Ringbelles Roundup - April 26, 2011

http://ringbellesonline.com/ is a GREAT website hosted by a couple of English guys. These guys do the Ringbelles podcast, which can be found on iTunes. The podcast has one on one interviews with some of the greats like Sara Del Rey, Mercedes Martinez, Madison Eagles, Awesome Kong, and Rain. I suggest any fan of women's wrestling listen to the podcasts.

The website also hosts a "Roundup" recapping the biggest news in the women's wrestling industry. I'm going to start posting them here. If there is interest, I'll keep posting them. It is a long read, but has some good stuff.


The Big News

One of only of a handful of transgendered wrestlers in the world has made history again.

The original WILD Wrestling match scheduled for the show at Insane Wrestling League in Chino, CA, last Friday was meant to be Buggy taking on Allison Danger. When that was announced as no longer taking place, champion Lucky O’Shea was drafted in to face a mystery opponent. That turned out to be “The Bloodthirsty Vixen” Amanda, who defeated O’Shea to win the title.

Standing 5’9” and weighing 140lb and hailing from Long Beach, CA, 28-year old Mariah Moreno started out as a manager, then trained at the Santino Bros Wrestling Academy in Bell Gardens in 2008 before making her debut a year later.

Speaking to the Windy City Times at the end of last year, Amanda described when she started living her life as a woman in her teenage years: “I was born male and, at age 15, I decided to start living my life as a female,” said Moreno, who had breast-augmentation surgery about five years ago. “I plan on going forward with [full transition] surgery within the next five to seven years.”

Since getting into the ring in 2009, Amanda’s had more than her fair share of doors slammed in her face. Again speaking to the Windy City Times, she said: “I’ve had a couple of companies in southern California that will not hire me because I’m transgender—that’s because they are family-oriented companies with a lot of kids in the crowd. It bothers me, but I totally understand because, well, I’m something out of the ordinary; I’m not something you’re going to see when you go to the normal grocery store, for instance.”

One company that welcomed her in is the World Independent Ladies Division.

Back in January, Amanda lost a WILD title challenge against O’Shea – originally, she had won the match, but O’Shea revealed that her opponent was born male, and petitioned for the decision to be reversed. Amanda was then “suspended” pending a review, but was reinstated for the title challenge by 3 votes to 2. She then took the opportunity to quickly beat O’Shea with a powerslam to win the belt.

Speaking exclusively to Ringbelles, Amanda says “it’s a great feeling to win the title and to be back with WILD after months away… it was a great night. What most people don’t know is that I’ve been women’s champion with lucha company NTW/NTLL for a year now, so it was a surprise to me when I was stripped of the WILD championship to begin with. Now that I got my title back, its time to to bring honor and prestige to it.”

“All in all, it was an historic night not only for WILD, not only for professional wrestling, but for organized sports of any kind,” it says on the official WILD website. “Amanda is the first transgender athlete to win a world championship in any sport. That is an accomplishment, no matter how you look at it.”

**

There was precisely zero Diva action when it came to the initial portion of the WWE Draft on last night’s Raw. Eve Torres beat Layla in a complete stinker to earn Raw a pick, which led to Rey Mysterio to be shifted from SmackDown to the red brand, but that was all. As expected, today’s supplemental draft has seen some Divas switch sides.

**

So how many of you recognized the woman who came out to Lita’s music on SmackDown in London last week? If you’re not from the UK, you may not, but if you’re a fan of British wrestling, you may have spotted that “Lita” was well-known female grappler Jayne “Klondyke Kate” Porter.

Originally from Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands but now living in the south of the country in Weymouth, the fearsome Kate has spent the last 34 years wrestling all over the world, plying her craft on every continent in the world except Australasia – someone in New Zealand or Australia, book this woman – and once competing in front of 80,000 people in Japan. Primarily wrestling as a heel, the 49-year old mother of three and grandmother of one has officially retired twice but has returned both times, claiming that wrestling “as the most amazing community and it’s addictive. There is no feeling in the world to replace the feeling you get when you step into the squared circle.” More recently, Kate has set up High Impact Wrestling with Justin Starr, with the latest recruit being someone Kate knows very well…

Kate’s daughter is also getting into the grap game – 17-year old Connie Steele started training four years ago and went pro in 2010. Trained by her mother, Pro Wrestling: EVE’s Erin Angel and EVE and SPARKLE competitor Rhia O’Reilly’s trainer Justin Richards among others, we should expect to see more of Steele in the future.

**

The Rima Show is over. After finding herself in Tough Enough’s bottom three for the third time in four weeks, Steve Austin decided to not put her through the grilling and told her she was eliminated. To be fair, it was her time – she wasn’t picking up the basics, was gassing quickly and was getting visibly frustrated.

We’re being told to expect Ivelisse and Christina in the ring against each other next week. When you look at how neither of them have made even the slightest dent in the show yet, this could be a car crash of epic proportions. Considering that Christina is so green, it makes you wonder what she was learning while she had that WWE developmental contract. Meanwhile, Ivelisse just seems so miserable or sour-faced all the time. I don’t know if she isn’t enjoying herself or that’s how her face rests – either way, it’s a little depressing.

**

The best of the rest

Still no word on Britani Knight’s status with WWE. Early reports claimed she had been signed to a contract, but the 18-year old took to Facebook to deny the rumours… Serena Deeb wrestled a dark match before the TNA Impact tapings on April 19, losing to Winter. 6 foot tall Melanie Cruise (25) also received a TNA tryout before the Impact tapings on Wednesday. She wrestled Sarita… Christina Von Eerie joins Mia Yim, Serena Deeb and Amanda Fox as a participant in the ACW American Joshi Queen Of Queens tournament in Live Oak, TX on June 26… ECCW and SHIMMER’s Veronika Vice (who I reckon, on reflection, got an unfairly hard time at her last SHIMMER appearance) appeared on the Canadian version of Wipeout last Sunday. She didn’t win… Cageside Seats published an in-depth article about Daffney’s workers compensation lawsuit against TNA which documented her three concussions and alleges that she wasn’t reimbursed for the medical bills. On the F4W Board, Dave Meltzer posted: “At the end of the day, they are settling out of court just like they did with Konnan”… 70-year old midget female wrestler Darling Dagmer was honoured at the Cauliflower Alley Club in Las Vegas last week. Former WWF Women’s Champion Rockin’ Robin (46) and Amazing Kong were honoured too. Kong praised Jim Ross and Steve Austin for getting her a contract with WWE… There are rumours that a former TNA Knockout has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the promotion… Miss Tessmacher returned to TNA after 4 months away with no fanfare last week on Impact… Madison Eagles has been officially added to the CHIKARA roster. Since February, she’s taken on Daizee Haze, Sara Del Rey, Toshie Uematsu and Manami Toyota in the promotion. Not bad work. Eagles has been out of action for the past week after suffering major whiplash in a car accident… Sara Del Rey has also been entered into the CHIKARA title tournament – the only woman to gain a spot. The first champion will be crowned on May 21… The next challenger to Tsukushi’s 19 Pro title will be Chii Tomiya… New York Knockout Nikki shot herself in the foot with her tweets, talking about pupils she was teaching as part of her day job. It – along with sexy photos of herself – made the news, and means her contract at El Soreno Middle School in Los Angeles won’t be renewed… What happened to the Divas title shot Kaitlyn’s got as her prize for winning NXT last year?… The Divas didn’t appear in Qatar as part of WWE’s international tour. As it’s an Islamist country, they’re not allowed to be outside in clothes that don’t cover their legs or shoulders, so their wrestling gear is out… How can Sarita be a part of Mexican America when she’s Canadian?… In a Champion v Champion match on Saturday, EWW Women’s Champion Skarlett defeated Pro Wrestling: EVE Champion Britani Knight… The third promo for Amazing Kong aired on Raw last night. It showed her face and confirmed that her name will be Kharma… LayCool have officially split. Who knows who’s the face and who’s the heel yet… Considering the way Michael Cole keeps interrupting her matches, if Eve Torres doesn’t crush his skull at the end of all of this, you have to wonder what the point of having Divas on Raw is.

http://ringbellesonline.com/2011/04/26/ringbelles-roundup-26-april-2011/

omg the CHIKARA tourney ends on my birthday, May 21st!!!

Del Ray!!!!

if eve doesnt do it then kong should crush his skull. ACW American Joshi Queen Of Queens tournament < i wish that was closer to where i live.