Great Feedback for Bondage Wrestling but Still Laid Up

Though I am unfortunately still laid up from my surgery, and I will not be wrestling for at least 2 more months, I am pleased to read the great incoming feedback for the matches I shot with VeVe.

Our Bondage Wrestling video from late October was a big hit. It was a great idea of VeVe's to capture this sort of match on film. And again, thanks to Clobberetta for handling the camera while I fought against VeVe's rope work attacks.

Here is some of the feedback we've gotten, which I have been posting to our Doom Maidens Video Customer Reviews page, with customers' permission, of course:

Feedback for VeVe's Bondage Wrestling. Submitted Dec 26, 2010.

Initial feedback message:
The bondage wrestling totally rocks! Never seen anything like it, but I LIKE IT! Love to see more, actually

Follow up feedback:
After watching the two rounds of video a few times, I feel I should have added something about how sophisticated I think VeVe's rope-handling techniques were. You can see the gears in her mind just working the situation out like a mathematical formula with the physical skills to back it up. Cool and impressive!

And I was going to suggest a female vs female bondage wrestling match, in fact, so I'll respond to your other question [want to see Female vs female bondage wrestling? -ed.] with a resounding "YES!"

Also, in the match I viewed and on her website, VeVe said something about other types of bondage matches, like "Escape," and whatnot. Of course, I'm interested in paying for those, too. You guys are providing something I have yet to find anywhere else (the only things that have come close are significantly more sexual). I'd just as soon give you some incentive to keep it up.

Thanks for the response, and feel free to post or paraphrase whatever you like from my emails. =)

---

Feedback for VeVe's Bondage Wrestling Submitted Dec 26, 2010
Thank you so much for your bondage wrestling! That's exactly what I've always wanted to see and I have felt like an outcast because I've never found it until you! Please keep it up. You are now my favorite female wrestler and am now dreaming of winning the lotto so I can make you a LOT of money while you wrestle me into bondage for days on end. :-) And I can't wait to see you bondage wrestle with a woman.

Thanks again for making my day and making me feel wonderful just knowing there's an incredibly sexy woman out there that is on the same wavelength as me.

---

Feedback for VeVe's Bondage Wrestling Submitted Nov 17, 2010.
Just purchased and downloaded the Veve bondage wrestling video. Great fast paced action. Hope to see more of these with Veve against other competitors. A nice twist would be her to finish him with a hog-tie. How many male egos could survive this?

_______________________________________________________________

Coming up for January, we are planning to shoot a competitive female vs female bondage wrestling video with VeVe and Wrecks. I'm looking forward to that one. We're also planning to get Clobberetta in for a bondage match or two, looking for an F v F and/or a mixed match. Opponents for her are under consideration.

Here's hoping I have a speedy recovery so I can get back out there as well. In any case, I should be ready to handle the camera soon. But, for now and as always, I'm still driving the post-production task force.

And that's the report for now. Happy holidays, all. And happy new year!

Finally! VeVe's match with Dia Zerva.

This match was a challenge to get, what with Dia's head injury causing us to postpone the first shoot attempt. And then with me being laid up so I couldn't shoot the rescheduled match. Then our backup cameraman couldn't make it. Then, just Sunday, Clobberetta told us that she had a conflict and couldn't film it either.

That put is in a bit of a hard spot. We had the wrestlers ready to go, but no camera operator. But luckily, one of my wrestling party buddies stepped up and answered our last minute call for help. And he did a great job with the filming!

I just put the finishing touches on the match video and have uploaded it to our server. Screen stills have been extracted for the video product page and for the ladies' to hold onto. I'm about to open PhotoShop to get to work on selecting the best stills - always a hard task to narrow those down - and to get the match "cover photo" - an even harder task!

And I already pulled out a little Match Highlight clip that I thought looked really neat. It is a clip of VeVe pumping a jumping reverse triangle on Dia. Totally out of the blue and a real interesting transition. Here is the highlight:

Ok, enough blogging now. Back to work so I can get this out in good time.

And many thanks to our great sponsor who made this match possible!

VeVe vs Dia Zerva on Monday

We've finally got VeVe Lane's video match against Dia Zerva rescheduled for this coming Monday. Their original plans for their match were cancelled when Dia reported a head injury last month. But now, it looks like this bout is going to happen at last.

Unfortunately, I won't be manning the camera for this one. I just had some surgery, so my mobility is a tad limited. In my stead, Clobberetta will be capturing the action. She did a nice job with our last two videos that featured me and VeVe together, and she is learning my fast-action-capture videography style well, so I feel confident about her shooting the Dia Zerva match.

I'll be handling the editing on the match, so I'll give it a nice, fast turn around time.

And there's the latest update in my world of wrestling media production.

I was a Spandex Wrestling Video Victim

Since I'm lean and mean lately, VeVe called me back to co-star in another wrestling video with her. The theme of this work: Spandex Wrestling Domination.


VeVe had been wanting to do a new spandex wrestling domination video for some time. Her first in this style was a match against the fully spandex-clad Silver Ghost. Since quite a few video fans seemed interested in and intrigued by the mixed wrestling spandex match, we reloaded and set up to shoot this new one, taking place over a year or two later.

VeVe and I both wore very shiny, slick spandex for this video. Essentially, our attire consisted of dancewear. VeVe had a white spandex half-body suit over which she wore a teal-ish blue leotard. Her laying of garments created an interesting effect with all of the white and blue straps crossing over her back and shoulders. Both of these spandex pieces had smooth and slippery textures.

I also wore a half-body suit, but it black. Since the upper part of the body suit wasn't quite working for us, I instead rolled it down and essentially turned it into a pair of leggings. I was pleased and surprised at how well the body suit stayed in place as leggings and didn't unroll during the course of the struggle.

So, on to the meat of the matter.

This was indeed a domination style video, and the focus of it was to get my head crushed by spandex-clad legs as much as possible. For 20 minutes of filming. I can out of there with a bloody nose, a slightly irritated larynx, and a light headed feeling.

Then, of course, there was also the spandex legged body scissoring - some sore ribs for the next morning - and a good deal of School Girl Pinning and rough facesitting, which I believe was the cause of the nose bleed.

Normally I can fight through a nose bleed, and I have been able to get them to stop during matches before, often with no one really realizing it had happened. However, when white leggings are crushing my face, blood will show up real fast and will cause a lot of staining. So, after I noticed that I couldn't easily stop the blood with VeVe constantly smashing my face, I had to take a moment to directly address the matter.

I had to wonder, though, if viewers would be interested in seeing the brutality of this blood all over the light-colored spandex. Imagine my face, a tight head scissors or leg triangle wrapped on me, and blood streaming out of my nose with nothing I could do about it. But, for the sake of VeVe's brand new, shiny attire, we passed on that opportunity.

I will say that spandex is damned slippery. It's kind of like oil wrestling without the oil. Sort of. It was quite an interesting feeling to try to lock onto VeVe's spandex-clad legs with my spandex-clad legs. Total slippage. But it's a nice, smooth slipping feeling. Real minimal friction. Smooth like ice. And, as a result, it is fairly easy to slip out of attempted holds and locks. Well, except for those darned School Girl Pins. But perhaps a spandex face mask might have helped with that...

Anyway, I got a thrashing in this video. Although it was domination style in favor of VeVe, she sure didn't hold back or simply "indicate" any of the holds - and thus for my bumps and bruises. It was a little bit like being sucked up into a tornado, actually.

Clobberetta ran the camera for this one, and she did a fine job of getting in to capture all of the spandexy punishment that VeVe was dishing out, along with all of my suffering.

That match should be along soon, though screen stills, as you have seen, are up and about and should be around in VeVe's photo galleries even sooner.

And so, that's it for now. Oh boy, never a dull moment in wrestling video production.

Catfight Brutality and the Aftermath

Well, VeVe didn't get to fight Dia Zerva last night. But she did get to fight what may well have been her most vicious fight of the year. As a matter of fact, as I do my Dana White impression, I have decided to award this match our company's "Most Brutal F v F Bout of the Year" award from my stand point as a producer.

Last night, VeVe fought the powerhouse that is Clobberetta.

I knew this fight would be a good one, since I know that both of these ladies have an extremely high tolerance for pain, and I know that neither one gives up submissions easily. At all. You know, the sort where you need to actually damage their joints or knock them unconscious before they will give.

Of course, while both VeVe and Clobberetta are capable of fighting civilly, courteously, and technically - and while that is something they often do when faced with out-of-town guest wrestlers - civil fighting was NOT on the table for last night's battle. Last night was an all out catfight!

And I chose that format for those ladies because I know them well. See the above! Add that all together, and you have a recipe for an intense fight.

One thing that surprised me was the ladies' willingness to start from a standing position. I tried to discourage them from doing this, given the considerable weight difference, but they were so fired up, that they just jumped into it for the first round, going right for standing slaps and takedowns. I hoped for the best and kept the camera rolling. For the second round, same deal: they jumped up to start from the feet, and looking for sweet-spot face shots.

I'll also mention that when we started rolling for the second 10-minute round, I announced that the winner would take a victory pose over the loser. That, I think, added even more fuel to the fire. While these ladies love to fight for fighting's sake, after that announcement, they knew they

were fighting for stakes. And since both of them are rather prideful fighters, the drive for the W

climbed even higher. This was a delight to see.

I'm trying to avoid saying to much about the actual specifics of the match and the eventual outcome, but I will say that the Victory was really up for grabs here, and I could have gone to either one of these fierce competitors.

20 minutes of slapping, hair-pulling, and general crushing is pretty rough, wouldn't you say? Just sayin'.

When I was editing the video, it sure looked to me that VeVe was clutching on to Clobberetta's hair for almost the entire time. No wonder Clobberetta said that her scalp hurt when the match was over. And VeVe did not escape unscathed from the harsh hair-pulling. Oh, no. Clobberetta grabbed VeVe's hair at one point (or several) and jerked her so hard that VeVe woke up today with a sore neck. Both ladies have been twittering today about being considerably sore and bruised this morning, so... I'll leave it at

that!

Personally, I happen to love catfights. They are my preferred form of female fight video to shoot, truth be told. Getting slapped in the face really makes you see red. It pisses you off, and it makes you want to strike back with a fury. Hair-pulling is just as powerful. Yes, indeed, slaps and hair-pulls must surely have been designed to piss off the receiver! They are less damaging than punches, kicks, and Thai knees, to be sure, but they are absolutely great for heating up a fight on an emotional level. So, in my mind, slaps and hair-pulls are great!

And I loved watching the blood boil at last night's fight.

... it was boiling so much so, that the winner did more than just take a victory pose over her opponent. She channeled her fight rage, took her opponent down after time was called, and mounted her for a humiliating School Girl Pin slap down. That's right, she rained down unanswered slaps on her defeated foe. It's tough losing these sorts of matches, you know.

Lastly, before I move on, I will say a few words about the setting. Since this match was to be particularly violent and noisy, we took it to a secret and private location. No open studio here. No harsh lighting. No outside influence. We set up in a gritty stockroom warehouse space in Hell's Kitchen - a perfect setting for a catfight.

Now, if only I can get that space for more matches...

Anyway, hats off to you two, VeVe and Clobberetta. Great fight. It was very exciting to shoot and edit, and very difficult to select promotional screen captures for - there were just too many great stills to choose from. Let's keep it rollin', ladies.

[This entry refers to this match: VeVe vs Clobberetta: Catfight Wrestling!]

Quick screen captures from VeVe and Clobberetta's catfight tonight!

Now THAT was a heck of a vicious catfight! It will be out and ready tomorrow!

Here's a screen still of some of tonight's crazy hair-pulling. VeVe and Clobberetta are intense competitors who push to the max!

And some mutual hair-pulling:

And VeVe taking a hard slap. One of MANY:

Great action on its way. Stay tuned.

Now, I have to get some sleep!

The Slap Down is on its way!

This is quite amusing to see develop. Looks like I'll be filming a splendid catfight between two very physically different opponents tomorrow: VeVe Lane vs Clobberetta. I love filming catfights! Here's some of what the ladies have been saying to each other on the DM yahoogroup:

Clobberetta started in with:

So, yesterday while training with VeVe I noticed there were an unusual amount of 'accidental' slaps and scratches. I think she's been getting a little too comfortable in the catfight/MMA setting. I'm not a catfight gal myself, but hell hath no fury like a Clobber-woman's scorn! If she likes to hit, then so be it - I can slap, too. Bring it on, little furious thing... you will be crushed!

So, tomorrow I'm going to be doing my first catfight video against VeVe Lane. As a newbie to this, I don't know what people generally wear - I'm used to singlets. Does anyone have any catfight attire suggestions?

Clobberetta

So, VeVe answered back:

Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait just a second here!

Sure thing, Clobberetta, you want a catfight, that's just fine by me. But let's get some facts straight here first. Who was the person throwing her weight around all over the mats during our training yesterday? And by weight I don't mean good, old fair-fighting body weight, I mean those big clumsy elbows of yours.

I guess a few warning slaps weren't enough to teach you to watch yourself, look out for your opponent, and keep a nice, friendly grappling match friendly. No problem, you're a newbie yet. We can switch over to catfighting and make the lessons a lot harder and faster.

You can thank me tomorrow.

- VeVe

Get the popcorn out, folks. This is going to be a great fight. These two both have a high pain tolerance, so, at least from my point of view, it will be quite a sight to see just how much slapping goes on here! Also, does such a size difference make a difference in a catfight style bout? Time will tell!

Some Tie-Up Wrestling Action and Dia Zerva coming to Town

First thing's first: I finished up a trailer for the Tie-Up wrestling match I had with VeVe on Oct 24 (see previous blog entry). That trailer video is embedded below. If you like to see some grappling + thrashing all rolled up into one, that trailer is for you.

Next: We have Dia Zerva coming to town, and she is lined up to have a match with VeVe. I was supposed to film the match between them this past week, but Dia's travels were delayed. Instead, we will be filming this coming Tuesday evening. We have no special conditions for that match, but I am certainly willing to listen to any that anyone might toss out there...

In the meantime, here's that trailer:

VeVe's Bondage Wrestling Challenge

Tonight we shot VeVe's very first Bondage Wrestling match ever to be caught on video.

VeVe is fairly experienced at this art form she calls "bondage wrestling," and she has practiced it several times in the sessioning realm. And while I've heard VeVe talk about this wrestling style before, tonight was the first time I got to witness her bondage wrestling skills in action. You see, that's me right there:

Yes, dear readers, I had the pleasure of facing off against little VeVe in this challenging sort of match. Clobberetta handled the camera on this one, and she did a great job of it.

The match ran for 20 minutes total, made up of two 10-minute rounds. VeVe's objective: to tie and capture me, all while wrestling for position and control. My job: don't get tied! Now, that's easier said than done when your opponent has loops and lassos pre-set all over the mat space. If we rolled near a rope coil, you bet that thing was coming into use real quick.

VeVe is pretty smart when it comes to bondage wrestling. I have to say, she did a fine job of distracting me and using that distraction tactic to slip quick-tie coils on my wrist and ankles. The ankles ties were the absolute worst. Not only were they considerably painful (rope bites), but they were considerably immobilizing. Go ahead, you try wrestling while your feet are tied together; legs are very important in this game.

I was able to get a few sweeps in, despite my bound ankles, and I even nearly got a one-armed rear naked choke while I had both legs and one wrist tied. Not too shabby!

Despite my thrashing attempts to shake her off, VeVe kept her cool and went about her business like a pro. It's a tough fight when your opponent can get great grips and you and you can't really grab her back.

So, there's my little run down as I simultaneously work on the editing for this video, set for a release tomorrow.

What do I think of bondage wrestling with VeVe after this experience? Well, I certainly think it leads to a very frustrating situation of immobility! Her quick-tie roping neutralized my strength advantage, making the struggle a tough one for me. All in all, it was pretty damn fun!

And on that note, if you like struggle, I do indeed recommend you give this style of bondage wrestling a try!

Making match compilation DVDs

It took an unexpected phone call about a month ago to get me thinking of this. Or maybe I had thought of it before, but it took that phone call to actually get me to put this seemingly obvious idea into action: the creation of multi-match DVDs.

You may be tempted to say "Duh, Mr. D, that's just so obvious!" But allow me to explain.

When we produce a new match video, our turn-around time is very quick; the match is filmed and released usually within a day or two. While that works excellently for downloadables - people can get the download quickly, with the full excitement of the match still lingering fresh in the air - it isn't that great for DVDs.

To release a match quickly on DVD typically means the release of a single-match DVD. Unless, of course, multiple related matches are shot within the same week, such as two F v F or two mixed matches of the same style. However, since we didn't stack shoots like that in our earlieryears, that led to the production of many single match DVDs.

This is the way it went for some time.

Then one day I received a phone call from someone asking for a printed list of our DVDs. Since we had never received that sort of request before (most people use the internet listing), I thought it might be interesting to assemble a printed listing. And that is when I realized just how many single-match DVDs we had. Whoa, now that had to be tightened up.

Luckily, I had the raw files and footage for a number of the single-match DVDs, so I have been slowly assembling the related matches onto single discs. My latest compilation DVD, for example, has been all of Jay's mixed matches: Jay vs VeVe (Oct '09), Jay vs Kim (Jan '10), and Jay vs Jenny (June '10).

One thing I like about making the compilation match DVDs is that it gives me, as editor, an opportunity to see the evolution of certain wrestlers over time, in the various matches. The DVD viewers would also get to have that comparison experience.

So, in an effort to provide greater value for DVD viewers and fans, I am going to include at least two matches on each new DVD produced. And I am also working to combine as many of the pre-existing single-match DVDs as possible. Unfortunately, I do not have the raw files for a few of our older single-matchers, so they will remain as singles. Also, our 40-minute long matches will remain as singles.

One of these days we will get a 60-minute long match, but I digress...

Future releases will be speedy on the download, but will have a slight delay on the DVD, as I also assemble other footage to add to the disc.

So, there is a little bit of talk and insider info on why I do what I do and have done what I've done. More to come, as always!

VeVe Lane battled Julie Squeeze this morning!

And what a battle it was!

We've been trying to get these two ladies to meet on the mats for some time now. And they finally did. Just this morning. For a 20 minute competitive match (two 10-minute rounds)... which was preceded by an arm wrestling bout and push up contest.

And special conditions: no straight arm bars or rear naked chokes allowed. All other submissions were legal.

The video is being processed this very moment! Coming soon! I'd write more, but I am exhausted from a loooong day and ready to hit the hay.

VeVe to London and then to fight Julie Squeeze

I just bid safe travels to VeVe, as she stepped out the door to the airport on her way to London this weekend to wrestle at Monica's. She'll be away until late Tuesday night.

And while VeVe was making her London travel preparations this week, she was also negotiating for her next match here in NYC. Upon her return next week, VeVe will be gearing up to face a travelling wrestler who's in town lately:

Julie Squeeze

All negotiations seem to be set, and we are aiming to shoot late next week. Perhaps next Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. We have a sponsor involved for this match who has also requested some special conditions for VeVe to observe: VeVe is not allowed to use straight armbars or the rear naked choke (choke from behind). This should pose an interesting challenge for the Petite Powerhouse and will force her to think fast during the fray. Julie has got the size advantage and is very athletic, so, get ready for an exciting fight.

And that's what's new from over on this front! If you're in the UK and near London, swing over to Monica's and say hello to VeVe.

Last week's heavyweight bout!

My goodness, I have to apologize for not blogging in a while. Between the travel and the barrage of work, I just haven't had a moment to commit some quality thoughts to e-paper.

I just noted that my last entry included the trailer for the VeVe vs Orlandoe intra-company lightweight battle. So, I wanted to take a moment to include the trailer for the intra-company heavyweight match of Amazon Annie vs Clobberetta.

This was a really exciting fight to film. Everyone kept asking me which of these ladies I thought would win. Going into the match, I really couldn't give a definite answer. While Annie had been training for a longer time, Clobberetta trained a whole lot in preparation for her June match with the Bulk, and she stayed on her roll from there. Clobberetta had the weight advantage, but Annie had the reach, leg crushing-power, and speed.

I was thinking that whoever got taken down fight would be the one on bottom until a submission took place. I was right to some extent, but often too, the bottom lady made great work of replacing the guard and/or escaping the mount and progressing from there. Impressive!

And very competitive. The holding of the grudge did make me smile. I like it when they fight for sakes.

Anyway, so we currently have a heavyweight and a lightweight title holder here.

More to come. I love these rivalries.

Intra-Company Rivalries!

Just a quicky for now:

Last Friday, I shot the first of two "Intra-Company Rivalry" matches. That one was the Doom Maidens lightweight division battle of VeVe vs Orlandoe. I'd like to write more about this great and dynamic match-up, but I am unfortunately very short on time right now.

I'll mention that the video started with a bit of a "glove slap" from Orlandoe to VeVe. Well, actually, it was something more like this:

Ouch!

And while I have your eye, here's a little outtake from that "glove slap" -

Now, this ACTUAL trailer from the match sure gives a better idea of what went on that evening between these two speedy grapplers:

Tomorrow I'll be filming the heavyweight match up between Amazon Annie and Clobberetta. No upper limit in that weight division. Amazon Annie is giving up 100 lbs to Clobberetta, but Annie's got those crushing long legs and more speed.

This should prove an interesting battle.

And I expect it might be a bit different from the VeVe vs Orlandoe fight. But, you know, who knows what to expect?! Those Annie and Clobberetta have a grudge to settle, so anything's possible!

Boston Trip, More Fit Photos, and Upcoming

Today is Wednesday, and it's time for my first blog entry for August 2010. And there's a good bit to blog about!

First off, this past weekend I took a road trip up to Boston with VeVe and Clobberetta for a combined session tour and visit to KGB, Boston's new wrestling party. We were joined by fellow NYC wrestler Miss Juliette, who rode up with a colleague of mine and met up with us at the Friday night wrestling party.

This was KGB's second official party, so we New Yorkers came up to lend moral and physical support. We all fought a number of matches, with VeVe taking on the Boston wrestling party's top female wrestler.

As a meeting of the tribes clash, I rolled with the party's 6'4", 200 lb host, my friend JoeJitsu, for a close match that ended in a draw. And Clobberetta fought a mighty battle against a male wrestler who outweighed her (!?!).

Following the party on Friday night, which took place in the south area of Boston, we headed down to Providence to crash with the party's hosts for the evening. And than on Saturday it was back up to south Boston for sessions. As irony would have it, the hotel was only 10 minutes away from the wrestling party space.

We concluded the tour with a Sunday afternoon session at the wrestling party space. That's pretty full-circle. And then add to that the fact that we went around a particular traffic circle a million times coming and going from the space and scoping the surrounding area...

Anyway, after a busy tour, we headed back to NYC. We ran through some horrible traffic that added an hour and half to our trip. But considering it was a Sunday evening heading back into town, I wasn't too surprised.

On Monday, I got busy with one of VeVe's new photo galleries, which she has dubbed "Fitness in the Park." These photos were from a shoot she did about two weeks ago with a photographer from FitShots (www.fitshots.com).

These were shot in Central Park here in NYC. This set joins VeVe's "Posed" galleries. And now we've got the gallery up and running at VeVe's site, here: VeVe Lane Fitness in the Park

And VeVe just had a classic pin up photoshoot last night, as I hear. So that looks like more gallery-making work coming into my inbox soon.

Future projects are also in the works for the rest of this month. We are setting up a much-anticipated video match between Amazon Annie and Clobberetta. That will come up in later August. And, thanks to a special request, we are looking to set up a rematch between VeVe and Blazin' Ben, wherein VeVe is wearing dancewear: sheer hose and a black leotard. That should create some interesting imagery.

And there you have my update for this week!

Vacation is coming up for me next week.

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.

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!

Don't put off for tomorrow what you can attempt to smash through today.

Today's wrestling media production adventure consisted of a lot of data entry into a new google documents spread sheet.

Hooray!

Perhaps that's not the most exciting adventure to report about, from most readers' points of view, but it is these sorts of matters deserve to be discussed as much as others. Perhaps? Anyway.

Yesterday saw the official release of our "Amazon Annie vs Sherry Stunns" Showcase match from June 19. I'd placed that into the store before officially announcing it as released. Same with the "VeVe Lane vs Rachel Sinclair" match from June 20, which I will be officially announcing as released within the week.

Following the massive "video shoot fest" of the Showcase weekend, I immediately sat down and banged out all of the matches, processing them as fully as I could, as quickly as I could. I worked for 2 days straight, nose to the grind, and had a tremendous work turn over as a result. While I was working, I was also releasing matches according to my tentative schedule and sending e-copies of matches to participants.

That was last week.

At the start of this week, but 2 days ago, once all the dust had cleared, I looked at what I had on hand. And I realized why I like to get a ton done in one big push - everything was clearly laid out for me upon my return to work! I thanked my last-week-self for that.

For the last Showcase in January, instead of making a big push to do everything immediately, I made a work schedule to stretch the processing out over time. Not the best idea. The further away we got from the event, the less I found I had to say about the matches; the words to describe them were not immediately on the tip of my tongue, especially as I got caught up in later shoots, travel, and other work.

Now, about 6 months after that first trial, I had learned my lesson. Armed with some large USB storage drives, I ramped up and ran headlong into the pile of camera-generated AVI files.

And now, here I am, out on the other side of the storm. Coasting a bit, since most of the work just involves gentle organizing (as opposed to heavy editorial lifting).

Cleaning the queue. More like tidying, actually.

Cracking my knuckles to dig into managing a fairly heavy travel season coming up for the wrestlers. And I'm thankful the video file pile is well under control!

Rules Variations for Video Matches

Recent e-mail discussions with a customer and then further discussions with VeVe have yielded a great point regarding "scoring" a wrestling video match:

Many viewers watching the matches think in terms of pin-to-win, especially since we are producing wrestling matches. And to many people the word "wrestling" implies that there should be some importance placed on pinning an opponent.

Now, we score our matches based on number of submissions attained. And sure, that makes perfect sense, since we are engaged in submission wrestling. However, what if we created a rules variation that allowed for scoring of dominant positions as "pins."

I am not talking about just implementing standard no-gi grappling scoring rules; such as 2 points for a dominant position, 2 points for a sweep, points for submission attempts. Of course, we are putting these no-gi scoring rules into effect when it comes to overtime, in order to prevent a tie.

But how about a match-long rule regarding "pins"?

How about a scoring rule that...

1. Gives viewers the satisfaction of seeing a successful pin rewarded

2. Prevents wrestlers from staling on the bottom

3. Pushes the pace of the fight

4. Does not straight outright penalize BJJ fighters who can score submissions from being on their backs during a match.

Here is the proposal:

Continue to score the matches based on number of submissions. However, also score the matches based on number of "pins" and stand those scores up side by side.

What is a "pin," though?

In our rules, we could say: if one wrestler keeps her opponent in a controlling position (aka "dominant position") where her back (both shoulders) is on the floor, such as side mount, mount, scarf hold, perhaps even half guard!, for 10 seconds, then the top player is awarded a "pin."

After a "pin" the match would be restarted from a neutral position (knees or standing).

Now, I don't think this rule would hurt BJJ fighters. First off, even though BJJ fighters can work from the ground or from their backs, none want to be flat on their backs when on the bottom. If the BJJ fighter cannot get at least one of her shoulders off the mat in 10 seconds, some sort of advantage should certainly go to the controlling player.

This would not apply to full guard, which, although one player is on the bottom, is a neutral position, not a "dominant position." However, if the bottom player using the guard cannot mount a successful attack, nor the top player pass the guard, within, say, 20 seconds, then the match will be restarted from a kneeling or standing position. There will be no scoring as a result of this restart.

So!

The proposal here is just this: add a score for "pins" based on a top player effectively pinning her opponent flat for 10 seconds.

BUT!

What about stalling?

What if the top player pins her opponent but does not attempt a submission? It's "safer" to pin and hold than to attempt a submission.

Here's a possible solution:

Score the pin at the 10 second mark. But do NOT stop the fight. Instead, award the pin and let the match continue.

If the top player does NOT attempt a submission or change position within 10 seconds AFTER the pin is awarded, then the top player will be warned and/or penalized for stalling.

This sort of mirrors the BJJ scoring, where a player will be warned for stalling after 20 seconds of "inactivity" while holding an opponent in a dominant position. In my proposed rules, the "stalling" player is awarded at the 10 second mark for her demonstration of control, but she will be penalized at the 20 second mark if she has not started working toward a submission.

You get the score for a "pin" and then you need to start working for a submission.

Again, this mirrors BJJ rules, which require a player control her opponent for 3 seconds in order to be awarded points for a dominant position.

I propose requiring 10 seconds. Will that be too long? Somehow, I don't believe that 3 seconds is enough time to convey the "pin"... but then again, it takes 3 seconds to gain a pin in Pro Wrestling.

So maybe 3 seconds to gain a "pin" point? The match would definitely not restart then. The point would just be awarded to the pinning player.

Actually, as I attempt to make the rules feel more satisfying to wrestling oriented people, they start to mirror BJJ rules even moreso.

Time to fish for feedback!

Report: VeVe vs Ginger (Hot Muscle Mom)

And what a GREAT and exciting match it was! Ginger Martin, the Hot Muscle Mom, is totally fit and explosive at 5'6" and 140 lbs. A totally athletic and dynamic wrestler with great muscle definition. She gave VeVe a run for her money.

They rolled for three 8-minute rounds and created such a sweaty mess on the mats that by the third round, it looked like they were oil wrestling - and at high speed! As a matter of fact, the pace of the match was outstanding from start to finish. I was amazed at the furious movement within the first few minutes of the fight, and I was impressed that they carried through and finished strong into the 24th minute.

Great fight, good submissions to be had, not a draw (no more draws allowed, anyway), tremendous energy. And we'll have the video ready very soon.

Here's a picture of the ladies after the match (VeVe needs a haircut at this point)

Ginger was an absolute pleasure to work with, and VeVe, as always, was on point and ready to roll.

Great job VeVe and Ginger. Tremendous work tonight, ladies. You really made me think "old school" competitive when I saw this one.

*************************************************************************

Added 7/7/10:

Here's a trailer from the full match of "VeVe Lane vs Ginger Martin"

Wrestling Filming Tonight with VeVe and Hot Muscle Mom

I'm here in the lobby of our Manhattan studio space, sweating in the NYC heat wave, about to go get the mats for a competitive female match I am shooting tonight. 6:40 pm, right now, Friday.

VeVe will be wrestling for 24 minutes against a figure contest competitor / wrestler by the professional name of "Hot Muscle Mom" from Houston, TX.

Here's her wb270.com profile: http://wb270.com/ind/hotMuscMom.htm

Hot Muscle Mom hit a bit of traffic on her way into Manhattan from her hotel in Newark, and that is why I have time now to write this note now.

We'll be setting up a 10' x 15' mat space for this match, which is a closed shoot. VeVe just ran down to get the mats (so industrious of her). She gave me no guilt trippin' for my staying here and blogging. What a trooper!

Here's hoping that Hot Muscle Mom gets here soon. And, while I'm at it, I wonder if the studio we're in tonight will have an air conditioner... and whether or not we will use it. Nothing like letting them get sweaty real fast in a non-A/C environment; that'll lead to some real hot muscle action, to be sure!