Uniform Prototype for World Cup Catfighting Championship, Part 2

Testing continues as to the suitability of various uniform prototypes for the World Cup Catfighting Championship (topless division). An earlier report can be found at http://cpcommentary.blogspot.com/2007/10/uniform-prototype-for-world-cup.html
Here, we see Artemis sporting the "Color/Name" style, in which the catfighter's briefs sport the country's color, and have the name written across the back. This test was held in the dark sand in order to see whether the country identification would be visible in inclement weather or adverse conditions.
Maia sports the "Belted" style for Team USA, which has the country's name (or abbreviation) on the back of the brief's belt. This is the same the style as Sila wore for her native Turkey in the prior posting. As Maia is from Ukraine and Artemis from Germany, we shouldn't think that either of these two ladies are going to emigrate. Instead, they are simply models for the test (albeit participating in a very real catfight).
As BBB4 (a thankfully frequent and thoughtful contributor) is an astute student of the breast smother, this photo provides assurance that he can still identify the ladies by country while one attempts to obtain a submission using that favored catfighting hold.
The Color/Name style also features the country's flag on the left front of the briefs. I prefer this style over the Belted because it is more form fitting and, let's face it, the idea of a lady wearing a belt in a catfight just doesn't seem right.

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?!!"

Vanessa versus Christine, Part 2

Twice a year, Reebok (which doesn't have a team in the league) sponsors a tournament for the independent wrestlers. The Reebok Invitational is a great moment for a lady to excel, as representatives from each of the teams are present and are looking to pick up a few ladies to round out their rosters. Given their past history, it came as no surprise that Venessa and Christine were matched up against each other for two matches over the course of the weekend-long tourney.
Vanessa definitely came dressed to impress in a lilac suit that showed off her best feature. But she simply wasn't prepared for the level of aggressiveness that Christine -- a three-time veteran of the Reebok Tournament -- brought to the match.
Christine cleverly sits on Venessa's left arm to keep it in a painful hammerlock, while yanking on the roots of her long brunette locks.
Christine gets away with one here, even when measured by the lax referring standards used in the Reebok Tournament. Although she later claimed that she was just holding Vanessa's head still, you can see that Christine is placing her right thumb up against her opponent's eye.

In their second match, Christine just picked up where she left off. It seemed that Vanessa just didn't have the will to compete and Christine took full advantage.
With the opportunity to get picked up by a team so close, Christine put Vanessa in a series of humiliating positions.
This final "forced bridge" probably drove the final nail in the coffin in terms of Vanessa getting selected to join a team. There was no way that shoe company would want one of their girls getting displayed like this by a smaller women while wearing their product.
Christine looks confident, knowing that she would certainly get selected while Vanessa looks up in a daze.
Fast forward two months, and Christine is a member of Team Adidas while Vanessa is still slogging it out as an independent wrestler. Although the top ladies on each sponsored team don't wrestle independents, second tier ladies such as Christine regularly compete against non-sponsored ladies in order to keep in match shape. Note how much more aggresive Vanessa looks right from the get-go. Perhaps to keep the memory of her last terrible loss to Christine fresh in her mind, she wears the same wrestling suit.

Vanessa is determined to inflict maximum punishement with this bow and arrow. Note how much higher cut Christine's suit is as compared to when she was wrestling as an independent.
Vanessa returns to the fine form she displayed in some of her earlier matches, calmly moving from hold to hold to work on her opponent's weaknesses. To her credit, Christine bears up to the pain and seems to be waiting for an opportunity to turn the tables.
But Vanessa never gives her the chance, finally getting the Adidas Team wrestler in this modified camel clutch.
Christine strikes a pose, showing off her big, beautiful legs. There seems to be no doubt, at least in her mind, that she's ready for the big time.
Christine looks terrible, and the pain from having Christine work her over can only be compounded by the knowledge that team management never likes it when one of their ladies loses to an independent.

Vanessa versus Christine, Part 3

As it turned out, Vanessa had good reason to be upbeat after her victory over Christine, just as Christine must have understood that Team Adidas would be looking to replace her. Vanessa soon got picked up by Team Nike and Christine got fortunate when a spot opened up on Team Puma due to one of the wrestlers separating her shoulder. Although neither lady was on the first tier on her team, they were matched up against one another when Team Nike took on Team Puma.
Christine is definitely one to hold a grudge, as she must have felt that Vanessa was responsible for her getting kicked off of Team Adidas. Once again, her technical skills were too much for Vanessa.
The biggest criticism of Vanessa is that if things aren't going her way in the match, she loses focus. While I'm a huge Vanessa fan, I find it hard to argue with this critique. And when you're in the big leagues facing a wrestler as crafty as Christine, the last thing a wrestler can do is to zone out. Because when that happens, Christine will try and humiliate her opponent.

Vanessa grabs onto her glutes, as they are getting pulled (and beautifully displayed) by Christine's reverse small package.
Christine obviously couldn't resist reliving some "good old times" with Vanessa from their days on the independent circuit -- hence the hair pull combined with the crotch spread. As a result of this match, and some other developments within Team Nike that had nothing to do with Vanessa, her contract was assigned to Team Adidas.
When Team Adidas met Team Puma in the finals, neither Vanessa nor Christine were on the roster for those matches. However, they did wrestle against each other in a match that wouldn't count in the standings, but for each team's pride. Note how Christine has been treated to a bit of a make-over, with her new hairstyle and outfit. For her part, Vanessa is sporting a new style of wrestling sneaker that combines the best of a wrestling shoe and cross-trainer.
Unfortunately for Vanessa, it's the same old story as she just doesn't seem to have answer for Christine's attacks.
Given how many times these ladies have battled, I don't think its a surprise that this photo captures a sense of intimacy. But even saying that, it is striking how calm Christine appears as she is making Vanessa suffer.

Note how Christine digs her fingers into Vanessa's left deltoid as she works over the shoulder of the Team Adidas wrestler. To put pressure on Vanessa's left elbow, Christine juts her left knee out to form an unnatural pivot point for Vanessa's arm.
Vanessa grabs onto her left shoulder, looking up at Christine and perhaps seeking some relief. For me, this photo pretty much sums up their (admittedly one-sided) rivalry.
Of course, Christine isn't going to give any and takes her rightful place seated upon Vanessa's chest for the victory photo. As things worked out, Team Puma let Christine go during the off season and actually signed up Vanessa!! The rumor around the league was that Team Puma was looking to increase their ability to "put asses in the seats" by putting forward a more attractive team.

So it should come as no surprise that when Vanessa needed to fill her quota of matches (still relegated to the second tier and therefore needing to take on independents), she found that a sizable "appearance fee" was being offered for her take on Christine. Go back and compare this photo to the first photo of these ladies in Part 1 of this series. I think you'll find it very instructive, as each as matured and changed in subtle ways. Vanessa certainly looks more fetching and confident, while Christine seems to be more confortable as an independent wrestler.
Vanessa was in trouble right from the beginning (I said it was a rivalry, not that they were evenly matched), and grabs onto her right quad.
Never one to miss an opportunity, Christine keeps up the pressure on Vanessa's sore muscle. It is obvious that she is in some serious pain.
Although she probably could have forced a submission with that hold, Christine turns her attention to Vanessa's left leg.
Even the most cursory glance at this photo would reveal that this hold was too much for Vanessa to take. Screaming in pain, Vanessa strained ligaments in both shoulders, pulled her left quadraceps and twisted her knee pretty seriously. Although Vanessa did continue to wrestle, she never regained the promise that (I thought) she once showed. To be fair to Vanessa, she did have alot more success against other ladies. (If there is any interest, I could do some more on her career). But for whatever reason, Christine just had Vanessa's number.

Stephanie of Team Puma versus Natasha of Team Adidas

Although the ladies wrestle as members of a team, rivalries between ladies on different teams were bound to develop. And perhaps the most heated rivalry is between Stephanie of Team Puma and Natasha of Team Adidas. Each wrestler is easy on eyes, while Stephanie has a more typical wrestler's physique and Natasha a more willowy figure. Given that each inspires a great deal of fan loyalty, it was probably inevitable that the best looking ladies on each team would have intense and sprited matches.
In one of their earlier matches, Stephanie punished Natasha with a bow and arrow hold, punctuated with a foot to the lower back. Natasha's fans certainly didn't like to see their beauty get treated like this, but must have secretly been thanking Stephanie for allowing them to see Natasha's fine form in this particularly high-cut yellow one piece.
Since the league is sponsored by shoe companies, particular leniency is given when it comes to applying holds that involve a wrestler placing her feet on her opponent.
Although the story has never been confirmed, it is commonly believed that the ladies are encouraged (through the provision of special bonuses) to try for submissions by holds that showcase their, or their opponent's, wrestling shoes. In this case, Natasha's pained expression might not only be due to the pressure on her legs from Stephanie's leg lock, but also from the realization that her rival was going to earn a bonus off of her.

Although Stephanie is a bit stronger than Natasha, the Team Adidas wrestler more than compensates with her aggression and apparently natural desire to punish her opponent. There can be no question but that Natasha knows exactly what she is doing as she steps on Stephanie's left inner thigh and pulls her right leg in the other direction.
Natasha not only has the ability to set up painful leg holds, but also the patience and determination to see them through. Note the wear on the bottom of Stephanie's wrestling shoe.
Natasha working over Stephanie's left quad. Recall that Natasha had stepped on Stephanie's left leg earlier in the match. This kind of attention to detail and strategy have led many of Natasha's fans to argue that her fine looks sometimes overshadow her considerable wrestling skill.
For obvious reasons, this final humiliation move reportedly earned Natasha the highest "special bonus" ever awarded by Team Adidas. It is hard to imagine that Adidas could have come up with a better image to showcase their product's superiority over that of Puma's.

Team Nike versus Team Adidas

I've previously written about my hope that one day women wrestlers could get corporate sponsors who would pay to have their logos placed on their minimal outfits. http://cpcommentary.blogspot.com/2007/06/look-who-weve-got-our-hanes-on-now.html The most obvious candidates for such corporate sponsorship would be those businesses that already incorporate their logos on products that would naturally be used lady wrestlers. Namely, wrestling shoes and wrestling outfits. And given the extraordinary sums that are paid to professional athletes and college teams (principally, U.S. football and basketball) for the exclusive right to provide footwear, the principal athletic footwear companies are well versed in this form of sponsorship.
Of course, there are numerous obstacles to ever realizing this hope, almost all of which arise from society's general views on women wrestling. So any sponsorship would need to start with women wearing one piece outfits, and the matches would need to conform to rules that would best prevent the competition from being labelled as catfighting, or as being considered degrading to women.
Although wrestling is, by definition, an individual sport, competition takes place between teams as well (such as at the high school and college level). Therefore, I would suggest that the league have four principal shoe sponsors -- Adidas, Asics, Nike and Puma -- and each would outfit a different team. Using these photos, one could imagine what a match between Team Nike and Team Adidas would look like.

To Boot or Not to Boot

Since I'm exploring the thread of wrestling women's outfits, it should come as no surprise that I would consider the wrestling boot (without, it is to be hoped, falling into the "foot fetish" chasm from which no escape appears possible). Of course, a wrestler can go barefoot, but that just gives her opponent another avenue of attack. While the lady in black didn't make that mistake, she did chose to wear some form of wrestling slipper that her opponent was able to remove, with the obvious intention of working over her toes. (You can see the pink slippers off to the left, just below the curtain). To follow up on my prior post on the beauty of the one piece suit (and the thoughtful comment), I note that the lady in black fills out her conservative suit about as alluringly as possible.
I discovered the German Mat Club early in my fascination with women's wrestling, and perhaps that's why I'm particularly partial to ladies wrestling nude or topless while wearing calf-high wrestling boots. The shoes not only protect the ladies' feet and toes, but their attire lends a seriousness of purpose to their efforts. As an aside, you might want to check out a great blog that explores a variety of issues related to our interest, particularly how folks first got interested in this form of competition -- http://femwrestlingfan.blogspot.com/.
By the way, I can only seem to find grainy video transfers of German Mat Club (GMC) matches. If anyone knows where there are better quality photos, please let me know.
Here, we see a lithe Japanese lady using her wrestling boot to assist in her offense. But since I'm focusing just on the style of footwear, I note that it's not really to my taste as it doesn't look like the tradition wrestling boot that I'm used to. It just looks too clunky and almost like she's about to go skiing or something.
But my real complaint is with UltimateSurrender's choice of footwear. While I have to give them kudos for explaining that they changed from barefoot to sneakers because the ladies were suffering too many foot and toe injuries -- and for recognizing that nothing is as important as the wrestlers' health and well being -- the selection of an aerobics sneaker just doesn't doesn't do it for me. Since the ladies need to wear different colored bands (and, in a huge mistake, straps of fabric around their upper arms, but I may deal with that in another post), why not have them wear different colored wrestling boots?