita, Janey Britannico steps into the ring against Shanna, and Erin Angel competes against Scottish newcomer Fiona Fraser.
While you’re keeping up with the results, you can have a read of Nikki’s most recent blog where she discusses Wrestle Fever and our chat with her as part of a recent Women Of Wrestling Podcast, and you can click the jump to see the results as they happen. (more…)
ICW: Fierce Females results – now with thoughts, photos and an interview with Kay Lee Ray
Britain’s third all-female wrestling promotion debuts today, with promises of it offering a different sort of product to the likes of the World Association of Women’s Wrestling and Pro Wrestling: EVE. Insane Championship Wrestling: Fierce Females is hyping an evening of hard-hitting wrestling action, coupled with burlesque dancers (which explains the poster’s similarities to the one for the film Burlesque) and a more edgy atmosphere.
Emanating from The Arches in Glasgow, Scotland, the main event of the debut show is a Last Woman Standing match between longtime rivals Kay Lee Ray and Carmel Jacob. The pair also managed to gain some pretty good exposure for the show this week when they were part of a two-page spread in The Scottish Sun newspaper. Other matches on the card include England’s Lisa Fury (replacing an injured Jenny Sjodin) and April Davids against twins Kasey and Leah Owens from Northern Ireland, Miss Nicola Storm facing the “Technical Supremo” Fiona Fraser, and the “Fighting Irish” Rhia O’Reilly taking on England’s Holly Rocamora.
Ringbelles is on hand to provide live results, and we’re looking to deliver photos and interviews after the show. Click after the jump and keep hitting refresh to see the outcomes as they happen – in the meantime, have a listen to Storm’s Women Of Wrestling Podcast where she discusses Fierce Females, EVE, Glasgow slang and more. (more…)
In Video: What Angelina Love will face at EVE
Before July’s Pro Wrestling: EVE‘s Special Edition show in July, Nikki Storm made the point that despite she being a WWE Diva and TNA Knockout, it was Kat Waters who was the one who was at the disadvantage. After all, she was the visiting team, and was entering unfamiliar territory. The same could be said of Angelina Love, who will wrestle Scotland’s Carmel Jacob on EVE’s Wrestle Fever show on November 10 - and Jacob will be flanked by her Glamour Gym partner Sara Marie Taylor, which puts the Canadian at a further detriment.
In addition, Jacob has been busy wrestling TNA & WWE talent recently, taking on former Knockouts, Women’s and Divas Champion Mickie James in singles and tag team matches last weekend, though came out on the losing end on both occasions. (more…)
Shanna returns from major surgery
Shanna must be some sort of medical marvel, or she is – like she claims to be – perfect.
As we reported back in May, the Portuguese 7-year veteran had pretty pioneering surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament which had needed medical attention for about a year. It would mean a faster recovery time and would see her in the ring faster than the year it took for Layla to get back in the ring following a similar ailment. However, we would never have imagined that the time from surgery to a return match would be a mere SEVENTY-FIVE days. (more…)
Fierce Females is coming to Scotland
Considering the wealth of talent in Scotland, this is a move that makes a lot of sense…
Glasgow-based promotion Insane Championship Wrestling is launching its own all-women off-shoot called Fierce Females, with its debut show scheduled for September. Already announced as being part of the roster are Scots Kay Lee Ray and Viper, as well as former Pro Wrestling: EVE Champion Jenny Sjodin, April Davids, Rhia O’Reilly, Erin Angel, Holly Rocamora and twins Leah and Kasey Owens. Considering they are also part of the main ICW roster, we should also expect to see Carmel Jacob and Sara Marie Taylor, and also Nikki Storm, who recently returned to the promotion as Miss Nicola Storm, looking to clean up the promotion and remove the violence and strong language associated with the product.
Fierce Females had a rocky start last week when it was announced under its original name of ICW: Femmes Fatales, though it was asked to change its moniker by the already-established Canadian promotion with the same name, and ICW agreed. It was a good idea, as some fans on the Facebook page it had set up had incorrectly assumed that the two promotions were connected. It was also a positive that the two groups could reach an amicable position, instead of it breaking down into a petty argument, so thumbs up to Fierce Females for handing the situation in a professional manner. (more…)
Pro Wrestling: EVE – No Man’s Land results (now updated with photos and thoughts)
It’s Pro Wrestling: EVE‘s first show in 2012, with a new number one contender being crowned and the EVE Championship on the line in the main event.
Titleholder Jenny Sjodin has held the title since last June and has five successful title defences under her belt, defeating Aurora Flame, Rhia O’Reilly, April Davids, Emi Sakura and Shanna & Davids in a triple threat match. She meets Alpha Female , who has a four match win streak in the promotion, teaming with Super Janey B to beat the Glamour Gym, then seeing off Hikaru Shida and Sara-Marie Taylor in singles action, before defeating Viper & O’Reilly in a three-way in October. In total, Alpha has only lost one contest in the promotion, falling to Nikki Storm in the semi finals of the original EVE title tournament last April.
Speaking of tournaments, eight women will meet to determine a new top contender for the title. In the quarter finals, Nikki Storm meets Hannah Blossom, while Hannah’s sister Holly takes on Sara-Marie Taylor. In the other bracket, April Davids faces Rhia O’Reilly, while Kay Lee Ray wrestles fellow Scot Carmel Jacob.
We will bring you results as they happen, so click after the jump and keep refreshing the page to keep up to date with all the goings-on live from the Delphi Club in Sudbury, England… (more…)
Queen to be crowned at EVE’s “No Man’s Land”
Pro-Wrestling EVE has announced the the crowning of a Queen as part of the supporting card at “NO MAN’S LAND: SJODIN vs ALPHA” event at Sudbury’s Delphi Club on this Saturday. The promotion will present an eight woman elimination tournament, to be dubbed Queen of the Ring, and will result in the crowning of a new #1 contender for the EVE Championship.
The full brackets were completed overnight, and we can now bring it to you. Click after the jump for a look: (more…)
And the Discovery of the Year is…
Welcome, one and all, to the Year End Awards here at Ringbelles, where we plan to acknowledge the successes of wrestlers throughout 2011 in three different categories. Coming up over the next week, we will feature the Breakout Star of the Year, as well as the prestigious Wrestler of the Year award being announced in the next Women Of Wrestling Podcast – but first, we name the female wrestler who we have chosen as the Discovery of the Year. But what does that encapsulate, you may ask? Well, here’s an explanation…
Some wrestlers spring onto the scene from comparative obscurity. Not to say that the promotions that they wrestled for in times gone by are bad, but perhaps they don’t have the national or international recognition that may be needed for said wrestlers to showcase their talents to the widest possible audience. Maybe that’s down to perception, DVD distribution or a lack of an online presence, but at some point, that wrestler gets a shot in a “larger” promotion and impresses an audience which may have been unfamiliar to said talent, and leads to them taking their work to another level. Perhaps they are rookies who have made a great first impression in their initial year, either with their wrestling or character – or maybe a combination of both. Perhaps they have travelled outside of their home country and wowed new audiences. For whatever reason, the Discovery of the Year is designed to be awarded to someone to keep your eye on over the next 12 months to see them grow and flourish.
A number of female wrestlers fulfil this criteria, so it would be worth mentioning who made it onto the shortlist. SHIMMER Academy graduate and dogtooth wearing redhead Veda Scott has become a hit since her debut in May, drawing plaudits in her matches against Portia Perez, Daizee Haze and even Josh Thor in Beyond Wrestling, and is likely to be a future star. California’s Davina Rose captured the attention of Serena Deeb, and impressed fans at October’s SHIMMER tapings, despite going 0-4 over the weekend. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, New Zealand’s Evie had a cracking match with Kellie Skater at PWWA‘s show in September in a match that would usually take Match of the Night honours, if it wasn’t for the amazing main event between Madison Eagles, Jessie McKay and Nicole Matthews. However, our choice for Discovery of the Year goes to a woman who – like Scott – creates a great visual first impression, and can back it up in the ring. (more…)
IN DEFENS: A look at Scotland’s finest
Scotland has given the world a great many things. Whisky, penicillin, the telephone, the television, Sean Connery and deep fried pizza are all up there. Not bad for a country with a tiny population (as of the last Census, it was a shade over 5 million). However, this harsh environment (the average maximum temperature is about 64 degrees Fahrenheit) may be one of the main reasons why it has such tough people, both mentally and physically.
Some of that toughness is making its way into women’s wrestling in Europe. At the last Pro Wrestling: EVE v Ice Ribbon event, close to half of the EVE talent emanated from Scotland. Therefore, it’s worth a quick introduction to the uninitiated as to who some of the names are that you should expect to see more of in the future.
Possibly the hottest prospect of the lot is Nikki Storm, the mouthy 22-year old Glaswegian who we have spoken to on a couple of occasions. Debuting in 2008, the current World Wide Wrestling League Women’s Champion was trained by names including Mikey Whiplash, Johnny Moss, Damian O’Connor and Fergal Devitt, and has warred with the likes or Carmel Jacob and Sara-Marie Taylor in the Scottish Wrestling Alliance, Premier British Wrestling and Scottish School of Wrestling.
South of Hadrian’s Wall, her career has involved Jetta for the most part, either wrestling her at adult-oriented promotion Triple X Wrestling, or being her protege in EVE’s European Empire faction. The two have also tangled north of the border, with the roles reversed from TXW and seeing Storm as the babyface and Jetta in her more recognised heel persona. Having said that, Storm is a fine heel and follows in the footsteps of Coventry’s Loudest by spending a lot of the time arguing with fans, but uses a wider repertoire than her manager/former rival. In addition to Jetta, Storm lists Erin Angel, Lisa Fury and Saraya Knight as being great influences on her. (more…)
EVE v Ice Ribbon: Day 2 results
Day two of Pro Wrestling: EVE v Ice Ribbon is underway with a double header, kicking off with a matinee show before the finale this evening.
Matches that we know are taking place on tonight’s card include Shanna challenging Hikari Minami for the ICEx60 Championship – decided after Shanna and Erin Angel‘s loss to Emi Sakura and Minami on last night’s show – and Sakura will challenge Jenny Sjodin for the EVE title after the Female Fight Machine retained the belt by defeating her tag team partner April Davids in the main event.
Speaking of Davids, she is most likely not going to be wrestling on today’s shows after suffering a suspected broken ankle during her match with Sjodin. She originally damaged it while receiving a superplex, and was made worse when she dived from the top rope to the outside onto the champion. We wish her a speedy recovery.
Click after the jump for the results of the matinee show. (more…)
EVE v Ice Ribbon: Day 1 results
The weekend we’ve been waiting for since it was announced back in April: Pro Wrestling: EVE v Ice Ribbon, featuring some of the best wrestlers in Europe against some of the best joshi talent in Japan. Later of this evening, EVE Champion Jenny Sjodin (who became a double champion in August when she defeated Aurora Flame for the NWWA Championship) will defend against her Northern Shooters tag team partner and European Empire teammate April Davids.
However, before the three #EVEvICE (as it is being hashtagged on Twitter) events take place, with the first starting this evening, Southside Wrestling Entertainment are holding a matinee show at the same venue – Gym Combat in Nottingham – with the four Ice Ribbon competitors facing each other in tag team action, with Emi Sakura and Hikari Minami defeating Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto, with Sakura getting the pinfall on Shida following a moonsault.
Click after the jump for more photos from this afternoon’s exhibition tag team match as well as the results and subsequent thoughts of night one. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (12 April 2011)
The Big News
Two big stories coming out of the UK this week…
It was a rough yet rewarding weekend for Britani Knight. Suffering from what she thought was tonsillitis, the 18-year old member of the Knight Dynasty wrestled 5 matches in 28 hours on route to becoming the first ever Pro Wrestling: EVE champion. However, she was bedridden the next day with what turned out to be glandular fever, causing her to miss a date with her home promotion, World Association of Wrestling. We at Ringbelles wish her congratulations on her title win and also a speedy recovery from a nasty illness.
EVE’s title tournament turned out to be less complicated that the brackets would have led you to believe. Starting with FIVE four corner matches and a Last Chance Battle Royal for the losers to determine the quarter finalists, they were hurried through relatively quickly to leave us with singles matches which varied from fine to good – the standout matches of the first night featured Erin Angel v Nikki Storm and Britani v Jenny Sjodin in the quarters, and Sweet Saraya taking on Blue Nikita in a Last Woman Standing match. The return of Blue Nikita was something of a surprise after her relationship with EVE went sour after the first show – so when she ran in to attack Saraya in the opening match of the evening, it took many by surprise. It also meant that both voluntarily took themselves out of the tournament – Saraya was eligible for the Battle Royal and Blue Nikita never got to compete in her four-way contest due to brawling with Saraya before the bell – to compete in the Last Woman Standing affair, which Saraya won with a sunset powerbomb.
The Project nightclub was a makeshift venue after the Royal British Legion was pulled as a host due to licensing issues and complaints – somebody even called up the local radio station pretending to be EVE management to say the event at the Project had been completely cancelled – but as an environment for the audience, it was great. It was cosy, yet sat the fans comfortably with plenty of space, and felt safe yet anarchic. Apparently it was a little too cosy backstage, as there wasn’t much room for the wrestlers – of which there were around 20 – to change, but that could be changed if EVE decides to return to the venue – something the owners were pretty receptive to. (more…)
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