Dean Rebel takes on the Wrestling Factory
aka
“The Manchester Mauling”
This is a blow by blow account of a match that I recently had against two female wrestlers from Manchester’s “Wrestling Factory”. Wrestling in this venue was especially appropriate because my “nom de lutte” of Dean Rebel was taken from the character of the male wrestler in the Play “Trafford Tanzi” which takes place in Manchester.
The format was a two against one tag team match of “Layla” and Shelby Beach against me in a pins and submissions match in the Wrestling Factory’s pro-style wrestling ring.
The stats for the girls were impressive…they had collectively 390 lbs against my 180…and I detected in e-mail exchanges with Pippa LiVinn, manager of the Factory, that the girls were getting egged on to whuppp my ass! I responded in kind and my e-mails were particularly testosterone-fuelled by the time I arrived. More practically, I also studied every clip I could find of Shelby and Layla…including an invaluable one where they wrestled each other.
We had a full hour to wrestle and I arrived and changed into a white wrestling singlet and matching Asics wrestling shoes. The girls were in all black from head to toe.
Pippa rang the ring bell and from ring-side counted out the pins and announced the winners of each fall.
DING…DING…the first fall!
From the girl’s corner emerged Shelby Beach. We locked up collar and elbow and she started the action by taking control in a side headlock and then flipped me to the mat. I rolled to my stomach and Shelby exploited the headlock into a bone-crushing combination headlock and cross-face. Being a fair amateur wrestler, I managed to work to my knees and tried to lock my right arm around hers’ to roll her off of me. I partially succeeded but she kept the headlock on and then wrapped her legs around my torso in a body scissor. She switched from a headlock to a fully powered sleeper hold and after fighting it for a few seconds, tapped to submit the first fall. [Winner Shelby Beach @ 1:30]
…the second fall…
I faced Shelby Beach once more and tried working for some sort of outside wrist control or duck-under so I could get control of her while standing. Shelby, in return, went for the inside and used both hands to grasp my head and shuck me down to my knees. She quickly secured me in a front headlock and I tried fighting it off by grasping her right leg and driving into her. That worked as I forced her right to her back and I quickly climbed on top and began to lace my legs around hers in a double leg grapevine (here’s my first fall, I hoped!). I couldn’t believe that Shelby managed to slip out of my grapevine (but girls are notoriously flexible) and as she tipped me over, she got behind of me and once more locked on her dreaded sleeper hold. Feeling it being locked on, I quickly brought my chin down tightly to my neck so she was locking her arms around that so when she asked for my submission, through gritted teeth, I refused. That only gave me a bit of extra time as Shelby quickly developed her control – first, she wrapped me in a body scissor, while retaining the sleeper hold – then she arched backwards so my whole body was stretched out. I also lifted my chin and the instant I did, she sunk in the sleeper again and once more after trying to fight it, I had to tap a second time. [Winner Shelby Beach @ 1:35]
…onto the third…
This was Layla’s debut and I was intrigued how she would wrestle me. That didn’t last long as Layla proved a straight-forward and aggressive opponent. While I would try an amateur style tie-up, she just launched herself at me and caught me in a headlock and whipped me straight to the mat on my back. While she tightened the choke hold and threw some weight on my chest, I parried by trying to hook her near leg but eventually managed to push hard enough against her back so my head slipped free and, having done so, I mounted Layla and wrapped her short legs in another of my patented grapevine holds.
Layla should have submitted to this hold (I find grapevines are wicked to resist) but she had a lot of fight in her and was bridging me right off the mat over and over. She finally rolled me off of her and got o her stomach. I kept on top and was about to try another move when she tagged Shelby…
I got wind of Shelby’s intervention when two arms suddenly hefted me off my opponent and dropped me to the mat. OUFFF…Shelby landed on my back and swiftly folded my legs together into a double leglock to immobilize me. Swinging her legs around to the front, she wrapped my head into a head scissor and just worked both holds relentlessly. I felt simultaneously that my ankles were going to get dislocated while my neck was severed in between Shelby’s legs – both pointed to one conclusion…TAP OUT! [Winner Shelby Beach @ 3:00]
…onto the 4th!
I took on Shelby again and while I worked my usual outside hand-grappling moves, she once more resorted to her “two hands on the head” tie-up. This time, I executed a nice duck-under and got behind her, locking my arms around her torso and lifting her up, getting ready for a slam to the canvass. While I held her off the mat, she managed to reach back and hooked an arm around my neck to catch me in a headlock...at least for a few seconds. However, I still managed to take her down to her hands and knees with me on top while she had to drop the headlock. I wanted to break her down to her stomach and to do so I threw my hips into her and tried an ankle pick, but she was quite strong on her base and, in a really neat move, executed was we call an amateur sit-out to escape me. We wrestled on the ground for a few seconds till she grasped my right arm and pressed it over her leg and against my locked elbow. This armbar variation was not one I could resist for long so I had to tap out once more. . [Winner Shelby Beach @ 1:15]
…anyone for a 5th?
As I moved out to centre ring, Layla responded for the girls. I tried another lock-up and Layla responded with her patented headlock. Before she would swing me to the mat, I pushed hard against her back to pop my head free and got behind her. Before I could take her down, she turned into face me and, leaping up, caught my head with both her hands and shucked me to my knees. She landed with my head deliciously close to her legs and not being a girl to resist that much temptation, locked my head in between her legs and pitched to the side so she could fully power the head scissor. She asked for a submission which I promptly refused. She then grabbed my near arm and pinned it on the mat, leaving me only with my left arm to pry at the head scissor. With a vicious turn, she took my caught wrist and began to twist it with both hands – combined with the head scissor I had to submit the fall to Layla for her first win of the day. [Winner Layla @ 1:25]
…6th Fall…
In otherwise what was a battle of good versus evil, I strayed from the pure faith in this fall…taking advantage of genial conversation to saddle up to Layla and without warning wrap her up in a side headlock and try to flip her to the mat. For some reason this sparked outrage in the girls team that cost me plenty. First thing, I didn’t even get any advantage of my sneak attack since Layla broke free of my headlock and took me down to the mat, straddling my back and facing towards my legs which she quickly folded over to a leglock. Shelby waited for Layla to really work over my legs when she tagged in and rolled me to my back as Layla exited. On top, Shelby laced my legs and splayed them apart in a double leg grapevine which quickly resulted in some very motivated groaning on my part. What made her grapevine special (special = painful) was the way she would pitch her hips first to one side and then to the other which would really work the grapevine on the receiving leg. I tried prying her legs free of mine with my hands so Shelby grabbed one with both hands and applied a wrist lock that forced my submission. [Winner Shelby Beach @ 1:15]
…7th fall stretch (for you baseball fans)
This was not a pretty fall for me at all. Shelby locked up with me and slowly worked me to the ropes till she held my head perilously over the top rope with both hands. As I pushed my head back from the rope, Shelby neatly fell backwards and flipped me right over her so I tumbled to the mat near centre ring. Before I could even get off the canvass, Shelby had my near arm in both hands and planted her legs on either side as she fell back into what those in the submission trade call a fujimori armbar. I tried to pitch myself towards her to lessen the pain from the armbar but with her legs straddling me she kept the armbar tight and, once she pressed her hips into my locked elbow, I simultaneously tapped and shouted my submission…. [Winner Shelby Beach @ 0:35]
8th Fall…Rebel gets worn down…
After seven falls and seven defeats, I was getting kinda tired and as Layla and I met in centre ring, she shucked me down to my knees…spun around and locked me in a body scissors to take me to the mat. She worked the scissors hard as I tried to break out and at the end of a particularly painful thrust she tagged with Shelby who moved in. I just managed to roll out to my stomach when Shelby locked my legs together to prevent me from escaping (where I wondered?). She swung her legs around to catch my head and applied a figure four head scissors, along with the leglock and finally fell to the side to apply a jaw-breaking straight head scissors. With my legs locked and my head trapped in between her thighs, I resisted…couldn’t escape…and then metaphorically threw the towel in for my 8th loss. [Winner Shelby Beach @ 0:58]
Onto the 9th…
Shelby didn’t even bother leaving centre ring while I splashed some water on my face and returned to my corner. In a few seconds, she took me down to the canvass and applied her double leglock which she used simply to work me over for a bit. She then moved to a side headlock while I lay prone on my stomach and tried to get a submission with a combination headlock/wrist lock. I twisted my hand free of the wrist lock so with both hands free for action, Shelby wrapped me up in a miserable cross-face/chin lock while straddling my back. Layla wanted in at this point and tagged Shelby – double teaming they rolled me over to my back and Layla dropped on top, straddling my shoulders with her knees. Pippa began a three count which I stopped with a bridge but Layla still was straddling my shoulders with all her weight so as my bridge subsided, Shelby just began another count. I also broke this one but when I couldn’t shake Layla off and she pinned my wrists to the mat…my third bridge collapsed with my shoulders still pinned and Layla won the fall with a one…two…three…PINFALL . [Winner Layla @ 1:15]
Up to an even 10…
The smell of raw meat must have been in the air as Shelby moved out to challenge me for the 10th fall. This one was short and (for her) sweet as she locked me up, collar and elbow, and crowded me into my corner. OUFFF…a thigh to the gut…I doubled up and leaned forward…right into a fireman’s carry which she used to throw me out to centre ring…TWACK (right on my back)…Shelby landed hard in a cross pin, scissored one arm and locked her hands on the other wrist and pinned me for the three count. . [Winner Shelby Beach @ 0:18 – her fastest pin]
Ding…Ding…into the 11th round…Rebel tries a comeback…
Shelby and I left our corners to meet in centre ring and we both tried to out-hustle each other with hand grappling…This time, I dropped low and hit a perfect double leg, grabbing both her legs and trying to drive her to her back. She caught me in a briefly-held front headlock but I still managed to take her to her back. I moved quickly to “t”-off but she slowed me down by keeping her knees up so I couldn’t move my legs to the side. When Shelby rolled to her stomach, I wrapped my legs around hers in a kind of reverse double leg grapevine but she was able to slide her legs free and even worked to her hands and knees. She sat-out to the right and then quickly attacked me from that side, driving me to my back and in a humiliating move, partially pinned me by pressing her knee into my neck. It was a quick transition and she wrapped my head in another head scissor and tried to finish me off with another wrist lock. I was able to twist my arm free before she would really lock it on but as I did I rotated my arm so she could grasp it by the wrist and twisted it behind my back into a perfect hammerlock. On my stomach and worked over by a combination head scissor and hammerlock, I had no choice but to submit the fall. [Winner Shelby Beach @ 1:55]
The Glorious 12th?
This was the round where the girls coordinated perfectly to put me away for the fall and the whole match…but it was Layla who carried most of the match for the girl’s team.
By this point, I was twisted, battered and bruised and (found out later) had suffered a small nosebleed to complete the work-over. Worse still, the girls chatted secretively to each other in the corner before Layla moved out. Perhaps the cumulative action put me on the defensive because I just walked right into Layla’s headlock and in a couple of seconds she had me flat on my back and was enthusiastically working the headlock. If that wasn’t bad enough, I felt my right ankle suddenly grabbed by invisible hands and wrapped and twisted around the middle ropes. Layla worked the headlock for a few more seconds before she suddenly dropped it and mounted me, lacing her legs around my neck and locking in a perfectly tight figure four head scissor while straddling her entire weight on my neck and shoulders. This was close to a combination neck scissors and face-pin and while I tried kicking out, Layla remained tightly wound around my neck and took the opportunity to also pin my wrists to the mat. Pippa began the count…I tried tipping to one side or the other…Layla just wore me out by flexing her head scissor and keeping my wrists pinned till I stopped kicking and with a count from Pippa, I was counted out.
I never made it off my back. Layla had hardly disentangled herself and Shelby dropped down from the top ropes, landing her knees on either side of my head…she took over Layla’s wrist pins and pulled my arms straight behind my head, corralling them between her knees and just held me for another three count pin. Shelby then peeled off me and still prone on my back, Layla moved in for the final pin. OUHHHH…She landed hard on my chest and Pippa started another pin count. I pulled my left shoulder off the mat, stopping the count, and Layla secured my right arm in between her legs in a scissor…She lay her full weight across my chest and pinned my left wrist to the mat…Pippa resumed the count…I just managed to pull my left shoulder off the mat by hardly an inch and then…once more, the invisible hand of Shelby intervened to take hold of my shoulder…two hands pinning my wrist and Shelby shoving down on my shoulder and my left side slowly slid to the mat and…one…I kicked my legs out…two…just hung my legs listlessly bent at the knees…three…DING…DING…the final fall was won by Layla [Winner Layla @ 2:10]
Final Thoughts:
I really liked the set-up of the Wrestling Factory…Pippa has worked hard to make it perfect for wrestling matches…and has mats and even a place for messy wrestling for those who don’t like ring matches. There are also showers, privacy and best of all, a real willingness by Pippa and her roster of girls (and now guys) to go the extra mile to find out what kind of match you want and enthusiastically provide it.
I had initially thought this might be more of a pro-style match but really, we went at it full throttle and both sides were applying their moves the best and hardest they could. There was nothing really affected in how e applied our moves so I think it was more of a match between two female grapplers and a male amateur wrestler.
Shelby showed a wide range of locks, scissors, chokes and sleeper holds while Layla drove at me with headlocks and pins (though her conversion of a side headlock to a figure four frontal pin was masterly). I can’t honestly say I preferred wrestling one over the other. Each time either Layla or Shelby emerged from their corner, I knew I was in for some fun.