Ursa Fierce and Katarina: Wrestlers' Progress and Development, Vol 3

The next and final (for now) two ladies that I will write about in this series are Ursa Fierce and Domina Katarina.  These are two ladies I have been seeing a lot of lately.  I speak with these two ladies quite often; they are both very interested in and excited about the Wrestle-o-sphere, but I don't think either of them expected to be as involved in the wrestling world as much as they are at this moment!

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Ursa Fierce
Twitter: @ursafierce
Ursa's page at Doom Maidens

I met Ursa in 2016, when she attended one of our public Beginner Wrestling workshops.  In my mind, she is one of the newest ladies of the "new generation."  In fact, I think of her as the newest of that 2016 generation.

It is tempting to think that Kaia is the newest of the 2016, rather than Ursa, but this isn't actually the case.  If you judge only by first video appearance, then Ursa's first video appearance precedes Kaia's by one month, that's one thing (Ursa in February 2017 and Kaia in March 2017).  However, it is not quite that simple.

Ursa first came to that afore-mentioned Beginner Wrestling workshop in March of 2016, but she couldn't come to many (or any?) of our regular practices during that year.  In May of 2016, she expressed some curiosity about filming some videos with us.  But, if I recall correctly, we didn't have much contact for much of the rest of 2016 -- Oh yes, I think this was because she was having some difficulties with her knee and back, so she didn't feel comfortable jumping in at that time.

But she came to our first "Spectrum Wrestling Party" in December 2016, which was our first official wrestling party in Brooklyn.  And she seemed to enjoy it!  Somehow I feel that this party, rather than the March workshop, was more of an official entry for Ursa.  It was after this party that she really started to dive in and head down the wrestling rabbit hole...

Ursa and Sweetie at the December 2016 Wrestling Party

Ursa came to several (or possibly all?) of our Brooklyn wrestling parties in 2017.  She also filmed her very first competitive wrestling videos in that year: one a bondage wrestling match with VeVe Lane (February 2017), and the other a submission wrestling match against Sweetie Dreams (March 2017), She was soundly defeated in both matches, before she really knew what was happening.

Throughout the middle of 2017, Ursa remained on the fringes of wrestle activity, but she did keep her eyes on the action and kept in communication.  I think this fringe-ness had to do with the fact that our practice location and main filming location at the time was quite far from where she lives, and travel by public transit between the two locations is awkward and lengthy.  A tough obstacle for a newcomer.  But we were keen to give her opportunities where we could --

And in September of 2017, Ursa claimed a hard-earned, fight-by-intuition, just-jump-right-in-without-any-formal-training victory in a competitive match when she took on Aqua X.  This was Ursa's second competitive submission wrestling match, and she still hadn't yet been able to practice.  But neither had Aqua.

The match was grueling and hotly contested, and it had a lot of back-and-forth submissions -- always an exciting thing about novice matches in our realm.  And in the end, Ursa tasted her very first official competitive victory.

After that, Ursa started coming to practices.

(we also started to have practices at a new studio that was located much closer to her.)

And following that, it was in that autumn of 2017 that something clicked for Ursa and propelled her forward.  It was at this time that she began to have a fuller concept of the wrestling game and of our underground wrestling world.  She had a match against Kari Anthony, a fellow heavy weight, in front of a live audience at our November 2017 Live Filming Event.  Ursa mentions that the live audience aspect added a new level of commitment to the game and raised the stakes for her.

She went on to film many videos all throughout 2018, of a variety of styles, including more competitive F/F matches, fantasy matches, specific-holds videos, domination displays, and pro-style matches.  A sudden burst of activity from a previously dormant-seeming Ursa.  2018 was a year for Ursa to find her legs on the mats and to really develop a personal style as a wrestler.

Also in 2018 and into 2019, Ursa discovered an interest in sharing wrestling with newcomers, especially newcomers who were curious about wrestling but were uncomfortable just jumping straight in.  She assisted in presenting at several Beginner Intro workshops, and she even co-presented at workshops as a main facilitator.  She is interested in making wrestling accessible to people who don't feel they have a natural athleticism, and she co-created a Body-Positive wrestling intro workshop as well.

Ursa continues to learn and expand her skill set as an underground wrestler: she keeps working on her competitive techniques (despite not being enrolled in a formal grappling school), she keeps learning new ways to apply pro-style holds, she has been demonstrating an impressive domination style, and she continuous to expand and develop her theatrical performative abilities.  A lot going on there!  After a period of watching from the sidelines, Ursa hit the gas pedal here and made a running-jump-splash into the pool.

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Domina Katarina
Twitter: @thedommekat
Katarina's Page at Doom Maidens

I first met Katarina in December 2018, at one Lola Jean's wrestling parties.  She is the very newest of the ladies to jump in to wrestle with our group!

Katarina first encountered our Doom crew when several of us came together to Lola's December party.  She seemed intrigued our wrestling shop-talk and the team-familiarity aspect.  We had a lovely networking exchange at the party, and we soon afterwards connected on social media.

Katarina is a dominatrix with a background in dance, but with no background in wrestling.  However, something she experienced at that wrestling party spoke to her, and putting her into contact with the local wrestling crew was like putting a fish into water.  She just needed to learn how to use her gills and fins.

In January 2019, Katarina attended her first wrestling practice with our group -- and she also ended up appearing in her first video with us that day as well.  This was a spontaneous video shoot that took place after the competitive-style practice.  It was a candid, real-time Pro-Style lesson that VeVe gave to the ladies, where they learned and practiced essential pro-style holds on each other.  This memorable early experience with us gave Katarina her base go-to pro holds, and she remembered them well even months afterwards.

But it was in March of 2019 that Katarina got her real wrestle-hazing.

Without much practice time at all to speak of, Katarina merrily jumped in to take on Ursa in a competitive submission wrestling bout.  So, the newest wrestler was meeting the second-newest wrestler on the mats.  All right.  But Ursa, the second-newest wrestler, although she was the previous "rookie," was by now sporting 2 years of experience in the wrestling realm.  And she was eager to get her turn at breaking in the newest newcomer.

Needless to say, the newest newcomer got soundly hazed.

And so, it was also in March 2019 when Katarina began to set her eyes more firmly on training.

Amusingly, Katarina started attending our leg lock specialty practices in the spring of 2019, and, for a while, this was the material she was most exposed to in her very first starter days of training.  Members of our training group get together every Saturday to work on very sophisticated and advanced level leg lock attacks and principles: heel hooks and leg clamps (aka "ashi garami").  It's not entirely suitable to new beginners, but Katarina was very intrigued by the movements and concepts.  Her dance background and natural movement savvy let her quickly imitate the movements and patterns, and she was able to follow along just as well as everyone else studying these techniques together.

However, also amusingly, she had no firm concept of how these movements fit into the overall context of the submission wrestling game.  She hadn't yet had the beginner-level pre-requisite training sessions for fundamentals, and yet she was practicing this leg dexterity "swizzling."

This is the danger of being the new person in a group that is full of more experienced individuals beginning to explore more specialty areas.

And so, as we entered May 2019, we all agreed, and Katarina included, that we needed a solid turn toward the essential fundamentals.  So, with a match against the second-second newest newcomer looming (that would be Kaia), Katarina doubled down and started building her wrestler's tool kit from the ground up.  Literally.  Starting with learning escapes from pins positions!

Katarina has been very committed to training lately, and she has been very invested in her development in the wrestling scene.  We just turned the corner into June 2019 now, for reference, and she spent much of May trekking across town to practices and waking up early to make her way on to the mats.  She's working quickly and diligently to fast-track her way into the wrestle game, hustling to catch up with her more experienced colleagues.  Concepts are clicking, lights are going on, systemic concepts are being recognized.  A nice immersive training experience can go a long way.  And, at the risk of sounding redundant, I really do think her dance background, body-smarts, and muscle memory are helping her to digest this information landslide.

Just this past week, Katarina even ventured over to a grappling school downtown for her first official, formal class in submission wrestling in a mainstream training environment. She reported that although she saw there were a lot of things that she doesn't know, she also didn't feel lost.  In fact, she reported feeling pretty comfortable.  Immediately after the class, she reported:

"So at #training today, I wasn't sure where to go, so I ashi garami'd the dude and just stayed there. He finally stripped my ashi so I pummeled to the other leg and ashi'd him again. Not a very exciting live round, but I didn't get mounted! Living that #leggame life. Haha #wrestle"

Can you imagine that sort of language coming out of a beginner's mouth!?  She's getting a nice mental idea of the sport, for sure.  I'm impressed by her conceptualizing.  With more practice time, the wrestle improvement will really be exponential.  But how much learning can be done in time for her match against Kaia in 2 weeks?  Time will tell, and everyone involved is excited to see what happens there.

Oh, right, and the dominatrix element!  So, Katarina is a natural when it comes to domination, but of course.  She's a natural trash-talker, very sassy and cheeky and confident, but also with a great smile and positive attitude.  She has a great personality for pro-style wrestling as well; she's theatrical and demonstrative and loves delivering punishing holds.  I'm excited to see her in some mixed wrestling domination scenarios, especially in the Female Supremacy Syndicate series.  And I am excited to see her continue to expand her repertoire of pro-styles and do more in the pro-style genre as well, especially with possible on-going storylines.  Oh, what wrestling adventures will the future hold for the Domina?

Katarina tormenting Aralia in a pro-style bout

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Wow, those entries were really long!  Thanks, readers, for following along, as always.  It's a journey through text as much as it is a journey through wrestler history!

I will continue to document the progress and development of these 6 lady wrestlers as we go.  I recommend following them and supporting them.  They are an earnest and sincere bunch, and they are a great group within the wrestling community.  Be sure to watch their respective Twitters, if you like Twitter, as well as the overall Doom Maidens Twitter (@doommaidens), which is always updating about the goings-on from our New York City posse.

And now, I am off.  It has gotten very dark out, and the cafe-bar where I am composing is making me type by candle light while surrounded by very loud music.  Talk about a challenge for the senses.  More to come, and, as ever: Onward and upward!

Sweetie Dreams and Kaia: Wrestlers' Progress and Development, Vol 2

The next pair of wrestlers I will write about are Sweetie Dreams and Kaia.  These are two ladies I don't see very often, but who always keep an ear in for wrestle goings-on.  Both of these ladies are tall, and both have demonstrated a good ability to remember wrestling techniques well, even after only a little bit of exposure.

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Sweetie Dreams
Twitter: @sweetiedreamsbb
Sweetie's page at Doom Maidens

I first met Sweetie in 2015.  Like Aralia, Sweetie had first come to one of our beginner wrestler workshops and had no previous wrestling training.  I think she was just checking us out out of curiosity, and I'm not sure she expected wrestling to suit her as well as it did.  But something struck her, and she stuck around.

In 2016, that fateful year for the "new generation," Sweetie upped her training and started to learn grappling movement patterns that would become ingrained in her muscle memory.  She seemed to take a noticeably thoughtful approach to the wrestling training work, mentally processing in a markedly pensive way.  She had a natural physical strength and casual athleticism, which, as a beginner, may have been a double-edged boon/detriment to her for starting out; she could make things work without them being entirely spot on, due to having both the strength and natural movement savvy.  And she did seem aware of this -- she knew she could smash smaller and less-experienced opponents, but larger, physically stronger opponents presented a considerable challenge.  But that's par for the course as a beginner wrestler!

Sweetie had her first appearance on video in 2016, for our October 2016 Live Filming Event.  She had matches against Cat Wily and Kinzie Fire (both now retired), which she lost and won, respectively.  She continued training through 2016 and into 2017, facing a variety of opponents in video matches -- opponents that would match her in size and strength. She had matches where she completely smashed the opposition, and she had matches which were considerable uphill challenges.

Despite not having time available to enroll in and train formally at a grappling school, Sweetie has conducted herself commendably in competitive matches, even when down on the scoreboard.  While she hasn't had much time to drill and train, the muscle memory she built during the 2016-2017 period has stayed firm.  Even in her difficult matches against the likes of Amazon Annie, Layla Moore, and Bella Rush -- powerful ladies, all -- Sweetie held off the tide as long as she could, relying on those natural movement-smarts and muscle memory to avoid being utterly crushed, even though she was eventually defeated.

Into 2018 and 2019, Sweetie became very busy with other work, and so I saw her much less often for wrestling practices.  But she was still keeping her eye on the game and still able to come out for the occasion video filming.  I would see her at Lola Jean's wrestling parties, where she'd continue to show her wrestling enthusiasm, wrestling charm, wrestling inclination... and her favorite signature move: The Hand Smother.

In fact, it is unusual to have Sweetie Dreams without having a Hand Smother attack as well!  While she likely learned this tactic (the hard way) from Cat Wily, Sweetie put the hand smother to use quite widely and merrily in wrestle situations (and it was later adopted by Ursa, who had previously felt the merriness Sweetie's smother).  Not a bad move to be known for!

Anyway!  Just last week, Sweetie came over to join us for wrestling practice.  Things lined up well, and her schedule gave her a chance to jump back in with the Doom crew on the mats.  I will say, despite her time away, her strength, athleticism, and muscle memory are still great assets for her.  She was able to pick up where she left off, remembering her previous learnings very well and naturally.  She's definitely got an intuitive thing there for wrestling.

Anyway, again!  Competitive action and development, aside, Sweetie is also quite a ham for pro-style action, though our general release video productions have not shown this side of her very much.  Pro-style jobber-ing, I believe, seems like a great fit, with her personal style of expressiveness.  But in any case, continuing on -- even though I don't get to see Sweetie as often as I used to, I do I keep in touch with her remotely, and I get to see her for meeting, meet-ups, and parties.  Maybe we will all get a chance to see more of her again in the future, and perhaps with some pro-style action.

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Kaia


Kaia is the tallest lady we have wrestling in our home group right now, at 5'10" tall.

I met Kaia in 2016, if I recall correctly (such a year, 2016).  She had come on occasion to practice with our wrestling training group, but for several reasons, including travel distance and scheduling, she wasn't able to train with us very much.  However, she was getting some "mat time" with rough body play wrestle-y action at kink parties.  Wrestle play and nightlife do make for a fun and adventuresome combination, I must say.

Although she was only able to come over and practice with the group on occasion in the earlier years of 2016-2018, Kaia grabbed on to the material that she encountered, and she locked it into memory.  In fact, despite a lack of regular training beforehand, she was able to access techniques from her memory banks when she fought Ursa in 2018, her first official competitive one-on-one bout on video.

And just the other day, a few weeks ago, when she was over for practice (this is 2019 now), she spontaneously started to remember moves from back in her memory.  And not just mental memory, but muscle memory as well.  Recently, too, when I saw her wrestling at Lola's wrestling party in early May, I was impressed by her wrestling domination style -- is this intuitive?  Is it learned via osmosis?  Via observation?

Kaia's first video with us was a 7-Way Superheroine Bondage Wrestling Tourney, in March 2017.  I believe this was around the time she first officially decided to get more into modeling and public presence.  Of course, she wound up hogtied in round 1.  By Sarah Brooke.

A year passed before Kaia's second official video, which was the afore-mentioned competitive match against Ursa.  Kaia showed good instincts, mat sense, and tactical recall in that match, but Ursa had been training regularly for 6 months beforehand, and she had the definite training edge on Kaia there.

Now we are here in 2019, and Kaia has been having more time available to get back into wrestling training, practice, and mat-hitting action.  This past month, she has been coming to practices, working on her game, and re-discovering moves she had stored in her memory banks.  For instance, after hearing a brief mention of the mounted triangle, Kaia accessed her memory files and then proceeded to find her way into applying the hold.

Although Kaia has been around off-and-on for a while, she still seems like a "newcomer" in the wrestling arena.  And that's not a bad thing!  Let's go onward and upward and see where her wrestling journey goes!

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As always, thanks for reading!  I had to take a break between writing Sweetie's entry and writing Kaia's entry to go do some errands, so that interrupted my train of thought a bit.  But I hope everything read all right.

These are two ladies who I feel that we (as a wrestling group) and you (as an audience) have not seen very often.  A lot of the difficulty comes from challenges with scheduling.  But both ladies have a good physical sense, and it would be nice to see them try out other wrestling styles and genres, in addition to continuing to test themselves in competitive situations.  Maybe this summer will be a good time to build and grow and experiment and see how these two tall ladies continue to evolve as wrestlers!

Aralia and Lana: Wrestlers' Progress and Development Summary

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.

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.

Aralia

Twitter: https://twitter.com/araliadm

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lanaxluxor
Lana'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.

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!

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!

Hello 2019, from nearly mid-way. New wrestlers and Training

Oh, my poor blog!  I have been so unable to update for way too long!  Twitter has really taken over for me, posting via the Doom Maidens main account.

But I was just talking with newcomer Katarina this evening.  We were talking about blogging.  And I went back to check out my old blog.  And, it is so faithful and reliable, it is still here!  And it remembers everything!  It was so nice to come over and be able to read my very first entries on here from 2010.  And also to remember the "Post-Apocalyptic Thong" photoshoot we did with VeVe on the pier.

Anyway, things are happening.  Just not macro-blogging!  Sadness.

But the lady wrestlers have been training especially diligently this year, and I am so excited to see such progress and such hard work going in!  Hats off especially to our relative newcomers -- those who have been training for 2 years or less -- They have been putting in a lot of effort to catch up.

Wrestler Training!

I'd love to talk more about the wrestlers' training and progress!  I am deciding that the blog may be the medium to do that, since Twitter only allows for the short bursts of info, before everything gets lost in the shuffle.  So, yeah, indeed, maybe back to the long-form blog for talking about wrestler progress.

With that said, let's make a starting point for this!  Here are some candid shots of the ladies training in the park last week.  Here we have Aralia, Katarina, and Ursa.  They work on their Mount attacks and escapes... and they also pause for a moment for the camera!

 

The ladies have been drilling their skills for working from the top and bottom of a mounted pin.  Escapes are coming along, but everyone is looking forward to drilling attacks, of course.  

All righty, it has suddenly gotten very late at night here, so I will curtail.  But more to come!

Creating a Release Schedule! Going Forward 2018

After filming a bunch of footage this past weekend, I sat down with VeVe and talked about something that'd been on my mind for some time: the fact that it would be great if we had a dedicated release schedule of some definite sort.

What does that mean?

It means that we would release certain styles of videos on certain days of the month, predictably and on schedule.  This would help us as producers when it comes to scheduling shoots and organizing our release materials, and it would help fans to know when there will be updates to the particular styles they enjoy.

But what does that mean, specifically?

Specifically, we were thinking this:

- Dedicated release updates twice per week = at least 2 new releases per week.
- Dedicated releases will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays
- Tuesday releases will be on a set schedule by video genre
- Thursday releases will be a "Wild Card" (possibly by request)

Here's how it looks:

Example Month

1st Tuesday -- Mixed Wrestling / Anything Mixed (F/M)
2nd Tuesday -- F/F Bondage (bondage wrestling, scenario, etc)
3rd Tuesday -- F/F Competitive Wrestling
4th Tuesday -- F/F Pro-Style

That "Every Tuesday" schedule will be a definite and dedicated thing.  Every Tuesday, there will definitely be a release in the style listed on this schedule.

And Thursdays?

Thursdays are the "Wild Card" release days.  There will be a release, but the style is not currently set on a schedule.  It might be one of the styles listed for Tuesdays (Mixed, F/F Bondage, F/F Wrestling, F/F Pro), or it might be a miscellaneous fantasy fight style: Catball, "Woman to Woman," other martial arts, spy scenarios, agent duel, or other.

Thursday "Wild Card" releases might also be dictated by fan request, or if we make a call for suggestions if we have several options available.

This does not mean we are limited to only making releases on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Rather, even though we will always be making releases on Tuesdays and Thursdays (barring unforeseen circumstances, of course), we can also make spontaneous releases other times as well, if the timing is right and the stars are particularly aligned.  But this would be more rare.  The real focus will be Tues / Thurs.  I want to focus on those days so that we can really be on target with them.  It helps everyone be able to plan.

When Does This Start?

 This will officially start next Tuesday, August 21.  That is the 3rd Tuesday, which means a F/F competitive wrestling release.  For definite.

And what will Thursday, August 23 hold?  TBA.  But it will be a video from our FetCon 2018 filming (not a mixed video).  I will announce it on Twitter as soon as I can determine what it will be, but I have a good idea.

So, To Sum It Up...

There will definitely be 2 releases per week of some sort.  There will definitely be at least...

1 mixed video
1 F/F bondage-related video
1 F/F competitive wrestling match video
1 F/F Pro-style video

... released each month, on their respective Tuesdays.  There will also be the "Wild Card" releases on Thursdays (could be mixed or F/F, of any genre).

I will also note that sometimes a "release" might be a multi-video / multi-match set.  In which case, the Set and the individuals will all be released at the same time.

Onward and Upward...

... into the new season!  We currently have about a dozen videos to release from filming at FetCon this weekend, so we will get started with those to try out our new schedule.

Of course, once we are back in New York City with the local wrestlers and visiting guests, we will be back to filming even more!  There is SO much yet to do and so many ideas and match-ups on the To Do list.  Here's to moving the queue along as quickly as possible.  We may move our footage from this past weekend along faster than the Tuesday/Thursday schedule, so just a heads-up there.  I may make a separate blog entry with a list of these, to help keep people keep track.

We will definitely keep people informed about the Release Schedule developments via Twitter.  I will work on the FetCon 2018 releases as quickly as possible.  And we will look forward to working with the Tuesday / Thursday Definite Release Schedule.

Stay tuned.  More to come.  Thanks for reading, and I hope that was informative!

Thoughts and opinions welcome!  E-mail us at:  orders (at) doommaidens (dot) com  

Webcast Transcript: Getting Started with Ursa, VeVe, Hanz

Last month, we recorded a little webcast featuring usual hosts VeVe and Hanz, along with special guest Ursa Fierce.  During this webcast, Ursa talked about some of her first impressions with getting into the wrestling scene.  VeVe and Hanz also commented on their early entries into the wrestling scene.

Presented here is a LONG transcript of the relevant dialogue.  I will attempt to title the various topic-shift sections in case you'd like to skim it.

Here is the hour-long video recording, and below that is the LONG text transcript of the relevant, non-tangent portions.

.......................

Ursa's First Impressions

VeVe:
So, we were going to speak a little bit about being a new wrestler, new-ish, coming into the session and video world now. It's cool because we have someone who is experiencing being new to wrestling now, and 2 people who've experienced a while ago and can refer to earlier experiences for a bit more perspective now. [...]

How are you finding entering the wrestling scene, Ursa?

Ursa:
Can we break it down?

VeVe:
So how did it come to pass that you got involved with this anyway?

Ursa:
It's a been like a slow approach for me. I joke that I'm very cautious about doing things, and then I jump in 100%.

With wrestling, I went to a beginner workshop a couple years ago at least, and before that I had a boyfriend who was a wrestler, and we would tussle around a bit, which was really fun.  But also I got really annoyed that I couldn't really match him at all, which was somewhat fun, but at a point I was like, eh, hm, I'm tired of this. So I went to a beginner workshop that you all were having, and it was crazy to me.

It was crazy. I grew up as a theatre kind, as a musician, as a swimmer, which is the least contact of all sports, you're not even in contact with the ground.

 Anyhow, so it was just crazy touching people in new ways, and having my weight be an advantage, where in other sports, and in life as a woman, you try to make your body smaller, not overwhelm people. So being in wrestling, especially this kind of wrestling, is a total flip of the script where that's concerned, and that's been pretty fun.

Hanz:
Were you nervous about it at first, going from the beginner workshop and jumping into the videos and having a public persona?

Ursa:
Yeah, totally, I was terrified. Just going to the first workshop was kind of terrifying. And then I was like, oh these people are nice, I don't know about this wrestling thing, but I like the people. And then I kind of slowly came back, once in a while, for over a year, and then...

The video making I was nervous about, but even more than that, once I started practicing and then I had my first competitive match, that was maybe the most nervous I'd been so far. And it was against -- it was from the live event last fall -- with Kari. Well, that was that one I was --

Hanz:
That was your first one?

Ursa:
Well, first, I fought Aqua X before that. But she's very small and inexperienced, so it was like this will probably be ok. And it was still hard match.

But then I'd been training a bit and I was going to be fighting Kari. And at that point I felt like I actually had some skin in the game. 'Cause I was like I know a couple things, like if I lose this, then that'll be terrible. And it's two 8 or 10 minute rounds. I think it was 8 that day. And I was like, oh, that's really long. And it's live, so there's that added pressure. So I was super nervous for that.

VeVe: 
That's like how you felt going into the Aqua match vs the Kari match. But then doing the Aqua match vs the Kari match, how does that compare?

Ursa:
The Aqua match -- she was very squirmy and energetic, and I had to keep moving the whole time. And I learned a lot. I think we both learned a lot through doing during the match, which I see happening with other beginning wrestlers: someone tries a thing, and you're like oh that worked for them, and so you try it on them. Or you're getting somewhere with one thing, and then they adjust. So I feel like I learned a lot, but had to keep the momentum up.

By the time I wrestled Kari, she had already wrestled Sweetie Dreams, I think, and maybe someone else also? And she was pretty beat [tired]. So, I went in really, really nervous, and then as we got going, I was like, oh, she's a lot lower energy at this point, so how do I navigate that? She was doing a lot of turtle defense [on elbows and knees in a ball], which I had never seen before.

She's like 280 lbs maybe, so to break down that kind of turtle, I was just hanging on her, like I don't know what I'm doing. But trying to work what I'd learned without -- I don't know -- she's a visitor, she's visiting, I don't want to make it horrible for her. If that makes sense. So, they were different matches, for sure.

How about you guys, do you remember?

Hanz and VeVe Give Their First Impressions

Hanz:
 I remember. I wore a mask for the first couple years. That's how nervous I was about doing videos. 

VeVe:
Yeah, the first video match that I did was against Veronica Vicious, who was a founding member of the original Doom Maidens, back in the day.

 When we first started out -- doing videos was something that Hanz had to be our consultant about, because we hadn't quite figured out how to do that fro ourselves. So, Hanz was the cameraman of the hour. And we didn't have a format, we were just going to try this for the first time ever, and we went, I think, for 30 minutes straight, or maybe there was a short break. But it was exhausting, it was wild. 
Veronica and I were both really new to wrestling at the time, and something that I think people only learn later is conserving energy at all. So that was 100% full tilt the whole time, just like murderous. 

And I think, you know, it was probably a really exciting match, looking back, but it's also one that I'm really glad has mostly sort of disappeared from the internet because one of the things I also hadn't really learned yet in my novicedom was: I wore this awful tank top, tie dye, and I had an awful haircut. It was very learning experience.

Ursa: 
Had you been training BJJ or any sort of wrestling before that?

VeVe:
That was before I started training formally, but when we were just first founding Doom Maidens, we were doing our own practice sessions. So there were a couple people who knew a bit more than I did. So we were showing up for these little get-together self-training. ... So, we knew just that much, a little bit.

Ursa:
 Just enough to be dangerous to each other?

VeVe:
 I think maybe knowing almost anything can help be a little less dangerous. I know the first couple times I wrestled I did jump in with zero training whatsoever, and one of the first things I thought: I should start learning stuff to be less dangerous.

On Learning and Improving and Trying New Things

Ursa:
 Yeah. It's funny how just a little bit of knowledge takes you a long way. My first-FIRST competitive match was with Sweetie Dreams, and I had no idea what I was in for.

VeVe:
 Oh, I remember. That was shocking to you.

Ursa: It was shocking to me! Cause I had only wrestled her before in practice, and wrestled other people who were very kindly calibrating their skill level to mine. And so, I was like, wait, but it's a video -- you actually use all your skill? I thought it was going to be acting. Just a little bit. So I didn't know how much I didn't know.

 She got me with so many smothers, so I was like, oh my god, I can't breathe, rather than I shall turn my head now and be able to breathe.

VeVe:
That's a great thing about doing matches: you learn what you need to work on. It's also a great thing about when you're new: you can learn something every day that's super helpful. Whereas, when you've been doing it for a long time, it takes so much more investment to make small improvement. When you know nothing, everything is a giant improvement. It's a fun time. You really see advancement quickly.

Hanz:
 It's true. At first you're just improving by leaps and bounds, and then it gets to a point where you really have to study. Heh.

Ursa:
 And you're also just improving incrementally at that point, too, right? It's like [hand gesture curve]? 

Hanz:
 I've still got plenty to learn.

 VeVe: [to Hanz]
We tease you that you neither train nor ever change anything.

 Hanz:
 I don't.

 VeVe:
So you can get better at the 2 things you do.

 Hanz:
 Yep. Scissors and arm triangles.

 VeVe:
 You're the same wrestler every time.

 Hanz: 
 But they work.

 Ursa:
 You just rely on everyone else to change.

 Hanz: 
I'm the video game play who plays the fighting game and just hits "B" [button] all the time. Just like a constant low kick, and the other person gets pissed, like: why don't you do any real moves? Well, why don't you stop the low kick first? [...]

 Ursa:
So Hanz, you started masked?

 Hanz:
 I did. That was the only way I could convince myself to do videos and put them out there. Since then, I've actually gone and taken most of those down and away. After a while, I didn't like the way the mask looked, and as a fan as well of mixed videos, I always like mixed videos where you can see both people's faces, and see the emotions of the match. The mask was kind of taking away from that. 

Ursa:
 I've also heard people say that if the man is masked and is beaten, then he has no skin in the game. Right? You can't be properly humiliated if you're masked.

 Hanz:
 It's like a shield to hide behind. No just out there. But yeah, I finally decided to do one without the mask. It was actually for you guys, against Orlandoe, and I remember being really nervous about it, like, oh, I'm going to do a non-masked one. So we did the match, and I saw it when it was done, watched it, then I was like, yes, this looks better, I like it better. I'm just going to do this from now on. But it's scary at first. A little bit.

 VeVe: 
 What was the tipping or trigger point thing that made you say: I'm going to try this?

 Hanz: 
 I think I just got to the point where I would see -- cause I was doing videos for my own store at that point -- and they all had the mask on, and I would watch them back, and I would be like: I would like this video better, like -- I like stuff about my early videos, but the one thing I would change is I wish I wasn't wearing the mask. And also, it was hard to breathe in that thing. And I would breathe loudly. It was kind of Darth Vader-ish. So.... which was kind of distracting as well. So I was just like, you know, I'm going try it without the mask and see how it looks.

 Ursa:
 You've never gone back...

 Hanz:
 Nope.

 Ursa:
 Did you ever think you'd be making the kind of videos you've been making lately?

 Hanz:
 Ha. No, I didn't. So that's another whole step. Completely unmasked. That was actually less scary than taking the mask off the face. That was a much less scary step than removing the mask originally.

VeVe:
 There's nothing more you can do about identity after you've shown the face.

 Hanz:
 Yeah. The mask is like your face is out there, and this is what everyone sees. [...]

 Ursa: 
 With the sexier (unclothed) stuff -- I would love to feel like I could do that, but there's so much stigma around it, I think especially for women. There are plenty of women around who do it and are amazing, but, personally, that feel like a scarier step for me than doing regular sexy stuff with clothes.
Body Positivity, Confidence, and Being Yourself

Hanz:
 You're always afraid people are going to shame you for it, right? But it can be a very body-positive kind of thing. That's the way I think about it.

 Just sort of, growing up, it was always this shame with nudity or eroticism. And to get to just do it and put it out there is kind of freeing in a way. Just be like: no, this is a good thing, and I shouldn't have to be afraid that someone's going to make me feel ashamed of it. Like they shouldn't be able to make me feel ashamed of it.

 So. Yeah. I thought about it for a long time: do I really want to do this? It's kind of a big step, and once I came to the conclusion, it's like: you grew up feeling ashamed of this, so this is kind of like stepping away from that, which is nice.

 Ursa: 
 It can be empowering. Just talking about body-positivity, a lot of this wrestling has been therapeutic for me in a way, in that I'm like, yeah, this is my body, and it's not just thin, fit who can show their bodies in bikinis. I can also, and it's going to be wonderful. And it's out there for the world, and that's how it is. Fully own it. It can be good.

 VeVe: 
 You can get a totally realistic assessment "by doing" of what you're body can do. And here's how everything feels, and here are my abilities, and here's me up against another person. And I think a lot of so many assumptions are out there. Even just today, after I've been doing this for some many years, I went into a session and got: "you're pretty strong for a girl." Just "by doing," people find out --

 Ursa: 
Have you seen my muscles? Have you seen them? They're still muscles, even though I have tits. It's crazy.

 VeVe: 
 They work, and they move, and they do things. And by wrestling, you get rid of some of those assumptions. I can't do this. I can! I'm doing this right now.

 Ursa:
 I think it's something that you've challenged me a lot on. I'm like: my body doesn't do that! And you're like: just maybe keep trying. And then I'm like: oh, I can do it. It just took practice. Because my body's used to sitting at a desk and not squiggling under a human.

 Also, it's so nice to get all of the positive reinforcements from fans. So when I meet people being like: oh my god, you're so gorgeous. And I'm like: yes I am, and people in the mid-west never appreciated me. I'm like: I was wasted on everyone else, and now I'm finally getting the recognition I feel like I deserved all along, and it's so nice. It's so nice getting that. So, thank you. And I'm like: I know, I know, and it's nice that you know too.

 VeVe: 
 That's one thing I always say when I have a muscle worship fan. I'll get a couple questions, like: do you like being worshipped? I'm like: yeah, of course! And: "I so like your muscles" or "I so like your body." and I'm like: That's really nice, because I do! And I put a lot of work into doing it. So it's nice to know other people like what I like about myself. And that's pretty cool.

 Ursa: 
 And I feel like in this work too, it's sort of a reflection -- and I'm going to get a little philosophical here -- but I feel like there's a fan for everything, there's a fan for every body type. Your fans may not be the same as my fans. But really, the more you are yourself, people like it. And I feel like that plays out in the real world too, in that you're like: well, if there's everyone who likes my body, maybe I don't need to try to be so one way or another in the world, and I can just be myself and somebody will like that.

It's a nice little playing out of that theory. Because people talk about, you know, oh, well, just be yourself, go all Hamlet, "This about all, to thine own self be true," but it's nice in this work to actually see that play out. And the more you are yourself, the more you share of yourself, people are like oh my god, you're amazing, and getting that immediate feedback, you're like, huh, yeah, all right, great! 

Hanz:
Do you actually find in doing this that the confidence [you build] -- do you find that crossing over into your non-wrestling day-to-day life?

 Ursa:
 Yeah, I think it feed back and forth, you know. I think me feeling confident and good about myself allows me to do wrestling. And I think the more I do it, the more feedback I get that comes back and feeds the other. So I think it all kind of builds. And it gives me more confidence, and having more confidence gives me more wrestling mojo --

 Hanz:
 I've told a few people that part of the thing that made me jump off -- because I've always wanted to do this and try this, but I was always hesitant and nervous -- but the thing I always think to myself: when I get to the end of my life, when I'm in my deathbed, my worst fear would be looking back on my life and thinking there are all these things I wanted to try and never did it because I was too scared. If I could be in that moment and say: there are all these things I wanted to try and I tried then, even though I was scared and I did it anyway, at that point I would be happy and look back on my life.

 Ursa:
 No regrets.

 Hanz:
 Yeah, that was a faster way to say that.

 Ursa:
I feel like another thing I've been learning in my own life and in wrestling is to deal with discomfort. Which I feel like in the US and Western civilization we're taught that if something's uncomfortable, you shy away from it, you don't do it. And just learning to be like: ah, I'm being choked right now, or, like in our match, I'm being body scissored right now, very hard, and I could tap right now, or if I just chill out, I could probably get out of this. So, that's a nice --

 Hanz:
 You're very resistant to my body scissors.

 Ursa:
 Yes! I'm so happy. I actually said I was injured from that match, and I was afraid it was from the body scissors, but it was just a muscle thing. But at first I was like: oh no, did I resist too much? I just resisted appropriately.

 Hanz: 
 I always try to put those things on slow, you know. So, rib stuff...

 Ursa:
 I'm not saying it was pleasant. So, when you put the video out, and people buy it, and you listen to the noises I was making, I think you'll be able to tell that was not pleasant. I was like, what are these noises coming out of me? They sound really sad and unhappy.

 VeVe:
 Then afterwards, maybe some happy noises for escaping...

 Ursa:
Yeah. Like so many people have fallen victim to your body scissors. You know, it's kind of a cheap shot. It's very effective. But it doesn't feel like it should be as good as it is, but it's very --

 Hanz: 
 It's my version of a low kick.

 Ursa: 
 Yeah. It's pretty bad.

Ursa's Intro into the Video Realm

 VeVe [to Ursa]:
 I wanted to ask you, what was the thing where you went from coming to training sessions and hovering on the edges, what was the catalyst to jumping in and doing the videos?

 Ursa:
 I think it was actually the other way for me. I think I was attracted to the video work. I was like: yeah, I want to be a star, put me on camera. And then I got thoroughly beaten, and I was like: hmmm, I guess I'm going to have to do some work if I don't want this to happen all the time.

 So videos have kind of been a motivation for me to train, more than the other way around. I had desire before [to train], but I wasn't making it a priority. And having the videos as a thing that's like, oh you have this thing coming up on this date, makes me more accountable to coming to practices. 

Hanz:
 That is a good motivation: oh I have a competitive match coming up, on this date, vs this person -- 

Ursa:
 I don't want to look like a fool. I don't want to submit to these body scissors, so I better learn how to get out of them. When is that coming out, by the way [Ursa vs Hanz]? I'm curious to see it. And VeVe wasn't around for it.

 VeVe:
 No, I was away on tour, but I've heard a bit.

 Ursa:
 I feel like for a novice I did pretty well.

 Hanz:
 You really did, actually. It was a tough match.

 Ursa: 
 You came out hard, too.

 VeVe:
 He was feeling threatened.

 Ursa:
 Yeah, apparently. It was not just aggressive cuddling.

 Hanz:
 It's a little different from those rare times when I'm actually at practice. It's a different sort of energy, so...

 Ursa:
 The question is: what was the motivation to start videoing? I've always been interested in fetish work, to be honest, and it's something that always sounded fun to me, but I do have hang-ups, like any body else, or any body with my upbringing maybe. And this seemed like a really fun and safe way to get into it.

 But I don't know if there was a moment. I do remember I was like: oh tell me more. We had brunch, we met for brunch at a very busy restaurant-bar. We discussed fetish work. And I was like: ok, I really still don't understand this, but I'm not going to understand it unless I try it. So... This wrestling stuff has definitely been a challenge for me, and I like challenges. And so, this feels scary to me, so I think I need to do it.

 Hanz: 
 Rising to the challenge.

 Ursa:
 Yeah.

 VeVe: 
We had thing about just getting started: doing competitive matches vs doing domination or fantasy stuff. This is something I'm still going back and forth on, as we often get new people getting involved. I'm like: what's the best way to start people out? And I imagine it does vary for different people, like [for example,] Oh, I'm super comfortable as a physical person jumping in, or I'm super comfortable as an actress, or whatever.

 But how was that for you, being like: here's a competitive match where you're going to fight somebody. Or: here's a scenario or a role, or here's some body to dominate?

 Ursa:
 Yeah. So, for me, knowing so little about wrestling when I started, I was like: I don't know how to dominate someone with wrestling. I don't know what a submission is, I don't know what looks convincing and what doesn't. So, competitive was a better way for me to start, because then you just go and do what you can.

 If you're dominating, you're more in charge, the focus is on you. You have to know what you're doing a little bit. And I wasn't ready to do that in a wrestling context. So, competitive was the better way for me to enter. Until I knew a little bit more of what I'm doing. Honestly, and to know what bodies can take. Doing a little research and development.

 VeVe:
I know when I started out, I thought that we were going to be like all really known for being super real and competitive all the time. And that was one of the first conceptual organizing principles for us. But as soon as we started doing that and people started to see and notice even a little bit, fans write in and suggestions come in, and it turns out that competitive was not the only thing that people wanted. So it was a great way to start out and to learn a foundation of moves and skills and learn that they can be applied in so many ways.

 Ursa:
 I'm kind of at a 180 now in that I'm like: competitive, that sounds hard! And a little more nerve-wracking, because you do have skin in the game, you have to prove yourself, or take a little bit of an ego bashing, or a physical bashing that goes with the ego bashing.

 So, the more I know now, I'm like: yeah, let me dominate that person, that sounds great! I really actually want to do more scenario customs with more plot, and femme fatale, and assassins, and I want my fingers in that. That sounds so fun to me. If anyone's listening who wants them, let me know...

 Hanz:
It's good you kind of start out with a base thing, the one thing, and slowly start branching out into other styles or other things. It's always kind of fun to see people's personalities develop that way too. It's like: oh, it started with competitive wrestling, and bondage wrestling...

and, to the point where it's like: there's an artwork of me and you [VeVe] that somebody made... it's like a poster. And it's really cool. Wow, somebody drew this and made this picture of us from, you know, that they took from a video still from the end of one of our bondage wrestling matches.

 Ursa:
 I love fan art.

 Hanz:
 It's like influencing people. Influencing other people's creativity... 

Ursa:
 Or inspiring people, even.

Ideas and Inspiration

 Hanz:
 It's pretty cool to think about that, the stuff that goes out there and inspires other people to create things.

 VeVe:
 I've had a very interesting that that happens with people sending in custom video requests. And sometimes then you make the video and, if they agree it's ok, we'll put that out to the public, and other people will see that and send in custom requests based on the other person's requests, and they'll almost get into a dialogue, tweaking the scenario... among multiple people.

 Ursa:
 Oh, they don't know it, but they're part of the story. Oh, interesting.

 VeVe:
And sometimes the character created by one person gets put into someone else's thing, same costume or this story, this character persona situation, is going to morph again over here. I don't think any of the guys have necessarily realized, but I'm sure if they ever met up, they could write wonderful collaborative fiction together.

 Ursa:
 Man, I have so many idea. If I had a camera man and a co-star at the ready, man, you would see some crazy stuff, world. I've got ideas for days.

 Hanz: 
That could probably be arranged.

 VeVe: 
 I think you've kind of got that. Ursa: I have lots of ideas.

 Hanz:
 You should make some of them. Put them out there, see what comes back. Ursa: I'm always curious how things will be received, too.

 VeVe:
 You could find out that people might start feedbacking. Just put out one kernel and see what -- 

Ursa:
 Ok, this would take more people, but, on the train on the way here -- do you want to hear my idea? So, this was a silly one that I would call "Ursa-locks and the Three Chairs." In which I would be a Goldilocks character and try three different men's faces to sit on, to find the one that's just right. 

Hanz:
 Wow.

 Ursa:
 It'd be so cute, right? These are the kinds of things I think of on the train. One would be too pointy, maybe. One would be too... flat? One would be just right, and I'd spend the most time there until maybe I broke it... I don't know...

 Hanz:
 .. broke their face...

 Ursa:
 ...Yeah... We talked about having a very proper tea party, but having faces to sit on, instead of chairs. 

VeVe:
 I really want to do that.

 Ursa:
 It would be so cute. I have such cute tea dresses. I want that to happen. ... I've also been seeing other people doing some giantess stuff and some remote controlling stuff. The mesmerizing sort of things. And that stuff looks really fun.

 VeVe: 
And some of that you can do without any camera person... POV.

Fielding a Question

 Ursa:
 Do we have any Twitter questions?

 VeVe:
 I know we have the question as to whether you've done any arm wrestling.

 Ursa:
 I have done some armwrestling. Lana Luxor and I did a 5-minute armwrestling video. And, friend, she is so F-ing strong. She's got built arms. It was a battle. So I did some armwrestling with her. I had a double-session with Sweetie and a very large man, and I don't think we did armwrestling, but we did tried to hang off of his arms, which was fun, and double bearhugged him.. I've done a lot more bearhugs as far as feats of strength go. I've been doing a lot of bearhugging, which is fun. Hanz and I have an unnamed date for a bearhug-off. Less armwrestling, though, I'm curious, now that I've been training a little more. How strong I am...

 VeVe:
 You've shot with Amazon Annie, who is a bit of an armwrestling champ. But you didn't take her own...

 Ursa:
 I did a lift and carry with her, where she lifted me, which was so fun. And impressive. She was dressed as either superwoman or wonder woman, and she had these 4 inch heels, I was like: I can't get up there, you are too tall now. So she took them off.

 [Regarding questions], you can always find me on the Doom Maidens website and e-mail me questions. And maybe we will talk about them on a separate podcast.

 VeVe: 
 Well, we've discussed your entry onto the wrestling scene and tonight your entry onto the podcast as well. Welcome Ursa.

 Ursa:
 Thank you. Everyone I've worked with has been so nice, and it's been really nice coming into this very accepting, and warm, encouraging environment. Except for Hanz. ha ha.

 Hanz:
 I do get a lot of smack talk.

 VeVe: 
 It's not all from Lana, either.

 Hanz:
 It's not all from Lana. But she is relentless.

 Ursa:
 Yeah, I heard that you have to do more squats now, something about Queen Beth.

 VeVe: 
I heard she sent you some intimidation photos.

 Hanz:
 She sent me a photo of her from Monday, of her posing over the final score. Kind of a calling-out. 

Ursa:
 I'd watch that match. Queen Beth vs Hanz. But the Monday matches, whew [Sweetie, Lana, Taylor, Queen Beth]. I was tired after it, and I didn't even wrestle. 

VeVe: 
All right, we're going to sign off. Hope you enjoyed.

 Ursa: 
Thanks for tuning in.

The Punishment Round! What about it?

The agony of defeat -- literally!  Let's talk about the Punishment Round!

First off: 

What is the Punishment Round?  

I hope most of you readers may know, but if by some chance you're not quite sure, I will enlighten you!

The Punishment Round is a special "bonus round" that we added to the ends of our competitive matches, as of November 2016.  This special round takes place after the match winner has been declared, and it is a chance for the winner to punish and torment the defeated opponent for losing.  The punishment usually takes the form of the winner's favorite wrestling holds, which the winner can now apply on the loser, unresisted, as hard or as long as she or he desires.

Sometimes the punishment-administering winners will lock on their holds and squeeze/crank until the loser taps out due to the pain.  The winner may tighten the same hold again and again to make the loser submit over and over.  Sometimes the winner locks on a hold and uses it as a chance to pose with the loser, or to enjoy the view of the loser's discomfort, or even to contort the loser into a humiliating position that doesn't necessarily cause a tap-out.

It's freedom of choice for the winner!  She can choose whatever suits her mood: classic "underground wrestling" style holds (ex: scissors and facesitting), competitive-style submission holds (ex: arm locks, triangles, etc), pro-style wrestling holds (ex: Camel Clutch, Lotus Lock, etc), or something unusually creative.

Why a Punishment Round?

The original concept for our Punishment Round was part of a special commission request from a patron.  This patron had sponsored a competitive match between VeVe Lane and Miss Scorpion in November 2016.  However, he had requested that instead of the usual 20-minute long wrestling match that, rather, the ladies have a 15-minute match with a 5-minute "Punishment Round."

The reason for including the Punishment Round was that the patron wanted to see a truly competitive match, but he also wanted to see certain holds being applied flawlessly and in a prolonged fashion.  He knew that in a competitive bout, the submission holds could be unpredictable or applied too quickly to get a good look at.  And so, enter the Punishment Round: a chance for the winner, who competitively fought her way to victory, to savor the moment and take her sweet time applying "picture perfect" holds on her defeated rival.  It was like an extended victory posing session... except that it wasn't just posing; indeed, the holds here were intended to make the loser submit.

Other fans saw this Punishment Round and were so pleased by the idea that they requested we include Punishment Rounds in every competitive match, both F/F and mixed, going forward.  And we were glad to add the Punishment Round in as a new fixture!

(granted, if a visiting wrestler is opposed to having a Punishment Round in a competitive bout, we can also waive it.  However, almost every competitive match since the initial introduction has had a Punishment Round)

Who's the Most Punishing?

It does certainly seem that wrestlers with the most experience administering Punishment Rounds are the most punishing!  

I've found it amusing to watch how wrestlers develop as "punishers," from their very first time administering a Punishment Round and onward to their subsequent instances.  I really took note of this when a fan requested a compilation of Ursa's Punishment Rounds.  I dove in to pull together the footage for a compilation, and I was struck by Ursa's style development between her first Punishment Round and her most recent.  As her confidence and experience increased, so did her comfort with sitting harder into the holds and toying more with her opponents.

So, do people with more wins deal out more punishing Punishment Rounds?  Maybe!  For the most part, you can say yes.  Take VeVe for example: lots of wins to gain her lots of chances to administer Punishment Rounds... and her Punishment Rounds can be brutal with tight holds, hard squeezing, repeated squeezing, making losers count out their submissions, bullying, taunting, and general unpleasantness for the defeated opponents!

Granted, there are exceptions.  For instance, inexperienced punishers who impressed me include Queen Beth and Rachel DD.  

Queen Beth got to administer her very first Punishment Round in her second video match ever.  She'd suffered through punishment from VeVe only days before she got to turn things around and dish out the punishment to Taylor.  

Beth doesn't yet have a wide vocabulary of the classic "underground wrestling" holds or pro-style holds that are commonly used to display or humiliate one's defeated opponent, so she instead improvised to suitably flaunt her victory.  She used a mixture of competitive-style holds combined with strutting, smack talking, gloating, making her opponent massage her, and making her opponent into her throne.  Quite queenly!

Rachel DD also ran a nice, though somewhat atypical, Punishment Round in her victory over Kim Chi (aka Michi).  Rachel is a wrestler who doesn't get many opportunities to savor Punishment Rounds; rather, she's more often the one on the receiving end of them!

Now, this instance with Rachel was unusual in that it too place *before* we started doing Punishment Rounds!  This match was in July 2016.  It was a particular custom commission that had request a victory round for the winner.  Rachel pulled out the hard-fought win and then impressed us with a nicely-done Punishment Round involving foot domination, tickling, and lovely taunting.  She hasn't had very many other opportunities since then, but this one did strike me as both impressive and surprising!

Where do Punishment Rounds go from here?

I'm personally fond of the Punishment Rounds, as they have been developing.  I am especially fond of Punishment Rounds where the victor is satisfied and confident and knows what she wants!  

It's also amusing when fans suggest or request certain holds be incorporated into Punishment Rounds and then the victorious wrestler picks up on the suggestion.  It's almost like an unspoken shout-out.  Aralia's Camel Clutch is a good example of this.  It was a fan suggestion that really stuck with her.  And the Camel Clutch has now becoming one of her signature punishing moves.

Aside from fan suggestions, we tend to let the victorious wrestlers have total free reign during their Punishment Rounds.  They choose their own holds, their own personal tone.  They decide in the moment how they want to interact with their defeated opponent, whether they will use long holds or many holds.

In a way, the Punishment Round is as much a test for the winner as it is for the loser!  The winner gets a chance to show off her dominating abilities, or perhaps to try them out for the first time, or to develop them with each new Punishment Round.  She's on the spot after a bout of competitive physical exertion.  She was just priorly showing her stuff in the fight, and now she gets to show her stuff, in a different mode, in the bonus round.

But anyway...

Punishment Rounds are here to stay!  A victory lap, a bonus round, a chance to show-off, a chance to hit the bull's eye with fans' hold suggestions, a extended victory posing session, a chance to make you opponent regret whatever mistakes she or he made during the match.  The Punishment Round: it's not just the thrill of victory; it's what you do with that victory that counts!