Thursday 7 August 2014

AWBA: Bete Noire

Disclaimer: This is the first of hopefully many articles on individual wrestlers. My idea for AWBA was never to be a review site, it was to give new fans to UK wrestling a step in the door, explaining a wee bit about who is who and why they wrestle. To that end, say hello to Bete Noire! (Please also check out the companion piece, An Interview With Bete Noire).




Bete Noire - Facebook - BlogTwitter - Website

The French phrase "bete noire" can be translated as meaning "an anathema; a person or thing that one particularly dislikes. Evil. A cursed person to be avoided". As her opponents would agree, the translation is a fitting one for this Scottish wrestler.




A graduate of the Source Wrestling School (http://www.facebook.com/SourceWrestlingSchool) with a background in Judo, Boxing and Thai Boxing, Bete made her debut in 2011 and spent the next year wrestling for a variety of promotions including the Scottish Wrestling Alliance and Manchester's The Wrestling Factory.

However, it was the first Fierce Females show in September 2012 that represented a re-debut of sorts for Bete Noire. Facing fellow Scot Viper in a hard-hitting brawl that took both women through the audience and back, Bete went into the match a relative unknown but emerged as a force to take notice of.




From there, Bete formed an alliance with her opponent and the team of Bete & Viper made waves in the Pro Wrestling: Eve promotion down in England over the start of 2013. Bete made an immediate impact in fact, as on her PW: Eve debut on their Wrestle-Fever iPPV she would epitomise the "no regrets" style of wrestling that would come to define her, literally screaming "I regret nothing" before making a huge plancha dive.




The allure of a qualification spot in the tournament to crown the first ever Fierce Females champion would draw the partners back up to Scotland to once again face off against each other in a rematch even more brutal than before, at Insane Championship Wrestling's first ever show in Edinburgh, "Tramspotting".




Although tasting defeat in that contest, Bete was beginning to build a reputation for herself as a woman who would give it her all to win, no matter the personal cost. In a match highlighted by a death-defying leap from the top rope to the outside and finding herself on the receiving end of a swing into the metal post, while Bete may have lost blood and the match, she had won over the fans.




Fast forward a little to May 2013 and you can see the strides Bete had made in what is easily my favourite Noire match, and one of the most terrifying matches I've seen. At Fierce Females second show, "Luke Who's Yer Da?", Bete faced off against American sensation Crazy Mary Dobson in a brutal match featuring everything from chairs to a screwdriver, even a make-shift table. If the Tramspotting fight showed Bete's willingness to take punishment in the name of a strong wrestling match, this fight against Dobson showed her equal willingness at dishing it out.




Bete spent the rest of 2013 battling all over Scotland, ending the year with a title shot at the W3L Women's Champion Sara. 2014 would start off with a major change of scene for Bete, as she achieved a life goal of travelling to Japan to wrestle, competing with the Ice Ribbon (https://www.facebook.com/IceRibbon) company. Her time there included a match against Tetsuya Nakazato that was handily recorded by a fan.

Her return from Japan has seen Bete take on all comers from LCW in England, to RCW in Spain and of course back home in Fierce Females, where Bete has faced up to Sammii Jayne, Nikki Storm and the legendary Saraya Knight so far this year.

With two Fierce Females shows coming up this year and a tag-team match with Viper against the team of The Owens Twins scheduled for ICW's Spacebaws event on 21st September, there will be plenty of opportunities to catch Bete Noire in Scotland this year. But now that she has spread her wings abroad, there is no telling where this incredibly talented, strong-styled wrestler will end up.


Hopefully I've gave you a nice wee bit about Bete, showcasing some of her great matches over the past three years. There's plenty more out there, and if you're interested in seeing her live I urge you to check out Fierce Females or ICW (details of upcoming shows will of course be published here). If you've had enough of me talking but still want more Bete Noire, you're in luck.

Bete graciously agreed to take part in an interview with AWBA blog, which you can read in it's entirety here.

For more of Bete, please check out her Facebook page and her blog "Cupcakes & Chinlocks" through our fantastic friends at Breaking Baws.

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