Ringbelles Roundup (6 March 2012)
So, Jessicka Havok ascended to the top of Women Superstars Uncensored’s mountain on Saturday night by winning the promotion’s top championship from Mercedes Martinez at the 5th Anniversary Show, making her an undefeated Champion and putting an end to Martinez’ reign four days shy of the three year mark. In a match that was a wild brawl of a war more than a technical affair, it was unconventional, but successful. The pair fought all over the building and took some crazy bumps along the way – the Fisherman Buster from the apron through the table to the concrete floor being the height of the lunacy. No doubt, Havok was given the best springboard that she could possibly get for the start of her reign, and Martinez pulled out everything to give her that launch.
The ending was somewhat of a head-scratcher, with both going through a table from the top rope but Havok managing to get the pin, but I imagine the idea is that it shows just how evenly matched the two are and a draped arm was the only thing that could separate them. However, having a slightly more decisive match-ending move may have sweetened things slightly – though at this point I’m splitting hairs on what was a great main event, and also an early contender for Match of the Year.
Many have described the 5th Anniversary show their best iPPV to date. Having seen most of them, it would be hard to disagree with that. When it came to aesthetics, things went well – most of the direction was good, the cameramen were in the right place for most of the stuff (barring a couple of incidents, which I’ll get to) and the graphics and editing went well. As a TV product, it was the sharpest yet. And there was a boob toss. Nothing more to be said about it really, but I felt it just HAD to be mentioned. (more…)
Ringbelles Retro: Trish’s WrestleMania in-ring debut
Trish Stratus‘ first ever pay-per-view appearance was a WrestleMania back on April 2, 2000 – quite a high profile start for a woman who was brand new to wrestling. Her role wasn’t big – just standing there while her team of T&A (Test and Albert) defeated Head Cheese (Al Snow & Steve Blackman). The following year at WrestleMania X-Seven, she played a part in Vince McMahon getting his comeuppance against son Shane and getting revenge on daughter Stephanie in the process, as the Billion Dollar Princess had been lording it over the Canadian for the previous month.
On March 17, 2002 at WrestleMania X8, Trish made her WrestleMania in-ring debut in her hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the SkyDome in front of 68,237 fans (me included). Unfortunately, her three way match against Lita and Women’s Champion Jazz was given the slot of death on the show, and is largely forgotten as a result…
Trish had claimed her first Women’s Title back at Survivor Series the previous year when she won the vacant belt in a six-way challenge that also featured Jazz’s WWF debut. The two engaged in a feud, with their first high-profile match taking place at the 2002 Royal Rumble which Stratus won to retain the title, though she dropped the belt to the former ECW star on Raw on February 4. When Lita was added to the mix, the Divas match for WrestleMania X8 was set – however, its positioning after Hollywood Hulk Hogan v The Rock and Chris Jericho v Triple H for the WWF Undisputed Championship meant that the contest was showcased in front of a set of deflated fans who struggled to care, even though the girls tried hard. (more…)
Review: WSU – Best of 2011
A look back at the choice cuts of Women Superstars Uncensored from the promotion’s iPPVs and DVD releases.
Results
The Final Chapter (January 22)
Jessicka Havok pinned Nikki Roxx with an Air Raid Crash in an Uncensored Rules match
4 Year Anniversary (March 5)
Mercedes Martinez defeated Serena Deeb with a Fisherman Buster to retain the WSU Championship
4 Year Anniversary (March 5)
Alicia beat Jazz with a Yakuza Kick
J-Cup (April 2)
Brittney Savage defeated Sassy Stephie with an Ace Crusher to win the tournament
Uncensored Rumble IV (June 25)
Kristin Astara b Jillian Hall via DQ
Uncensored Rumble IV (June 25)
Jessicka Havok defeated Alicia in an Uncensored Rules match after Alicia’s mother threw in the towel
Uncensored Rumble IV (June 25)
Cindy Rogers made Allison Danger tap out to the TCB
Martinez v Lexxus (August 6)
Serena Deeb beat Annie Social with a spear
Great Championship Wrestling (September 24)
Jessicka Havok pinned Rain following an Air Raid Crash to win the Spirit Championship
Breaking Barriers 2 (November 19)
April Hunter made Jennifer Cruz with a head and arm submission hold
Breaking Barriers 2 (November 19)
Melina beat Lexxus with the Sunset Split
Highlights
• Serena Deeb‘s heel character is just superb. She’s an old-school rulebreaker, using cheap tactics, mouthing off to the fans and getting more and more annoyed as the match with Mercedes Martinez continues. At one point, she even yelled at her own hand after an attempt at an overhand chop didn’t elicit the loud slap that she had hoped for. Brilliant.
• The ending of Alicia v Jazz was abrupt, but so hard hitting that you never questioned the credibility of the ending. A straight knockout from a Yakuza Kick saw the veteran Jazz soundly defeated. She got on the mic after the match, made no excuses, said the better wrestler won and put over the fans.
• You can see how 2011 was Jessicka Havok‘s year in WSU. She is featured three times on the DVD, more than anyone else – and that includes WSU Champion Martinez, who is only featured once.
• Cindy Rogers went for it in her final match against Allison Danger, and it showed.
• Serena Deeb and Annie Social beat the piss out of each other. It took a while to get going, but when it did, goodness gracious.
Click after the jump for more thoughts. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (17 January 2012)
When I looked at the card for the Bull Nakano EMPRESS retirement show, I was surprised at what I saw. Not the card itself, which looked very appealing, but the order in which the matches would take place. Unlike American shows which have a card, but barring the main event, you probably won’t know the exact order of the matches. When it comes to Japan, the match listing is usually the order in which those contests would take place. Surprisingly, the singles match featuring veterans and legends Ayako Hamada and Aja Kong would OPEN the show, while the final match on the card would be between two women with comparatively little experience – one had just three years under her belt, while the other had debuted just 15 months ago.
Having said that, the match between Ice Ribbon’s ICEx60 and International Ribbon Tag Team Champion Hikaru Shida and Wonder Of Stardom and one half of the Goddesses Of Stardom Yuzuki Aikawa put forth a hell of a contest, and proved that they were worthy of headlining the card. Even more surprisingly, 28-year old Aikawa won the match in front of 3000 fans at the Tokyo Dome City Hall – though that could be indicative of the potential influence that she could have on joshi in the future…
Despite being trained in taekwondo for ten years, Aikawa made her living before becoming a wrestler as a bikini model and a singer in a girl group, selling picture books, DVDs and CDs, mostly down to her beauty and curvy figure. However, she packed it all in just over two years ago to make the transition to becoming a professional wrestler – funny, in the western world, it usually works the other way around. A year after making the switch, she debuted on October 31, 2010 as part of her own card which she produced, taking on Nanae Takahashi. You would imagine that considering that it was her own card, it was her first match and that she is a pretty woman, she would be eased into the situation by a veteran of the business.
No such luck. Takahashi defeated her, and as part of the deal, beat the shit out of her. (more…)
LuFisto vs Jazz set for Femmes Fatales VIII
At NCW‘s “Season Premiere 2012″ show in Montreal last night, the second part of a planned “triple main event” was announced for NCW Femmes Fatales VIII on March 10th – billed as an international dream match, it features the former NCW:FF International Champion LuFisto taking on the former WWE Women’s Champion, the female fighting phenom known as Jazz! They will join the already announced main event of Kalamity defending her FF championship against “The Latina Sensation” Mercedes Martinez and a talent list that will include Cheerleader Melissa, Kellie Skater, Sweet Cherrie, Portia Perez, Angie Skye and more. Serena Deeb is, at this time, still scheduled to appear – depending on her injury status. In addition, Ringbelles has learned that there will still be a few talent announcements to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
NCW:FF also announced this week that they’ve had a rethink on their ticketing prices for the show. Rather than the previous $30CAD tickets for ringside (which would include a meet & greet), *all* attendees now get to enter the pre-show meet & greet, and the price of tickets has actually dropped to $25 for ringside. GA tickets will be $20. Tickets are already on sale, and can be ordered via paypal directly from NCW. Payment details can be found here.
Ringbelles Retro: Trish sees off WWF, ushers in WWE
A couple of days ago, I realised that next year, World Wrestling Entertainment would have been in existence for a decade. On May 5, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation ceased to exist – except in backdated Tagged Classics from Silver Vision and historians who refuse to use revisionist history and still refer to anything before that point as the WWF (and I’m one of them) – and the following day, WWE thrust itself into the forefront, courtesy of a bunch of horrendous vignettes and the infamous – and still confusing – “Get The F Out” slogan which had an accidental secondary purpose of telling fans to bugger off. If you don’t know why the WWF name had to go, it’s because the company played chicken with the World Wildlife Fund, and lost.
Officially, the final WWF show was Insurrextion, an annual UK-only pay-per-view which trotted out second rate stars for the undercard, had decent main events and while observing current storylines, did nothing to forward or develop them. As such, they weren’t worth buying, and eventually, WWE stopped running them and chose to do tours and record Raw and SmackDown in the UK instead. However, even though Insurrextion was the final show presented under the WWF name, it wasn’t the final WWF TV show, as that honour went to Sunday Night Heat, which had its matches taped before the previous Monday’s Raw.
The final Heat was broadcast on May 5, and closed the show with a match between Trish Stratus and Molly Holly, who had turned heel on the April 1 episode of Raw by interfering in a Trish v Terri Runnels Bikini Paddle on a Pole match (oh, how I miss those days) and solidified her new status by levelling Terri with a brutal headshot that would never happen now.
Click after the jump to see that match, and also how the WWE era was also welcomed into existence. (more…)
ArenaChicks results from Gathering of the Juggalos
It was always going to be a pretty ambitious start, but it seems like it has paid off for Amber O’Neal’s ArenaChicks project.
Throw together the elements of a midnight start, the fact that it was on the first evening of the Gathering of the Juggalos festival at Cave-In-Rock, IL featuring tens of thousands of visitors, and that it was the first real card that the promotion has ever put together, and the makings were there for it to fall over. However, it appears that everything went according to plan, and the best part about is that we won’t have to pay to see it. (more…)
ArenaChicks announces Juggalos card
ArenaChicks promoter Amber O’Neal has revealed the card for the promotion’s first ever show, which is due to take place at midnight on Thursday August 11 as part of the Insane Clown Posse’s 4-day long Gathering of the Juggalos 2011 event at Cave-In-Rock, IL.
Throughout 2011, O’Neal has worked a number of the Juggalo Championship Wrestling shows, and has formed a strong working relationship with the ICP, which has led to her gaining a slot at a festival which pulls in an average of more than 100,000 fans every year.
Previously, the matches compiled for the debut volume of ArenaChicks were amalgamated from a number of different shows hosted by CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, based in Burlington, NC. This will be the first full-blown card put together by the promotion, with five matches announced for the twilight show, and it looks to be a strong lineup:
Amber O’Neal v Jessicka Havok
Sassy Stephie v Brittany Force v Allysin Kay
Angel Orsini v Josie (Sojo Bolt in TNA, and Lady JoJo in OVW)
Epiphany & Jenny Star v Taryn Shay & CJ Lane
Jazz v Izza Belle Smothers
Boston Shore win the WSU Tag Team Titles
In somewhat of an unexpected outcome, the Boston Shore are Women Superstars Uncensored’s new Tag Team Champions after defeating the Belle Saints at a Pro Wrestling Syndicate show in Elmhurst, NY last night.
According to reports, it wasn’t all sweetness and light on the side of the Saints, though things have been somewhat strained since the 4th Anniversary show, where Marti Belle substituted her injured tag team championship partner of Tina San Antonio – who was out with an injury – with Jazz, who went on to win the match, meaning the titles could be defended under Freebird rules. According to WSU’s Twitter strong words were said after the match.
This means that for WSU’s Uncensored Rumble iPPV on June 25 from Union City, NJ, it will now be the Shore’s Amber and Lexxus – who are still undefeated as a team – defending against the Saints. Can the Saints get on the same page for that night? Find out on iPPV, which you can preorder by clicking here.
Ringbelles Report: WSU Four Year Anniversary iPPV
Women Superstars Uncensored had promised much ahead of its Four Year Anniversary show. Jessicka Havok had promised to go through Rain’s Army to reach and defeat the leader herself; Sassy Stephie had made her intentions clear that she wanted the Spirit Championship and would do whatever it took to get it; Serena Deeb vowed to end the 2 year WSU World Title reign of Mercedes Martinez; and Alicia assured us she would cash in her title shot contract during the show and become a champion again. So who would succeed in their goals, and who (if anyone) would fall short? Let’s find out… (more…)
Interact!