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May 5, 2008 Belle of the Brawl Where the hell is Tanya Lee? I have to start off with that question, although the same can be applied to Natalia, Jana, and Amber. Without those four long time WWW stars, the Belle of the Brawl show turned out to be a showcase for the newest WWW talent. Sammi Lane and Roxie Cotton were back, big plusses. Taeler, the newest WWW girl, was also pretty good. We like all of these newcomers and hope they hang around for the long haul. In solo matches and in the Belle of the Brawl Royal Rumble style match, all of the participants, including Luscious Latasha, Elektra Arion and the reliable favorites Mistress Belmont and Della Morte put on fun performances. I liked how Roxie Cotton threw in the classic Road Dogg tactic of wrapping herself around the bottom rope to avoid elimination (didn't work, she was the first one out.) Della whipped out a nasty looking submission move that she neglected to use in the main event. And it was too damn bad the irresistible force of Sammi Lane ran into the immovable object of Della Morte twice and came up on the short end. We're waiting on Sammi to get her first win. The other big plus is WWW Champion Ariel and her manager what's his name, Carlito #2. They were pretty awesome. I sure didn't expect the newly heel WWW Champion to play for comedy but their act is quite entertaining. And I'll give Sideshow Bob a lot of credit: he's good on the stick. The guy can cut an entertaining promo, almost giving (the conservatively attired this time) Sean Gorman a run for his money as a heel manager. Carlito called and he still wants his hair back. Belle of the Brawl was a cool concept (and had a real nice poster) but overall, this latest WWW show wasn't one of their best efforts. The show seemed to work by the numbers. With none of the girls in the ring to pose for polaroids, the intermission seemed to last forever. There were no great matches, nothing memorable enough to tide us all over until whenever the next show is like Ariel vs. Lexxus was at the 2nd Anniversary. Even Sheldon seemed to doze off during the show. The rumble match was fun and all the girls busted their asses, but the main event was a letdown. Lexxus was shuffled down the card in order to give Della Morte her first shot at the title, which was fine. Della deserved a crack at the belt for time served. However, the fat drunk in the front row Ariel rightfully shoved seemed to usurp the heat of the main event. Lexxus' run in at the end felt like a token placeholder for the rematch we should have had this show in front of the WWW crowd as opposed to being held in front of the NECW crowd. (Maybe in a cage. I believe the girls said at the March luncheon they were game to work a cage match.) Hopefully we'll get the Lexxus vs. Ariel rematch at the next WWW show. WWW shows historically live and die by their main events. At the end of the day, the Della vs. Ariel showdown unfortunately fell short of last month's Lexxus vs. Ariel barnburner, as well as the awesome main events Tanya Lee, Lexxus, Nikki Roxx and Ariel put together in the past. As much as (I hate to admit) I'm enjoying Ariel's run as WWW Champion (because I loathe her so much -- thanks for the autograph by the way, Ariel), besides Lexxus, there don't seem to be any main event-ready babyfaces for her to defend against. Roxie's too new and Amber and Natalia are MIA. I'm not saying Lexxus should get her belt back, but Lexxus should get her belt back. March 9, 2008 WWW 2nd Anniversary Honestly, I didn't think there would be a 2nd anniversary. Featured matches on NECW events aside, World Women's Wrestling essentially disappeared off the map for about six months. Right after a gangbusters show where the face/heel landscape of the promotion was restructured back in September, WWW pretty much stopped cold. It wasn't their fault. They were beseiged with a slew of wrestlers leaving the company: Nikki Roxx is now Roxxie Leveaux full time in TNA, Alicia and Kayla Sparks retired, Alere Little Feather is injured, and Violet Flame departed at the last show. This meant that the biggest star and newly minted top heel in the promotion was gone, the other potential top heel hung up her boots, and with Kayla gone, so essentially are the Diva Killaz, one third of the burgeoning tag team division. This left WWW Champion Lexxus, Ariel, former champion Tanya Lee, Natalia, and Jana as headliners with a depleted undercard roster. Then in the announced March 9th card for the 2nd Anniversary show, neither Tanya Lee nor Natalia were booked. Things didn't look so good. Well, things turned out all right. As Donald Rumsfeld might have put it, "you go to war with the [roster] you have, not the [roster] you wish you have." After six months, it was finally time for the show to go on. While the WWW 2nd Anniversary show lacked its former star power on paper, the remaining stalwart headliners Lexxus and Ariel put forth another amazing effort in the main event. Meanwhile, some new stars were made in what turned out to be a very entertaining undercard. It wasn't WWW's best show, but it was a pretty good one all things considered. Ariel finally became WWW Champion, ending Lexxus's 7 month reign. First of all, I was right not to cheer Ariel. We had a fun little back and forth about it during intermission and before her match. I didn't know what was in store, but my instincts were right. I was rooting for Lexxus because I didn't think her title run was ready to end and she's always seen as an underdog against Ariel. So I picked my side. Turned out Ariel doesn't want to be cheered after all. She's a heel again and this is the role she's best at. Ariel chafed a bit as a babyface this past year. She wasn't as effective as she was as the ruthless asskicker who forked Nikki Roxx's forehead bloody two summers ago. That's the Ariel we want to see, and now she's back. That's awesome. Heel Ariel is awesome. Ariel and Lexxus both being babyfaces going into their main event match tonight seemed to paralyze the crowd. You gotta have someone to cheer and someone to boo, it's wrestling 101. Loved the early chain wrestling where Lexxus told Ariel "not close enough" on her pinfall attempts. Look at the confidence Lexxus has now. Meanwhile, Ariel's trademark aggression during the match was subtle enough where an outright heel turn wasn't telegraphed. The angle with her "stalker" or whomever being in cahoots with Ariel and superkicking Lexxus so she could get the pin was a bit confusing. That angle was the least interesting aspect of the main event, but it cemented what needed to be cemented: the old Ariel is back and she's now the champion of WWW. Lexxus is tougher than a two dollar steak, King. The bump on her head she took on the floor during her hurricurana off the platform was cringe-inducing. I genuinely feared for her health. Then she took another sick bump off the stage when she and Ariel crashed on the floor. (Referee "Ruthless" Rich Bass kept barking at them to get back in the ring. Dude, chill out. They're hurt. They needed time to recover!) Lexxus just completing the match after the punishment she took was impressive but both Ariel and Lexxus were total pros in completing the match, switching the title and selling the accompanying angle. I've said it before and I'll say it again, what Lexxus has done in the last year, the effort she put forth going from the undercard to the main event, has been outstanding. There is an entirely different level of performance expected of main eventers in WWW, especially from the WWW Champion. Ariel is already proven bona fide and now so is Lexxus. She has more than lived up to the standard. And hopefully, she's not so hurt from the bumps she took in this match that she can keep on improving, reclimb the mountain, and get that WWW Championship back. All told, it was an excellent match from both ladies. Glad to say the undercard turned out better than I thought: Amber is finally back and she's better than ever. The Amber who made her comeback tonight after so many months was a firebrand. Her speed and aggression were lightyears beyond what she'd shown in the past. The "new" Amber is great. Also, there's both less of her to love and more of her to love and that ain't not bad. Della Morte, Jana, and Mistress Belmont are always consistently good. Jana worked more of a comedy match than expected against Della, but she cheated and got the win anyway. That's our Jana. Della and Belmont (hope I didn't offend Belmont in the Q&A -- I just had never heard her talk before and it totally threw me) seem to have accepted being babyfaces. All three are veteran hands now that we look forward to seeing. Totally dug all three of the new WWW girls who debuted. Most of all, Jeff, Lance and I really enjoyed meeting Sammi Lane, who stayed after the luncheon Q&A and chatted with us. She's got the heel thing down, playing for comedy until she and Amber started fighting on the floor and tore into each other hardcore. Who'd have guessed such a sweet girl out of the ring could turn into such a devious jezebel, King? Sammi's awesome. Roxxie Cotton has a great character. (Loved the ring entrance: "From the nearest mall...") Anyone who can instantly annoy the entire crowd the moment she starts talking is gold with me. And she's a babyface. Who knew? Compared to Roxxie, Barbie was relatively low key but she clearly brought her working boots. Barbie doesn't look like a Barbie doll so she's oddly named, but she and Roxxie beat the crap out of each other all around the ring. Here's hoping all three girls stay with WWW in the future. WWW needs new blood and they were a breath of fresh air. (And that's what we call mixing metaphors). It'd been so long since we booed Rob Tuttle out of the building, I forgot how much fun it is. You suck, Tuttle! And as far as I'm concerned, no one gets beat up by women and shows ass better than Sean Gorman. It can't happen enough for me. All in all, it was great to be back at a WWW show. I especially enjoyed the return of the hardcore-style action during the tag match and main event that WWW does so well. Let's do it again sometime sooner than six months, huh? And next time, with Tanya and Natalia too. |
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