WOW Podcast #30 with Serena Deeb
Episode 30 with Serena Deeb
It’s a more than welcome return to the Women of Wrestling Podcast for “The Nicest Woman In Wrestling” Serena Deeb – and a timely one too, given her recent serious concussion. Want the full story on what happened and the up-to-date news on her health? She’s got it. There’s loads more to talk about too, such as the match she was supposed to be having at WSU later this month with Melina, and her thoughts on Melina as a performer and exactly where she stands in her career at this point. We talk Serena’s regular trips to Japan in 2011 for SMASH, and discuss the younger talents like Amanda Fox and Davina Rose who are trying to walk in Serena’s footsteps. We talk her incredible intensity in the ring, the possibility of returning to WWE and who Serena sees as the absolute best in the business right now. We also discuss the “World Famous” Kana, who made her US debut last month. As usual, an uplifting chat with the Deebious One. What a feeling!
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SHIMMER announces next tapings, plus video
It’s less than a month since the SHIMMER volume 41-44 DVD tapings wrapped, but promoter Dave Prazak has already announced the dates for the volumes 45-48 tapings.
It will take place on March 17-18, 2012 – the week after nCw Femmes Fatales VIII in Montreal (featuring the Femmes Fatales debuts of Serena Deeb and Jazz) and just a few days before the provisionally-booked Pro Wrestling: EVE v Ice Ribbon 2 event, which has been pencilled in for Korukuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan on March 20, though nothing is official with that yet.
Coupled with the Women Superstars Uncensored 5th Anniversary Show on March 3, it’s expected to be a busy March for women’s wrestling fans – very similar to March of this year, which had WSU’s 4th Anniversary show, SHIMMER, Pro Wrestling SUN and the exhibition matches at the Ring Of Honor shows.
Click after the jump for a sneak peek at footage from the most recent tapings… (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (25 October 2011)
It’s been a broken biscuits sort of week – in that there is a lot of little things that have been going on – so instead of a big piece about one topic, this week I’m going to channel the energy of Stephen Colbert and utilise the Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger gimmick from The Colbert Report to pass some musings on some of the week’s stories.
First off, a Tip of the Hat to Eve Torres, who, along with her opponent Beth Phoenix, staged the best Divas match in years at WWE Vengeance on Sunday. Beth had pulled off some minor miracles with Kelly Kelly on the three previous pay-per-views, but none of them were as good as this match. It went to show that Eve has something to her and can hold up her end of the bargain when the bell rings. Admittedly, the crowd in San Antonio, TX didn’t care enough to make much noise during the match, but they did pop for the false finish of Eve countering the Glam Slam attempt and nearly winning the title with a schoolboy roll-up.
On the flip side though, a Wag of the Finger to WWE, who may have something with Eve, but haven’t given her a chance to develop any sort of character. Why should I give a flying fornication about her when I don’t know anything about her? In fact, she has gone from being unnoticed to being a shadow of Kelly’s, when it is patently obvious that she smokes Kelly in the ring. Who cares that Kelly goes into “Beast Mode” from time to time – it still feels phoney. Kelly has had a chance to develop more of a character this year and hasn’t accomplished it. The time has come for WWE to put some time and effort into Eve to make her more of a credible challenger to Beth, as those two could put on some more great matches in the weeks and months to come. (more…)
Serena Deeb withdrawn from WSU iPPV
It’s a week of disappointment for Serena Deeb. After being diagnosed with a concussion earlier this week and having to cancel her debut with CHIKARA this upcoming Saturday, the news has come out that she will not be competing at Women Superstars Uncensored’s Breaking Barriers 2 iPPV on November 19 against fellow former WWE Diva Melina.
On its Twitter, WSU announced:
Breaking news: @SerenaDeeb will not be able to wrestle on 11/19, but she will be in the building to address the fans.
It seems that the promotion is taking steps of its own accord and not waiting for the results of an MRI which Serena will be undergoing on Friday. With it being touch and go as to whether she will be cleared, it appears that WSU is making the decision to pull her from the show rather than let it get closer to the date before finding a suitable replacement, or allowing 25-year old Deeb to put herself at further risk. Either way, that sort of responsibility should be commended.
As before, we at Ringbelles wish Serena all the best with her recovery.
UPDATE: As for a replacement, WSU Commissioner Amy Lee has said that she will name Melina’s opponent in the ring at the show itself. That’s a big risk, as it means that Melina alone has to draw a match against an unnamed opponent. It could be someone as good as Serena, or it could be a disappointment. It looks like you’ll have to decide to by the show for yourself to find out.
UPDATE 2: Serena’s sent a video to WSU, which has been uploaded to YouTube. Here it is for you:
Serena Deeb suffers concussion; debut CHIKARA match scrapped
Serena Deeb has been forced to pull out of her debut match in CHIKARA against Sara Del Rey at No Safety In Numbers show in Reading, PA after being diagnosed with a “rather serious” concussion. On her Twitter, the former WWE Diva informed us of her situation:
A message to all my supporters- I recently sustained a rather serious concussion and following my doctors instructions, will not wrestle for a period of time. I apologize to those who were looking forward to seeing me anytime in the near future. I will keep you all posted
Since then, it’s been revealed that the 25-year old SHIMMER mainstay will undergo an MRI next Friday to determine the severity of the injury and whether it will cause her to have to pull out of more bookings. She is scheduled to wrestle Melina on November 19 at Women Superstars Uncensored‘s Breaking Barriers 2 iPPV, in what will be Melina’s first match since being released from WWE back in August. The promotion is already coming up with suitable replacements if Serena is still not medically cleared to return to the ring. (more…)
Ringbelles Retro: Was Wrestlicious really so terrible?
Wrestlicious had silly gimmicks, a hokey crowd, poor comedy interludes and the cheesiest commentary known to man.
On the flip side, you could say that it had pronounced and easy-to-recognise characters, an enthusiastic audience, was bright and vibrant, and gave female wrestlers another forum to gain exposure, wrestling matches that were often longer than anything you would see in WWE or TNA. In fact, on some occasions, the best women’s wrestling you would see every week would be on Wrestlicious, and that’s not a backhanded compliment either – the Wrestlicious Crown match between Felony (AKA Rain) and Glory (Christie Ricci) on the May 24, 2010 episode was easily the best women’s match of that week. So the question springs to mind – with things so inconsistent when it comes to the Knockouts and Divas and the standard rapidly dropping – especially so in WWE – did we really give Wrestlicious a fair crack of the whip?
Now, I’m not going to sit here and say everything was perfect – the “comedy” was pretty lame and the matches involving the models trained up to be wrestlers were poor, but when grapplers like Mercedes Martinez, Amber O’Neal, Nevaeh and others were given TV time, the results weren’t bad at all. Granted, it wasn’t up to the level of what you may see in WSU or SHIMMER, but it wasn’t offensive either. It set out to be a bit of bubblegum wrestling, and I reckon it achieved that. (more…)
SHIMMER Volumes 43 & 44 results and thoughts
Day Two of SHIMMER is in the history books, and now that the smoke has cleared from the shimnanigan-filled afterparty, it’s time to go back and review an absolutely amazing day of action. In my opinion, Day Two (encompassing Vols 43 & 44) was a stronger day of tapings than Day One, featuring many great matches and topped off with a history making Vol 44.
In male pre-show action, the team of Knight Wagner, Jordan McIntyre and the indiest man alive (a wrestler I failed to identify, but who wore the indytastic combination of a mask, t-shirt and pleather pants) defeated Team CLASH. After that, SPARKLE action saw Jett Riley & Kimberley Maddox beat December & Buggy Nova, while KC Spinelli pinned Su Yung with a hard powerslam.
Volume 43
1. LuFisto pinned Maja Svensson with the Mangalizer.
2. ReGeneration X (Allison Danger & Leva Bates) beat Sassy Stephie & Nevaeh after a Sonic Screwdriver on Stephie.
3. Nicole Matthews pinned Davina Rose with a Roll Of The Dice.
4. Hiroyo Matsumoto defeated Kellie Skater with a side suplex.
5. Saraya Knight pinned Ariel after a Sunset Flip Powerbomb.
6. Courtney Rush pinned Nikki Roxx following an Angle Slam.
7. Yumi Ohka pinned Mia Yim with a bridging Tiger Suplex.
8. MsChif pinned Tomoka Nakagawa after a Desecrator.
9. Mercedes Martinez & Athena went to a double countout. After the match, Athena wanted to restart, but Martinez walked off.
10. Jessie McKay pinned Britani Knight following a Boyfriend Stealer. Afterwards, Saraya Knight came out and berated Britani for letting down the Knight family name, and disowned her – suggesting she could put out a want ad and find a better daughter than Britani. Britani eventually snapped and the two brawled in a breathtaking extended pull-apart brawl. Britani vows to leave, but wants one match with her mother on Vol 44 to settle it all.
11. Serena Deeb pinned Portia Perez in an amazing no holds barred match, after spearing Perez off a table the two were standing on at the time.
12. Cheerleader Melissa defeated Kana after an Air Raid Crash. Post match, ring announcer Joey Eastman revealed that the win made Melissa the new top contender for Madison Eagles’ SHIMMER Championship.
13. SHIMMER Tag Team Titles: Ayako Hamada & Ayumi Kurihara (c) defeated Madison Eagles & Sara Del Rey to retain their titles after Hamada pinned Del Rey with an AP Cross.
Volume 44
1. Kellie Skater pinned Davina Rose after a Skate or Die.
2. Taylor Made pinned Veda Scott with a neckbreaker.
3. Kalamity pinned Tomoka Nakagawa with a Kalamity Driver.
4. Sassy Stephie & Neveah beat Ashley Lane & Mia Yim with a Kiss My Sass from Stephie on Yim. Former partners Nevaeh & Ashley Lane had already brawled to the back.
5. Serena Deeb pinned Yumi Ohka with a Spear.
6. ReGeneration X, Christina Von Eerie & MsChif beat Mena Libra, Melanie Cruise, She Nay Nay & Bonesaw when Von Eerie pinned She Nay Nay with a Pedigree.
7. Hiroyo Matsumoto pinned Jessie McKay with a side suplex.
8. Sara Del Rey pinned Courtney Rush with a Royal Butterfly.
9. Athena beat Mercedes Martinez via DQ when Martinez blatantly used a steel chair to attack the ankle of Athena. This seemed to cement a double turn, as Martinez was booed, while Athena was cheered. Athena pledged to get back at Martinez, but claimed she thought her leg was broken.
10. Kana beat LuFisto with the Kana Lock.
11. Britani Knight pinned Saraya Knight in a no DQ match with a Knight Light DDT.
12. SHIMMER Tag Team Titles: Ayako Hamada & Ayumi Kurihara (c) beat The Canadian NINJAs (Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews) after Kurihara pinned Perez after an Exploder Suplex.
13. SHIMMER Title: Cheerleader Melissa pinned Madison Eagles (c) with a rollup after escaping the Hellbound – NEW CHAMPION. After celebrating with the fans, Melissa was jumped and assaulted by Nicole Matthews, who claimed that this was “her time” now.
Click after the jump for more thoughts
SHIMMER volumes 41 & 42 results and thoughts
Day one of SHIMMER: Women Athletes is in the bag, with volumes 41 and 42 seeing some top class matches, strong debuts and some advancements in storylines, which should add intrigue to tomorrow’s event.
Before the tapings began, we were treated to two SPARKLE pre-show matches, with BoNayNayBugs (Jessie “Bonesaw” Brooks, She Nay Nay and Buggy) defeating Veda Scott, Kimberley Maddox and former WWE Developmental Diva Su Yung when Bonesaw nailed Yung with a double underhook DDT, and Allysin Kay & Maja (Mia) Svensson went to a time limit draw with KC Spinelli and Cherry Bomb.
Volume 41:
1. Nikki Roxx beat Kellie Skater with a schoolboy as Skater went for her Skate Or Die finisher.
2. Mercedes Martinez pinned Davina Rose with a Fisherman Buster.
3. Hailey Hatred pinned Kalamity with a running powerbomb. Hatred showed respect to Kalamity for her effort afterwards, but were attacked from behind by Mena Libra and Melanie Cruise.
4. Sara Del Rey beat Yumi Ohka with the Royal Butterfly.
Amber Gertner then brought out former SHIMMER Tag Team Champion Ashley Lane (AKA TNA‘s Madison Rayne) who called out Nevaeh after her former partner’s heel turn at AAW last night. The two got into a pull-apart brawl.
5. Kana (who was shown in video packages lanking Sara Del Rey and Cheerleader Melissa) made Mia Yim tap out from the Kana Lock (crossface chicken wing).
SHIMMER Champion Madison Eagles was presented with her award for being number one in the PWI Female 50, then talked trash about Serena Deeb, who was her challenger for the taping. Serena then cut the best promo of her SHIMMER career to express her desire to be the champion.
6. Ayako Hamada & Ayumi Kurihara defeated Daizee Haze & Tomoka Nakagawa to win the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship. Haze and Nakagawa came out beforehand to say they were taking the night off, but were forced into a defence. Nakagawa was pinned by Kurihara following two exploder suplexes.
7. Nevaeh b Ashley Lane with a German Suplex.
Daizee Haze returned to ringside to quit the promotion.
8. Cheerleader Melissa pinned Britani Knight following an Air Raid Crash. Britani’s mother Saraya gave her some verbal abuse after the match.
9. Portia Perez beat Jessie McKay after hitting her in the head with a chain wrapped round her fist, then wished rival Serena Deeb all the best in her title match, as she wanted to become SHIMMER Champion by beating her.
10. Saraya Knight defeated Allison Danger in a British rounds-based match. Danger got the first fall at the opening of round one; Saraya equalised by pinning Danger with her feet on the ropes in round three, and; Knight won the third fall in round four by pinning Danger with her forearm over her throat.
11. Hiroyo Matsumoto beat Nicole Matthews with a backdrop driver.
12. Madison Eagles retained her SHIMMER Championship after pinning Serena Deeb with the Hellbound.
Volume 42:
The taping began with a video of Sara Del Rey talking about Kana blanking her and challenging her to a match.
1. Mercedes Martinez beat Leva Bates with the Fisherman Buster, then kicked her a few times after the bell.
2. Mena Libra and Melanie Cruise defeated Hailey Hatred and Kalamity when Libra pinned Kalamity with the Ambassador Bridge (samoan drop with a bridge).
3. Tomoka Nakagawa defeated MsChif, LuFisto and Kellie Skater in a 4-way when Nakagawa pinned MsChif.
4. Yumi Ohka pinned Courtney Rush following a chokebomb.
5. Portia Perez made Davina Rose tap out with the Just Facelock. Perez had called for Serena Deeb to sit at ringside to watch her destroy Deeb’s protege. Perez refused to break the hold so Serena got in the ring to break it, only to be attacked by Nicole Matthews. The four then had a wild brawl which saw the locker room clear to break them up.
6. Nevaeh and Sassy Stephie defeated Nikki Roxx and Ariel.
7. Cheerleader Melissa pinned Christina Von Eerie following the Kudo Driver.
8. Athena won a 3-way featuring Jessie McKay and Mia Yim with the O-Face (leaping Stunner from the top rope).
9. Nicole Matthews beat Serena Deeb with the Roll The Dice after Portia Perez interfered. Deeb then challenged Perez to a no holds barred match for volume 43.
10. Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kurihara retained the Tag Team Championship over Saraya and Britani Knight when Hamada pinned Britani. Saraya refused to help her daughter during the match, who she blamed for being soft after the match during a scathing promo, where she said “they” would want her anymore.
11. Kana beat Sara Del Rey via referee stoppage when she passed out in the Kana Lock.
12. Madison Eagles retained the SHIMMER Championship by beating Hiroyo Matsumoto with the Hellbound.
Click after the jump for more thoughts. (more…)
DVD Review: ACW 3rd Annual American Joshi Queen of Queens
I can’t say that I watch a lot of Anarchy Championship Wrestling – though I keep up with storylines and results, as it does well at producing episodic shows – but after watching last year’s American Joshi Queen of Queens tournament, I made a promise to myself that I would buy this year’s event and give it a watch. After all, last year – in its second annual outing – it firmly established itself as being one of the best tournaments in the western world. Even though I covered the results as they happened back in June, I wanted to see how it all went down, so I put my money down at Smart Mark Video and waited in anticipation of its arrival. Last Saturday, it arrived – while I was at a wedding in Italy, no less, so I had to wait until I got back two days later to slap it into the DVD player.
The first thing that you notice is the cover, which is clean and simple, featuring Amanda Fox and Serena Deeb. Last year’s edition featured a full-on Alice In Wonderland spoof featuring the participants taking up the different roles, so it was a nice change to present something different this year around. The discs – while DVD-Rs – also have a professional look to them, with the DVD cover image replicated on them. Thumbs up for first impressions.
There are more compliments to be extended, too. The opening montage introducing the show was very ACW – gritty, raw and emotional – and the official photos in the ring before the tournament was used to produce a nice angle. Portia Perez – looking and acting very different to how she does in places like SHIMMER and Squared Circle Wrestling – attacked fellow participant Lillie Mae with the wrench that she carries around with her, breaking her nose and putting her out of the tourney. Here in ACW, Perez is cold, calculating, devious and dangerous. She is easily the most intimidating woman on the roster. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (27 September 2011)
A bumper two weeks of women’s wrestling kicks off this weekend with SHIMMER: Women Athletes undertaking two days of DVD tapings for volumes 41-44. With close to 40 wrestlers expected to compete over the weekend, fans have got 12 hours of debuts, returns, twists, turns and top quality wrestling to look forward to in Berwyn, IL.
As mentioned, there will be a number of new faces at the tapings, the most publicised is the current SMASH Divas Champion Kana. The 30-year old took the title earlier this month by beating rival Serena Deeb, ending her seven match undefeated streak, and avenging the two pinfall losses to her gaijin opponent. In addition to wrestling at SHIMMER, Kana will also compete in CHIKARA the following weekend against current SHIMMER Champion Madison Eagles, and former titleholder Sara Del Rey.
Current JWP Openweight Champion Hailey Hatred returns to the US to wrestle for the first time at SHIMMER on October 1 before going on to Absolute Intense Wrestling the following day to take on Cherry Bomb. Arguably the most successful non-Japanese female wrestling talent to ever compete in Japan, Hatred had an absolute slew of titles in her possession, and was criminally left out of the PWI Female 50 this year, because the magazine does not recognise wrestling from Japan or Mexico.
Yumi Ohka’s debut has been slightly overshadowed by Kana’s arrival, but she will be unlikely to accept being looked past. A member of Misaki Ohata’s Black Dahlia group in WAVE, 32-year old Ohka has been wrestling for close to a decade after originally lacing up the boots to migrate into the acting industry, though elected to stay wrestling instead. She could be the sleeper star of the weekend. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (13 September 2011)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated sent WWE and TNA and a message last week – sort out your women’s divisions.
They did so by crowning SHIMMER Champion Madison Eagles as its number one in the annual Female 50, which marked the first time in its four year history that someone from outside the national promotions had taken the honour – Awesome Kong, Mickie James and Michelle McCool had won previous years. Mickie was the highest-ranked Big Two employee at number three, with WSU Champion Mercedes Martinez taking the runner-up spot. In fact, the women on the independent circuit had a strong showing in the top ten, with Cheerleader Melissa, MsChif and Sara Del Rey making sure that the women who accept their own bookings took up half of the final countdown.
Understandably, the PWI list isn’t perfect – after all, it doesn’t take into account Europe, Asia or South America, and only ranks Australasian talent that has competed in the US. Therefore, it’s a pretty strangled list – had it been opened up further, Britani Knight, Hailey Hatred, Amapola and others would have likely been included – but it’s a vast improvement on previous years, though with the proviso that it still has a long way to go before it can be a comprehensive rundown.
Still, it’s a massive pat on the back to Eagles, who doesn’t even live in the US – though she was residing there for a portion of the year – and has never even had a tryout in WWE or TNA, yet is still recognised by a world-reknowned magazine for being the best female wrestler in the world. When you take into account the fact that PWI still portrays wrestling as being a legitimate, competitive sport and judges the list by wins and losses, it would be hard to deny the 6’1” Australian the top spot, or Mercedes runner-up place either. After all, both had been champion of their respective promotions for the entire year; both had racked up win after win, and had put on incredible matches to justify their desire and will to be the champion. When you consider that the only real competitor for the top spot from WWE was Kelly Kelly or Layla, you can see why they only ranked at 15 and 13 respectively. Pretty much every Diva was booked badly over the last 12 months – and seeing as that is how PWI assesses who goes where, we have to look at the writing over the performances – and nobody has gotten over to the point where you would want to spend money to see them. (more…)
Kana beats Serena to win first SMASH Divas Title
Earlier today at SMASH 21 in Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, Japanese sensation Kana defeated SHIMMER star Serena Deeb in the finals of the SMASH Divas Title Tournament to establish the first champion in the division. It was quite the deal for Kana, who got the monkey off her back, having suffered two previous pinfall losses to Deeb’s spear, sealing the win with her Kana Lock (Crossface Chickenwing). The title win signals the start of a new chapter in SMASH’s female division, which has actually been the source for a number of really great womens matches in the last year or so – and with Kana now officially crowned champion, she is going to have a whole list of potential challengers to work through.
To get to the finals, Kana had to defeat longtime rival Lin “Bitch” Bairon (at SMASH 18) and Syuri (at SMASH 20), whilst Deeb had to go through Tomoka Nakagawa (at SMASH 19) and Makoto (at SMASH 20), and at yesterday’s press conference, Serena cut the very model of confidence, while Kana seemed demure and probably slightly intimidated. Deeb’s loss here represents her first loss in SMASH, following seven consecutive wins in singles and tag matches, all finishing with her dreaded spear.
Ringbelles Roundup (23 August 2011)
The Ringbelles team has been discussing the alleged fee being charged by Melina for her independent appearances, as have numerous wrestlers and promoters. PWG Champion Kevin Steen tweeted “$3000 plus first class air and hotel?! F–k…I’ve been charging way too little”. Colt Cabana followed suit, saying “My wrestling fee has now gone from 2 diet cokes and a cupcake to 3 bajillionfajillion dollars… Pay up, promoters!” Anarchy Championship Wrestling promoter Darin Childs also weighed in by taking to his Twitter: “As a promoter I should never do things like this, buuuut can we all LOL together at Melina’s appearance demands?”
Melina – and Women Superstars Uncensored, who have booked her for November 19′s iPPV – have denied that the $3,000 booking charge is accurate. In addition, Melina made her first post-WWE appearance on Saturday night at Family Wrestling Entertainment in New York, managing Eric Young in the main event. Would a smaller promotion such as FWE have paid that much for an appearance and not even have her wrestle a match?
Granted, she was charging $20 for an autograph and and extra $15 for a photo – and that didn’t include entry to the show – which could have supplemented a smaller fee than an alleged $3,000, but it still seems a slightly inflated price for a local promotion, right? Still, for argument’s sake, let’s say that the $3,000 is accurate, and Melina and WSU are trying to downplay the fee. Is it wrong for Melina to charge that much? After all, if promoters were willing to pay such a lofty sum, surely that can’t mean that it’s too expensive? (more…)
Parade of champions at SHIMMER
With today’s announcement that JWP Openweight Champion Hailey Hatred would be appearing at SHIMMER: Women Athletes in Berwyn, IL on October 1 (before going on to Cleveland, OH the following day to wrestle Cherry Bomb in Absolute Intense Wrestling), we at Ringbelles realised that the upcoming volumes 41-44 DVD tapings would be a veritable smorgasbord of titleholders from across the world.
After all, Hatred – who we interviewed last month as part of the Women Of Wrestling Podcast also holds the TLW World and AIW Hybrid Fighting championships, and a number of the women already announced have their fair share of belts between themselves.
You have the SHIMMER and PWWA Champion Madison Eagles – so already, we have Australasia, Japan and North America covered. Following them are the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions of Tomoka Nakagawa and Daizee Haze to round off the promotion’s official champions, and then we get on to the others… (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (16 August 2011)
So it’s official; Melina’s return to indie wrestling will be on November 19 at Women Superstars Uncensored’s Breaking Barriers II iPPV where she will wrestle fellow ex-WWE employee Serena Deeb. WSU made the match official in its press release yesterday, where it claims “Melina, who has a very storied career in WWE, wants to prove to the world that she is not just a diva, but a full-fledged womens wrestler. She will get that opportunity on 11/19. Serena is calling herself “The Best in the World”. We’ll find out if that rings true on 11/19 in this first time ever one-on-one clash.”
In theory, this is will be a comfortable return for Melina to a different style of action than you normally see on WWE TV, as she and Serena can work a half WWE, half indie style. It’s a decent idea, considering she has not been on the indie scene since 2004, a mere three years into her wrestling career. It’s also Melina’s best opportunity to create a new first impression…
32-year old Melina Perez has a reputation for being troublesome behind the scenes, with a number of reports from a number of different sources – some of them could be true, some of them could be phoney. However, after a number of reported incidents, it becomes ever more likely that the next incident will be more readily believed, regardless of its validity. Melina polarises opinions – some think she is excellent, others think she is more trouble than she is worth – but she has a chance to sell herself to a fresh set of eyes on November 19. In essence, she has an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and give us the chance to see that she is taking wrestling seriously, and is willing to muck in and work towards presenting a better product for women’s wrestling fans. (more…)
WSU DVD taping results: 73 minute match, new faction & War Games match signed
Unlike its last few big-time offerings, which have been shown on iPPV before being released on DVD, this weekend’s Women Superstars Uncensored shows are going straight to the WSU shop. The promotion have two shows in Union City, NJ tonight, with the main matches being Mercedes Martinez defending the WSU World Title against Lexxus, and the increasingly-impressive Jessicka Havok taking on “The WSU Icon” Alicia in a No Holds Barred match.
After the jump, you’ll find all the results. Enjoy. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (19 July 2011)
Thursday, July 19, 2001 was a pretty humdrum day in world history. As a frame of reference, the most newsworthy thing was the Code Red virus taking hold of a massive number of computers after being released online 6 days previously.
In the world of wrestling, Steve Austin was on SmackDown, showing “the old Stone Cold” was back when he stunnered everyone in the ring ahead of the WWF Invasion pay-per-view, which was to take place in three days. It would intrigue wrestling fans who wondered what would happen if the WWF and WCW ever clashed on one show. As it turned out, it would be a decent – and high grossing – show which was followed by months of killing the WCW image to the point that it was worthless by November.
However, also on this very day ten years ago at Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro, MO, a young lady by the name of Christine was handed her first ever defeat in a mid-card contest at the hands of a debuting wrestler to Gateway Championship Wrestling. That wrestler was MsChif.
Rachel Collins had been asked by her colleague at her human genetics job – the role she had before going into microbiology – what she would love to do more than anything. Concluding that it would be to learn to wrestle, she decided to train at at GCW under the tutelage of Johnny Greenpeace (who was the tough trainer) and Jack Adonis (who was the comic relief), with the black-metal-banshee character naturally evolving while she was learning her craft. Even though she never believed that she would wrestle outside of St Louis, MsChif would go on to win a shedload of top championships including the SHIMMER title, the NWA World Women’s Title and the NWA Midwest/IWA Mid-South Women’s Title – which she held all at one time during 2008 and 2009 – as well as winning ChickFight IV and being ranked 4th in the PWI Female Fifty for 2009.
When asked for comment, MsChif told Ringbelles: “It’s crazy to think I’ve been wrestling for 10 years now. It doesn’t feel like it’s been so long. Wrestling has brought on some very amazing times, places and people. I couldn’t imagine life without wrestling.” (more…)
Summerlyn wins Queen of Queens 2011
She talked about winning the whole shebang as part of last week’s Women of Wrestling Podcast, and she came through – Rachel Summerlyn went through Christina Von Eerie, last year’s winner Portia Perez and Athena to become the 2011 Anarchy Championship Wrestling American Joshi Queen of Queens.
The tournament’s been known for providing upsets – such as little Jessica James making Sara Del Rey tap out in the opening round of last year’s tournament – and this year was no exception, with Five Star Amanda Fox repeating her success earlier this year by beating Serena Deeb to progress to the semi-finals. However, the shockers didn’t start there – in fact, big angles took place even before the opening bell rung…
Lillie Mae – who was due to wrestle Athena in the opening round – was taken out of action with a broken nose during the group photo with all the tournament’s participants. She was attacked with a wrench by Perez – Mae was replaced by Angel Blue. (more…)
WSU Uncensored Rumble IV: Lexxus earns title shot
For the past three years, WSU has held an Uncensored Rumble to crown a number one contender. Going into it this year, Jessicka Havok was the strongest contender to win it all, though she would have to go through Alicia in an Uncensored Rules match first. Also on the card, among other matches, was Sassy Stephanie’s first title defense against the veteran Rain, new tag team champions Boston Shore defending against the Belle Saints, Marti Belle and Tina San Antonio, and Mercedes Martinez defending her WSU Championship against Britney Savage. Would the show live up to the hype? Let’s find out…
The iPPV was 20 minutes late starting, but wrestling fans are somewhat used to this. The stream flickered on to show Amy Lee in the ring, cutting a promo on fans in the crowd. The less said about this, the better.
The show kicked off with Sassy Stephie defending her WSU Spirit title against the Radiant Rain (who arrived in a new outfit, and to Jetta’s music “Something Kinda Oooh” – nice nod to her former tag team partner). What we saw was a strong, solid opening contest between a veteran and a woman who has only been wrestling since 2007. But despite Rain’s experience, Stephie fought back and delivered a Kiss My Sass to retain the Spirit title. Both women looked excellent, and it was a great match to start the iPPV off with. (more…)
In pictures: Serena Deeb v Kellie Skater in Australia
Serena Deeb is really racking up those stamps in her passport. Not only is she making a name for herself in Japan as part of SMASH, she is currently in Australia to take part in a charity show which also featured former WWE stars (and fellow Ohio Valley Wrestling alumni) U-Gene, Paul London, Rob Conway and Spirit Squad member Mike Mondo.
In the sole women’s match on the Wrestling For Rotary card held on Saturday night at the Bendigo Exhibition Centre in Victoria, Serena took on Australia’s own Kellie Skater – the woman who Serena wrestled in her return to SHIMMER after being released by WWE.
Australia’s most likely got a special place in Serena’s heart, as it’s where she finally got the chance to step into the WWE ring and wrestle. After spending most of her time as a follower of CM Punk as part of the Straight Edge Society, she got to wrestle alongside Layla against Kelly Kelly and Natalya in Melbourne last August as part of the SmackDown World Tour.
Both Deeb and Skater had representatives on the outside in the form of presenters from a local radio station – Skater’s second spent much of the match getting involved in the action to help his charge get the advantage, but ended up eating humble pie after Serena’s guy fought back, allowing her to get the win with her trademark spear.
Ringbelles got in touch with Skater to get her thoughts on the show. Click after the jump for comments, video and photos… (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (7 June 2011)
The future of women’s wrestling in Britain was looking bright. In May 2010, Pro Wrestling: EVE debuted with a lot of fanfare, announcing a working relationship with World Association of Wrestling, meaning Sweet Saraya and her daughter Britani Knight would be part of the proceedings, along with other WAW talent Destiny and Amazon (and later, Liberty and Melodi). The partnership seemed to be working well, with training seminars being held with WAW, and EVE making Britani its first Champion two months ago.
Fast forward 13 months, and things are looking much muddier.
Last Saturday, less than two hours before Britani would defend the EVE title against Jenny Sjodin at an XWA Wrestling show in Morecambe, Saraya took to her Facebook to say that the relationship with WAW and EVE was being permanently severed, and would not be healed. In addition, it also said that WAW talent would no longer be on EVE shows.
While our Twitter exploded with requests for information, both from fans and wrestlers themselves, I was sat in the crowd at Morecambe unaware, much like EVE promoter Dann Read and the participants in the match. As it turned out, not even Saraya’s daughter knew that this decision was going to be made, nor that it had been made public and was being discussed.
There was no massive incident that caused the split, but more of a lot of little niggles that eventually became too much. Britani travelled to Morecambe against the wishes of family members as she was ill, with swollen legs and voice gone, presumably still suffering the after-effects of the glandular fever that she wrestled with on the EVE Championship weekend. According to Saraya, she did so because of promises made by Dann Read that he wanted to get her booked all around the country and get a number of successful defences under her belt – thereby increasing EVE’s national exposure. It seems that when Saraya learned that Britani would be dropping the title that night, it went against what they were told would be happening with Britani, and saw it as a betrayal of trust. We must point out that it isn’t down to Britani being upset with the booking decision and refusing to drop the title – it apparently is down to promises being made then then reneged on.
Saraya also went on to say that she would be reviving World Association of Women’s Wrestling – a promotion which promoted a number of cards between 2006 and 2009. (more…)
ACW Queen Of Queens: first match announced
With less than a month to go before the third annual Anarchy Championship Wrestling American Joshi Queen Of Queens tournament, the first match in the opening round has been announced – it will be Serena Deeb meeting ACW’s upstart antagonist, “Five Star” Amanda Fox.
Like NCW: Femmes Fatales, ACW has a history of putting together matches between wrestlers who either haven’t faced each other before, or putting experienced grapplers against newer faces to help them get more ring time with different opponents who they can learn from. In addition, ACW has thrown up some surprising results – in last year’s QoQ, little Jessica James choked out and defeated Sara Del Rey in the opening round and Portia Perez beat MsChif and Daizee Haze en route to winning the whole tournament and the ACW American Joshi Championship in the process.
Seven names have been announced for the show in Live Oak, TX on June 26 – as well as Deeb and Fox, Christina Von Eerie, Athena, Mia Yim, Lillie Mae and Rachel Summerlyn will participate, and there will be a special appearance from former American Joshi Champion Daffney.
Interested in going? Click here for more information.
Ringbelles Roundup (3 May 2011)
The Big News
We start with the departure from WWE by Michelle McCool, and my Women Of Wrestling Podcast colleague Stew Allen has stepped in to write a great biography of her career. I’ll let him take the floor.
After a few weeks of teasers, we finally got to see the WWE debut of the former Amazing Kong, now known as Kharma, but just as interesting is the sudden and unexpected departure of Michelle McCool, who by losing her match to former LayCool partner Layla El, is now “gone” from WWE. Taking to twitter soon after the match, McCool confirmed “I know there will always be rumours, but that was it – real talk!” News of McCool’s then impending departure was first broken by PWInsider a few days ago when it became clear that McCool’s challenge from SmackDown had been hastily (and badly) redubbed from “Loser leaves SmackDown” to “Loser leaves WWE”.
It has been an eventful seven year ride since married middle school teacher Michelle McCool-Alexander decided to apply to be a competitor in the inaugural WWE Diva Search in 2004. McCool was unique amongst the competitors not only for being the only one not supplied by a modelling agency, but also because she was an actual wrestling fan, having attended old NWA shows at the National Guard Armory in her native Palatka, FL. Though eliminated fairly quickly, McCool was amongst a clutch of Diva Search competitors who ended up being offered a developmental contract anyway. Her athleticism was undeniable (as she proved by schooling the WWE Divas in Dodgeball at SummerSlam of that year) and is undoubtedly genetic, as most of her family have excelled at sports. In fact, McCool herself picked up the Hancock Trophy in 1988 for her exploits in volleyball, softball and basketball at Palatka High. A forgettable early run on Smackdown ended when she was eventually redeployed to developmental territories Deep South Wrestling, and then Ohio Valley Wrestling before being returned to the main roster mid ’06. Unfortunately, much of the next two years saw a struggle as Michelle battled to find any real traction and identity, as WWE stumbled about from storyline to storyline. From “sexy schoolteacher” McCool, who was paired with the tag team of KC James & Idol Stevens (known affectionately as The Teacher’s Pets) to the object of Jamie Noble’s affections in a bizarre love triangle with Chuck Palumbo, McCool was on a road to nowhere. The undoubted highlight of early Michelle McCool for many was the unintentionally hilarious promo videos which saw her proclaim how much she was “lovin’ life” as she roller-skated, took a swim, and generally just stood around. These early years also saw personal tribulation for McCool, who divorced her former high school sweetheart Jeremy Alexander and ended 2007 with an enforced two week stay in hospital for an enlarged kidney, electrolyte balance and low sodium levels which could, in the words of WWE Doctor Ferdinand Rios, have led to heart or kidney failure. Rumours have persisted that these were side effects from the extreme dieting she had to do to maintain her perfect TV figure, though these rumours have never been confirmed by either Michelle or WWE. In recalling the incident, McCool says “One night I was apparently so dehydrated, Dr. Rios hooked me up to an IV. Thank the good Lord that he was with me — along with several WWE Superstars — who took such good care of me. I can never truly repay them”. (more…)
The Pocket Volcano Erupts: A Fan’s Take on the Womanist Revolution
A couple of months ago, I was watching Raw and occasionally tweeting my thoughts. I remember being aggravated at the fact a feud was brewing between two of the women that was based on something incredibly superficial – I believe it was the Bellas claiming they had a ‘big secret’ about Kelly Kelly, and that secret turning out to be them claiming she was too skinny, or it may have been something else equally superfluous. I took to my Twitter, wondering if the concept of fighting for pride, to be the best was something that WWE writers refused to consider as a reason for a female feud. After all, it’s regularly a concept used in other promotions. Was it really that far a leap for WWE to try it out?
Not long after expressing my frustrations, I received a cryptic reply from Allison Danger. She said, “You are inspiring my latest blog. #therevolutioniscoming”
That made me pause. Revolution? Me? I tentatively asked, “Should I be flattered or afraid…?” She replied, “It’s a good thing. I know once you read it you will join me.” Colour me curious! I didn’t have to wait long; shortly thereafter she unleashed her blog entitled, “The Revolution is Here” and issued a call to arms, calling on fans, bookers/writers and fellow female wrestlers to change their modus operandi when it came to their part in wrestling. If you haven’t read it, you really should. Do it now before continuing.
I did not so much read it as consume it. Allison’s words stirred the passion within me, the passion that drives me when it comes to wrestling, the passion that infuses my articles here on Ringbelles. The passion that wants to help overthrow the conventional view of female wrestling as nothing more than a piss break – a view that WWE helped cultivate, but that several promotions still nurture, despite the fact that there are dozens of females who can easily steal any show, if given the chance. (more…)
September 1, 2011 | Categories: Commentaries | Tags: Allison Danger, Daizee Haze, Jennifer, Madison Eagles, MsChif, Pocket Volcano, Serena Deeb | 4 Comments »