Lionesses of Wrestling - From The Ground Up

Blake Trask · June 26, 2020

Card for Lionesses of Wrestling VIII: Live! <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49019" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Ronin vs. Leftenant Jennings Dionne Grimes [New Signing] vs. Svenja Schwartz Blue Ranger vs. Shinobi Carrie Cornwall vs. Countess w/High Executioner Lottie Lace vs. Assassin</div></blockquote>

smw88 · June 26, 2020

Ronin vs. Leftenant Jennings

Dionne Grimes [New Signing] vs. Svenja Schwartz

Blue Ranger vs. Shinobi

Carrie Cornwall vs. Countess w/High Executioner

Lottie Lace vs. Assassin

Zergon · June 26, 2020

Ronin vs. Leftenant Jennings

Ronin is slightly more established so I go with her

Dionne Grimes [New Signing] vs. Svenja Schwartz

Svenja get a bounce back win after two title losses

Blue Ranger vs. Shinobi

Not sure on this one but Shinobi eels like she´s slightly higher on pecking order.

Carrie Cornwall vs. Countess w/High Executioner

Countess has a feud going with Abbi so she picks some steam here.

Lottie Lace vs. Assassin

Between Ronin, Shinobi and Assassin, I kind of get mixed up who has done what so far but I still go with real person over cosplay one here.

Teasenitryn · June 26, 2020

Oooooh the prissy little run to mummy cowbag...someone needs to give her all she can eat on knuckle sarny (sandwich).

Ronin vs. Leftenant Jennings

Dionne Grimes [New Signing] vs. Svenja Schwartz

Blue Ranger vs. Shinobi

Carrie Cornwall vs. Countess w/High Executioner

Lottie Lace vs. Assassin

Blake Trask · July 2, 2020

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We were settling into a routine for our weekends, becoming actually kind of efficient when it came to getting into the youth centre and getting everything set up. Nicky was quickly making himself indispensable with how much he was running the show. My debt to him was starting to run way past a couple of pizzas; he hadn’t signed up for hospital runs, that was for sure.

In the favour economy, I was becoming a big time loanee. Shouldn’t lose track of that.

Still, I couldn’t deny the sense of pride I felt at everything coming together. The machine that we were making wasn’t fuelled by Debra’s money, it was fuelled by the hard work of my friends. We were going to make a real go of this sooner or later. We had the commitment and the belief: you could feel it in the room as six of us assembled the ring together. Big things could come from small beginnings. Bruce the Giant didn’t pop out of his mum seven feet tall—I kinda winced a little at my own metaphor—and even if we weren't going to be a promotional Bruce, we could at least become like, uhh… a Troy Tornado? Or maybe like a Cherry Bomb. This one was getting away from me a bit.

I looked around at the others in our little locker room and found I was actually smiling, just slightly. Sally was strapping up her kickpads. Lottie was already changed, but doing some light stretches. Dione was chatting with Svenja, discussing a couple of spots for their match. Wrestlers getting ready. Crazy how something so small could feel like a dream come true.

The door from the side room opened and Abbi came through, partially changed into her Ranger outfit, the top half of the bodysuit folded down to her waist. The getup was apparently hot as hell, so she didn’t like putting the whole thing on until just beforehand. She had a pretty bulky sports top on, but it was nice to see her be a bit more confident showing more of her body.

And, huh, speaking of. “You been working out?” I called across to her. She smiled shyly.

I’d caught Rajni’s attention. She looked over too, then whistled. “Hey, looking good, Abbi. Or should I say Abs?”

“Wh—what?” Abbi turned bright red. Rajni cackled. “I just—”

“She’s just teasing. And she’s going to stop,” I said, shooting a warning glare. Rajni held up her hands. “You are actually looking really good though, Abbi.”

“Thanks.” She looked down, hugging her arms self consciously to herself.

I touched her on the shoulder and she jumped. “I’ll always be proud of you.”

“Yeah, same,” said Rajni. “Now, kiss!”

Oh someone was gonna get decked in a minute. I grabbed her in a headlock, and we fell off into a bunch of scrapping.

Later on, as the show was running, Abbi appeared at my arm.

“Thank you,” was all she said.

“Anytime.”

We stood together until it was time for her match.

Blake Trask · July 2, 2020

Lionesses of Wrestling VIII: Live!

Saturday, week 4 February 2020

Gloucester Street Youth Centre

Attendance: 50

Not broadcast

Commentary: None

<ul><li>Wandering samurai versus naval officer, no, it’s not a convention, so it must be a LoW show. Ronin largely has her way with Jennings, who gets beaten around the ring courtesy of the masked woman’s striking. Jennings manages to catch a kick and then trip the standing leg, but already banged up, her own offence lacks the potency of her opponent’s. Jennings lands awkwardly off a suplex, hurting herself, and Ronin quickly unleashes a roundhouse kick then covers. — F+ </li></ul>

<ul><li>Ronin gets the microphone. Having spent the last few weeks training, she returns to find… a complete lack of competition. She is unimpressed by what Jennings has to offer. LoW needs to do better next time. — E+ </li></ul>

<ul><li>One arm in a sling, Samba Barnes comes to the ring in order to conduct an interview with Svenja Schwartz, the recently vanquished challenger. Samba pokes some gentle fun at Svenja failing to capture the championship, but Schwartz isn’t having any of that and angrily snaps back, claiming to have been cheated out of a victory, not least because Sakuyama failed to respect her right to the title. Samba hardballs the question that if she deserves the belt, how has she failed to win it twice in a row? Svenja suggests that she stop talking before she breaks her other arm. The argument is interrupted by a black woman with long, puffy hair. She’s Dionne Grimes and Schwartz is a whole lot of hot air. Grimes and Schwartz rag on each other, and Svenja promises Grimes that she’ll regret this interruption. — E </li></ul>

<ul><li>The match that follows is a solid one. Dionne has some flash and sizzle and the energy is a little much for Schwartz out of the gate. Schwartz has to duck out to ringside, and then starts to play the stalling game, picking and choosing her moments. Grimes starts to get frustrated and that’s when she leaves herself open. Schwartz begins picking her apart patiently, much to the crowd’s ire, and, flagging, Grimes is sent staggering with a counterpunch to the face, gets dropped to her knees with a low kick, then falls victim to a curbstomp for the loss. — E- </li></ul>

<ul><li>More masked mayhem, Shinobi fighting the Blue Ranger. Ranger gets a ton of offence in the early going, keeping the pace fast and her opponent thoroughly on the back foot up until she dropkicks her through the ropes and to the floor. When Ranger heads out to ringside, Shinobi is gone—ninjutsu! Shinobi reappears on the other side of the ring and attacks Ranger from behind, bouncing her head off the ringpost. Having gained the momentum, Shinobi never relinquishes it, and forces Ranger to tap out in the centre of the ring with a sleeper. — E- </li></ul>

<ul><li>Somewhat hampered by entirely unexplained neck injuries, Carrie Cornwall is up against Countess, whose High Executioner is prowling at ringside. The plucky chippy gal is obviously unnerved by the presence, sent scurrying by a particularly vicious glare, and Countess exploits that to the fullest, landing shots each time Cornwall’s eye is off the ball. However, the blueblood gets overconfident, and as she starts to strut like a peacock, Carrie springs to life and manages a back suplex. She’s on top! She’s feeling it! She’s—staring at Executioner climbing onto the apron! Countess is up! Reverse bulldog! Three count! — F+ </li></ul>

<ul><li>High Executioner resumes her entry into the ring and it doesn’t look good for Cornwall. The person. I would assume the county is entirely unaffected by the events of a wrestling show taking place in London. Executioner scoops her up off the mat and plants her back down with a big slam while Countess laughs it up, poking Carrie repeatedly with her foot. This doesn’t last long, though, as Abbi Archer charges down to the ring like a house on fire! Countess instantly bails, and Executioner warily backs down, leaving Abbi to check on the hurt Cornwall. — E- </li></ul>

<ul><li>Lace is almost as businesslike as Assassin for this one, though she does spare some time for smiles to the crowd. The opening is cagey, the two of them feeling one another out, and the match develops into a contest of grappling that has the fans invested. Assassin wrests control with a handful of hair and starts to really go to work, using various illegal holds and heavily targeting Lace’s knee, torquing it over the ropes and hanging it up in the corner. Lace is hopping ten minutes in, but manages to battle out of a middle-of-the-ring kneebar and start to work her way back into the match, heavily favouring the injured limb. Her first Penalty Kick attempt is dodged due to the limp, but Lace slips out of the reverse DDT in turn, scoring a great German. With Assassin stunned, Lace grits her teeth and, yelling a battle cry, hits the Penalty Kick. Clutching her knee, she covers and picks up the win! — E </li></ul>

SHOW RATING: E

(PS: There is a character bit at the end of the previous page)

Blake Trask · July 29, 2020

Predictions

Zergon 16/19
SMW: 15/19
Teasenitryn 9/11
Herrbear: 7/8
tryker: 7/8
Regis: 3/4

Hey y'all, been a minute, sorry about that.

Front half of the month was pretty rough for me and it's taken a while to get myself mentally back into a good place.

For the time being I'm gonna stop the prediction contest, it was a good thing to try out but I don't think it works for my writing process at this stage of the diary; it knocks me out of my booking groove as I start to fixate too much on certain aspects of the game and highlights to me mentally the shortcomings in the roster and how far I am off of where I want the story to get. However, I'll be aiming to resume updates however regularly I manage them.

Anyway, that leaves Zergon as the overall winner of predictions for the time being: If you are interested, please let me know which character you would like to see an 'interlude' for, that is to say, a vignette from their perspective, rather than Ellen's. I mean you can pick Ellen too if you want but I don't think that will be significantly different from what we've been getting already.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and hopefully I can restart on a good note!

Zergon · July 30, 2020

Anyway, that leaves Zergon as the overall winner of predictions for the time being: If you are interested, please let me know which character you would like to see an 'interlude' for, that is to say, a vignette from their perspective, rather than Ellen's. I mean you can pick Ellen too if you want but I don't think that will be significantly different from what we've been getting already.

Think I would like to see perspective from someone who ain´t the core four so I pick Samba Barnes as she haven´t really gotten much time at the spotlight so far.

Remianen · July 31, 2020

I don't expect Ellen to know this but dealing with egotistical people is actually really easy. You just appeal to their ego. With Svenja, all she had to do was explain that you needed to establish someone as a future nemesis. "If we put the title on you right away, it'll be impossible to get it off you later if you don't have a nick on your record." Every great heel needs a babyface arch-rival (and vice-versa) or else you don't draw money.

Blake Trask · August 3, 2020

Think I would like to see perspective from someone who ain´t the core four so I pick Samba Barnes as she haven´t really gotten much time at the spotlight so far.

Your wish shall be granted soon !

I don't expect Ellen to know this but dealing with egotistical people is actually really easy. You just appeal to their ego. With Svenja, all she had to do was explain that you needed to establish someone as a future nemesis. "If we put the title on you right away, it'll be impossible to get it off you later if you don't have a nick on your record." Every great heel needs a babyface arch-rival (and vice-versa) or else you don't draw money.

That makes a whole lot of sense.

Ellen, as we will see in time, has got a whole lot to learn. Those 'business mindset' attributes are powerful when it comes to booking complaints, and on an in story level, well... yep.

Blake Trask · August 3, 2020

Lionesses of Wrestling IX: Live!

Saturday, week 1 March 2020

Gloucester Street Youth Centre

Attendance: 56

Not broadcast

Commentary: None

The show starts off with Samba Barnes in the ring with Rajni Smith, High Executioner, and Countess, set to talk about the tag team main event. Barnes tries to open with some questions but Rajni talks over her repeatedly, and it only gets more difficult for the interviewer as Countess begins interjecting, talking about how High Executioner will destroy the competition. Rajni begins repeatedly insulting their opponents, and that draws Lace and Archer out. The ring gets very crowded as the two teams argue, nose to nose, and Samba loses all semblance of control over her own interview. Executioner leans her head in close to Lace, looming over her, but the smaller woman stands unafraid. Countess eventually calls High Executioner back and the heels leave, though not without Rajni throwing off one last barb over her shoulder. — E+

A lack of chemistry mars the opening contest, but doesn’t drag it down to completely unacceptable levels. Harding may be arrogant, but LoW overflows with ego, and in Svenja Schwartz she finds an opponent who more than matches her own entitlement. Although Harding holds her ground for a decent while, Schwartz never needs to break out of a canter, in due course hitting her Invasion curbstomp. — F+

Reagan is perhaps one of the first double-duty characters that actually, genuinely looks like they could be a different person: with minimal makeup and hair tied back in a sensible bun, she’s a vastly altered figure from the brooding Sabbat. Agarwal, though, still has the fan support and they’re big into her lackadaisical antics (which work a little better when the other person isn’t trying to work spot to spot and getting ignored). Reagan falls behind inch by inch, and after getting flattened by an almost passable Henson press, is downed long enough for Agarwal to scale the turnbuckles and take flight to land her splash. — F+

Agarwal celebrates, and as she does so, a black-clad figure sneaks through the crowd towards the ring. Shinobi! Stealthily, the ninja slides under the bottom rope—but Agarwal was ready for her and ducks the attempted kick! Agarwal cheerily salutes and makes a running slide out of the ring, thumbs her nose, and then legs it out via the audience. — E+

Countess in action against the militaristic Hardaway, and this one is actually pretty good. Call it playing to their strengths, call it the booker starting to get to grips with what her roster can do. In any case, the story here is the rough and tough Harding being repeatedly thwarted by the underhanded tactics on display from Countess, and while the official does her best to keep track, she’s obviously struggling with the sheer volume of cheating. The ref tries to put her foot down as Executioner clambers up onto the apron, but while she’s distracted, Countess strikes with her loaded glove, laying Hardaway out. Executioner deliberately drops back down, and Countess collects a three count. — E-

All made up, Sabbat is in the ring with a microphone. She addresses her match with Sakuyama, promising a dark and dismal fate for her, and suggesting that once she wins, she will be at the front of the line for a title shot, regardless of the result between the irrelevant peons in the main event. — E

She talked the talk, but Sabbat isn’t able to walk the walk against a calm and collected Sakuyama. The mind games allow for a little traction, get Sabbat a foothold, but her brawling is no match for Sakuyama’s technical skill, and the moment Sakuyama manages to leg scissor Sabbat’s ankle, the gothic competitor ends up in a world of hurt. In the ascendency, Sakuyama romps to victory with the Kagawa Driver 20. — E-

Samba Barnes joins Sakuyama in the ring to interview her about the main event. After congratulating her on her win, Barnes asks who she believes would be the biggest threat to her championship. Rather than answering, Sakuyama instead talks up the threat of each woman in turn, highlighting Lace’s international experience, Archer’s fire and crowd support, Executioner’s strength, Rajni’s cunning. She summarises that whichever team comes out on top and then subsequently goes on to challenge her, it will definitely be a tough fight. However, she’s training all hours of the day, and she believes she can win, regardless of the opponent. — E+

Stipulation: The winning team will face off next week for a title opportunity. Living up to its billing, the main event is a very solid affair. Executioner demonstrates that she isn’t just muscle, and Rajni plays off of her as a partner very well (arguing with Countess at ringside periodically, too). Lace might be the overall standout, but Archer keeps up with her ably enough, and with their teamwork, they form a united front against the fractious heel team. Executioner isn’t precisely a monster, but she is the tallest and strongest woman in the match, and her opponents do a lot of bumping for her. Countess returns the favour to her hitwoman by causing repeated distractions, but eventually Abbi has had enough, charging across the ring and dropkicking her off the apron! This sparks a wild brawl between all four women, and when order is eventually restored, Abbi catches Rajni on the charge with a cutter—Bullseye! Lace lands a high enzuigiri to interrupt Executioner from breaking it up, and the three count follows. Lace and Archer celebrate together, but as they shake hands, Lace pulls Archer in for an intense staredown. — E+

SHOW RATING: E+

Historian · August 3, 2020

I love how the roster is developing and the stories you're telling here!

Blake Trask · December 7, 2021

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17 years ago, Samantha Barnes watched her first wrestling match.

Brother versus brother. Two siblings pitted against each other, their bonds strained to the breaking point by the plotting and scheming of one man. Jack DeColt the defending world champion, in the midst of a historic reign, approaching two entire years holding the strap. Steve DeColt, sole survivor at Elimination, fresh out of a brutal Luck of the Draw where he’d had a feather duster against Dan DaLay’s sledgehammer. The DeColt Wrestlefestival, the biggest event of the year.

Sam hadn’t known all of that backstory when she’d heard her dad cheering from the other room and wandered through in her pajamas and rabbit slippers to see what all the fuss was about. She’d thought it was the football. Instead, two blonde men in gold and red pants were grappling with each other on a big square stage with ropes around it, a crowd cheering them both on.

Her dad said she could stay up if she sat with him, but otherwise she had to go back to bed. That sounded like a pretty good deal to her, and since nothing else was going on and dad was distracted, she started asking questions. He told her who the men were, and that they were wrestlers—they looked like superheroes to her and her dad agreed they pretty much counted. He pointed out the small man prowling around the ring (she was a bit confused why it was called a ring when it was square, but she didn’t get an explanation of that one), and said that he was Adrian Garcia and he was trying to make the brothers upset at each other. Sam asked if one of them took the other’s phone, like her brother, and her dad laughed and said something like that.

Sam wasn’t sure why the superheroes would listen to a skinny man like Garcia, who they could probably just pick up and throw like he was a doll, but her dad told her that sometimes, words could do a lot more damage than punches.

She remembered that later, in a lot of different contexts.

Sam didn’t know who she was supposed to want to win, and her dad said that he didn’t either; if Jack, the younger brother, kept his title belt for just two more months, he would have held it for two entire years, which nobody had ever done before. On the other hand, Steve, the big brother, had beaten up an awful lot of bad people to get this match against Jack, and it would be really sad if he went through all of that and didn’t get to win. Sam asked if they could share, but it apparently didn’t work like that (this later caused confusion when the concept of tag team belts was explained to her).

What she did know was that it was exciting. Her dad was excited. The two men explaining everything were excited. The crowd was excited. And Adrian Garcia was excited… and smug. The longer the match went on, the more he seemed to favour Jack. The younger brother got more and more fired up, responding to the hits Steve was laying into him. Shoulder tackle! He flung Steve into the corner and punched! Him! In! The! Face! Wild Ride!—that was his finishing move, Jack was going to win!—Steve kicked out! Jack couldn’t believe it, he tried something else, End of Days!—his other finishing move, Steve’s body was stretched painfully—Jack would definitely win! Steve broke out of it! The crowd went bananas, her dad was cheering and hollering and Sam started cheering too.

The two brothers went toe to toe with punches, and then Steve ducked and Jack punched the referee, Adrian Garcia appeared in the ring and hit Steve in the back with a chair! Then… he handed the chair to Jack! He wanted Jack to do it too!

“I can make you even greater, Jack! I can make this the best championship reign of all time! The eternal champion! He doesn’t deserve this! You do! Hit him, Jack!”

Ten thousand people pleaded for Jack not to do it. Jack looked at the chair. He looked down at his brother. He looked at Garcia, nodding frantically. He looked at Steve again. He raised the chair.

”No, Jack, c’mon, man. C’mon, don’t do it, mate, c’mon…” her dad was muttering.

Jack’s hands wavered. He looked at his title belt at ringside. He swallowed. Raised the chair again…

And smacked it right into Garcia’s face! The crowd erupted. Sam screamed in glee. Her dad shouted and gave her a huge hug and lifted her in the air.

Jack threw Garcia out of the ring and waited for Steve and the referee to get back up. Then, the brothers fought again. Steve was hurt but Jack was exhausted. Steve had that little bit extra left and slipped out of the Wild Ride. Steve hit the DeColt Stampede, and that was that. Jack lost. The belt changed hands, and then they hugged, and Jack left Steve to his celebration, a weary smile on his face.

Sam had watched that match dozens of times. She’d watched the entire year’s build up—what was available on back download, anyway—ten times over. She knew the hype video off by heart. She could recite Jack and Steve’s promos at the go home show from memory.

She’d cried when CGC merged into the CWA. Called her dad and reminisced for over an hour. It wasn’t the same. Jack DeColt was still there, and Ricky, too, but Jack wasn’t the Guy in CWA. He was just… a guy. And that wasn’t Sam’s Jack DeColt. Her Jack DeColt was the guy who had held on to his principles and refused to cheap shot his brother. Who’d run DeColt country for 20 years.

That was the wrestler Sam wanted to be—was going to be—and something as tiny as a broken arm wasn’t going to stop her.

Blake Trask · December 7, 2021

One very long and unplanned hiatus later...

Zergon requested a backstage piece that I never delivered. Something to close off.

Is this going to be a comeback? I'm not sure. I have a lot written, and I'm very reenergised for the story behind this diary, but my focus is fickle, and I can't guarantee I'll keep my head in the game if mental health rears its ugly head again. I had to dangle posting this as an incentive to myself to get a bunch of other narrative completed. Shows easy, narrative hard.

I'm probably not going to post much more this month while I continue working on the save itself, the overarching story, and testing my own commitment by building up the backlog, but we'll see.

And, of course, thank you to Self for more than a little creative inspiration for the DeColt sequence.

stillnotover · December 7, 2021

Loved the backstage piece. Hope all is well.

DarK_RaideR · December 7, 2021

Just found this out and loved catching up. Totally hear you on focus being fickle, fingers crossed hoping for the best!

Historian · December 8, 2021

I hope this makes a roaring comeback. I was a big fan of what you were doing.

Blake Trask · December 10, 2021

I appreciate the kind words!

I'd like to make a comeback for sure, so I'll see how far I can get ahead of the game.

Blake Trask · January 3, 2022

Lionesses of Wrestling X: Live!

Shinobi vs. Leftenant Jennings
Lauren Harding vs. Rajni Smith
Dionne Grimes vs. Ellen Ward
Countess and High Executioner vs. Carrie Cornwall and Hardaway
Abbi Archer vs. Lottie Lace

Saturday, week 2 March 2020

Gloucester Street Youth Centre

Attendance: 56

Not broadcast

Commentary: None

Wait a second, didn’t we see this one two weeks ago? Wait no, Shinobi is a different Japanese-derived woman dressed in strange clothing. We’re in the clear. The ninja ruthlessly has her way with the navywoman, and though it isn’t a complete and utter squash, it’s clear that only one person is going to be coming out alive—on top. On top. Shinobi definitely does not commit actual murders. The deadly sleeper hold is locked in and Jennings taps out. — E
Smith against Harding, and the arrogant Harding’s own attitude plays against her. She clearly comes into this expecting to be able to outwrestle the green Rajni, and to some extent she can… but what she can’t account for is Smith’s resilience, guile, and commitment to never shutting up. Harding starts to grow frustrated, and the sloppier she gets, the more the match slips away, until all of a sudden she’s flat on her back and taking a second rope leg drop for the loss. — E-
Rajni collects a microphone and proceeds to be incredibly obnoxious with it. She breezes past the fact she lost last week and is right back to talking herself up. Excessively so. The crowd hate it, and she laps up the hate in smug, smug fashion. — D-
Grimes and Ward put together a decent contest here, definitely pretty competitive, with the offence going both ways. Ellen is the more accomplished of the two, but Grimes has got the charisma to rally the fans to her side, and makes a big show of a great comeback sequence after getting worked over. Unfortunately, right as she’s firing up, rebounding off the ropes for a big move, Ellen boosts and absolutely PLANTS her with a pop-up powerbomb, then wastes her with the glittering magician. — E
Samba Barnes is in the ring with Abbi Archer to interview her about her upcoming contendership match. They have good camaraderie, and Barnes is definitely trying to encourage Abbi and build her confidence. Abbi promises that no matter what, she’ll make sure she puts on a good match. Unfortunately, the two are interrupted by Countess, who sneers that Archer should really know her place, which isn’t at the top of a card, main eventing, or winning any titles. Abbi retorts that she’s going to earn that place, sooner or later. As they argue, who else but High Executioner is creeping up on the ring, but Abbi catches on, dashes to the ropes, baseball (cricket?) slide! Archer’s back in the ring, Countess is rushing towards it, Archer runs again, baseball slide for Countess! Executioner is back up though, and despite Barnes attempting to help, she is roughly shoved to the canvas, slinged arm and all (Samba sells like death). Abbi can’t fight them both off at once and the two of them manage to trap her and start beating her up in the corner, really laying in the boots. They get a good thirty seconds of beatdown in before Lottie Lace and Sakuyama bomb out from backstage, chasing the heels off. Countess, smirking at ringside, looks like the cat who got the cream. — E+
Sakuyama and Lace help Archer to the back, while Countess and her Executioner remain. Hardaway and Cornwall come out together, exchanging glances and nodding. Perhaps what they couldn’t manage individually, they might be able to pull off as a team? Well uh… as it happens… no. They do alright, but Countess and Executioner look great as a duo, syncing up perfectly at a level far beyond what you’d expect from a fresh pairing. With Executioner bringing the muscle, the roughneck style, the degrading trash talk, Countess bringing the sneakiness, the cheap shots, directing traffic, it’s altogether a brutal display. Hardaway and Cornwall get summarily dismantled, and Executioner happily feeds Hardaway into a reverse bulldog. — E
Lottie Lace comes out. She’s not a huge talker, so it’s kept short and to the point: after Archer got beaten up like that, she doesn’t want to take advantage of her. She apologises to the fans, but she wants to postpone their match until next week. Abbi emerges and says that thank you, but no thank you. Delaying the match would disappoint the audience and let Countess win. She refuses to do either. Lace looks surprised, but answers that she admires Abbi’s determination… though she’s not going to take it easy on her. Abbi nods, and then heads right down to the ring. This one’s underway! — E
True to her word, Lace doesn’t hold back, showing off her international experience with her blended British and Japanese style, dishing out chops, a stiff german, and then grounding Archer onto the mat. However, after a couple of minutes of uninterrupted offence where it looks like this might not even be a contest, Abbi comes to life, exhibiting her heart and her grit to fight her way free. Another german, but she actually manages to land on her feet to a huge pop! She dropkicks Lace and it’s officially on! They battle evenly for the rest of the match, but ultimately, with Archer already having suffered some injuries, the toll that the earlier beating took really shines through, and at length she has no answer for the Penalty Kick. — E+
After a brief celebration, Lace checks on Archer, and then helps her to her feet. She raises Abbi’s arm to the crowd’s appreciation. The mood shifts a little, however, as Sakuyama comes out from the curtain. Contender and champion share a long look. Sakuyama nods in acknowledgement. Lace makes a belt motion. Sakuyama unhooks said belt and holds it high in the air, and we close on the two of them giving each other a long, hard stare... — E-

SHOW RATING: E+

PuroJoshi · January 3, 2022

This is an excellent read, glad to see it back!

DarK_RaideR · January 3, 2022

This is an excellent read, glad to see it back!

Seconded!

Blake Trask · January 4, 2022

Thanks to both of you!

Blake Trask · January 10, 2022

Lionesses of Wrestling XI: Claw

Shinobi vs. Sabbat
Gearhead vs. Ellen Ward
Dionne Grimes vs. Rajni Smith
Svenja Schwartz vs. Reagan
Machinegun Marley vs. High Executioner

LOW BRITISH TITLE
Sakuyama © vs. Lottie Lace

Saturday, week 3 March 2020

Gloucester Street Youth Centre

Attendance: 59

Not broadcast

Commentary: None

Two separate forms of darkness clash, in terms of being shadowy dealing versus shadowy magic. On this occasion, ninjutsu proves to be the superior shade of black as Shinobi is able to outgrapple Sabbat, though there’s a rare bit of rattling for the ninja when Sabbat goes full eldritch shrieking in a rather unnerving display. Still, Shinobi puts paid to that with a jumping kick, and as Sabbat lays stunned, Shinobi rushes over and locks in the sleeper hold to gain a tap out win. — E-
Mechanic chic, Gearhead is a tough-looking customer who’s come to throw down, and throw down she does with Ellen Ward. The action is heavy-hitting by LoW’s standards and visibly has some of the crowd wincing at the force of the impacts, but it does create an absorbing contest. Gearhead sits Ellen down with a right hook, but eats an upkick on the way in, and as she staggers away, gets a knee press driving into the corner. She rebounds, Ward—flying crucifix! A&E! Gearhead taps. — E
With Ward’s music playing, Ronin emerges from backstage. She simply points at Ward. A message is given. Ward looks back with narrowed eyes. — D-
Dionne Grimes is out with a microphone and starts off with some funny trashtalk about her imminent opponent. Rajni emerges to give a counter-volley, and the two of them go at it for a decent while, trading barbs at one another, though Rajni’s improv lands the sicker burns and leaves Grimes struggling to keep up. Soon enough both women are in the ring for the match. — E+
It’s not awful but it’s sensibly kept short, Rajni and Dionne working a basic brawl that would be best described as forgettable. Neither woman is earning accolades for their in-ring performances at this early stage in their careers: Rajni rakes the eyes and hits a slam to set up the second rope leg drop. — F+
Samba is ready for an interview and her guest this week is Svenja Schwartz. As per usual, Svenja takes over, running down Sakuyama (who cheated to beat her twice now) and then her upcoming opponent, Reagan, a ‘nobody she’s never even heard of’. Once she gets done insulting her opponent, she takes aim at Barnes, mocking her relentlessly for being reduced to an interviewer and making fun of her for getting beaten up the other week. Samba, though, isn’t just going to take this and starts clapping back, winding Svenja up by insinuating she’s only saying Sakuyama cheated because she has a fragile ego. Svenja ends up yelling at her to shut up and then sulking away into her corner. — D-
Jerkishness aside, Svenja is continuing to back up her words with her actions, and while Reagan hangs in there, she’s not able to muster very much offence. This is a survival exercise for her, and fighting defensively can’t work forever. Soon enough, Schwartz prises Reagan out of her shell, and from there it’s an unmitigated beatdown interspersed with some wrestling holds. Schwartz curbstomps Reagan twice, just because she can. — E
Machinegun Marley is a woman without fear, evidenced by her squarding off with High Executioner and immediately smashing her in the face with a forearm, almost taking her off her feet. It’s another brawlfest, and the fans eat it right up and are entirely willing to overlook that Marley is just Gearhead without the dungarees and biker-style bandit bandana. The pair of them beat the heck out of each other, to the point Countess is looking pretty alarmed as Marley nails a ferocious sequence of punches, and she hops the apron. Marley whirls on her, cocking back a fist, and the crowd pops for Countess scurrying away with her tail between her legs. It does take Marley out of her flow though, and Executioner recovers sufficiently to start firing back, managing to push Marley away, then scoop her up for a nasty running powerslam for the win. — E
A very good main event to wrap us up, with the undefeated Lottie Lace challenging Sakuyama for the British championship. Both women are wearing their game faces and go into this determined to win. Lace schools Sakuyama on what joshi experience really looks like, but Sakuyama has her own tricks, and is starting to blend together a style which is something like old school British wrestling combined with Japanese chain. There’s certainly snap to a grounded waistlock takedown transitioning to a stiff forearm to the back of the head. Still, it’s far from all Sakuyama, and Lace gets as much or more of the offence. When she folds Sakuyama in half with a high-angled german, it looks like that could be the match right there. Kick out at two, Lace goes for the Penalty Kick—blocked! Legs snagged, Sakuyama slingshots Lace into the turnbuckle! She bounces back, KAGAWA DRIVER 20! The three count is academic, and Sakuyama has retained in the best match of LoW’s young life. — D-

SHOW RATING: E+

Blake Trask · January 17, 2022

Lionesses of Wrestling XII: Live! <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49019" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Ellen Ward vs. Sabbat Reagan vs. Dionne Grimes Aviator Agarwal vs. Svenja Schwartz Abbi Archer & Bosun Bakshi vs. Countess & High Executioner</div></blockquote> Saturday, week 4 March 2020 Gloucester Street Youth Centre Attendance: 39 Not broadcast Commentary: None <ul><li>Strong out the blocks here with Ward against Sabbat. The witchy competitor tries her dark and dreary magics upon her opponent, but Ellen’s focus is too tight and her psyche too tightly wound, Sabbat just isn’t able to get into her head. When the fae fails, trust the fist, and the match becomes a brawl. However, Ward’s not only better with her fists, she has other strings to her bow, and after a furusawa armbar takedown, she gets her legs across Sabbat’s other arm and successfully locks the A&E to force a tap out. — E </li><li>Abbi Archer comes out and talks a little about her ongoing problems with Countess and Executioner. She admits that she’s just one person, but that she knows she has friends, and that together with her friends, she believes she can take on the world. She invites Sakuyama out, and the champion appears. Archer asks her friend if she will stand with her in the main event, and Sakuyama… says that she can’t!? Abbi looks upset as Sakuyama explains that she would, but she has to be on top form to defend her title, and after her battle with Lace last week, she’s in recuperation mode. Sorry, abbi will have to find somebody else. Archer’s left bereft in the ring, and at length, disconsolately walks to the back. — D- </li><li>Samba Barnes has Dionne Grimes in the ring for an interview. Grimes explains what she’s about, touching on her losing record so far, but claiming that LoW ain’t seen nothing yet, and she’s just getting started. The two banter comfortably back and forth, cracking jokes, and Samba in particular really seems to be coming into her own with this role. However, as they’re talking, they’re interrupted by Reagan (again with a masterful job of quickly removing makeup). Reagan calls them out for their lack of seriousness towards the craft of wrestling, and singles out Grimes as a target. Grimes invites her to come right on down. — D- </li><li>The subsequent match isn’t bad, and Dionne has the opportunity to strut her stuff a bit more and demonstrate her charisma and ability to play to the crowd. Reagan gets some offence, but it’s clear that the spotlight is on Grimes. She fights up out of a rear chinlock in a good old fashioned Strong rally, and then runs wild before catching Reagan’s arms, dropping back, and kicking up to boot her in the jaw and get the win. — E- </li><li>As Aviator Agarwal makes her way out to the ring, slapping hands and pointing to Svenja, Shinobi appears behind her and locks in the Sleeper Hold! Ninjutsu! Agarwal struggles wildly, but is choked down to the floor. Shinobi hoists up her dead weight as Svenja cackles in the ring, and once Agarwal is rolled under the ropes, Schwartz starts yelling to the official to start the match. — E+ </li><li>Svenja immediately pins Agarwal and it’s academic, one, two th—AGARWAL KICKS OUT! Schwartz is furious and corners the referee, berating her for not starting things off quickly enough. She eventually returns to Agarwal and puts the boots to her, pins again, a fresh kick out. Schwartz is furious, and gets sloppy, leaving the door open for the airwoman to start fighting back. The crowd’s behind the aviator one hundred percent of the way, and Schwartz does a great job of selling her shock and alarm at how badly she’s been pushed onto the back foot. Sadly though, the ambush has taken just too much out of the tank, and Schwartz’s desperate Invasion catches Agarwal cold, finally allowing Svenja to get the win. — E </li><li>Countess and Executioner are in the ring. Countess demands that Archer come out and face her, deriding her for trusting in foolish notions such as the power of friendship over the power of nobility. The champion thought better of tangling with Countess’s majesty, clearly. A dejected Archer comes out alone and slowly starts walking to the ring, but wait, that’s—that’s Bakshi’s music! Bosun Bakshi comes out with Cap’n Swann in tow, flying the Jolly Roger! Bakshi proclaims that YARR HARR, no good ol’ salt like Abbi will be forced to fight the royal navy alone on her watch! She has herself a partner! Countess flips her lid and Executioner doesn’t look much happier, but it seems the tag match is on! — D- </li><li>All kinds of good teamwork to bolster this one as Archer and Bakshi sync up just as well as their opponents to such an extent that Countess is clearly taken aback. Swann has the crowd fired up from the get go and Countess soon has to retreat from her piratical foe to tag in Executioner. The nasty noosewoman wrenches control of the match back and the pair manage to isolate Bakshi in their corner and thoroughly work her over. Swann isn’t going to let that stand though, and continues to encourage the crowd to make some noise. Countess manages to distract the referee, and Executioner produces the loaded glove from the turnbuckle pad. She holds it up in the air to mock the crowd—Swann snatches it out of her hand! Countess and Executioner are fuming and demand Swann be ejected, but their eye is off the ball, tag! Archer is in and goes rampant with the hot tag! Countess is down! Executioner is down! Countess is down again! Executioner gets sent flying from the apron! Countess staggers upright—BULLSEYE CUTTER! 1! 2! 3! Bakshi, Archer and Swann celebrate together in style! — E+ </li></ul> SHOW RATING: E+

Blake Trask · January 18, 2022

“Oi, Wardy.”

We were near enough packed up for the night. I was standing outside the youth centre, waiting for Viv to finish a trip to the loo so I could lock up and we could go home.

“Hey, Debra. Thought you’d gone already.”

Debra usually took off right after the show finished. Busy lady. Day job and all. It was strange to see her still here this late.

“Wanted to catch you away from the others. S’about Samba.”

“Yeah? I think the interviews are going pretty—”

“Why’re you booking her?”

I stopped short. Blinked. Took a couple seconds. “...Building up for when she comes back?”

“Sure, but she can’t wrestle while crocked.”

“Well no—”

“And we’re still paying her.”

I felt totally off balance. This wasn’t the kind of conversation I’d expected at all.

Maybe Debra sensed my hesitation, she pressed the point. “I’m still paying her.”

“I know, and I really appreciate it. I just—it doesn’t feel right to leave her off.”

Debra scoffed. “Feelings aren’t a luxury you can afford in this business, Wardy. Not as a booker, and definitely not as a promoter. Feelings don’t pay the bills.”

My mind was racing, running away from me. I fiddled with the keys as an excuse to break eye contact. Then I took a deep breath. My mental footing found solid ground.

“She’s adding to the show. We’ve got to fill a certain amount of time, and sometimes we need a non-wrestling segment for costume changes. Her interviews are as long, longer than some of our matches, and they’re helping build stories and rivalries, which are what will keep people coming back when we’re running this many shows. I’d say that’s worth the pay.”

Debra paused, lips pursing for a long moment. “...Yeah. Righto then.”

“I do really appreciate the help, Debra. I’m not throwing people on for the sake of it.”

She nodded noncommittally. “I best get off home. Have a good one, Wardy.”

“Uh, yeah. Bye.”

Debra slouched off. I watched her the whole way out of sight, and until Vivi finally reappeared at my arm.

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