Competitive Mixed Matches to Come and Spoiler Warnings

A quick thought that I wanted to elaborate on here, since Twitter is too micro of a blog to discuss such things fully:

Competitive Mixed Wrestling to Come... and Spoiler Warnings

But first, an intro:

I've been very excited to see our "newcomer" wrestlers Aralia and Sweetie Dreams progressing nicely in their training.  They've been diligent, studious, dedicated.  They've been going through the School of Hard Knocks at times and learning some tough lessons that only come from tough experiences.  But they're also starting to have things really click, and they are gradually finding their personal styles.

 

Aralia (5'4" and 115 lbs) and Sweetie (5'8" and 225 lbs)

They've had several official F v F matches.  They've won some, lost some.  But currently, especially at practices, they are winning more often against opponents of similar skill levels.  I've been watching their F v F matches and thinking, hmm, ok, we're going to have to get some mixed competitive matches into the program and see what happens.

Both ladies have suffered mixed wrestling losses months ago, at the hands of years-more experienced male wrestlers.  But how about some matches against guys who are more equal to them in experience level?  Well, my friends, this is what our new season of competitive mixed wrestling is about to reveal!

Mixed Matches Coming Up

We have several guys in the area who are comparable in experience level to Aralia and Sweetie, and we are excited to match them all together.  We've got:

Frankie -- 5'4" and 150 lbs.  An impressive muscular physique with explosive power potential, but no formal wrestling training.  He's been wrestling with us since 2014, but he's mostly taken on wrestlers who were way above him in experience level.  We are all curious to see how he does against the newcomers who've been training up this past year.

Tonight he will face off against Aralia and then Sweetie to kick off the season.

Cincinnati -- 5'8" and 160 lbs.  A punk musician and novice wrestler.  He started training in submission wrestling about 7 months ago, but had absolutely no prior wrestling experience before that.

He's scrambly and scrappy.  He has less experience than either Aralia or Sweetie, but he puts a lot of effort into his wrestling.  He'll be facing off against these ladies soon enough.

Rizzo -- 5'6" and 130 lbs.  Rizzo's been training in submission wrestling for about a year, but he hasn't been able to practice very frequently.  He's light-weight and quick, and he has roughly about the same amount of experience as Aralia and Sweetie, though the ladies have had more actual, formal competitive matches than Rizzo has.

We are very curious to see how the match-ups go with Rizzo.  I suspect they could be quite competitive.

And...

Dachi - 5'2" and 120 lbs.  Despite being the smallest of the newer guys, I suspect Dachi would be the toughest opponent.  Dachi has been training formally in submission wrestling for *about* the same amount of time as Aralia, and they both get a lot of practice sparring at their respective grappling schools.

I think Dachi may be too advanced for Sweetie at current, but I am VERY curious to see Dachi vs Aralia.  In fact, I spoke with both of them individually, and they both admitted they think it would be a tough and very competitive match.  I haven't seen Dachi wrestle in a while, but I see Aralia frequently.  Not sure what Dachi's been working on, but I'm eager to see these two clash on the mats.



So, what is this about Spoiler Warnings?

Yes, that!  So, when we release competitive female/female matches, we usually don't reveal the winner, and people usually like that suspense.  But with competitive mixed matches, people have mixed feelings.  Some people love the suspense, but others really need to know whether it is the woman or the man who comes out as the winner.  And I totally understand that.

So, since we have all these mixed competitive matches coming up, and they could go either way, and since some people like that they could go either way while others do not like such surprises, I have decided to do a Hidden Spoiler for competitive mixed matches.

The spoiler will actually not be on the same page as the video release write-up, though.  Viewers would need to click a link to view the spoiler.  The spoiler will reveal the winner and general tone of the victory, but I will not reveal the exact score (unless people really need that info...?).

Well, anyway, this has gotten too long.  I have to go get ready for today's filming.  Much unrelated things to film during the day-time.  But this evening kicks off the competitive mixed wrestling season for the newcomers.  Exciting!

Filming with Sable of LWS: Variety is the Spice

This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting and filming with the first wave of this season's British invasion.

The vanguard here was composed of Honey and Sable, both from the London Wrestling Studio (LWS).  And the fabulous Indra served as liaison and facilitator, having originally come from LWS herself before setting up long-term camp here in NYC.

Honey I knew as the lady who runs LWS, and I had heard of her before from Indra and other British colleagues, but I hadn't heard much about Sable prior to her visit.  I knew that VeVe was excited for her match against Sable, though VeVe herself wasn't entirely sure what to expect.  Hanz was definitely excited for his match with Sable.  VeVe was eager to get her ropes into the Brits' hands and around their bodies.  And above all, Indra was very excited for all of us to meet each other.

So!  We got ourselves all booked at the studio for filming on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and the meet-up / marathon filming weekend began!

Saturday: Competitive Wrestling with Sable and some Ropes

VeVe, Hanz, Sable, and I arrived at the studio early on Saturday evening for the first 3 videos on the slate.  We were trying to allow time for Honey to arrive to see VeVe vs Sable, so we scheduled that match for last in the line-up.  And so, we opened the evening of filming with a mixed competitive match between Sable and Hanz.

That match was grueling.  The two opponents were only 15 lbs apart in weight, and both came on to fight with a style I will call "Old School with an Edge."  Neither wrestler was excessively technical, though they both had good body-smarts and "mat sense."  Both were used to hard tussle-style wrestling... and I'm not sure either knew exactly what to expect from the other.  Sable brought a lot of raw strength into the game, particularly with her legs, which left Hanz quite impressed.  A very even and egalitarian battle.

Hanz has that match up now in his studio called "Hanz Vanderkill's Mixed Battle Theatre."  He also wrote a full account of his match in his personal wrestling blog: A Dance in Grapples - Sable (LWS).

We then gave Sable a chance to rest by teaming her up with VeVe in a bondage wrestling match against Hanz.

Sable had never tried a formal bondage wrestling match before, though she did have experience in tying people up.  And so, the ladies teamed up to give Sable some trial-by-fire experience...

I'll talk more about this soon in the Bondage Wrestling Blog, but let's just say that neither Hanz nor I really expected just how crazy VeVe and Sable would go with their rope work... and their "and then some."  I'll just say that Sable and VeVe surprised us all with their binding speed and then with their escalating meanness once they fully immobilized their prey.  Poor Hanz.  Sorry, buddy, no one expected they'd be so sadistic.  Maybe. *cough* Bondage Nightmare *cough*

A-hem.  Moving on.

Next up was the big match of the evening: Sable vs VeVe.

Again, we weren't quite sure what to expect from Sable as a wrestler.  Even after watching her match with Hanz, I still wasn't able to form a solid idea of her style.  It seemed like everyone who knew Sable was very interested in seeing her match up against VeVe... and after seeing the match myself, I now know why.

Unorthodoxy, risk-taking, athletic, tumultuous, dynamic.

Both of these ladies wrestle with athletic, creative, and dynamic styles, and pitting them against each other produced a very exciting and suspenseful result.

Sable carries the reputation of being LWS's strongest wrestler, with a strong background in modern and classical dance, as well as contact improvisation.  She's incredibly leggy, meaning that she uses her legs quite extensively while wrestling, though she doesn't use a classic jiujitsu closed guard.  And her legs are impressive.

VeVe found it incredibly exhausting dealing with Sable's legs.  Passing the legs, avoiding them, all a tremendous challenge.  Sable would frequently use her legs to push VeVe away, which VeVe reports was quite draining.

And Sable's movement style was indeed impressive!  She's very fluid and natural on the mats, and she is quite good at staying attached to her opponent.  She reports this is from her work in contact improv.  Sable wrestles smartly and creatively, and this forced VeVe to devise new, untested tactics on the spot.  All while fending off those legs.

Two very competitive scrappers going at it.  A scramble, and tangle of limbs, and emergent dominant position... only then to be escaped, and into another scramble and tangle.  Submissions on both sides, risk-taking, fearlessness, and driving through mounting exhaustion.

Needless to say, I was impressed!

In the interest of space-consumption, let me fast-track this.  I'll talk about my Sunday filming with Honey in a different thread, but continuing with Sable...

Monday for the Syndicate

On Monday, I filmed an entirely different sort of video with Sable.  Thrash joined us at the studio to revise his role as a long-suffering prisoner of the ladies in black.  With VeVe on board as director, Sable took up the mantle of agent of the Lethal Leotards Syndicate.

We hadn't filmed a Lethal Leotards episode in some time, so I was very pleased to touch on this series again.  Even before meeting her, VeVe selected Sable as the next Syndicate agent because, VeVe says, Sable "seemed very leggy."  Well, good instinct, VeVe!

Sable showed her diversity as a performer by delivering a splendid display of genteel casual cruelty.  She mentioned that most people she knows cannot imagine her doing domination because she smiles so much in daily life, but they need not imagine it at all; we've got it right here on film.  Really, I think it's great if you smile pleasantly on the one hand and then proceed with callous humiliation on the other.  Or, rather, if you smile brightly outside in public but then smile sadistically at your prey behind closed doors... I think that's a great phenomenon.

But anyway, this is a good topic to expand upon in another entry.  I've actually considered making a Lethal Leotards blog, but... ok.. tangent, fix it.

Sable gave an impressive performance, and Thrash as surprised to hear that this was her first domination style video.  Frankly, I think she should do more filming as her disciplinarian dance mistress domination persona.  I'd be pleased to film another episode with her in the future.


Closing Remarks

Since this entry has gotten very long, and to keep the topic tight, I am going to conclude.

I was impressed by Sable in many ways, actually, throughout my various shoots with her.  She's elegant, eloquent, professional and punctual, artistic and modest, sincere, great at taking and interpreting directions, athletic, dynamic, and a pleasure to work with.

She jumped in for a variety of different video projects, from mixed competitive, to mean bondage double teaming, to tangle-scrappy female competitive, to arm wrestling, and to elegant domination.  I'd definitely work with her again, and I hope she will consider a return trip in the future.

(London invasion vanguard discussion to be continued.  Next entry: Honey's filming on Sunday)

VeVe, Sable, Honey, and Indra after Saturday's filming

July Competitive Wrestling, Female MMA Visitors, and Workout Contests

Wow, now that was a busy month!

July 2012 was VERY full of filming.  A wide variety of filmings.  Belly punching, workout sessions, competitive matches.  Many competitive mixed matches.  And I even got in on one of them.

I'm going to try to make this entry short, since I am in the process of selecting screen stills for the product page of our up-coming release of "VeVe Lane vs Mahea" (that's here).  I've got PhotoShop open and waiting for me, with images crying for yet more attention.  But VeVe just mentioned to me that she was going to try and write a blog of her own, so that reminded me to poke my head in here.

I think I've got the cover photo selected for that one, so that means the hardest part of image selection aspect for a particular video.  What one frame of the video can capture the essence of the entire piece... ?  Since we've had a few varied essences this year, I've also been making some 4-way covers.  However, of course, a single-image cover photo is larger and shows more detail.

Below, see single-image cover vs 4-way image cover:

See what I mean?

Anyway, that Tommi vs Hanz was from July as well.  The Dancewear Judo Domination with VeVe and me was from June.

To kick-off July, I travelled to the SheMuscle gym with VeVe and Orlandoe in order to film various contests between the two.  We filmed a 3-part fitness contest, as a follow-up to the Ab Workout Contest we filmed by special request in June.  Those July contest events were, in this order: Pull-ups, Biceps Curls, and Sissy Squats.  I placed those contests into our MixedWrestlingNYC clips4sale store.

All except the sissy squats, that is.  Why?  Because the ladies ended up being able to do so many sissy squats in so many rounds, that the video of that particular event alone ended up being over 20 minutes long.... of just sissy squats, both bodyweight style and with dumbbells.  So, that contest got pushed to the back of the queue, but I will try to get at it for anyone who really, REALLY just likes sissy squats.

We also filmed a two-way belly punching video, some sweaty glistening videos, and a video showcasing Orlandoe's under-arms.  We also filmed some additional footage to give to SheMuscle.  It was a great, long, productive, and very sweaty shoot day.

We also had the pleasure of filming with 3 professional female MMA fighters in July.  We filmed a special request mixed match with Toned Tommi and Hanz Vanderkill (see cover image above) on the very first weekend of the month.  This was a 60-minute match of "athletic domination" style, and both match participants did a great job with the style and direction.  Though Hanz was a fine choice for this particular video, I was a little sad not to get to have him face Tommi in a fully competitive match.  I do plan on setting that up at some point, but we have to cycle through a few times on various opponents before we will line up a "rematch," even if it is in a different style.

We also filmed with the wonderful Bad Bad Bettie when she visited us in the middle of the month.  We set Bettie up with a vote-determined video.  Essentially, we asked the fans what they would like to see, created a poll, followed heatedly-debated discussions, and finally went with what the majority selected: a one-sided karate-esque strike-based video with Bettie in a karate gi (uniform) against a male opponent.  Though we were originally looking to ShortFuse Mark to be our victim, since he was originally planning to be in town that day, Mark's travel plans fell through.  So, Graveyard stepped up to fill in.

The result was a Karate Strike-fest video in which Bettie showcased her punching, kicking, elbow, and knee accuracy against Graveyard.  And it was Graveyard's job to survive the strikes, stay standing (except for round 3), and make it through the strike-fest.  The video was 3 rounds long, which each round showcasing a different aspect of striking, moving from most punishing (face hits) to hitting the biggest area (body hits).

Then came the competitive wrestling escapades to finish off the month....

Toned Tommi returned to NYC at the end of July, this time accompanied by fellow female MMA fighter Mahea.

We were set up for a long shoot day with the MMA ladies to battle against Hanz, Adrian, and VeVe.  However, a slight scheduling snafu held us up from our original shoot day, leaving VeVe, Hanz, and myself in the studio together.  Never ones to waste a fight opportunity, we set VeVe up for a Mixed Wrestling Gauntlet.  First, I took on VeVe in a 20-minute competitive match (never before seen on our site) while Hanz filmed.  Following that, Hanz took on VeVe for another 20-minute match, with only enough break for her to change her bikini.

The matches were grueling for VeVe and entertaining for her opponents.  However, we filmed them under less-than-optimal lighting conditions, which resulted in less-than-immaculate image sharpness.
The result of that?
They move to the back of the queue, sadly.  Of course, we'd love to re-shoot this mixed wrestling gauntlet under better lighting conditions (except that I sprained my knee in jiujutsu class last week!  so infuriating! so, it may have to wait a while).

The very next day, we rescheduled with Tommi and Mahea, and we all proceed to film a ton of matches.

We grabbed VeVe on her lunch hour and first filmed the competitive female match of VeVe vs Tommi.  That was two 10-minute rounds in bikini / two-piece outfit, followed by a 10-minute 3rd round in the jiujitsu gi (uniform).  We also filmed an arm wrestling match after that.

Since Adrian was unavailable for the Monday shoot, we immediately called on Blazin' Ben.  It was a very last-minute shot in the dark, but with only a few hours' notice to prepare, Ben responded affirmatively and made it over for the match.  And so, about 10 minutes following her match with VeVe, Tommi took on Blazin' Ben in a competitive mixed match of 20 minutes in length.

We took a break for a few hours and then returned later in the evening to film Mahea vs Hanz.  As far as I know, this was the first competitive mixed match on video for Mahea (pronounced "ma-HEY-a"), though, being a pro MMA fighter, she has her fair share of training experience with male training partners.

Then, two days later we reconvened to filmed the final match of the month: VeVe vs Mahea.  Again on VeVe's lunch hour!

And speaking of VeVe vs Mahea... yikes,  I need to finish that photo selection process!  Well, I did say I would try to make the entry brief.  However, the month itself was not brief, and it just wouldn't be fair to short change it, given all the action that is fresh in my mind.

Ok, back to getting that video all set to go.  And now, onward into August!