Wrestling Tip #374: Click on the pictures to read about the matches and see more pictures.
| This match represents something of a turning point for me. It was the first time I had ever taken on a man in singles competition at a wrestling show. Now I train with the boys all the time at Killer Kowalski's school, but this was a little different. Before Jack Crow I had only squared off against other women at shows. So I was used to having at the very least a substantial strength advantage. Being a weightlifter as opposed to a bodybuilder, I'm actually quite a bit stronger than I look. And if I say so myself, I think as women go I look pretty rugged. But here was an opponent who was about my size, and had more experience in the ring. It was going to be a long night for your favorite spider queen. |
| Happily, Jack turned out not to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. He stamped about the ring complaining to high heaven about "having to fight a woman." Worse still, Crow kept turning his back on me as he argued with the promoter, the booker, the referee, some of the fans and in short anyone who would listen. I was starting to become more than a little perturbed. My mentor, Walter "Killer" Kowalski, always told me that if someone turns their back on me in a wrestling ring, he is showing me the ultimate form of disrespect. Plus the "woman thing" was starting to get on my one good nerve too. No wrestler likes someone turning up their nose at them because she is a woman, has three arms, hails from Pluto or whatever. So I did the logical thing and hit him with a chair. Hard. I'm not real proud of it now, but at the time I have to admit it felt pretty darn good. At least it was good for me. |
| Unfortunately the crowd sort of stopped being on my side. I wouldn't admit it at the time but their insults really hurt my feelings. "Oh, so he's your little golden boy now is he?" I yelled back at the people. (I can't really repeat the rest of what I said here. But I did launch into the usual rant about the bloodlines and olfactory unpleasantness of the crowd.) My mistake in all of this was ignoring the fallen Slayer. And boy was he pissed. Crow laid into me with chops, punches, kicks, clotheslines and all sorts of other assorted wrestling unpleasantness. It was clearly time for a bit of a plan. I bailed out of the ring but made it look like I had fallen through the ropes and knocked my head on the floor. Well, Jack came out after me but I wasn't sure if he was going to help me up or punch me in the face. Looking back on the match, I don't think he knew for sure either. So I took control again by introducing his face to the ring post. |
| I unleashed everything I could on Crow. I gave him a whole bunch of heat and finished it up with a nice body slam where I held him up for a good long time to show the people that Amanda Storm's strength was for real. (This has since become one of my trademark moves and one of my greatest joys in the ring.) But Slayer is a tough cookie and wouldn't go down despite a number of near falls. He even rolled me up a couple of times with some trick moves. And Jack proved that when the chips were down he was not above some dirty tactics of his own involving my hair. I can't begrudge him that. After all, as Lord Fisher said, "The essense of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility." |
| We seemed about evenly matched but Slayer was beginning to get the best of me as the match wore on. He hammered me down and slammed me before climbing the ropes to finish me off. But I staggered to my feet while he was still on the top ropes. I guess I was tougher than he expected or something. I have to give Crow credit though for thinking on his feet. Literally. He kicked me in the face and then rolled me up quick with a sunset flip off the top. I only kicked out by the barest of margins. Oh, how I wanted his head on a stick! But could I beat him? Doubt was stealing its way into my thoughts like a whispering ghost. It was clearly time for yet another plan. |
| I jumped out of the ring, grabbed the offending bit of furniture that had started everything and threw it back into the ring. Crow snatched up the chair before the referee could intercept him. (Fool! You are blundering right into my trap!) I climbed back into the ring and backed up against the ropes, "begging" Jack not to lay into me. (Bwahahahah!!!) But his blood was up and he'd have none of that. This next part i priceless. God I love it when a plan comes together. I ducked as he swung the chair squarely at my head. Crow hit the ropes so hard that the chair bounced back and he plastered himself square in the chops. The idiot had knocked himself out cold! The referee could hardly disqualify me for my opponent knocking himself out, so he reluctantly put hand to canvas and beat out the one, two, three. The sweetest song a girl can ever hear. Then the ref started arguing with me. I guess he didn't like the cut of my jib or something, so I laid him out too - the match being over and all - and applied the second count myself. |
| Looking back on all of this, I'm not very proud of how I scored the victory, and I really shouldn't have hit the official. But at the same time I remember how happy I was. Ok, at the time I was extremely proud of myself but I've changed in the months since this match. Still, I can't help but smiling when I look back at one of my first victories over a very tough opponent. Sure, I didn't outfight him but I did outsmart him, and I always have put far far more stock in brains than brawn. So I went out for a night on the town and had the time of my life. Ah well, I would do things a little differently now, but as a wise woman once said, "She who lives without committing any folly is not so wise as she thinks." |