We usually think about "Divas" as something created by the WWE.
A beautiful woman that can actually wrestle.
But long before the WWE, or even the WWF, there was Nell Stewart.
Nell was beautiful.
I mean movie star beautiful.
And she could wrestle.
She was originally from Steele, Alabama and was trained by Gladys "Kill 'Em" Gillem.
A true beauty before the Age of "Divas".
Tamara McNeill was born on July 19, 1990 in Brooklyn, New York.
She is better known to Indy wrestling fans (and female wrestling fans in general) as Hania The Howling Huntress.
I really do not know why Hania is not in the WWE.
She would be fantastic in NXT...just for starters.
Hania was trained by Claudio Castagnoli and Mike Quackenbush and made her pro wrestling debut on October 13, 2012.
She has worked for promotions like Women Superstars Uncensored and Queens of Combat (QOC).
With Hania's fitness model looks and her wrestling skills, she looks to me like she would be a shoe in for a WWE Diva spot.
BTW, she sometimes tag teams with Mandy Leon which creates more hotness than a wrestling ring can safely hold.
These are the Owens Twins, a female Irish tag team.
I have to admit, when I first saw them the first thing I thought was, "Oooo...I would love to see them wrestle in a cage match with the Bella Twins!"
But you know...logistics and all.
Anyway they are Leigh and Kasey (Leigh and Kelly Robinson) from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
They are both five foot six and the both weigh 126 pounds..roughly the same size as the Bellas.
Hmmm...
Although Kasey is technically the youngest, she started wrestling first, making her pro debut on October 10, 2010.
Leigh followed the next year debuting on April 3, 2011.
They have worked for Fight Factory Pro Wrestling (FFPW), the Union Of European Wrestling Alliances (UEWA), Pro-Wrestling: EVE (EVE) and No Limit Wrestling (NLW).
In 2013, Kasey went to Japan and worked with the Japanese wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon.
Since I'm not bound to the WWE or TNA here, I thought I would do a little something different here and take a look at female wrestling movies.
Or at least movies that have female wrestling in them.
The first movie I found was the 1951 film Racket Girls (also called Blonde Pickup and Pin Down Girls)
Bad beyond belief (it had the "honor" of appearing on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000), the film actually has a few notable appearances.
One is Timothy Farrell who appeared in Ed Wood's Jail Bait, The Violent Years, and Glen or Glenda.
And two is that female pro wrestlers Clara Mortensen and Rita Martínez are in it.
There are also two uncredited female wrestlers, The Leopard Lady and The Panther Woman.
I wonder if they were real also?
Of course Lucha Libre had a run of movies with female wrestlers in them like 1963's Las luchadoras contra el médico asesino (released in the US as Rock 'N Roll Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Ape), Las luchadoras contra la momia (1964), released here as (Rock 'N Roll Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy) and 1969's Las luchadoras vs el robot asesino (Wrestling Women versus the Murderous Robot).
I did write ups on most of these on one of my Luchadora blogs.
And of course we have the classic (well classic to me at least, I saw it in the theatre when it came out) …All the Marbles (aka The California Dolls).
All The Marbles came out in 1981 and was directed by the legendary Robert Aldrich (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte and The Dirty Dozen).
It starred Peter Falk, Vicki Frederick, and Laurene Landon and legendary female wrestler Mildred Burke actually taught Vicki Frederick and Laurene Landon how to wrestle for their parts in the movie.
Although the movie didn't do too well in the US, it did great in Japan and overseas, and a sequal was actually planned, but the death of Robert Aldrich killed that.
I have to say one thing I never say regarding movies....
"Hey Hollywood, how about a remake?"
Then we have 1989's American Angels: Baptism of Blood.
This movie starred Jan MacKenzie, Mimi Lesseos (The Magnificent Mimi) and Tray Loren.
Plus it had a lot of female wrestlers from the women's wrestling promotion Powerful Women of Wrestling (another product of GLOW's David McLane).
I know Sue Sexton was in it, Jane Hamlin (California Doll in GLOW and Malibu in POWW) and Jan Flame ( I think she wrestled for POWW and a few independent producers, you'd know her if you saw her).
Just Another Romantic Wrestling Comedy (2006) wasn't really about female wrestling specifically, but it did have April Hunter and Chyna in it.
Man, think of the tag team THAT would have made!
WCW and WWF star Debra Marshall also made an appearance in the movie
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Melinda Padovano was born on January 28th, 1987 in Hackensack, New Jersey.
She is better known by her ring name Alicia or Miss Alicia.
Alicia has wrestled for SHIMMER Women Athletes, Women Superstars Uncensored, Ring of Honor and Jersey All Pro Wrestling.
She held the Stars and Stripes Championship Wrestling (SSCW) Women's Wrestling Championship, the WSU Championship twice and the WXW Women's Championship.
Alicia retired from wrestling at the WSU The Alicia Retirement Show on December 22, 2007, at the ECPW Arena in Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey.
However, in 2009 she returned to wrestling.
ChaCha, in this case, is not a dance, it's a female pro wrestler.
She was trained by Jay Lethal at the AWA in New Jersey.
Her wrestling style is "old-school" and technical, with some striking thrown in. She also enjoys chain wrestling and submission wrestling maneuvers like her "Cuban Deathlock" which is a modified Muta Lock.
Sounds like she might have a future in MMA if she wants to.
Her finishing move is "The ChaCha Factor", a snap DDT.
She's had feuds with "PrymeTyme" AmyLee, Mickie Knuckles, Della Morte and Hailey Hatred.
And if youre wondering about her name, yes she actually is a certified dance instructor and she competed on the intercollegiate ballroom circuit.
This full blooded Cuban has wrestled for World Women's Wrestling (WWW), Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) and World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW).
Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Blue Nikita (Nicoletta Iosifidou) is a pro wrestler in Europe.
She currently resides in Berlin Germany.
Titles she has held include the EWA European Ladies Wrestling Championship, the VdB Damen Europameisterschaft Championship, the WAWW World Wrestling Championship and the WAWW European Wrestling Championship.
Nikita has had feuds with Wesna, Jazzy Bi and Toyota Manami among others.
Jennifer Blake (Girl Dynamite) was born on September 16th 1983.
She is a female independent wrestler.
Jennifer made her pro wrestling debut in 2004, and this beautiful Canadian grappler has worked for several Indy promotions including Neo Spirit Pro Wrestling, Empire State Wrestling, Ball Park Brawl, NWA Upstate, Pro Wrestling Xtreme, Border City Wrestling, CIWA and New Vision Pro Wrestling.
I think she looks a bit like TNA Knockout Velvet Skye.
Jennifer was ranked 48 on The PWI Female 50 Rankings this year.
Bacardi, also known as Hailee Jefferson is a female professional wrestler.
She was born in Cameron, North Carolina.
Where have I heard that name before?
Oh yeah, besides beginning in my home state, it's the home of Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore.
I wonder if they're putting something in the water there?
Anyway, although she was born in NC, Hailee has made the journey across the big pond and is now a wrestler in the UK independent wrestling scene.
"The Gorgeous Greek" Elektra Arion is a female professional wrestler that competes on the Independant circuit.
Elektra was born in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Her brothers are "The Golden Greek" Alex Arion and Frankie Arion.
Elektra wrestles for World Women's Wrestling (WWW).
Janel Horton is a Native American female pro wrestler better known in the wrestling ring as Alere Little Feather.
She was born on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation.
Alere has wrestled for a ton of independent promotions including CHIKARA, Jersey All-Pro Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, National Wrestling League, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, Women's Extreme Wrestling and World Xtreme Wrestling.
When Alere became interested in becoming a female wrestler, she contacted Steve Corino (the older brother of Allison Danger) by e-mail. Steve couldn't train her, but he referred her to Rapid Fire Maldonado and she began training at his IWA Cruel School of Professional Rasslin' .
She made her pro wrestling debut in May of 2003, wrestling Simply Luscious.
On the Indy circuit, Alere has had feuds with Alicia, Talia, Mercedes Martinez, Team Blondage, Cindy Rogers, Tina Marina, Amber and Ariel.
Melissa Maughn is a female women's pro wrestler better known by her ring name, 21st Century Fox.
She was born on August 27th 19?? in Montreal, Quebec.
Fox was trained by Sid Summers, Johnny K-9 (Ion Croitoru) and Elmira The Iron Maiden.
Her favorite wrestling moves are the The Hurricanranna, Tilt-A-Whirl Headscissors and Suicide Dives.
Fox's finishing moves are the 21st Century Drop (a sit-out Rock Bottom) and the Foxmission ( a standing guillotine choke).
In the wrestling ring, she has had feuds with Elmira the Iron Maiden, Angel Williams, Misty Haven, Phil Latio, Addy Star, Cheerleader Melissa and Melissa Coates.
She has held several titles during her career.
She was the first PWA Elite Women's Wrestling Champion and the first IAW North American Women's Wrestling Champion.
Fox has also held the IAW North American Women's Wrestling title.
Recently, 21st Century Fox was on the 50 Hottest Wrestler Babes list on UGO.com.
Winona Little Heart was a female professional wrestler that had a very unusual career.
She started out with the standard "Native American" gimmick, fringe vest, feather in her hair etc., but somehow that all changed and she became "The Lock" in Florida Championship Wrestling with the The Army of Darkness. That same faction included the late Fallen Angel, Nancy Benoit.
After that, Winona's character weirded up some more, teaming with Luna Vachon as the "The Daughters of Darkness"
During her career, Winona held the NWA United States Women's Wrestling title in the late 80s.
Fallen Angel, Kevin Sullivan and Lock (Winona Littleheart)
