In video: Sara Del Rey – the safest hand
It’s a big month for Sara Del Rey, starting tonight, when she challenge Kalamity for the nCw Femmes Fatales International Championship in Montreal as part of Femmes Fatales IX, and later this month, she faces Jazz in the main event of SHINE 1 in Ybor City, FL on July 20 – the confirmation of which you can see here. However, Del Rey looks like she is also being kept busy in her old stomping ground of Ring Of Honor, where she recently returned to confront the self-professed “First Lady of ROH”, Maria Kanellis.
There is a reason why she is so busy – it’s because she’s a safe and reliable hand, and can be trusted to deliver the goods, and is a world-class athlete to boot. When it comes to professional wrestling, there may be no other woman who embodies it more than her, and it’s because of her unshakeable reliability that she is sometimes taken for granted. Well, let’s remind ourselves just how reliable the Queen of Wrestling is with a nice little find on YouTube from December 2010 – a tag team match from iPPV… (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (3 July 2012)
Opportunities. Some have them, enjoy success and then they are lost; others don’t get them when they feel they’ve been patient, done all the right things and are continually overlooked. One WWE Diva has left the company due to a lack of chances, while one TNA Knockout has also departed after seeing herself slipping down the ladder after being the most decorated women on the roster.
The first one to leave was Maxine (Karlee Perez) who has spent the bulk of her WWE tenure in either Florida Championship Wrestling or on NXT, where she debuted as part of the all Diva season 3 run, or on NXT Redemption, which was the show that would never end. While I was never that impressed with her on season 3, her antics on Redemption involving the love triangle with Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman showed that she had some range as an entertainer. As a wrestler, she was really nothing to write home about, but she had potential as a manager or authority figure – like she was in FCW, before she was relieved of her duties. (more…)
SHINE Wrestling starts to reveal its roster
A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that a psuedo-SHIMMER off-shoot promotion would be setting up in Florida, run by former FIP promoter (and longtime SHIMMER DVD editor) Sal Hamaoui, as well as former SHIMMER stars Lexie Fyfe and Daffney, and would be shown on iPPV. Since then, we have been told that the promotion will be called SHINE Wrestling (which lends itself to the SHIMMER and SPARKLE format), with the shows taking place at the Orpheum in Ybor City, FL, with the first one taking place on Friday, July 20. However, earlier today, SHINE released its poster for the first show (entitled SHINE 1) which you can see to your right – and it features a combination of the familiar and not-so-familiar to SHIMMER fans.
The image features former SHIMMER Champion and current Tag Team Titleholder Sara Del Rey in the centre – understandable really, as it adds a sense of consistency with the SHIMMER roster, and she is a critical element of the promotion’s success, so it makes total sense to have her on board from the beginning. In addition, she is a safe pair of hands, is reliable, driven and is a source of inspiration to many other grapplers. (more…)
CHIKARA Aniversario results
CHIKARA celebrates ten years of promoting cards with its Aniversario weekend, featuring four stars from Japan’s Sendai Girls promotion, including its founder, Meiko Satomura.
Satomura was last in the US last December, but not in a wrestling capacity – she was due to be part of the JoshiMania three show weekend, but was forced to pull out due to injury, so appeared for the training sessions, but didn’t wrestle on the cards. It was a big shame, as she was due to wrestle Sara Del Rey, but that had to be shelved.
That is, until this weekend.
Del Rey and Satomura clashed on this afternoon’s show in New York, NY, but last night, six women competed on the first Anniversario night in Easton, PA, entitled “A Horse of Another Color”. Click the jump and we’ll furnish you with the results from both Easton and New York… (more…)
Review: AIW Girls Night Out 6 (15 April 2012)
Opportunity knocks for Mia Yim & Allysin Kay, promoted to the main event of Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Girls Night Out 6 in a match for the AIW Women’s Championship. Oh yes, and there’s that whole business of a broken nose to settle too.
Results
1. KC pinned Miss Heidi with a Rydeen Bomb
2. Hailey Hatred pinned Leva Bates with a Running Liger Bomb
3. Melanie Cruise pinned Taylor Made with an Argentine Backbreaker faceplant
4. Death Match: “Crazy” Mary Dobson pinned Trash Cassidy with a rollup
5. Cherry Bomb pinned Sassy Stephie with a BSE
6. Taeler Hendrix pinned Annie Social (w/ Sammy Geodollno) with a schoolgirl
7. Jennifer Blake pinned Kimber Lee with a pump-handle Michinoku Driver
8. Sara Del Rey beat Veda Scott via submission to a YES! Lock
9. Hailey Hatred pinned Jenny Rose with a Tiger Suplex
10. AIW Absolute Women’s Championship: Allysin Kay pinned Mia Yim with a back suplex in an unsanctioned, no rules grudge match to win the vacant AIW Absolute Women’s Championship. (more…)
Review: 2CW Girls’ Grand Prix (24 February 2012)
Eight wrestlers from the US and Canada compete at the American Legion Post 80 in Binghampton, New York for Squared Circle Wrestling‘s first ever Girls’ Grand Prix tournament.
Results
1. Girls Grand Prix Quarter Final: Portia Perez pinned Cherry Bomb with a tights-assisted rollup.
2. Girls Grand Prix Quarter Final: Rachel Summerlyn defeated Veda Scott with the Best Of Both Worlds (swinging neckbreaker).
3. Girls Grand Prix Quarter Final: Sara Del Rey made Allysin Kay tap out to a Cross Armbreaker.
4. Girls Grand Prix Quarter Final: Mercedes Martinez pinned Mia Yim with a Fisherman Buster.
5. Girls Grand Prix Semi Final: Rachel Summerlyn made Portia Perez give up to the Texas Cloverleaf.
6. Jay Freddie defeated Jason Axe, Eddie Edwards and Brodie Lee to retain the 2CW Heavyweight Championship. Freddie made Axe tap out with a Sharpshooter.
7. Girls Grand Prix Semi Final: Sara Del Rey beat Mercedes Martinez with a Royal Butterfly.
8. Kevin Graham, Punisher Van Slyke & ZS3 beat Loca Vida, Steve McKenzie & Kage. Graham pinned Kage with a sunset flip.
9. Carlito pinned Sean Carr with a roll up.
10. Girls Grand Prix Final: Rachel Summerlyn defeated Sara Del Rey via submission with a Texas Cloverleaf.
Facts
• This was 2CW’s first attempt at running a show with the primary focus on the women. The promotion had held two Grand Prix tournaments for men in the past.
• The run-up to the show was somewhat of a shaky one. Half of the announced women in the tournament were unable to attend for various reasons, meaning that Serena Deeb, Courtney Rush, Nikki Roxx and Alexxis Nevaeh all missed the show – they were replaced by Scott, Yim, Kay and Martinez.
• Del Rey and Martinez squared off in a the semi-finals, rekindling their series of matches which helped put SHIMMER on the map in the promotion’s early days.
• Speaking of Martinez, this was her first high-profile show since suffering a concussion the previous November. She spoke about it during the Christmas episode of the Women Of Wrestling Podcast.
• Rachel Summerlyn added to the ACW American Joshi Queen of Queens honour that she won last June by taking the first ever Girls Grand Prix trophy. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (1 May 2012)
WWE tops the list of topics this week.
Layla returned from a year away from the ring at Extreme Rules on Sunday as the mystery opponent against then-Divas Champion Nikki Bella, and won the title in a short yet spirited match that was more of a device to get the title off the Bellas before their departure (which we will get to later). After suffering a double tear of the MCL and ACL in her left knee, you could forgive the 33-year old Brit for deciding to calling it a day and moving on with her life, as the rehab process to get back into ring shape is a lot more intensive than just recuperating to the point where you could live a normal life.
It is to be commended that she sucked it up and got back in the ring, especially since she is pegged as a Diva Search winner, and could be perceived as only seeing wrestling as a job, or something to do until the next big offer comes along. However, she went through the surgery, the pain, the impatience, the frustration and the physical testing that was necessary to return to WWE. In her post match interview on WWE.com, she described about how she had to learn to walk, to run and to jump, and she started welling up. Any doubt on whether she is in the for the right reasons should be kicked out of the window now – Layla is a wrestler, not a model pretending to fight. As a stone-hearted journalist, I felt for the woman, and I am happy that she is back doing what she enjoys.
I am also happy that she is back for personal reasons, as I was starting to enjoy watching Layla wrestle when she was struck down with a bad wheel. Sure, she wasn’t Sara Del Rey, but she was reaching the top of the pile when it came to Divas – and I concede, that is hardly high praise, but she was plugging away, and it was producing results. Plus, she was hanging with Michelle McCool, who was one of the most technically proficient female wrestlers WWE had at the time, even though I found her slightly cold in the ring and never really enjoyed her work. Being in the right place with the right people played into the former cheerleader’s favour – as did her dance background, as I am now a firm believer that if you want to turn non-wrestling women into wrestlers, go for dancers and gymnasts over models, as they are more open to pain, hard work and dedication, while models know how to stand there and look good, which doesn’t translate to the ring.
You could see fire and desire in Layla on Sunday – running all over the place, executing dropkicks and springboard flying bodypresses – and it was exciting, and it’s not often you can say that about Divas matches recently. Even Beth Phoenix, possibly the best wrestler in the Divas division, is hardly a thrill to watch these days, though it could be argued that some of that may be down to what she is working with. Either way, I had fun watching Layla defeat Nikki Bella on Sunday, and taking both Bellas out on Monday’s Raw, even though the match consisted of one dropkick and a schoolboy roll-up. It felt like wrestling, not a bunch of pre-arranged, mechanical moves, and Layla should be praised for that. It is also something that people like Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox should look at. Intensity is not screaming on cue. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (24 April 2012)
Nikki Bella won the WWE Divas Championship on Raw last night. There are a couple of issues that stem from this, so let’s deal with the Bella situation first.
First off, this title change has been on the cards for weeks, so it wasn’t a kneejerk reaction to the “twist” in the match. However, according to previous reports, the Bella Twins’ contract expires on Monday, and unless they have signed a contract extension – which we don’t believe has happened – they are set to go. Putting the Divas strap on Nikki is a curious choice, as it has to be a short reign – don’t be fooled, she won’t be taking the belt away with her like CM Punk did with the WWE Championship last June after winning it at Money in the Bank – so there are only three shows where she could conceivably drop it – SmackDown, Extreme Rules on Sunday, or the Raw the following day. Realistically, option 2 is the most likely, meaning a six day reign, and there is a prime candidate for winning the title, probably in some sort of open challenge…
I really hope that in one year, when I come back, you two will still be here.
That’s the parting words Kharma gave to the Bella Twins last May before taking a sabbatical following the announcement of her pregnancy. As has been reported, things tragically didn’t work out with that, but it seems that she is ready to get back onto the scene after being interviewed for a TV news piece about GLOW while she was at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas last week (more on GLOW later). Besides, if she wants to make good on her threat to destroy the Bellas, she has a window of a mere few days to get the job done, and the cherry on top would be taking the Divas Championship in the process. (more…)
GLOW Revival “Dead On Arrival” due to shady promoter; several girls not paid
We’ve been on a bit of a GLOW kick here at Ringbelles for the last week or so. Having talked to the utterly charming and intelligent Angelina Altishin (GLOW’s Little Egypt) for the most recent edition of the Women of Wrestling Podcast, we’ve been keeping an eye on goings-on at Cauliflower Alley’s 2012 Reunion, where Lisa Moretti (aka GLOW’s Tina Ferrari and WWE’s Ivory) was honoured, Angelina presented two seminars to atendees, and several GLOW originals made special appearances. Even WWE’s Kharma was spotted on local news, putting over the original GLOW product. However, one thing we haven’t mentioned (other than in passing in this week’s Roundup) was that running opposite Cauliflower Alley, across town in Henderson, NV – there was an attempt to revive the product with a GLOW-branded show billed as “A Night of Fan Appreciation”. There had even been talk that this would herald a GLOW “Season 5″ as a TV product.
It seemed a bizarre day to try and launch a revival, given that anybody in the Las Vegas area with any interest in wrestling would almost certainly be going to Cauliflower Alley – not to mention that with a large number of GLOW originals already committed to be at Cauliflower Alley, even those who were hardcore GLOW fans (if such a thing still exists in 2012) would have had a difficult decision to make. The day after, the best we could cobble together was a partial talent list and a partial set of results – and it became clear that the revival wasn’t exactly a success. We first heard of a crowd of possibly 50 (and that was taking into account local trainees). We’ve even heard an estimate considerably lower than that. That, unfortunately, was only the tip of the iceberg, as we’ve since heard various shady stories regarding promoter Eric Rolphe Nyenhuis. Click through to after the jump for the full story. (more…)
Mercedes v LuFisto at Femmes Fatales IX, plus more
nCw Femmes Fatales IX on July 7 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada is taking shape.
As well as Kalamity defending the International Championship against Sara Del Rey and the Canadian Ninjas taking on Sweet Cherrie and a partner of her choosing, the promotion has announced that LuFisto will take on Mercedes Martinez in a match which has its roots set in the closing moments of Femmes Fatales VIII.
After failing to win the International Title from Kalamity, Martinez turned heel and attacked the Champion with a chair, but was stopped by LuFisto, and the pair tore strips out of each other both in the ring and at ringside. It seemed inevitable that this match was going to happen, and now it is official.
Considering their high profiles and being on the same rosters in a number of promotions, this is the first match between the two since SHIMMER Volume 7 back on October 22, 2006. Seriously – these two haven’t faced each other in a big-time situation for close to SIX YEARS.
However, that’s not the only announcement made today. Click after the jump and we will reveal the rest… (more…)
Allysin Kay becomes Champion at Girls Night Out 6
Against a backdrop of reported financial problems (spawning the twitter hashtag of #saveaiw), Ohio’s Absolute Intense Wrestling presented the sixth edition of their popular “Girls Night Out” series from Turners Hall, Cleveland, OH. You can get yourself up to date on what’s going on with AIW’s women’s division with website reviews of Girls Night Out 4 & 5, our exclusive Women of Wrestling Podcast with former AIW Women’s Champion Mickie Knuckles and our recent Fight Like A Girl audio show with debutante Taeler Hendrix.
Main-evented by Allysin Kay and Mia Yim, their rematch stemmed from GNO5′s nose-breaking incident which resulted in an unsanctioned no-rules grudge match for the currently vacant AIW Absolute Women’s Championship – a title held most recently by Knuckles. Click through to after the cut the results, collated courtesy of David Muscarella… (more…)
Review: AIW Girls Night Out 5 (29 January 2012)
On the eve of Absolute Intense Wrestling’s sixth edition of Girls Night Out, we cast our review net back a couple of months to the night the Mia Yim vs Allysin Kay rivalry (much like Kay’s nose…) exploded.
Results
1. Marti Belle bt Mia Yim via pinfall (Double Underhook Facebuster)
2. KC bt Lucious Latasha via submission (Cattle Mutilation)
3. Crazy Mary Dobson bt Miss Heidi via pinfall (Moonsault)
4. Gabby Gilbert bt Angel Dust via submission (Crossface)
5. Veda Scott bt Kimber Lee via pinfall (DDT)
6. Mia Yim bt Allysin Kay via pinfall (Corkscrew Moonsault) — Yim becomes #1 contender to AIW Women’s Championship
7. AIW Women’s Championship: Mickie Knuckles (c) bt Sara Del Rey via pinfall (Pump-Handle Powerbomb)
Facts
• Before the show there’s a three match “Guys Night Out” undercard with three matches.
• Cherry Bomb didn’t make it across the border for the show (she was originally scheduled to be taking on Allysin Kay), meaning Mia Yim pulled double duty. This was worked into storyline with the implication that Kay had “called the border” to rat out Cherry Bomb.
• Yim was accompanied by AIW’s “Flexor Industries” – at least for the first match. After losing to Marti Belle, Yim was slapped by fellow Flexor Industries member Allysin Kay, setting up a match between the two in the semi main event spot.
• Who is Luscious Latasha? Check out Lee’s “My Name Is” interview with her on this very site.
• Crazy Mary Dobson is a Mad Man Pondo product. Never seen her before, nor Miss Heidi. More on those two below.
• Gabby Gilbert (as in the newly renamed Roxie Cotton) “debuted” on Girls Night Out 4, turning on Portia Perez. No Perez on this show for revenge, sadly.
• The Mia Yim vs Allysin Kay match featured the now infamous nose breaking incident, when Yim broke Kay’s nose with a kick outside the ring.
• This was the first meeting between Mickie Knuckles & Sara Del Rey since the match in which Mickie broke her leg in 2008 in IWA-MS, which ultimately cost Knuckles her TNA deal. (more…)
In Video: A match to mark Allison Danger’s birthday
It’s Allison Danger‘s birthday today, and to celebrate, she’s going to be getting into the ring. She will be taking on her friend and recent SHIMMER debutante NY Knockout Nikki at Adrenaline Unleashed in Las Vegas, NV, with Nikki’s Women’s Championship on the line as part of the Extreme Thing 2012 card – which also features a second women’s match between Liz Sassi and Davina Rose.
To whet the appetite a bit, and also offer a throwback to days of yore, today’s match sees a reunion of the Dangerous Angels – Danger and Sara Del Rey – whose paths went in different directions in 2008 after Del Rey turned heel in SHIMMER. However, they have teamed up sporadically since then in promotions where both of them sit on similar sides of the track. One such occasion was in CWF Mid-Atlantic last year, where both were heels and saw them being berated by a woman in the audience as they left, with the pair of them looking on, nonplussed. However, this match is from Dungeon Championship Wrestling from October 15, when Danger and Del Rey wrestled Nikki and Morgan, collectively known as Bump N’ Grind, with some less-than-impartial refereeing from Thunderkitty.
Click after the jump to see the match in its entirety. (more…)
Kalamity to face biggest challenge to date at Femmes Fatales IX
Coming off the back of a successful show at Femmes Fatales VIII earlier this month (which was declared by all as the “best FF event to date”), our friends in Montreal are turning their attention to the next show already. To be held on July 7th at the Centre St-Barthelemy, Femmes Fatales IX will feature a main event of Kalamity defending her Championnat International Femmes Fatales against an unexpected rival. Click play on the video (which aired on Saturday at NCW’s “Crime Scene”) to see who came face to face with Kalamity at SHIMMER just over a week ago.
Click through for more on Femmes Fatales IX (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (20 March 2012)
Almost five years ago, Sweet Saraya was injured in a match against Cheerleader Melissa where her kneecap was severed – an injury so bad that not only was she told she may never wrestle again, but she may lose her leg. Showing the same sort of guile and determination that saw her endure brutal attacks while as a valet, and become clinically blind, she returned to the ring four months later – probably earlier than she should have, but nobody is going to stop Saraya when she sets her mind on something.
Saraya and Melissa didn’t share a building again until a year ago when the British veteran debuted in SHIMMER alongside her daughter Britani. The fact that she even made it to the promotion in the first place was a big unlikelihood, as she believed her time for wrestling in the US had passed, and in her own mind, was only tagging along as part of a showcase for her 18-year old offspring, who was well on the radar of WWE at the time – she’s now signed, as has been renamed Paige, making her FCW TV in-ring debut last week – but something happened. Instead of being in the background, Saraya ended up right in the spotlight due to her surly demeanour, violent tendencies and venom-filled promos – so much so that when Britani turned babyface and they wrestled on SHIMMER Volume 44 last October, the pair brutalised each other with Britani getting the win, and the wicked witch was vanquished. Some thought that would also be the last we would see of the red-haired menace in SHIMMER.
They were wrong. (more…)
SHIMMER volumes 47 & 48 results – title changes (now updated with live observations)
It’s day two of the SHIMMER tapings in Berwyn, IL (you can find out the results, thoughts and photos from yesterday’s DVD tapings by clicking here), and a number of matches have been announced.
After defeating both Canadian Ninjas in singles matches yesterday, Cheerleader Melissa defends her SHIMMER Championship against Jessie McKay, aware that Sweet Saraya has apparently put a bounty on her head.
Elsewhere, the Tag Team Championship will be on the line as holders Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kurihara defend against high-fliers Ray and Leon in an all-joshi affair, Mercedes Martinez takes on Hailey Hatred, and the unlikely team of Sara Del Rey and Courtney Rush will meet ReGeneration X – Allison Danger & Leva Bates.
As with yesterday, we will be adding the results to this post as they happen, and Stew will offer his thoughts from ringside later. Click after the jump and keep hitting refresh to follow the goings-on. (more…)
SHIMMER volumes 45 & 46 results (now updated with live observations)
We’ve had WSU; we’ve had Femmes Fatales, and now it’s the turn of SHIMMER as part of wrestling’s March Madness.
Cheerleader Melissa walks into these four DVD tapings as the SHIMMER Champion, while Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada hold the Tag Team Championship. Although no matches have been announced, we offered some thoughts about what could happen, but they are just musings and nothing more. We will all find out together how things will unfold.
Stew is in Berwyn, IL watching the shows live, and will offer up thoughts on the tapings later on. For now, we will bring you results as they happen, so keep refreshing the page to keep up with all the developments.
Click after the jump to dive in. It’s going to be a busy one. (more…)
DVD Review: SHIMMER volume 39 (27 March 2011)
Cheerleader Melissa continues her quest towards Madison Eagles‘ SHIMMER Championship, while Jessie McKay and Nicole Matthews settle their feud in a best of three falls match.
Results
1. Kellie Skater defeated Courtney Rush with a Skate And Destroy.
2. LuFisto beat Sassy Stephie with the Mangalizer.
3. Rachel Summerlyn made Mena Libra tap out to the Texas Cloverleaf.
4. 3S (Hiroyo Matsumoto & Misaki Ohata) beat Pretty Bitchin’ (Nikki Roxx & Ariel) to retain the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship – Matsumoto pinned Roxx following an Exploder Suplex.
5. Mercedes Martinez pinned Britani Knight with a Fisherman Buster.
6. Daizee Haze & Tomoka Nakagawa defeated Mia Yim & Jamilia Craft. Nakagawa pinned Yim with a Fisherman Suplex.
7. Jessica James pinned Athena after hitting the Hard Boiled Egg.
8. MsChif beat Sweet Saraya with a Desecrator.
9. Serena Deeb defeated Portia Perez via DQ when Perez hit Deeb with a cookie sheet.
10. Nicole Matthews beat Jessie McKay in a best of three falls match. Matthews took the first fall with a tights-assisted O’Connor Roll, McKay equalised with multiple Schoolgirl Crushes, and Matthews scored the third fall with the Vancouver Maneuver.
11. Cheerleader Melissa & Ayako Hamada beat Madison Eagles & Sara Del Rey when Hamada rolled up Eagles for the pin.
Highlights
• 3S continue their run as SHIMMER Tag Team Champions and establish themselves as the most over team in the promotion’s history with a second successful title defence over Pretty Bitchin’.
• Both Sweet Saraya and daughter Britani Knight are defeated by SHIMMER originals, MsChif and Mercedes Martinez respectively. The former sees the Knight’s manager Rebecca Knox get involved in the match but gets her comeuppance when a Saraya basement dropkick goes awry.
• Haze and Nakagawa earn a SHIMMER Tag Team Title shot by remaining undefeated, beating Mia Yim & Jamilia Craft.
• The Serena Deeb/Portia Perez feud that began following Deeb’s return to the promotion after her release from WWE the previous year continues and starts to involve weapons.
• Nicole Matthews and Jessie McKay put their on-off feud to bed after their best of three falls match after trading victories in singles and tag matches.
• Ayako Hamada pins Madison Eagles to earn a shot at the SHIMMER Championship, much to the chagrin of Cheerleader Melissa, who wanted to get the pin to earn the shot for herself. (more…)
2CW Girls Grand Prix – Live Results
Tonight at the American Legion Post 80 in Binghampton, New York, Squared Circle Wrestling (2CW) are presenting the Girls Grand Prix – an eight woman, one night tournament featuring an intriguing mix of established indy stars and up and comers. Despite losing half of the originally announced competitors (Nikki Roxx, Courtney Rush, Lexxus and Serena Deeb have all at one point been booked on the show), we’ve still got an eight woman, one night tournament featuring 2CW regulars like Sara Del Rey & Portia Perez, mixed with a potent mix of talents including Mia Yim and Allysin Kay (following their nose-breaking endeavours at AIW’s Girls Night Out 5), ACW‘s Rachel Summerlyn making an irregular East Coast appearance, Mercedes Martinez having her biggest profile match (or matches) since her concussion issues and recent co-Podcast guests Cherry Bomb & Veda Scott.
Click after the jump for relevant live results from the show via our correspondant David Muscarella. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (31 January 2012)
So, Kharma’s back.
After all the speculation about when she would give birth after going through a high-risk pregnancy, as well as whether she would choose to leave WWE and concentrate on being a full-time mother, we saw the return of the biggest and most physical woman in the Divas division in the 2012 Royal Rumble match, entering as a surprise at number 21, causing Michael Cole to scamper with fear, then attacking Dolph Ziggler, eliminating Hunico, and being eliminated by Ziggler himself. Sure, it was short, but it was enough to whet the appetite of fans – and let’s face it, what more would you expect from a woman who gave birth less than a month ago?
TMZ reports that Kharma delivered a baby boy on December 31, who has been named Jamie. Four weeks later, she’s putting back on the leather and stepping foot in a WWE ring to reprise the role which was put on hold on May 30 when she announced she was pregnant on Raw, a week after crumbling in the ring in tears. When she left, she was a heel with a heart, as people empathised with her desire to be a Diva and a mother – and she achieved both at the same time – and was then verbally attacked by the Bellas, before promising to get at them when she returned. Throw on top of that the fact that everyone she had a physical interaction with at the Rumble was a heel, and must was now assume that Kharma is a babyface? If also you consider that the current titleholder Beth Phoenix is the top heel who has been steamrollering the rest of the division and Kharma will inevitably be gunning for the belt, that must also position her as the fan favourite, right? (more…)
Mickie Knuckles retains at Girls Night Out 5
Three and a half years after breaking her leg in a match in IWA: Mid South, Mickie Knuckles put that unfinished chapter in her life to bed by defeating her opponent in that match, Sara Del Rey, tonight at Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Girls Night Out 5, successfully retaining her AIW Women’s Championship in the process.
The broken leg was brought up in the match as Del Rey attacked the champion with kicks, before turning her attention to Knuckles’ arm in order to break that. However, Mickie fought back, avoided Sara’s third Capo Kick and nailed the challenger with a powerbomb to get the winning pinfall. The win is another feather in the cap of Knuckles, who is enjoying a renaissance in her career since leaving IWA:MS, spreading her wings and gaining new plaudits and accolades in wrestling promotions all over the US.
Elsewhere on the card, despite losing the opening match on the card to Marti Belle, Mia Yim became the number one contender to the championship by beating and bloodying Allysin Kay (Cherry Bomb didn’t make it to the show), rookie Veda Scott (who has just a year of ring time under her houndstooth belt) continued to impress fans, and Gabby Gilbert followed up her sneak attack on Portia Perez at GNO4 by using underhanded tactics again to defeat former champion Angel Dust.
Thanks to David Muscarella for the results, which you can read by clicking after the jump, as well as taking a look at what Allysin Kay looked like after her match: (more…)
AIW interviews Mickie Knuckles
It’s been a massive turnaround of fortune for Mickie Knuckles over the last few years. After being on the verge of stardom in TNA‘s Knockouts division in 2008, the former IWA: Mid-South Women’s Champion and Queen of the Death Match suffered a devastating injury, snapping her femur during a match against Sara Del Rey. Surgery followed, and later a breaking of ties from Ian Rotten‘s IWA: MS Promotion. Following that, Knuckles began a path of reinvention, turning herself into the comeback kid in the process.
She started expanding her horizons, taking bookings all across the US, and changing people’s opinions of her. Knuckles had been pigeonholed as a garbage wrestler – someone who could only do death matches and had no discernible wrestling ability, though a look at her early days when she was wrestling the likes of Daizee Haze and MsChif would disprove that – and was now proving that she was as good or better than her opponent across the ring. Team that up with a second character – the feisty Izza Belle Smothers – and you have a versatile grappler who is marketable because of her ability, her character and her look.
Currently the Absolute Intense Wrestling Women’s Champion, Mickie sat down for an interview with the promotion before her title defence against Mia Yim with Gail Kim as the ref in late November last year. She briefly discusses her training, snapping her leg, the alteration of the Mickie Knuckles character, the match against Mena Libra where Libra broke her foot in three places, taking on Hailey Hatred and her desire to wrestle Del Rey again. On that last front, Knuckles will get her wish on January 29 at Girls Night Out 5 in Cleveland, as Knuckles will defend the AIW Women’s Title against the Queen Of Wrestling. Click after the jump to see the video, as well as the other matches signed for Girls Night Out… (more…)
DVD review: JoshiMania
I sit here, having watched 21 matches as part of the three JoshiMania events which took place at the start of December 2011. As I watched the three DVDs, I jotted down notes of the big moments and key incidents in the matches. I now have EIGHT pages of bullet points to go through, and one thing because blatantly obvious: doing a match-by-match review of JoshiMania would be incredibly laborious, repetitive and dull for you, the good reader.
So instead of going through JoshiMania chronologically, what this review will be about is the best matches, the standout stars and moments, and which shows were the best if you absolutely, positively can only by just the one DVD…
The shows had a bumpy road leading up to the first event in Philadelphia on December 2. Meiko Satomura, Madison Eagles and Command Bolshoi all had to pull out due to injury, leading to replacements such as Ayako Hamada, Kaori Yoneyama, GAMI and Portia Perez and a fair bit of rewriting to the matches, as the trio who didn’t make it would likely have been part of the matches at the higher end of the card. Hamada was the biggest beneficiary, as she ended up in two of the three main events (against Aja Kong on night 2, and taking on Sara Del Rey on the final show).
However, nothing can take away from the huge amount of organisation that took place to bring JoshiMania to fruition. As Mike Quackenbush revealed to us on the Women Of Wrestling Podcast the week before the shows, the introduction of Manami Toyota to CHIKARA came about thanks to retired Jumping Bomb Angel Itsuki Yamazaki. From there, it was thanks in part to Toyota’s reputation and contacts that facilitated stars from across Japan to come together for the shows, effectively closing down the joshi scene while tars from promotions like JWP, WAVE, OZ Academy, Union Pro and more came together for a series of interpromotional contests. Indeed, a lot of potential issues were circumnavigated and resolved to come to the point that these shows even took place. So how were they? Well, let’s see… (more…)
Girls Grand Prix: opening matches announced
Two weeks ago, we reported about Squared Circle Wrestling setting up a new tournament called Girls Grand Prix, to be held in Binghamton, NY on February 24. At the time, the names which had been announced were Rachel Summerlyn, Sara Del Rey, Portia Perez and Serena Deeb (should she be fit to wrestle following her concussion). Today, 2CW has announced the other four participants in the tourney, as well as the opening round matches.
Joining the announced quartet will be former World Women’s Wrestling Champions Nikki Roxx and Alexxis Nevaeh (AKA Lexxus in Women Superstars Uncensored), as well as Canadians (and potential smash hits for 2012) Cherry Bomb and Courtney Rush. Having the experience and East Coast history of Roxx and Navaeh as well as the youth and added international flavour of Rush and Cherry Bomb (to go with fellow Canuck Perez) makes for an interesting dynamic. It could have been the same local faces for the most part, but those additions mean that it has a unique edge to it all. (more…)
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