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WOW TAPING
I'm back with a report from the latest WOW taping, and still all a-glow and
a-twitter after
getting an autograph from Riot. Eat your heart out, Rasmussen!
I actually took a notepad with me to the event this time, so this is going
to be a lot more
detailed than my last report. DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED.
I was unable to get ringside tickets, but the general admission was first
come first served, and
being one of the first in the doors at 6pm I scored sweet seats in the first
row of the Loge level,
right across from the main cameras. I sat next to a guy named Bob and his
son Sean(sp?) who've been
going to live wrestling events a long time, and regaled me with their tales
of wacky backstage
antics. They also knew referee Jesse Hernandez, who came over to say hi.
Nice guy.
WOW apparently has four refs on staff. Jesse, Josh Milton (aka Whipping
Boy, aka Target, aka
Bump-O-Rama), and two others whose names I don't know but CRZ will no doubt
supply in his recaps.
The merchandise stands were wisely open before the event started this
time, before everyone gets
worn out. T-shirts for $10, but I refrained from buying one since they
looked like one trip through
the washing machine would rip the graphics to bits. Inside the arena people
were wearing shirts
(newly bought?) for Poison, Caged Heat, and Riot.
Chronic lateness abounded once again. Though slated to start at 7pm the
crowd warm-ups don't even
begin until 7:30, probably a good thing since half the audience that would
eventually be there still
hadn't shown up. The ringside section where I sat before remained unfilled
for a long time, and
they eventually moved people down from above.... Ticketmaster LIES!!!!!
That or we had folks who
bought tickets and then didn't bother to show.
At 6:30 the TV show from last weekend plays on WOW Vision to catch us up.
Although it doesn't
really since there's a month's worth of episodes from Nov. 4th that haven't
aired yet...
Sign handouts began at 6:50. Whoever's responsible for them goes above
and beyond the call... for
instance, a couple of the Disciplinarian's "signs" were actually made up as
slate boards with chalk
scribble on them. There's also a huge Riot sign across the arena made up to
look like an L.A. Times
article (L.A. NEEDS ANOTHER RIOT!), and I covet it, but alas I'm stuck with
my own humbly scrawled
placard. Which is at least better than another sign I see with "Roit!" on
it. I hope that one
wasn't a handout.
Sign of the night (which I *think* is a handout) is one saying "KILL THE
REF!" with Josh Milton's
picture on it. At the rate J.M. is going he'll probably kill himself before
anyone else can...
The crowd warm-up is again handled by the pair of anonymous "hip"
gentlemen. One day I'll have to
find out who they are... if I care. A pep squad from Lincoln High School is
in attendance and still
in their colors.
Show gets started about 8pm. Lana Star & Patti Pizzazz are out in skin
tight street clothes to
interrupt McLane (god bless 'em). PP wears a pink top and black pants while
LS wears a black top
and pink pants... or is it the other way 'round? There were guys that
rolled out a red carpet for
them to come down the aisle on (heh!). The pair got a BIG pop from the
crowd.
Lana challenges Poison and Ice Cold to a second round match for the Tag
Team Tournament. Poison
and IC arrive on the entryway to accept and smack talk ensues. Poison and
Ice end by telling them
to "Kiss It!" with a synchronized hand kiss and ass slap.
Disciplinarian is out for the first match, and scolds the guys still
rolling up the carpet in the
wake of Lana's exit. She's up against Jade who executes a few headscissors
moves during the match,
one of which looks good and another which looks like it almost gets TD
killed. Disciplinarian with
a Pedigree to win it-- much better than a backslide finisher, that's for
sure. Disciplinarian tells
Jade "You've been excused", breaks her yardstick over Jade's back. "Class
dismissed."
Jungle Grrl fights Farah the Persian Princess (pop for Farah on her
entrance). The rope work
looks a *lot* better as both work to sell the Irish whip impacts and a nice
backdrop. JG busts out
with a perfectly executed pumphandle powerslam! Crowd chants "JUNGLE!
JUNGLE!" as she goes up top
for her finisher splash and 3 count. Post match McLane interviews and shows
his charming(?) naivete
by saying he's seen nothing like that splash in all his years! Jungle
ignores him and cuts a nice
little promo ending with the warning: "Never hunt what you can't kill..."
Selina Majors is out, McLane introducing her as a "Four time champion of
the world...". ??? . To
spite the internet community, Selina gets a good pop from the crowd. Selina
sez she's gone through
EZ Rider and Charlie Davidson, now she wants Thug, and she's got a contract
for a special match. No
DQ... No Countout... Falls Count Anywhere In The Building... the crowd is
loud, and gets louder as
Thug makes her appearance to agree to the stipulations. She's signed the
silly little contract.
Selina sez Thug should've read the fine print, as EZ and Charlie are banned
from ringside. The mic
work is mostly mutual threats to "kick your ass" although Selina says "kick
your fass" at one
point... a contraction of fat ass? Or just slurred speech? Thug out and
Selina posing for the
crowd to some major face reaction... either that or we're all just marking
out for WOW's first ever
hardcore match. It'll be the Main Event tonight.
Lana Star and Patti Pizzazz are out to fight Poison and Ice Cold. Poison
is from the "Toxic
Unknown". Patti makes me laugh because she's still doing her cheerleader
routine, encouraging
people to boo her opponents. WOW's decision to turn her heel was a good
one, now she can be as
airheaded as she wanna be.
The improved ropes work continues... all four ladies are moving faster and
getting in good looking
shots. Only in WOW will you hear people cheering for a bodyslam. But a
good mix of other moves are
here including some nice double-teams... Ice Cold with a textbook Side
Russian Legsweep. Poison
fans in the seats up behind me are rabidly screaming "RIP HER HAIR OUT!!"
"BREAK HER NAILS!!!".
This is actually one of the best matches of the night, with good action and
a *lot* of heat. PP and
LS win it with Lana delivering a mirror shot to Poison behind the ref's back
and rolling PP on top
for the 3.
Slam Dunk is out next (pop). Four guys in the center section have the
letters D-U-N-K up on
poles. She complains to McLane about not being in the Tag Tournament,
insisting she doesn't need a
partner and is a tag team all by herself. Asian Invasion appear at the top
of the ramp as McLane
tells her she's given him a great idea... a handicap match!
This is basically a "get over the monster heel match", but it's
entertaining. Slam Dunk with a
double foot choke of the little ones in a corner. Lotus & Jade getting in
some nicely done
doubleteam offense, and both jump on Slam Dunk for each pin attempt. Slam
Dunk ends things with a
double chokeslam and a hand on each Asian for the pin. She continues the
assault after the bell
with an airplane spin for both. The D-U-N-K guys doing some chant for her
but I can't make it out.
Danger is out and has added a water spit to her entrance that coincides
with her pyro. She's off
suspension and ready to kick some ass in the Tag Tournament with her
partner...
RIOT!! The two cut a promo on their opponents for later tonight, Beckie
the Farmer's Daughter and
Bronco Billie. Danger: "Tell the audience what's going to happen to them,
Riot." Riot: "They're
going... to DIE!" I might be paraphrasing since I was too busy in mindless
mark mode to write.
Danger says the other WOW girls are on the "Highway to Hell" -- is this
supposed to be the name of
their team?
Jane Blond is out (pop)... when she gets to the ring I first think she
messed up jumping over the
ropes, but no-- she lands sideways on them and lies there while nonchalantly
kicking one leg up 90
degrees-- wow! Her opponent, Caliente (POP! Plus chant of "Cal-i-en-te!")
The match has a couple of missed spots which surprises me because neither
is a slouch at
workrate... in particular one ropes sequence has Cal running by JB almost a
foot wide of the mark
and JB falling down anyhow-- but some editing should fix that for the
audience at home. JB up to
pose full height on the turnbuckle while waiting for Caliente to turn
around-- jeezus JB has good
balance. Awesome missile dropkick from JB to end it, and MAJOR heel heat as
she takes the
microphone. I must admit I cringed in anticipation, but JB was actually
quite good on the talking
thing. She's just warming up on her "license to thrill" and is out for
revenge on Danger after the
tabling incident-- I'm looking forwards to that match! JB warns her
opponents: "I'll leave you
shaken /and/ stirred..."
The ropes poses and the technical/aerial style make me think of Shawn
Michaels. Not a bad
wrestler to be compared to...
I put my foot firmly in my mouth in my recap of show #5 where I mentioned
Jane's "shrill attempt"
at an English accent. No less than Hammerin' Heather Steele herself emailed
to correct me and let
me know Jane is truly British, born and raised.
Terri Gold out in her street clothes to talk with McLane. Replay of Terri
getting the belt back
from Mystery, McLane hams up the "spontaneous" appearance of the fans in the
ring to congratulate
her. I don't quite understand the next exchange-- Terri has refused Ice
Cold's title shot because
she needs to "win the belt back"? Eh? Mystery never won it from her,
right? Ah well, here's Ice
Cold and Poison out to take exception. They get in the ring and Ice and
Terri have words... Terri
changes her mind and says she'll defend against IC after all. Ice Cold asks
Poison what she thinks
and Poison spits liquid in Terri's eyes. Terri collapses like she's been
maced, McLane screams
"Poison! Spitting some kind of venom!!" I'm laughing my ass off because
this is oh-so early 90's.
Some nameless EMT or doctor guy is in the ring to tend to Terry, he tells
McLane it's "some kind of
acid". Terri recovers enough to say she's going to fight anyhow... BUT...
BUT HOW WILL SHE FIGHT
WITH NO VISION?!? Don't touch that dial!!!
Bronco Billie and Beckie are out to face Danger and Riot. The only really
new move I see is
something of a half Camel Clutch from Riot. The match is a bit off but the
heat is excellent. The
"Bulldog" move derived from the way cowboys jump off their horses to take
down a calf... Billie's
version of it actually looks a lot more like that than the usual
faceplant... it looks effective and
I dig it. Beckie and Billie win this with one of the coolest spots of the
night as she reverses
Riot's powerbomb into a Sunset Flip. Post-match, Danger berates Riot for
losing them the match and
for not being able to defeat opponents without "this" (throwing the bat down
to her). This is a
departure from the usual way these things go and it's awesome... Danger
doesn't so much as touch
Riot-- she doesn't need to, the words do all the work. Danger leaves and
Riot goes berserk at the
fans booing her, looking crazy dangerous. A Riot/Danger feud? Cooooool....
Tanja the Warrior Woman is out, same gimmick but a much better looking
sword. It's another match
for the Tag Tournament and she's teaming with Roxy Powers against... CAGED
HEAT! Huge reaction for
the Ladies of Lockdown and they deserve every bit of it. "What time is
it?!?" Crowd: "HARD TIME!"
The match itself is not as good as it could be and I actually put most of
that on Roxy... she
seemed really off. Loca and DLP finish it off with a 3-D. Then they set up
a Doomsday Device for
the other and make Josh Milton count three a second time (heh!). If Josh
had any sense he'd be
hightailing it for the back right now, but he doesn't and of course he's the
next victim. Caged
Heat really take all the "Dudley Girlz" talk to heart as here comes a
WHAAAZZZUPPPP!!!!!!!!!
spot!!! The only difference being Delta drives in an elbow instead of a
headbutt. Milton again
does his suicide dive over the ropes as they throw him out... then some more
in-shape looking
officers of the law are out to chase Caged Heat from ringside. Caged Heat
MUST be one half of the
finals at the PPV. A match between them and the Country Connection has the
potential to tear the
house down.
Beach Patrol take on Mystery and Misery in the Tag Tournament, and none
too soon as the people
right behind me have been complaining more and more loudly about a lack of
Sandy. Some guy at
ringside with a "?" sign stands up every time he thinks the camera might be
on him and blocks my
view, grr. Misery does SWEET powerslams, as well as a fisherman suplex.
The Beach Patrol win
this and get a HUGE pop when they do. Daughters o' Darkness attack after
the bell in revenge.
Harley's Angels out with Thug, and they talk some smack about Caged Heat.
Was that a challenge?
But first here comes Boom Boom... at first I think the bass is turned waaaay
up on her entrance
music, but it turns out that people are just stomping their feet in time, a
la "We Will Rock You".
Damn, there's either a lot of 'em or the Forum's stands are vibrata-rific!
Caliente turns out to be Boom Boom's partner, and as I watch her full
entrance video I see that
she wrestles Zorro at one point! Heh.
There's a lot of crowd heat for this match. A chant of "EZ! EZ!" is met
with one for Caliente.
EZ Rider's cheering section (family?) in the homemade t-shirts is back and
gets filmed by a
roving cameraman. Charlie Davidson hits a good looking sidewalk slam. The
Indian Deathlocks
have been and continue to be a popular move tonight.
Now the fans across the way break out with a "BOOM BOOM!" chant/stomp.
Boom Boom is really
working this match and the crowd is responding. Alas, behind the ref's back
comes interference
from Thug and Boom Boom is held down for a Vader Bomb move from the only gal
in the Fed even
bigger than her. Thug scoots, the ref returns, the Angels win it. Could a
Thug / Boom Boom feud
be in the works out of this?
Post-match, EZ's crowd leaves the arena. Guess she's not coming out again
tonight.
Next up, Beckie TFD faces off with Jacklyn Hyde. Out in the audience
there's a whole row of
guys who stand up with their faces painted half-and-half, and they don't
look anything like
the people (I'm betting family) who were out supporting Jacklyn last time.
Jacklyn's got
pigtails! Beckie out, as usual looking like she's having the best time of
her life. As at
the last tapings there's a woman up in the stands with a cowbell that she
clangs constantly
in support of Her Beckiness.
Jacklyn took Beckie over for some well done turnbuckle bashes. Beckie was
as good as ever,
and wins with her splash off the top. Some guys in front have their planted
"MARRY ME CALIENTE"
sign folded over so it just says "MARRY ME" and wave it wildly at Beckie...
those fickle fiends!
Post-match, McLane is up to interview Beckie and says no one delivers a
splash like she can.
As *soon* as Beckie agrees with him the growl of a big cat rings out through
the arena and... uh
oh... here comes Jungle Grrrl looking ready to kill somebody. She gets up
in Beckie's face and
says the only thing worse than listening to "this hillbilly" ramble on (ooh)
is hearing her run
her mouth about being the best at the splash. Gist of this is... yup, you
guessed it, we gonna
have a finisher match!
If I sound markishly enthusiastic about that match, you better believe I
am. These are two of
the best workers in the fed, the booking is classic, and there was *heat*
just for the facedown,
before the two have even touched each other.
Poison is out to take on Terri Gold, I guess a grudge match from earlier.
Terri appears none
the worse for wear vision wise, which will make a lot more sense when aired
on TV as being two
weeks instead of two hours later. People are chanting for both women. A
slingshot spot makes
me realize suddenly that the move has been rare tonight, which means it'll
be rare for about
a month's worth of episodes... has the feedback of the fans been taken to
heart?
There's a ref bump and Ice Cold is out in a ref's outfit to count 3, but
the bell ringer isn't
having any of that and the match continues. Terri with a top rope moonsault
("Goldsault") and
the win.
Sometime between here and the next match McLane is babbling, and I find
his relentless
rube-osity is actually beginning to grow on me. Scary. Maybe I'm getting
tired.
Hammerin' Heather Steele is out and her opponent is Riot. This is no time
to nap! The roving
camera catches me marking out shamelessly with my 'FINISH HER' sign and I
don't even care...
this is the effect Riot has on otherwise level-headed men. Steele does the
job again and takes
the powerbomb after I've been teased with its execution all night. God
bless her... if Riot's
only stuff tonight was getting a verbal beatdown from Danger I might have
gone home all mopey
and stuff.
Oh, and Riot actually managed to hit a move off the turnbuckle this time
instead of getting
thrown off. Yay!
Lana Star came out in a Santa hat and a rather form-fitting black outfit.
She invites everyone
to the upcoming Lana Star Christmas Special on December 15th, and says even
McLane can be there.
He can play Scrooge. I don't remember exactly what was said next, but the
upshot of it all is
LANA LAID OUT MCLANE WITH HER MIRROR! YES!!!! LANA IS GOD!!!
Yes, I'm easily pleased.
Wendi Wheels is out next and points to the sky rather than revving her
arms. A new, less odd
motion? Ah, nevermind, there's the arm rev. She's gonna fight Mystery, who
comes out with
Misery and Goon.
Crowd on opposite side starts singing CCR's "Rolling on a River" for some
reason.
Wendi takes an ugly bump to the outside, then she's back up and delivers a
damn fine flying
clothesline as they bounce between ropes.
Blowouts for everyone as Misery and Goon invade the ring. Wendi leaves
and we find out that
the match has been ruled a "no contest". My fellow fans take exception to
that and are actually
hurling trash at the DoD as they leave.
Paradise is out to fight Jungle Grrrl. Looks like Paradise's family is in
attendance, a big
clan making a lot of noise.
Jungle Grrrl was just *on* tonight, pretty much everything she did looked
good. Paradise was
no slouch at holding up her part and selling the offense. Flying headbutt
from JG, and then
something I did not expect to see happen at all... JG put Paradise up on top
and took her back
down with a Superplex! The splash was almost anti-climactic after that, but
Grrrl made sure to
grab a mic and tell Beckie she hoped she was watching, because she's next.
Cool.
As I thought last time, the arena's been emptying as it gets late and
parents are taking their
little ones to bed. My friends and I are asked if we want to move down
closer to ringside to
fill things up, but nah, these seats are plenty posh.
Ice Cold is out to face Terri Gold for the title. Ice shouts to the
ringsiders heckling her
that they're a bunch of maggots and gets quite a reaction-- probably at
least in part because
it was a toss up whether she said maggots or another word that rhymes with
it.
Ice Cold with an abdominal stretch at one point, including heelish holding
of the ropes for
leverage. Another spot has Ice flip upside down in the turnbuckle
(attempting a Flair flip?)
... then she apparently slips and comes down on her head. For a scary
moment everything stops
as I at least am afraid she hurt herself, but she gets back up and the match
continues.
Ice's double axehandle off the top could still use some work. That goes
for just about every
axehandle I've seen in WOW, but for IC it's particularly important since
it's one of her big
moves. The problem is that the wrestlers tend to jump to the side and then
whack their arms
sideways against the back, and for me those arms just aren't big enough to
knock someone down.
A fully overhand chop with bodyweight behind it would sell a lot better.
Terri Gold once again getting a babyface support chant from the crowd.
She rallies and puts
Ice down with another Goldsault.
Post-match Ice Cold screams at the fans and this time clearly says
"maggots", but she still
gets more heel heat than I've seen for her yet, including another round of
trash throwing. She's
certainly improved her ring work since the earliest tapings.
McLane confirms that Friday Dec. 15th is the next taping and will indeed
me a "Christmas
Spectacular" hosted by Lana Star. The main event... Terri Gold defends her
title...
Against Danger. Awooga!
Time for the main event-- HARDCORE MULLET MATCH! Bob points out some
trash cans to our right
that have mysteriously appeared and predicts they'll be part of the action.
Thug is out first
to a big reaction, then Selina is out and Thug meets her on the entry ramp
to start the brawl.
I didn't take any notes here because I was running around the arena
following the match as
best I could. I don't know how it'll look on TV, but from up close it was
awesome and both
ladies were really bashing the living crap out of one another. Bob's
prediction was very true,
and despite the difficulty of chanting "W.O.W.", W.O.W. was indeed chanted.
Hell of a match. Interesting ending as well. Damn good finish to the
evening.
Apparently at least some of the ladies were wrestling while battling flu.
There seemed to be
more missed spots in this one than the last taping, but that looked to be
because they were
being more ambitious with the moves-- I appreciate them at least taking the
risks and look
forward to next time.
The slingshot spots were *much* fewer, and I either didn't notice the
stompholds as much or they
cut back on them as well. The ropework was leaps and bounds above last
time, faster and with
much better looking impact. The punches and kicks also improved in a lot of
cases.
In short, the major criticisms I had from the last taping look like they're
being addressed,
although I certainly don't claim to be the catalyst for that. I'm just
happy to see noticeable
improvement on the weak points.
WOW in general seems to be following through on its promise to listen to the
fans, since I've
seen a lot of stuff that was suggested on the website show up in the
production, up to and
including finisher names and catchphrases.
Now if we could just get Boom Boom out of that silly grass skirt...
Clint
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