the wrestling rumor mill

I just have to comment that it's a little odd, funny, and very noticeable that people are suddenly quite interested in my record and "toughness rating" among session wrestlers.  I see it on discussion forums, and I certainly can't miss the direct emails, "VeVe, did you beat so-and-so?  Did so-and-so beat you?"

On the one hand, it's very flattering; I certainly appreciate everyone's being so interested!

On the other hand, it IS rather funny, because none of this information is secret.  I rarely give out results of my matches, and I never do if it was a match for another company, but all the matches people ask me about are publicly available.  Now I know not everyone is going to purchase the matches (though, frankly, if you're someone who cares about the results, chipping in to support the companies that bring us ladies together to do this is the decent thing to do).  But with the number of people I know have seen these matches, I tend to be a little amazed at all the misinformation out there.

Those in the know seem to mostly keep their own counsel; the rumors, guesses, and speculation certainly outweigh the facts.  It can be very interesting to read about what I've supposedly done, had done to me, or will do.  Which matches people care about is also interesting; some of my best (in my opinion) are ones I never see mentioned.  And I have to wonder -- an awful lot of people seem to want to see me beaten or beaten up.  Maybe they don't like me?  Maybe they DO like me and think I look good having a hard time.  Perhaps some of both...

Couldn't I dispel all these rumors with a single authoritative statement?  NO!  The videos will always be there when someone wants them, but talk on the internet is infinite.  I'd rather enjoy it than ever try to drown it out.

In any event, I guess I'd better stay busy.  I seem to have a lot of hype to live up to all of sudden.

very exciting matches this week!

This is may be the most exciting week for video matches I've ever had.   Three different types of competitive matches (almost four, but more about that later) all in one week.

Last things first, since I especially want to mention next Saturday's shoot with visiting wrestler Shauna Ryanne.  Shauna and I are meeting up for a competitive match while she's in town, and I'm very excited for it for a couple reasons.  Shauna and I have both been beating up on one of my favorite victims (Mark of Brutal Beauties) for years, and he keeps telling us awesome things about each other, but we've never gotten to meet before.  And second, this will be my first competitive FvF match in way too long, and I've missed my roots!

But for all that, it seems a waste to shoot only one match with such a lovely and lethal lady when we've got this chance.  So if anyone is interested in ordering customs (mixed, FvF, or solo) with Shauna while she's here, please get in touch right away!  Write to veve.wrestler@gmail.com.

Working backwards, the next match in line is a competitive bondage wrestling showdown between Hanz Vanderkill and me slated for Wednesday night.  This is another type of match I haven't done in far too long, and I can only wonder why I didn't realize sooner Hanz is a perfect opponent.  After all, we've faced each other in submission grappling, an oil wrestling match, and even a lucha-pro-style spectacle.  Of course, we must face each other in a bondage challenge!  It was inevitable.  And this time he won't be wearing a mask!

Now Hanz may think he can say anything he likes behind my back, but he was foolish enough to spill his strategy to Diablo, who fortunately gave me some advance warning.  It seems Hanz's big idea is to spend all his energy UN-tying anything I can get on him.  Now that's just punkish, and my counter-strategy is going to be to take it to him hard and fast and punish him for such an ignoble scheme.  He'll have to try to tie me just to defend himself!

[Edit 5/25 - Bondage wrestling with Hanz was phenomenal!  Excellent, tough match; dramatic finish; I am SOOO proud of it!  And just released yesterday -- HERE.]

Finally the first match of the week -- me vs. Adrian.  This took place Sunday morning bright and early, and it's actually already up in the Doom Maidens store.  I was SUPER happy with this match.  In particular, I'm proud as hell of some superb bodylock takedowns and beautiful triangle transitions I pulled off.  I was also very impressed with Adrian; he brought in size and strength, put up 100% worth of fight all the way through, and put me in some real pain.  I was definitely more than he expected though!  Only one downside to this match -- if you ask my disgruntled video editor, my bikini was TOO risque.

And a footnote -- there was ALMOST a fourth competitive match this week, but Orlandoe and I couldn't quite match our schedules for it.  This would have been a striking vs. grappling match (Orlandoe striking vs. me grappling) pitting Orlandoe's slaps, punches, kicks, and sadism against my "macho-chism" and submission skills under pressure.  It's still going to happen, but with Orlandoe about to embark on a couple different travel adventures, it's sadly pushed back to mid-June.  Looking very forward to it though!

starting strength stats, for the record

So this is the start of my six-week max strength lifting program.  Let's see where I'm at, so we can see how much I can improve in six weeks.

Monday, May 7th

Back Squat ------------------------------------------------------------- 165 lbs. for 6 reps

Incline Dumbbell Chest Press ------------------------------------- 45 lbs. for 7 reps

   (yeah, I know, the bench press was occupied...eternally)

T-Bar Row -------------------------------------------------------------- 75 lbs. for 6 reps

Overhead Barbell Shoulder Press -------------------------------- 70 lbs. for 6 reps

Dumbbell Curl --------------------------------------------------------- 25 lbs. for 8 reps

Overhead Single Dumbell Extension ---------------------------- 35 lbs. for 6 reps

Next lift on Wednesday!

chicago & news catch-up

I know I'm criminally behind in posting about the latest wrestling adventures -- I blame this (like everything) on my day job which has been loading me with tons of take-home data entry for the past couple weeks.  But that project is SO close to done now I can taste it, and I feel I can afford a celebratory blogging session.

First story to tell: my mid-April trip to Chicago.  This was such a mix of ups and downs it was wild -- definitely one of *those* trips.  To start out with I was simply blown away by the wonderful flood of interest -- thank you, Chicago, and to everyone I simply didn't have time to see, I'm sorry and I'll definitely be making a longer visit next time.

So I catch my super-early flight out of Chicago, land, and make it to my hotel with two hours to settle in and set up before my first session.  Only to find the hotel has overbooked itself due to some conference they're hosting and my reservation is one they've given away.  There's not really time to argue, so I break out the laptop, discover there are two other hotels in walking distance, call the first to find it's gone out of business, call the second to find they have rooms available, and take off down the road lugging my travel mats on my back.

This second hotel is everything you'd expect of a rent-by-the-hour dive, but it's all I can do under the  circumstances.  When I ask for a non-smoking room, the front desk hands me a can of air-freshener.  I have to hope my session guests will find that this adds a seedy, romantic excitement to the whole affair.  I clean up, set up, and breakfast on packaged shortbread Indra had been nice enough to bring me over from London.  And then the fabulous part of the trip begins.

I really had some wonderful sessions on this trip.  A big thank you to the fellow who brought me the lovely purple opera gloves.  And also to the guy who egged me on to do my nastiest humiliation session yet -- I find people *usually* want somewhat playful and safe humiliation, but that was not where this session ended up, which was quite fun and thrilling.  Also terrific to end a long day of wrestling by seeing one of my very favorite regular clients again -- made saving the heaviest, hardest match for last a real pleasure.

Saturday was its own misadventure.  I'd come out for an event in the city as well as sessions.  This day involved a nerve-wracking clown-car carpool with some other hotel guests to get downtown (very bad driver who liked picking fights with other cars -- *never* accepting such an offer again) and my event running vastly later than I could ever have guessed completely bollocksing up my night.  But I survived!  And in the morning I lugged my mats back to the airport shuttle (at the original hotel, grr!) and came home to plan a more relaxed return visit.

The major project back here lately was a custom karate video with Indra.  I've done fantasy karate videos (Karate Nylons One & Two) before, but the premise here was a technical training encounter between two black belts. This was a big deal because I really have no background in karate and had a short time to pick it up since Indra was heading back to London April 28.  (Good-bye, Indra, we'll miss you until you come back in August!)  So I spent about a week getting a crash course in both karate techniques and attitude, along with a bit of stage combat.  Lots of fun, concentration, and roundhouse kicking.  We ended up making two versions -- a more combative sparring  match which Indra wins and a self-defense back-and-forth which I win, both finished off with a choke to knock-out and a bow to the unconscious opponent.  The combo will be released soon, but there's already a trailer up on YouTube:  VeVe vs. Indra Karate Trailer.

There have been a ton of little odds and ends going on too.  Now that warm(ish) weather seems to be coming back, I've enjoyed a bit of roof gardening and spring cleaning + remodeling around my apartment -- big improvements with more to come.

Spring and summer also tend to get me fired up to step up my training...but I managed to break my toe in BJJ class last week attempting an "experimental" cartwheel guard pass.  In its extremely inconvenient way, this should actually be good for my grappling since I'm having to take a month off from Muay Thai and can put the extra time into ground work.  No trouble with the toe at all when I'm on the ground.  I'm also just shifting into a max strength training phase in my lifting program -- those are always my favorites.  I need to do a nice comprehensive test lift, actually, and post my starting numbers; then perhaps in six weeks when I've got some results to show, we'll get out a new lifting video.

Speaking more of videos, Doom Maidens has been in the market for a new camera lately.  My role has been moral support as Diablo tests and rejects various options.  We're sensing it's time to retire the old camera but finding that new models don't surpass it for picture quality and are infinitely less compatible with our software.  Frustrating.  The hunt continues, but we've got a slew of projects lined up for next week, and for now we're newly determined not to trust any of them to disappointing "upgrades."  On the horizon are mixed competitive and armpit worship vids with Orlandoe; Athena vs. me in a catfight; and hopefully the debut of a new victim facing me in competitive straight and bondage wrestling matches.  Stay tuned for more action...