Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling

Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling
Acronym G.L.O.W.
Founded 1986
Style Women's professional wrestling
Headquarters Las Vegas, Nevada (1986-1992)
Founder(s) Matt Cimber
Owner(s) M. Ricklis (1986–2001)
Ursula Hayden (2001–present)
Website gorgeousladiesofwrestling.com

Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, also known as GLOW or G.L.O.W., is a women's professional wrestling promotion begun in 1986 (the pilot was filmed in December 1985) and continued in various forms after it left television. Colorful characters, strong women, and over-the-top comedy sketches were integral to the series' success. Most of the performers were actresses, models, dancers, and/or stunt women hoping to get into show business through wrestling.

Original promotion

GLOW was created by Matt Cimber as an evolution of a somewhat different original concept by David B. McLane. That began as an aftermath of Jackie Stallone's physical fitness gym for women only, Barbarella's.Mando Guerrero trained all of the girls, initially. After they moved the show to Las Vegas Ninotchka took control over training the new girls.[1]

The syndicated GLOW TV show was produced for four seasons (1986–1990) from the Riviera Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Seasons 3 and 4 were in fact, filmed at a former warehouse building approximately three miles east of the Riviera hotel which is currently a Harley-Davidson outlet. During the casting for the pilot, not all of the women were taking it seriously, so Mando Guerrero put one woman in a submission hold and made her cry.[1] They cast twelve girls for the show and trained them for six weeks prior to the shoot.[1] They wrestled approximately eight matches per show, which eventually was sold.[1] Some of the women moved to Las Vegas to continue working with the promotion.[1] The show itself differed from Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation in that they had actual seasons where some wrestlers were dropped, changed, or added before the new season began. Each season consisted of 26 episodes that were each rerun once to complete the year, with a total of 104 episodes produced.

Steve Blance was the senior referee in season two before becoming GLOW's "commissioner" in seasons three and four. He was always the recipient of a GLOW Girl beatdown in season two. Johnny Cafarella (as "Johnny C.") hosted seasons 3 and 4, was the figurehead owner (buying David McLane's "interest" in a storyline) and also served as company manager after the departure of McLane in 1987. Jackie Stallone (Sylvester Stallone's mother) was the figurehead owner and manager of the Good Girls, and Aunt Kitty (Kitty Burke) was the manager for the Bad Girls.

Each of the GLOW performers had her own rap song (personalized lyrics using the same backing track). It was shown on videotape prior to that wrestler's match. Similar to other wrestling promotions' use of wrestler-specific entrance themes, this gimmick may have been influenced by the Chicago Bears' "Super Bowl Shuffle".

Revival

The GLOW company is owned since 2001 by Ursula Hayden, who portrayed Babe the Farmer's Daughter during seasons 3 & 4. David McLane also was behind three subsequent women's wrestling leagues: Powerful Women of Wrestling (1986–1990), Ladies Sports Club (1990–1991), and Women of Wrestling (2000–2001, 2016 revival). Johnny Cafarella promoted a similar show in 2003 called CRUSH along with Steve Blance. The CRUSH concept was revived in 2008 by Cafarella for the Wrestlicious promotion.

GLOW is still in existence, though not associated in any way with David McLane. It was revived by the Riviera Hotel & Casino, where it was originally filmed, in 2001. As the son of the director, Matt Cimber, Tony Cimber (the youngest child of the 1960s American sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and a half-brother of actress Mariska Hargitay), started on the show playing a character called "Nature Boy" and was led around the ring on a leash by a female wrestler named, "Jungle Woman". In April 2012, GLOW returned to Las Vegas for a show that reunited former GLOW girls Roxy Astor, Hollywood, Babe the Farmer's Daughter, Gremlina, Lightning, Thunder Bolt, Melody Trouble Vixen (MTV), Ashley Cartier, Godiva, Daisy, and Corporal Kelly. The show also featured new GLOW girls, including Sara Deathray.[2]

In 2014 an event called AfterGLOW was created and produced by original GLOW girl Roxy Astor. The event was a combination of a reunion and fan party. The event took place on Oct 25, 8:00pm at the Acme Comedy Theater in California. Several of the shows original stars attended and the fans were able to interact with the ladies of GLOW. There was also an autograph signing and a DVD produced of the show. GLOW ladies in attendance were: Roxy Astor, Godiva, Matilda The Hun, MTV, Little Egypt, Major Tanya, Dallas, Sunny The California Girl, Jailbait, Gremlina, Daisy and the shows announcer Johnny Caferella.

Documentary

A documentary film entitled GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling was completed in late 2011. The film was directed by Brett Whitcomb and written by Bradford Thomason, and features the music of ESG.[3]

GLOW: The Story of The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling premiered at Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival to positive reviews, and has since been featured in New York Magazine, LA Weekly, rogerebert.com, VICE, /Film, The Village Voice, and Mental Floss magazine. The film recently won the Best Documentary award at Comic-Con International Film Festival in San Diego, CA, and Audience Choice Best Documentary at Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, AL.[4]

Alumnae

Character Actress(es) Seasons
AmericanaCindy Maranne1, 2
Amy The Farmer's Daughter Trudy Adams2
AngelAndrea Baird2
Ashley CartierNadine Kadmiri1, 2
AttacheLaura Fisher1, 2
Babe The Farmer's DaughterUrsula Hayden3, 4
BeastieKelle Favara3, 4
Big Bad MamaLynn Braxton3, 4
Brittany AstorThe Brat5
Broadway Rose 1Eva Chirumbolo
Broadway Rose 2Andrea Janell3
BrunhildaDeann Murray4
The California DollJane Hamlin1, 2
Cheyenne CherDee Chocktoot3, 4
CinnamonCanela Arechiga1
Colonel NinotchkaLori Palmer1–4
Corporal Kelly Olympia Hartauer1
Corporal Kelly 2Lillian Weaver Crabtree3
DaisyHelena LaCount3, 4
DallasDebi Pelletier1
Debbie DebutanteAnn LaBree1, 2, interim 3
Dementia 2Nancy Daley3
The WidowNancy Daley4
Dementia, SugarMichelle Duze2
Ebony1, 2
EvangelinaChristy M. Smith3
GodivaDawn Maestas3–5
GremlinaSandy Manley3, 5
HabanaChristina Garcia3
The Heavy Metal Sisters
Spike - Sharon Wilinsky and Chainsaw Donna Wilinsky
The Housewives, Arlene and Phyllis		1, 2
HollywoodJeanne Basone1–5
JailbaitTrish Casella/Trish King Casella3 (Unaired), 5
Jungle WomanAnnette Marroquin1
JusticeNarice Crockett3, 4
LibertyPenny Johnson3
LightningCheryl Rusa[5]3–5
L'il MamaJerrie Micheline Swoopes5
Little EgyptAngelina Altishin1, 2, 5
Little FeatherKuno1
Little FijiNha Woo1–3
Major TanyaNoelle Rose3, 4
Matilda the HunDee Booher[6]1, 2
Melody Trouble Vixen (MTV)Eileen O'Hara3–5
Mika the HeadhunterMikaela Karr1
Mina the Headhunter1
Mana the Headhunter1, 2
Mountain FijiEmily Dole1–4
OlympiaDebbie Core1
PalestinaJaneen Jewett1, 2
PepperCynthia Peretti1
Princess of DarknessJanet Bowers1, 2
Roxy AstorTracee Meltzer3–5
The Royal HawaiianApril Homm1
Sally The Farmer's DaughterBeckie Mullen1, 3
SaltCharli Haynes1
Sara and Mabel, The Hicks1, 3, 4
Scarlet the Southern BelleJanice Flynn1
Sneaky3, 4
The Soul Patrol, Envy and Adore1, 2
Spanish RedEricka Marr1, 2
StarSuzanne Duplessis3, 4
StinkyMichelle Javas3, 4
SunnyPatricia Summerland3
Susie SpiritLaurie Thompson1, 2
Tammy JonesDebbie D'Amato1
Tara the Southern BelleShiela Best1, 2
ThunderboltDana Felton Howard3
Tiffany MellonSandra Margot3–5
Tina FerrariLisa Moretti1, 2
TulsaJody Haselbarth2 (interim), 3, 4
Vallerie VendettaSarah Del Ray5
Vicky VictoryPeach Janae3, 4
VineJanet Bowers1–3
Zelda The BrainMarie Moore3, 5

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Oliver, Greg (April 13, 2000). "'Slop' matches haven't stopped Ivory". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  2. ↑ http://www.glowgirls.tv/
  3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1559038/
  4. ↑ Various references:
  5. ↑ http://www.cherylrusa.com/
  6. ↑ http://www.queenkong.com

External links

The AfterGLOW Fan Cruise The AfterGLOW Fan Party

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.