Ringbelles Retro: Action from ChickFight I
If it wasn’t for ChickFight, there would be no Ringbelles. Stew and I met at ChickFight VII in Great Yarmouth, England in January 2007, in the first of the series to take place in the UK, as the rest would until cards ceased in 2008. Before that, the first six events (which were all tournaments which would tend to take place over two days) were presented by Californian promotion All Pro Wrestling – and the Retro we have for you today is from the inaugural event, held in Hayward, CA on the 29th and 30th of October in 2004…
Hailey Hatred and Candice LaRae had been eliminated from the proceedings in the first round by Nikki Roxx and Princesa Sugheit respectively. Christie Ricci fell at the semi final at the hands of Cheerleader Melissa after advancing by beating Tiffany (no, not the former ECW General Manager), while Roxx missed out on making to the final when she was defeated by Sugheit – for the record, the luchadora won the tournament by beating Melissa in the final. Because they were at a loose end for the second day, Hatred, LaRae, Ricci and Roxx all met in the ring in what was supposed to be a tag team match. However, one of the participants wasn’t happy with that arrangement, and decided to make some changes… (more…)
DVD Review: WEW Nude War Games (22 May 2007)
Women’s Extreme Wrestling hosts a five match card at New Alhambra Arena (ECW Arena) in Philadelphia, PA. Two championships are on the line – with one being a guarantee of seeing a title change due to it being vacant – as well as a Blindfold Match and a Hardcore Street Fight.
Results
1. Lucy Furr defeated T.H.A.I. in a Blindfold Match when T.H.A.I. passed out in a “smother”.
2. Jazz made Christie Ricci tap out to an STF.
3. Annie Social & Sumie Sakai beat the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew (Lacey & Rain) to win the vacant WEW Tag Team Championship. Sakai pinned Lacey with a schoolboy.
4. The Hardcore Street Fight between Amy Lee & Butch went to a no-contest.
5. Talia Madison pinned Angel Orsini with a tornado bulldog headlock to win the WEW Championship.
Highlights
• Lucy Furr (AKA Daffney) cheated in her Blindfold Match to beat T.H.A.I. Lucy took off her blindfold to attack her opponent, and nobody could admonish her as the ref is “blind” and doing a Stevie Wonder send-up. Lucy smothered T.H.A.I. with her bosom until she is unconscious, and even though she’s on her front, the ref counted her down.
• Jazz beat Christi Ricci with an STF, which was apparently the same move she used to win on the previous WEW show.
• Annie Social and Sumie Sakai won the vacant WEW Tag Team Championship by beating the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew. Sakai and Social are painted as a real odd couple with a real language gap.
• Amy Lee and Butch (who is Canadian Jaime D, AKA Sirelda in TNA) go to a no-contest in their Hardcore Street Fight when the ref is sandwiched between them as they go through a table. Another ref throws the match out.
• Talia Madison (AKA Velvet Sky) won the WEW Championship from Angel Orsini thanks to an assist from her manager Noel Harlow. Jazz then came out to stake her claim to the belt. (more…)
Retro DVD review: SHIMMER volume 1
This retro DVD review is all ass-backwards. Instead of us doing a review of a show from days gone by, instead, it is the review which is old and it is of the (then) newly-released SHIMMER: Women Athletes volume 1 – a show that you can still buy as part of the Collectors’ Edition.
Back in February 2006, Stewart Allen decided to pick up a DVD of this new SHIMMER thing – based on Beth Phoenix v Allison Danger – and wrote a review for Figure Four Weekly. So let’s jump in the time machine and go back five and a half years to see what Stew’s first impressions of SHIMMER really were…
***
I was initially attracted to the idea of checking out the new SHIMMER promotion for the sole intention of being able to see Beth Phoenix in competition. I’ve been a fan of Beth’s in OVW for some time (where she works as the valet to Aaron “The Idol” Stevens) and while she’s quick to get physically involved in his matches, I’d never seen her wrestle a proper match. It was a further bonus that on this Volume 1 release, she happened to be facing Allison Danger – one of the relatively few other women I know from the US indy circuit. So, the promise of some Phoenix/Danger action coupled with the fact that the promotion name was based on a song title by one of my favourite bands (“Shimmer Like A Girl” by Veruca Salt) meant that I actually laid down some dollars and ordered a DVD from ROHWrestling.com. Yay me.
I’ve got to say, I was very surprised to hear that the DVD is reportedly one of ROH’s fastest selling DVDs of all time. “Why??” asked a friend of mine when I told him this piece of information. I honestly didn’t know. I know why *I* bought a copy – but what was the attraction for everyone else? Either way, I unwrapped the DVD with some excitement tonight and stuck it in the machine. Fingers crossed it won’t suck. (more…)
Interact!