Queen Of The Ring

I was not able to watch Queen of the Ring locally in theatres as the closest place it was screening was near 2 hours aways, and I just couldn't make it work to go.  Much like The Iron Claw I really wanted to check this one out on the big screen.

A couple weeks back it hit streaming so earlier this week I took the time to watch the movie.  I have to say over all, I really enjoyed it.  The image of the poster above whenever I saw it I kept thinking it was Cobie Smulders, even though I knew it wasn't.  The actress that plays Mildred Burke is Emily Bett Rickards and as I'm watching the movie I recognize her but can't place it, felt like a fool when I looked it up and saw that she played Felicity Smoak in the Arrowverse on the CW.

The film is based  inspired by the 2010 book "The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend" by Jeff Leen which I own but haven't read in year.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie, the wrestling was acceptable, the story was great, and the cinematography was tremendous.  Much like The Iron Claw, you can enjoy this movie even if you are not a wrestling fan.

While I am not subject matter expert in the the timeline of women's wrestling from the 1940's & 1950's I picked up a few historical inaccuracies in the film, but that's typical for the Hollywood creative license.

For instance:

In the movie we meet Jeanette Boyer who takes the stage name of Gladys Killem Gillem in the movie. Her character dies after a rough match with June Byers.

Jeanette Boyer was lady wrestler, who was the foster daughter of Billy Wolfe, she took the ring name of Janet Wolfe and tragically passed away at the age of 18. She wrestled Ella Waldeck on a matinee show and then competed later that evening in a tag team match, shortly into the match she lost consciousness and died from a brain hemorrhage a few hours later at the hospital. A hard body slam by Ella Waldek in her first match of the day has been attributed to her death, however a blood clot had most like formed a week earlier.  

Gladys "Killem" Gillem wrestled from 1942 - 1962

Killem Gillem

Several current and past wrestlers and wrestling personalities are in the movie, some in larger roles than others. 

Toni Storm as Clara Mortensen

Kailey Latimer aka Kamille as June Byers

James E. Cornette as NWA Commissioner

Trinity Fatu aka Naomi as Ethel Johnson

Britt Baker as Debbie Nichols

Mickie James as Fabulous Moolah 

Kamille has the largest role in the movie of all the wrestlers that appeared.  Mickie and Britt are in blink and you missed it cameo's essentially.  There is a documentary that came out a couple years ago about Ethel Johnson called Lady Wrestler and that is worth your time.  Also the 2004 documentary Lipstick and Dynamite: The First Ladies of Wrestling is an excellent look at early women's wrestling.

I would also recommend the autobiography of Penny Banner Banner Days as another excellent look at women's wrestling in the 1950's & 1960's.  

 

I'm going to re-read Mildred's book and read June Byers book before I watch this film again.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

WCW's Women's Division

Until the last few years the women's wrestling scene in the United States had been treated like a side attraction instead of a featured contest.  There were times in the WWE like in the mid 1980's with the Rock N' Wrestling era of Wendi Richter or early 1990's with Alundra Blayze where it was a strong mid-card attraction.

The American Wrestling Association revived their Women's Championship in 1984 until the promotion folded featuring Candi Devine, Sensational Sherri, Wendi Richter and others.  It was also around this time that several women's promotions started popping up such as GLOW, POWW, Delta Tiger Lillies, LPWA, and others.

Jim Crockett Promotions and later World Championship Wrestling attempted their own run at a women's division on a few occasions with minimal success.

Misty Blue

In 1986 Misty Blue was brought in, billed as the Women's United States Champion she wrestled Linda Dallas a dozen times and Kat LaRoux once in matches featured at house shows in February, April, & September.  She also made a single television appearance on the September 6, 1986 episode of WCW World Wide.

Misty Blue, Linda, & Kat returned in 1987 with Misty wrestling Linda a half dozen matches in February & April.  In July during the Great American Bash Tour wrestled Kat LaRoux for eight shows.

On August 29, 1987 in Houston Blue was billed at the NWA World Women's Champion defeated Camrade Orga.  On November 26, 1987 in Greensbobo, NC Misty Blue won a 7 women $15,000 Battle Royal, Kat Leroux, Linda Dallas, Jamie West, Venus, Mad Dog Debbie & Whitney Hansen

In February and March of 1988 Misty Blue, Linda, and Kat were back for a few house shows.  December 12, 1988 her whole troupe of girls made it to the WTBS studios in Atlanta for the World Championship Wrestling televisions tapings.  January 1989 they worked two house shows.

Susan Sexton vs. Bambi at Clash of the Champions XII

In September 1990 now under the Ted Turner WCW banner Women's Wrestling returned to TBS with a different group of ladies.  Bambi defeated Peggy Lee Leather on Worldwide and lost to LPWA Women's Champion Susan Sexton at Clash of the Champions XII in Asheville, North Carolina.  The two also faced off four house shows.

February 24, 1991 at Wrestle War 91 in Phoenix, Arizona live on Pay-Per-View, WCW introduced to the world of Joshi Puroresu.  The ladies of All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling; Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura defeated Miki Handa & Miss A when the former Jumping Bomb Angel Yamazaki pinned Miss A.  The four ladies faced off at two house shows in Chicago and Georgia prior to the PPV with Miki and Mami switching teams.  Miss A is better know as Dynamite Kansai.

Miki Handa & Miss A vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura

These ladies wow'd this crowd as until this time they had never seen women's wrestling like this before.  Hard hitting, fast paced, and exciting the crowd got behind them.

Later that year in October Misty Blue, Linda Dallas, Kat LaRoux, & Black Venus returned for four house shows in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  It would be there last tour in WCW.

Madusa has been in WCW as a valet for Rick Rude since 1991 and although she never competed in a women's match she did face Paul E. Dangerously in a series of 5 Minute challenges in November and December of 1992.

At World War III Pay-Per-View at the Norfolk Scope, November 26, 1995 women's wrestling returned to WCW for the first time in four years.  Once again they featured the stars of Joshi Puroresu in a cross promotional battled.  Bull Nakano & Akria Hokuto of All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling defeated Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki of JWP.  The next night at Monday Nitro in Salem, VA the two teams faced off again with Nakano and Hokuto once again gaining a victory.

Ozaki & Suzuki vs. Hokuto & Nakano

Many wrestling fans will remember Nakano as a former WWE Women's Champion and her matches against Madusa who was known as Alundra Blayze in the promotion.

On December 18, 1995 Madusa showed up on Monday Nitro throwing the WWF Women's Championship in the trash.  Madusa would not return to WCW television until January 29, 1996 when she would lose to Sherri Martel in a short match on Nitro.  Madusa then had a series of matches with Col. Robert Parker in March and April.

In June of 1996 WCW really started stepping up their women's division with Madusa wrestling the likes of Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto, Debbie Combs, Malia Hosaka, and Leilani Kai.  She even faced Nakano at WCW Hog Wild PPV in Sturgis, South Dakota on August 10, 1996.

Akira Hokuto with Sonny Onoo

November 1996 WCW teamed with the GAEA promotion from Japan to promote a tournament for the WCW Women's Championship.  Akira Hokuto defeated Madusa in the finals of the tournament to win the Championship at Starrcade December 29, 1996 in Nashville, Tennessee.

WCW and GAEA would also crown a WCW Women's Crusierweight Tournament that was won by Toshie Uematsu on April 7, 1997 in Huntsville, Alabama on WCW Main Event.

Toshie Uematsu

The Women's division in WCW from June 1996 until June 1997 was featured on Pay-Per-Views and Monday Nitro occasionally, however the weekend and syndicated shows heavily featured matches from both divisions including tournament matches.  The Women's division essentially came to and end on June 15, 1997 at the Great American Bash when Madusa lost a career vs. title match to Women's Champion Akira Hokuto. This would be Hokuto's last match in WCW.  Later in 1997 the WCW Women's titles were abandoned.

I re-watched that match at the Bash between Madusa and Hokuto was a damn good match.  Hokuto with a relentless onslaught and Madusa fighting back from the bottom until a knee injury slowed her down, but she wouldn't quit and continued fighting.  It was great!  The only downside was Bobby Heenan on commentary talking about how'd he never seen a women take such a beating and fight so hard, and ect.

Madusa would return to WCW in 1999 as part of Randy Savages entourage.  At this point the women in WCW were treated as eye candy and only had the occasional match which was usually a mixed tag, evening gown or other gimmick.

Madusa herself would go on to have matches with several male wrestlers like Benoit, Meng, and even defeating Evan Karagias for the Cruiserweight Championship.  However she did have a few matches with actual women wrestlers like Mona (Molly Holly), Rhonda Singh, Sherri Martel, and Patty Stone Grinder (Leilani Kai).

The best years in women's wrestling for WCW was in 1996 and 1997 but they needed to use Japanese talent to do so.  Also it seems that when it got to it height it just disappeared.  I very pleased that today women's wrestling is where it is on the independents, on the national scene, and around the world.  

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page.

Later Readers!

Women's Wrestler Bambi

Selina Majors began her in ring career in 1986 under the name Bambi for the Powerful Women of Wrestling promotion.  PoWW was promoted by David McLane who also created G.L.O.W. and the Women of Wrestling promotion.

In 1987 Bambi would go to the AWA feuding with Madusa Miceli, she also competed in the Lingerie Battle Royal at AWA SuperClash III.  Also in 1987 she would become a wrestler and valet in the Continental Wrestling Federation seconding Tom Prichard to the ring and tagging with him against the Dirty White Boy and Dirty White Girl.

Bambi vs. Judy Martin

In 1990 she joined the LPWA: Ladies Professional Wrestling Association. She would see her highest profile match at that point in her career as she wrestled the LPWA Women's Champion Susan Sexton at the NWA Clash of the Champions XII on September 5, 1990 in Asheville, North Carolina.

Late 1991 she would return to World Championship Wrestling when they revitalized their women's division.  Primarily feuding with Madusa she also had matches with Judy Martin and Leilani Kai.

In February 1994 Bambi traveled to Japan competing for the Frontier Martial Arts promotion also known as FMW.  She competed in various matches in singles and tag team competition teaming at times with Leilani Kai.  She also wrested in the FMW & WWA Women's Title Tournaments.

Madusa vs. Bambi WCW Power Hour 1991

Later in 1994 she entered Smoky Mountain Wrestling feuding with Tammy Fyth, later Sunny in the WWE.  She would team with the Rock N' Roll Express: Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson in a series of six person tag team matches against Fytch and her charges Chris Candido & Brian Lee.

Through-out her career Bambi had a long running feud with Peggy Lee Leather that crossed promotions.  They had matches in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, NWA, WCW, and all across the independents.  They feud went to the next level in late 2000 early 2001 in the Women of Wrestling Promotion.

On the very first episode of WOW television Leather, now going by the moniker Thug defeated Bambi, now going by Selina Majors.  Fast forward to episode 12 in November 2000 Majors defeated Thug in a falls count anywhere match.  On episode 15 in December they fought to a no-contest in a Lumberjack Match.

Their feud in WOW came to a head at the promotions only Pay Per View event WOW Unleashed February 4, 2001.  In a Steel Cage match Thug defeated Majors.  This cage was essentially a Hell in a Cell cage without the roof.

After WOW closed it doors Bambi continued wrestling on the independents in the South.  There is a documentary called Southern Discomfort: Wrestling on the Indie Circuit that is pretty fantastic.  It came out in 2002 and is about an indie show in Alabama.  Bambi and Peggy Lee Leather had a match against each other that night and are featured in the picture.  Worth watching if you can find it.

After a few years off Bambi returned to wrestling in 2016.  She wrestled Amber Gallows failing to capture the NWA Women's Championship on February 20, 2016 in Barnesville, Georgia and returned to WOW as Selina Majors when the promotion reactivated in fall of 2016.

Bambi vs. Peggy Lee Leather 2005

You can find many of her matches as both Bambi and Selina Majors on YouTube, including her Steel Cage match with Thug and recent match with Amber Gallows.  You can also see her match with Sexton from the Clash of the Champions on the WWE Network.

I've always been a fan of Bambi and she is someone that I would love to meet some day at a convention or even better to watch her and Peggy Lee Leather have one more match in person.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page.

Later Readers!

https://www.cagematch.net//?id=2&nr=4315&page=4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selina_Majors

The Nasty Girls: Linda Dallas & Kat LeRoux

Women's Wrestling is more popular now than it has ever been in my lifetime with the casual wrestling fan.  After the Rock n' Wrestling boon of the mid 80's the Women's Wrestling seen slowly began to dwindle on the national level.  It didn't disappear it just wasn't as prevalent but it was kept alive with such groups as the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association, Powerful Women of Wrestling, and Delta Tiger Lillies to name a few.  Two women who toured this circuit as well as having exposure on the national level were Linda Dallas and Kat LeRoux (sometime spelled Kat LaRoux)

The Nasty Girls: Kat LeRoux & Linda Dallas

Information on these two ladies on the internet is scarce except what I have managed to put together in my research.  I would have thought with all the wrestling conventions these two, as well as Misty Blue, Black Venus, Heidi Lee Morgan, and other from that time frame would be making appearances at them.  I still hope one day to be able to meet them and thank them for their contributions to wrestling.

Linda Dallas

Hailing from the Utica, New York area Dallas began training in 1983 with Killer Kowalski in Massachusetts.  A long time opponent of Misty Blue they two would wrestle many matches against each other in many promotions from the independents, AWA, NWA, WCW, and more.  Often Linda Dallas found herself traveling around with Misty Blue and Kat LeRoux as well as other including Black Venus, Mad Dog Debbie, and more.

In 1985 Dallas would appear for Verne Gagne's AWA, and World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas.  In 1986 she found her way to Jim Crockett Promotions wrestling on and off until 1988.  She traveled around the independents in the northeast including Joel Goodhart's Tri-State Wrestling Alliance in 1990.  In 1991 Dallas and her troupe wrestled a few shows for World Championship Wrestling.

It was in the LPWA: Ladies Professional Wrestling Association that Linda Dallas and Kat LeRoux would adopt the tag team name of The Nasty Girls.  Even though they had been teaming together on and off for a few years.

The Fall 1994 issue of Fighting Females Magazine has an interview with Linda about her retirement.  I have been trying to find this issue so I can read the interview.

The last record of a match I can find of Linda's was for the TWWF: Trans World Wrestling Federation in Sayreville, New Jersey on October 3, 1992 she was defeated by Misty Blue.

One of my favorite things about Linda Dallas was how she would yell and carry on in the ring.  At her opponent, at the referee, the audience, she was so loud and it was great!

Kat LeRoux

Trained with Killer Kowalski at his school in Malden, Massachusetts at the age of 16 debuting in 1985.  Initially a baby face teaming with Misty Blue before turning heel and joining Blue's nemesis Linda Dallas remaining heel for the rest of her career.

Kat LeRoux with Misty Blue

Her career path appears to parallel that of Linda Dallas, she too worked for, IWF, ICW, USWF, NCW, Jim Crockett Promotions, Florida Championship Wrestling, Delta Tiger Lillies Joel Goodhart's TWA and Tor Berg's LPWA where she teamed with Linda Dallas and they adopted the name The Nasty Girls.

She did and an interview in New Wave Wrestling Magazine issue 10 April 1993.  Again I'm trying to find a reasonably priced copy of this magazine to learn more about her story.

The last recorded match that I can find of Kat's is for the WWA: World Wrestling Association in Clementon, New Jersey on May 1, 1993 and she too was defeated by Misty Blue.  I read that she retired in 1995.

What both of these lovely ladies did after they left wrestling is essentially a mystery.  Again I would love to see them show up at a convention so fans can pay their respects.

You can find their matches on the WWE Network just search their names.  Also YouTube has many of their matches from through-out their careers.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page.

Later Readers!

Random Wrestling: Despina Mantagas

I was watching AWA WrestleRock 86 which featured a 10 women battle royal.  I was familiar with all the competitors in the match except one, "The Greek Goddess" Despina Mantagas.

My first impression was she was pretty and I like her wrestling gear, but I was really impressed with her skill and strength in the ring.  Researching her on the internet I couldn't find very much but this is what I discovered.

She was trained by the Fabulous Moolah debuting in 1984 wrestling in Continental before going to the AWA.  She also wrestled in Japan, the WWE, Florida, Mid-Atlantic, Mexico, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and the LPWA.

At one point she was married to Tarzan Goto.  I've noticed in her matches sometimes she wrestled barefoot and other times with boots on.

I have no idea if she ever held a championship, but she did compete in the first ever mixed-tag team match in FMW,

On October 26, 1990 at the Gifu Minou City Gym she and her husband Tarzan Goto defeated Megumi Kudo and Ricky Fuji.

You can find several matches of hers on You Tube, here are a few:

Despina & Leilani Kai vs. Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre
9/01/1984 WWF Philadephia Spectrum
Really great match going nearly 15 minutes really showing just how good women's wrestling was in the mid 1980's.

Strap Match: Despina Mantagas vs. Delta Dawn
12/10/1989 FMW Korakuen Hall Tokyo, Japan
This three minute clip is joined in progress and is typical of the hard hitting style that was ladies wrestling in Japan.


Tag Team Champions: Misty Blue Simmes & Heidi Lee Morgan vs. Despina Mantagas & Rustee Thomas
LPWA Super Ladies
Ken Resnick calling the action.  Team America were the popular babyfaces in the match, and this match was essentially used to highlight them and put them over.  No disrespect to those in the match but Despina was clearly the most talented worker in the ring.  Morgan got the pin on Fox after and elbow drop.

I meet Rustee Fox November 13, 1998 in Livermore Falls, Maine at and EWA show, she was super nice and wrestled Malia Hosaka that night.

There are a lot more of her matches on You Tube you just need to do a search of her name and you'll see them for yourself.  From what I've seen of the matches that I watched she was one of the best during that time.  Why I had never heard of her I don't know, perhaps it was because she retired earlier than others.  I just glad that I have now had the opportunity to enjoy her work in the ring.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts and like the Facebook page!

Later Readers!

After G.L.O.W.

The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling was an all women's wrestling promotion that ran in syndication from 1986 - 1990 producing 104 episodes of television.  The wrestlers were made up of mostly dancers, models, actresses, and other women hoping to break into Hollywood through this venture.

Trained by Mando Guerrero for six weeks before the filming began, a few continued in the world of wrestling stepping into rings outside of the GLOW universe.

Lisa Moretti wrestled in GLOW as Tina Ferrari and is better known as Ivory.  The most successful wrestler to come from GLOW Moretti would win the GLOW crown leaving the promotion after the second season.  Moretti would wrestle under names Nina and Tina Moretti for Powerful Women of Wrestling & Ladies Professional Wrestling Association and also competed in the UWF and the AWA.

Moretti debuted in 1999 in the WWE as Ivory first as a manager and then a competitor becoming a tree time women's champion leaving when her contract expired at the end of 2005.  She returned to the indy scene winning a few independent titles before officially retiring in 2006 with an impressive 20 year career.

Tiffany Mellon born Sandra Margot competed for GLOW 1988 - 1989 becoming a porn star in 1992 changing her name to Tiffany Million.  In 2010 she appeared in the documentary After Porn Ends.

Cynthia Peretti had been a professional wrestler for 18 years competing at Princess Jasmine before she joined GLOW as a trainer.  In season one she was Pepper in the tag team Salt & Pepper.  After leaving GLOW Peretti challenged Sherri Martel in both AWA & WWE for her Women's Championship.  She passed way May 8, 2009.

Emily Dole of Samoan decent wrestled as Mt. Fiji for the entire run of the promotion.  She was never defeated  and rarely left her feet.  After GLOW she had bit parts in movies and tv shows.

Debi Pelletier debuted in 1983 as The Killer Tomato in Los Angeles changing her name to Dallas when she joined GLOW for the first season. After GLOW  she joined the AWA as Killer Tomato challenging Sherri Martel for the women's championship.  She appeared in the 1985 movie Grunt! The Wrestling Movie.

Olympia Hartauer was an original cast member of GLOW under the name of Corporal Kelly, one of two people to play the character Corporal Kelly.  She left GLOW and continued her training under the Fabulous Moolah which lead her to having matches in the WWE and AWA under her given name.  She retired in the 1990's then returned in 2007 for the NWA-ECCW.

Trudy Adams joined GLOW in 1987 as Amy the Farmer's Daughter leaving the promotion later that year she joined POWW using the same gimmick under the name Brandi Mae.  As Mae she competed in several other all girls promotions and challenged Madua Miceli for the AWA Women's Championship before retiring in 1991.

Dee Booher competed in GLOW as Matilda the Hun in the shows first two seasons but is better known as Queen Kong.  Booher first began competing in Roller Derby as Queen Kong before training to become a wrestler.  After GLOW she delivered "Slam-A-Grams" thinking singing telegrams except with bodyslams, and had several bit parts in movies and televisions shows wrestling sporadically into the mid 90's.  Check her website for more www.queenkong.com 

Jody Haselbarth appears in season 2 - 4 as Tulsa After GLOW she became a stunt woman in Hollywood appearing for such pictures as The Chase, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and more.  She currently has a Go Fund Me page started by her nephew to aid with medical bills from pulmonary embolisms here.

Eileen O'Hara competed as Melody Trouble Vixen or MTV from season 3 until the end of the show.  Eileen is the co-founder of Sisters Fierce Productions she wrote, produced, and directed a documentary about GLOW "Behind GLOW's Doors Making Gorgeous Ladies."  You can find out more about her and her production company here.

Cheryl Rusa competed as Lightning from season 3 until the end of the shows run. After GLOW Cheryl wrestled in POWW and other women's leagues before becoming an actress and stunt woman. You can read more about her on her website here.

Becky Mullen wrestled in season 1 & 3 as Sally The Farmer's Daughter After GLOW she became an actress appearing in several TV shows and a few films.

An excellent documentary was released in 2011 called GLOW: The Story of The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling that chronicles the story of GLOW and even films a talent reunion.  If you haven't seen it please take the time to. You can find more information about it on the film's website here.

Netflix has ordered a 10 episode TV series based on the GLOW premise even using the name G.L.O.W. starring Alison Brie as Ruth an actress down on her luck turning to women's wrestling to get exposure.  Also staring Marc Maron as the promoter.  Created by Jenji Kohan who created "Weeds" and "Orange is the New Black".

American Angels, Baptism in Blood was a movie made in 1989 with Jan Sebastian as Lisa a girl who wants to follow in her grandfathers footsteps to become a professional wrestler for the all women's league American Angels.  This film featured many wrestlers from GLOW but also starred "Magnificent" Mimi Lesseos and actress and stunt woman who got her start in wrestling just not in GLOW.  Mimi started with the AWA and had matches in FMW in Japan and AAA in Mexico.  Her webpage is here.

During my research I came across a project that has been billed as both a Movie and Reality TV show called "Femme D'Action" and it features many of the former GLOW girls. IMDB has it listed as last updated May 14, 2013.  It appears wrestling related and you can find clips about it on you tube and Cheryl Rusa has an album of over 50 photos of it on her website.  I hope to find this so I can watch it.

This is by no means an official or complete list of what the ladies have done After GLOW was over.  With a roster of near 100 wrestlers during the promotions run I basically highlighted those that I could find information on.

This blog post began as a conversation with my friends during a podcast where we talked about the new GLOW show on Netflix.  Off the top of my head I couldn't only thing of Ivory having wrestled anywhere After GLOW so it was exciting to learn about the other ladies.

Thanks for reading please leave a comment and check out my other blog pages, and like us on facebook.

Later Readers!

Random Wrestling: Women's Edition

June Byers vs. Cora Combs

Other than the 50’s I’m not sure when this match was.   It’s actually a pretty solid match that was enjoyable to watch, the crowd was into it, which is more than you can see for the current WWE non NXT product.

 Mildred Burke vs. Mae Weston

So that last match made me look for a Mildred Burke match the pioneer woman’s wrestler.  Again this match is from the 1950’s and this has a newsreel feel to it with the background music and commentary.  Burke was pretty damn vicious and dirty in the ring. 

Vivian Vachon vs. Kay Noble

From the early 70’s Vivian is the sister of Maurice and Paul Vachon and the namesake of my cat.  She was also the featured subject in the documentary Wrestling Queen that I own and it is a very good documentary on her and wrestling at that time.  Both Vachon and her opponent Kay Noble stopped wrestling full time in the early 80’s because they had children and only appeared sporadically after that.  

My cat Vivian Vachon

The Crush Girls: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagoya vs. Leilani Kai & Penny Mitchell

March 16, 1986 Madison Square Garden

The Crush Girls were hugely popular in Japan as both Asuka and Chigusa reached megastar status in Japan.  When they came to the States they brought a ladies style that was unseen over here and it blew the fans away.  Most people know who Leilani Kai is.  Penny Mitchell I had never heard of until recently but have watched several of her matches and am a big fan of her work. 

 Jumping Bomb Angels: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Devil Masami & Jaguar Yokota

August 10, 2008 from LLPW in Japan

Parts 1 & 2

The Jumping Bomb Angels were popular and successful tag team in the mid 80’s to early 90’s both in Japan and the states, they famously defeated the Glamour Girls for the WWF Women’s Tag Team Championships at the first Royal Rumble in 1988.  Yamazaki had retired in 1991, moved to New York and opened a restaurant with her husband.  This match in 2008 is her return to wrestling.  Noriyo had stated active in wrestling until her retirement in 2010. 

Masami debuted in 1978 and had a very successful career in Japan until her retirement at the end of 2008.  In 1997 Masami became the second and last WCW Women’s Champion winning the vacant title in a tournament final a couple months before the title was abandoned by WCW.

Jaguar Yokota debuted in 1977 a month before her 16^th birthday and considered one of the greatest women wrestlers of all time, she is still actively wrestling in Japan. 

Me with Itsuki Yamazaki at Legends of the Ring June 2, 2012 in Monroe, NJ

 

Sara Del Rey vs. Mia Yim

April 23, 2011, Baltimore, Maryland

RCW presents “The Supremacy”

Sara Del Rey is probably the greatest American Women’s Wrestler of all time. Since September 2012 she has been working as a trainer in the WWE for NXT, even recently being promoted to assistant head trainer.  Good for her that she found a way to live to not travel and make a living wrestling, crappy for us that she isn’t wrestling any longer.  She is only 35 so potentially she could still return to wrestling showing the world how good she is.

Mia Yim was early in her career at this point but it was clear from this match just how good she was going to become, and is.

I had the pleasure of seeing Del Rey wrestle twice in person, both for Chikara.  First time on December 3, 2011 in Everett, MA for JoshiMania where she defeated Tsubasa Kuragaki in a hard hitting match.  Then on July 28, 2012 in Portland for in a losing effort to Grand Champion: Eddie Kingston in an awesome match. 

Myself with Sara Del Rey Chikara in Portland, yup that's the Young Bucks in the background

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment and like my blog's Facebook page here.


Later Readers!

Bonus!

Here are the photo galleries to JoshiMania and Chiakara

JoshiMania Part 1

JoshiMania Part 2

Chikara: The Great Escape