fighting
From MMA, wrestling, boxing, and more, fighting satisfies your hunger for a good KO.
Reviewing Taya Valkyrie's AEW Debut
I started to notice something as I was still leagues above Cloud Nine over what I watched on AEW Dynamite: AEW's best moments seem to happen either on my birthday, or days before it. It was on my birthday (March 18) in 2020 that the late, great Brodie Lee made his AEW debut. On March 16, 2022--two days before my birthday, Thunder Rosa captured the AEW Women's World Championship in a thrilling main event against Britt Baker. The trend continued on the evening of March 15, 2023--three days before my 38th birthday, as one of my all-time favorites in women's wrestling made her All Elite debut.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Reviewing Becky Lynch and Lita's Epic Night on Raw
What a night! The latest edition of Raw ended with a huge main event pitting Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky against Becky Lynch and WWE Hall of Famer Lita, with the Women's Tag Team Championship up for grabs. This bout was the latest chapter in the rivalry between Becky Lynch and Bayley, which started all the way back at SummerSlam last July. So with all of this, how did a four-time Women's Champion and a Hall of Famer get involved in this main event? And how did a second Hall of Famer get involved? To properly tell this, we have to go back a few weeks.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at Sahara Spars' Heel Turn in WOW - Women of Wrestling
As a diehard women's wrestling fan, I absolutely love WOW - Women of Wrestling! It's been around for over two decades, yet I started catching this a few years ago on AXS TV. A lot of good talent from WWE, AEW, and Impact Wrestling have worked in WOW; women such as Santana Garrett, Diamante, Kiera Hogan, and Nikkita Lyons (who was in WOW as Faith the Lioness). AXS TV dropped WOW in 2020, and the promotion was largely affected by the pandemic, but they are back and have been since the fall of 2022, and their weekly series airs every Saturday evening.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
The Women's Royal Rumble: 5 Years Later
The 2023 Royal Rumble event will take place on the exact five-year anniversary of the very first Women's Royal Rumble match. Hard to believe that this historic and amazing phenomenon happened five years ago; it seems like yesterday that this announcement was made and I was nearly in tears of joy when I heard it. I had been wanting a Women's Royal Rumble match for years, and on January 28, 2018, we finally got it. It was perfect for this fan; women's wrestling and the chaos of the Royal Rumble match all in one fell swoop.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look Back: Victoria and Christy Hemme's Brief Feud
It's been a while since I wrote about a wrestling feud, and I thought I'd break my hiatus with a women's wrestling angle that I remember very well. Of course, back then, the storylines and feuds in women's wrestling were usually brief and didn't get a lot of good attention as compared to now, but even so, there were a lot of good moments, and this short feud between Victoria and Christy Hemme in 2005 was one of them. I remember this storyline very well, and I also recall the weird moment that led to this happening. But without further ado, the players involved:
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Pros and Cons: Saraya and Toni Storm's Heel Turn
All Elite Wrestling's third Dynamite episode of 2023 came a week after their annual New Year's Smash event, which featured Saraya and Toni Storm against Britt Baker and AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter. That match was weeks in the making, as Saraya made the challenge a few weeks after she defeated Britt in her first match in just over four years. All Saraya needed was a partner, and after weeks of keeping us in the dark, Saraya revealed her partner during an interview with Renee Paquette.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Not Done Yet: A Look at Mickie James' Knockouts World Championship Win at Hard to Kill
What can I say about Mickie James that hasn't been said already by other passionate women's wrestling fans who have watched her in action? Mickie's wrestled all over: WWE, NWA, Impact Wrestling, you name it, and she has blazed a trail like no one's business. She's won so many championships in her lengthy Hall of Fame career, and has been involved in so many moments and rivalries in the process. Adding another title would only boost an already impressive legacy, yet despite this, Mickie's latest win stood out over the others.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
What Can We Expect from Taya Valkyrie in 2023?
I've been on Vocal for over a year and a half, yet I've never written a solo piece about one of my all-time favorites in women's wrestling, Taya Valkyrie. I've wanted to do so very badly, but I wanted to do it right. I wanted to do justice to the subject in hand, and now, I feel I can do just that. I've been a fan of Taya Valkyrie for about seven or eight years now; when I first learned about her, she was wrestling in Mexico. I had seen a few clips of her on YouTube despite the language barrier (the commentary was in Spanish), and liked what I saw. Not surprisingly, Taya was a ruda (the Spanish term for a female heel in lucha wrestling), and I say that because she plays it so well.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Reviewing Roxanne Perez's Monumental Week
The end of the December 13, 2022 episode of WWE's NXT program cemented a spectacular year for Roxanne Perez. After competing in Reality of Wrestling and Ring of Honor (and winning titles in both), Roxanne Perez signed with WWE in March of 2022. Fast forward nine months, and Roxanne stands on top of NXT's Women's Division, doing so at the tender age of 21. Let's take a look at how Roxanne's amazing week progressed.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at the Women's Iron Survivor Challenge Match and the Participants
One of WWE's many modifications to their Premium Live Event calendar includes NXT's newest event, Deadline. The event will take place on Saturday, December 10, and will serve as the last overall PLE in the calendar year. In addition, it was announced by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels that the event will feature the debut of the Iron Survivor Challenge, the latest in a long list of WWE's innovative gimmick matches. So how, exactly, does this match work? Here are the rules.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
3 Things This Week's SmackDown Possibly Told Us Could Happen in Their Women's Division
This week's SmackDown completed the fallout from this year's Survivor Series event, which featured WarGames on the main stage for the first time in WWE history. Like every WWE fan, I was quite excited for the continuous fallout from the event, but being a hardcore women's wrestling fan, I couldn't help but be elated and curious over what I saw develop regarding the blue brand's female superstars. Keep in mind, what I'm about to state isn't definite--rather, it's a belief of what I think could occur as a result of what I and other WWE fans watched this week. That being said, here are three things that (IMO) could occur as a result of what we saw in the women's division.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
What's On the Horizon for Elektra Lopez?
I've been wanting to write a story about Elektra Lopez for a while now. Her young WWE career has fascinated me for a while, especially the big shocker from last year, when she went from a few appearances as an enhancement talent, to becoming a fierce villainess aligned with the Legado del Fantasma faction.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
