This story follows on from my encounter with Christine ("Snatching defeat from the neds of victory"). After my fourth-round loss I was worried I wouldn’t finish in the top two but luck was on my side in the fifth round of qualifying. First Jay beat Clare to draw level with Christine but then Suzi pulled out all the stops to beat Christine 4-2. All I had to do was beat Jan and I’d be up against Jay for the title. Of course, Jan was in the same boat so it was far from a foregone conclusion. In the end I won out 4-2 and so we came to the final. This story contains Larry’s account of the fight followed by an interview I gave him immediately after it.
“Ladies and gentlemen. We now come to the highlight of our evening, the senior wrestling title fight. Introducing in the blue corner, aged 48, standing 5 feet 7 inches, measuring 38C-29-42 and weighing 155lbs, our current reigning champion - Ellen Shaw!”
Ellen slipped off her kimono. She was wearing her favourite high legged black briefs with the white polka dots and frills.
“And in the red corner, aged 53, standing 5 feet 5 inches, measuring 36C-28-38 and weighing 145lbs, the challenger – our club president – Jay Marchant!”
The slightly shorter, stockier, strawberry blonde was wearing a pair of pure white silk midi-briefs that shone under the ring lights.
Ellen was younger and heavier than her opponent but she’d had never beaten her and Jay had inflicted a convincing knockout defeat on her in the third qualifying round. She may have been the defending champion but, on past performance, Ellen went into this match the under dog.
At the bell both fighters came out cautiously and circled for a good 30 seconds before locking up. Once they did the fight exploded as both women threw each other around the ring, pulling off high impact moves that belied their age and size.
Jay opened the scoring in the 3rd minute when she caught the champion off guard and slipped behind her to pull off a German suplex pin. Two minutes later she extended her lead when she caught Ellen in a seemingly innocent looking head scissors and the younger woman had no answer.
The champion pulled one back a few minutes later with a cross press but then went 3-1 down at the mid-point of the bout when Jay took her to the mat and locked on a brutal arm bar to gain a second submission.
Things got even worse for Ellen in the 5th fall when she found herself trapped in an agonizing full nelson/leg lock combination. Amazingly she tried to ride it out, obviously thinking Jay couldn’t hold it indefinitely, but eventually it proved too much and after 30 seconds she screamed out her submission. Jay released the hold and Ellen collapsed face first to the mat. With almost 9 minutes remaining she was in serious trouble and stayed down throughout the break, only rising as the count reached 9 at the start of the 6th fall.
Things looked to be going the same way as their previous encounter as Jay took control of the match. For the next 2 minutes she subjected the larger woman to a series of throws, slams and postings aimed at weakening her. Each time Ellen hit the mat she took a count of 8 or 9 before rising and walking straight into another attack.
All indications were that Jay was going for a knockout finish so it surprised everyone when she suddenly broke off the assault and followed up a full body slam with a simple cross press to bring the score to 5-1 after 13 minutes.
With hindsight it seems this was the turning point in the match. Despite the beating she’d taken; Ellen came out on the attack at the start of the 7th fall. Three postings and two body slams later she flipped her dazed opponent over and applied a Boston Crab. Jay submitted immediately to bring the score to 5-2 with just over 5 minutes left on the clock.
During the break Jan could be seen speaking to Ellen in the blue corner while over in the red corner Jay looked decidedly uncomfortable. With a three point lead all she had to do was hang on for the last 5 minutes. By contrast Ellen had it all to do – and do it she did.
From the moment the bell sounded for the 8th fall Ellen attacked the smaller woman with everything she had. And it seemed that, even with the fast pace of the match and the fact she’d been close to being knocked out just a few minutes before, Ellen still had plenty left to give. The tables had turned and now it was Jay who found herself repeatedly thrown, slammed, fore armed, posted and clothes lined. Canny Ellen kept her in the ring and, as far as possible, on her feet for as long as possible, sapping the smaller woman’s strength.
After 3 minutes of relentless attacks which saw Jay take 12 counts, it appeared that she was out on her feet. But Ellen was also exhausted and clearly needed to wrap things up quickly. An over the knee backbreaker from the big blonde should have done it but somehow Jay staggered to her feet again as the count reached 9.
Summoning up the last of her strength Ellen hoisted Jay into the air again and slammed her to the mat. She followed up by jumping in the air and dropping a leg across Jay’s chest but a scream from Ellen revealed she had landed badly. She rolled off her spread-eagled opponent and knelt, breathing heavily and rubbing injured her backside with her back to Jay.
Jay lay still as Gabi counted both women, moving to face Ellen as the count reached 6. At 8 Ellen staggered to her feet and turned to look at her fallen foe. Jay still hadn’t moved. As the count reached 10 and the bell sounded a smiling Ellen took one hesitant step forward and sank back to her knees. Both women stayed on the mat for a full minute before being helped up by their seconds.
After a further minute Gabi bought the fighters together in the centre of the ring to announce:
“Ladies and gentlemen. After eighteen minutes and ten seconds. Your winner, by a knockout, and still our senior wrestling champion – Ellen!”
Jay turned to congratulate her opponent and the pair embraced as Ellen drank in the applause from the crowd.
Returning to her corner, Ellen put on her robe, grabbed a towel and slipped out of the ring headed for the blue corner dressing room. Moments later, without stopping to shower or change, she joined Larry Foxton in the chill out zone and gave this interview.
Larry: I’m joined by Ellen, fresh from retaining her title. Can I just say what a spectacular fight that was?
Ellen: “Thank you. I’m not sure ‘fresh’ is the right word though, I could definitely use a shower. Obviously, I’m thrilled to have won but I’d say it was the toughest match I’ve ever fought.”
(Ellen’s body is still covered in sweat and she rubs herself down with a towel as she speaks, exposing her breasts in the process.)
Worse than last year’s final?
“Yes, much harder work. Last year I was ahead for most of the match, all I had to do was hold on to get a win. Not that that was easy against an opponent 12 years my junior. This year I was coming from behind when my tank was empty so yes, much harder.”
How much did you want to win this one?
“Probably more than any other match since I retired from the league and maybe more than any league match. I was the reigning champion and, in all our encounters, I’d never beaten Jay. She’d completely outclassed me in our qualifying match. I wanted to keep the title but I wanted to beat her even more.”
It didn’t start well for you though.
“No, it was high impact from the word go. I had to match her all the way. All I could hope was that she ran out of energy before I did. She managed to pin me in the 3rd minute and it’s always bad psychologically to go behind early in the match.”
Then you submitted to that head scissors. It didn’t look too serious, why did you give?
“Tactics. I could probably have broken out of it but she had it locked on pretty well. Sometimes early in a match it pays to drop a point rather than end up weakened from fighting your way out of a well applied hold. In theory you have more chance of winning the point back by staying strong.”
And that’s exactly what you did when you pinned her a couple of minutes later.
“Yes, but I was still trailing 2-1 and that got worse when she trapped me with that arm bar. No tactics there, it was clear I wasn’t going to get away so I had to give.”
Then it got even worse when she trapped you with that leg lock/full nelson combination. You hung on for a while there though…
“Yes, it’s a bit of a calculated risk to do that. I knew that keeping the hold on was draining her, she couldn’t hold it forever, but it hurt like fuck. In the end I gave up before she did.”
There you were, 4-1 down with just over half the fight gone and in serious trouble. You didn’t get back to your corner that time. Did you think you were going to lose?
“I knew I was in big trouble, particularly when she starting throwing me around in the 6th fall. I didn’t have any answer to that. Every time I got up she was waiting for me.”
You looked like you were struggling to beat the count towards the end of that fall.
“I was - another few good slams and I wouldn’t have made it up.”
But then she suddenly went for a cross press, why do you think she did that?
“Simple – she was running out of steam as well. Throwing someone around is actually harder than being thrown and I sure it hasn’t escaped your attention that I’m a big girl."
(She laughs, throwing her head back and thrusting her chest out to emphasise her tits.)
"She couldn’t keep throwing me around like that for more than a couple of minutes – any more than I could do it to her. It was a lucky break for me, I couldn’t have taken much more of that and we all know how things went back in the third round.”
You were in pretty bad shape by then yourself but you managed to take the 7th fall.
“Yes, I was aching all over but the break let me get some breath back and when we started the seventh fall, I could see the tiredness in her eyes so I thought “payback time”.”
You tossed her around a bit and then trapped her in a Boston crab and she submitted straight away.
“To some extent I think she was playing for time. She could afford to drop a point that late in the match. Plus, the Boston is a good move for us. When you’re topless the last thing you want is to have your boobs dragged over the canvas so it often gets a quick submission.”
We saw Jan talking to you between falls. What did she say to you?
“A little bit of friendly advice, I guess. She asked me what I thought about Jay. I said I thought she was tired but then so was I. Jan told me to go for the knockout but I think I’d already decided on that so it was just some reassurance. At that point there was a little over 5 minutes left on the clock and I was still 3 falls behind. I needed 4 falls to win and every time I got a fall, Jay got a minute to recover. I figured she might let me get 2, maybe even 3 but that would mean overtime and I knew I wouldn’t last that. My best bet was to attack her like she’d attacked me in the 6th fall and hope that she ran out of steam before I did.”
Luckily for you that paid off.
“It did, but only just. I really struggled to beat that last count as well you know.”
OK, talk us through that last fall.
“I started out by softening her up just as she’d tried with me. But I’d already taken and beating and I couldn’t keep that up indefinitely. It had been a fast paced, physical 15 minutes and we were both pretty exhausted. I knew time was running out as well. I didn’t know how much was left but it was too late to change tack and go for those 4 falls. I was struggling by then but she was like a sack of potatoes, out on her feet and doing nothing to defend herself. Somehow, I managed to haul her up and give her an over-the-knee back breaker. When I bought her down across my knee, she screamed so loud I thought that’s got to be it but somehow she managed to make it to her feet at 9. I could hardly stand myself by then so I thought I’ve got one last shot and I went for a body slam and leg drop.”
Why that combination?
“It’s a great finisher. The slam knocks most of the air out of you and the leg drop knocks out what’s left. Jan used it to knock me out in our first fight. Anyway, Jay was back on her feet in front of me but I could see she was out of it so I stuck a hand under her crotch, picked her up, turned her over and went to slam her. I almost didn’t make it. I was exhausted. I felt my knees going but I managed to slam her down on her back. As she hit the mat I jumped up and sat down, dropping my left thigh across her tits, but I landed hard on my tail bone which hurt like mad. I rolled off her and you probably saw me rubbing my arse as Gabi started counting.”
I did – I wondered if you were going to beat the count.
“So did I! I made it to one knee but I was really struggling and I couldn’t see Jay because she was behind me. Gabi came around in front of me as the count reached 7 and I thought this means one of two things. Either she’s given up on Jay or Jay is up behind me and, as soon as I stand up, she’s going to deck me. I knew if that happened, I was finished but I stood up at 8 and Gabi continued counting. I turned as saw Jay spread eagled on the mat with her eyes closed just as the count reached 10 and I knew I’d won it. I just managed to stay on my feet until the bell rang.”
How does it feel to have retained your title and finally beaten Jay?
“Right now it feels great. I’m still running on adrenaline. But I know I’ve taken a beating and I’ll feel it in the morning. Still, the pain always seems less when you’ve won. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m dying for a pee and a shower.”
(With that Ellen stands up and heads back to the blue corner dressing room – interview over.)
