10/7/16 Sabotage Wrestling — Knights of Columbus Hall (“EWF Arena”), Covina
Whether they came to see a couple of Lucha Underground stars, two women holding a tag team title that is normally on the shoulders or around the waist of men, talents that have never been seen in So Cal until that night, or two of Stardom’s finest talents today, the large crowd on hand were treated to some of the finest art of women’s wrestling today. The relative handful of VIP ticket holders, including myself, got the stuff that came with the VIP package, as well as being in the middle of a group photo with all of the great women wrestlers on the card. It was pretty easy to see where I was seated, given that I was pretty much the only fan in attendance wearing the Stardom Oedo Tai tee. Other fans had other Stardom tees too, ranging from the Kairi Hojo “Pirate” tee, to a Kris Wolf tee, to the “Masks of Threedom” tee. Plenty of merchandise were available, too. If you were the lucky few who bought the 2017 Stardom Calendar, then kudos to you, as there weren’t many available on hand. In terms of presenting video clips, we may see two different versions–one version that may be available for purchase on ClickWrestle.com, the other posted by Stardom on Stardom-World.com, which can be seen in the future, for the monthly U.S. equivalent of 750 Japanese Yen (at the time of purchase) subscription rate.
1 – Raze & Shotzi Blackheart v. Christi Jaynes & Safari Reign
Christi & Safari looked really good in the ring, and all four of them worked pretty well together. Raze capped it with a Saito Suplex on Christi for the pin.
2 – Desi De Rata v. Delilah Doom
Desi was one of the last additions to the card, and her apparent dark demeanor was quite the polar opposite of Delilah’s colorful “80’s Girl” persona. Desi had control of most of the match, save for the few moments that Delilah was on the offensive. In the end, Desi looked like she was going to hit a big Suplex or Backbreaker on Delilah, but Delilah reversed it into a Bulldog, and scored the pin.
3 – Triple Threat Match. Keneisha Moon v. Sage Sin v. Ray Lyn
Ray was another one of the last additions to the card, while Sage Sin was put in this match, in the wake of Nicole Savoy tearing her ACL. All 3 women had their share of the spotlight, with Sage biding her time early on, before she took the initiative, which included her “spitting a poison mist” at Keneisha. Sage was able to take Keneisha out of the fight late in the match, then slapped on what looked like an Indian Deathlock on Ray, to score the tapout submission win.
4 – NWA Vendetta Pro Western States Tag Team Championship: Twisted Sisterz (c – Thunder Rosa & Holidead) v. Lil Cholo & Mariachi Loco (chosen by Donovan Troi, alongside Alexander G. Bernard)
Even with the early “jitters” that Cholo & Mariachi had on “hitting the two women”, all four wrestlers put on a clinic on wrestling storytelling, as well as lucha libre. Donovan & AGB made a few attempts to interfere, but tried it too many times, before the sisterz were able to knock them off the apron. T.R. & Holidead managed to disorient Cholo, just enough for them to hit a Team DDT or Piledriver on Mariachi for the team pin, and a successful title defense.
* Taya Valkyrie comes out with a couple of men, and cuts an in-ring promo in her familiar ruda persona, then issued an open challenge to put the AAA Reina de Reinas title on the line. It was answered by Thunder Rosa, who cut quite a promo against Taya, in both English & Spanish.
5 – Special Intergender Tag Team Match, presented by the EWF: EWF Heavyweight Champion Andy Brown & Maritza Janett v. “The Mega King” Tommy Wilson & “Mega Queen” Ashley Grace
If there were any animosities left between the two men after their “Come as you are” Street Fight the previous night in Corona, then it showed in this match. The men’s in-ring chemistry offset the relative lack of in-ring experience that Maritza has. In Maritza’s defense, she’s showing some good potential, which can blossom with additional training and in-ring work. I just hope she protects her face when competing in the ring, especially since she appears to have braces on her teeth at this time. At any rate, Andy & Tommy essentially cancelled each other out, leaving it up to the ladies to duel it out. Maritza was able to drive Ashley onto Tommy, knocking him off the apron, then did a Crucifix or Cradle Rollup for the pin. That obviously didn’t bode well for Tommy, who gave Ashley a Mega Kick, then walked away.
6 – WWS Mexico Women’s Championship: Diosa Atenea (c) v. Heather Monroe
To me, Heather showed some Santino Bros. toughness, and gave it all she had against the masked luchadora, who had a relatively successful tour with Stardom earlier in the year, as part of Oedo Tai. Atenea capped it by hitting her Death Valley Driver for the pin & another successful title defense.
SM – Japan v. Canada: (Stardom Japan) Wonder of Stardom Champion Kairi Hojo & 2016 Stardom 5-Star GP Champion Yoko Bito v. (Canada) Oedo Tai Gaijin Kaitlin Diemond & Kat Von Heez
She might not have clearly mocked “The Pirate Princess” for dropping the Artists of Stardom (trios) titles to fellow Oedo Tai members Kagetsu & the Kimura’s (Kyoko & Hana) the previous Sunday, but Kaitlin did try to be like Act Yasukawa by carrying a bottle of wine to the ring, and spitting some of that liquor at Hojo. Kat looked really good in the ring, using her bigger size to her advantage through most of the match, and held her own ground against the Stardom talents, especially Bito & her very stiff kicks. On the flip side, the in-ring chemistry between Hojo & Kaitlin was in full swing, a result of months of them throwing it down in the Stardom ring over the previous Winter & Spring. “B.Ho” was able to isolate Kaitlin for Bito to hit the B-Driver. While Bito kicked Kat off the apron, Hojo hit her world-famous Diving Elbow Drop for the pin.
M – AAA Reina de Reinas Championship: Taya Valkyrie (c) v. Thunder Rosa
There’s no doubt that Taya’s heel tactics were in full focus–something that every LU & AAA fan know really well. A great mix of wrestling action, and story telling, although Taya’s two valets did help out every now and then. In the end, Taya capped it with a Double-Stomp to Thunder Rosa’s gut for the successful title defense, although she really had to work hard for it.
Much like Stardom USA last year, the inaugural Sabotage event didn’t disappoint. The crowd were treated to a night of great women’s wrestling, proving that California is becoming a real hot spot for wrestling in the West Coast. Even though Thunder Rosa didn’t take the AAA title, she & Holidead will definitely take the NWA Vendetta Pro Western States Tag Team titles to Japan, ahead of Stardom’s annual “Goddess of Stardom Tag Team League”. Don’t be surprised to see them state such a rare achievement in their pre-match promos for Stardom World later this year, as a way to get into the heads of the other tag teams, including “B.Ho”, The Owens Twins (from Europe), “Team Tea Time” (Santana Garrett & Chelsea Green), & Thunder Rock (Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani). Just seeing how far the two will go will definitely warrant a subscription to Stardom World. If the Twisted Sisterz can’t win the tournament & take the tag team titles from Kagetsu & Kyoko Kimura, then I would like to see them at least challenge Io & Kairi for their respective singles titles at “Year End Climax”
All the other women gave a very strong showing, especially Heather Monroe & Delilah Doom. Heather will certainly learn alot from working with a champion like Diosa Atenea, and that should help her continue to work on improving her skills in the SBWA Dojo. Delilah’s in-persona looks to have grown into the hearts & minds of the So Cal fans, and she has the in-ring abilities to go with it. Now that many of them got their footing in the So Cal wrestling scene, we’ll have to wait and see if that opens up future bookings in the region, especially AWS, and possibly Stardom.
MOTN
1 – Bito & Hojo / Kaitlin & Kat
2 – NWA Western States Tag Team title match
3 – Taya / Thunder Rosa
My photos from the VIP ringside section: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.557229134469246.1073741874.436289569896537&type=1&l=4ffe4b3466
