The morning after. Last night VeVe and I grabbed the camera, made a trek out into New Jersey, and met up with Keri, Danger Dude, and Frankie for our first ever 2-on-2 competitive Battle of the Sexes bondage wrestling bout.
UPDATE: Sat, Feb 21. Just watched the video; It was different than I remembered from the filming! But below is my "morning after" text.
As everything boiled to a head, only a quick-thinking switch-off at a critical moment could provide the space needed for one of the teams to prevail. But it was a slight mistake, a change in tactics, and a head-first dive through a window of opportunity that eventually spelled a downward spiral for one set of the partners...
Whew.
UPDATE: Thurs, Feb 19. Very first pictures added at the bottom
UPDATE: Thurs, Feb 19. Very first pictures added at the bottom
UPDATE: Sat, Feb 21. Just watched the video; It was different than I remembered from the filming! But below is my "morning after" text.
Keri and VeVe joined forces -- also another first-ever -- and they faced off against the combined might of Danger Dude and Frankie. Both teams were remarkably intent on winning, both brought a lot of passion and will to the table, and both crashed and bashed for a tough and strenuous evening.
The guys entered the game with an interesting set of cards in their hand. Danger Dude had a remarkable level of grappling experience, enough to blow past all other competitors on the mats that evening. He had only limited experience when it came to rope work and quick-tying, but he did have a basic gist and was ready to be creative. Frankie was the least experienced wrestler in the room, but he was exceptionally fit, agile, and very open to taking directions from his teammate Danger Dude. But Frankie had even less rope know-how than his partner; he's been hogtied once, and I think that was the extent of his rope experience.
Danger Dude and Frankie agreed to a very simple game plan ahead of time, which consisted of Danger Dude attacking hard at VeVe while Frankie kept Keri pre-occupied and unable to offer assistance.
The ladies came into the game expecting a tough showing from the guys, but they also expected to neutralize their opponents with teamwork. They were primarily concerned about Danger Dude, and the main plan was to double-team him as soon as possible. VeVe speculated that they could even possibly ignore Frankie altogether, staying tight to Danger Dude and not letting Frankie in to intervene.
So, the ladies' plan was to attack Danger Dude via 2-on-1 as soon as possible, and to deal with Frankie later.
The intersection of these two plans led to an exhausting, furious, and nearly interminable battle!
As the rumble began, the men got lucky and isolated the ladies immediately, driving them away from each other and to opposite sides of the fight area. From there, they broke into two simultaneous 1-on-1 matches as VeVe clashed with Danger Dude while Keri struggled to contain the unsinkable Frankie.
VeVe spent a ton of time underneath Danger Dude, forced into incredibly demanding multi-tasking as she tried to work single-leg tie attacks while also attempting to relieve the physical pressure he was placing on her. Danger Dude would repeatedly blast through VeVe's re-guarding attempts, mounting her chest or kneeling on her belly, but he struggled to create any effective ties. I particularly remember glimpsing him wrapping a rope around and around her wrist like a spool. VeVe would always escape or avoid those ties, scramble away, and all would start again.
As VeVe called "Keri, what happened to the plan?!", Keri found herself with her hands full, thanks to Frankie. Despite his lack of experience, Frankie was no slouch, and he did all he could to be a nuisance to the ladies' teamwork efforts by keeping Keri's attention. Indeed, any time Keri would rush over to help VeVe, Frankie would throw himself at her and drag her down. Annoyed, Keri punished Frankie and kept him at bay with bodyscissors, intimidating pressure, and grueling rope bite. But even if it meant his suffering, Frankie still did his part: he kept Keri occupied and kept the ladies' team separated. This was quite a thorn for the female team!
After a particularly lengthy exchange, maybe a half-hour into the bout, all 4 participants got to their feet again, completely shucking off all ropes. Oh no. A restart at this point?! Oh, exhaustion...
As they re-engaged, VeVe insisted they try again with their double-teaming plan. Again, Keri attempted to turn her back on Frankie and help against Danger Dude, but Frankie would either grab her around the body and sling her away, or he would just tackle into the whole pile, creating a jumble, foiling the ladies' efforts, and allowing Danger Dude to squiggle to a better position.
The ladies attempted their double-team several times, which actually caused Danger Dude quite a bit of distress; he was swift to handle a 1-on-1 situation, yet when both ladies attacked him together, the tide would clearly start turning. But Danger Dude would call out to Frankie, sending out an S.O.S. when he was overwhelmed, and Frankie would rush in with his latest crazy rescue attempt.
An incredible and infuriating battle! And long, too -- They fought for nearly 50 passionate minutes, wrestling hard to secure a tie before someone escaped again to cause more mayhem!
EDIT! Sat, Feb 21. I finally watched the video 2 days after filming... and the combination of elements was different than I remembered!
After watching, I saw the ladies DID use the strategy tweaks I had mentioned below for them. It's very odd, really, that this just slipped my mind. Watching this now, I see how much I missed when I was filming it. I was so concerned with the framing challenges that I missed so many details in the moment. Stay tuned, readers; I'm pulling more stills. I'm leaving my strategy tweaks below as originally composed, but, again, some of those did actually happen in the match at the very end, once things got desperate. Ok, back to work!
After watching, I saw the ladies DID use the strategy tweaks I had mentioned below for them. It's very odd, really, that this just slipped my mind. Watching this now, I see how much I missed when I was filming it. I was so concerned with the framing challenges that I missed so many details in the moment. Stay tuned, readers; I'm pulling more stills. I'm leaving my strategy tweaks below as originally composed, but, again, some of those did actually happen in the match at the very end, once things got desperate. Ok, back to work!
...........................................
Strategy Tweaks
After having seen the match and the strategies play out, I have considered strategy tweaks for the teams:
For the men: Danger Dude and Frankie should have double-teamed VeVe from the start, essentially adopting the ladies' initial strategy. Once VeVe was secured, which is quite do-able with two larger opponents, they could have both turned on Keri.
For the ladies: They should have used a strategy similar to the men's initial idea; VeVe should have attacked Frankie to bind and secure him, which she has done very quickly priorly, while Keri fouled and distracted Danger Dude. Once Frankie was tied, then they could both overbear Danger Dude.
............................................
And that was our first attempt at this style of multi-person match! It was smashingly hard-fought, and a lot of sweat saturated those ropes last evening. Hats off to our weary, daring, rope-burned competitors!
UPDATE: Thurs evening: Pictures added below:
UPDATE: Thurs evening: Pictures added below:
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| The Very Beginning |
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| The dreaded reset at 30-minutes |
