Corporate Sponsorship -- Japanese Style

The most obvious difference between athletic companies' sponsorship of lady wrestlers in Japan, as opposed to in Europe, is that there are no teams for companies to sponsor. Instead, each lady is free to contract with as many sponsors as she can attract. For example, Yuki Kato, above in the Adidas grey one piece, also has contracts with Asics for her knee pads, Mizuno for her elbow pads and Puma for her wrestling shoes.
Yuki's opponent, Kazuha Ogura, has two sponsors -- Speedo for her suit and Mizuno for her elbow pad. Given that each sponsor supports several women, it's not uncommon to see ladies wearing clothing from the same manufacturer going up against one another.

Yuki is known for her flowing brunette locks, exuberant approach to wrestling and her custom high-cut suit.
Unlike in American or European pro-style matches, low blows are an accepted part of the game. Below, Kazuha finishes Yuki off with a quick downward leg strike between Yuki's legs.
Aki Hirakawa, pictured below, has taken an entirely different approach towards sponsorship. Instead of being covered with a cacophony of different labels like a Nascar driver, she has an exclusive arrangement with Speedo. Aki's only labelled apparel is her one-piece suit, and her logo-free elbow pad, knee pads and wrestling boots compliment her signature red and beige suit.

Could Shoe Companies Sponsor a Catfighting League?

These photos are reportedly from a test session to assess the merits of German shoe companies sponsoring catfighters. It goes without saying that such sponsorship is simply outside of the realm of possibility for an American company, such as Nike. For purposes of market testing so as to focus solely on marketability of shoe sponsorship, the ladies tussled in the nude.
Here, Jessica wearing a pair of Adidias trainers, puts Sarah into a very tidy small package. Given that the ladies are wearing regular trainers that would be bought by women and not wrestling shoes, it is possible that the test was designed to see whether catfighting would spur demand for athletic footwear by women.
Jessica yanks on Sarah's hair, leaving no doubt but that this is a catfight . . .
. . . and then adds a body scissors to try and force a submission from her Puma-clad opponent.
Sarah escapes and tries to mount a comeback, but Jessica smartly steals a march on her by quickly getting off her knees.
Jessica was the better woman this day, finally exhausting Sarah with a traditional boob-pressing School Girl Pin. It goes without saying that it is this writer's fervent hope that the test will be deemed a success by the corporate honchos. If so, we can look forward to a new breed of catfighters shilling for European athletic apparel brands.

Big Girls Can Wrestle Too, Part 2

I've written before about my current favorite plus-sized catfighter for Bout Time Studios, London. Here's she's matched up against one of my all-time favorites, Casper.
London steals a march on her smaller opponent, immediately going to work on Casper's right nipple. A smart move, as Casper has shown before that she's not very good at protecting her tits. London's outfit nicely accents her wide hips and it's good to see that she's not embarassed at all to strut her stuff. Although I'd commented previously that it just didn't seem right for a catfighter to wear a pair of briefs that had a belt, Casper proves me wrong.
Of course, this being a catfight, both ladies engage in all manner of unconventional attacks. From mouth grips . . .

. . . to double nipple pulls.

Casper, having a bit of experience under her belt, knows enough to return to work on London's left nipple.
But as a loyal reader has noted, you just can't teach big. And London puts an end to the fight with a knee lift to Casper's belly.
London certainly seems to be getting the hang of torturing her opponent for the final shot. With her right hand on her hip and her breasts proudly displayed, London lets everyone know that she not to be taken lightly (no pun intended). In their rematch, London simply dominated Casper by catching her in a body scissors.
Casper, who has certainly taken her fair share of beatings, seems to want no further part of getting squeezed by London's huge and powerful thighs.

Uniform Prototype for World Cup Catfighting Championship, Part 2

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Big Girls Can Wrestle Too

Although most of the purveyors of catfighting and wrestling material gravitate (for obvious commercial reasons) towards putting forth young ladies who conform to traditional standards of phsyical beauty, we should always remember that any woman who is willing to face off against other lady is always worthy of our admiration. In this case, it's great to see that London (on the right) is proud to show off her fine form before she takes on the more svelte Mercedes. (With these names, do you think these gals could be erotic dancers? I had initially thought that they are aid workers taking a break from their work in Sudan, but I'm having second thoughts.)

Mercedes, no dope, does the smart thing and goes for London's belly. After all, she's got to figure that the plus sized catfighter might not have the strongest stomach muscles.
But London isn't so easily taken, and yanks Mercedes' head down with a solid hairpull. London is plenty strong, easily holding herself up off of the carpet with one hand.
London looks like she is in trouble here, as Mercedes has "inside position" on her breast attack -- meaning that Mercedes' arms are to the inside of London's. If Mercedes had any kind of technique at all, she would just angle her elbows out in order to make it really hard for London to get a grip on her nipples.
But London is just too much for the lighter catfighter, who gets kudos for pulling aside London's panties to give us a nice unbroken view of her hips.
London is justly proud of her victory, and has no reason to be at all demure about her fine form.

Why Competitive Catfighting is a Sport -- Exhibit A

One of the burning questions that has engrossed philosophers through the ages is whether competive catfighting is true sport. Perhaps the question is on a low simmer or just defrosting next to the cheeze blintzes on the counter, but in any event, it seems one worthy of addressing in this blog.

To begin with, we need to establish the critical criteria that makes an activity a sport. I would submit that a sport requires:

• Athletic Ability
• Strength
• Endurance
• Strategy
• Competition - hence, "scripted" wrestling or catfighting cannot be a sport
• Defense - (i.e., another team or individual can prevent you from accomplishing your goal)

(These criteria were honestly lifted from http://www.babblog.com/Oct_05/103005_Voices.htm).

It would seem obvious that a competitive catfight satisfies each of these criteria. I submit that the photos from one fall in the fantastic topless beach catfight between Gaia and Maia makes any further attempt to answer the question in the negative a waste of time. Gaia, on the left, is a 19-year-old from Germany weighing in at 141 pounds and standing 5'7". Her opponent from Ukraine, Maia, is also 19, but is significantly undersized for this tussle at 5'4" at 117 pounds. There is no question but that Maia will have to develop, and execute, a good strategy to overcome Gaia's substantial advantage in strength and weight.
Gaia, an experienced catfighter, knows that her best bet is to try and overwhelm Maia with the force of her slaps from the standing position. If she can get her Ukranian opponent to turn away, it should be an easy matter to just barge into Maia, force Maia to the ground and use her greater weight against her opponent.
Maia stands tall, withstanding Gaia's initial attempt to overwhelm her with a flurry of slaps. Since Gaia has a noticeable reach advatange, Maia uses her hands to block Gaia's hands as opposed to going for a face slap of her own. Although Maia is undersized, you can see that she has plenty of strength as evidenced by her well-formed figure.
Maia closes the gap, negating Gaia's reach advantage, and deftly blocks Gaia's roundhouse right slap with her left forearm. The bigger catfighter turns her head, a natural reflex in anticipation of getting slapped hard across the face. But Gaia has made the mistake of assuming that Maia had the same strategy -- standing up and trading slaps until one catfighter imposed her will on the other. Instead, Maia uses her speed and agility to get behind the bigger catfighter. By the way that the German teen is standing stock still, it is apparent that she has been taken totally by surprise. And since this is a catfight, Maia deftly grabs onto Gaia's hair.
In a stunning display of strength and athletic ability, Maia leaps off of the sand to wrap her legs around Gaia's torso. The fact that the ladies are wrestling on sand, as opposed to a hard mat, only adds to the degree of difficulty of executing this move. Note how Maia immediately locks her ankles, making it almost impossible for Gaia to force her legs apart.
Maia brings the German teen catfighter down to the sand, and hits her with a combination body scissors and headlock. Maia must have known that Gaia is susceptible to the body scissors (for a prior example of Gaia submitting to this hold, see http://cpcommentary.blogspot.com/2007/10/anatomy-of-body-scissors.html).
Gaia is not without resources, however, and manages to stand up -- but Maia is determined to retain her head lock and body scissors no matter what. She must know that she is forcing her larger opponent to expend alot of energy, thus sapping her endurance. Gaia pounds Maia back down to the sand, but the Ukranian teen just won't be denied. Again, note the way Maia keeps her ankles locked. By the way, do you think that her ankle wrap provided a bit more friction and hold than if she weren't wearing it?
One of the hallmarks of a good fighter, man or woman, is that they remain calm and collected during the match. Here, you can see that Maia is calmly dealing with the situation even as Gaia has broken the headlock. Maia just holds onto the back of the Gaia's neck with her right hand and continues to punish the German catfighter's sides with the body scissors.
Gaia finally manages to break out of the body scissors, but can't get free as Maia still has managed to re-establish her headlock. Maia just uses the force to Gaia's turning to finally get Gaia on her back. Smartly, the Ukranian teen puts all of her weight on the German's upper body, staying away from her opponent's undeniably strong legs. And since it's a catfight, a breast smother is allowed. Having gotten squeezed for much of the round, Gaia doesn't have much in the tank and finally submits.
In conclusion, I hope that this photo essay and the commentary has finally established, once and for all, that Competitive Catfighting is a sport. Discuss amongst yourselves, or better yet, post a comment with your thoughts.
P.S. Just a shot of Gaia adjusting her bikini after losing the first round. I'm trying to put together a collection of photos of ladies adjusting their wrestling and catfighting outfits (and then to do a posting on my thoughts), so please feel free to pass any good photos you may have along to thejobberking@yahoo.com. Thanks in advance.

Vanessa versus Christine, Part 1

Rivalries between lady wrestlers take all shapes and forms. Some, such as that between Stephanie and Natasha, are performed at the highest level -- between ladies who are members of a sponored team and have no doubt as to their future in the sport. Others develop between ladies, such as Vanessa in the pink one piece and Christine, who don't have that luxury. Vanessa, pictured above before her first match against Christine, started out as an independent wrestler, not affiliated with any team sponored by a shoe company. Hence, she wears generic wrestling boots.
Christine had been around the league for a while, and although she had been a member of various teams from time to time, never seemed to catch on. The ladies' anticipation and nervousness is evident in the above photo. For these independent wrestlers, every match was important. It would either move them closer towards, or further away, from their goal -- getting picked up by a sponsored team. Vanessa wisely selected a one piece that was particularly high cut over hips; all the better to show off her fine form. But she obviously wasn't all that confident about what she was willing to show. If you look closely, you can see the white band of her g-string underneath.

Although a raw rookie, Vanessa had some skills, and went to work on Christine's shoulders. The smaller wrestler simply wasn't able to bring her greater experience to bear.
Vanessa -- showing a nice tan line, by the way -- works over each of Christine's legs in turn. By the way that Christine is grimacing and reaching back for her right hamstring, we can tell that she is suffering from the attentions of her younger opponent.
Although the same rules are supposed to apply to matches between ladies on sposored teams and independent matches, it's generally accepted that they are applied much more loosely in the independent matches. And Vanessa smartly takes advantage with an obivous hair pull.
Vanessa uses her substantial -- and in my opinion, delightful -- backside to put an exclamation point on her victory.
Christine is obviously despondent, as it doesn't look good for her to get dominated by a mere rookie.

Of course, a rematch was arranged for the next session. Look at how the ladies' expressions have changed from their first match. Vanessa looks much more poised and confident, while it seems like Christine has a surprise in store for her opponent.

Christine takes the early advantage, and puts Vanessa through her paces.
Christine concentrates her efforts on Vanessa's shoulders.
Vanessa is obviously suffering in the grips of Christine's textbook camel clutch. Note how Christine's earlier attention to her opponent's shoulders set this hold up to have maximum impact.
And for good measure, a bit of payback with a hairpull.
As it's Vanessa's turn to lie despondent on the floor, Christine poses as if to say "And you though this young thing could take me again?!!"