NCW Femmes Fatales IX - DVD Review

It’s time to step into the realm of Canada’s Northern Championship Wrestling once again, and having taken a look at two episodes of their Full Blast series we’re now going to take a first look at their all-women’s show. So join me now as we head back to last July for Femmes Fatales IX.

The show began with Leah von Dutch taking on Angie Skye, who had Kath von Goth in her corner.

For me this rather short encounter was somewhat lacking. It began with Sky going to work with an arm wringer, but once LVW brought out her moves things went a little downhill. LVD’s performance just seemed a little too forced and lacking in fluidity. Things got better when Skye took control with the help of her gothic friend, but when LVD made her comeback once again the action still looked forced, especially when she went for a moonsault.

The moonsault almost led her to victory, but as the referee made his count Goth pulled him out of the ring. A brief admonishment followed before Skye took her opponent down with her version of the Killswitch Engage for the winning pin.

The singles action continued with Missy taking on Deziree.

This one was even shorter, but it was also a lot better. Missy, who seems to have modelled herself on Raven, looked pretty decent, especially when she was executing Raven-like moves. As for Deziree she looked okay, but in such a short match it was a little hard to get what she was all about.

Missy came out on top here after taking her woman down with a DDT. Or should that be the Evenflow DDT?

Next up was Veda Scott against Mary Lee Rose, who was accompanied here by Mademoiselle Rochelle.

These two were give a little more time than their predecessors, but that didn’t mean the action was any better. Scott looked okay, but if I’m to be completely honest Rose looked quite poor. She certainly didn’t impress me. A good example of her work was when Scott connected with a clothesline and Rose went down in stages, rather like a footballer trying to convince a referee he was fouled when he wasn’t.

The end came when Rachelle tripped her own client as she ran the ropes, with Scott sealing the deal with an Ace Crusher.

Rachelle then stepped into the ring with her now-former charge, but their little confrontation was interrupted by the arrival of the Midwest Militia. After they introduced themselves to their new surroundings it looked like they were going to attack Rose until Courtney Rush appeared on the scene with a chair in hand. Some verbal sparring followed before Rose agreed to be in Rush’s corner for her big match later than night.

Tag team action followed as the Canadian Ninjaz, Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews, faced the Cherries, Sweet Cherry and Cherry Bomb, with the winners getting a shot at the Shimmer Tag titles.

Now this was a lot better. It began with the two Cherries frustrating the Ninjaz early on, but after Sweet Cherry missed an avalanche in the corner the Ninjaz took control. Perez and Matthews doubled up on Cherry to good effect, but it wasn’t long before she got the tag to Bomb to begin the all hell breaking loose segment of the match. There were a couple of moments of miscommunication when Perez accidentally clobbered Matthews and Perez pushed Bomb into Cherry, knocking her off the ring apron, before Perez rolled Bomb up for the three count and the win.

As the Ninjaz celebrated on their way backstage Cherrie raised her partners arm. Miss Bomb was none too pleased though and clobbered Cherrie in the back, leaving her laying in the ring.

It was back to singles action for the next match as Mercedes Martinez faced LuFisto.

Now this was a lot better times two. It began with Martinez attacked Fisto as she made her entrance. This saw that start of a brawl all around ringside before they eventually made it to the ring. Once they got there they continued the good work, but it wasn’t long before they were brawling at ringside once again, with the two ladies taking it in turns to roll back into the ring to break up the referee’s count.

The highlight of the match soon followed when Fisto took Martinez out with a moonsault to the floor, and when they’d recovered from their exertions they began brawling once again, this time making it into the front row.

That was enough for the frustrated official as he threw the match out. That didn’t matter to our ladies though as they continued fighting until the pink-shirted security team separated them.

After the esteemed Stephane Bruyere announced a few appearances for the next show before getting involved in the on-going brawl between Martinez and Fisto it was on to the next match as the masked Pink Flash Kira went up against She Nay Nay.

Before the match began Nay complained about having to wrestler a “super-hero”. This resulted in Kira chasing her around ringside and into the ring. Kira had her moments early on, but it wasn’t long before Nay took control. Those sequences were pretty good, especially Nay’s kerb stomp.

Kira soon made her comeback though, and although Nay tried to take her to the ground so she could apply an arm and shoulder submission Kira countered with a roll-up for the winning pin.

As Kira celebrated her win the Canadian Ninjaz returned to the ring for a sneak attack, using a chair as a choking aid. Portia Perez then grabbed the microphone and demanded that they get their shot at the Shimmer Tag Team titles there and then.

The champion, Courtney Rush and Sara Del Ray, made an appearance, and after Del Rey tried to give the challengers her title belt Rush accepted the challenge.

This one didn’t last that long. Rush got the punching bag treatment early on, but when she went to make the tag Del Rey did the old Mega Powers trick and jumped down from the apron, leaving Rush to fight on alone.

This she did, but there was only so much she could do, and after Matthews hit her in the ribs with a chair Perez took her out with a Superkick for the title winning pin.

Next up was the encounter between Cheerleader Melissa and K.C. Spinelli.

We had lots of stalling at the beginning, mainly because Spinelli tried to get the fans to join her in a cheerleader-like chant. When the action eventually began it was quite entertaining. Spinelli attacked as soon as the bell sounded, but it wasn’t long before Melissa was taking her to the proverbial woodshed. This only lasted for a few moments until Spinelli took the upper hand once more.

But despite her best efforts Spinelli couldn’t get the win, and when Melisa took her down with her version of White Noise it was all over. A three count later and Melisa had the win.

Then it was back to tag team action, this time of the six women variety as the Midwest Militia team of Jessica Havok, Sassy Stephie and Allysin Kay, accompanied by Mademoiselle Rachelle, faced the Rush Revolution team of Courtney Rush, Xandra Bale and Cat Power, accompanied by Mary Lee Rose.

This was another one that had lots of stalling at the beginning, mainly because of the Militia’s reluctance to get into the ring. When they eventually made their move it signalled the start of a mass brawl. The referee soon brought normality to the proceedings as the Militia used Rush’s injured ribs for target practice, and when she made it back to her corner it signalled the start of the second mass brawl, which involved a spot of high flying and an in-ring brawl between the ringside supporters.

It was then that Havok got back into the ring, and one by one she rook Rush’s team down. Her final move saw her countering Bale’s top rope hurricanrana attempt with a sit-down powerbomb for the winning pin.

The main event saw Sara Del Rey challenging Kalamity for the Femmes Fatales International title.

For me this was an example of how Del Rey is being completely underutilised by her current employers. She put in a performance that any of her male counterparts would be proud of. Everything she did looked so good, especially her hard hitting chops and kicks. It really was a top notch performance, the likes of which you’d never see from a Knockout or a Diva. Kalamity wasn’t far behind her performance-wise. Her work was solid and a lot more entertaining than many on the undercard.

Despite her best efforts Del Rey came up short. After she missed a cannonball in the corner Kalamity came across the ring and connecting with a flying forearm as she was slumped in the corner. She then took her out with the Kalamity Driver for the winning pin.

In conclusion - I have to admit that I kind of have mixed feelings about this particular release.

Some of the performances early on where somewhat lacking, but as the show went on the match quality definitely improved, with the final three matches proving to be a great example of what women’s wrestling should be about.

As for my match of the night that particular no-prize is going to the main event title match between Sara Del Rey and Kalamity. Nice work from all concerned in that one.

So with all of that out of the way it’s time to deliver my final verdict as Femmes Fatales IX gets the thumbs up. A good show let down by it’s early matches.

With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release. NCW Femmes Fatales IX is available to buy online at www.ncw.qc.ca.