Brief Review: Slampeg 1062: Angel Williams v. Angela Fong (1 Viewer)

[Gorleser]

I have had the experience several others have had of late with Slampegs, which is that the videos I have purchased lately seem to be rife with examples of broken kayfabe (laughing during matches), imprecise wrestling (with botched moves), and what seems like a lack of effort on the part of some performers. With this in mind, I still like to support the ladies and the company itself, and so when I saw this video pop up this month with the tagline: "And if you think that Angela being knocked out means that the match is over, apparently nobody told Angel that...", naturally I got excited and downloaded the video. A brief synopsis of positives, negatives, and things that will likely depend on your individual taste follows.

***Spoilers follow***

Positives:
-Undoubtedly two excellent, pro-level and trained wrestlers
-Realistic setting, with a smaller pro-style ring, referee, and bell to start and end the match. Both ladies are wearing "ring robes", which factor into the intro to the match
-Angela and Angel are beautiful
-In the storyline of the match, Angela spends a good part of the end of the match unconscious and loses after being knocked out, pulled up before a count of 3 while still unconscious, suffers another wrestling move, gets pinned to a count of 3, then 2 more counts to total 5, then 5 more to total 10. Angela sells this pretty well (does not move, appropriately limp, etc)
-Angel makes a great heel

Negatives:
-Angel spends a lot of time goofing off and posing provocatively to the camera (more on this in a moment), which makes both Angela and the referee break out in laughter. This happens at a very unfortunate juncture on one occasion when Angela is lying on the mat, supposedly unconscious, and Angel's antics make her grin (this looks pretty subtle to me)
-Angela at a crucial point in the match assumes Angel is setting her up for a DDT, when in actuality she was going for an inverted DDT. This requires some (very obvious) communication in the middle of the match between the ladies, and Angela does not take the inverted DDT very well IMO.
-Pre-match banter is awkward
-The story of the match is Angel's posing, goofiness, and the knockouts at the end. I would have preferred to have seen a more consistent approach to the knockout, with more focus on an assault on Angela's head and neck to make the knockout make sense. The moveset exhibited in the match seemed more random than something leading to a huge knockout. Angel hauls Angela up after the first DDT, and (as in a lot of wrestling events), Angela springs up so that Angel can deliver the final DDT. This was very undersold in my opinion-- if she was "really" knocked out, I would have liked to have seen her stand up more slowly or groggily. She also gets tossed from the ring at the end, and this was similarly sold as the first DDT

A matter of taste:
-Angel is actually very very funny. She alludes a few times to this being a custom match, and I wonder if her goofiness is part of the custom request. Any time a custom is made public, obviously, this is an attempt made by the company to earn more revenue on top of the cost of the custom itself by releasing it to a greater audience. There is nothing wrong with this in practice, although in my opinion this leads to us all unwittingly watching something that most likely has niche appeal. There is no indication in the description of the video that this is a custom, and my feeling is that there doesn't have to be, but problematically Angel devotes at least 1 minute of the video alluding to the "man who made the video possible", clearly indicating this is a custom.
-Angel spends a lot of time repeating the phrase "one piece", alluding to her outfit. She shows off her toned body (which looks incredible if you like her skinny muscular look), especially her ass. She interacts with an "audience", which applauds her at times and sounds like its comprised of 3-4 people
-I should add that by and large Angela plays this match straight
-Angela is supposed to be unconscious for the end of the match, and the camera work IMO does not take full advantage of this-- I would have liked more of a close-up on Angela during this time.
-No sexual content

In the end, a better effort than some Slampegs I've seen lately, but the fact that this was a custom (no indication in the description of the vid), the breaking of kayfabe, and the weak psychology of the match offset the beauty and talent of the wrestlers and the knockout storyline.

2/5 stars. Recommend to devoted fans of Slampegs and/or fans of the wrestlers

 

[TheCrimsonRisk]

Gorleser, let me first say that I love that you've decided to contribute to our forum with your reviews. You put a lot of time into them and I, for one, really appreciate the work your putting into this and in helping members make informed purchases.

I probably like this video a little more than you did, but only because I'm a sucker for one-piece swimsuits and Angela Fong (no, I was not the one who ordered this custom!). In this match, I was somewhat okay with the ladies laughing because it felt like it was in character for the most part. The premise seemed lighthearted as opposed to competitive. Normally, the breaking of kayfabe drives me nuts, but I could let it go here.

Unfortunately, I don't find Angel to be that funny. I like that she is willing to play the goofball, especially since (as you mentioned) it's likely that a lot of her dialogue was probably based on a custom request, but it just wasn't entertaining for me. There was so much posing and preening and not enough action. Then again, if it was Angela who was doing the posing and preening I probably would complain less :)

On a somewhat related note, have you ever seen a SLAMpeg with Sara Del Rey? She's one of the best female wrestlers in the world, but absolutely one of the worst SLAMminladies performers. I don't know if she feels that she's "above" this sort of work or what, but she has a smirk on her face in every match I've seen. Maybe that's just her face? It's a shame because she has an awesome finisher and good execution, but it's pretty obvious that she's just collecting a paycheck.

You've inspired me to maybe do some reviews of my own. Maybe. If there are enough, maybe I'll open up a Wrestling Review sub-section. Keep 'em comin'!

 

[Gorleser]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply!

I also found Angel very unfunny because knocking another woman out should be pretty serious in my book (except for gloating and taunting and so forth). Angel would probably be really fun to hang out with at a bar, but this doesn't translate well to a ryona video if you ask me. If you're a fan of Angela, are you also a fan of Su Yung?

I have seen one SLAMpeg with Del Rey. It was a similarly goofy video, with another notoriously poor kayfabe maintainer, Kristin Astara as the ref, in a squash match against one of my (new) all time favorites, Jayme Jameson. The match was strangely plotted, most likely a custom, in which Sara dominated with the exception of a brief come back by Jayme in which she was able to KO Sara with a sleeper! Jayme eventually allowed Sara to wake up (when Kristin made a very slow count out of Sara) and then succumbed to Sara's finisher. Definitely /agree with Sara's skills as a pro style wrestler against high level competition, but something is lacking when she enters the ryona format. I also agree it's most likely something psychological at play. Some ladies are just naturally good at this niche within pro wrestling because they can buy into the meaning of the match and what it means to the customer who has ordered it. Sara seems amused but "not into it".

It would be great to either compare notes from your reviews or read up on vids I haven't seen yet. For those of you asking for trades, I generally don't trade stuff I've paid for, as I really would prefer to support the companies I buy from (although I don't look down on traders at all).

Incidentally, that Sara/Jayme video has one of my favorite sequences from SLAMpegs in it, where Sara, in the middle of a run of torturing Jayme and forcing her to groggily get to her feet for multiple 10 counts, puts her into what I can best describe as a Hanging Over the Knees Backbreaker (there must be a better name, but I don't know what it is). Jayme slowly passes out in the hold, and Sara alternates between taunting her (tickling her twice), "accidentally" holding Jayme by the neck and choking her, discussing how unconscious Jayme is with Kristin, and wrenching her body up and down. Jayme's body goes limp, most notably her arms, which are dangling above her head, and she ends up about 5% conscious when the hold is finally released, which is too bad in my opinion (0% or -25% conscious would have been better). I am very picky about maintaining kayfabe and I have a very strict interpretation of wrestling psychology (here I mean "what makes sense in a match"), and while this isn't quite up to my standards 100%, it is good. Maybe I'll post a review later.

 

[TheCrimsonRisk]

I'm a huge fan of Su Yung, but I swear I don't have an "Asian thing" (though our women are lovely). My other favourites are Jennifer Blake, Jessie McKay, Tenille, Erica D'Erico, Portia Perez, Kristin Astara (when she's not being a massive fuck-up) and Divina.

If people keep harassing you for trades, report them. That is not acceptable behaviour on this forum. If you want to talk shop, you should meet us in the chat. We're usually on around midnight (sorry if this is too late for you!) or you can just PM me.

I am also picky about kayfabe and I obsess over wrestling psychology, even in customs! My favourite ryona wrestling matches involve an equal mix of titillation and solid wrestling. Without the proper execution, it's just bad pornography.

By the way, if I decide to do some reviews is it alright if I totally rip off your format?

 

[Gorleser]

Thanks for letting me know about the policy-- I definitely haven't felt harassed.

I'm sure I ripped the format off from someone else, so you (and everyone else) are welcome to it. I liked the idea of doing brief reviews with three sections and a summary rating. The briefer the expectation of the review, the more likely I am to complete it. Plus, nobody wants to read a really long review.