LEXI PILLMAN PASSES AWAY
By Mike Johnson on 2009-11-27 01:08:27
We don’t have any details in regard to her passing but word began spreading this evening among the independent circles in the Mid-West area. Sean Casey, who was trained by Brian Pillman, posted a memorial graphic in her memory on his official Myspace earlier today.
Our deepest condolences to the Pillman family and friends at this time.
1:40 AM Update: We have been informed Pillman passed away following a car accident. We don’t have further information at this time. Again, our condolences to the entire Pillman family and friends during this terrible time.
Second To None: The Thoughts of P.L. Espantoso
By P.L. Espantoso
TO SAY THE LEAST…
To say the least, I am satisfied with the results, but it was done nonetheless a little too late. Yeah, I’m aware you might not know what I’m talking about; that’s just my way to get your attention right at the start.
If you all remember, I mentioned in my latest column that I would give a follow-up of my misadventure with a certain federation (a group which will still remain unnamed) that has a good roster, with talents worth discovering for a local show, just that management is poorly ran. Well, upon my arguments, they decided to remove the bad apple from the bunch. No more fat 350 pounder putting himself in the main-events, starting 2010…
Their latest show was this past Saturday (Nov. 21st). It took place at a new place, where there are hometown heroes and although they only have like 4 matches under their belts, something around that, you are at least guaranteed that their families and friends are going to be there to encourage them… not so lucky.
If I may (and this is not an ego trip, trust me!), I realized that some people in the crowd are those who saw my partner, a referee who became our ace in the hole type manager and of course myself turned heel and weren’t left indifferent that time. They recognized us and were ready to hate us more. Only the ace in a hole and myself were present, as I was ready to fulfill my promise to drop the tag titles (despite management dropping the ball on their promises toward my partner and I so many times!). My partner wasn’t there for two good reasons:
a) he’s got a future ahead of him, which is more that can be said about the rest of the management. So he had to prepare his final exams.
b) he was maybe smarter than me, in the sense he felt he shouldn’t give them anymore courtesy since they barely ever did, so he stayed home.
For the record, it takes A LOT for us to be prick ourselves toward promoters. We can tolerate one or two broken promises, given unforeseen circumstances may arise. There is no such thing as « unforeseen circumstances » beyond 4+ times you don’t stand up to your own word. Imagine up to 10, now.
As the day started, I gave a call to a female wrestler who was booked to wrestle over there as well. Guaranteed booking, guaranteed payoff, management really, really want her to wrestle (it’s important for a few paragraphs later). Only problem: no lift. Not a problem, we can drive you there and drive you back home. Awesome! The girl was really sick the night before, liver problem. Before that, she just got doctor’s clearance for wrestling again as she had a broken arm on top of that. As she’s fine now, she also mentioned that doing 3 hours road trip only to wrestle in front of 25 people isn’t her cup of tea, especially given the circumstances (city where there’s nothing to do / nothing ever happens, for instance). It’s true, it’s not really fun. But in front of 200-300 people in an arena, that’s great!
I tell her that although it’s just an hour ride, it’s going to be my last night working for them. We had no real reasons to go, except… we like wrestling. Not as marks, like a lot of wrestlers out there. But as workers. We love to give the crowd a show for the sake of giving a show, not to inflate our personal egos for whatever reasons. It doesn’t mean, however, that we’ll just stand and take crap from piss poor productions. Why should anyone ?
« Let me freshen up and I’ll call when I’m ready. ». An hour later, and we planned to leave another two hours after her call, she does. We pick her up quickly and leave for the venue, which is just one hour away from home. It beats three hours away!
So that evening, I was asked instead to do a match where I am a face, my Ace in the hole is a face, despite being built as strong heels last show (the three hours ride one). I said ok, because I was resolve that this would be the last time I’d work for them and that it was a new crowd. More on that in a moment.
The female wrestler ? She’s being told: « Oh, I’m not sure you’re booked anymore… » SAY WHAT ?? Yup, says 350. On that matter, I gave him a cold glare once I started greeting and telling his partners and my fellow workers: that’s it, that’s my last night with you guys. Consequence: he wanted me to job my match. FINE, MAKE ME JOB! It doesn’t matter since I’m out of your company anyway! Free of charge! Sorry for being a man of my word! Especially since I came to drop the tag belts, even on my own alone if I must, against the guys I feud with, because, and I insist, I came out there to give THEM the fulfillment of the previous agreement! What part of « I’m professional » don’t you understand, you fn’ mark ??
(let me take a breather here, folks…)
In between all this, the three other partners asked to see me in private.
One of them: Is this really going to be your last night ?
Me: Yes.
One of them: Why ?
Me: Aside from everything that we already discuss… why the hell are there some guys, they get whatever they ask by the snap of a finger. Guys have to do what they’re asked to be done, unless it really, like really kill their characters and their gimmicks, even.
One of them: Like what ?
I explain to them there was a couple of heel turns which resulted the roster to be overstock with heels, thus not enough face, thus a nightmare for bookings, because guys have more fun “being heels”. In short words, I detailed more on the mismanagement. For crying out loud, they greet back with a red carpet guys that no-shows constantly and also failed on their words for work they promise they’d do but never did. Do I need to proceed further on that matter?
One of them: What you’re trying to say is that you can’t stand the company being so mislead.
Me: Look, I’m disgusted when you guys are used as scapegoat for that 350 piece of shit, who tries to justify his action (which, I kid you not, WERE! They also put money in it, only to see it go to waste? Nah, even though it’s not my money, it’s little things like such as this that makes the business look like a joke!).
Me (again): Look, I’m here to drop the tag title…
One of them: you’ve been frank and honest with us to come and speak up your mind instead of no-showing and keep the belt to yourself (thank god he didn’t knocked my partner off!).
Of course, I gave you the short, but necessary version.
This is how bad it got: regulars now are coming there when they have nothing better to do on Saturday nights. 350 even asked a backyarder to come and wrestle because his roster decreased so much. Said backyarder has swine flu, though. Get well soon (I am not saying this out of spite and mockery, because he at least want to get trained properly).
The point is: way, way, way too many federations are ran like the one I just quit this past week-end. And it’s these feds that are going to be pointed by the finger, have people saying: “this IS wrestling?!?”, as opposed to the good ones out there who either don’t get exposed enough or are compared to the bad ones regardless. And they are at least ten bad feds that their purpose is to push themselves and their friends, versus those who want to help out talent and want to make money…
Back to the booking of last Saturday, the female wrestler tried something in the ring, then realized she was scared. In reality, she didn’t feel her adrenalin coming in. I say this because she later on during the evening, she bumped in thumbtacks before the live crowd without any problems. So no, I don’t think she was scared, I think she needed a bit of a boost. Sometimes, that’s all you need. Her booking was managing a paper champion, but that was the point: her job was to make HIM look good and she didn’t. Le sigh…
Here was my booking for the evening in details: I teamed with one of the worse wrestler in the province, but to give him credit, he tries hard to be both entertaining and to show people he’s having a good time in the ring, so should they. Our opponents, a guy I meant to face for a while now and another who returns to the ring after an 8 months hiatus. I know tons of people who would complain and ask for a better match, ESPECIALLY since it’s their last night. Or use this excuse to get a major title push. Screw ‘em and screw it, just shut up and make the best out of it. I still had to face one worker I meant to face for a while. All I cared was still having a good match. Not because I was screwed by the federation over and over that fans should be screwed.
Surprise, surprise, 350 calls out the meeting and makes a terrible mistake: despite announcing he’s stepping down as a booker, as he was still in charge that night, he still booked wrestlers who specifically said MORE THAN A WEEK prior the show, that they’d be there after the break. Same said wrestlers told management they’d be there minimum one hour after the show starts. In term of bookings on the spot, according to 350, their match was 30 minutes into the show – how can you be so “could-care-less” and oblivious to what people say ? Oh, and he books himself to win over the hometown heroes… what a genius.
Anyway, we had no set time limit, but we all look at each other saying: “fuck it, we’re not gonna argue… let’s make it a 20 minutes instead of a 8-10 min”. I told management that we all agreed that my match will last minimum 20 minutes, in order to give time to the other wrestlers to come by in time. As we went to the finish, we were asked to go even longer. Now, this gets interesting, somehow…
Why ?
Keep in mind I was a heel for the last couple of shows, one of the most over as well. Some of audience heeled me out, but other cheered me because they didn’t know who I was and worked face. So, the crowd didn’t believed the match at all because my tag partner of the evening was doing too much comedic heels stuff instead of being underdog face, as he should have. The other guy who didn’t wrestled for 8 months showed a lot of rust, but it was feasible to cover up. The crowd did little to no reaction… until I started to chop the shit out of “ring rust” (sorry about calling you “ring rust”, buddy! Although I don’t think you’ll read my article). The other opponent was a joy to work with. Hope to work a match soon or even a program… although not in the foreseeable future, eh ?
So yeah, I notice that besides some cheating from here and there, what seems like to be hard punches, hard kicks, hard chops… now, that got a reaction! Snap Suplex, Double Foot Stomp, four x-factors in a row (which killed the match almost), nada, no reaction. But a long and stiff chop fest, as it was me up against “Ring Rust” that got the crowd to react. I’m considered a big boy and Ring Rust is much bigger than me. Point being: I chop him once, he chops me back. From there, we go back in forth. He sells as if he’s hurt, I sell it as if I’m getting mad. It’s simple, maybe too simplistic… yet it worked perfectly. And that’s the point, go with what works. The crowd wanted aggressiveness, we give them aggressiveness!
When I finally pinned Ring Rust, the crowd pops, as if we won a hard fought victory. Faces pose for the crowd, get genuine pops. Cool! Ace in the hole and I go back, partner of the evening gets attacked by sour losers. We then get the heavyweight champion, since he’s the “Partner of the evening’s real partner. People fully understood I was a face there.
Now, I KNOW it sounds confusing when I use nick names. I do this to avoid some BS along the line of: “oh, he’s talking about you”, while, really, I’m using an example based off something I lived in order to elaborate a point about how to run a fed the wrong way and how to be professional despite not receiving the same courtesy from management. So no need to point fingers and to name anybody, right ? Plus, it sucks for the people involved, considering that all are good people, save you-know-who.
Off the record, I was ready to punch 350 in the face, first thing I come in. But he has a wife (which is hard to believe, but still wish them an happy and fulfilled life) and good kids, so I restrained myself from doing so. Ace in the hole wants to continue with them. Sure, especially since management has a new booker, who knows where it will go. I still have hope for this fed, but for the time being, I still calls it quit. I will focus my career on other venues.
As I was saying good-byes and be polite about why I’m leaving, I notice a lot of people were sad to see me leave. C’est la vie, mes amis. We were screwed by an 250 pounds 2 years old asshole in the body of a 25 years old one who gets an hard-on on hardcore wrestling, we just vowed “never again” will we be screwed by small time promoters.
I know the old saying and so do you: never say never. They owe us lots of money, but making up for the lack of respect received would be more important. For now, our patience has run out. Actually, it has run out a while ago.
They say they would make it up for 350’s mistakes. They kinda already did it by kicking his fat ass out of the booking committee (and only the booking committee), although I didn’t ask for it AT ALL. Truth: I never ordered anybody to kick him out of the booking. I just said that his booking constantly sucks major balls, for THIS and THAT reason. It’s HIS fed IN PART, he can do what he wants with it, but if I don’t like something and I find out I got a legit good reason, to hell with it, I will speak my mind, because at the end, I want to be part of something successful, that we can all enjoy. And if I don’t like, heck, it was nice working for you but that’s it for me.
This fed’s nick name isn’t a pleasant one and over the passing months, it seemed they were more deserving of it rather than take initiative and proving their detractors wrong. We tried to help them out with advices that anybody else used and as feedbacks, it worked wonder.
I’d rather be delighted with a work well done and losing a match than win a match throughout a piss-ass performance. This includes giving advices. We (because so does my real tag team partner) enjoy giving advices and, I believe it or not, we don’t want nothing in return… expect not to be screwed. Not even one bit.
The next time I ever talk about this remain to be unnamed fed, is if I make one more appearance for them. Because granted, at the time of my decision, I didn’t expect 350 to be stepping down, let alone so quickly. But even if I do, it will not for a long time… to say the least.
Extra!, Extra! – Next !BANG! TV Taping – New Year’s Eve – Femme Fatales Gauntlet Match Inside a Steele Cage
Dragon Gate USA BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND SALE (one-time-only offers!!!)
La Zona Radio, Ecuador
Artwork by “Hollywood” Xavier
ESTE SABADO, PREVIO AL EVENTO EN EL PALACIO DE CRISTAL, “LA ZONA” SERA INVADIDA POR LOS MIEMBROS DOMINANTES DE LA EMPRESA “ROW”, LA FUERZA V (ANTHRAX Y BLASTER), QUE ESTARN ACOMPAÑADOS POR SU MALEFICA LIDER, LA AMBICIOSA Y MALEFICA FABULOSA SCARLETT, NO TE PUEDES PERDER ESTE EPISODIO DE “LA ZONA” POR WWW.RADIOMAKRODIGITAL.COM A PARTIR DE LAS 14:30 HASTA LAS 16:00, UNETE A LA TRANSMICION Y DESCUBRE QUE SECRETOS MALEFICOS TENDRAN CONTRA EL RETADOR “EL COYOTE” ALTAIR GARZERANT EN RUTA A LA DEFENSA DEL TITULO MUNDIAL ROW DE PARTE DE MR. ANTHRAX
TE PUEDES UNIR TAMBIEN X MEDIO DEL CHAT DE LA PAGINA O AGREGARNOS AL MSGR DE ZONA EN LA DIRECCION: RADIOZONADELUCHA@HOTMAIL.COM
TE ESEPRAMOS!!!!!!
IYH Wrestling Radio – Dirty Dutch Mantel
IYH Wrestling Radio with special guest Dirty Dutch Mantel – discussing his new book The World According to Dutch…Be there !!
| Date: |
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
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| Time: |
8:05pm – 11:05pm
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Women of the Independents
By Ludevig
Women Superstars Uncensored
Excellence DVD
October 3, 2009
ACE Arena
Union City, NJ
I won this DVD in a competition run on www.snapmare.com This 2 Disc set begins strongly with a dressing room brawl between Rain and Angel Orsini to help build momentum for their Uncensored Match later in the show.
A couple of promos by Cindy Rogers and Malia Hosaka leads to the first match. A good old school style match opens the show. I had to question the placing of this match as the opener for several reasons. Firstly Malia Hosaka is from the initial WSU Hall of Fame (alongside Missy Hyatt and Sherri Martel) yet is placed in the first match of the night. Being a Hall of Famer Malia is in a Face role yet so is Cindy Rogers so we have a Face vs Face match to open. Both these wrestlers are very accomplished in the ring but have to open the show when the following matches are lesser-known wrestlers. Malia Hosaka excels as a Heel in SHIMMER and other promotions yet has to alter her style and interaction with the crowd into an almost obligatory Face role. With no heat between the two it is difficult for them to build a strong reaction out of the crowd. Now if Rogers had gone Heel in this one it would have given the crowd a Heel to boo and a Face to cheer for. Saying that though they do deliver a match with an old school feel with a lot of ground work, running the ropes but avoid climbing the buckles. Apart from a couple of small moments where timing was slightly off this match is a solid opener.
Malia Hosaka wins with a modified rolling Sunset Flip style pin and the crowd give her a good response afterwards.
Next up are promos by Jana and Jennifer Cruz
Jana is a great Heel in this company. Working over her opponent with a grinding assault while Jennifer Cruz weathers the storm. Jana has a good move where she does a handspring into a splash. Mocking the crowd and her opponent at every opportunity Jana shows a lot of promise as a great Heel. When it comes to moves Jana does not do a lot but what she does do she does very well, solid bumping and her timing of when and where to put moves and spots works well and her interaction with the crowd and her opponent is classic old school Heel on every level. Jana wins this one by Tapout.
Jana shone in this short bout, she has what it takes to be a top level Heel for WSU. Her mocking of the interviewer in her interview after the match delivers a short but simple message to her opponent for the following taping.
Now what occurs next is an absolute shambles.
Missy Hyatt comes out to do a Missy’s Manor. As soon as she hits the ring she asks the crowd to “Throw me up a Gang sign” which goes over the fans heads. She then delivers a promo about the roster. A Heelish style promo on the roster about their weight, mismatched ring gear and lack of makeup then one girl who does ask her for advice and career guidance is brought up who she proceeds to put over.
(*Quick note to any and all Female Wrestlers out there. Is Missy Hyatt the person to go to for career advice? If you say yes then I have a follow up question. Name me one great promo, interview or match Missy was involved in? She is the Paris Hilton of the wrestling world by being famous for doing nothing)
That one girl is Becky Bayless, fresh out of jail on a DUI charge (Legit charge and legit arrest) she greets Missy in the ring and they begin to cut a FACE promo? Where does this break down? Well Missy has just dressed down the locker room, the one person she promotes is Becky who just got out of jail on a DUI charge then together they cut a Face promo. This shambolic mess gets worse as Rick Cataldo comes out. He is WSU’s resident super overly Gay character.
(* I have to step into the middle of this review and rant a little if I may.
Why is it that every Male Gay character in wrestling in the United States is a Heel or Bad Guy? Need evidence? When Goldust first appeared on WWF TV he was a Heel, Billy and Chuck were Heels till it was revealed as a publicity stunt, Lodi and Lenny Lane, Exotic Adrian Street, even Too Much in WWF before they became Too Cool wore Pink Biker helmets which may or may not have been symbolic of male genitalia. What do they all have in common? Gay themed gimmicks and all were Heels. Then genuinely gay wrestlers like Orlando Jordan and Chris Kanyon get blackballed out of WWE when it came out they were gay and were jobbed out badly. Anyone remember Kanyon dressed as Boy George while Undertaker destroyed him?
This is 2009 folks, some stereotypes in wrestling hit too close to home for some viewers. Race, Religion and Sexual preference have no place in Wrestling anymore. It is not fair to any Gay fans to not have someone they can cheer for when the majority of the fans and the storyline dictates that they are bad guys.
Why were Lodi and Lenny Lane viewed as Heels on WCW programming? Because they were seen as Homosexual by a Southern crowd. That is disgraceful. Johnny B Badd when he first came in was indirectly hinted at as to being Gay or feminine. It has to stop as it misrepresents a section of our society. What’s next? Female wrestlers coming out wearing Burkhas?
I am offended by this as much as I am offended that any wrestler of Middle Eastern origin is automatically treated as an enemy of the U.S.
I am neither Gay or of Middle Eastern origin myself but it is offensive in it’s nature and the message it sends is neither helpful nor sympathetic to any cause. Rant Over!
Rick Cataldo and Becky then proceed to have a horrible match, which is won by Becky. Rick is a Manager and worked a horrible style, which got a “You can’t wrestle” chant from the crowd. This did nothing more than to get the message across that Missy is Becky’s Manager/Advisor. Horrible to witness.
Next up are promos by Sassy Stephanie and Amber O’Neal.
Amber is a SHIMMER mainstay while Sassy Stephanie has worked SHIMMER’s pres-how SPARKLE on several occasions. Amber works her Heel gimmick perfectly, mouthing off to anyone and no one in particular. Stephanie counters Amber’s Heel antics with solid wrestling. With a hopeful name change Sassy Stephanie is one to watch out for on the Independent wrestling scene as she is a solid in ring performer, bumps well and sells well. More interaction with the crowd would benefit her greatly. Amber pulls out some nice submission moves in this one, which is outside her usual repertoire. You can tell by this match that Stephanie has been watching Madusa/Alundra Blayze matches as her comeback is patterned after Madusa’s offence. Amber wins with a beautiful Backslide with a Bridge combo. The first standout match of the event.
Next up is shambles #2 of this DVD. Latasha vs Leah Morrison for Latasha’s Spirit Championship.
Latasha is 4′10″ tall but looks even smaller when in the ring as her head is level with the top turnbuckle. A handshake and collar and elbow tie up start things well before it drops to the territory of “Why is this a title match and why did anyone book this?” as they blow spots all over the place. Horrible timing, bad selling and sloppy execution of moves drags this down so far so quickly. What makes it even worse is the fact that Jana from match #2 comes down for the inevitable sneak attack. Well it would be a sneak attack if she didn’t sit on the floor for almost 3 minutes in front of the hard camera so every hard camera shot has Jana in shot giving away the eventual sneak attack.
If I woke up with my face sewn to the carpet I would be having more fun than watching this match for a second or third viewing.
The sneak attack leads to a DQ finish then a challenge for a 3-way match for the Spirit title between Jana, Latasha and Leah Morrison.
Would I want to see that 3 way? I’d rather hiccup and vomit in my own mouth than see where they went with this 3 way.
Terrible in every sense of the word.
Next up is a highlight video showing the backstory between Angel Orsini and Rain, which is a nice touch. Showing how things led to their Falls Count Anywhere match.
If you have seen Rain before (AKA Ms Payton Banks in TNA) then you know she is an awesome Heel but also a gifted performer who also knows where and when to do something in the match.
Angel Orsini is pretty good but could do well with a change of ring gear as shorts, t-shirt and what look like ankle high sneakers do nothing for her.
After the highlight video is the WSU Tag Title match between defending Champs Hailey Hatred and Jessicka Havoc against Alicia and Brooke Carter.
A very heated contest verbally between the 2 teams with a lot of physically stiff stuff thrown in. Brooke Carter and the team of Hatred and Havoc shine in this one. Alicia would do to lose some excess weight as she is skilled in the ring but after watching I would say her weight may become an issue as she tags in and out quickly and Brooke Carter carries the bulk of the match for their team. After Carter is pinned in a slightly messy way Rick Cataldo comes out and ends up signing Brook Carter as his first wrestler under his manager license. A really fun match with heated back and forth action is brought down with Rick Cataldo’s angle at the end. Brooke changes her name and attacks Alicia to finish the segment.
On a side note I have to ask WSU this. Was the excessive cussing and swearing necessary in this match and resulting angle?
From there we get a promo from Rain and the Angel Orsini (a cuss filled one which shows her lack of mic skills whereas Rain delivers a solid, intelligent interview while walking around a room and getting a bottle of water from a cooler. Rain can walk and talk and use props which is harder than you would think)
This match is under Uncensored rules meaning Falls Count Anywhere, no DQ and weapons are legal.
This is very heated with stiff shots from both wrestlers. Rain’s gear looks amazing and she keeps herself in fantastic shape. Angel is a solid performer but my only grips is the amateur ring gear in this one. This has a brawl through the crowd, very painful looking slams in the seating along with throwing each other into the metal chairs. Both Women definitely were hurting the next day that’s for sure.
They both succeeded in getting the (small) crowd involved in this one with their stellar work in and out of the ring. This is testament to their talent as they deliver even though the crowd is under 100 (maybe even under 50)
A very painful moment comes when Rain tries to chop Angel and Angel moves resulting in Rain chopping the ring post and you hear the impact of it. This match alone made me more of a fan of Rain and want to see more of Angel Orsini (which is the best result either could get from the match, interest in seeing more of their work)
Solid delivery on both sides in this one as they even go to the merchandise table (covered in DVDs) where Rain slams Angel onto the DVDs then slams a chair into her leg repeatedly.
I would not be surprised if this match ends up on a Best Of DVD for both wrestlers or even for WSU. It is non-stop from start to finish and thoroughly enjoyable, more so on second and third viewings.
Rain wins with an Impact DDT onto a chair in the ring for a 1,2,3. Good stuff by both in this one.
Now we come to the Main Event of the evening. For the WSU World Heavyweight Championship. Mercedes Martinez defending against Portia Perez.
Promo by Perez leads directly into the match. Two SHIMMER wrestlers going at it for a Heavyweight title.
Some very nice back and forth action in the early going showing each other’s talents with Martinez going to the ropes to keep things at a slower pace. Portia plays up to the crowd during the moments where Mercedes is in the ropes to Mercedes ‘s amusement.
Then they get down to it.
Quite frankly this is the best showing I have seen out of Portia Perez as she avoids jawing with the crowd and focus’s strictly with trying to outwrestle Mercedes in this match. Martinez delivers wicked chops to the diminutive Perez throughout the bout to weaken Portia Perez but Perez stays in it playing the underdog to Mercedes’s taller and stronger status.
This match would not be out of place on a SHIMMER DVD release with what both Martinez and Perez deliver in the ring. This one doesn’t fall into Face vs Heel or Face vs Face or even Heel vs Heel territory but into that rare category of two wrestlers doing their best against each other and hardly acknowledging the crowd for support but letting what they do in the ring dictate to the crowd their reaction.
Perez even pulls out the Code Red/Green made famous by Amazing Red/Mschif in their respective promotions. Mercedes Martinez defends the title with a nice switch from blocking a running knee strike into her patented Fisherman’s Buster for the pinfall.
Rain interrupts the celebration with a challenge to the winner Mercedes which causes Portia Perez to get the mic and stand up for Mercedes then challenge Rain to a match at the next WSU show. Rain brings out Hatred and Havok from earlier to attack Mercedes and Perez until Angel Orsini charges in with a chair to bring to a climax this show with the Main Event delivering in a solid match then leading to the next show with Mercedes and Orsini challenging Hatred and Havok while Perez sets up to fight Rain.
Apart from some problems I had with the booking (Malia Hosaka vs Rogers as opener and the whole Missy Hyatt/Becky Bayless/Rick Cataldo angle I enjoyed this show. Some minor grumbles about the editing (*not to WSU production and editors – Do not edit it to cuts from cameras where the camera is not focused on the action while the cameraman is repositioning, it takes away from the action.)
Was this on par with SHIMMER releases? No but it was an enjoyable show. If you skip the matches after Malia Hosaka vs Rogers and go into the show from the Amber O’Neal vs Sassy Stephanie match onwards then this event is fun. The fact that the Missy Hyatt stuff and Latasha vs Morrison debacle are so close together on the card makes the middle of the show cringe worthy.
Trust me when I say skip through those moments. Another thing I would say is the Commentary, though insightful to the WSU storylines is maybe some more excitement delivered, though the small crowd made it virtually silent at times the Commentators could have put in the effort to make it all the more enjoyable for the viewer.
Will these flaws stop me from buying further WSU products? No as they use wrestlers I like. But if the camera work is the same and the booking and structure of the cards is the same then I would start to question where I spend my money as a fan.
On the whole though I would say this was a pretty good introduction for me to the world of Women Superstars Uncensored.
For more info and where to get a copy of this DVD go to www.WSUwrestling.com
UKW Saturday Night Mayhem, Episode 4, Retribution, 20/11/09
UKW Saturday Night Mayhem, Episode 4, Retribution, 20/11/09 is now Live on the UKW-TV Page:
UKW Presents Saturday Night Mayhem Episode 4 Retribution, Featuring the Double Main Event, the UKW Tag Team Championship and the UKW Championship are both on the line, the debut of Phantom Inc.’s Executive Suite, the first appearence by ‘Hades’ and the 3 qualifying matches for the ‘Dream Ticket Match’ at The December Bash 18th December 2009 & much more.
