We’ve been on a bit of a GLOW kick here at Ringbelles for the last week or so. Having talked to the utterly charming and intelligent Angelina Altishin (GLOW’s Little Egypt) for the most recent edition of the Women of Wrestling Podcast, we’ve been keeping an eye on goings-on at Cauliflower Alley’s 2012 Reunion, where Lisa Moretti (aka GLOW’s Tina Ferrari and WWE’s Ivory) was honoured, Angelina presented two seminars to atendees, and several GLOW originals made special appearances. Even WWE’s Kharma was spotted on local news, putting over the original GLOW product. However, one thing we haven’t mentioned (other than in passing in this week’s Roundup) was that running opposite Cauliflower Alley, across town in Henderson, NV – there was an attempt to revive the product with a GLOW-branded show billed as “A Night of Fan Appreciation”. There had even been talk that this would herald a GLOW “Season 5″ as a TV product.
It seemed a bizarre day to try and launch a revival, given that anybody in the Las Vegas area with any interest in wrestling would almost certainly be going to Cauliflower Alley – not to mention that with a large number of GLOW originals already committed to be at Cauliflower Alley, even those who were hardcore GLOW fans (if such a thing still exists in 2012) would have had a difficult decision to make. The day after, the best we could cobble together was a partial talent list and a partial set of results – and it became clear that the revival wasn’t exactly a success. We first heard of a crowd of possibly 50 (and that was taking into account local trainees). We’ve even heard an estimate considerably lower than that. That, unfortunately, was only the tip of the iceberg, as we’ve since heard various shady stories regarding promoter Eric Rolphe Nyenhuis. Click through to after the jump for the full story.
At this point, we may as well go right to this YouTube video posted today by Freakshow Wrestling’s Scorch The Clown where he calls for a boycott on any future events promoted by the aforementioned Eric Rolphe Nyenhuis (who calls himself the new CEO of GLOW, under the name Eric Danger Nyenhuis).
Scorch actually makes a lot of points in this video that we’ve been busy confirming ourselves over the last couple of days, and we’re able to confirm that we’ve heard similar stories from various parties involved in the ill-fated reunion. Most notably, we’ve independently confirmed that a number of girls were stiffed on pay and lied to about a number of things. Rather than being put up in the Gold Coast Hotel, the girls were to be put in a sub $40 per night flea pit, the promised “limousine transport” to/from the hotel ended up being a number of people crammed in the back of a van, and unsurprisingly the promise that the venue had paid catering also turned out to be false. Perhaps most damning is the fact that (as mentioned by Scorch), Nyenhuis was caught trying to sneak out of the venue before the show was over to avoid having to pay several of the talent. He then tried blaming investors etc, before jerking around the girls for several hours as they ended up following him around Vegas until his trail went cold. One of the girls had been given a hotel room key, but nobody had told them where they were supposed to be staying – and it was only through the good graces and contacts of Stu Stone (who worked on the show as a manager and managed to pull in some favours) that they were eventually able to find a hotel for the night. The next morning, Nyenhuis was still nowhere to be found – meaning that fly-in talent who had to get back to the airport had to organise their own transport back.
As for the show, the promised “hair and makeup artists” turned out to be Nyenhuis’ girlfriend – GLOW original Roxy Astor and her daughter Kayla (who worked the show as Brittany Astor), the sound guy was Astor’s son, and the photographer was Roxy’s other daughter’s boyfriend. Promotion was non-existent outside a facebook fan page (which has since been taken down by Nyenhuis’ business partner, who was *also* lied to) and the event was described as “unprofessional”. From what we’ve been able to gather, only four matches were put on, and outside of the Legends Battle Royal (which was won by GLOW original Hollywood), none of the other three had a finish. Taeler Hendrix (working as Vanessa Hendrix Wundor – aka VH1) had some sort of a no-contest with Kitana Vera (as Lil’ Figi) (we’ve been unable to determine the exact finish), Buggy Nova (as Donna Dead) went to a Double DQ with Brittany Astor) and Sara Del Rey (as Sara Death Ray) went to a 15 minute draw with Candice LaRae (as Robyn, The Super Hero).
The one thing that we’ve heard throughout from every source is that nobody is blaming or knocking the GLOW girls, either originals or new – and that the utter failure of this project lies solely on the head of this shady promoter, Eric Nyenhuis. It brings us no pleasure to bring this to the attention of our readers – and even though we assume Nyenhuis will disappear off the grid for an extended length of time after this debacle, we believe (and hope) that nobody else should have to put up with the (in the words of Scorch) “Bullcrap” that a number of these performers have had to over the last few days. Please, we urge that any wrestlers who are approached by this man in future heed this warning.
We will bring you more news if and when any develops.
This post is sponsored in part by Hudson County Exterminator & Nassau County Rentals
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