June 10, 2023,
Hand prints in the sand are gone before you know it.
Castles built in the sand, easily wash away.
The legendary super star singer Stevie Wonder taught us that.
“On the beach where young lovers meet
You can see them there as they sit and build
Castles in the sand
Heavenly she's so heavenly
When she smiles at you
And she helps you build castles in the sand
The time comes when you stop pretending
For all dreams must come to an ending
Remember what happens to castles of sand
The sea will wash them away.”
When it comes to memories of great importance, Hollywood taught us that hand prints in cement last much longer.
Great idea.
Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
Built by a partnership headed by Sid Grauman over 18 months beginning in January 1926, the theater opened May 18, 1927, with the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings.
It has since been home to many premieres, including the 1977 launch of George Lucas' Star Wars, as well as birthday parties, corporate junkets, and three Academy Awards ceremonies.
Among the theater's features are the concrete blocks set in the forecourt, which bear the signatures, footprints, and handprints of popular motion picture personalities from the 1920s to the present day.
Very impressive. Memories to last as long as civilization does.
In our fully competitive female submission wrestling industry, though we don’t have a concrete walkway to bronze their hands and footprints in, praising and immortalizing them in print, right now, is the best we can do.
And deservedly so.
The legendary San Francisco female wrestling group named Virago, formed near the turn of the century, was and still is a very important part of our great industry’s history.
That is a major compliment.
Of great intrigue, their name in some circles is not.
According to history, a virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues.
The word comes from the Latin word virāgō meaning "vigorous maiden".
It is also derived from “vir” meaning "man" or "man-like".
Historically, this was often positive and reflected heroism and exemplary qualities of masculinity. However, it could also be pejorative, indicating a woman who is masculine to the exclusion of traditional feminine virtues.
Modern use of the word “virago” generally takes the disparaging sense. Thus virago joined pejoratives such as mannish and shrew to describe women who acted aggressively or similar to men.
The word virago has almost always had an association with cultural gender transgression. There are recorded instances of viragos (such as Joan of Arc) fighting battles and wearing men's clothing.
fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com grapplingstars.com Kiselev-Andrey-Valerevich-Shutterstock-photo-credit-
Intriguing.
Our Virago team made history by taking on the best competition, then DWW, at the early women’s wrestling conventions. Some of their female warriors traveled to Europe to return the favor.
Formed by Helen Von Mott, the primary combatants were Grace, River, Yana, Amy O and Lonnie.
Now, we are going to walk down memory lane and see what our associates at Femcompetitor Magazine had to say about them.
“Amy Lewinski influenced a women’s wrestling generation with great sportsmanship.
Whenever I watched an Amy Lewinski match, almost EVERY time she was getting the best of an opponent and I wanted her to amp it up and go in for the close, instead she’d do something both surprising and momentum killing.
She’d shake their hands.
During the match!
What did I want to scream at the video screen and sometimes did?
Amy, could you stop that?
Some of us male fans need our female wrestling intensity fix and there is nothing like a smile, audible compliment and a handshake during a match to reduce the street value.
Talk about watered down smack.
While interviewing with hollymoodentertainment.com Amy relates she enjoys a wrestling match whether she wins or loses. She enjoys female competitors with good energy and who aren’t out to hurt one another. She enjoys the cat and mouse aspects of it all.”
Very unique.
Besides at the conventions and with DWW in Europe, Amy wrestled at Academy and Video Sports Limited to name a few.
In terms of team Virago, a River runs through it.
A slender beauty, research indicates River was born in the Philippines and lived near San Francisco.
When we watched her videos, we never saw her get dominated and she had a slow methodical flair in defeating her opponents. Her battle against Grace was epic. Her calm before, during and after the match was very Zen like.
Including a hug.
Which brings us to one of the most famous beauties in Grace of Berkeley.
Femcompetitor Magazine? Take it away.
“This writer met her at Jackpin’s 2008 Women’s Wrestling Convention Masterpiece. She was elegant, soft spoken, strong and observant. In the ring very little changed as she took care of business there as well meeting Frankie Zappitelli from Canada, Krissy of Pennsylvania from Ringmaster Girls fame and Julie Ginther from Oregon; a very formidable guest list at any fine women’s wrestling party.
I’m certain she was driving a Volkswagen Beetle Bug. Beautiful young women seem to love VW Buggies.
Her battles at Jackpin’s convention were a small introduction to a resume that includes some of the best female wrestlers on the planet. She of course has faced her own family at Virago but great female grapplers do not live by sister fights alone.
While Grace has met some of the best here in America, particularly in California matching up against Kristie Etzold, she has ventured to Georgia and fought in Renee’s formidable house along with her legendary warriors at the Haven. Probably her most eye opening adventure as to how tough women’s submission wrestlers can be when they are nurtured and developed with an expert hand was when she traveled to Europe and courageously matched up against mountain high Daniela in a tournament that featured the sizzling blonde terminator, Luzia as well.”
Very insightful and impressive.
Yana Jordon still has her profile up. We will let her speak for herself.
“I have training in kung fu, some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and have been wrestling formally since 2002. I am playful, feisty, competitive, and energetic. I love to use my body. I love to play."
Yana traveled extensively and once of our favorite memories was when she met up with the girls at Cat Fight Haven, in Georgia.
Then there is Lonnie.
Our most powerful memory of Lonnie was when she took on DWW’s Luzia the Great, in an epic battle.
Femcompetitor reviewed that one as well, “Lonnie was probably one of the most intense Virago wrestlers that few think of when they hear the legendary names Grace, Yana, River and Amy O.
Lonnie didn’t wrestle long but when she did, her competitions were extremely intense.
She had the opportunity to wrestle at a few major events like when she met Stephanie at well attended women’s wrestling event.”
How did Lonnie do against the DWW Warriors?
“What would Lonnie do with this once in a lifetime opportunity?
First up is Petra, one of DWW’s larger robust girls.
This could turn into a lesson in humility and frustration. Petra virtually dominates everyone including the best wrestlers in the world.
The more intriguing contest was Lonnie’s matchup against the Czech blonde bombshell super star Luzia. On paper, the scouting report would be due to Luzia’s experience, talent, ability to escape and high skill level that this should be Luzia’s to win easily.
While the veterans Grace and Amy struggled, both being completely dominated, surprisingly Lonnie’s match against Luzia was the firecracker match of the event.”
Impressive.
Well, that was a little bit of history for you. At FCI, with deep appreciation, we will always try and keep Virago’s majestic memory alive.
While we don’t have concrete to enshrine their hand prints in, as long as FCI exists, their foot prints will always echo in the annals of fully competitive female submission wrestling history.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27s_Chinese_Theatre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virago
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