Friday 14 September 2007

DWOW Hovember - DVD Review

I’m always interested in seeing a wrestling promotion I haven’t seen before, so when I started getting press releases from the American-based Dangerous Women of Wrestling, I contacted their press office about reviewing some of their DVDs. Happy to oblige, the first of the DVDs they sent me was from an event called Hovember, held in November 2002.
Disc one begins with a nice opening, before we get an opening promo from Candie, hyping her hardcore bra and panties bout with BJ. We then see BJ herself, looking for some weapons she can use.

Announcers Jeffrey J. James and Eric Gargiulo then make their introductions and run through the matches on the show.

Then it’s time to head to the ring to see Candie take on BJ in the aforementioned bra and panties hardcore bout, with Tara as the special referee. Before the match even begins Tara cuts a promo where she basically insults everyone. And then we get to the match, with Tara siding with Candie to take BJ down and strip her of her clothes for the victory. Typical bra and panties stuff here really.

Backstage, hillbilly faction the Maes talk…well swear in actual fact, about their upcoming tag title match. More swearing from Little Louie and King Sleazy, the Mighty Midgets, follows, before more dissing from the Maes.

Jeff and Eric return, talking about what just happened in the bra and panties match, before they start hyping the tag-team title match.

Back in the ring it’s time for the tag-team match, as the Maes take on the Mighty Midgets and Psycho Bitch and Tai. So let me get this straight - you’ve got a mixed tag-team versus a woman’s tag-team versus a midget tag-team for a women’s tag-team title. Should be an interesting one. I wish I could say something positive about this one, but I can’t. It was a mess, literally. If it was meant to be a comedy match then it failed miserably. With Psycho Bitch getting eliminated early, the Midgets won after interference from Sound Guy and Commissioner Smoke, so the Midgets won the tag titles. The only thing about this match was the revealing outfit referee Isis wore.

Afterwards, Sound Guy and Commissioner Smoke issue an open challenge to anyone in the crowd, which is answered by a hot young blonde in the front row. Nothing happens though as she is taken back to her seat by security.

Jeff and Eric return to hype the next bout, before we see Pussy Willow take on Persephone. Finally, we got some proper wrestling, until Special Ed and a rather large woman called Chick Diesel come to the ring. They throw out an open challenge, which American Cream Pie answers. While Diesel takes out her new opponent backstage, Handy Man climbs into the ting. So now you’ve got two guys who are meant to be handicapped fighting in the ring, until the ring crew try to break up things. But the two handicapped guys end up taking out the ring crew, until they start fighting each other again. Is this really what passes for wrestling entertainment in areas? If I was disabled I would have found this segment very offensive.

More from Eric and Jeff. Eric compared Chick Diesel to Brock Lesnar. Another promo follows, as Riptide rips on Amy Lee, and Amy Lee does the same to Riptide, although Amy isn’t exactly too polite. Then it’s back to Eric and Jeff for more hype jobs.

Then it’s time for the match as Riptide takes on Amy Lee, and finally we had a decent bout. Lee and Riptide brawl all over the arena, using chairs, ladders, tables, or anything else they could get their hands on, before Riptide got the victory after a moonsault off the top rope.

Backstage, while Missy is giving GI Ho a neck massage, Brittney cuts a quick promo before Greg Matthews attacks GI Ho and leaves her laying.

Eric and Jeff return and praise the Riptide/Lee match, and rightfully so, before hyping the other matches on the show.

Then it’s the battle of the high school virgins (their quote, note mine) as Missy takes on Brittney. Your basic cat fight here, until Sound Guy returns to the ring, turns on Missy and takes her down with a power bomb, earning Brittney a disqualification.

Backstage, as Sound Guy and Brittney celebrate, Lady Storm clobbers a couple of guys with chairs for no reason.

Then it’s time for our World title match, as former Tough Enough contestant Greg Matthews takes on GI Ho. Yep, a man is taking on a woman for a woman’s world title. What started out as a good inter-gender bout between Ho and Matthews was actually disrupted by the fact that the ending of the match actually wasn’t on the disc! Who won? I guess you’ll have to check with DWOW to find that one out.

Disc one extras include bios of all DWOW’s performers, and, of course, a chance to select which bout or segment you’d like to see.

Disc two contains the main event of the show and it’s build-up. Backstage, the Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young emerge from the crypt and discuss their upcoming match with Sound Guy and Commissioner Smoke, a “I Hate Ho’s” street fight. Before Moolah and Young even make it to the ring, Smoke and Sound Guy cut promos so long that they wouldn’t be out of place on an opening segment of Raw. When Young and Moolah finally arrive, Smoke and Sound Guy continue to stall, and it’s some ten minutes or so since this segment began that the match begins. It’s basically a mess here, and the sad thing is that Moolah and Mae looked the best two in the match. Half of the female face roster gets involved, including Schoolgirl Missy putting Sound Guy through a table, before the old girls make the young guys pass out with sleeper holds. Afterwards, while Smoke disappears, the old birds continue their attack on Sound Guy backstage.

Other segments on this disc include an oil wrestling match, which is basically a catfight, backstage footage, and scenes from the fanfest held before the show.

In conclusion - while I can’t fault this release’s production values, the majority of the wrestling here leaves a lot to be desired, with only the Lee/Riptide and Matthews/GI Ho matches worth speaking about. If you like male midgets as women’s tag-team champions, cripples fighting in the middle of the ring, and two old girls fighting two young studs, then this is the DVD for you. But if you’re looking for decent women’s wrestling, then this won’t be for you.

With thanks to DWOW for supplying a copy of this DVD. For more information on DWOW, and to order this DVD, log onto www.dangerouswomenofwrestling.com.

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