“First Month Fire” is back with a quick look at the first episode of WOW Women of Wrestling. If you don’t remember this promotion from 2000 and 2001, it was David McLane’s–the founder of GLOW–latest women’s promotion and aired on syndicated television via The WB.
As a matter of fact, it often aired after WWF Jakked/Metal later on Saturday night. It was revived in 2015 and after a run on AXS in 2019-2020, L.A Lakers owner Jeanie Buss bought into the promotion and it would announce a deal with ViacomCBS in 2021.
In September 2022, it began airing in syndication again on The CW and—in some markets—CBS.
The Undercard
This show aired in October 2000 but you knew this was modern GLOW. Everyone’s rocking either an occupation gimmick or some gimmick that late 80s-early 90s WWE would’ve attempted. The first match saw my favorite WOW tag team—Caged Heat (Delta Lotta Pain and Loca)–lose to The Beach Patrol pair of Sandy and Sunny via DQ.
It was a pretty basic, short TV opener that instantly let viewers know what type of party WOW was throwing. Mind you, it wasn’t the best intro to WOW but I was hooked at 15. I wanted to see what other gimmicks they had for me.
Also, this was 2000, so it would’ve been hard to find the results of the tapings and anything on McLane’s new crew of wrestlers.
A match for old-school fans and probably WOW’s best feud was Thug and Selina Majors. The two of them broke into wrestling in the 1980s and have the most experience on the roster.
Not only that, they faced each other several times over the years, so their match on the debut episode was solid.
I’d say it was the best match of the episode plus it was given enough time to cook. Thug—Peggy Lee Leather—works extremely well as a heel here. Meanwhile, Majors played a solid but basic babyface.
It’s a role she’s good with but if you’d been watching wrestling for a while, the basic, old-school babyface gimmick wasn’t it in 2000. It just didn’t wow me—no pun intended.
Terri Gold, who was supposed to be a super athlete and Olympian—think Olympus/Herb Perez from WMAC Masters several years earlier if you needed a blast from the past. Jungle Grrrl is…a jungle girl. You know, something along the lines of the wrestling savage.
This wasn’t a particularly interesting match. Quality-wise it was adequate like the opener and served the same purpose.
The Main Event
For some reason, I don’t feel good rating the 20-woman battle royal for the WOW Title. It’s a three-minute battle royal that had to be edited. You don’t get a three-minute battle royal unless it’s The Giant facing cruiserweights and he’s just dunking them out of the ring.
This was twenty women, the bulk of WOW’s roster. I mean, it was eventful plus being a wrestling fan who has to finish whatever I’m watching good or bad. Terri Gold ends up winning the WOW Title in another adequate for a B-show match.
WOW Women of Wrestling #1 Verdict: Bronze Medal (Thumbs Down for the Main, Thumbs in the Middle for the Undercard)
Overall, this was a meh episode that was like a better-produced, better-flowing version of the WXO shows we covered. This episode was a taste of what WOW had to offer but it wasn’t the best taste that could’ve been offered at least they didn’t give everything away and have to continue topping itself each week.
Instead, WOW would be able to build slowly over the year and that works.
Match of the Episode: Thug vs. Selina Majors
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