Mayumi Ozaki and Saraya Knight - Not All The Heels Are Gone

I talk a lot about how we have lost a lot of the "roughness" in women's pro wrestling.
The prancing Divas of the WWE will never know what it's like to get curb stomped, slammed into and through a table.
Or be bitten, gouged, stomped, kicked and punched in a match anymore.

But in the Indy promotions, the ladies still get a lot rougher than their WWE counterparts.
And here are two of the roughest ladies to ever step into a ring anywhere, Japan's Mayumi Ozaki and the UK's Saraya Knight.
Two ladies that can take as good as the get, dish out the punishment and keep going and going.

Yeah Saraya is WWE Diva Paige's mom, so Paige might be able to hang with the big girls too if given a chance.
But these to ladies here are classic rough and tough heels.

Photos by Buddy Lamantia

Leather Lena - British Women's Pro Wrestling

Here is Lena Blair (Barbara Swann) again when she was known as "Leather Lena" putting a headlock on someone.
Knowing Lena it was probably really a choke, but hey, that's her style.

Shirley Strimple - Classic Lady Wrestling

This is classic ladies wrestler Shirley Strimple.
Shirley was born in Joplin, Missouri and was the wife of pro wrestler Roy McClarity.
Her nickname was "The Wrestling Housewife" and she was five foot four, 130 pounds.
Shirley passed away in 1989.

Two battling blonde bombshells, Lorraine Johnson vs. Shirley Strimple

Ann Casey - Female Wrestler

This is the third time that the lovely Ann Casey has shown up on this blog.
For one reason, she is pretty popular here.
And for another reason, she is one of my favorites.

Class, style, beauty and she was a whirlwind in the ring.
And yes she was one of the premier barefoot women wrestlers.

These pictures show that even before the WWE's "Attitude Era", there were women wrestlers out there that were just drop dead gorgeous, and Ann was one of them.
Sorry these pictures are a little blurry, but they are the best I could do.