ROH has finally decided to create a women's title which makes their division worth following more than when they were just having random matches here and there. The title tournament started at this weekend's TV tapings with three matches including regular ROH women plus Madison Rayne, and they've also announced four Stardom wrestlers will also be competing.

Here's a match from before the tournament that I enjoyed. Deonna seems a bit more assured than I remember from the previous matches I've seen her in, and Karen was quite a bit more athletic than I expected from first judgement and had some good looking strikes.

Madison Rayne isnt winning

Jan 22, 2018 17:25:34 GMT Mistress said:

Madison Rayne isnt winning

Spoiler alert! But no, and nor should she. But her presence there now does give them a pretty big boost in terms of experience and a solid hand in the ring.

Jan 23, 2018 0:07:56 GMT @admin said:

Jan 22, 2018 17:25:34 GMT Mistress said:

Madison Rayne isnt winning

Spoiler alert! But no, and nor should she. But her presence there now does give them a pretty big boost in terms of experience and a solid hand in the ring.

I havent read the spoilers yet. Just knew that she quietly retired last year, now this. I dont see her being their inaugural champ.

I don't think she ever retired?

I heard she quietly went into retirement after her contract ended with Impact. Though i figured she'd be back since she didnt make a big deal of it

Jan 23, 2018 0:17:50 GMT Mistress said:

I heard she quietly went into retirement after her contract ended with Impact. Though i figured she'd be back since she didnt make a big deal of it

Pretty sure she just left momentarily to have a crack at trying to get into WWE.

Madison being in it, definitely has me more interested in the tournament, as she is one of my all-time favorite female talents.

Madison's first match...



I like Deonna though - her stuff is very crisp and clean.

Always game to see more of Brandi Rhodes, she has inherited some of that Rhodes style wrestling since getting married to Cody.

Madison pulled about as good a match out of Mandy as anyone could really be expected to. Unfortunately even doing a pretty good carry job you can't magically make someone move faster. I hope we get to see her in matches against Tenille and Karen in the future.

Anyone know what that last move Maddie used would be called? I know I've seen someone do that before, just can't remember who...

Feb 14, 2018 2:24:55 GMT @admin said:

Madison pulled about as good a match out of Mandy as anyone could really be expected to. Unfortunately even doing a pretty good carry job you can't magically make someone move faster. I hope we get to see her in matches against Tenille and Karen in the future.

Anyone know what that last move Maddie used would be called? I know I've seen someone do that before, just can't remember who...

If you mean the ripcord cutter maybe Homicide.
If you mean the guillotine drop maybe Roxxi Laveaux

Feb 14, 2018 5:54:56 GMT X-zero said:

If you mean the guillotine drop maybe Roxxi Laveaux

Ah thank you, that's what I was looking for. My memory for that sort of thing isn't as good as it once was. Madison did hers a little bit differently though, setting it up from a vertical suplex start rather than with a hammerlock. Google also showed me that Maxine did the move back in NXT which I never would have remembered, and she did hers from a double underhook. Kinda cool!

Feb 14, 2018 2:24:55 GMT @admin said:

Madison pulled about as good a match out of Mandy as anyone could really be expected to. Unfortunately even doing a pretty good carry job you can't magically make someone move faster. I hope we get to see her in matches against Tenille and Karen in the future.

Anyone know what that last move Maddie used would be called? I know I've seen someone do that before, just can't remember who...

Mandy is like Velvet sky with a more adventurous move-set . Still runs the ring ropes and generally moves around the ring like an elderly person though. 

Brandi Rhodes vs Tenille Dashwood in the quarter finals...

Who ya got?

Feb 20, 2018 5:11:50 GMT Mistress said:

Brandi Rhodes vs Tenille Dashwood in the quarter finals...

Who ya got?

They'd be mad not to have Tenille go to the final. If I were booking I'd have her vs Kagetsu in one semi, and Kelly vs Mayu as the other. 

I hope the final is Deonna vs. Tanille. I expect it to be Kelly vs. Tanille though.

This weeks match was what it was. I don't really see anything in Kelly Klein to suggest why she has been booked so strongly. She's not terrible but certainly not particularly inspiring.

As we mentioned, Madison was handicapped by working with Mandy, but I'm a bit surprised that Brandi is the one who's put on the best performance so far.

Just watched two of the matches Tenille's had in ROH and I'm liking what I'm seeing. Unfortunately she has Brandi in round 2 but hope she gets to have some strong opponents and standout matches later on in the tournament.

Last night, Sumie Sakai and Tenille advanced in the tourney. Tenille beat Brandi Rhodes.

The two matches with the Oedo Tai ladies were pretty disappointing considering I had reasonable (maybe I shouldn't have?) expectations about what they'd be like in the ring. Hana vs Sumie at least had a few decent spots but Kagetsu vs Jenny was a bit of a snoozer - and the blatant interference in front of the referee is just silly.

Brandi showed that her first round match wasn't a fluke with another passable performance. Don't get me wrong, she's still got that "diva" hesitancy in the ring but is at least adequately entertaining. I thought this was a good match from Tenille's perspective getting her natural character and personality across through the action.

Mar 16, 2018 1:28:28 GMT @admin said:

The two matches with the Oedo Tai ladies were pretty disappointing considering I had reasonable (maybe I shouldn't have?) expectations about what they'd be like in the ring. Hana vs Sumie at least had a few decent spots but Kagetsu vs Jenny was a bit of a snoozer - and the blatant interference in front of the referee is just silly.

Brandi showed that her first round match wasn't a fluke with another passable performance. Don't get me wrong, she's still got that "diva" hesitancy in the ring but is at least adequately entertaining. I thought this was a good match from Tenille's perspective getting her natural character and personality across through the action.

Yeah Oedi Tai is pretty overrated by the IWC joshi (mostly just Stardom) fanbase. The interference is annoying and drags their matches down. Kagetsu works much better as a face. Hana, on the other hand, wasn't much worse than her usual performance in her match with Sumie.

From the little I've read Mayu is one of the best in Stardom? If that's the case I'm glad they did the bracket as they did and we get to see her vs Deonna which will likely be the best match of the tournament.

Mar 16, 2018 4:50:37 GMT @admin said:

From the little I've read Mayu is one of the best in Stardom? If that's the case I'm glad they did the bracket as they did and we get to see her vs Deonna which will likely be the best match of the tournament.

Yeah from an in-ring standpoint Mayu is definitely one if not the best in Satrdom. She works really well with foreign wrestlers too ( She had  great matches with Evie, and Kay Lee Ray in Japan)  so her match with Deonna should be great. 

This is a bit more like it - the final first round match. Just a shame it was relatively short/clipped(?)



Mayu's suplex bridge is cool, I've never seen anyone do a bridge like that before.

Much better showing for Kagetsu she works so much better without the interference, and at a faster pace.

Yeah that was a lot better. The double jump missile dropkick was my favourite spot. Sumie isn't amazing but she's pretty impressive when you consider she's 46. She seems better now than she was in the early days of ROH too.

Kelly vs Mandy really wasn't up to much. At least we know the deal with Mandy, but Kelly is really an odd choice to be pushed as much as she is.

Mayu vs Deonna really delivered!



We tend to spend so much time watching women that are really not especially athletic or natural wrestlers that you really get blown away when you see someone like Mayu move around the ring with such speed and ease. She's sensational. I really hope they have her beat Kelly to set up a final with Tenille.

We must have been watching different matches, because I was far from blown away by Mayu vs Deonna. The first few minutes were sloppy. They got better later on, but I couldn't latch onto anything. No story. They were just hitting moves arbitrarily. For example, Deonna hits three German suplexes in a row. Mayu is down. There's no cover. Instead Deonna walks towards Mayu, Mayu hits a Dragon Suplex and collapses. It would have been more dramatic if Deonna covered, Mayu kicks out, then go to the Dragon Suplex. Not impressed. If Mayu is the best Stardom has to offer, Stardom can't be all that great. Deonna really needs to tie her hair back too, that shit was all over the place all the time.

On the plus side, I did check out Tenille Dashwood vs Brandi Rhodes from the same tournament and really enjoyed it. Tenille did a great job in crafting a good story without exposing Brandi's inexperience too much. The only thing I wasn't so keen on was Tenille kicking out of the Cross Rhodes, but it wasn't the worst thing ever.

Apr 5, 2018 20:44:56 GMT Emperor said:

We must have been watching different matches, because I was far from blown away by Mayu vs Deonna. The first few minutes were sloppy. They got better later on, but I couldn't latch onto anything. No story. They were just hitting moves arbitrarily. For example, Deonna hits three German suplexes in a row. Mayu is down. There's no cover. Instead Deonna walks towards Mayu, Mayu hits a Dragon Suplex and collapses. It would have been more dramatic if Deonna covered, Mayu kicks out, then go to the Dragon Suplex. Not impressed. If Mayu is the best Stardom has to offer, Stardom can't be all that great. Deonna really needs to tie her hair back too, that shit was all over the place all the time.

On the plus side, I did check out Tenille Dashwood vs Brandi Rhodes from the same tournament and really enjoyed it. Tenille did a great job in crafting a good story without exposing Brandi's inexperience too much. The only thing I wasn't so keen on was Tenille kicking out of the Cross Rhodes, but it wasn't the worst thing ever.

Interesting to get your thoughts, but yeah I think we did watch different matches. I just went back and watched the first few minutes to see if I could see the sloppiness you were talking about and I still have no idea. I thought everything looked perfectly nice. I can concede the fact that perhaps the storytelling wasn't the strongest aspect (Deonna working the leg briefly when her finisher is an armbar) but I don't think it detracts significantly from the action. Not going for a pin cover is a very minor complaint.