The GWF’s Who’s Next is back – and it’s an all-women’s series too as they look to find the next generation of talent.
Prior seasons of Who’s Next have solely focused on the men, given that GWF had largely kept women’s matches away from their main shows until recently (remember that storyline in Three Count where Blue Nikita and Kati Libra went to a draw to get women’s matches on the monthly shows?) Anyway, the opener for this show has a lot of names in quick succession, so I’m pausing rapidly here: Camille Grignon, Faith Hyden, Keesa the Bambi, La Catrina, Kara, Gulyas Iren, Xara Grace, Tazz Joyce, Lena Sophie, Trixie, Vivienne and Jazz Lanka are your dozen here. We’ve seen three of them live this year, but we’ll let this show introduce the wrestlers, rather than dig into Cagematch histories.
As usual, Dave Bradshaw’s doing the voice over, but you’ll need to turn on English subtitles on YouTube for this. John Klinger, Tarkan Aslan and Blue Nikita are our judging panel. First we’re introduced to Kara, who’s from Darmstadt in Germany – and the woman behind Kara tells us about her character. Graphics tells us she’ll be a face today, having gotten into wrestling because of an ex-boyfriend… and we then flash back to ringside as the judges tell us they’re not thrilled with the good guy having a sword.
Kara’s promo says she’s going to rule the battlefield… her opponent is already in Nikita’s bad books for not introducing herself backstage. It’s Faith Hyden, who’s from Spain. Her VT is in English thankfully, and she recounts her favourite moment in wrestling being around Eddie Guerrero. She’s working as a bad guy here, and she vows to make Germany her second home. Blue Nikita’s not impressed with Faith’s entrance, nor the promo, and we get a graphic telling us that the pair have less than 18 matches between them. Hyden’s trained with the wXw Academy before this, while Kara’s a product of the German Hurricane Wrestling training school.
Kara vs. Faith Hyden
From the opening lock-up, Kara’s taken into the corner, which Bad Bones isn’t keen on as Kara’s got the height advantage. They trade holds, before a headlock takedown draws expletives from the judges.
Kara escapes a headlock with some headscissors, before Klinger groans at her striking game. Hyden hides in the ropes, then sidesteps a charge before a PK and some chops continue our clipped match. A rocker dropper gets a near-fall as Tarkan Aslan draws up memories of the Thrashman, while Blue Nikita hunts for the Eddie Guerrero influence that simply isn’t being shown. Clotheslines follow as Kara fought back, then hit a spinning sidewalk slam for a near-fall. We clip in as Hyden spikes Kara with a DDT, and we get a replay as Hyden explains the mistake. We get similar treatment after a knee-to-the-face saw Kara land Hyden right on her bare knee in what they tried to pass as a receipt… A sit-out stunner’s next, and that’s the win for Kara.
We go to the panel next, as Klinger complains about the pair not laying it in, while also pointing out Kara’s promo. It turned out that was her first one, which explains a lot. Blue Nikita had similar feedback, throwing in the lack of Eddie Guerrero stuff in Hyden, whom she called more of a face than Kara was. Meanwhile, Tarkan Aslan pointed out that having a sword but not being able to use it in a match wasn’t a good idea… while also criticising some of the mechanics.
There’s a fan vote to decide who goes to the next round… and we get some final pleas from the pair as the show came to a head. For a 12-minute Tough Enough-ish show, Who’s Next is a solid watch that doesn’t drag, but I have a feeling the early episodes may be full of a lot of similar criticism from the judges.