Lorena Velazquez and Elizabeth Campbell return as Loreta Venus and Golden Rubi in this third installment of the Wrestling Women franchise from director Rene Cardona. This time out, a nasty faction of warring wrassling babes challenge the ladies to a wrestling tournament. Naturally, these women are up to no good and will stoop to any low in order to win… including kidnapping Rubi to make Loreta to throw her fight!
I guess the biggest problem with She-Wolves of the Ring is de-escalation. The first two movies saw the Wrestling Women battling a mad doctor and an Aztec Mummy respectively. In this one they just fight… other wrestling women? It certainly seems like a step down if you ask me. If this was the first film in the franchise, I might not have felt the same way. However, without any fantastic content to speak of, the flick feels a little lacking. Luckily, the series eventually went back to doing what it did best by having the Wrestling Women fight Panther Women and Killer Robots in subsequent installments.
The good news is the series’ war of the sexes aspect still works. Not only does Elizabeth Campbell still have her short and nerdy boyfriend; there’s another Wrestling Woman who doesn’t take shit from her husband and she routinely slaps, body slams, and wrestles him to the ground whenever he gets out of line. We know nowadays that domestic abuse in any form is no laughing matter, but these scenes are still pretty funny, and I’m sure it had them rolling in the aisles back in ’65.
Since the plot revolves around a wrestling tournament, that means there’s a lot of wrestling this time around, so that’s a plus. In addition to the EIGHT matches (the final match is rather rousing), there are lots of scenes of the women practicing wrestling in their spare time. I liked these moments because it showed the women’s work ethic. You don’t become a Wrestling Woman overnight. It takes practice.
Even though She-Wolves of the Ring is the least of the series, it remains thoroughly watchable thanks to the presence of the two leads. Unfortunately, Velazquez is saddled with a terrible wig in this one, but that’s only so her hair will match her obvious stunt double during the wrestling matches. Campbell gets to vamp it up for all she’s worth and even manages to steal a few scenes this time out. Fans of Velazquez and Campbell (and Mexican wrestling in general) will find something to enjoy, but fans of their horror-tinged efforts will likely be disappointed.
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