She said/She said: Courtney Rush vs Cherry Bomb

19th March, 2016

In a world of instant gratification, it is rare to have a build-up to a match that takes seven months, but that is what is happening in Toronto’s Smash Wrestling, where two of the best women wrestlers out there finally clash — Courtney Rush against Cherry Bomb. We asked both grapplers to offer up their thoughts on the feud and each other.

At issue is Cherry Bomb cutting Courtney Rush’s hair back in August 2015. Shortly thereafter, Cherry Bomb broke her collarbone and was out of action. Rush re-invented herself, letting herself act wilder and wilder, and found herself more in the spotlight as a result.

Cherry Bomb has a crucifix as Courtney Rush attacks Cherry’s long-time tag team partner Kimber Lee at a Smash Wrestling show earlier this year. Photos by Steve Argintaru

Smash Wrestling has kept the foes apart at its shows, allowing for promos and teases, making the match on Sunday, March 20th well worth the wait. It’s a part of the Any Given Sunday 4 show, which also features Bull Dempsey (formerly of NXT) against Ontario star Tyson Dux; the action is at Franklin Horner Community Centre, 432 Horner Ave., in Toronto, with a 5 p.m. bell time.

In the spirit of kayfabe and our love of old wrestling magazines, both Courtney Rush and Cherry Bomb have written up short pieces for SLAM! Wrestling.

COURTNEY RUSH

We aren’t going to sit here and try to come up with reasons that everyone should want to watch this match. If you are a fan of good wrestling, not just women’s wrestling, and you are at all familiar with either Courtney Rush or Cherry Bomb, then you already know this is going to be a match worth watching. If you aren’t familiar with Courtney Rush or Cherry Bomb, we trust that you have eyes and ears that work well enough to take note that those who are familiar are talking about it, and that the company making it happen, Toronto’s Smash Wrestling, knows that it is big enough to be the selling point of Any Given Sunday 4 and to have this match and ONLY this match be featured on the official show poster.

What we are going to do is tell you that, since the match was announced, we have finally felt overwhelmingly and unnaturally calm. Considering that we have been living in constant rage, and perhaps a touch irrational, since August’s Super Showdown 3, where Cherry Bomb went out of her way to ridicule and humiliate us by having us held down so that we couldn’t fight back while she cut off our hair, this is absolutely significant. Had we been able to face her the following month at Canusa Classic 3 and settle the score, perhaps things would have been different. But Cherry broke her collarbone the night before the tournament and we knew it would be months before we would face her once more.

Admittedly, it changed us.

See, Cherry Bomb has never been our friend. She has barely somebody we could tolerate at the best of times, considering the things she has done to us (gave us a severe concussion, nearly broke our orbital bone, had us publicly fired from another promotion, just to name a few). In the spirit of professionalism, however, we managed to look past these differences and have had several excellent matches with her, albeit perhaps more aggressive than usual. See Smash Wrestling CanUSA Classic 2 for reference.

Things have been different since August, and having to be patient, knowing we had to wait if we ever wanted our revenge — it began to eat us up inside. It began to make us lose self-control. The anger and hate in our heart began to create violent and bloody images in our head and we would dream what we would do to her when finally the time came where she was medically cleared. She would taunt us, knowing we couldn’t touch her, and it would fuel our rage. Time ticked on, and we waited …

And now she has been cleared to wrestle.

Smash Wrestling has always been a place to find premier women’s wrestling in Canada, but with this match, they are presenting something even more special. There is no spirit of athletic competition here. No titles are on the line. It will be violent. We do not care whose side you are on. We are finally being rewarded for our patience. And we are smiling. We are ready. For the first time in months, we are calm.

CHERRY BOMB

On March 20, I finally get my hands on Courtney Rush. This isn’t just a match a few months in the making, no, this match has been building for EIGHT years. Let me take you back to my first encounter with Ms. Psychopath Rush. I approached her at an Indy wrestling event back in 2008, and extended my hand to introduce myself. I wasn’t surprised when she said she knew who I was; I was surprised however, when she gave me the most scathing look, rolled her eyes and gave me the most insulting, pathetic handshake I’d ever received. I knew instantly that she didn’t like me. What I couldn’t figure out was why. Then it dawned on me, she MUST be jealous. Jealous of my looks, jealous of my talent, jealous of my beautiful hair, jealous of my body and deep down, in that moment, she knew she would NEVER be on my level.

Flash forward to 2011. Rush and I finally had the opportunity to wrestle against each other. Not only did she knock me out in one of our first matches, she physically assaulted me! I know why she did it. She was mad that I beat her for the principal role in the Canadian film, Beat Down. So, I had her fired from NEO Spirit Pro Wrestling. Can you blame me? She was a hazard. I thought that was the end of it, until we met again on a show in Kitchener, where she attempted to blind me with a white powdery substance. I outsmarted her by kicking it directly into her face and taking the win.

This brings us to 2015, it had been years since we faced each other, but at the Smash Wrestling’s Canusa Classic we were finally in a ring together. All of the hatred came to a boil and we attacked each other. She couldn’t face me alone, so, she brought in her Canadian bestie Xandra Bale. It doesn’t matter if I lost that match, I gave Rush a beating and that’s all I needed.

March 20, 2016, I’m not only going to beat Rush, but I’m going to END her. Smash Wrestling has given us a platform to put the final nail in this rivalry’s coffin.

ROSEMARY / COURTNEY RUSH STORIES