Female Wrestling

Finally, female wrestlers are beginning to get the credit they deserve! In 2004 at the Athens, Greece Olympics, Irini Merleni won the first ever Olympic gold medal in women's wrestling. This Ukranian woman was so ecstatic that she burst into tears when she was declared the winner! Those of us who have been fans of professional female wrestling were almost as excited as Irini to see the sport become a part of the summer Olympics. Even without all the added sex appeal of the WWE, female wrestling is a fun to watch spectacle of gymnastics and showmanship.

We love the girls of the WWE, whether they be some of the organization's biggest stars or newest players. Remember the days when "Sensational" Sherrie Martel would was in the ring as part of the AWA? Everybody remembers that awesome Super Clash on pay-per-view where Sherrie beat out Candi Devine and won the title! Sherri beat Candi to hold the title three different times. Already a female wrestling superstar, she then joined the WWE back when it was still the WWF and became one of the biggest and most recognized WWE stars ever! One of the biggest matches was when Sherri finally took out the Fabulous Moolah, the woman who trained her, in order to take home the WWE’s women’s title. She was a favorite by all, but then had to leave the WWE because she failed a drug test. It was a tragedy when Sherri died in 2007 from a drug overdose. Female wrestling fans everywhere miss getting to see Sensational Sherri in the ring.

One of our more recent WWE favorites is Trish Stratus. She actually used to be a fitness model, and decided to get into pro wrestling in 2000. At first, Trish was known for her romances with the chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon. But as she got better and better as a wrestler, Trish began to really make a name for herself. She has held the women's championship title seven different times in seven years. No other woman has matched Trish in the history of the WWE, and because of this incredible winning streak, Trish is even featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. Trish also has won the WWE Hardcore title, as well as many other awards. And, even though she has a steely exterior, Trish has a soft heart. She is involved in several charities such as the Ronald McDonald House, the program Dreams Take Flight, and the Special Olympics. She is also a good example. She would not do a nude shoot in Playboy magazine because she wanted people to remember her skills as a wrestler instead of some scintillating photographs.

And most recently, we love the antics of newbies to the Smack Down WWE ring, Brianna and Nicole Garcia. They are known as the Bella Twins because Bella mean beautiful in Italian. Both girls started their careers as models and were the most searched for women on the internet in November of 2008. They chose to join the WWE, and for several weeks people did not know that there were actually two girls. After several pranks and practical jokes, it was revealed that there were to Bellas, and the WWE fans went wild! The Bellas are the first identical twin wrestlers to ever be in the WWE, and many fans hope to see them fight each other one day.

The indie scene is sometimes known for female wrestlers that are even more notorious than the WWE ladies. Mud wrestling, fights where the women rip each others' clothes off, and even jello wrestling are some of the things that go on in the indie wrestling scene. One of the infamous ladies of the indie scene is Lizzy Borden of XPW. Initially, her infamous stripteases for XPW's wrestling matches got her famous. The company, that had connections to the Los Angeles porn industry, then became even more infamous when Lizzy and her husband Rob Black, the CEO of XPW, were both indicted for circulating pornographic material through the mail system.

There is also a large international wrestling scene. This year, Pro Wrestling Illustrated rated Kia Stevens, known as Awesome Kong, as the number one female wrestler. Kia is an American professional wrestler who works for TNA wrestling. She has been promoted in the United States and in Japan and is a multiple time TNA Women's Knockout Champion. Kia trained in Japan, where the women's wrestling circuit is constantly growing bigger, and she holds the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling's highest honor of Heavyweight Champion.

And in the amateur scene, you may not have heard about TUFF yet. Tidewater Female Fighting is based in Virginia Beach and is much more athletic than sexy. You won't find any shiny spandex unitards or mud wrestling here, but you will see a great fight. The women of TUFF don't look like your typical lady wrestler. Most of them only weigh 120-140 pounds, and most of them look like they just walked out of the local college. They wrestle in sports bras, shorts, and bare feet, and while they are all really competitive, there are specific rules to keep anyone from getting hurt. No punching, elbowing, or arm chokes, just good old fashioned grappling. The style of fighting is a mix of boxing, judo, submission wrestling, and other types of martial arts.

Librarians, secretaries, store clerks and dental assistants get out pent up energy and aggression grappling in TUFF matches. Even though TUFF is not exactly your sexed-up WWE, there is still hair flying everywhere and lots of grunting and panting. Talk about taking your daily workout to the extreme!

So no matter what kind of women's wrestling you are a fan of, or if you just like it all, there are tons of great matches and events you can see live, on television, or on DVDs and videos. The internet has a great sampling of some of the most notorious matches in female wrestling, so you are sure to find clips of your favorite WWE star taking out her opponent!