WWW 2nd Anniversary Spectacular - DVD Review

I’m going to continue the theme of women’s wrestling with this latest review, by going back to a promotion I first looked at last year. The promotion in question is World Women’s Wrestling, the sister company of New England Championship Wrestling, and the DVD we’re going to look at here is their two disc 2nd Anniversary Spectacular, held at the Good Time Emporium in Somerville Massachusetts in March last year, and headlined by WWW Champion Lexxus taking on “The Portuguese Princess” Ariel in a title versus career match. As always, the main man of NECW, Sheldon Goldberg, is handling commentary duties.
Disc one begins with a triple threat match, featuring Sammi Lane, Barbie and Mistress Belmont. A rather short opener saw Lane and Barbie, the two heels, double up on Belmont to good effect. Inevitably, Lane and Barbie began to argue over who would get the cover, which eventually led to blows, with Barbie throwing Lane out of the ring. But while Barbie was bad mouthing Lane, the now recovered Belmont sneaked up behind Barbie and got the winning pin with a schoolboy (or should that be schoolgirl) roll-up. Enjoyable, but a little too short.

After an in-ring interview with Elektra Arion in which she announces that she’s going to train to become a wrestler before fending off an attack from everyone’s favourite manager, Sean Gorman, and his charge, Ryan Matthews, it’s back to the action with a singles match, Jana against Mistress Belmont’s tag-team partner, Della Morte. A somewhat slower paced match than the opener sees Morte use her size advantage to good effect, although it wasn’t all a one way street as Jana got in her fair share of licks as well. However, when Morte missed a top rope attack, Jana used a small package to pick up the win. If I’m to be completely honest here, although this match had some good moments, it didn’t exactly set my pulse racing.

The singles action continued with Roxie Cotton facing Amber. Now this match was a lot better. Cotton looked a little nervous at first, but as the match progressed you could see her grow in confidence. But the star of this show was Amber. This girl really impressed me with her wrestling ability. Sadly, what was a great little match was ruined when Sammi Lane and Barbie returned to the ring and attacked both girls. Because of this, the referee declared the match a no contest. It was then that Amber, on behalf of herself and Cotton, issued a challenge to Lane and Barbie, a match that the boss man was more than happy to make, adding a stipulation of his own - no disqualification.

Then, just as the ring announcer was about to announce that particular tag-team match, Sean Gorman, now wearing a neck collar, stormed to the ring so he could have a good old fashioned moan. He then proceeds, in his words, to hijack the show, bringing out “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards to protect him. Edwards then says that he’s not going to leave the ring unless someone can get them out of the ring. This brings the boss man back out, and he brings out “The Human Nightmare” Evan Siks. Needless to say a brawl brakes out, and Siks eventually gets the upper hand, chasing the bad guys backstage.

Then, finally, we get the no disqualification tag-team match, pitting Sammi Lane and Barbie against Amber and Roxie Cotton. This match promised much, but was almost ruined early on. As Amber had Barbie in a pinning predicament, either Barbie forgot to raise her shoulder, or the referee counted too fast. He then called for the bell, which not only confused the wrestlers but the fans. Announcer Goldberg covered this by saying that the referee had called for a DQ, with the boss coming to the ring and ordering the referee to re-start the match. Thankfully, what was left of the match was good enough to make up for those early mistakes. The in-ring action soon spilled outside into two separate brawls, before they eventually returned to the ring, and after Amber took Barbie down with an enziguri, Cotton sealed the deal with a senton off the top rope. Well, it was good, but it could have been a whole lot better.

Disc two is where you’ll find the main event, with “The Portuguese Princess” Ariel putting her career on the line as she challenges Lexxus for the WWW title. This was definitely worthy of it’s main event status. Ariel and Lexxus put on an enthralling contest which had everything from great ring psychology and presence, tremendous wrestling action, and even great brawling as the girls took their fight out of the ring and all around the hall. Lexxus, in particular, really impressed me. Towards the end of the match the referee took an accidental hit from Ariel, and when Lexxus took Ariel down with her guillotine driver, there wasn’t anyone to make the count. Then, a crazed Lexxus fan jumped into the win and began to talk to the champion. Lexxus wanted nothing to do with this fan, who ended up super kicking the woman he was meant to be helping. He then put Ariel on top of Lexxus, and as the referee came to and made the count, giving Ariel the title. Afterwards, Ariel wanted to know what was going on, and the crazed fan, who had been taken out by security, came back to the ring. At first he berated Lexxus again, going on like a lunatic about his plan, which was then revealed - he’d actually been hired by Ariel to take out Lexxus, and the new champion introduced him as her new agent, Brandon Michael Thomas. The heel turn was complete. A great match, and a very interesting storyline.

The only DVD extra in this release is also on disc two, footage from the Q & A section at the 2nd anniversary luncheon.

In conclusion - a really enjoyable release from Triple W here. Although one match was slightly disappointing, the majority ranged from good to great. As with the previous WWW DVD I’ve reviewed, this one comes highly recommended. The production values are good, and once again I must make mention of Sheldon Goldberg’s commentary. The guy just really impresses me each and every time I hear him. He’s great at calling the matches and putting the wrestlers and the storylines across. My only criticism is that as announcer and as an on-screen authority figure, it doesn’t really look right when he commentates when he’s on screen. But apart from that, he’s doing a great job.

With thanks to Sheldon Goldberg for supplying a copy of this DVD release. For more information of World Women’s Wrestling and it’s sister company New England Championship Wrestling, log on to www.NECWwrestling.com.