Hypothetically, if someone were to ask me what the fundamental difference is between men and women’s wrestling, I would say- depth. In an ideal world, male and female wrestlers would receive the same chances in professional wrestling and have ample opportunities to perfect their crowd. Unfortunately, the chances aren’t nearly there for people like Santana Garrett or Kimber Lee or Christina Von Eerie. Many of the women’s promotions use some of the same wrestlers, partially because of location I’m sure, but also because of the talent pool not being as deep for women.
I think it’s a positive for places like WSU and Shine to exist, but in some ways, I feel like the bar is almost set a little too high for a woman’s show. Just as an example, someone like Michael Elgin is wrestling every weekend for various independents across America. He never really got exposed on a national stage until later in his career, and there was never the sense that Elgin got chances, particularly in Ring of Honor, before he was ready. Not to say it doesn’t happen with males too, but the odds are far greater for female wrestlers who aren’t ready for primetime to be used in high profile promotions based on what I’ve seen on the numerous shows I’ve been watching.
In looking at WSU’s Uncensored Rumble 6, you can see where the depth bites the promotion in the ass and cripples whatever hopes they had of putting on a good show. Originally, we were supposed to witness Jessica Havok versus Athena for the heavyweight championship. Neither was able to be a part of this show, so we got a number one contender’s match instead. There was also the Uncensored Rumble match itself, which was a number one contender’s match for the Spirit Championship. There were certainly some highlights on this show, but overall, this is the bottom half of shows I’ve seen out of the independents this year.
The show started out on a negative note with Jenny Rose, an ROH student, going over Christina Von Eerie after some shenanigans from Veda Scott, Sammy Geodano, and Jesse Brooks. Having all those people out for this match was borderline absurd anyway, but the interference hurt what was already a fairly pedestrian match. I think this opener was fairly representative of the whole card in that nothing really stood out, and there was a lot of sloppiness. Now the crowds do seem to be improving size wise, but they’re still not bringing the type of energy to make these shows seem like bigger deals. If WSU is ever going to have hopes for success, they’ve got to find away to separate themselves from that venue. Running doubleheaders likely saves money and allows WSU to survive, but it’s not a long term answer, and I would argue cripples their presentation.
The next match was Annie Social and Kimber Lee becoming the number one contenders (whatever that means since there’s a curse on top contenders in WSU) for the tag team titles over Veda Scott and Jesse Brooks. “Sloppy finish that came completely out of nowhere.” That’s literally the only note I took. Nix that. I wrote Lee kicked Scott in the vagina only because the CZW announcers used a rather inappropriate term which I shan’t repeat in this review. Let’s just say those men should never be allowed on an open microphone ever again (WSU or CZW), and their continued employment might be the most befuddling thing in all of wrestling.
Niya lost a match somewhere in WSU’s past whereby she would no longer be allowed to compete. For whatever reason that was only vaguely alluded to on commentary, she continues to get chances to come back. On this show, she wrestled Jana, a WSU Hall of Famer. So they’re having a match which likely wasn’t very good to begin with given all the awkwardness with their movesets, but then Niya starts stomping Jana in the corner. She doesn’t stop, and the official counts to five, then rings the bell. Yup, it’s the old “disqualified for kicking too much ass” decision. So not only is the match bad, but we get this insulting finish. Niya then begins dropping security and has to be carried out of the ring. This segment lacked purpose big time.
Barbi Hayden and Jewells Malone had an okay match coming off their debuts the night before at WSU’s secret show. At least Hayden won clean. There was even a suggestive pinfall to end the match because apparently women’s wrestling doesn’t create enough of a sexual connotation among horny, male fans.
Seeing Sassy Stephie and Santana Garrett made me relieved. Not even because the match was high art or anything, but at least these two girls had a competent match. Naturally, it went about seven minutes and ended with Stephie hitting Kiss My Sass to pick up the clean win. Given the fact that the main event was pretty much lost, I would have liked to have seen a match like this get a bit of extra time to develop. I’m not saying it would have been good, but it’s extremely difficult to get into a card where all but one match is under ten minutes.
The longest match came next as Addy Starr and Chris Dickinson kind of sort of got to settle their issues once and for all. Their respective partners were CZW’s Matt Tremont and Shanna. Shanna is from Portugual. At **3/4, this was the best match on the show because it told a story and featured a lot of smart physicality from everyone involved. Dickinson and Starr have pretty good chemistry together, and it’s easy to see why he’s been booked on WSU shows despite having the wrong chromosome. Starr picked up the victory as part of her North American farewell tour with some help from Tremont.
Lexxus pinned Navaeh to become the number one contender for the WSU title. Given the injuries which have befallen Athena and LuFisto, my recommendation to Lexxus is to live in a bubble until the bell rings for her match with Jessica Havok. This was a competent if unspectacular match. Lexxus could be a player in WSU given her skill set, but like a good portion of this roster, she just needs tons of ring time to get better. I see the potential in much the same way WSU does, but given the circumstances of the show, I’m not going to sit here and say this was the kind of match where she showed she was on the level of the two people who were unable to make it to Voorhees healthy.
I was dreading the Rumble after watching the rest of the show, but the main event wasn’t nearly as bad I was dreading. The women did a fine job of holding the ropes and teasing eliminations. The lack of a unifying story certainly hurt as to me, the best Royal Rumbles were the ones where fans either had a favorite to follow or an ongoing feud. Because this had neither, and was also for a shot at WSU’s second tier singles championship instead of the heavyweight title, this didn’t feel as meaningful as it could have. Ezavel Suena, who’s had a lot of interaction with Marti Belle, won and became the number one contender. Solid choice given some of the booking.
In case it hasn’t come across, this was not my favorite professional wrestling show of all time. I could argue this was one of the weaker shows I’ve seen this year across the board. WSU has a young roster, but they’re going to need a lot of shows and a lot of ring time before they can even consider themselves at Shimmer’s level. WSU seems to be on the radar a bit more thanks to competent ownership and a relationship with CZW (which regardless of what you think of them is a way better move than trying to be completely on one’s own), I have to believe things will get better after Uncensored Rumble. Having said that, I still wouldn’t buy the MP4 or DVD.
But hey, at least the MiC isn’t in charge anymore.
Grade: D+
**********************************************************************************************************************
-Taped from Vorhees, New Jersey
-Jenny Rose(w/Veda Scott, Sammy Geodano, and Jesse Brooks) defeats Christina Von Eerie/8:15/**
– Annie Social and Kimber Lee defeats Veda Scott and Jesse Brooks (w/Sammy Geodano) by pinfall. Scott was pinned after a double team T-slam /8:10/**1/4
-Jana defeats Niya by disqualification/5:14/DUD
-Barbi Hayden defeats Jewells Malone by pinfall after the DDT/8:49/**
-Sassy Stephie (WSU Tag Team Champion) defeats Santana Garrett by pinfall after Kiss My Sass/7:21/**1/4
-Addy Starr and Matt Tremont defeat Chris Dickinson and Shanna. Starr pinned Dickinson after a series of double teams/13:06/**3/4
–WSU Championship Number One Contender’s Match: Lexxus defeats Naveah by pinfall after a roll-up/9:44/**1/2
Ezavel Suena wins Uncensored Rumble 6/46:10/**1/2
1. Taeler Hendrix, 2. Shanna, 3. Sammy Geodano 4. Cherry Layne, 5. Nikki Adams, 6. Santana Garrett, 7. Kaitlyn Diamond, 8. Jewells Malone, 9. Sassy Stephie, 10. Xandra Bale, 11. Barracuda Britney, 12. Barbi Hayden, 13. Addy Starr, 14. Chris Dickinson, 15. Claudia del Solis, 16. Annie Social, 17. Kimber Lee, 18. Lexxus, 19. Jana, 20. Ezavuel Suena, 21. Samantha St. Paul, 22. Rick Cataldo, 23. Nyla Rose, 24. Jessie Brooks, 25. Naveah, 26. Christina Von Eerie, 27. Jenny Rose, 28.Jodi D’Milo
To purchase this and and all other WSU shows, check out Smart Mark Video or out Highspots link. You can also stream WSU (and some Beyond Wrestling) shows through WSU’s relatively new streaming service.
Contact Pro Wrestling Ponderings!
E-mail: prowrestlingponderings@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProWrestlingPonderings
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pwponderings
Youtube: www.youtube.com/pwponderings
Contact ME!
E-mail: jcusson07@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeromepwpeditor