Lady Wrestler By James Harvey - Chapter 16

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 SIXTEEN 

Hardy Enterprises stepped back into lady wrestling just as it was about to fall off the brink into oblivion. Brick managed to have all his girls on the card at St. Nick's with a match between Bella and Lily being the headline act. The first events were between Tessie and Zsa Zsa and another between Carla the Clown and Shirley. That night St. Nick's was treated to more color than it had seen for years. 

When Bella came on she could see that the arena was packed to the rafters and they all cheered her. Tears touched her green eyes. My public, she thought, they still remember. She felt like Sarah Bernhardt on her third farewell tour. 

She knew why they were cheering her most of all. They wanted to get a gander of that latex suit. After such a long lay-off, they figured, had she returned to the one that had gotten her reams of publicity? Sensing this, Bella hung on to her robe. The crowd began applauding in unison. Someone yelled, "Take it off!” The cry was taken by others until the whole arena was vibrated. Then, just when Bella felt that they couldn't stand it anymore, she let her robe drop. 

The roof of St. Nick's was almost taken off by the roar. 

Actually Bella was wearing the pink-tinged suit that she had found to be acceptable even to the scrutiny of local reform groups. But, to the crowd, Bella was treating them to her original nude illusion. Since Brick realized that Bella was the favorite he allowed her to take Lily in two out of the three falls. At the end of the exhibition, while Bella rushed back up the aisle, Lily went into a dance she had created for just such an occasion. It was a very interesting night judging by the audience reaction. 

The success of Brick's girls brought in the offers from other arenas. As Brick had promised, many of them were begging requests. Brick immediately raised his price and it was accepted. Once again the balance of power in the field had shifted to his camp. His girls were sent out all over the country again causing the return of patrons to the arenas. Again Brick jacked up his price until it reached the level he had enjoyed before Cleo started her price war. 

Yet, Cleo had not given up. She still offered her girls at far below the sums Brick was getting. To cut corners the promoters now reserved Brick's girls for the headline acts while using Cleo's for the first events. This brought the brother and sister together again ... like a tiger and a lion in the same cage. They came face to face outside an arena in New Jersey and glared at each other for a full minute without speaking. Brick spoke first. "You sure as hell tried your best to ruin me, didn't you?” he said as a statement of fact, flatly and without anger. 

"Business is business, Brick," she answered. “This is standard operational procedure. If you hadn't led such a sheltered life you would understand that.” 

Brick refused to be annoyed by Cleo's digs. "I'm learning about underhanded business practices all the time. You're a good teacher.” 

"I have taught you many of life's little facts, haven't I?” Cleo said still using her undertone. 

Brick was visibly hurt. Cleo knew his soft spot and went right for it. She wanted to show him that, despite his business success, to her he was still the pretty toy that was supposed to be picked up and played with. To avoid losing his temper Brick turned on his heel and left Cleo standing there with a smirk on her face. 

It was now Brick's turn to freeze out his sister. He began to insist that his girls would not appear if any of Cleo's bunch was put on the card. If the promoters wanted low-priced first eventers they would have to accept freelancers. It was a risk but it was working. One by one girls started to leave Cleo's management to go on their own. Some tried to sign up with Brick but the only one he would take was Grandma Eva. The other girls at Hardy Enterprises resented Brick's easy re-acceptance of the old girl. After all, Grandma Eva had deserted the outfit just when it was trying to stay afloat. But, Brick explained to them, Grandma Eva was a good draw. It was best to have her in the company again rather then out competing against them. 

Cleo fought back by pushing on new acts. She signed on the midget tag teams but, somehow, they just didn't work out. There was something pathetic about the tiny women wrestling with each other that the crowds could not accept. Cleo simply didn't have her brother's knack of selecting people. She needed him much more then he needed her. Cleo then was faced with mass desertion. The girls simply refused to be sold cheaply any longer or be frozen out altogether by Brick's bunch. Soon, all Cleo was left with was her faithful Opal, the two college girls and three or four loving dykes. 

"Well,” Brick said smiling for the first time in months, "she's finished.” 

Bella wasn't sure that Cleo was really finished until she showed up at the offices of the Hardy Enterprises one day wearing that man's raincoat and that bottle sticking out of one of its pockets. She looked haggard, pale and sick. She seemed to have aged ten years. “Brick," she said sadly, "I give up. You won. I dissolved my company." 

“The company dissolved you, you mean," Brick answered. 

Cleo nodded her head. “All right, don't let me even keep that much self-respect. I've come here with my hat in my hand asking for a favor." 

"I won't take you back," Brick told her. 

"I didn't expect you would. All I want to do is freelance. Opal too. You know that we can make as much as any girl here. And, you know why the arenas won't touch us. Brick, all I want you to do is send out word that you won't pull your girls off the card if I go on.” Cleo looked pleadingly at her brother. It was a terrible thing to see a proud person beg and Bella had to turn her head away. 

"You tried to ruin me," Brick said. "Why shouldn't I try to ruin you?" 

“But I am ruined!” Cleo wept. “Can't you see that? I don't have a company any longer. All I'm asking you to do is to permit me to free lance. Is that too much to ask for?” 

Bella looked at Brick with sheer pity in her green eyes. "It's not so much to ask for," she told him. 

"All right," Brick said with a long drawn-out sigh. "I'll send word out that you and Opal can be on any card my girls are on. Just remember one thing, if you try to build up your company again I'll freeze you out again. Agreed?” 

Tears trailed down Cleo's once pretty face. "Agreed,” she said. 

After she left Brick began to cry himself. He punched at the wall of his office. "She's changed so much! She looks awful!”. 

Bella wrapped her arms around him. “She'll get on her feet again," she told him. “Just a few more matches will do it.” 

"That's right. I'm not a bastard. I can give her a hand. I'll let her share the headline spot with you, is that all right, Bella?" 

"Of course, darling, of course." 

Bella rehearsed with Cleo for a few hours out in the New Jersey camp for their coming exhibition. But Cleo seemed listless and Bella tried to bring back that old flavor to her act. The tables had turned. Now it was she who was teaching the teacher. One of the college girls with Cleo spent most of her time writing in large notebooks. She was still hard at work on her tribute to lesbianism. Bella wanted to throw the girl out of camp but she could see that Cleo needed every friend she had. 

A match between Opal and Lily went on as a first event at St. Nick's and was well received. Bella hoped that Cleo could make half as good a showing. She asked the college girls who shared her dressing room to be sure to keep Cleo away from the bottle. All during the rehearsal Cleo had stumbled through like a complete greenhorn. 

When it came time for their match Bella went on first since the "Queen" always made the last appearance. As usual when Bella dropped her robe the crowd let out a cheer. Then the strains of "Land of Hope and Glory” issued out of the loudspeakers. Bella peered into the darkness toward the exit. Cleo had already missed her cue!

Bella bit her lip. What had happened to her? Was she drunk? The crowd began to get impatient and stamped their feet. The record was stopped and begun again. Then, at last, Cleo showed up in her costume. She walked slowly down the aisle with her attendants holding her robe. When she reached the ring Cleo drew a sharp breath. Cleo not only looked sober but she seemed to be her old self when she was at the top of her form. Her eyes seemed unusually bright, always a danger signal. 

Cleo gave Bella a strange half-smile that convinced her that something was going to go wrong. When Cleo gave her robe to her attendants she stood in the center of the ring as beautiful as ever. The men whistled loudly. What made her change so rapidly, Bella wondered? Yesterday she was down on her luck and pathetic and now ...

Then Bella knew ... yesterday had just been an act! All of her pleading and tears had been an act, an act to get her here in this ring with her. 

It was too late to back out now. Bella had to see the match through ... somehow. The exhibition began. The girls circled each other according to script and then Bella grabbed her in the first rehearsed hold. 

"Bella," Cleo said through her teeth, "I'm going to kill you." 

Cleo slammed her feet into Bella's shins and she screamed. She tried to back away and escape through the ropes. Cleo punched her on her back and she crumbled. The crowd, thinking that it was part of the act, cheered and booed at the same time. Anger and pain made Bella ball her hands into fists. She punched Cleo hard in the face. Blood spurted out of her nose. Cleo clawed Bella's cheeks marking them with bright, red tracks. “I'll kill you!” she screamed aloud. "I'll kill you for taking my brother away from me!" 

The crowd realized what was happening. They got on their feet as one. Some crowded around the ringside. The girls punched and clawed each other screaming out profanity at the same time. Cleo grabbed Bella by the hair and flung her against one of the rope posts. Bella smashed into it face first and she heard a small, sharp snap. Her nose was broken. Cleo jumped on her and Bella felt as if her ribs were caving in. She grabbed one of her stamping feet and forced her to fall. She then lashed out and tore the top part of Cleo's costume off. One of her breasts fell out. 

Cleo leaped and grabbed Bella by the throat and started to strangle her. Bella fought for breath and there was a ringing in her ears. Suddenly Cleo was pulled off of her. The ring was filled with guards and officials. Photographers flash cameras were exploding everywhere. Cleo had planned this. She had wanted this. 

The crowd was beside itself with excitement. They milled about blocking the aisles. Bella found that her costume was covered by blood. She touched her fingers to her face. It felt like a raw piece of meat. She dove at Cleo being held by two guards and dug her nails deep into her face and pulled. Cleo bellowed like a stuck bull. Some men pinned Bella's arms against their bodies. Bella kicked out with both feet and caught Cleo in the stomach. Cleo started to kick back too and the men parted them, dragging them bodily out of the ring. Some of the guards had to push through the crowd to make a pathway up the aisle. Men picked Bella up and carried her through the pathway towards the exit. She couldn't let Cleo get away with this! She had to do something! 

“Cleo's a lesbian!” she shouted. “She seduced Opal! A little girl!” 

All the way through the crowd Bella kept up this shout. She'd fix Cleo. She'd ruin her as she should've done!

The men carried Bella down into the first aid station. She caught a look at herself in the mirror. She looked as if she had been dragged through a meat grinder. An ambulance arrived and a doctor began to clean and bandage her face. “Your nose is smashed up pretty bad," he told her, “I can't do anything for it here." 

She was placed on a stretcher and taken out to the ambulance. Again she had to be taken through a crowd. Brick showed up at the emergency room. His face was livid with anger. “It's my fault!” he said. “I should've known!" 

Some policemen and a detective entered the room. When Bella saw that the detective carried a notebook she told him she had a statement to make. Then she told all about Cleo's relations with the under aged Opal. She told him about her affairs with other women including herself. 

"I guess that squares with the stuff we found in her dressing room," the detective said. "What stuff?” Bella asked. 

The detective showed her the large notebooks that the college girl had been writing in all the time. “I didn't read it all, just the last few pages on the way over here. If its true about her messing around with those school girls and that Opal she's in bad trouble." 

Bella smiled through her swollen lips. “She had this coming for a long time," she said. “I'll be a witness in court against her if you want.” 

"And, so will I," Brick announced.