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

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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?

The Disadvantage of Wearing a One Piece Suit

Inspired by a thoughtful and loyal reader (hint: comments are always appreciated), I've been thinking about how a wrestler's particular outfit might change the outcome of a match. In these photos, we see that the shoulder straps can be pulled down to trap a wrestler's arms. With her arms so constrained, she is unable to defend against her opponent's attack. So much the better that, in each case, the opponent issues a nipple or breast attack.

In Praise of the One Piece Wrestling Suit

Although I suscribe to the view that, all other things being equal, the highest form of erotic wrestling takes place when the ladies are tussling in the nude, one shouldn't dismiss the opportunity to watch women wrestling in one piece suits. For example, the silver one piece in the above photo produces the wonderful "camel toe" effect.
Since a "camel toe" sighting is unfortunately rare, the most obvious benefit of the one piece is that it allows for the fabric to be high cut around the legs and hips. Although the Japanese seem to have perfected this sort of outfit, it's nice to see that the folks at wrestlinglounge.com aren't too far behind (pun fully intended).