Wrestlicious’ big TakeDown premiere last night did exactly what it said on the tin: it had action, it had comedy, it was loud, it was silly, it was at times ridiculous and it was at all times over the top. If you tuned into TakeDown last night [or via stream since then] and you were expecting a ‘real’ wrestling show, you’ll be wholly disappointed. As we, and the stars of the show, have been drilling home in at least five interviews in the past week, this isn’t a wrestling show per se. Frankly, you need to take it for what it is — over the top, camp, kitsch silliness. Many of the diehard fans will surely take offense to the show and yes, we all have our own standards and our own tastes in television and wrestling, but you really gotta just accept it for what it is and take the stick out of your ass before viewing, if you even plan on giving it a go.
The feel of the show threw me back to the days of GLOW, which again wasn’t the pinnacle of women’s wrestling but had it’s own unique charm — many remember that as being ‘cartoon-y’ and silly, just as Wrestlicious is. I feel there is a warmth and heart to the show that made me just go along for the ride even though I’m used to more sophisticated programming, simply because I remembered ‘the old days’.
Wrestlicious is not comparable to the WWE or TNA or any other women’s wrestling promotion because it’s not one per se. It’s fluff television just like The Hills or Keeping Up with the Kardashians — not to be taken seriously. But at the same time, it gives a vehicle to female wrestlers to compete on national television and from interviewing several of the girls involved, they had a lot of fun with it. Getting paid to have fun is a positive, right? And who knows, it could bring more spotlight to women’s wrestling and hopefully those new viewers may Google Felony, find out she’s Rain and want to go check out her work in TNA or SHIMMER. Yes, we all have our standards and this may seem below yours, but I don’t see any other female-lead wrestling shows on TV.
Now onto my thoughts on the show as it happened. First, if you haven’t caught the episode already, watch below:
* The opening skit, JV’s Crib was perhaps not the strongest way to open a new series. I personally got a kick out of Felony wanting to go clean the pool because I’m aware of the background of that character through our interview with Rain. But obviously, no one has met that character yet to realise that she’s always looking of ways to break away from her personal escort, so it didn’t make much sense. Did you spot Serena?
* Next we get a rather long montage of Wrestlicious raps. I’m assuming it’s just for the first episode as a way to introduce the characters of the show, which is fine.
* The Kandi Kisses [Lizzy Valentine] backstage and in-ring segments were silly but I got a chuckle out of them.
* So ‘TakeDown Spotlight’ is basically 30 seconds of bikini material of Autumn Frost aka Jennifer Blake. She’s super pretty!
* Some 8 minutes into the show, it’s time for our first match. Toni the Top taking on Maui. Literally, a one minute match [if that] and the camera pans to the crowd just as Toni begins beating up Maui? Okay. Toni gets the win with a Michinoku Driver. Not much to say here — you could go ahead and skip this if you haven’t watched it yet.
* Two more silly segments: Cousin Cassie with some doctor and Bandita in her ‘cantina’. Skip this also.
* And finally it’s time for the main event. Tyler Texas [Lorelei Lee], Cousin Cassie & Charlotte [Amber O'Neal] versus Felony [Rain], Maria Toro [Mercedes Martinez] and Bandita. I find it impressive that even with a 22-23 minute show, you could combine the length of four Raw Divas matches into this main event which lasted around 10 minutes. If you tuned into the show and gave up before the main event, you lost out. This was actually a good bout, on par with, if not better than the wrestling on Raw. Interesting that the least experienced of the babyface trio, Cassie [who is a model-turned-wrestler] was given the most ringtime, but she was kept limited in the ring, sticking to the basics which worked in her favour and the match’s favour as it meant there wasn’t too much to mess up. Things picked up when Felony and Tyler got into the ring; even if she may be playing a kitschy character, Rain is a great worker and the pace definitely picked up between her and Lorelei Lee. We got some good old school heel tactics of keeping Lee away from her corner and distracting the referee to allow the others to get a few licks in. Felony’s submission moves, wrapping Tyler’s arms around her neck, were great. Charlotte gets a hot tag in the last minute, hits a few nice, clean clotheslines before she gets laid out by Toro’s brainbuster, allowing Felony to sneak the win. This was a good match in that people played to their strengths: Bandita and Cassie, who I believe aren’t wrestlers, were limited to what they did and did it okay. Felony and Tyler were great. Would have liked to see more of Toro and Charlotte.
The commentary of the show is perhaps my least favourite part. Cliched puns wear thin after the first five minutes. Also, although it seemed like the crowd was probably paid to cheer/boo/etc., I thought it was fun to see them react to the action and get into it. It’s funny how WWE fans pay for the pleasure of seeing their shows yet act like they’re being held at gunpoint when the Divas show up.
In all, the show is worth watching for the main event alone because it was probably on the same level or better than what WWE or TNA will deliver this week. Remember: brain at the door, perhaps pour yourself some wine/grab a beer and ride with the lulz.
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10 Comments
The only things I liked up until the main event were the Wrestlicious rap (even though it’s cheesy as hell I’ve gotten used to it. xD) and Kandi Kisses, lol to her. xD
I really liked Felony & Tyler, both worked very well when they were in the ring. I would have liked to have seen less Cassie & Bandita and more Toro and Charlotte, I don’t know if I like them much or not in the ring. =-\
Either way I’m somewhat hooked, I’ll watch the next episode if I get time, if not… oh well. =P However I DID vote for Felony in the Battle Royal poll on their website… several times. Quick tip for those who want her to advance, if you have Internet Explorer AND something like Firefox and/or Google Chrome, USE THEM ALL TO VOTE! It will count as different votes. I’ve voted 6 times today for Felony. Good luck, lol xD
And 1 last thing, the commentary, don’t even get me started on them. They ACTUALLY made Michael Cole look credible for once in his life at his job!! xD
I appreciate Melanie that your trying to find the positives in this and I also agree Rain did well. However there was nothing else that was good and I didn’t enjoy the whole campness of the whole thing. I won’t be tuning in for the whole show again, and if a match is recommended to me, I’ll have to put it onn mute because of the abysmal commentary.
Who’s the wrestler who plays Toni the Top?
That 2nd match saved the show IMO. Rain, Mercedes and Lorelei are all fine women wrestlers. Look past the gimmicks and they put on a good match which told a nice story and set up both the faces and the heels.
Yeah I don’t think a lot of people got the joke when Felony tried to escape, it seemed kinda cheap when I first watched it I was like “wut?” but after I watched it a second time (I watched Wrestlicious 3 times :x) I was like “Oh lulz”. I think they should’ve saved it for a later episode.
I liked the commentary.. The “Dairy air” remark made me laugh xD The good news about people not liking it though is that there were no commentators on set so I guess they can re do it in later episodes if too many people complain…
and people who say Wrestlicious is a joke need to realize that’s the point of the show.. The Raw Divas are a joke too but not in the good way ~_~ complain about them instead pls
thank you, melanie! you hit the nail right on the head. this show is not to be taken seriously. you definitely need a sense of humour to watch it.
i’ve got to ask though.. what is the point of the models pretending to be wrestlers? nothing against them, but the main event last night would’ve been perfectly fine, even better perhaps, with actual wrestlers in place of cassie and bandita.
i think that if they wanted to be taken seriously, they definitely could. i don’t know their tv contract details or when they’re shooting a next batch of episodes, but i do hope they’re around for quite a while.
“Yeah I don’t think a lot of people got the joke when Felony tried to escape, it seemed kinda cheap when I first watched it I was like “wut?” but after I watched it a second time (I watched Wrestlicious 3 times :x ) I was like “Oh lulz”. I think they should’ve saved it for a later episode. ”
i loved it when she tried escaping during the match itself, haha. “officer bubba needs to put down his donuts!” or whatever lol. rain has definitely moved up a place or two on my list of favourites.
Kandi Kisses was my favorite part of the show!!!! I liked the show alot it was pretty funny with some cool wrestling!!!
Melanie, you have the same view on this as me. Like I said in the other post, putting the whole thing into perspective, I thought it was fine because it was MEANT to be cheesy/silly and not taken seriously. Also, they made it QUITE clear from the beginning what to expect. The only thing I would work on is the execution of the comedy. Like I said, I liked that there was only one commentator focusing on the action (instead of sometimes arguing/talking about other stuff like WWE does) but he needs to work on his jokes a little. lol If they get the time/chance they may get better. I also thought in my head that that second match was better than we’ve seen on RAW in a while. I like everyone having a distinct gimmick w/costumes. I liked Maria and Felony (if she’s from a Louisiana pen she’d better be tough!). :P
“i’ve got to ask though.. what is the point of the models pretending to be wrestlers?”
Honey, I’d love to ask WWE this same question. But I’ll give them credit due to their apparent “turnaround” with the new talent coming up. Hoping for the best!
I was happy that you commented on the crowd reaction, Melanie. I thought I was the only one that thought that the crowd seemed completely rehearsed, and let me say that some of them are horrible actors XD.
I knew that the show was going to be silly, so that didn’t dissapointed me. What I think they needed to do was some more exploration of the characters background, because that made the sketches and even the crowd reaction look completely random. They seem to know completely who were the heels and the faces and even though i know its a taped show, it took some of the credibility.
I really liked the main event. They gave a lot of time to it and all the girls worked.
Btw, I think that silly rap is the shows main theme, so we will probably listen to it (or skip it if you watch online) every week.