Greetings and Salutations Cheap-Heaters. Today I'm coming with a live report from Women Superstars Uncensored's Excellence iPPV. For those that may not know WSU
– No Washington State, not you guys. You already get enough attention on Saturday. But, yeah. WSU, as you could tell from the title, is a Women's Wrestling federation owned by the same guy who owns CZW. This show was double header with Excellence being followed up by a CZW iPPV. It was held in Voorhees New Jersey, at the Philadelphia Flyers training center called "Skate Zone". With a few faces I recognize and enjoy on the card, and a free Saturday I decided to take the trip an hour to the north east and check it out.
**Disclaimer**
Cleary I am unfamiliar with storylines and even each character's alignment. I just wanted to watch some awesome #WomensWrestling.
Pre-show thoughts: I felt like I could be scouting the future of NXT's women's division… Also weird to walk in through the skate zone that was in full Hockey practice slash party mode. Hockey moms wondering what the blue hell was this motley crew rolling through.
I got there fifteen minutes late. Worried I missed the first match? I was pleasantly surprised the show hadn't started yet… which became an issue. Because an hour later? The show still hadn't started. Crowd got super restless during this. They even sent two guys out to do some stuff. Dan Barry of Team Tremendous and some other guy. Who just kind of riffed on the mic to try to keep the audience moderately pleased. Turns out it was camera issues. With how things played out and how CZW had a show after this so they'd have to clear the arena before letting in the CZW crowd? This would end up impacting the quality of the show, but I'll get into that more, shortly.
We opened with Tessa Blanchard vs. Hania . I knew Blanchard, but this was my first extended look. Hadn't seen Hania before. This was a decent match. A little sloppiness early on and felt very rushed (Get ready for that to be a theme) – Hania did her damnedest to get the crowd to hate her. It was effective. She got the win.
Tag match between Veda Scott and Angel Dust and Solo Darling and Brittany Blake . Veda cuts a prematch promo about finding a good tag team partner. Also tells Brittany that SHE could have been teaming with Veda, but she decided to be with Solo. Blake and Darling are in animal ears and wearing tails. Also came to the ring with some sort of colorful beverages, and Solo had a lollipop in her tights. The gist here being Solo loves sugar. Will consume it during a match and go on a "sugar rush" – Just ridiculous for me to enjoy the hell out of. If you're still not getting it… imagine Popeye eating spinach. This was a fun tag match. Lot of work trying to goad the crowd into some interaction. Angel Dust was really working our section. Ending was abrupt and seemed confusing. Solo hit a move off the middle rope that appeared to be kind of like a spring board stunner… Made the pin. There was a three count and a kick out, but I guess it was too late. So Solo and Brittany get the win.
They would say it was PUUUUUURFECT. BOOM! NAILED IT!
Athena vs. Sumie Sakai . This was a really well worked match. I was familiar with Athena, not with Sakai. Good ground wrestling. Including a crazy long exchange of roll ups. An inside cradle and then they kept rolling and rolling and rolling. Submission stuff was incredibly well done. Pacing here was good. Good exchanges. Just as this one was getting rolling Hania, from our show opener runs out and attacks Athena. They brawl. Crew pours out of the back. They separated them. Eventually Athena breaks free. Levels Hania. The man in charge, DJ Hyde says they will have an Uncensored Rules match in the main event tonight! Guessing that's basically a hardcore/no rules type match. Also assume these two have an extensive history. Google confirms this and apparently I and all of YOU need to search out the Athena vs. Hania TLC match. So… we have homework.
Leva Bates vs. Penelope Ford – Leva is defending the Spirit Championship. The only problem? The championship is not there. Oh air travel what CAN'T you ruin? Bags were lost so while this is a title match? We're going to have to imagine the championship belt. I legit can't find her opponents name. (found later and edited in. Penelope Ford) Even on the WSU site it just says Leva will defend the championship. So, apologies. She had a Unicorn on the front of her tights… I remember THAT. Here's a pic…
Anyway the match was pretty one-sided. Which I'm totally used to when it comes to Leva "Blue Pants" Bates matches. However it was dominated by Leva! Clearly Full Sail is that child mutant who eliminates the powers in X3: Last stand to BP. Anyway. Really impressed with Leva's array of suplexes and submissions. Really nice northern lights AND cattle mutilation. Bates wins via submission! In my imagination she hoists the championship belt high overhead! … and then we go out for Dairy Queen blizzards!
Next? They "Dusty Finish" intermission. They announce an Intermission… but then? A guy comes running from the back yelling �JUST KEEP ROLLING!' Good call. We had an hour delay at jump street. Intermission isn't necessary AND we have a tight window. SO?
WSU Tag Team Championship match. The Dollhouse: Marti Belle and Mia Yim challenge the tag team champions: Chicks Using Nasty Tactics . (Pro Tip: Pay close attention to the letters starting each word of that team name.) – Annie Social and Kimber Lee. Both of these teams work really well together. The textured pointy ring gear by Nasty Tactics was a really nice touch. Especially using it as a weapon as Annie did rolling all over one of the Dolls. Mia Yim really stood out to me as a character here. Running away after a series of vicious chops/slaps to the chest. Taunting the crowd. I came out of this show super impressed. Definitely would call myself a Mia Yim fan now. Chicks Using Nasty Tactics retain. Another fun match, but felt like it could have used a little more time.
WSU World Championship Match. Cherry Bomb defending against Candace LeRae . Candace was probably the most popular wrestler, from a crowd reaction standpoint. Athena was right there too. This one hit the ground running. Candace hit a suicide dive early. They brawled on the outside. With Candace hitting… uh… well its normally call the Balls-Plex, on the outside. This was very good with Cherry Bomb eventually taking control and dominating for a good stretch. Just as Candace was making a comeback something went awry. Cherry fell bad on her shoulder. There was an awkward pause as the ref checked on both women. Candace ended up eating a superkick, and Cherry Bomb retained. So this ended awkwardly, and as I saw on twitter its because of injury. Its being rumored that Cherry Bomb might have a broken collar bone. That's too bad. Hope she gets well soon. Post match Jessica Havoc returned to WSU. She says she never LOST the championship and that she's going to be coming after it.
Main Event time! Hania vs Athena . Hania came out first. She cut a promo that she wouldn't be doing anything with Tables Ladders, or Chairs and she just wanted this to be a STANDARD match. Athena was out and was on fire. Brawling to start. One of the highest velocity suicide dives I've ever seen. It was so hard… They brawled on the outside a bunch. These two worked really well together and learning their history, that makes sense. Both of these women impressed the hell out of me here. They worked their asses off. Great exchange of leg and body kicks on the outside. They brawled all over the floor. Eventually the ref ate a front handspring flying forearm in the corner. Athena locked in a submission. Hania tapped, but the ref was all "Nappy time". As Athena was trying to revive him the chair was brought back in by Hania. But instead of using it she channeled her inner Eddie Guerrero. She threw the chair into Athena's hands, and dropped to the match clutching her face JUST as the referee "came to" and got to his feet. He called for the bell. Hania by DQ. Athena was not happy. She hit a popup power bomb on the ref!
Post match she gets the mic and calls anyone who is still around and wants to come out, to come out. Havoc, Veda, Annie Social, Kimber Lee come from the back as well as Sakai. From behind me, climbing over chairs right by me were Leva Bates, the Dollhouse and Solo… who must've been doing their merch table thing. Athena thanks all the women ringside.
Personalizing each speech. She shouts out DJ Hyde who also came out. She uses the work "Fricking", and says she's trying to "Keep it PG", crowd chanted "VINCE ISN"T HERE" back at her, but she said, you know this will be on youtube in 10 minutes. Has really nice things to say to Havok who is in tears, grabs the mic, and says "You just ruined my character cuz I'm crying in front of all these fans". – thing that entertained me endlessly … while she does the speech that easily goes 10-15 minutes? The ref is STILL down and out from the Popup Powermbomb. She finishes up and they all climb into the ring and do a big group hug. Then the women, hoisted Athena up on their shoulders as the crowd chanted. Really nice moment. I'm also really excited to see Athena in NXT!
Overall I had a lot of fun. The hour delay to the start definitely impacted everything. You have an extra 45 minutes to spread between a bunch of those matches and they could have become really special. But for my first WSU experience? Definitely enjoyable. Absolutely something I will be keeping my eye on, and knowing that they're associated with CZW and will wrestle in this area? I can definitely see myself going to another show in the future!
Thanks for reading. Follow me on twitter: @sirmhayesxiv – Feedback is appreciated.
