Ringbelles Roundup (18 September 2012) – Tammy Lynn Sytch, King Of Trios & Gatoh Move’s wranglings
“Lesson to men: Cheat on a good woman, You get choked out.”
No joke – those were the first words that Tammy Lynn Sytch decided to make public on her Facebook page after being arrested three times in three days last week on domestic violence complaints. Seeing as legal proceedings are underway, this was a colossally dumb thing to do, as it’s pretty much an admission of guilt. How about “Lesson to men: Cheat on a good woman, you get dumped.” As someone who works fairly closely with a domestic violence charity, this sort of flippant approach to alleged crimes like this really grinds my gears.
According to TMZ – and later picked up by the Associated Press and local TV media outlets – the 39-year old WWE Hall of Famer was first arrested by police in Branford, CT, on Tuesday night at 8:55pm for disorderly conduct involving a man living in the house she was with, which was later confirmed to be the home of boyfriend and pro wrestler Damian Darling. It apparently all began with a heated argument between the couple. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (11 September 2012) – Jerry Lawler/LuFisto, Kaitlyn & Knockouts booking
Last night’s scary incident involving Jerry “The King” Lawler’s heart attack during the live broadcast of Monday Night Raw in Montreal, Quebec, Canada saw an outpouring of support across the Internet, with various woman involved in wrestling taking to Twitter to wish the WWE Hall Of Famer all the best. AJ Lee, Vickie Guerrero, Velvet Sky (who worked on shows with Lawler in Aruba at the weekend) and former wife Stacy Carter all expressed their sentiments.
Lawler’s current girlfriend Lauryn McBride took to her Facebook to let everyone know the situation:
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. It has been confirmed that Jerry did have a heart attack…he is in stable condition and breathing on his own & heart is stable. I’m getting on the first flight out of here to be with him & will keep everyone posted. He is a strong man and we will get him back at his best as soon as I can get him home! I love you so so much baby!!
No Surrender: The student beats the teacher
Miss Tessmacher defends her TNA Knockouts Championship against her mentor, friend and former Tag Team Championship partner Tara.
The Background
• Tara defeated Tessmacher on the August 23 episode of Impact Wrestling after the champion (who had regained the title from Madison Rayne following last month’s Hardcore Justice PPV) issued the challenge to her mentor as part of Open Fight Night. Tara won with a superplex.
• Following that result, Knockouts boss lady Brooke Hogan booked another match between the two with the title on the line – however, it was announced just this Tuesday online, and the two had no interaction on last Thursday’s TV. Instead, while Tessmacher was wrestling Mickie James on a house show in Dalton, GA, Tara was defeating Gail Kim on Impact. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (28 August 2012) – the Aussies & Kiwis, April Davids & more
There has been a lot of focus on the continent of Australasia recently, and most of it centres around one kick-happy wrestler from New Zealand.
As we have documented, Evie has been catapulted into everyone’s line of sight, winning both the IPW Women’s and PWWA Championships in the space of seven days – the first in a triple threat match with Megan-Kate and Britenay, and the latter against Jessie McKay just last Saturday.
When approached for comment, the Auckland resident told Ringbelles:
Winning the IPW Women’s Title and then the PWWA Interim Title… words can’t pinpoint the feelings I felt over those nights. I was extremely emotional… a few tears were shed, and it definitely is the highlight of my career to date. I came away from both matches battered and bruised, but it was all worth it in the end… after five years, I finally feel like a champion.
The fans have also been rad… I can’t believe how much support I received through those tournaments, both online and in person. It was amazing!
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…)
Taeler Hendrix appears on TNA Gut Check
TNA‘s Gut Check on its Impact Wrestling show welcomed its first female participant on last night’s episode, with former Ohio Valley Wrestling Women’s Champion Taeler Hendrix taking on Tara. She fell to the Widow’s Peak, but put up a strong showing – so much so that the fans in the Impact Zone in Orlando, FL, even started chanting her name, which is pretty impressive considering most of them would not have heard of her until the show went on air.
Her introduction on the show mentioned that she had been diagnosed with cancer at the age of 21, but neglected to point out that it turned out to be a misdiagnosis – something that she discussed in detail during our Fight Like A Girl interview with her back in April, and also on the brilliant video promo that she uploaded to YouTube, but later either deleted or made private, as it was not meant for public viewing. From there, the 23-year old, 5-year pro fought valiantly against her bigger and more experienced opponent, but couldn’t get the win. (more…)
In Video: Tara talks TNA Knockouts
Just a quickie today, as there is a big weekend of action starting tomorrow (including a special episode of the Women Of Wrestling Podcast), but we stumbled across this interview with former Fight Like A Girl guest Tara ahead of tonight’s live episode of Impact Wrestling. It is conducted as part of an article by the Miami Herald’s Jim Varsallone which offers a behind-the-scenes look at TNA.
As part of the chat, Tara hints at her training up new talent, getting respect from male wrestlers and fans, and how she, as a 41-year old (and she’s proud of that), keeps up with women half her age. She’s a great ambassador for TNA, and is a great advertisement for strong women, and we like her a lot. Click the jump for the interview. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (15 May 2012)
In news that landed on the Internet yesterday morning, Women Superstars Uncensored has been sold to what the official Twitter referred to as an “independent buyer”. In a statement in the newsletter, the promotion stated: “WSU is in the process of changing ownership. The sale will not affect any WSUVideo.com purchases or upcoming events. We will have a press release once the sale is signed.”
We understand that the press release will arrive by the end of this week, though there is no official word on whether this will affect the current direction of the promotion, the booking, the storylines, the upcoming Uncensored Rumble V iPPV next month, or the working relationship with nCw Femmes Fatales.
There is a possibility that the “independent buyer” who has bought WSU has plans to expand the brand. After all, there are elements which make it valuable. It is the busiest women’s promotion in the US, holding around a dozen cards a year – either officially or in collaboration with other companies – as well as having episodic storylines, a strong bunch of top-line characters like the Midwest Militia, Mercedes Martinez, Alicia and Brittney Savage, and it has ironed out a lot of the kinks that it suffered while it found its feet on iPPV. We hope that if there are changes, they don’t happen too suddenly, as it may be jarring for fans who are used to the current setup. We also hope that this buyer has a plan, and isn’t a money mark who throws a shedload of money at it, and pulls out if he or she does not see a return, killing the promotion as a consequence. After all, there is some evidence that WSU is not as profitable as it could be at the moment…
As we have pointed out on this site, attendance numbers have been pretty weak since WSU moved from its regular base of the ACE Arena in Union City, NJ to the NYWC Sportatorium in Deer Park, NY, though we have no real indication on how financially successful the iPPVs have been – for all we know, they could be bombing, or they could be booming. While we have a few bits and pieces of information about the current situation, it would be best to wait until there is an official word to try and get more of a handle on the situation.
We will bring you more on this sale as we get it. (more…)
Maria Kanellis earns her 30th birthday gift – the FWE Women’s Title
Maria Kanellis is someone who likes to keep busy. She is the co-presenter of the post WWE Raw show on Afterbuzz TV, is booking the women’s matches at Crossfire Entertainment and is also valeting alongside her beau Mike Bennett as “The First Lady of Ring Of Honor“. However, all of those jobs do not require her to step into the ring. That void in her life was filled last night as she returned to in-ring action for the first time in a shade over two years at Family Wrestling Entertainment where she became the first ever FWE Women’s Champion – and she did it on her 30th birthday.
No doubt, Maria has a mind for wrestling. Though she came into the industry through the much-criticised WWE Diva Search back in 2004, she worked hard to understand how and why things happened, applied the knowledge and became a star in her own right. So popular in fact, that she won the fan-voted 2009 Diva Of The Year Slammy Award – much to the chagrin of WWE itself, who had not been pushing her on TV – but was quietly released from the company on February 26, 2010, one day after her 28th birthday. Her final match for the company was a loss alongside Matt Hardy and The Great Khali to the Hart Dynasty, comprised of Natalya, David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd, broadcast on WWE Superstars the previous day.
Still, the former Playboy cover girl has projects outside of wrestling too. She released an EP – she even pointed out that one of the reasons why WWE let her go was because they would not allow her to pursue outside projects such as making music – was a hit on The Celebrity Apprentice, launched her own perfume, hosted a series of DVDs called Maria’s B-Movie Mayhem and also makes an acting debut next year. Like I said, she likes to keep busy.
Last night, Maria took part in a one-night, four women tournament to crown the first ever FWE Women’s Champion, with the other three talents being TNA Knockouts – Tara, Brooke Tessmacher and Winter. She outlasted them all to win the title, though it wasn’t without some shenanigans. PWInsider was on the scene, and with their report, we’ll break down the women’s action at FWE No Limits from St Paul’s Hall in New York City after the jump…
Ringbelles Retro: SHIMMER & WSU Champs in WWE
That title might seem a little misleading, and it is. What I mean is that the current SHIMMER and Women Superstars Uncensored Champions have both had tryout matches that were on WWE TV back in 2006.
Cheerleader Melissa (billed under her real name of Melissa Anderson) was the first, wrestling on the episode of Sunday Night Heat that was broadcast on May 26, taking on Victoria (currently Tara in TNA), while Mercedes Martinez faced the same opponent on the June 12 broadcast. Instead of them being rapid-fire squash encounters, both were competitive outings with both getting the chance to display some offence in the process. Naturally, both fell to the Widow’s Peak, but both matches were chances for the WWE higher-ups to see if they would fit on the roster.
As we discussed with Martinez on the Women Of Wrestling Podcast back in 2010, she was desperately close to putting her name on the dotted line, but decided that she couldn’t do it with a clear conscience while she knew that her shoulder (which was dislocating on a regular basis) needed urgent surgery which would keep her out of the ring for some time, and turned down the deal.
Since then, both have had their own personal successes – Melissa made it to TNA under the guise of Raisha Saeed and then as Alissa Flash, and won the SHIMMER title last October from Madison Eagles (by the way, have you read her new blog yet?), while Martinez has been WSU Champion for close to three years, and will defend the title against Jessicka Havok on March 3 at the promotion’s 5th Anniversary show.
Click after the jump, and you can see both of their WWE matches. (more…)
Against All Odds: Tara falters, Gail retains
At last month’s Genesis, Mickie James deliberately disqualified herself in her TNA Knockouts Championship match against Gail Kim. That left fans wondering if she would get yet another bite at the apple, but on January 26th Tara defeated both James and Velvet Sky to become number one contender. The match was set for the next PPV, Against All Odds.
Between then and now, for some unknown reason, TNA decided to give away the PPV match for free on the February 2nd Impact show from London’s Wembley Arena, except it wasn’t for the title. Tara defeated Gail after Madison Rayne accidentally hit the titleholder. The match was good and perhaps because they were out of the Impact Zone, the crowd was into it. How would Tara fare with the title on the line on pay-per-view? Answer: not as well as in London.
Tonight both women put on a solid match but after a (likely worked) knee injury, Gail defeated Tara to retain her title. Gail dominated most of the time, when she wasn’t arguing with Madison. Rayne finally got fed up and left midway during the match, which didn’t seem to bother the champ. However, when it seemed Tara had Kim on the ropes, she seemed to hit her knee awkwardly after a moonsault and was unable to capitalise. Gail targeted the knee for one move, then hit the Eat Defeat for the three count. Afterwards in the ring, Tara had removed her knee brace and was talking to the referee and another official. Lets break it down… (more…)
My first TNA live experience
I swore off going to WWE shows back in 2005 when I decided that they weren’t worth my time. I felt that the ratio of entertainment to investment wasn’t good enough, so after having gone to at least one WWE show a year since 1996, I walked away. Since then, I have been to smaller shows, and avoided events from the bigger wrestling companies.
That is, until this Thursday, when after seven years away, I headed to Nottingham’s Capital FM Arena for the first UK date of the TNA Maximum Impact IV European tour.
To be honest, I was looking forward to it, as I had always heard good things about TNA house shows, while the Impact Wrestling shows are more hit and miss. Buoyed by my interview with Tara earlier this month, I was confident that I was going to enjoy myself, even though I’m not as much of a TNA viewer as have been in the past. So along with fellow wrestling fan and work colleague Tom Campbell (the voice of the infamous Big’Un in Wigan), we hopped into my car and – barring an unscheduled stop because of my brakes almost catching fire – made the 90 minute drive to Nottingham. (more…)
Ringbelles Retro: Intergender action in OVW
Our latest Fight Like A Girl guest Tara has earned her stripes in her 12 years in wrestling. From going from a fitness model to one of the Godfather’s Hos in the WWF and then being beaten down by him, to becoming Women’s Champion, then migrating to TNA and winning the Knockouts singles and tag team titles, she has come a long way. But she acknowledges her roots.
Back in 2005, Victoria (as she was known in WWE) turned heel following a swimsuit competition on Raw on May 30, destroying the field, kicking Jerry Lawler in his gentleman vegetables and delivering a Widow’s Peak to Christy Hemme to seal her turn. However, just one day later, she would return to Ohio Valley Wrestling where she trained, as part of an angle involving Mike Mondo, who was going through something of a misogynist phase.
After being defeated by Alexis “Mickie James” Laree in the TV Title tournament, she followed up by blasting Mondo in the nuts – seems like low-blows were popular in May 2005 – he came out in a huff to issue an open challenge for an intergender match, which was answered by Victoria. Click after the jump to see how it went. (more…)
Fight Like A Girl: Tara
…and the hits just keep on coming.
Former TNA Knockouts Champion and Knockouts Tag Team Champion Tara gave us a call earlier today after discovering that she will be on her way to the UK later this month for the Maximum Impact IV tour, which will take in Nottingham, Manchester and London’s Wembley Arena, with the Wembley show being a full-on Impact Wrestling TV taping.
As part of our chat with Tara, she talked to us about finding out that she was booked for the tour after all, what it felt like to main event Impact last year against Mickie James in a steel cage, her relationship with Brooke Tessmacher both inside and outside of the ring, what Jerry Lawler said to her during her training when he found out her age, as well as which Knockouts will be on the tour (and there’ll be a few).
(left click on picture to stream, right click and “save as” to download)
Don’t forget to leave us a comment below!
Follow Tara on Twitter, and get more information on the Maximum Impact IV tour, as well as where to buy tickets, by clicking here.
You can also read about Tara’s pre TNA days in her excellent interview with HONOUR Magazine by clicking here.
Tara talks to HONOUR
Former WWE Women’s Champion, TNA Knockouts singles titleholder and Knockouts Tag Team Champ Tara has taken some time out to talk to HONOUR Magazine about the beginnings of her career, all the way up to her departure from WWE in 2009. She discusses debuting as a ho for the Godfather, training with Ivory, working with Trish Stratus and getting teased for wearing the Women’s title belt backstage.
Also in the issue, HONOUR asks why Naomi Night hasn’t been called up from FCW to WWE yet while fellow NXT contestants AJ, Maxine and Kaitlyn are making paths for themselves. It also looks at the upcoming return of Arisa Nakjima to JWP, the fortunes of Divas after they leave WWE, and Leva Bates geeks it up with some top fives.
Throw in a preview of Alpha Female v Jenny Sjodin at Pro Wrestling: EVE next February and DVD reviews, and you’ve got another great edition. Click the picture above to jump to the latest issue.
Ringbelles Roundup (1 November 2011)
Imagine SHIMMER, WSU, ACW, Femmes Fatales, ECCW, AIW, OVW and FCW all clubbing together, putting up their best representatives and holding a tournament where they would be whittled down to one promotion as the best? Can you imagine the politics, jostling, arrangements, hostility, distrust and remarks there could possibly be? On the flip side, there is the chance that all would get on, things would be decided amicably and all would work together for the greater good – highlighting the plethora of great female wrestling talent out there, showing off their top wrestlers and then taking that momentum, breaking off again and working their own areas to capitalise on the buzz that was created in order to sell more tickets, shift more merchandise and create more awareness of their product. After all, women’s wrestling is a niche product within a niche product, and the amount of awareness – and interest – is not as high as it could be.
OK, I’m dealing in extreme hypotheticals on both sides, but if anything, it could create an intriguing night of action, capitalising on the sort of buzz that wrestling fans experienced when the WWF bought WCW a decade ago, throwing up some potential dream matches. Fair enough, it never really worked out that way, but that doesn’t stop wrestling fans from dreaming.
Over in Japan last week, such an event took place. Wednesday’s FLASH tournament featuring talent from Sendai Girls, JWP, Diana, REINA, WAVE, Ice Ribbon, Stardom and a freelance team drew a hugely impressive 1835 fans to Tokyo’s Korukuen Hall – a Super No Vacancy Full House. The first round was 5 on 5, the semi finals were 3 on 3 and the final was a straight tag match. (more…)
Christina Von Eerie arrives in TNA, plus BFG news
Quite frankly it’s long overdue, but Christina Von Eerie has finally made her official debut in TNA.
The 22-year old first appeared on-screen as part of an angle involving Mexican America and Ink, Inc. back on the September 22 episode, where – without her spiked hair – she played the role of a tattoo shop owner who got involved in the brawl between the two tag teams. On last night’s episode of Impact Wrestling, the Californian, whose real-life fiance is Ink, Inc. member Jesse Neal, came to the aid of Neal and Shannon Moore during another brawl with Hernandez, Anarquia, Sarita and Rosita, and cleared the ring of the former Knockouts Tag Team Champions, though she was never officially introduced by name, so they may not be going with the name Christina Von Eerie.
As we pointed out, it has been a long time coming for Von Eerie. She received a tryout with TNA more than a year ago due to the company’s relationship with lucha libre promotion AAA, where she held the World Mixed Tag Team Championship with Alex Koslov between July and October last year. In her tryout, she teamed with Moore against Cookie (Becky Bayless) and Okada, in what was reportedly a messy affair, and shortly after, it was reported in Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly that she had signed a contract. However, things stalled for a while, which led to Christina making her SHIMMER debut back in March. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (30 August 2011)
After three weeks of leading with Melina, let’s have something different…
A report by Power Slam Magazine claims that former WWE Divas Mickie James and Christy Hemme are earning around $100,000 in TNA, while everyone else is unlikely to be earning much more than $38,000, and that’s only if they’re booked on a regular basis. As they’re only paid on a per appearance agreement, there’s a strong chance that it could be a considerable amount less. It’s likely to be acts like Velvet Sky – who is in favour with TNA – who is on that amount, while others will be on less.
If you factor in that they need to pay their own expenses for things like road transport and accommodation during house show circuits, and then tax needs to be paid on their earnings, that’s a really shitty wage for wrestlers in what is supposed to be the number 2 wrestling promotion in the United States. In the past, we’ve heard of female wrestlers in TNA having issues with their income – Gail Kim left because of it, Kharma pointed it out after she was released from the promotion, Taylor Wilde admitted having to work at Sunglass Hut while as Knockouts Champion to make ends meet, and Madison Rayne was reportedly unable to work the house show circuits at one point last year because the income wouldn’t have covered her costs.
If that is the case, good for James and Hemme – you’re getting a good amount of money for the work that you do. In fact, the biggest praise must go to Christy herself, who would be getting that much for being a ring announcer, and doesn’t have to take any punishment in the ring. I support them getting as much money as they can. After all, we live in a capitalist society – unless you’re reading this in China, Cuba or North Korea… (more…)
Hardcore Justice: New Knockouts Champ, Tara/Tessmacher retain
As part of a double helping of women’s action, TNA Hardcore Justice saw the first British Knockouts Champion crowned in Winter, a title which she adds to her WILD Championship that she won on Thursday. Earlier on in the pay-per-view, Tara & Miss Tessmacher retained their Knockouts Tag Team Titles over the former champs, Mexican America’s Sarita and Rosita.
Winter won the title after spitting red mist into Mickie James‘ eyes, leading to her being pinned while she could not see. No such shenanigans in the tag team match though, where Rosita was pinned cleanly by Tara following her Widow’s Peak finisher.
As is customary for PPV reports here at Ringbelles, let us take a look at what was mineral water, what was tap water, and what was toilet water. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (17 May 2011)
The Big News
Hide your kids, hide your wife – Wrestlicious is back.
On Monday, it was announced that the second season of TakeDown would be shown on a cable network owned by Viacom. That could mean it could be hosted on Comedy Central, an MTV channel, VH1 or even Spike – the channel which currently hosts TNA TV.
In the official press release, Union Square Agency, with whom Wrestlicious has formed this partnership, says it will provide sponsorship sales, television production, syndication, media sales, event extensions, venue selection, strategic partnerships and manage licensing and merchandising.
Wrestlicious launched on TV in the US and Canada last year, two years after host and producer Johnny Cafarella and Jimmy Hart teamed up with Jonathan Vargas, a 19-year old who won $35.3 million on the Powerball Lottery. The original concept for Wrestlicious was dreamt up in 2003 when Hart produced a pilot for Crush, which was exactly the same as what Wrestlicious is – a mix of cartoony wrestling with comedy skits spliced in. Featuring wrestlers like Melina, Lacey, Rain and Cheerleader Melissa, it had proper wrestlers as well as models who would be trained up – sound familiar? Some of the characters were even recycled – the Felony character was originally played in Crush by Melissa, but seeing as she was contracted to TNA at the time, Felony was played by Rain in Wrestlicious. (more…)
Sacrifice: Chyna returns, Mickie retains, Tara free
There were two matches involving female in-ring action last night at TNA Sacrifice (are they still called TNA or is it now Impact Wrestling? We can’t tell, it’s confusing). In one match, Mickie James retained her Knockouts title by beating Madison Rayne with the help of Rayne’s now-former associate Tara, who clocked her overbearing boss with the infamous loaded glove to free herself from her their agreement; in the the semi-main event, Kurt Angle and Chyna defeated Jeff and Karen Jarrett.
So let us take a look at what worked, what didn’t, and what was downright awful: (more…)
Ringbelles TV Review (13-19 March)
A bumper week of TV in prospect here, kids. Not only do we have the return of Trish Stratus on Raw and Alissa Flash taking the Madison Rayne open challenge on Impact, we’ve got women’s matches on the secondary shows too (Superstars and Xplosion), so given that these shows actually feature longer matches, I had initially planned to deal with the “B” shows first, but believe it or not, my favourite match of the week was from the next level down, namely Florida Championship Wrestling, as AJ takes on her former NXT buddy Kaitlyn.
Ringbelles TV Review (6-12 February)
It’s all about the build-up this week on the TV digest, as both WWE & TNA actually put some effort into building up some future matches and programmes. In WWE, the build is towards this coming Monday on Raw, when Eve Torres will defend her Divas title against Natalya, while TNA are promoting their “Against All Odds” PPV this weekend, as Madison Rayne is set to defend her Knockouts Title against Mickie James in a “Last Knockout Standing” encounter.
TV match of the week this week goes to the challenger for the Divas Title, Natalya, who took on Alicia Fox on Superstars this week in a match that was a significant cut above the Melina vs Tamina mess from the previous week.
Interact!