ShortFuse Mark gets his bell rung!

This past Saturday I got to film some demolition work in action.

The structure being demolished was the small body of poor "ShortFuse" Mark. The wrecking balls were none other than VeVe Lane and Clobberetta. And as I sit here waiting for my slow-ass editing software to do what I tell it, I can blog a bit about the experience.

"ShortFuse" Mark is an opponent with whom VeVe had shot a previous video match several month ago. He is a very lightweight guy, weighing only 135 lbs, and he has fairly limited wrestling experience. In his original match with VeVe, he came in for a competitive match. She ended up beating him so badly, despite his best efforts to wrestle back, that we ended up billing that as a domination wrestling match.

Then, a little while ago, VeVe got the idea of calling Mark back for a MMA style rematch. I thought it would be a great idea and would certainly make for a great video, especially with the two of them being so close in weight.

After a few set backs in scheduling and rescheduling, we finally all got together on Saturday for the shoot. And this time, not only did VeVe bring her MMA gloves, but she also brought Clobberetta! That's right, folks, this day would surely test the endurance of our dear friend Mark; after his ground & pound match with VeVe, he was to then face Clobberetta.

This was one of our more sadistic video shoot days.

Let me just say that "ShortFuse" Mark is a great sport. Not the strongest wrestler in the world, but definitely a great sport. And with a great attitude! I mean, how many people can, in the course of 1 hour, get the snuff punched, choked, and slammed out of them and then hoisted and tossed like a rag doll... and then hobble to their feet and shake hands with their assailants afterwards? This guy can.

Grounded and pounded by VeVe. Crushed and lifted by Clobberetta.

Oh damn, I am going to have to cut this short now. I have less than 30 minutes worth of work time left, and my program is chugging along here. Almost done with both of these videos and with pulling out the screen stills. The next challenge will be the trailers. So much good material from this shoot; picking and choosing for the trailers is of course going to be a toughy.

For Clobberetta...

...because she didn't like the main image in my last entry, I have this to share:

More to your liking, perhaps?

More about yesterday's Mud Wrestling

So, last night, after I got in from Amazon Annie's very successful mud wrestling party, I tried to write a blog entry about the event. However, I was just so tired, that I could barely manage to get anything out.

I'll give it a whirl now.

"Amazon Annie's Mud Rasslin' Hillbilly Hoe-down"

First of all, hats off to Miss Amazon Annie for coordinating such a great spectacle of an event. She had a mud pit (which she'd dug herself), a BBQ cookout, a watermelon eating contest, a band with banjo, a Dolly Parton burlesque dancer, and a very messy series of fast-paced mud wrestling matches. And all of this buried in the heart of Brooklyn on an otherwise peaceful Sunday evening.

Below is a photo of Annie and VeVe that I snapped before the guests arrived.

Once guests started trickling in, Annie called for her first order of competitive business: the watermelon eating contests. After much wrangling, she managed to collect a good group of eaters, including herself and Clobberetta, to attack the waiting watermelons. The competitors were given 2 and a half minutes to eat as much watermelon as they could, with the winner being the one to eat the most.

Below is a photo of the watermelon eating in progress.

Unfortunately, neither Annie nor Clobberetta won the contest. Annie especially was given a disciplinary warning for spitting the watermelon out and crushing it around with her face, instead of actually eating it.

After the watermelon, the burlesque, and the band, the mud wrestling was set to begin. There were mostly female vs female matches, but we also caught two mixed matches as well. The first match of the day was in fact a mixed match between VeVe Lane and Twiggy. It was fast and furious, as we expect from these two lightweight wrestlers!

Fortunately, we got all of these mud matches on video, by the way.

Other mud matches included a mixed double-team with two ladies, and a grudge match between two friends. We also had the pleasure of seeing Amazon Annie take on Clobberetta and then later VeVe.

Annie really showed her skills as a mud wrestling queen, putting down all challengers to her Mud Champion title.

Such a mess, and exhausting to even watch!

I'm racing the clock here, but training time is coming up fast. At least I got an entry of better length up this time. I know that Clobberetta is blogging about her experience at the mud party as well, and hopefully we can get Annie to put a few words down in text for us about her mid wrestlin' savvy!

Photos from Today's Mud Rasslin' Party!

Today was Amazon Annie's mud wrestling party in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. And we are pleased to say that we got quite a few pictures of the action.

These pictures were taken on a fairly good quality camera phone, and we have uploaded them to the Grapple Den facebook page. You can see them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236997&id=112387976010

We didn't upload all of the photos, but we did get quite a few up there.

I would write more and articulate further, but I am so sleepy right now from a long weekend. I'll have more to say in a later entry. For now, enjoy the photo link.

Finished the Trailer for VeVe vs Ben

Here's the trailer for that "VeVe vs Ben" video I had been working on. It's all done and up. I uploaded the trailer to Daily Motion instead of YouTube due to the thong-wearing aspect. Our mixed wrestling trailers with that sort of attire tend to get flagged and deleted when I upload them to YouTube. So, this time I decided not to bother going through that step.

I called Ben "Blazin' Ben" due to his firey attitude and movement as an opponent. He came in with a lot of intensity, even throwing a little body slam in while VeVe had him in her guard (ooof! That'll teach her to jump guard). But although he blazed in with a hard pace, his endurance started to nag him as the 15 minute match wore on. Firecracker. Blaze of glory. So, yeah, I thought "Blazin" made a great title for him.

I thank VeVe for reminding me about this match. And I am glad to have finally gotten to working on it. It's a great match to watch - very dynamic and with both players using their brains - so, of course, that means it was a great match to put together on the video reel. It was especially fun to watch Ben call on his scholastic folkstyle wrestling skills and VeVe to meet them with her submission grappling training.

And now, with no further ado, here's the trailer I've got for ya:

Hitting the Backlog Today

Today's adventure is perhaps not as stellar as the post-apocalyptic thong photoshoot, wherein your humble narrator was kicked in the gut by a stiletto boot. However, this adventure is a necessary one, and it does indeed involve mixed wrestling. Videos. Mixed wrestling videos that have been patiently waiting in the to-do queue.

The main item, which is indeed a bit overdue, is a match from January 2010 between VeVe and a former school wrestler named Ben. This was shot on the day after the January Showcase event. It's a 15 minute match, and it somehow got away from me while I was processing the other January matches.

VeVe's bout with Ben here was a great match up in terms of size. Ben weighed in at 155 lbs at 5'6" and VeVe at 120 lbs at her 5'4". This tangle was fast and furious and definitely very, very competitive.

But heck, enough distraction with the blogging. Back to work.

Silver Bikini Photos for a Sunday

While VeVe and Clobberetta fight through New Jersey traffic on their way home from Atlanta, and while Amazon Annie settles in after her return home from tropical travels, I am here at the office selecting photos from VeVe's Silver Bikini photoshoot from last Wednesday.

The Post-Apocalyptic Thong photos have gone up onto VeVe's website already. They are here: Post Apocalyptic Thong Gallery. Those are my top 14 selects out of 100 or so. I'm sure when VeVe gets in, she will have a few words with me about that! Hopefully she will like those selections.

The next trick is this Silver Bikini set. A solo set from the same day as the thong shoot. Taken out on the pier with the setting sun.

This is the bikini that VeVe wore in her recent match with Dominique Danger at the NYC Wrestling Showcase on June 19. You will notice that the top has only one strap. That one strap is actually three individual thin straps. The result of this arrangement? The top doesn't stay in place too well for a competitive wrestling match.

The result of that? VeVe had to switch to a different top for the second round of her match against Dominique.

So, as I write this, I am also making some thumbnails of my photo selects. I have selected about 17 photos from this set of 100+. As with the other set, I am sure VeVe will have some thoughts to add regarding the selections once she gets an eye on what I've got here.

And while I have your eye, here is a photo that shows a bit of the finger and toe nail job that led to the taking-place of the shoot:

It's clear polish, as far as I can tell. But apparently it took quite a while to do and cost enough to make you want to take care of it. The mind boggles.

And now, onward with this photo work.

Photoshoot Saved with the Post-Apocalyptic Thong

Last night I wrapped a last-minute photoshoot with VeVe out on an industrial East River pier in Brooklyn. The heat was sweltering, the sun was setting, and for some reason the security patrol was not at all bothered by VeVe's post-apocalyptic thong.

VeVe was originally supposed to head up to a studio photoshoot up in the Bronx that evening, but around mid-day she was informed that the photographer had just suffered a heat stroke. So, with two shopping bags full of costumes and a fresh manicure and pedicure, VeVe expressed some distress about the loss of the shoot opportunity for the day.

That's when Clobberetta and I sprang into action to help VeVe out. We performed some gymnastics to fetch my camera, fight through subway delays, consider a shoot location, make it out to the appropriate pier, overcome dying cameras batteries, and manage a very successful shoot before we lost the sunlight.

We shot two sets of photos.

The first involved VeVe on the pier in a shiny silver bikini.

I myself wasn't a huge fan of this particular bikini, but it did have some interesting shoulder strappage. Due to a combination of lighting, background, and necessary angles, we got a lot of head shots from this one, along with some showing off of VeVe's freshly done toe and finger nails.

I should also mention that our dear model was walking around in this piece of floating rusted metal in strappy high heel shoes and that delicate-looking bikini. Rusted metal and heels? Is that classic somehow?

The second set of photos formed what I have deemed to be the "Post-Apocalyptic Thong" shoot. With Clobberetta's assistance, I was able to step out from behind the camera and get involved myself at one point. Of course, VeVe lets us all know what she thought of that idea...

I think she liked the idea.

We got a number of photos with this post-apocalyptic outfit with the punky hair & make-up. Mostly solos but also some victory poses as well, along with some variations on the foot on belly image above.

We shot about 300 photos, and we hope to scale that down to about 20 select shots. Now for the hardest part: making the final cuts in shot selection. Thankfully, I'll leave the majority of that to VeVe.

A brief look at June 2010 video matches

When I sit back and consider June 2010, I realize just how much wrestling video action was going on!

We did so much!

Certainly, there was the NYC Wrestling Showcase, but that was late in June - on the 19th! We also had a ton of action before and after. Check out this shoot recollection, listed by shoot date:

1. 6/9 Jenny Sjodin vs Jay (Doom Maidens)

2. 6/10 Jenny vs Amazon Annie (which I shot for Southern Belles)

3. 6/14 Orlandoe vs Ivy

4. 6/19 NYC Wrestling Showcase matches (8): VeVe Lane vs Dominique Danger, Rachel Sinclair vs Joe, Sherry Stunns vs Amazon Annie, Jay vs Lady J Diesel, Sherry Stunns vs Rachel Sinclair, Lady J vs Dominique, Clobberetta vs Bulk, plus after-hours extra Orlandoe vs Rachel Sinclair.

5. 6/20 Showcase extras (4): VeVe Lane vs Rachel Sinclair, Dominique vs the Bulk, VeVe vs Clobberetta, Rachel vs Hanz (for Rachel's site).

6. 6/25 VeVe Lane vs Ginger Martin (Hot Muscle Mom)

So that came to 16 video matches that I shot in June. Granted, I only needed to process 14 of them, since two were shot for other sites. And 2 of those 14 were for non-distribution, and 1 was a youtube freebee.

Of those remaining 11 that were intended for our video store, I got 7 released in June. Also note that we released the previosuly-shot VeVe Lane vs Jenny Sjodin REMATCH on June 10.

So, there were 8 video match releases in June 2010. And 7 of those were shot in June.

Yeah, June 2010 was definitely a busy month for wrestling videography. And I kept my sanity and still managed to have time to train pretty regularly myself. Summertime brings magic energy, I think.

(Below: some cover images for these matches)

July will be a travel month. The ladies have trips scheduled for Atlanta, GA; Toronto, Canada; and Boston, MA. Then in August: Wildwood, NJ; and TBA in Pennsylvania. Then to Montreal, Canada, for Labor Day weekend. All are road trips. Buckle up!