Ashley Wildcat and Lia Labowe
Review by The Amazing Spider-Mouth (March 2018)
This was my first trip across the Atlantic to do sessions and I’ll say straight away that this was the best experience I’ve ever had since entering the scene in 2005. Ashley and Lia are the two US athletes I wanted to have matches with most and I made sure of this by buying and watching plenty of their videos. If I could session with Lia great, if I cold session with Ashley great, if I could session with both of them on the same trip even better. But what I really wanted was to meet both athletes at the same time and also to sponsor a match between the two of them. I did not wish to waste their time with endless emails so I made a clear sponsorship offer to Lia to travel to Florida if she could spare the time. I decided to base myself in the same Florida town where Ashley lives booking one of the Hilton Hotels there, nice, PGA village, loved it. What I did to make this worth their while was sponsor and appear in some custom clips against the two athletes one on one as well as two v one, booked a full session with each of them and sponsor a match between the two of them. It was a joy to me that Ashley and Lia were able to do other session work and video work while together in Florida, and it was great that so many of their fans were able to take the opportunity to get customs with them both.
I’ve seen a lot of talk about deposits and some guys not paying deposits because of scammers. Well I also know that decent athletes have been the victims of no-show guys having paid for gym hire and taken time out for the session, travelled etc. My attitude is don’t cause problem for decent session athletes who have a very good and honest professional record of doing sessions and video work, using deposit scammers as an excuse. I did not particularly want to carry thousands of dollars in cash around with me so I paid almost everything up front, because I knew I was dealing with Ashley and Lia. This gave the athletes confidence to set time aside knowing that I’d be there.
OK enough of that, onto the sessions. Well let’s just say the ladies were very keen to get at me, and were messaging for me to let them know when I arrived at the hotel so they could call round and get started immediately. Ashley’s car arrived and I went into the car park to greet them in the flesh for the first time. Big hugs. Ashley had also got new mats which she was using for the first time in these sessions. We arranged my room into a wrestling arena and then had a bit of a chat about our wrestling interests and session preferences before we started. What happened next was just excellent. Instead of doing two separate sessions, Ashley and Lia took control of the session and tag teamed me, they had clearly understood more about what I like than I know about myself and made this the perfect session. I did not have to choose who would be mu first opponent in USA, I was up against both athletes. The rounds were interspersed with conversation about the international wrestling scene. Both Ashley and Lia devoted a full 2 hours to this 2 v 1 match so I got way more than I paid for in terms of sessions. It was a great sporting contest, good humoured with Ashely and Lia cheering each other on. It was a great atmosphere.
I have to admit not only did I misjudge Ashley and Lia, but I also misjudged all of their opponents I watch on video. I honestly thought I was going to have to lower my level to make it a good even struggle. There was no need, we kept it safe and controlled, but boy are these ladies strong and skilled. They were far superior in terms of skill and I was taken aback by their natural strength as well. I was tapping out to head scissors, reverse head scissors, figure 4 head scissors, triangles, arm bars, an Americana, an omoplata, body scissors, rear naked chokes and kimouras. Ashley managed to get my favourite hold on me (the grapevine), and both managed to pin me down but never counted, they were intent on gaining all of their points through submissions. They worked together fantastically well as a team. I’ve been training 6 days per week for this but it was no stroll in the park, it was one hell of a good workout. Seriously, Ashely and Lia planned it and did the session to make sure it was the best session anyone could have ever had.
Next up we filmed some costumed superhero matches for Ashley’s clips site. We got some great fun videos done with myself in Black and Red/Blue Spidey costumes while Lia went for Wonder Woman and Iron Princess costumes and Ashley was Spider Girl and Batgirl. At one point Lia and I had a pillow fight in the middle of a match. We really entered into the spirit of the matches and had a ball as you will see in Ashley’s clips. Then we finished off with a two v one superhero custom that I’d ordered. If you want to see me get knocked out buy this clip! I don’t want to give too much else away about the video because Ashley will be selling it commercially.
Then I was the camera operator for a couple of other guy’s custom videos. It was a privilege to be able to do this and see what goes into making a custom. They were focused while going over the clip and making sure I knew my cues for changing what I was filming during matches. They discussed and clarified everything in the script and came up with excellent improvisations as well. It was a very productive day and at the end of it we all went for steak dinner in the hotel restaurant. I had a beer for the first time in a while, figured I deserved it. I said my good byes to both ladies just in case they did not need me to film for them the next day.
I was delighted the next day (Saturday) when Ashley contacted me asking if I could film a custom clip where they really needed a hotel room to fight in. We got the job done very efficiently allowing the ladies to proceed to the other side of town where further custom work had come in for them. I knew Lia was flying out the next day, we said our goodbyes after what has been a special and memorable trip for me. On the Sunday morning, I still had more than enough dollars left over for another session. Ashley and I had already been talking about a rematch the next time I was in USA, well after a twitter exchange on the Sunday morning, Ashley met up with me on the Sunday evening to settle a few things on the mats. It was awesome.
By the time I had completed the journey home, via Toronto and London, Ashley had already got my clips to me via drop box, highly efficient. She is a real industry leader, well organised, committed and travels far and near to work with the best people. A big thanks to Ashley for hosting Lia and I in Florida, it’s been wonderful. Massive thanks to Lia, a legend in this scene who I’ve admired for over a decade on video and now I’ve hit the mats with her. She took time out of her schedule to travel to meet myself and her other fans. It’s truly appreciated. I will definitely meet both Lia and Ashley again and can highly recommend them for sessions and customs.
