| David McLane, the president of WOW, was best remembered in the the world of female wrestling as the founder and creator of the 1980's women's wrestling promotion "GLOW"-Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. |  |
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In the year 2000 David McLane pumped up on the success of female action genre hits like "Tomb Raider", "Charlie's Angels" and "Xena", ventured forth with another attempt to capture a share of the tv wrestling market with "WOW". (Women of Wrestling). |
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"I went to the Great Western Forum with a what the heck attitude. I ended up making the final cuts out of almost a thousand hopeful participants. I later learned that I threw the medicine ball the farthest out of all the girls that auditioned! I guess I learned a thing or two when I was a varsity shot-putter in high school." To wrestling fan in may seem a strange process to pick girls based on something like "medicine ball throwing" as opposed to wrestling skills and ability and this is one area where the show probably came unstuck with a lot of wrestling fans. |
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There
was not a lot of time between the auditions and when the women were to
start performing in televised matches. Wrestling fans and wrestlers alike
will be the first to tell you that it can take a number of years and a
huge amount of dedication for a wrestler to become a polished performer
and it helps if you have a knowledge and love for wrestling in the first
place. Monty Ashley (montykins.com) in an article described WOW as "amateurish"
and stated that "Even other wrestling fans look down on me for watching
it."
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Wow took on only two established and experienced indy women wrestlers. These two women were also used as trainers for WOW. Bambi became the "Selina Majors" character (pictured left) and Pegggy Lee Leather (who had worked both matches for WWF in America and for WWWA in Japan) was renamed "Thug". Both women had worked previously for McLane in his POWW promotion (Powerful Women of Wrestling). |
| Despite the obstacles that faced WOW. There were a few women that were up to the giant task of getting up to speed real quickly for the cameras. Jungle Grrl (Erica Porter) was a noticeably powerful athletic woman who rapidly developed. She appeared to be more aggressive in the ring and developed good mic skills. Riot became a huge hit with the fans as her character didn't seem as unnatural or stereotyped as some of the other characters and Danger had a great ring presence, and with working a basic repertoire of moves, remained to look strong despite her inexperience. |  |
A number
of the other women also showed promise for the small amount of time they
had spent training whilst others looked clearly out of their depth.
The
women were not often given the credit for how they were developing though.
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Now Summer slam 89 has a Jimmy the Fly Snuka v's Ted Dibiase match that has practically the same mistake and the two wrestlers involved in that match had years of experience over either of the two women involved in this matchup, and Summerslam was much more widely watched but for some reason it doesn't get the same amount of criticism. |
| American all women promotions that have started have continuously tried to start out big where the longest running women's promotions in Japan have worked on establishing themselves and building up a following through a number of years with constant work, touring and training. Lana Star talked about training 4 hours a day, 5 days a week in preparation of the WOW show, but compared to the Japanese women that train 6hrs a day on a more intense program for up to a year to get a "pro debut" the differences become obvious and like it or not the wrestling fans will naturally compare. |  |
Bobby
Heenan was used as a commentator at "WOW UNleashed". Interesting in an
interview with Bobby Heenan with wrestlingobserver.com Bobby stated that
he felt that GLOW was the reason why women's wrestling had such a hard
time getting over. Whilst Heenan was trying to defend WOW's position to
a large number of WOW's critics McLane had simply made another version
of "GLOW".
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WOW's
first run syndicated program premiered the week of October 2, 2000 on 100
stations across America.
WOW was a syndicated television show where the company involved (in this case the sponsors of WOW) were paying for their tv spots. |
| Whilst there were claims that there were wrestlers that everyone "relate to" in WOW, the actual promotion presented its viewers with jailbirds, dominatrix, movie star guises, tv character rip-offs and a wild assortment of eccentric stereotypes that one would find it hard to relate to. |  |
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On a positive note to McLane he kept to a family brand of entertainment that did not take advantage of the women and place them in demeaning purely t&a fights. McLane obviously tried to stick to a cheese ball style of "girl power" that one associates with Charlies Angels and other pop culture female heorines. The fault was probably in that there were too many obvious copies (eg.Warrior Woman/Xena) as opposed to new ideas for female action stars to grab our imagination and why cheer on a copy when you can watch the real thing? |
| On
February 4, 2001 WOW broadcast their PPV - WOW Unleashed. "It was make
it or break it time for WOW" for many.
Although the payperview had a great live atmosphere and some very dedicated fans by this time it wasn't enough to help. By May 2001 the company had run out of money and didn't return for another tv season. There was talk of a comeback with Gene Simmons of the band KISS stating he was trying to put together some financial backers to revive the promotion. More recently Press releases suggest that McLane is still trying to revive the show. WOW Events LLC is now a StereoVision-McLane Enterprises Inc., joint venture company. Press releases are discussing the possibility of a Women Of Wrestling World Tour, WOW television series, and WOW pay per view events. The talk of WOW's return has been ongoing since its demise. Mclane has made no secret of his ambitions to get the promotion running again. |
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The
main problem wrestling fans had with WOW was that the women were picked
through an audition process that seemed to not choose any women with a
wrestling background.
Only a small number of the women were wrestlers before the promotion began (namely the trainers Selina and Thug). Most of the wrestlers from WOW quickly left the game in pursuit of other fame vehicles once the show was canceled and they realized they weren't being offered contracts from the WWE. If WOW was to return most of the women have not worked on developing their wrestling skills in the past few years.(The notable exception would be Erica Porter as Jungle Grrl.) This forms one of the main questions about a WOW revival. Would they go for the same formula and wrestlers that haven't developed a desire to excel in wrestling? or what changes would they make to try to capture a share of tv wrestling? |
The wrestlers have
been placed into stereotyped categories
THE GIMMICKS
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These two girls probably didn't stay as strict to their character but seemed to inject some life of their own into them making them a bit more believable and popular for people to follow. The two girls were also amongst WOW's better in ring wrestler's. RIOT Riot was meant to be "The heavy metal chick". Riot stood out as a wrestler of great potential in the group and a crowd favorite. At "Unleashed" she produced one of the moves of the night when she did a corkscrew elbow off the top rope. Riot was popular with viewers and seemed more of a natural with what she was doing. She made her metal gimmick more personalized as one would expect a veteran to do. DANGER |
2 standouts in WOW |
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HARLEY'S ANGELS |
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Law and Order (Nikki Law & Kristy Order) Little was seen of Law and Order in WOW. The gimmick was basically that of two policewomen that had gone bad. Nikki Law wrestled in a singles match on the WOW 'unleashed' payperview against Hammerin Heather steel. Nikki came to the ring carrying a night stick that she used to attack her opponent. The
Jailbirds
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LANA STAR & BEACH PATROL Not only one Pamela Anderson type but three of them, most would consider this to be overkill in the gimmick department. (except for oh course their fans) THE BEACH PATROL A "Baywatch" inspired tag team consisting of Summer and Sandy. The women were both good looking but on the lower end of wrestling and acting ability in the promotion. The women were used consistently as mid card wrestlers. Both moved on to look for other "fame" opportunities after the shows demise. LANA STAR |
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STRANGER THAN FICTION Tanja the Warrior Woman The costume was straight out of a popular tv show. The woman behind the gimmick was possibly the worst performer at the "WOW Unleashed" payperview, Tanja had an outfit and look very reminiscent of Xena, minus her great moves, power and sidekick. Jungle Grrrl
“Hammerin’”
Heather Steele
Jane Blond
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Tag team consisting of Beckie the Farmer's Daughter and Bronco Billie. Billie did not appear as either confident with her gimmick or as a wrestler. In tag matches Billie was often the one beaten up whilst Beckie did the save. Billie used as her finisher the bulldog. Beckie carried the matches and had a better finisher which was a 450 splash off the top rope.Beckie was one of WOW's better and also more popular wrestlers. Beckie the farmer's daughter always seemed to be learning and developing as a wrestler. |
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TERRI GOLD Terri became the first WOW champion. Terri's finisher was the "Perfect 10" (moonsault). Terri has the typical fitness model tanned look and came from a fitness background. Better known as Heather Lee Millard Terri was Dylan's stunt double in the wrestling scene in "Charlie's Angels Full Throttle" movie and has gone on to do "The Beauty Show". SELINA MAJORS |
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The Asian Invasion (Jade & Lotus) The Asian Invasion worked as jobbers that gained fan sympathy due to always being the underdogs. Rather ironic considering that Japanese women wrestlers are considered the best in the world. A small asian beauty Jade was the perpetual underdog who never managed to score the victory. In tag matches Jade formed "The Asian Invasion" with Lotus. The pair were not successful as a tag either in winning. At WOW "Unleashed" payper view the audience was introduced to Jade's grandmother. The story was that Jade wanted to prove herself by winning for her grandmother. Jade was still unable to win even with her grandmother their to cheer her on and the "Asian Invasion" maintained there losing streak. Although given a stereotyped gimmick neither wrestler possessed any martial arts knowledge and skill that may of made these characters work and become popular as with the Japanese women wrestlers from such promotions as GAEA. |
FARAH and PARADISE Boom Boom the Volcano
and Caliente.
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Ice Cold |
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Although an amateur wrestler or shoot fighter gimmick are often common in wrestling based on the pro wrestler's background WOW instead went for sport gimmicks that show no reference to in ring ability. Slam Dunk Slam Dunk as the name suggests was a basketball gimmick, though how it was suppose to relate to wrestling is anyone's guess. The girl who wrestled as Slam Dunk concentrated on talking and acting a lot during the matches playing a heel. Roxy Power "The Total Athlete" Roxy was never really defined as excelling in any sport. Her gimmick was never clearly defined but they pushed her strength that would lend to a power lifting background. Randi Rah-Rah. Randi was a cheerleader. Was at one stage tag team partners with Patti Pep in "Team Spirit." After an extended absence from WOW, Randi returned at the "Unleashed" PPV wearing an eyepatch to go with her cheerleader costume. |
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included Wendi Wheels Wendi although a decent brawler had a wrestling racecar driver a gimmick like one previously used in the WWE with Spark Plug Holly. the Disciplinarian The Disciplinarian had a gimmick of a teacher from the board of education. |
WOW WORLD
CHAMPION
TERRI GOLD
defeated
Danger February 4, 2001 "WOW Unleashed"
WOW TAG
TEAM CHAMPIONS
CAGED HEAT
defeated
Harley Angels in tournament final February 4, 2001 "WOW Unleashed"
