It's an exciting time over here in the NYC Doom realm right now! New wrestlers are coming around and joining the fray. New-ish / "journeyman" wrestlers are progressing, developing their skills, and finding their personal styles. And veterans continue to evolve and explore new possibilities.
Aralia
I have known Aralia the longest of these listed ladies. We "officially" met in 2015, around May of that year, when she came to a beginner wrestling workshop I was hosting alongside VeVe Lane. However, as I later learned, Aralia had attended one of my Grapple Den parties several years before -- I believe this was in 2010 -- but she just stayed quiet and didn't wrestle with any of our regular characters (I believe she said she only wrestled her roommate, who had come with her). And then, 5 years later, she found us again in 2015.
And *then,* after practicing for only a few months, she jumped into video matches in May 2016, with her very first F/F bout against the fabulous Indra. A little School of Hard Knocks Hello for Aralia there, like you do.
Aralia has always been scrappy, and she has frequently said "I love to fight!" She is the smallest of our local wrestlers, consistently weighing in at only 115 lbs. She started training with us at our small group wrestling practices. When she started out, she had the fighting spirit, but she also had to work harder than most other participants to learn the techniques of the sport. With her small size, she didn't have much leeway to fudge techniques; she couldn't rely on strength or size or natural sport-ish-ness to see her through in the beginning. And so, she realized she'd need to study hard and train her brain.
She tried out a few different jiujitsu schools (training in the gi / uniform), while also continuing to practice grappling with us, until she finally landed at a gym she likes, to train specifically in submission wrestling, in 2018. So, she's only been there for a little over a year, as of this writing!
Aralia has proven to be very studious in her training, recording techniques in her training journal so that she can review them later on. She loves doing repetition drilling, and it would be great if she had more time for more of that. Between travel and a generally busy schedule, she looks for any opportunity she can get to do more drilling and practicing. Now that the weather has warmed up and we are practicing outdoors in the park again, Aralia has more opportunities to get together with the other girls and guys of our group to practice her moves even more.
Pro-Style & Drama & Domination -- Competitive action aside, Aralia has really taken off with her pro-style performance and domination abilities. Though her #1 go-to is undoubtedly the Camel Clutch, she has added other popular pro moves to her repertoire as well, along with the great expressiveness that pro-style wrestling demands. She's a lovely jobber, but, as I recently observed, she's an even better heel! Her recent domination of Ursa was really impressive -- great trash talk, great menace, sweetly wicked.
She seems sweet and innocent, but she's got a great unsettling darkness when it comes to domination. This is something I've really seen coming out in the past year. Knowing smile, casual cruelty, purring menace, a gentle touch, elegant. Onward!
And here's Aralia's page at Doom Maidens
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Lana Luxor
Of my list above, Lana is a lady I have known for the second-longest, after Aralia. However, we met Lana under rather different circumstances than we met Aralia.
In July of 2016, VeVe organized our first-ever 8-Way female bondage wrestling tourney. We had had multi-ways before, but this was the first time attempting to bring 8 people together. VeVe reached out to several models via a modeling website, to see who would be up for jumping in. Lana was one of the ladies who responded and turned up on that day. I'm not sure if she knew exactly what to expect, but she got a fun-filled intro to wrestling, surrounded by a bunch of very game ladies slinging ropes at each other. Prior to this, Lana had no wrestling experience! So, needless to say, she didn't win the bondage wrestling Tourney, and she wound up getting hogtied by none other than Rachel DD!
As a a result of meeting the great ladies at that shoot, Lana created a Twitter account to keep in touch with them. We reconnected with Lana again for feature filming to kick-off 2017, where she tried pro-style and one-on-one bondage wrestling with VeVe. Lana was totally overwhelmed by VeVe in that bondage match and stood no chance at all, but she had fun doing it nonetheless. She still had no wrestling training to speak of.
Skipping ahead a bit, in April 2017, Lana took on Aralia in a competitive match. Aralia had been at this "officially" for a year now, and so Aralia did to Lana what Indra had done to her -- except less cheeky and with more submission holds! Lana stayed totally positive and was excited nonetheless. In fact, I think she just enjoyed the thrill and physicality of the bout.
Skip ahead more... As the year progressed, Lana started training with us and started doing mixed wrestling. And she started making exponential improvements. A little training and a bunch more mat time went a long way for Lana in 2017. And in November 2017, she entered our Live Filming Event Tourney, where she fought her way to the finals and defeated Aralia to win the championship! It was a remarkable turn-around!
Lana was on to something here. Her cool-headedness under pressure and her natural physical sense paved the way for her progress as a wrestler. She is also very studious, curious, and savvy, and she would watch matches to try to learn more about the sport and her various opponents. As a beginner, she showed an impressive ability to figure out where her opponent was in relation to her (during a match), what her opponent was attempting, and what she herself might be able to do to deal with that. But she didn't have enough experience or technique-language to answer every situation being presented to her.
So, after investigating a few options, Lana joined a grappling school in March of 2018 to learn as much as she could about jiujitsu and submission wrestling. When I was first talking to Lana about training at a formal school, one thing she told was that she was determined to get promoted to the rank of blue belt. In my mind, I was like "why stop there?" But, regardless, this was a great short term goal that she had identified!
And so, Lana hit the books -- or, well, she hit the mats, actually -- and dove in for training at her new school. She would always keep me updated about all of the new techniques she was being exposed to, and how fascinated she was with the various new movements.
I will say, I don't physically see Lana too often, because she lives fairly far away, despite the fact that we are all here in New York City. It is actually a fairly long trip between where she lives and where most of the rest of the Doom Maidens people live (90 minutes or possibly even 2 hours, depending on time of day). So, we see each other for shoots or occasional practices, or for group meetings in an in-between spot. But thanks to social media, Lana keeps us posted remotely!
So! Lana proved to be such a dedicated and studious student, training both physically and mentally on the mats in class, that she was able to achieve her initial goal in 14 months! A big congratulations to Lana, who has come so far very quickly in the grappling realm -- she was promoted to the rank of blue belt 2 weeks ago!
Anyway, I can talk a lot about that at another time. But for now, let's post this entry. I will also make entries about the other ladies listed soon. Thanks to everyone for reading!
As we go forward into this year, I will be using this blog to talk about the developments of the newcomers and the "journeyman" wrestlers, and I will attempt to document their progress in our realm!
In addition to several of the ladies who have been very active lately, I would also like to say a few words about the guys as well. But that's only the intention. Let's see how far I get!
Progress and Development!
There are several ladies I have been following most recently on their wrestling-progress journeys. These ladies are: Aralia, Lana Luxor, Ursa Fierce, Kaia, Sweetie Dreams, and Katarina. I think I can best organize this entry, and those that follow, by talking about each of them individually.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/araliadm
And *then,* after practicing for only a few months, she jumped into video matches in May 2016, with her very first F/F bout against the fabulous Indra. A little School of Hard Knocks Hello for Aralia there, like you do.
Aralia has always been scrappy, and she has frequently said "I love to fight!" She is the smallest of our local wrestlers, consistently weighing in at only 115 lbs. She started training with us at our small group wrestling practices. When she started out, she had the fighting spirit, but she also had to work harder than most other participants to learn the techniques of the sport. With her small size, she didn't have much leeway to fudge techniques; she couldn't rely on strength or size or natural sport-ish-ness to see her through in the beginning. And so, she realized she'd need to study hard and train her brain.
She tried out a few different jiujitsu schools (training in the gi / uniform), while also continuing to practice grappling with us, until she finally landed at a gym she likes, to train specifically in submission wrestling, in 2018. So, she's only been there for a little over a year, as of this writing!
Aralia has proven to be very studious in her training, recording techniques in her training journal so that she can review them later on. She loves doing repetition drilling, and it would be great if she had more time for more of that. Between travel and a generally busy schedule, she looks for any opportunity she can get to do more drilling and practicing. Now that the weather has warmed up and we are practicing outdoors in the park again, Aralia has more opportunities to get together with the other girls and guys of our group to practice her moves even more.
Pro-Style & Drama & Domination -- Competitive action aside, Aralia has really taken off with her pro-style performance and domination abilities. Though her #1 go-to is undoubtedly the Camel Clutch, she has added other popular pro moves to her repertoire as well, along with the great expressiveness that pro-style wrestling demands. She's a lovely jobber, but, as I recently observed, she's an even better heel! Her recent domination of Ursa was really impressive -- great trash talk, great menace, sweetly wicked.She seems sweet and innocent, but she's got a great unsettling darkness when it comes to domination. This is something I've really seen coming out in the past year. Knowing smile, casual cruelty, purring menace, a gentle touch, elegant. Onward!And here's Aralia's page at Doom Maidens
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Of my list above, Lana is a lady I have known for the second-longest, after Aralia. However, we met Lana under rather different circumstances than we met Aralia.
In July of 2016, VeVe organized our first-ever 8-Way female bondage wrestling tourney. We had had multi-ways before, but this was the first time attempting to bring 8 people together. VeVe reached out to several models via a modeling website, to see who would be up for jumping in. Lana was one of the ladies who responded and turned up on that day. I'm not sure if she knew exactly what to expect, but she got a fun-filled intro to wrestling, surrounded by a bunch of very game ladies slinging ropes at each other. Prior to this, Lana had no wrestling experience! So, needless to say, she didn't win the bondage wrestling Tourney, and she wound up getting hogtied by none other than Rachel DD!
As a a result of meeting the great ladies at that shoot, Lana created a Twitter account to keep in touch with them. We reconnected with Lana again for feature filming to kick-off 2017, where she tried pro-style and one-on-one bondage wrestling with VeVe. Lana was totally overwhelmed by VeVe in that bondage match and stood no chance at all, but she had fun doing it nonetheless. She still had no wrestling training to speak of.
Skip ahead more... As the year progressed, Lana started training with us and started doing mixed wrestling. And she started making exponential improvements. A little training and a bunch more mat time went a long way for Lana in 2017. And in November 2017, she entered our Live Filming Event Tourney, where she fought her way to the finals and defeated Aralia to win the championship! It was a remarkable turn-around!Lana was on to something here. Her cool-headedness under pressure and her natural physical sense paved the way for her progress as a wrestler. She is also very studious, curious, and savvy, and she would watch matches to try to learn more about the sport and her various opponents. As a beginner, she showed an impressive ability to figure out where her opponent was in relation to her (during a match), what her opponent was attempting, and what she herself might be able to do to deal with that. But she didn't have enough experience or technique-language to answer every situation being presented to her.
So, after investigating a few options, Lana joined a grappling school in March of 2018 to learn as much as she could about jiujitsu and submission wrestling. When I was first talking to Lana about training at a formal school, one thing she told was that she was determined to get promoted to the rank of blue belt. In my mind, I was like "why stop there?" But, regardless, this was a great short term goal that she had identified!
And so, Lana hit the books -- or, well, she hit the mats, actually -- and dove in for training at her new school. She would always keep me updated about all of the new techniques she was being exposed to, and how fascinated she was with the various new movements.
I will say, I don't physically see Lana too often, because she lives fairly far away, despite the fact that we are all here in New York City. It is actually a fairly long trip between where she lives and where most of the rest of the Doom Maidens people live (90 minutes or possibly even 2 hours, depending on time of day). So, we see each other for shoots or occasional practices, or for group meetings in an in-between spot. But thanks to social media, Lana keeps us posted remotely!
So! Lana proved to be such a dedicated and studious student, training both physically and mentally on the mats in class, that she was able to achieve her initial goal in 14 months! A big congratulations to Lana, who has come so far very quickly in the grappling realm -- she was promoted to the rank of blue belt 2 weeks ago!
It's an impressive journey to consider: from Lana's very first exposure to wrestling by answering a casting call in July 2016 for a bondage wrestling adventure, to her experiences with losses and wins in video matches in 2017, to her joining a school in 2018, and then, in 2019, achieving the rank of blue belt at her school and being formally recognized for her efforts and progress on the mats!
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So that was a long blog entry! It was so long, that I'm just running out of time here.
Aralia and Lana are the most active ladies of what I consider the "new generation." It seems odd that I consider them "new generation," since they both started with us 3 years ago, and other new people have come in since then. But something about 2016 marked a "new generation." It was a turning point when a bunch of new lady wrestlers started coming in and creating a new "core" group who would practice together, talk to each other, keep in constant contact with each other. A renewed era of togetherness, whereas VeVe and I had been more about "individuals operating together on occasion for shoots" for several years prior.
Anyway, I can talk a lot about that at another time. But for now, let's post this entry. I will also make entries about the other ladies listed soon. Thanks to everyone for reading!
Great blog! fellow NYC area wrestler here--would love to meet up w/ u at a future event ASAP - Thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! Sure thing, a future meet up at an event sounds cool. In fact, we do have a wrestling party coming up in Manhattan on June 7. It is called Grapple Den! :D www.grappleden.com
DeleteCheers,
Diablo
diablo@doommaidens.com
I had a great time meeting both of these lovely gals at the J7ne 7th Grapple Den party - which was absurd success, and a whole lotta lotta Lotta fun!!!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.deviantart.com/mathesvamer/art/Aspiring-Battleaxe-Modern-Heartbreaker-Aralia-853356075
ReplyDeleteNice to see NYC still active from 50s and beyond. Aralia dimples and skills rock. Bjj / Judo keeping pipeline full.
ReplyDeleteDiablo could almost write a book from post cards to NFTs of your herstorical scene there.
Tell BK and foremothers hi if not already moved to Fl. ;)