Wrestlicious Review

I watched the premiere episode of the all female wrestling promotion Wrestlicious last night.

My thoughts......

Okay, without commercials, the show is about 20 minutes.
The first almost five minutes were taken up with the "GLOW style" rap.
I realize this is the pilot, so maybe that won't be the norm, maybe it was just to get you introduced to the characters.
If you notice, most TV shows today have very short intros, or none at all.
I would suggest a much shorter intro.

Then we had a bad GLOW/Hee-Haw type sketch.
Then more dancing and singing with Kandi Kisses (Lizzy Valentine).
I never thought I would say this...but where's Jillian Hall when you need her?
At least she gets interrupted and stopped.
Well they did stop the singing.....

Then we had a swimsuit shoot with Autumn Frost (Jennifer Blake).

Then finally at about the 10:00 mark, we had the first match which was Toni the Top ( Nikki the New York Knockout) versus "Maui".
Is it my imagination or is their ring smaller than regulation?
Or is it the thick pink ropes that make it look that way?
Barbie's Malibu Dream Ring?

Anyway the match was less than two minutes long.
I wont complain about how short the WWE Diva matches are anymore.

Then a sketch.
Then another sketch.

I have to point out here I like Bandita.
Maybe it's because she reminds me of Spanish Red.

Then finally about 12 minutes in, we have the six woman tag team event with Maria Toro (Mercedes Martinez), Bandita, and Felony (Rain) versus Tyler Texas (Lorelei Lee), Cousin Cassie, and Charlotte (Amber O'Neal).
It started out with a lot of over selling and not very impressive wrestling moves.
I think that even though Bandita is a model she might have that "something" that could be trained into a watchable performer in the ring.

BUT, when Felony (Rain) and Tyler Texas ( Lorelei Lee) got into the ring, as JR would say, business picked up.
They proved that even with the silly Halloween costumes and senses assaulting ring, their wrestling skills still showed through.
Now we have our first decent length match.
Classic old school heel ending, and my interest started to pick up just as they went off the air.

I know this is just the first episode, but this needs to be over-hauled big time to be successful.

First I would cut way down on the sketches and singing/dancing.
GLOW had the GLOW Rap, but it only lasted a few seconds (not minutes) before each match.

Two, if you have to have costumes...fine.
Just take them off before the match.
Wrestlicious could easily bring back the sexy one piece wrestling outfit.
Cut right, the suits could be very flattering on these women, without going too far.
Again I go back to Spanish Red.
Remember how hot she looked in a one piece and wrestling boots?
Okay, now I sound like a fashion critic.

Three, fix the ring.
If you want pink ropes, that's cool, but make them regulation ropes so it doesn't look like a Foxy Boxy ring from the 80s.

Four, back to the characters...
In the beginning of women's wrestling, we had women that could wrestle, but weren't that hot.
Then we got hot women that usually couldn't wrestle.
But we are in the 21st century now.
We can have women that are hot, and can wrestle.
You can have the outrageous characters outside the ring, just have them become all business when they get in the ring.

Like I said, I know this is the premier episode and they are getting things fine tuned.
I'll give em that.
Heck, I didn't like the first three episodes of Josh Wedon's Dollhouse, but it got better.

But I keep thinking, instead of creating this, why didn't JV Rich just take his money and back a SHIMMER syndicated wrestling show?

Wrestlicious Premiers March 1st, 2010

I did my first entry on Wrestlicious back in March of last year, and after a lot of trials, tribulations, second guessing and anticipation....the all female wrestling show, Wrestlicious Takedown, begins airing on March 1st, 2010.
Yes Wrestlicious will finally be on the air.
Although (after all this time you KNOW there had to be an although) it seems neither Bright House or Dish Network are listing Wrestlicious in the 11PM ET time slot on Monday March 1st.
In the famous words of The Hurricane..."What's up with that?"

Originally I had heard that MavTV would air its shows in the United States, and the wrestling promotion would air on Bite TV in Canada.
I had also heard that Wrestlicious TakeDown would be syndicated nationally via America One. (http://americaone.com).

But, according to 411 mania.com, MavTV has confirmed the "Takedown" series will air at 11PM ET.

I've been waiting for this for almost a year now....I hope everything falls into place.

J.V...I'm wishing you all the best!

WWE Diva and TNA Knockout News, Plus...Mickie James' Birthday

Today is WWE Divas Champion Mickie James' birthday!
Yes, 30 years ago today Mickie was born in Montpelier, Virginia.
So Happy Birtday Mickie!

No doubt spurred on by Fox's "Wrestlicious", TNA is again talking about an all Knockouts TV Show.
Okay, maybe not spurred by Wrestlicious, maybe TNA is just really serious about the womens division.
After all, they are bringing the tag team belts back right?
This is something I've been wishing the WWE would do for years.
(Actually, didnt I read somewhere that SmackDown was originally supposed to be a WWE Diva show?)

And speaking of the WWE, they have signed another Diva talent.
Someone from the Indy ranks with years of wrestling experience that will enhance the womens wrestling division right?
Nope.
They signed 21 year old Trinity McCray, a dancer for the Orlando Magic.
She's starting training at Florida Championship Wrestling.

And Back to TNA, as you probably already have heard, Roxxi will be returning to TNA for the Knockout Tag Team Title Tournament.
Rumor has it that she will be partnering with Madison Rayne.
I wonder if they are gonna keep Roxxi and Rhaka Khan seperated?
As of right now, here is the line up for the Knockout Tag Team Title Tournament...
1.Traci Brooks and Sharmell versus Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed
(Kong and Saeed won which kinda stunned me because I figured Traci would win (upcoming PR) and Saeed would lose to develop Alissa Flash.)
2. Taylor Wilde and Sarita versus Daffney and Alissa Flash
3. The Beautiful People vs. Madison Rayne and Roxxi
4. Hamada and Sojo Bolt vs. Tara and Christy Hemme (Interesting choice considering Christy and Tara's past history).


The September 14th edition of Monday Night Raw will be hosted by former WWE Diva Trish Stratus.

www.MichelleMcCool.net, has an interview posted with the Diva.
You can read the interview here

Female Wrestling: TNA Knockouts Title Result From TNA Hard Justice

Your new TNA Knockout Champion....God help us all....

Shades of the WWE!
I'm sorry readers, but TNA just dropped down to the WWE's level in my eyes.
The New TNA Knockouts champion is.....Cody Deaner?
There's a three letter internet term that comes to mind for this that starts with a "W".
Spanking, kissing, making out.....c'mon people!
I held TNA up to a higher level.
Is this the new TNA booking?
So what am I to do now?
A steady diet of Shimmer?
Wait for Wrestlicious? (Okay, it's 21st century GLOW but still.)
I am shocked and appalled.
And kinda let down and betrayed.
Arguably the best womens division out there and THIS is what they come up with?
After I kept singing the praises of TNA?

More Wrestlicious News

As was pointed out to me in a comment, the "face" of the new Wrestlicious promotion is Jimmy Hart, but the Wrestlicious promotion is being funded by 19-year-old Jonathan Vargas.
(I would have loved to just post the comment but somehow Blogger "ate"the comment when I tried to publish it. The poster was a "lost" someone, if that person would contact me I'll be more than happy to credit them for pointing this out)
As you may already know, Jonathan won the $35 Million Powerball Jackpot this past May.
So this young man is evidently really making his dreams come true.
Jonathan plans on appearing on the show as "JV Rich", the Rapper/Owner of Wrestlicious.

And the reason Wrestlicious looks so much like GLOW is that the Senior Producer of the show is GLOW alumni Johnny Cafarella.
And here is how some of the female wrestlers got around contract conflicts....
13 episodes were secretly taped last August.
That's how they got Daffney (TNA's Governor) and Madison Rayne (another TNA Knockout) on the show.
And according to sources all over the web, FOX has indeed picked up the show and will run the 13 episodes this Fall.

And since I can't resist it, here's another Wrestlicious promo.....



And there is also a Wrestlicious website up now.....
http://www.wrestlicious.com/

UPDATE: Okay, I found out now and credit for letting me know about this goes to lostangel84!
So thank you very much lostangel84 for putting me on to this!

TNA Knockout Madison Rayne News

TNA Knockout Madison Rayne (Ashley Lane, Lexi Lane) has an interview up at UGO.com.
You can read the interview here:
http://www.ugo.com/sports/madison-rayne/

As a matter of fact, UGO has a lot of interviews with female wrestlers.
They have interviewed most of the TNA Knockouts including Velvet Sky, SoCal Val, Angelina Love, Rhaka Khan and Traci Brooks.

And speaking of Madison, she will be taking on Taylor Wilde on this week's TNA Impact!.


And speaking of Madison again...she and Daffney (TNA's "The Governor") both took part in the Jimmy Hart's all-girl promotion Wrestlicious.
Evidently this was filmed before their TNA contracts, so they wont be appearing on the show.

Wrestlicious

Lacey Von Erich with the "Deer Trapped in the headlights" Claw Hold.....

I mentioned before that Big Vision was thinking about a new GLOW...well it seems Jimmy Hart has done more than think about it.
The promo for his new show "Wrestlicious" looks like GLOW spun through a time warp.
Campy characters, singing, dancing, wrestling.....wow.
Yes it kinda looks like WOW too.
Can Jimmy pull this off?
Well the comments on YouTube seem to show interest in this new project.
GLOW still has a cult following out there.
They may be kinda quiet, but trust me, they are watching.
And Jimmy has an advantage over GLOW.
Their wrestlers were models, some of these ladies are wrestlers that also happen to look good.
Lizzy Valentine, Daizee Haze, Portia Perez, Daffney, Becky Bayless, Roni Jonah and Lacey Von Erich are just a few of the stars I saw on the clip which you can see here:



So how is this gonna do?
Reality is pretty ugly these days.
Maybe we "need" to see a farmer's daughter take on a vampire in a squared circle.
Maybe a headhunter wrestling a lifeguard is a good counter to the constant gloom and doom of the economy.
And add to the mix the fact that these ladies have paid their dues and really can wrestle.....

Who knows, "The Mouth of the South" may be on to something here.