In the time-honored TWB format.
Highlights:
General Observations:
Match of the Night: Kalamity vs. Leva Bates - I have been on an opening match kick lately. I dunno, it used to be that the opener was for the schlubs who couldn't do anything, but rosters are getting to the point where there's talent everywhere. So, when Leva Bates and Kalamity is opening the show for good reason, then it's more of a statement of how good wrestling has gotten rather than an issue of card layout.
Why did this match work as well as it did? Bates came off here as one of the most expressive wrestlers on the planet. Her facial expressions were top notch, telling a story about how the match was going for her without saying too much. Sure, she talked shit during the match too in her own way. My favorite instance of that was when Kalamity was tapping the canvas in an attempt to alleviate the pressure, and Bates yelled "SHE'S TAPPING! SHE'S TAPPING!" Conversely, Kalamity let her angry feet tell her side of the story. Any chance she got, she was kicking the living daylights out of Bates, going forward like destroying those in her path was the thankless job told in the absolute dourness of her face.
It was an interesting contrast in styles with great pacing, a lot of cool moves (Kalamity broke out the Goku-Raku Gatame!), and more than enough theatrical atmosphere to go around. It was also concise, which for an opener has to be the case. LuFisto/Martinez would be the match that got the lion's share of the time. There's something to be said for economy of time, but when you approach a match the way these two did, then anything's possible.
Overall Thoughts: This was my first WSU show, so I really can't say whether they did a good job changing the image or improving on things the old iteration of the company fell short of. However, I have to say that I felt it was an overall positive experience. There is a solid roster in place, anchored at the top by Havok, Martinez, LuFisto, and Belle. Yes, there's some chaff, and yes, some of it is in prominent positions. For example, Savage and Social are two women that didn't impress me at all. I don't know whether I caught Savage on a bad night, but I am not entirely sure how Social continues to be employed between this and her SHIMMER appearances.
There were also some issues with match finishes and layouts. I understand that they needed to tell the half-hour draw story with Lufi and Martinez, but did that have to come at the bereft of the main event? I know that Drew Cordeiro doesn't like three-way matches, but I thought they could have fleshed the main out a little more. The tag match was confusing too, but I at least see why they went the way they did.
But I did really like the show. There was a lot of good wrestling, some good characterization, an infusion of two young wrestlers in Saturyne and Addy Starr who will excel in that environment, and of course, Sammy Geodollno, who is my new favorite manager-type personality. I am on board with WSU as they go full steam ahead, and I'm interested to see where they go from here.
Highlights:
- Sammy Geodollno opened the show backstage unsuccessfully trying to recruit Mercedes Martinez into her employ.
- Leva Bates' cosplay for this match was Billy, Jigsaw's puppet from the Saw movie franchise.
- Even though her get-up was a bit frightening, she couldn't scare up a victory over Kalamity, falling to the Magnum Driver.
- Tina San Antonio reversed out of a Diamond Cutter attempt and pinned Brittney Savage with a rope-assisted schoolgirl.
- Addy Starr won her WSU debut over Jessie "Bonesaw" Brooks with the Sliding D.
- Martinez and LuFisto went 30 minutes without a decisive victor in a knock-down, drag-out brawl. They continued to fight after the match, needing to be pulled apart by the WSU locker room.
- Saturyne earned a WSU contract by beating Niya in a "win and you're in" match.
- After the match, Jennifer Cruz came out from the broadcast position and attacked Niya with her scarf until Jana came from the back to make the save.
- The non-title match between the Tag Champions Sassy Stephanie and Allysin Kay, and the team of Annie Social and Kimber Lee was ruled a no-contest when Lee suffered a knee injury during the match. After the match, Kay attacked the injured leg.
- Marti Belle retained the WSU Spirit Championship over Nikki Addams with a Pedigree.
- In the main event, after Alicia tossed Lexxus from the ring, Jessicka Havok got the surprise roll-up for the victory, defending her WSU World Championship successfully.
- After the match, Geodollno successfully got Bonesaw to hire her as her manager.
General Observations:
- Geodollno cracks me up with how nonchalantly and matter-of-factly she talks about doing hard time for stabbing someone.
- It's really uncanny how creepy Bates looked as as Billy when she had the mask on.
- Bates flexed at Kalamity to start the match. The look of unimpressedness on the latter's face was classic.
- The contrast between both women in this match is staggering. Bates is expressive and emotive. Kalamity is dour and businesswoman-like in the way she just kicks the shit out of people. I liked it.
- Sportswomanship!
- Savage came out for her match to Gangnam Style. It was about the only thing about her I liked all show.
- The Savage/San Antonio match didn't really start out too well for either wrestler. Really sloppy.
- Addy Starr came to the ring in her Allison Danger "Stars 'n Stripes in the Maple Leaf" style combo gear. I wonder if she knew she was paying homage to the First Lady of SHIMMER with that outfit
- Jon Harder explained when the match started that "It won't be a five-star match." The first two or three minutes were spent doing arm wringers, wrist locks, and headlocks.
- Bonesaw busted out a bridging vertical suplex near the beginning of the match. Huge fan of that, because it's probably the hardest suplex to bridge.
- Starr, mostly known for her batshit crazy high flying and pinball bumping, chained together a counter of an Irish whip into a guillotine DDT into a seated full nelson combo butterfly lock. I was very impressed.
- Awesome counter alert: Bonesaw was back first in the corner and tried to put her feet up to kick a charging-in Starr. Starr stopped short, draped Bonesaw across the second rope, then gave her springboard double knees across the abs.
- Man, the LuFisto/Martinez match was DRIPPING with hate. Dripping with it.
- Lufi got the upper hand early, started biting Martinez's forehead, and then razzed the crowd. She's awesome.
- Lufi did Sheamus' signature chest clubs better than Sheamus does.
- If you played a drinking game and drank every time they went into the barrier, you might have died at around the 23 minute mark.
- Martinez broke out the vaginal kick, and I had to cringe. I know women have different equipment down there, but it can't really be all that pleasant. Even so, I just cringe at anyone getting kicked down there out of reflex.
- Simultaneous KO elbows! This really may have been one of the best brawls of the year.
- Lufi's German suplex is so compact because she's so short, but I think that adds to the impact and visual appeal of it.
- Her sharpshooter was so tight here too. I liked it better than even Bret Hart's.
- Interesting that after the draw was announced and they were brawling that the Mafia were the only ones holding back Lufi. She seems to me to be way too bubbly and spunky to be a heel, while the hardened Martinez is a perfect bad guy. Then again, Martinez just got out of a two-year long feud with Havok, so that probably superseded anything else in play.
- Niya/Saturyne started out slow and never really got going, which was a shame because I've seen very lively matches from Saturyne in her short career to date.
- Niya did bust out a pretty sweet looking Northern Lights throw at one point though.
- Sugar Dunkerton sighting! He congratulated Saturyne after her big win.
- Jennifer Cruz attacked Niya after the match because she beat Niya in a loser-leaves-town match, and she was offended that she'd come back. That's good attention to detail.
- Lee and Social turned their backs to the Mafiosi and got vaginal kicks for their trouble. To be fair, Social probably deserved it.
- Whenever I watch a women's wrestling match, no matter how attractive or unattractive a competitor is, I only focus on her looks if she's really terrible. To wit, I wasn't concerned with Lee, Kay, or Stephanie.
- Social wasn't completely worthless. She was able to deliver a vaginal kick as a receipt for earlier in the match.
- It was kind of weird to end a match on a worked leg injury. I'm still not sure how I feel about that, even if it did serve a purpose after the bell was called for.
- Nikki Addams screamed when she came out of the back, and then someone annoying in the crowd kept doing it through the intros. Thank GOD she shut up when the match started.
- Ezavel Sueña came out after the match to taunt Belle. I don't know who she is, but she definitely comes from the Maxine-wear-lingerie-as-gear school of thought.
- Main event time! Havok worked over Alicia early in the match, which allowed Lexxus to escape the ring and grab her WSU Title. I liked that as a psych-out tactic.
- Havok at one point in the match went from a fishhook to a head pound on the mat into biting Lexxus' forehead. It was like a heel cheapshot move trilogy. It was sublime.
- Havok had Lexxus on the top for a superplex, when in sauntered Alicia to powerbomb Havok off the top, resulting in one of those three way spots whose coolness far outweighs the contrivance of it all.
- The announcers spent the whole match stressing that it was an elimination match, but when Havok rolled up Alicia, the bell rang and she escaped with her belt. Someone wasn't on the same page with each other there.
Match of the Night: Kalamity vs. Leva Bates - I have been on an opening match kick lately. I dunno, it used to be that the opener was for the schlubs who couldn't do anything, but rosters are getting to the point where there's talent everywhere. So, when Leva Bates and Kalamity is opening the show for good reason, then it's more of a statement of how good wrestling has gotten rather than an issue of card layout.
Why did this match work as well as it did? Bates came off here as one of the most expressive wrestlers on the planet. Her facial expressions were top notch, telling a story about how the match was going for her without saying too much. Sure, she talked shit during the match too in her own way. My favorite instance of that was when Kalamity was tapping the canvas in an attempt to alleviate the pressure, and Bates yelled "SHE'S TAPPING! SHE'S TAPPING!" Conversely, Kalamity let her angry feet tell her side of the story. Any chance she got, she was kicking the living daylights out of Bates, going forward like destroying those in her path was the thankless job told in the absolute dourness of her face.
It was an interesting contrast in styles with great pacing, a lot of cool moves (Kalamity broke out the Goku-Raku Gatame!), and more than enough theatrical atmosphere to go around. It was also concise, which for an opener has to be the case. LuFisto/Martinez would be the match that got the lion's share of the time. There's something to be said for economy of time, but when you approach a match the way these two did, then anything's possible.
Overall Thoughts: This was my first WSU show, so I really can't say whether they did a good job changing the image or improving on things the old iteration of the company fell short of. However, I have to say that I felt it was an overall positive experience. There is a solid roster in place, anchored at the top by Havok, Martinez, LuFisto, and Belle. Yes, there's some chaff, and yes, some of it is in prominent positions. For example, Savage and Social are two women that didn't impress me at all. I don't know whether I caught Savage on a bad night, but I am not entirely sure how Social continues to be employed between this and her SHIMMER appearances.
There were also some issues with match finishes and layouts. I understand that they needed to tell the half-hour draw story with Lufi and Martinez, but did that have to come at the bereft of the main event? I know that Drew Cordeiro doesn't like three-way matches, but I thought they could have fleshed the main out a little more. The tag match was confusing too, but I at least see why they went the way they did.
But I did really like the show. There was a lot of good wrestling, some good characterization, an infusion of two young wrestlers in Saturyne and Addy Starr who will excel in that environment, and of course, Sammy Geodollno, who is my new favorite manager-type personality. I am on board with WSU as they go full steam ahead, and I'm interested to see where they go from here.
