Review: TCW ‘Goddesses of War’ Debut Show

It doesn’t get much better than Goddesses wrestling under the stars. And that’s exactly what we were treated to at the Inaugural TCW Goddesses of War show on Friday night in Ocean Gate, New Jersey.

The show opened with a welcome from our Goddess Champion herself, The Notorious Mimi. It’s no secret that we’ve been very high on Mimi so early in her career, but the young lady truly embodies the word, Champion. Not only because she carries the banner of the Goddesses brand with integrity and honor, but because she embraces her role as a leader.

In the backstage area our own Kriss Nunez overheard a conversation where one of the female talents said they felt like they looked like crap. Without missing a beat, Mimi approached said talent and told her that she looked great. It really is the little things. More of this please. Additionally, Mimi and Travis Jacobs attended a child’s wrestling birthday party earlier this week with championship belts in tow. This is what it’s all about. More on Mimi in our main event…..

Our opening contest saw the debuting Kaia Mckenna take on the power house Debbie Kane. Hell of a debut by McKenna who had a lot of good witch vibes throughout. Bonus point for her as she actually made her own gear as well! However, Kane was able to use her experience to hit the amazingly titled “Debbie Downer” maneuver to ruin Kaia’s first official match. That being said, don’t sleep on Mckenna just yet.

Next up the super charismatic yet super intimidating Holidead took on the “Gift of Gab” herself Gabby Ortiz. I’ll tell you what. This was a REALLY good match. Seeing Holidead live for the first time was great, as was her chatter with the fans. She really took Ortiz to the limit with some of the best leg drops you’ll ever see in the business today. Not to be outdone Gabby pulled out a super innovative flipping snap mare take down slam, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. This was a really captivating match that came down to the very end when Holidead was able to hit a very impressive Tiger Bomb/Double Underhook Bomb maneuver to come out on top. Post match a slight show of respect between the competitors. The real winners here: The fans.

Another show-stealer match was the Dark Arts Brawl Match featuring Mother Endless taking on Anastasia Morningstar. The production in this match was phenomenal. Everything from fire to black smoke to pyro and more was featured. Spells were cast, weapons were used, and more. The lighting was also turned red during this match, and not in the way that was super distracting when the Fiend would use it. With the sun nearly down, the lighting and black smoke throughout the match was really really cool. A mood was set here and the match itself was great. Morningstar was able to hit a vicious power-bomb late, BUT Mother Endless put her to sleep with her patented Mother’s Embrace.

As for the most athletic match of the night, that would go to Vita Vonstarr against “The Gladiator of the Geeks” Riley Shepard. Both of these women are super impressive to watch in the ring and they know it too. The back and forth technical wrestling to start this match and resulting standoffs were superb. Lots of cartwheels and splits from Vonstarr while Riley used more mat based technique. Things escalated quickly with more powerslams and top rope maneuvers. Vonstarr was able to hit her Stratosphere type maneuver on Shepard, but Shepard would ultimately make it GAME OVER with an attitude adjustment into a knee for the one, two, three. This was a really solid match.

Side note: I think pairing Vonstarr with McKenna could make for a very interesting “Magical” type tag team……

In triple threat action we Adena Steele make quick work of both Valentina Vazquez and Gabby Gilbert. Steele is the real deal here, as she got the pin on both of her opponents in this elimination match setting. She is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and is no stranger to having gold around her waist. We wouldn’t mind seeing her be next in line for a title shot….

However, the number one contender has already been determined as Christina Marie was able to defeat Corinne Mink in a solid bout. Post match Marie would join the commentary team for the main event.

Our main event for the evening saw Vivacious Vicious Vicki take on The Goddesses Champion The Notorious Mimi for the title. Mimi came to the ring with more hardware than Home Depot. (#mimi3belts) That’s right Mimi is currently carrying titles from three different promotions right now — as she should be.

The match itself was really really good. Lots of power offense early including neckbreakers, suplexes, and a pretty epic Lou Thez press from Mimi. Vicki was able to take Mimi to her limits , however, almost hitting her with one of the best finisher names in the state, “The New Jersey TurnSpike” but the champ reversed. Shortly thereafter, Mimi was able to retain by locking in a Dis-arm-her type submission for the tap out.

Post match Mimi is attacked by the new number one contender, Miss Christina Marie, (Shayna Bazler vibes) saying that Mimi is going to need more than an armbar to defeat her. Well surprise, surprise – that match is happened to be the next night at TCW’s Rise of Titans!

Hell of a show as expected but I will say that TCW did again go the extra mile. Something that I thought may not happen for years, happened tonight as TCW allowed fans and talent to partake in safe meet & greets. This was something I sorely missed these past few months, as both fans and talent alike were able to interact again. During the intermission we all sang Happy Birthday to TCW founder Chalres Delutri as he was given a cake. Lots of personal touches like this make all the difference.