January 18th, 2019
Champion Santana Garrett enters the ring. Santana is thrilled to be here tonight as it’s the debut on AXS TV, along with her father being in the front row. Out comes Tessa Blanchard in her street clothes, mentioning her dad and his legacy. She says Santana’s dad probably laced Tully’s boots and carried his bag. Tessa believes Santana should be doing those same things to her! Tessa doesn’t care that she came to interrupt, she came out because she wants the WOW Championship. David McLane asks Tessa to leave, and she needs to work her way up to earn a title shot. Before Tessa leaves the arena, Santana says she doesn’t see any of Tessa’s dad’s here and then tells Tessa to get to the back of the line! Good opening segment to focus on our first title feud.
A video package is shown to recap Abeline Maverick tricking Stephy Slays in having a match with The Beast, only for The Beast to jump her and the match never happened. Stephy has asked for a match, and that’s happening next!
The Beast vs. Stephy Slays
Good little match here, mostly a showcase for The Beast and proving just how beastly she is. Stephy Slays asked for this match, and was a really good underdog with a nice kickout out of the Air Raid, only to get dominated there after. I’m not a big fan of the crowd cheering for The Beast, as this should’ve been time for Stephy to get over. The Beast has some potential, but this match was a little botchy at times.
Winner: The Beast
Match Rating: NR
Another video package, this one for “The Girl on Fire” Kiera Hogan! This was really great, as Kiera was mostly left alone as a kid because she wanted to be a wrestler, but she kept fighting and eventually got to this point.
Abeline Maverick vs. Fire
You’re probably more familiar with these two as Barbi Hayden and Kiera Hogan. Anyways, this was a really good back and forth match, with Fire being super over but in the end Barbi picked up the win. They got some good time to work, and the match was never slow or boring. The hot crowd really added to this, as Fire was about to pick up the win, but Abeline Maverick hit a really awesome rope hung DDT to get the win.
Winner: Abeline Maverick
Match Rating: ***
Stephy Slays is getting checked on in the back as Abeline Maverick goes to make fun of her, but Khloe Hurtz (Katie Forbes) walks through and says “It’s Khloe Time!”
Khloe Hurtz vs. Eye Candy
Average match here, the crowd loved Eye Candy, who was really great in this one. They didn’t get a ton of time, but certainly made the most of it. Hurtz impressed as she squatted Eye Candy three times before hitting a Samoan Drop. Eye Candy hit a missle dropkick that made her travel like 3/4 of the way across the ring. In the end, Eye Candy hit a Death Valley Driver and a BEAUTIFUL Moonsault to pick up the win.
Winner: Eye Candy
Match Rating: **1/2
Siren is in a dark and eerie room, she’s lost it all before but now she’s back and has been transformed. Felt like a segment out of Lucha Underground!
Santana Garrett now gets a video package, she didn’t get to see her parents a ton as a kid, but her Dad became a pro wrestler and she got to travel with him a lot. Her friends and Mom didn’t understand why she wanted to become a wrestler, but she pushed through it and got to this point. She’s missed a lot of important days due to wrestling that she won’t be able to get back, but in the end it’s all been worth it. How can you not love Santana Garrett? They recap how Jungle Grrrl lost the WOW Championship, and Santana never pinned her to win the title. Jungle Grrrl has never been pinned in WOW competition, and she finally gets her one-on-one rematch for the title NEXT!
WOW Championship: Santana Garrett (c) vs. Jungle Grrrl
There wasn’t a ton of time for this match, but I honestly loved the overbooking of it. Jungle Grrrl started off by dominating, and then she was primed to hit the Splash, but Santana got out of the way and it looked like she was about to put Jungle Grrrl away. Santana though was distracted by Tessa Blanchard, who had grabbed Santana’s dad on the outside. Santana sprinted out of the ring and chased after Tessa, but didn’t get back into the ring in time, therefore was counted out. Tessa hit the Hammerlock DDT on Santana, followed by Jungle hitting a Jungle Driver to Tessa. Then THE BEAST came out for a staredown with Jungle! Not a great main event, but everything that happened was awesome, and the crowd was insanely hot.
Winner: Jungle Grrrl (via countout)
Match Rating: **1/2
Final Thoughts:
Overall, this was a really entertaining hour, and a successful debut episode for WOW. I came in not expecting a ton, but the crowd was awesome (even if they used fake sound effects at times), and the venue was also really nice. They established a ton of names in this episode, most notably Tessa as the top heel who’s feuding with Santana, and they also set up Jungle Grrrl vs. The Beast, which I’m really looking forward to. The commentary wasn’t the best, but it was far from awful. I don’t have a ton of complaints, other than maybe some of the matches could’ve used a bit more time. In the end, I can’t complain because this was a really good episode and I’m looking forward to more.
Final Rating: 6.8/10