Time for something a little different – Burning Hearts Fighting Entertainment!
The promotion offers an alternative take on women’s wrestling, based around the concept of team warfare… kind of like roller derby. We’ve got two stables in Burning Hearts: the Wildheart Rebels – or the good guys – against the Hellfire Furies. Episode one’s narrated by Heather Honeybadger, whom fans of EVE may well recognise as being one of their newer officials, and the show’s coming out of Tunnel 267 – a nightclub in Wimbledon, for those who like to keep track of venues.
Heather runs through what’s on tap, with Mischa East taking on Rhia O’Reilly in the main event. Curiously, Rhia’s a rudo. Try saying that five times fast while drunk!
Hellfire Furies (Daisy Mayhem & Psycho Lolita) vs. Wildheart Rebels (Amber Bree & Nina Samuels)
The crowd are behind Nina from the off, as commentary notes that Daisy Mayhem’s not lost a match yet. There may be a reason… but that’s just me being snarky!
There’s a nice-and-tight camera angle, almost in the ring as we see Nina get taken into the wrong corner as Lolita tagged in and chokes her with a boot. Apparently Lolita’s only 12… which might be why she misses a charge into the corner as Samuels comes straight back with a snapmare and a Mr Perfect-esque neck flip for a two-count.
A tiltawhirl backbreaker gets Nina another two-count as she tags in Amber Bree, allowing the pair to hit a duelling clothesline and a double-team wheelbarrow onto Lolita for a near-fall, thanks to the interference of Mayhem. Lolita gets back up first and stomps on Bree, as we’re back to the underhanded tactics with Lolita chopping on Bree in the corner.
Bree gets back in by reversing an Irish whip, but her attempts at forearms in the corner are cut-off, as Mayhem comes back in to rake Bree’s eyes on the ropes. A shoulder tackle knocks Amber down as she’s being kept in there for a long time… with lots of double-teaming as a vocal crowd roared in disapproval when the Hellfire Furies cheated behind the ref’s back.
Lolita nearly wins it with a snapping suplex, but Bree kicks out… only to remain on the wrong side of things as she tries to mount a fightback… but can’t get past Daisy to make a tag. Another eye rake on the ropes follows, but Bree’s able to land a crossbody to Lolita before getting the hot tag to Samuels, who clears house with clotheslines and dropkicks on Lolita!
A bodyslam nearly gets Nina the win, but Lolita rakes the eyes from a fireman’s carry… before the finish came out of nowhere, as Samuels staggered to her corner and tagged in Bree. Meanwhile, Daisy Mayhem’s back in, and all she has to do is catch a crossbody from Amber and turn it into a swinging side slam as that’s enough to put away the newcomer. A really good tag team match, with clearly defined bad guys and good guys… exactly what you need to introduce newbies to a product. ***
We get a replay of the finish in black and white, before we cut to an advert for Burning Heart’s wrestling school.
(Hellfire Furies) Hellcat Levay vs. (Wildheart Rebels) Nye-oh
Levay is a debutant who’s wrestling in a cat mask and a cat-suit, with only two long pigtails showing. Yeah, I’m not sure if this is someone more experienced doing double duty… I saw Nye-oh at a Pro Wrestling EVE student show last year and was pretty impressed, but for whatever reason her name hasn’t gotten back onto those EVE shows or anywhere beyond.
Nye-oh looked to work the arm, but Levay bites her way free, only for her wristlock to get reversed as Nye-oh seemed to fall while still getting off an armdrag. Levay rakes the eye before using her claws for a back rake (hey, it’s basic, but it’s fitting within the cat gimmick!), as some choking in the ropes gets the Hellcat a near-fall.
Nye-oh’s struggling to get back to her feet as Levay tries for a hair-assisted snapmare, but the comeback starts with some European uppercuts… only for Levay to fight back and again pull the hair for an uppercut of her own. Another rake follows in the corner, prompting Heather on commentary to note that Nye-oh’ll need to get shots after this… Hi-yoh!
A camel clutch follows as Levay uses her hair to assist, before breaking it so she could pin Nye-oh with one foot on her chest… which the ref eventually counts two on. Another Nye-oh fightback sees her land some shoulder charges, before catching Levay in an abdominal stretch… but another eye rake breaks Levay free before a roll-up gets the win. Lots of cheating here, especially with Levay getting a big handful of tights, but this was pretty solid for the time they had. Another loss for the Rebels… **¼
A video for Psycho Lolita follows… she’s got a voice that belies her 12 year old character. It’s very artsy and is a brief glimpse into her character.
(Wildheart Rebels) Mischa East vs. (Hellfire Furies) Rhia O’Reilly
Rhia turned down the offer of a handshake at the bell by just punching East… and that aggression continued as O’Reilly took it to the corner, only for Mischa to rebound with a big shoulder tackle to knock her down.
After blocking a hiptoss, East delivers one of her own before a series of headbutts was countered with a solid kick to the gut. From there, Rhia took Mischa to the corner for some mudhole stomping, while Psycho Lolita took the change to sneak in a shot behind the ref’s back, as Rhia bust out a Mr. Perfect neck flip for a near-fall. Mischa tried to fight back, and succeeded in sidestepping a corner charge as she almost nicked the win with a roll-up, but Rhia’s back with some sneaky tactics, choking Mischa between the ropes. A hair-assisted snapmare followed, as did a suplex and some more choking in the ropes as Rhia threw in some old-school rule bending… but a neckbreaker from Mischa put a stop to that!
Rhia returns fire with a Finlay roll, but she misses a back senton, before eventually taking a German suplex that had the ref (who may or may not be a big fan of darts in Ireland) bouncing up in the air. The standing ten count from the referee is beaten, but Rhia’s back in front as she takes Mischa back into the corner… but East bounds out again and sent the Irishwoman flying with a spinning heel kick! A sidewalk slam follows after a slight hesitation, but Rhia gets a shoulder up at two, and replies with a Samoan drop for a near-fall.
Can the Wildhearts get a slight measure of revenge? A headbutt and a uranage backbreaker certainly gave Mischa hope, before she pulled Rhia into a trapped arm torture rack… and that’s enough for the submission! A solid main event, with Mischa ending the show on a high as the good guys managed to avoid a wipeout! ***
The show wrapped up with some plugs for their social media, and after confirmation that, yes, we have seen the entirety of both squads in action here.
So, for a premier, this was pretty good going. The characters were well defined as being the bad guys or the good guys, and while I’d have liked to have seen a little more character, it’s early days – and you can’t bombard a new viewer with too much about too many people in a 26 minute episode. This show, and a whole lot more, are available to watch on their YouTube channel… If you want to see this live, then Burning Hearts are running this Sunday (February 25), with a show called “Riot Harder” at the Theatre Deli in Camberwell, London. Tickets are available via the Burning Hearts website: burningheartsfe.com