Lady Wrestler By James Harvey - Chapter 08

1962 Genre: Vintage Sleaze / Lady Wrestlers

When is a lady not a lady?

When she is a lady wrestler.

What compulsions drive these voluptuous creatures into the Lady Wrestling racket; and how are they different from other women? Why do they allow themselves to be clawed, slugged, kneed and butted? What do these super-gals do for sexual pleasure? Here is the only story that answers all of these questions and many more about this grotesque sport where girls pin girls for pay and pleasure.

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CHAPTER EIGHT 

On the night of the matches, St. Nick's Arena was barely more than one-third full. Just a few minutes before the start of the evening's entertainment Bella managed to sneak up from her dressing room to see what kind of house she was going to face for her debut as a lady wrestler. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw that the empty seats outnumbered the full ones two to one. Even those who came seemed bored and listless as they sat glumly staring at the unlit prize ring. From what Bella could judge most of them were men sitting in isolated groups in the cheaper sections to the rear. At ringside there was a solid line of people that she knew were officials and reporters. Everyone seemed to be waiting like spectators at a funeral. Deadness hung in the air like crepe. 

Bella went down to the dressing rooms and looked up “Butch” Morgan, one of the pro lady wrestlers who was in the main event and complained about the embarrassing lack of patrons. 

"Kid," she said, "this is considered a good turnout. Lady wrestling never was popular before so why should it change now?” 

"That's why we're here, I guess." 

Butch crossed her bare legs and hitched up the straps of her plain, gray bathing suit. “You mean you think you four chicks can change it with those jazzed-up bits of yours? Kid, its been tried before. I once went on dressed as a gorilla. The people held their noses and walked out. Corn is all right but you can overdo it.” 

"And you think we're overdoing it?" 

Butch slapped her stocky thighs and looked at herself in the mirror. “I've been in this racket for ten years and I've seen 'em come and go. I've seen these flashes-in-the-pan that can make a buck for awhile and then die the next season. How much of an audience do you think lady wrestling has to begin with? Take my advice, kid, drop out while you can. There's just not enough pie to go around." 

Bella left Butch's dressing room and went into her own. She tried to tell herself that Butch was trying to get rid of her rivals before they even got started. There was just so much pie ... that was it ... she was afraid that she was being pushed out of the game by new blood. 

The other pro in the main event was a squat woman of about thirty named Amazon Ann. Unlike Butch, she seemed a bit more interested in the newcomers. She dropped by Bella's dressing room with a broken-toothed smile wreathing her homely face. The only variation in her wrestling outfit from Butch's was that hers was black instead of gray. As Brick had told her so many times before, lady wrestling needed imagination. "How do ya’ feel?” Amazon Ann asked. "All right.” 

“There's nothin' to worry about,” Ann went on. “Those rubes out there want to see someone new.” 

"And,” Bella asked timidly, "how long do you think it will be before they get tired of us?” 

"You've been talkin' to Butch, huh? Don't let her get ya down. She's worried because she knows she's only good for a coupla more seasons.” 

"Is there anything wrong with her?" 

"Sure, she's gettin' older that's what's wrong with her? Ya' can't last forever in this racket. It's the damned public too. It's all up to them how long ya' last. Sometimes they wanna see ya' for years and sometimes they drop ya' all of a sudden. This is my last time around. I'm satisfied. I've lasted longer than most, over seven years." 

Bella could see that Amazon Ann's "comfort” was just as destructive to her morale as Butch's sage ad vice. Both of the lady wrestlers, so far, had painted an awfully bleak picture. And they also brought up an interesting point ... where do retired lady wrestlers retire to? Bella had gone into the game in the first place only as a stop gap job but, suppose she found herself stuck in it ...? Suppose she wound up another Butch or Amazon Ann worried about the future, her looks gone, her public weary of her? 

A man came down announcing that it was time for Charlotte and Cleo to open the show. The college girls who were to serve as Cleo's attendants were dressed in fancy tights and blouses. Even with so much splendor they looked as colorless as ever. Both of them picked up the edge of Cleo's robe and followed her upstairs. Charlotte came right behind them in her cowgirl outfit. Of all the girls in the basement she seemed to be the happiest. “We'll knock them dead!” she kept repeating. 

Bella wanted to answer that the people in the audience were already dead but refrained from doing so. Why add to the gloom? 

Several minutes after the girls left Bella heard the announcer's voice welcoming everyone to St. Nick's Arena. Then he told them all that "they were in for a special treat tonight.” With that he introduced "Charlotte, the Golden Girl of the West.” 

Above her Bella heard Charlotte make her noisy entrance. She heard, too, the stirrings of the crowd for the first time. Then the announcer brought on Cleo by calling her, “Her Royal Highness, Cleo, the Queen of the Mats!" 

The basement was filled with the majestic strains of “Land of Hope and Glory." Obviously there was a loud speaker just above the dressing rooms and Bella strained her ears to listen to the reaction of the crowd. Despite the loudness of the record over the loudspeakers, Bella could hear the crowd murmuring and stirring even louder. The record seemed to go on for a very long time as Cleo made her slow-paced entrance. When it was stopped to indicate that she had reached the ring the noise of the crowd dinned on. 

Both Butch and Amazon Ann rushed into her dressing room. 

“I never heard anything like it," Ann said. “Those rubes actually seem to be awake up there." 

Shirley, her robe wrapped around her, came into the dressing room too. “Bella, they are going over, aren't they?” 

"They haven't even started wrestling yet," Butch Morgan observed. 

The crowd hushed to silence and nothing was heard in the basement except the thud-thud-thud of the girls in the ring. Still there was no reaction from the crowd. Had Butch been right? Were the only things the girls had to offer jazzed-up bits with nothing to support them? 

Then someone in the audience shouted. Then an other. Then several more. Soon the basement was full of their shoutings. 

"They are going over!” Shirley shouted back. 

"A ... a flash in the pan ..." Butch advised. Yet, she didn't sound as convinced as she had been before. 

The match, since it was only considered a preliminary as was Bella's and Shirley's, was slated to go no more than twenty minutes. Charlotte was going to be the winner after giving one of the falls away to Cleo. Bella had seen the exhibition rehearsed so many times she knew exactly when to expect the falls. They came on time and each one was greeted with a great deal of noise from the audience. On the last fall there was one mighty shout. Bella could see that they hit the twenty-minute limit on the nose. “That's our cue," Bella told Shirley. 

Both of them hurried up the stairs in time to meet Cleo, her girls, and Charlotte at the entrance. “They loved me," Charlotte said. 

Cleo shot a quick glance to Charlotte and smiled. "Oh, yes, you are a wonderful warrior." 

Bella looked into the audience again. This time they didn't seem listless and dull at all. Many of the men had taken seats closer to the ringside. It was a good sign. She pulled her robe about her and winked at Shirley. "Just remember," she said. “I get the first and third falls and we don't stay on for more than twenty minutes either.” 

“You don't have to remind me, Bella,” Shirley said. "We've done it so often I can do it in my sleep." 

The excitement of the crowd subsided and the announcer took his place in the center of the ring and spoke into an overhead mike. "Well," he said as if amazed by the exhibition himself, "when I say you're in for a treat a treat is what you'll get. The next girl is ... Shirley, the Tattooed Lady!” 

Shirley ran down the aisle quickly, entered the ring and dropped her robe. The crowd got to its feet. It was something they'd never seen before in a prize ring, a tattooed woman in, what amounted to a bikini. Bella heard her name called and she rushed down the aisle quickly. 

As soon as she got inside the ring a moment of panic overcame her. She couldn't let go of the robe! 

Shirley gazed across the ring at her with a worried expression on her face. At the ringside she heard her name being whispered. She turned to it and saw Brick. “Bella ... Bella ..." he begged. 

Then Bella dropped her robe. There was one titanic roar. 

Seats were pushed aside as a great exodus poured toward the ringside. Several uniformed guards jumped up on the ring with their attention divided between the crowd and Bella. By the expressions on their faces Bella could see that they were debating with themselves as to whether or not they should wrap her up and carry her off and whether the flesh-colored suit was really a flesh-colored suit. 

Suddenly Shirley grabbed her in the first hold of their exhibition and Bella soon fell into the swing of things. The crowd backed away, satisfied that she hadn't been caught at the wrestling match without her Maiden Form everything. 

Now and then Brick had to signal the girls as to how much time they had left. The falls fell into place and the twenty minutes sped by. Bella was declared the "winner” and Shirley, portraying the "sore loser" stamped around the ring for awhile. Then both of them grabbed their robes and ran up the aisle. Halfway to her exit a man fell on his knees in front of Bella, “Marry me!” he pleaded. "I love you!” 

Bella stepped right past him and the man followed. Several other men caught him just as he was about to pull off her robe. A uniformed guard rushed in to help. He led Bella to the exit. “Don't let that guy bother you," he said. "We get all kinds here." 

At the exit Amazon Ann and Butch Morgan were standing waiting for their turn. Both of them seemed stunned. "What a night ...," Ann managed to say as Bella and Shirley passed by. 

In the basement Charlotte and Cleo were already dressed. For a brief moment Bella forgot her ill feelings towards Charlotte and embraced her. “We won't be a flash-in-the-pan!” she said. “I know we won't!” 

Bella peeled off her costume and hurried into her street clothes. As soon as she had, Brick showed up. "Girls, you were all wonderful! I couldn't ask for anything more! They want me to bring on the other girls next month! We're in!” he said rapidly. 

“Wait... "Bella said. “Just listen ..." Everyone was still and listened. 

“I don't hear anything except those two girls banging around in the ring," Brick said. 

"That's just it," Bella told him. “You don't hear the crowd.” 

Suddenly they all understood. “Those dames are washed up,” Charlotte said. 

It was a cruel remark but Bella knew that it was a true one. The era of Amazon Ann and Butch Morgan had come to an end.