MONTREAL — In a city known for beautiful women, Saturday’s NCW Femmes Fatales gala was something altogether different. The gathering of top female wrestlers was a riotous affair, featuring some of the top names in the business and some great matches. At the conclusion, one pundit called it “the best all-women’s show ever in Canada.”
The line-up included three big-name imports — TNA’s Alyssa Flash, working under her indy name of Cheerleader Melissa, Sara Del Rey, and SHIMMER champion MsChif, along with Ontarioans Cherry Bomb, Misty Haven, and SLAM! Wrestling’s infrequent columnist Portia Perez. Rounding out the show were local stars like Kacey Diamond and LuFisto, who is without a doubt the best female wrestler in Quebec for the past 10 years.
In short, the show couldn’t really go wrong.
Women’s wrestling in Quebec has seen a resurgence over the last three years under the promotion of Kim Leduc (daughter of Paul Leduc) and her all-women ALF promotion. With the ALF folding at the beginning of the year, the NCW promotion saw an opportunity — and delivered.
Everybody, from management to wrestlers, thought it was as good or even better than the best ALF show ever. Production-wise and wrestling-wise, it was a very good show, one of the best held in Montreal this year.
“The energy was high,” said Toronto’s Cherry Bomb after the show.
LuFisto, who was a co-promoter in the show, felt the same way. “Everyone involved wanted this show to be a success.”
In the main-event, LuFisto won against Cheerleader Melissa Anderson, with whom she had the match of the year in 2008 for SHIMMER. “The SHIMMER match was different, because it was our first meeting and because of that whole match-of-the-year vibe afterward, but I really enjoyed this one too,” said Anderson after the show.
All of the Americans appreciated their time, and for many of them it was their first visit to beautiful Montreal. “I’m very happy there is an all-female promotion in Canada,” said Melissa, who calls California home.
“The show was very well put together,” said former SHIMMER champion Sara Del Rey. “It was like every all-female promotion I’ve been to.” The latter comment is most certainly a compliment, given that it was the first Femmes Fatales show.
Since the ALF launched in 2006, many girls from the province of Quebec started to get more attention, with some of them getting booked in Ontario or in the United States. The challenge was there to train harder and improve themselves.
That was evident Saturday evening. “There is some very good, promising talent here,” said MsChif. “I was impressed with Misty’s great charisma,” she added, referring to her opponent Misty Haven. “I’m looking forward to coming back.”
“The vibe backstage was fantastic,” confirmed Misty Haven, who is very familiar with the Quebec indy scene.
Putting on a show of this magnitude was a challenge for LuFisto and her partners. “I’m very happy with the result,” said LuFisto. “I couldn’t watch the show, but I heard the reaction from the crowd and I can’t wait to see the tape. Everybody seemed satisfied with the show.”
LuFisto was thankful to outside help as well. SHIMMER’s owner Dave Prazak was in touch with the mangement. “He was really helpful,” said LuFisto. “Even Allison Danger sent me a message to wish us all the best with the show.”
The show itself was good, though not perfect. “I’ll give the show 7.5/10, as I know there are a few things to adjust,” said Femmes Fatales’ booker Stéphane Bruyère. A DVD of the night will be released down the road.
“The production was incredible and there was a good mix of talent,” added Cherry Bomb, who hopes her match against Sara Del Rey will help her get back to SHIMMER soon.
The crowd of 150-plus left the NCW Center very happy with what they saw. “I want to see Femmes Fatales in December of this year and not only in 2010,” said web reporter André Therrien.
“It’s nice to see women’s wrestling can draw in Canada,” said Portia Perez, talking about the crowd, which was excellent by today’s standard and will only grow after the success of the first show.
The next Femmes Fatales show is tentatively set for January 30, 2010 with a possible first-time match between LuFisto and Sara Del Rey, since the latter did attack LuFisto after her match with Cheerleader Melissa and it took the entire locker room to separate them.
The match of the night was LuFisto versus Cheerleader Melissa, followed not too far away by Sara Del Rey versus Cherry Bomb.
RESULTS:
Pre-show match: CandyGirl beat Anastasia Ivy
Main card
Addy Starr beat She Nay Nay
Portia Perez defeated Kylie Pierce
Kalamity beat Anna Minoushka, Mary Lee Rose & Roxie Cotton in a 4-way dance
Sara Del Rey beat Cherry Bomb
Kacey Diamond defeated Karen Brooks
MsChif beat Misty Haven
LuFisto defeated Cheerleader Melissa
