By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
wXw Femmes Fatales is a nice touch after events such as 16 Carat Gold and World Tag Team League. Sure, there is an argument that you could run a three day tournament aimed booking only women wrestlers, but for them to have a highly respected one event tournament, a tournament that has a similar amount of gravitas as the Ambition shoot-style tournament that accompanies 16 Carat Gold, is encouraging. As with the World Tag Team League, the wrestlers would enter the ring at the start of the show in order to get the customary photos of the filed, before the night would start with Wesna versus Meiko Satomura. In a pleasant touch, the ring announcing would also be done by a female ring announcer – a small thing, but important on an event like this.
Wesna was a wrestler I enjoyed earlier in the year when she turned up at 16 Carat Gold Day Three, so I was looking forward to her mixing it up with Satomura. The two women initially traded some tentative kicks, before Satomura showed Wesna that she could match up to her with strikes with a retaliatory chop in the corner that managed to get the crowd going. With the size advantage, Wesna controlled the pace early on, utilising a grounded headscissors and a back senton after a trip to keep Satomura grounded. A Fujiwara armbar out of nowhere gave Satomura some respite, and she showed some of her renowned fighting spirit to get up after a big boot and drop Wesna with a forearm to the face and a kick.
After kicking out of a cartwheel kneedrop, Wesna showed she was more than just power with a well-executed northern lights suplex, though she would soon be ragdolling Satomura once more with an exploder suplex and a sitout butterfly powerbomb for a nearfall. Wesna would catch Satomura on the top for a huge superplex, but a blocked butterfly powerbomb this time allowed Satomura to hit a backdrop driver and a Death Valley driver for the win. A popular win in a match that told a decent story, if not a particularly spectacular execution.
Millie McKenzie hasn’t had the best of luck in wXw to date, but she had a chance to make up for that in this Femmes Fatales tournament as she took on Audrey Bride. The crowd were fully behind McKenzie as they locked up, with an initial exchange of holds highlighted by McKenzie using the ropes to flip out of an arm wringer. As the pace picked up, McKenzie took control with forearms in the corner and boots after a snapmare, yet Bride would use a handful of hair and an eye rake to leave McKenzie vulnerable to an ace crusher. Bride’s less than popular offensive assault saw her grab a two from a legdrop, whilst also cutting off a comeback with a forearm and a boot to the face in successive attempts.
McKenzie is a great face wrestling from underneath in terms of her popularity with the crowd, and they continued to tease a comeback with a blocked German suplex, only for McKenzie to nail Bride seconds later with a spear. Still, Bride’s use of an STO and a DDT turned the tide immediately back in her favour. Finally, multiple Germans would follow McKenzie escaping an attempt by Bride to run her into the turnbuckle, the third one coming with a bridge for the win. Decent first round match, made all the better for the crowd’s reaction to McKenzie.
Having finally got me on side with her match against LuFisto, Kris Wolf was up against another hard hitting female in Killer Kelly, a wrestler who just continues to impress considering how relatively new she still is to the graps game. The stall for the tone of this match was set out early, as Wolf would use bum slaps on Kelly, yet the former wXw Women’s Champion went straight to a waistlock takedown – she wasn’t there to mess around. That didn’t stop Wolf from breaking a hold with a bite later on, but she also fought her way out of a side headlock with a headscissors of her own, showing a willingness to engage in a more technical contest if needed.
Wolf would be unable to apply a German suplex, but some kicks that targeted her opponent’s legs were apt, before a trip on the apron to avoid a running boot allowed Wolf to hit a running knee into the crowd, pour a drink in Kelly’s mouth and attack her with the wolf head. More wolf head antics followed, including Kelly catching a wolf-covered Wolf with a superkick to set up Shades of Shibata. A double springboard into a forearm nailed Kelly for a nearfall, but a following top rope move was halted with boots to the face, leading to a Kelly fisherman suplex for three. It was a match that only worked in fits and starts, but seeing more crowd work and aerial moves from Wolf was a good addition to what she’s showcased in wXw so far.
The match of the opening round on paper was always going to be LuFisto versus Toni Storm, considering they were both potential winners of the tournament. The contest would initially go to the canvas, with Storm able to work her way out of LuFisto’s clutches multiple times, before nailing LuFisto with a basement dropkick to avoid a dropdown. An attempt to hit Strong Zero early was a mistake though, allowing LuFisto to begin to target the knee with her usual no nonsense style. A quick flurry from Storm grounded LuFisto, but an enziguri kick missed and saw more punishment to Storm’s knee as LuFisto locked her in a submission before smashing it around the ringpost.
Storm still had enough to use her speed to match strikes with LuFisto whilst dodging offense, but another Strong Zero attempt saw LuFisto trip Storm and almost earn the submission with a leglock. Storm managed to reach the ropes, whilst LuFisto’s decision to hit a corner butt bump backfired as Storm landed a German suplex, and one of her own. As Storm looked to push the pressure, Melanie Gray would head down to the ring in order to distract Storm by throwing the Women’s Championship at her. This was enough for LuFisto to regain her composure, stick Storm on the turnbuckle and hit the Burning Hammer for the win. Too much work by Storm on her injured leg perhaps, but a good match for sure.
Into the second round, and Millie McKenzie would meet Meiko Satomura arguably the fresher of the two, though it would be the veteran who immediately took control with a modified bow and arrow before controlling McKenzie’s arm. A leg grapevine following a kick to the quad muscle led to a further leg submission with Satomura falling back twice in order to add increased torque to the hold. McKenzie was getting nowhere as Satomura applied an STF, until she escaped and channelled one of her tag team partners, Pete Dunne, by attacking the fingers. The success was limited though, and another Satomura trip with an additional kneedrop earned her a two count.
After a shotgun-style dropkick scored McKenzie a nearfall, Satomura would miss her cartwheel kneedrop, allowing McKenzie to take advantage with another dropkick and an ace crusher for two. An octopus hold forced Satomura to get to the ropes in order to break the hold, but the speed with which she was able to use the momentum from an Irish whip into the corner into a takedown and STF was frighteningly impressive. McKenzie would subsequently avoid a top rope splash by Satomura, but one spear was unlikely to be enough to end the contest. As McKenzie looked for a route to victory, Satomura would hit a snap suplex and the Death Valley driver for the win. A fun and competitive match, with the right woman heading to the final.
LuFisto wasn’t here to win friends and influence people, jumping Killer Kelly before the bell had rung. This unsurprisingly allowed her to dominate the opening exchanges, with Kelly trying her best to fight back with the odd kick and strike. Her window would open when LuFisto missed a charge into the corner, enabling Kelly to hit a bicycle kick, several mounted punches and a running kick from the apron as LuFisto rolled to ringside. Trademark Kelly offense would continue with a suplex into the corner, but LuFisto cleverly reversed Shades of Shibata into an STO face first into the turnbuckle.
A brutal backdrop driver looked like it would give LuFisto a chance to put Kelly away, but a German suplex instead almost dropped LuFisto on her head. Shades of Shibata followed, as did the fisherman suplex that ended Kelly’s first round match, but LuFisto kicked out! With her biggest shots fired, Kelly was prey to a vicious fisherman buster and tiger bomb as LuFisto would qualify for the final. Hard hitting, with LuFisto looking like the big monster that Satomura has to slay in the final.
wXw Women’s Championship Match time followed, as Melanie Gray made her first defense against a woman who had previously beaten her this year, Session Moth Martina. Martina’s first move would be a codebreaker, a move that she had won with before, yet Gray managed to roll out of the ring to prolong her title reign. Befitting the ill feeling between the two women, brawling at ringside followed, highlighted by a rolling senton off of the apron by Gray shortly after Martina had spit beer in her face. Back in the ring, Martina would score two quick nearfalls, but a Gray Out turned the tide in the champion’s favour.
Neither woman could maintain control for too long, with Martina landing a northern lights suplex and Gray following up with a spear of her own, but a lot of the offense was good old fashioned brawling – punches, kicks and headbutts. Martina almost caused a huge upset with a codebreaker from the second rope, but one off of the top missed completely, and Gray capitalised with a spear and the Melodram for the submission win. A good win for a first title defense, with each woman bringing the hatred that was needed to make it watchable.
The final of the Femmes Fatales closed out the show as LuFisto met Meiko Satomura. Satomura had already defeated Wesna, but LuFisto was a much more dangerous proposition. Perhaps realising she had to go above and beyond to win, Satomura took the fight to ringside, unleashing many kicks and sending LuFisto head first into the ringpost. This strategy was not entirely successful; LuFisto’s first significant offense a powerbomb onto the ring apron, setting her up to target the back – a camel clutch an effective way to wear down Satomura.
The fight would spill out of the ring once more after a kick by Satomura, leading to a fight on the stage in which both women almost took a spill to the floor. LuFisto would eventually manage to dump Satomura with a suplex that could only further damage the back. A baseball slide in the tree of woe position earned LuFisto a two count, yet it would take a desperation clothesline to cut off a fired up Satomura kick-based comeback. All bets were off as the women leathered each other wife strikes, whilst a modified fireman’s carry slam and a cannonball still couldn’t put Satomura away. The frustration was evident, but LuFisto’s inability to hit the Burning Hammer would prove costly. Satomura would hit the Scorpio Rising kick before nailing the Death Valley driver for the popular victory.
As with Inner Circle, these shorter wXw shows are always a good slice of wrestling, and the tournament was a real fun showcase of some of the top women’s talent in Europe and the rest of the world. On top of that, the match that mattered most in ongoing storylines – Gray versus Martina – delivered a heated match that didn’t overstay its welcome and was booked correctly as Gray as heel champion is something that has legs and will be interesting to see how the reign pans out going forward.
