6/5 WOMEN’S WRESTLING ARMY REPORT: Taya Valkyrie vs. Tasha Steelz, Nicole Savoy vs. Janai Kai, Mazzerati vs. Kayla Sparks for the CCW Network Championship

WWA EPISODE 2: CHAMP V. CHAMP
JUNE 5, 2022
AIRED AT BRANDARMY.COM/WOMENSWRESTLINGARMY
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Commentary: Alyssa Marino, Lenny Leonard

Theme song

-Sit-down with Janai Kai. She has a black belt in taekwondo and a background in muay thai and kickboxing. She started at the age of six as a birthday present from her mom. A couple years ago she broke her neck but hasn’t spoken about it much publicly. The doctor at the time told her she’d never walk or wrestle again.

-Sit-down with Nicole Savoy. She mentioned how much she loves video games and anime. She credited Shimmer with women’s wrestling really catching on and fans demanding longer matches. “I want to wrestle everyone”, in particular a one-on-one with Big Swole. She believes WWA will be the next Shimmer and the destination all women will want to come to. She faced Kai one time in Shimmer and teamed with her once against The Hex.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Two weeks after this was taped, Savoy announced her retirement from wrestling. She hasn’t elaborated at all as to the reasons behind that decision so her comments here about wanting to wrestle everyone stick out all the more. It seems unlikely we’ll see her vs. Swole in a WWA ring.)

(1) “THE QUEEN OF SUPLEXES” NICOLE SAVOY vs. “THE KICK DEMON” JANAI KAI

Leonard spoke to Savoy’s history in the stable Trifecta with Mercedes Martinez and Shayna Baszler. Savoy bridged out of a pin attempt. She kicked Kai in the back. Kai cocked an eyebrow as if to say “That’s not how you kick someone.” She stood and they faced off. Kai hit a flurry of strikes. The barefoot Kai hit a penalty kick to the spine of Savoy. Savoy forced a prone Kai to high-five a young girl at ringside. Savoy with a Michinoku driver. Kai tossed across the ring with a gutwrench. TKO from Savoy but Kai kicked out at two. Kai hit a roundhouse kick but Savoy dodged a second and grabbed her foot. Savoy with an ankle lock for the tap.

WINNER: Nicole Savoy in 9:46.

(Pageot’s Perspective: And Savoy will go down in history as undefeated in WWA. We are three matches into the existence of WWA and we now have one pinfall victory, one submission, and one time-limit draw. Will our next match end in a count-out? Something I failed to mention in my report for the first WWA episode is that the live crowd are standing around the ring, some even leaning on the apron. No wrestlers have left the ring yet so it hasn’t been a hindrance.)

-Alisha Edwards was backstage with Mazzerati. Edwards pronounced her name wrong, then got snippy when she was corrected. Mazzerati had no feelings about her upcoming match against Kayla Sparks. Edwards mentioned Sparks was putting her title on the line but neither woman clarified which title Sparks held.

(2) KAYLA SPARKS vs. “THE FEMALE WITH ATTITUDE” MAZZERATI – CCW NETWORK CHAMPIONSHIP

Lock-up. Sparks into the corner and Mazzerati heeled it up. Slap from the challenger. Side headlock from Sparks and a slap of her own. Enziguiri from Sparks. Mazzerati rolled to the apron and hit Eat Defeat through the ropes. Mazzerati took control but spent too long jawing with the fans before making a cover. Mazzerati continued to work over Sparks with some basic offense. She tried stealing a pin with a hook of the tights but the referee caught it. Sparks hit a DDT. She fired up with a clothesline and another enziguiri. Mazzerati blocked a tornado DDT attempt and hit a northern lights suplex instead. A minute later Sparks hit the tornado (Sparks Will Fly) for the win.

WINNER: Kayla Sparks in 11:03 to retain the CCW Network title.

(Pageot’s Perspective: CCW is Capital Championship Wrestling, an all-women’s promotion out of Delaware. They started running shows last August and Sparks won an eight-woman gauntlet match this March to become the first Network Champion, their equivalent to a TV title. This was her first defense. Leonard mentioned that WWA intends to work with various other promotions when possible and announced that the MPW Championship, currently held by Holidead, will be defended on a future episode. This one was a little clunky at points. Sparks could probably benefit from working with someone more seasoned liked Taya Valkyrie or Allysin Kay on the next WWA show. She has the look and feel of a young Nicole Matthews so there’s definitely potential there. Worth noting is that the CCW title match had a 30-minute time limit while all other WWA matches so far have had 15.)

-Edwards was backstage with Impact Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz. She didn’t care that Taya Valkyrie is AAA Champion. She intends to become the longest-reigning Knockouts Champion.

-Sit-down with Taya Valkyrie. She’s been wrestling for twelve years, she’s the longest-reigning Knockouts champ of all-time, a four-time AAA Reina de Reinas Champion, and the longest-reigning Reina champ of all-time too. She shouted out always wanting more opportunities for women, like intergender wrestling. At the beginning of this year, she came to a crossroads. Her WWE tenure ending so abruptly left her to reflect on what’s most important. She spoke to herself in the third person, even using her shoot name, about how she motivated herself to just go out and perform against as many people as she can.

(3) AAA REINA DE REINAS CHAMPION TAYA VALKYRIE vs. IMPACT KNOCKOUTS CHAMPION TASHA STEELZ – NON-TITLE MATCH

Steelz stalled, then shook her ass at Valkyrie. Valkyrie responded with a boot. She outwrestled Steelz early on and hung her up on the second rope before hitting a baseball slide into a German suplex. Steelz pulled Valkyrie throat-first over the top rope and took over. Steelz stomped away at Valkyrie in the corner. A leaping clothesline took down Valkyrie. Ground adominal stretch but Valkyrie made the rope break. Blue thunder bomb to Steelz for a two-count. Valkyrie with an STF. Rope break. Steelz with a springboard bulldog for two. Running knees from Valkyrie to Steelz in the corner. Thumb to the eyes from Steelz. Superkick. Cutter.

WINNER: Tasha Steelz in 8:49.

(Pageot’s Perspective: I genuinely was not sure how this would go with both women current title holders in two of the larger North American promotions. Evidently Impact trumps AAA on American soil. Even with the thumb to the eye, it was surprising to see someone the stature of Valkyrie lose in 9 minutes but we’ll see where both women go from here in WWA. Nothing was announced for our next episode, which seem to be dropping biweekly, Sundays at 5 p.m. EST.)