showcase report

So it's a new week and a new summer season, and Doom Maidens' second NYC Wrestling Showcase is in the books. I've had the chance to catch up on sleep (a little!); Damien has been working furiously to process all the excellent new video footage; Clobberetta vs. the Bulk was released Monday; and my match with Dominique came out just last night!

So in light of all that; I think now's the time for me to take a breath, look back, and offer up my report on the weekend.

First of all, I've got to say that putting on this event wasn't easy. I want to say a HUGE thank you to Rachel Sinclair, who spent 16 hours at the airport on Friday while the airline *tried to find her plane,* and Dominique Danger, who got a big scare when her hotel was almost unable to honor her reservation, for both showing up Saturday in game face and ready to fight. Thank you too to Lady Jaye Diesel for taking two tough matches on short notice when Allana was sidelined with an injury. And thanks to our generous sponsor who helped make this happen.

Now, best of all: the matches! We opened up with Rachel vs. Joe Jitsu, in which Rachel demonstrated her scissoring skill much to Joe's dismay.

My match with Dominique followed, and I was *very* happy with how this one went. This was a big challenge for me as I'm just coming back from a broken foot, and Dominique would count as one of the toughest opponents I've faced on any day! Not only did my foot hold up, but we both worked super hard and had a very fun, exciting, awfully sweaty match.

Jaye Diesel vs. Jay was next. The Showcase was my first time meeting Lady Jaye, and I have to say I did envy her shoulders. The match was a neck-and-neck close battle between two quite skilled grapplers. Jaye's matches sadly can't be released on video, but we respect her need for discretion, and it did create a special treat for our live event attendees.

Doom Maidens' own Amazon Annie next took on visitor Sherry Stunns, and I do believe Annie was surprised by Sherry's undaunted tenacity and fierceness when faced with Annie's superior size and technique. Excellent job, Sherry! And Annie too, of course. A close fight.

Next came the grudge match of the event: Clobberetta vs. the Bulk. These two had been trash talking each other for the last month, and I know they'd both been backing up the smack with dedicated training. So I'm very proud of both of them for their hard work, the big gains they've made in their grappling games, and the great show they put on Saturday. However, one of these two giants did get cut down to size...

Sherry vs. Rachel was our penultimate fight, and this one was a match like no other we've seen at Doom Maidens. I've never before witnessed two ladies who could be quite so playful and friendly while also trying to squeeze each other's heads off. Also, props to Rachel for the cutest sport shorts I've ever seen.

Aaaaand finally, our main event! Dominique and Jaye Diesel took to the mats, each bringing significant muscle and BJJ tournament experience. Jaye learned the disadvantage of wrestling in fishnets when every bit of slipperiness counts, but friction didn't hold her back *too* much. The match was so close it had to be decided in overtime.

After the show, wrestlers and guests hung around to chat and a few casual matches and impromptu extra videos took place. Rachel issued a challenge to the newest Doom Maiden Orlandoe -- or maybe it was the other way around; I don't know how these ladies started fighting -- and I tussled with Joe Jitsu.

After a much needed sushi feast with Amazon Annie and Hanz Vanderkil, Clobs, Damien, Joe Jitsu, his wife Mischa, and I headed out to the Stimulate dance party for a late night of celebrating. So much fun and so exhausting! I slept in on Sunday and really had to hustle to get to our second day of shooting.

Unfortunately on Saturday, Sherry had mysteriously fractured her elbow. She's not sure how it happened and it didn't even bother her until later that night, but she and I had to put off our planned match together. Really too bad! Rachel and I got to roll, though, and that was a fun match. Dominique also gave the Bulk a "birthday bashing." Way to go, Bulk! Over 50 and you've still got it -- the ability to get physically demolished by ladies, that is! And after everything was all over, Clobberetta and I had a quick, for-fun roll just to let off all the event-managing steam.

She and I headed over to the Folsom Street East Leather Fair afterwards to work late volunteer shifts and totally exhaust ourselves. It's too bad Joe and Mischa, who're the organizers of KGB (Kinky Grappling Boston), had to head home early Sunday or we would most certainly have hauled them along. Hot, hot evening sun, and the smells of leather and sunscreen really make for a perfect summer experience. Made *more* perfect by the following long walk through the West Village to the best gelato place in New York. That was *the* way to top off the weekend and treat myself after a job well done.

Now most of our guests have already left, and the rest will be headed out soon. So in conclusion, I'll say safe travels to everyone left with a journey to make, and THANKS AGAIN to all of you who made our Showcase weekend possible.

the big day is nearly here...

It's less than a week until the NYC Wrestling Showcase, so you might think that all my energy would be focused on preparing for the big event, but that would just be too easy! Things have been fiendishly busy in my wrestling world of late, in all kinds of ways.

It was quite excellent to have Jenny Sjodin visit NYC over tha past week. We shot a competitive mixed video, Jenny vs. Jay, between her and one of my own favorite grappling rivals, and she and Amazon Annie got to mix it up pro-style in a match for Southern Belles, to be released at a later date. Right in the middle of her visit, Clobberetta and I left on our whirlwind session trip to Virginia Beach. So sadly, Jenny and the Doom Maidens didn't get a chance to train together, but we did manage to get together for delicious drinks and a lovely night out on Sunday after Clobs's and my return.

We've also been working here to get the newest Doom Maidens up and running with their wrestling careers. Just tonight we shot a debut video match between Orlandoe and Ivy -- very intense and *exhausting* action! It will available no later than tomorrow. [ETA: It's available now!] The ever-quarrelsome Clobberetta was also in attendance and also planning to fight tonight, but she was denied! Since her original plan to challenge Annie was foiled by some unfortunate illness on Annie's part, she intended to take on the smaller Orlandoe and Ivy both together after their match. But time ran out, and the 8 o'clock studio renters started knocking on our door. Clobs may need to take her frustration out on *everyone* at training tomorrow.

And of course in the midst of all this, I *have* been preparing for the Showcase. This is going to be such an awesome event with such a fabulous crew of wrestlers. I just drew up the full list and schedule of fights for the weekend a day ago, and *damn.* We've got Clobberetta, Annie, Sherry Stunns, Rachel Sinclair, Dominique Danger, Allana, and myself all fighting. My personal picks that I'm really excited to see are: Annie vs. Sherry -- because I know Annie is out for blood, looking for a "decisive win" in this one, and I wish Sherry all the luck in the world fending her off! Clobberetta vs. the Bulk in their super heavyweight grudge match. And Dominique vs. Allana in their clash of the bodybuilders.

Despite the excellence of the Showcase fights, with so much talent in town we couldn't stop at just seven matches, so we'll be shooting on Sunday too -- a very full weekend! Dominique and Clobberetta will be rumbling, and Mark, my best-ever video victim, will be returning to suffer torment from Sherry and a special, MMA-style beating from me! Among still other matches...

I myself have been having to train very smartly to be ready for my fights next weekend, and I'll have to redouble that this week. I'll be coming off an injury, and I'll be ready to fight and thrilled to get back in action, but this is definitely the most challenging situation I've faced since I've been wrestling.

I'll be going against Allana, Sherry, and Rachel at various points in the weekend, and at the Showcase itself I'll be facing Dominique Danger. I'm excited to get a chance to grapple with all these new ladies but definitely most worried about the Dominique match. This is a 200-lb, seriously strong bodybuilder, who can *move* and trains legitimately in BJJ. I've seen her in action before, and power is the word for it. Holy shit. This isn't any kind of warm up match. I'm going to have to be at my absolute best, and I plan to be.

Enough talk! Sleep, and early morning academy training tomorrow!

May, the good and the bad...

So June has been an interesting month for me... It started off with my breaking my foot a few weeks ago. Yes, it did happen grappling, and no it wasn't during competition or a session or training. Just messing around with a friend, wouldn't you know?

So that's really been a pain. I've not been able to keep off the foot nearly as much as I should since New York's such a walking city, and since the injury happened when I was travelling, I've had to go through a slow process to get a referral to a podiatrist close to home.

I'm really not used to being stuck with an injury I can't just tough out, and it's been driving me nuts to turn down matches lately -- sessions, videos with visiting wrestlers, rounds at the last Grapple Den. I've been worrying too about whether I would be recovered enough by June 5th to fight Xana at Monica's event in London -- after conferring with Monica just yesterday, we decided it's best if I don't make the trip. That's disappointing since I was really looking forward to that visit but also, actually, a relief. And the good news is that by playing it safe I'm 99.9% confident that I will be ready to go at the NYC Wrestling Showcase June 19th. (I'd better be; I'm scheduled to fight practically everyone!)

So here's the rest of the good news: I've been filling the time off my feet with some serious upper body work at the gym. It's always fun to make a new plan and set a challenging goal, whatever the circumstances. The goal here, volume! Oh so much lifting. Grueling but awesome. Hopefully, I'll have some good results to flaunt by showcase time.

And last but not at all least, some very exciting and unexpected news. Not one or two, but FOUR new ladies have come out to train with Doom Maidens in the past month! All looking to hone their grappling skills in preparation for video fighting and sessioning in the near future. (Perfect timing; these ladies can pick up the slack for me when I'm literally being lame - not that I'm planning on any more of these detestable injuries ever again!)

There's Clobberetta, a close friend and training partner of mine and a long-time regular and rough-houser at the Grapple Den, who's just about ready to make her official debut. She'll be taking on the Bulk in the coming showcase and also going public with her tremendous size and strength in the session world soon, where I know she's going to smother, crush, lift, and fight like no other.

And there's also Orlandoe, a capoeira expert with a Greco Roman background who's now also training to add submission grappling to her excellent and unique tool kit. She's a complete acrobat and a kicking phenomenon on her feet and a scrappy, whole-hearted warrior on the ground.

Two other ladies aren't quite ready to be introduced yet, so more about them later, but we did have everyone together at a rather epic training session lately. The new recruits teamed up with Amazon Annie and me...to the dismay of Hanz and the Bulk!

wrestling showcase report!

So it has been an awesomely full and wonderful weekend. The first ever NYC Wrestling Showcase went better than I could ever have hoped.

The turnout was incredible -- we had about 60 people in the room at one point, which with 150 sq. ft. of mat laid down was pretty much capacity. Thirteen guys came as part of a bachelor party and threw the groom-to-be on the mat with Amazon Annie. One fellow brought an entire gang of his women friends, who got very invested in the battles of the ladies on the mat.

The audience energy really helped rev up the fighters; it was great to hear the cheering, applause, and the coaching in -- though some of the "coaches'" advice was a little crazy ;) The action in the fights was excellent. There was A LOT of competitive grappling, and with the expection of Veronica and Juliette's grudge match the fights were all very sporting, fun, and good-spirited. But no less intense for that!

The whole thing ran very smoothly and to schedule -- despite Veronica Vicious's breezing in just 10 minutes before her first match, executing a very suspensefully and fashionably late entrance. But that's just classic Vicious. A great experience and total inspiration to do more showcases like this in the future (though next month back to the regular Grapple Den party format.)

So Saturday I had two matches of my own -- my rematch against Jenny Sjodin and a shortie against Brian, an excellently skilled freestyle wrestler friend of mine. Jenny is just as good as I remember her being from London -- it was fantastic to see her again, and to fight her, of course! The two of us are a dead even match up in skill. And in the match with Brian -- he gave me some serious trouble, but I was thrilled to get a knee bar submission on him. I never get those!

Probably my favorite match to watch was Annie and Brian's scissors wrestling fight. Brian's a smaller guy, but strong and a bit of a takedown artist, so it was something to see him lift Annie (4" taller and 50 lbs. heavier) and take her to the ground. But on the ground her size mattered, and she was able to smother and grapevine him into submission. Quite a lot of non-scissors action for a scissors match, actually.

And today we were back at it, shooting four more (extremely competitive) videos back-to-back: Jenny vs. Kim II, a wrestling-booted commission match for Southern Belles Wrestling, which had to be decided in overtime; Me vs. Ben, a bout wherin I braved the onslaught of a rampaging freestyler who actually slammed me; Kim vs. Jay, a match-up between two of my best former opponents featuring some intense flexibility on Kim's part; and Me vs. Jenny III, an epic, 40-minute battle half in gi and half in no-gi also featuring my record-setting smallest thong ever.

We wrapped up both days of wrestling with relaxation and fine dining at a couple of excellent restaurants. And that's really been a highlight of this weekend -- the chance to see and hangout with Jenny and Kim while they're visiting from Europe, to bring together so many great people from the New York scene, to introduce and connect everyone to everyone, to trade stories and make plans for future travel, events, and training, and to realize just what awesome people I tend to know and work with.

And now there is SO much video editing to do, but my videographer is a beast of efficiency and the compilation DVD of Saturday's fights will be available at the Doom Maidens Video Store in no time with downloadable versions of the individual matches to be released sequentially soon after...