What do you begin to say about Women’s Extreme Wrestling?
With any fan familiar with the American independent scene and women’s wrestling, you’re well aware of the inherent sexualization women’s wrestlers face in the industry. For decades, the main appeal of a wrestling show having women was not for their ability in the slightest. While I consider the 80s and 90s to hold a special place in the history of women’s wrestling as a sport, the clear regression as certain personalities got to book the shows, and the role women played on television slotted right back into a sexually gratifying role for the men both at the companies and the men watching.
It’s unsurprising then, that wrestling and erotica go hand in hand, whether you’re looking for actual pornographic content, or the slew of suggestive material produced by mainstream wrestling (remember how they hyped up Sunny’s sex tape on Shotgun Saturday Night?) it isn’t hard to imagine why promotions would lean into this cultural connection. When I say Women’s Extreme Wrestling, I am of course obscuring the dual nature of this show, given that it’s origin was in the erotic as well.
Women’s Erotic Wrestling, as it was sometimes known, was born out of the deaths of WCW and ECW, a mark on the early American indie scene in the 2000s, as a producer of semi-erotic, almost all women’s wrestling. One look at the names of these shows make it clear, hell, even on my DVD copy, the actual disk has a secret name: Nude Ring Fantasy.
So, naturally, as an enjoyer of the erotic, the weird, and all things women’s wrestling this has always been a promotion that has interested me. Of course, I was explaining this promotion and their “deal” to my lesbian friends when I would stumble upon Ring of Fire in the minuscule wrestling section of my used book store. Bought among a pile of cheap, old lesbian novels, this was probably the thing I was most excited to see.
The DVD case was all in tact, and contained everything I needed included the advertised Mini Poster. I deeply appreicate how…2000s this all feels. There’s stylistic choices with the design on the insert and cover you just don’t see anymore, for both good and bad.
The tape is fronted and backed by nu metal of the decade, featuring a split of actual wrestling from past shows, and detailed shots of one woman getting her ref corset air brushed on to her body. The show opens with her dancing in fact along with other dancers. The motion graphics are dated but stupidly cute, with the Spencer’s font and pink and white abstract patterns.
An odd thing out was uh. A clip show from commissioner Bill Alfonso, showing off his uh…fish. This was a small segment of a woman on the beach dancing in a boat. She’s wearing this teal one piece dress, and she’s slowly but surely hiking it up to show off her ass and ghostly approximations of crotch with absence of bush. This goes on for about a minute uninterrupted.
Onto the matches itself, it’s important to note that one match did not seem to be on the DVD, despite being advertised. This was Simply Luscious vs Roxxy Cotton w/ Becky Bayless, so that match will not factor into my review.
In addition to the error on the disk, one notable downside that marred the entire experience was the commentary. The desk was headed by Eric Garguilo, known for his work in CZW, and the Queen of Extreme herself Francine.
Eric was…fine, nothing to ride home about, but not awful either. Francine on the other hand…look, I don’t typically enjoy disparaging women, but she was just disgusting to listen to. Essentially every match, you can expect some form of misogynistic insult thrown at the women in the ring. Whenever Francine could, she would bury the women in front of her, or talk about herself instead. I’ll get into the more serious flaws and moments of bigotry in the match reviews, but essentially every match suffered as a result of her commentary work, and shockingly, a one man booth with Eric after she left to manage in the main event was a breath of fresh air.
A major positive note for this show was the promos and mic work! Nearly everyone besides Francine, and other minor exceptions who were given mic time killed it on the mic. Especially when I look at the promo work for Black Barbie, Butch and Jazz, there’s clear direction and intention, no fucking around, just a declaration that they are going to fight and fight hard. Butch’s promo work leaned into the Canadian excellence trope perfectly, it was almost heartwarming how familiar it was, to be put into the context of a very butch wrestler.
Match Reviews
“Catfight Hotties”
Talia w/ Noel Harlow vs Christi Ricci
Harlow comes out first, the “Queen of the Cat Fight” with a mic, she’s dressed in a nightgown, cat ears and wrestling boots, which is a fit I love but sadly could not pass in modern wrestling because people would be freaks. Talia, is here now, and I’m a big fan of her neon pink accents. Talia was the tag champ! Until she forfeited, and Noel declares she killed TNA. This is Talia’s big singles push, with this match against Christi Ricci. Christi’s gear is INCREDIBLY cute. It’s full coverage on the chest and butt, but her singlet had a large back cut and a little circle on the stomach. Francine buries their looks and shames Eric for any semblance of putting them over.
The match here is filled with body slams, roll ups, and school girls. Christi clearly has the wrestling edge, the match does collapse quite quickly with a ref bump and a failed chair shot from Harlow. Christi tries to use the chair, but Talia drop kicks the chair, gets it out of the ring, and pins Christi for the win. Francine immediately buries her choice to get it out of the ring, so the win deflates in an instant.
RATING: 2/5
We get some words of wisdom from Butch! She’s very Canadian, draped in a flag, and her long blonde hair and sunglasses really help with the sleeveless tracksuit look. She’s all in on her training, and excellence, in fact, having to wrestle a “nurse and some hoes” just really pisses her off. She’s Canadian. She buries America. Have I mentioned she’s Canadian?
In her entrance, Francine manages to both call her a she-he, and call her a dyke, so we’re two for two on homophobia and transphobia and we haven’t even seen her wrestle.
Unrelated, but when I was doing research, another name Butch went by in the WEW was Klondyke.
“Street Fight Falls Count Anywhere”
Butch vs “Booty Banging” Nurse T w/ Principle Lazarus (Pussy Willow?)
Butch comes out draped in her Canadian Flag, wearing a white sports bra, white boots and knee pads, with blue shorts. The whole deal with the outward reflection on her is that she’s scary because she is big and she trains. Francine and Eric also fixate on whether she is wearing a cup of stuffing for most of her entrance, but she looks fantastic here, strong, flexing on the turnbuckle, screaming at a crowd she knows will demean her, there’s not an ounce of hesitation on her. She gets to cut another promo here, and the crowd is shockingly electric for her. She knows they wanna see hot women. Butch has the honor of dropping the second slur of the show, calling a guy in the front row the f slur. She tells the audience no, you aren’t gonna see girls, because she is a female wrestler, and she wants T&A to END. This is a woman placed in an erotic promotion as the “perfect” heel to deconstruct the fetishistic tendencies of men watching, though I don’t really think WEW intended to master a commentary on misogyny and anti-femininity in 2007 given how nasty and sex shaming she has to go to get her point across.
Nurse T comes out holding Principle Lazarus’s hand, who is Pussy Willow. This is not explained to us, but at least their outfits are cute. Butch buries both women, pointing to everything from their clothes to their body as to why they aren’t real wrestlers. Butch is a female wrestler, don’t forget. The women from earlier with the spray painted ref outfit is TnT Tonya, and how we’re watching a handicap match. This does not matter to Butch of course, immediately she’s kicking ass, throwing Nurse T out of the ring, There’s a fucked up spot that I love here where they go into the crowd, and she shows off to the guys while Nurse T lays on the floor and in their laps in front of them.
The crowd is INTO this, screaming at Butch, and Butch gives it right back to them at every turn. Nurse T is just a ragdoll here. Francine does try her…best to put Butch over while Nurse T gets thrown into the trash. The only bit of solace is with Pussy Willow coming in, and giving Butch a cock shot with the bell. Nurse T gets the first attempt at a pin here! But well, Butch fucking kills her with one of the most disgusting body slams I’ve seen in a minute. TnT Tonya tries to save her, and Butch pins them both.
RATING: 3.75/5
Butch gets a third promo! She puts over Canada and Canadian wrestlers, and shames the crowd, then music hits. It’s Pryme Tyme Amy Lee, the hardcore champ. They immediately mention that she’s being more feminine on commentary, but Amy’s past alignment with getting rid of the “hoes” in fresh on commentary’s mind. Butch is excited to see her, but Amy isn’t. To quote “Don’t compare you, to the Triple Double Ds.”
They have a little exchange, and Amy socks Butch, Francine points out how Amy LIKED eliminating the hoes in the promotion, and the refs are keeping them apart. (Atlas Security, which are a known entity in wrestling.) Amy calls Butch a guy in drag, and calls herself the madam of the brothel that is WEW. It’s one thing for Amy to beat up the hoes, but for someone like Butch to stake claim is something she can’t stand for. These hoes are Amy’s hoes and she challenges Butch to an American hardcore match at the next show and ends with an Ey? Amy goes hardcore nationalism here, with a USA chant.
ANALYSIS NOTE: It's pretty nice here to see how many women with big chests are active and wrestling, but it's obvious how bad the plus sized bra market was because almost everyone either isn't wearing a bra or they're dealing with spillage out of their tops.
There’s a small section with the commissioner and the other half of T&A, it’s weird, he references Sabu and RVD over her trying to forfeit the tag title, with him saying he’s stripping her of it instead. This is weird and so so Hogan TNA core.
BB, Black Barbie is cutting a promo on April Hunter, dismissing her tag work and being excited to welcome her into the singles world.
“Battle of the Giant Divas”
April Hunter vs Black Barbie
The official gets an intro, her name is Isis! She’s cool. April Hunter is the head hunter, and she looks fucking fantastic with her teal and leopard print gear. She also has the classic red copper hair of the era. Black Barbie comes out next, and Francine and Eric immediately bury how skinny she is. They joke about finding her as a go-go dancer.
Immediately you can feel some chemistry here, April is talking shit, and BB engages her, the back and forth grapple work looks really fucking good here, but the weight and athletic strength issue is here throughout. Black Barbie does a great job at dispelling this despite commentary though because the sequence she does with a monkey flip and razzle dazzle looks super clean. She kicks her in the head, she drops into the split, and tries for the pin.
This turns into a tit for tat punch patch but no matter what April does, Barbie feels a step ahead. After April misses the flip, Barbie gets a snap surprise pin, and after Isis is doing everything she can (not much) to stop them from fighting.
Rating: 3/5
We cut to Jazz! She knows Sumie is considered great, but she is even better, Jazz calls out that his is her house in Philly, but I truly cannot do this promo justice in text.
Annie Social is Sumie’s talker, putting her over and showing that she’s been carrying while Jazz has been away, after a declaration from Sumie herself that she’s gonna kick Jazz’s ass, they walk off.
“Old School Kick Ass Wrestling Match”
Jazz vs Sumie Sakai w/ Annie Social
Jazz’s ring gear is indescribably beautiful, she’s truly the woman with the most aura out of everyone I’ve seen for. She’s vibing, she’s strutting out, and the crowd is excited for her. Francine goes the respect route with putting her over, but they do not like each other socially at all. Also Jazz sings some of the vocals on her theme! Sumie is wearing a red and monochrome camo shirt, and denim short shorts that make my butch heart soar. Eric points out that Annie is a bit of a bad influence, and Annie isolates Sumie a bit, I don’t know too much about the context here, and neither does anyone on commentary.
THEY TALK ABOUT THE GOLDFISH TAKE OF DEATH MATCH. Too much in fact, because this match kicks in with a fast leg sweep from Jazz into immediate mat and speed action from them both and Francine can not shut up about this match, and her own matches, with Eric egging her on. Jazz’s size against Sumie is the biggest crush on Sumie here, she’s working pained, and Jazz works with quick covers and submissions on the mat to diminish her even more. Sumie uses the 619, then locks her into a submission with a pull on the hair. She’s basically riding Jazz’s back until Jazz can stand and slam her into the turnbuckle.
The Jazz stinger is a fantastic move, and Francine puts over the fact that the WEW belt is one of the most meaningful things to Jazz. Francine also puts over that the last time they all hung out Sumie got drunk on cheap 40oz beers so she’s immediately even more over to me. The rope work is really fantastic in this match, with all available time focusing on the oxygen cut off tactics by pressing and pinning each other against the cables.
The surprise of how one sided this is definitely there, pointing at jet lag. Annie Social is pretty useless here. But Sumie gets a bit of return with several attempts for roll ups, and a kiss roll up according to commentary. Sumie kicks into gear even more, Jazz and Sumie both take make misses, but Jazz locks in the STF, with Sumie desperately tapping even after the bell rings.
Rating 4.25/5
Francine is here with Amber O’Neill in a backstage segment, for some reason, Francine is playing with a banana. Amber is being vapid and unfocused, Francine can’t get a word in as her manager, and Amber scampers off while Francine is annoyed.
While Angel Orsini is in fact Italian, this was one of the most obvious Italian gimmicks to appeal to the cultural touchstones of Italian-American culture in 2007. My Italian partner, who I watched this with, lost their mind over it. Angel is a confident champ, and buies Angel and Francine alike. She’s the champ, and she’ll be the best.
“WEW World Title Match”
F.B.I (Full Breasted Italian) Angel Orsini vs Amber O’Neill w/Francine
Eric is alone on commentary, and Francine is out here with Amber. I don’t know how to describe Francine’s gear situation, it’s a dress thong situation with black silk and crystals. Amber’s gear is pretty normal. Miss Full Breasted Italian is uh. She’s wearing a green shirt hat says ‘Italian” in the impact font, an FBI hat, and camo shorts. The audience is excited to see her and a lot of people high five and cheer her on. Francine is the only one who gets cheered at the start, but this crowd is locked in. After a pretty quick exchange, Angel rips Amber’s wig off of her head, revealing less blonde hair. Angel runs around the ring upset, and Amber is tries to fight, this doesn’t really matter though because despite Francine’s support Amber gets distracted by her wig again. Angel takes a KILLER guard rail spot in this match, and Amber ois such an over-confident hardcore hitter. Angel is really struggling here, and after rope break from Amber Francine bounces her ass against Angel to choke her on the rope. Even in Angel’s offensive showcases at the start, she’s struggling.
Angel’s chop game is impeccable, and the favor moves to her. Eric is doing the thing where he takes a move that references a men’s title and just changes it to be a woman; school girl, hangwoman, etc. Francine is ripping into Amber because she just keeps playing to the crowd and wont go for the pin, this fucks her over of course, because Angel gets a surprise pin and the win before Francine can get into the ring to interfere.
Rating: 3.75/5
Angel goes through the crowd and celebrates with them, meanwhile Francine is in the right stalking down Amber in anger, she throws the wig at her, and everyone from Eric to the crowd is expecting a turn. Amber is clearly a bit scared of Francine, and she calls her closer. The crowd wants Francine to fuck her up so fucking bad, and she tries it, but Francine just hugs her close instead.
We close with another music video, this tine getrting the song and artist, which is Silent Protest by Trigger Point. It really suits the clips from the show, but there’s nothing new here.
Final Review
It’s frustrating when the wrestling is good & a show is bad, but even in in the process of finishing this write off I went through & lowered all of my ratings. This is a show filled with talented wrestlers working a promotion that could care less about their skill level, & the demeaning nature of commentary & the general misogynistic & generally bigoted fog is difficult to surpass at times. Each of these matches deserved at least 3-6 more minutes each, for a little over 1 hour on the tape, the actual amount of wrestling suffered.
Despite these issues, this was a fun show to watch! I think getting a grip on just what women’s wrestling was can really show what pro wrestling can become if it’s done right. The talent & passion was there, it really just feels like the wrong place at the wrong time. Many of the matches felt like they were kicking into gear just as they ended.
If anything, I think watching this episode of WEW really showed me I have far more to dig into with the American indies, I barely know much about the careers of the larger WEW roster, & from what I’ve researched already digging into their careers gives a treasure of matches & performances…just not in WEW.
Final Show Rating: 3/5
You should give this show a try if you’re a student of the American Indie game & women’s wrestling, & unfortunately for myself & all of my friends, we have a whole other tape to watch now!
When I posted about watching this show, a friend through wrestling Bluesky, Brittney, sent me WEW Street Fight! So you best expect a review coming…soon.
Thanks for reading!
