Re: Helen von Mott
Some more from the Wayback Machine...
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Helen's Convention Story
Well, the third annual WWC has come and gone, and I must say I'm pleased as punch. I was so proud of my team this year! With me I took Lonnie, Jennifer, Amy, and Stephanie, and they all put on stellar performances.
Friday night we got to the banquet and I had them all sit at separate tables so that we could talk to as many of the fans as possible. I was a little nervous about doing this, because some of my women have shown themselves to be shy in the past, but under the adoring worship of the fans these women just blossomed. Jen I was especially proud of as I've known her to be quite an introvert at times. Lonnie was poised and graceful, conducting herself with dignity, Amy was her usual flirtatious, firecracker self...laughing and pulling guests onto the dance floor; and Stephanie was athletic and personable...I always think of her as "The Little Mermaid with an Attitude :-)." They were all stunning.
At the banquet I noticed (as no one there could help but do) a beautiful woman of larger than life proportions. Bunny Glamazon is 6'2" tall and apoximately 220 pounds (not fat at all...just Amazonian). Her four-inch high heels and classic blonde hairdo gave her the air of having just walked out of a 1950s Irving Klaw fantasy movie. Her style was awe-inspiring! I asked her if she would be interested in having a match with me the next day, and if she had ever done real submission-style wrestling. She was extremely pleasant, and said that she had done submission-style wrestling and had in fact been wrestling men for 11 years, and yes, she would love to do a match with me. COOL! With Raquel's retirement I was beginning to despair of finding a female opponent at the convention! I filled out a form of matches for the weekend and handed it to the organizers, then went to dance with my girls.
The next day we woke up bright and early (and let me tell you, waking up a troupe of female wrestlers, getting them dressed, fed and to the convention center is somewhat akin to herding cats with a broom). Needless to say to we were a trifle late, but after the initial confusion, Amy managed to have a fantastic match against Stephanie (the "Redhead Bout") in what I personally think was probably the most exciting match of the whole convention. Because of the whirlwind nature of the event, and the fact that I was running around the dang place like a chicken with my head cut off, I can't give you specific details of any of the matches...I simply can't remember them.
The match I remember best is with Bunny. Now Bunny, as I've mentioned before, is a big woman; and although I'm fairly confident in my skill, any wrestling match is fraught with uncertainty, and I never once brushed off this match in my mind as "an easy win." I've made that mistake in the past and regretted it. However, it soon became apparent to me, to Bunny and to the audience, that skillwise she was simply overmatched, though her strength, courage and determination were tremendous.
One thing about skill though... I would MUCH rather wrestle a skilled opponent as opposed to an unskilled opponent simply because an skilled opponent usually knows enough to avoid hurting you. Even a black belt in the martial arts will tell you that they are a lot more likely to get injured by the most novice white belt than by another master. Part of this is becasue a skilled opponent has nothing to prove, and another part is that when you study a technique you know the limits of that technique and don't need to push those limits. I say this because I want to make it clear that in the match with Bunny I was actually scared that I was going to get hurt, which is why it ended as fast as it did (10 minutes as opposed to the usual 20 minutes for convention matches).
I was hoping to prolong the struggle, partially because I actually like Bunny, partly because I wanted a good video, and partly because I just enjoy a good scrap. However, when I wrapped my legs around the big woman's midsection just to hold her close and position her for a possible sweep so I could go on top, she started slamming me to the mat with my legs wrapped around her waist, landing on top of me as she did so. This terrified me, as this kind of uncontrolled force can injure a wrestler in the blink of an eye. I'm good, but I'm not made of steel, and I'm thirty years old. I don't heal the way I once did! Later, Sergio, my coach, asked why I didn't just open my guard so that she couldn't slam me? I guess I must have panicked myself. After all, simply opening my legs would seem like the obvious solution. Anyway, I wrapped my arm behind her head and twisted, cranking her neck at an angle. I hate this hold. It's legal in all submission wrestling matches, and isn't a choke or a joint lock (two of the things I usually get criticized for teaching and using in Virago) but I personally would rather use a hold less likely to cause injury...especially on an opponent I respect; but like I said I was scared at the time and wanted (needed) to end my own punishment.
For the next (and last) fall, I don't remember the takedown exactly, but I think I pulled her into guard position and I did wind up sweeping her and getting on top into "mount" position. At this point I could feel the tension in her body. Her breathing was shallow and labored, there were tears in her eyes and she was shaking. At that moment I wanted to let her know how beautiful and brave she was for getting in the ring with me when no other woman there would do so. I wanted to let her know that I would never hurt her and that my respect for her courage in doing something that she was perhaps fearful of, defied words. But I was on top of her and I could see that she had retreated in her mind into a state of primal anxiety and simple survival. She tried to arch her back to buck me off (not a bad technique actually, if foot and hand position are correct) and in so doing she twisted her torso in a "wrestler's bridge" and tweaked her rib. I recognised the injury immediately as I had the very same thing happen to me in my first week of jiu jitsu, but I could tell that it wasn't a broken rib since she continued to breathe deeply and was still able to move. I asked her if she wanted to stop and she said "NO!!! Keep going!" I can't remark enough on what a warrior this woman is. "Shhhhhh," I said, stroking her hair (still mounted on top). "Shhh, it's okay. It'll be okay. Shhhh, relax. It's okay." Like I said, I wanted the match to last, but I knew in her desperation she was going to hurt herself, me, or both of us, so I decided to end it becuase she obviously wasn't having a good time. I worked one leg behind her head, gently lifting her so that the back of her head rested on my calf while I sat on her chest. I held her opposite arm and figure-foured my legs, getting her in a triangle--my favorite hold, partly due to its sensual beauty and partly because of its safety-- and gently put pressure on until I felt her tap.
After the match Bunny was shaking and a bit tearful. She was worried about her rib, but more seriously her self-esteem may have been shaken for the moment. She has just started her own video company and I think that she was hoping for a victorious match; we were both videotaping this contest. I couldn't and can't help thinking about my first match with Raquel (and apparently my only match with Raquel)...the first tape I ever produced myself, Virago's VV-2, back in the spring of 1998. I had the same experience...although Raquel was nowhere near as easy on me, I must say! I think she got something like 20 submissions on me in a half an hour. Talk about frustrated!!!! But I think Bunny is now going to go the same route I did and get some serious training. She asked me about coaches in her part of the country, and I'm happy to say I was able to provide her with a name. Good luck to her.
The next match that comes to mind is a boxing match--really a five-round exhibition--between Stephanie and Jennifer. Both are trained boxers and kickboxers, and truthfully the pugilistic arts are their first love. 20-year-old Jen, I think, is an NHB (no holds barred) octagon fighter in the making. She really wants a match where she can just cut loose and punch the hell out of someone. This match wasn't it. It was sparring, and while there were some definite "connecting blows," and Stephanie had a bloody nose at the end of the match, the relative lack of ferocity sort of left me cold. That and the fact that I know next to nothing about boxing and had to have a fan explain to me what was going on the entire time!
Boxing scares me, quite frankly... I guess the way that what I do scares a lot of people who don't understand jiu jitsu. It just seems like the blows are coming so fast and with so much concussive power that injury is almost a given. When I "sink" a hold I can ease the pressure on slowly and stop as soon as I feel the submission. I sometimes even stop before the submission comes just to check and make sure my opponent isn't really hurting. But wIth blows, injuries can happen in the blink of an eye; and truthfully, seeing my girls punch each other almost gave me heart failure! My view of feminism though is that no one should be able to dictate what a woman can or cannot do with her own body. That includes me. For example, iIf a woman WANTS to do sensual matches, that's fine as long as she feels comfortable with it, and if a woman wants to risk being punched in the face that's fine too, as long as it's something she really wants to do. I know how I feel when the occasional critic tries to dictate to me what I should and shouldn't do, and I certainly don't want to do that to anyone else. What I think I'll do in the future though is have the women use headgear and more ferocity. I don't want to see injuries, but I if I'm to see punches I want to see PUNCHES, if you know what I mean....
That's all.
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This was the match where Helen said Bunny almost broke her tailbone when she started slamming her. In the post match interview she said "things got real" and I had to go into finish mode. During the first submission you can hear Bunny scream and call for a "break" while being choked. The second submission was via head triangle and once again Bunny was calling for a break.
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If we told you this photo was taken from police files dating from the 1960s, would you believe us? But no, it's Helen in the arms of big Bunny Glamazon, at WWC 2000 (Friday night banquet, of course).
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The Party is Over! Helen and Bunny Glamazon grappling on Saturday.
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Last edited by mkwarrior; 17-Jan-22 at 00:02.
Reason: added convention story
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