November 9, 2023,
It was palatial.
It was unique.
The Dojo in the San Francisco East Bay, where FCI would film its first ever event was bright, massively spacious and combatively dignified.
The concept of beautiful girls wrestling in MMA attire inside a Dojo was unique to our fully competitive submission wrestling industry in 2012.
Then, there were the well-known online stars in the legends Ariel and Isamar who were walking around and going to compete.
The third match of the night, our focus here, were two gorgeous newer girls who would go on to have large careers in the fetish industry, but at the time, were mostly little known among the mainstream women’s submission wrestling industry.
Their names were Penny Barber and Rain DeGrey.
During the pre-match interview, Rain was most talkative as Penny mostly smiled, previously having removed her librarian glasses, and listened. Rain expressed how, at only 124 pounds, she was very concerned about Penny lying on top of her chest and it would be hard for her to escape. Penny was happy the extensive rules from the kink company she wrestles for at the San Francisco armory would not apply here.
Simple is better.
They were both a fun interview and if talking could be jet fuel for a women’s wrestling match, then we could expect rocket ship effects. We look forward to that.
Time to go ringside.
PENNY VS RAIN
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In front of, what would now be considered a star studded female wrestling audience, including Mistress Kara and Bryn Blayne, the two combatants were ready to start.
They began on their knees.
Rain immediately leaps for Penny’s head and takes her down. She sews on a brutal headlock and as Penny tries to circle and squirm around from underneath, Rain quickly circles around with her.
This doesn’t take long.
Penny taps out.
A collective sigh went around the room. Penny has more wrestling experience and might be considered a slight favorite so surprises abound.
1-0 for Rain (2:07).
Time to start again.
Penny is smiling, but not for long as Rain immediately leaps at a stunned Penny’s head and neck area, takes her down and latches on to that headlock. Penny is trapped and taps with her feet.
Rain doesn’t hear her and continues to squeeze.
All of us in the room collectively inform Rain that Penny has tapped out. Rain apologetically let’s go of the hold.
2-0 for Rain (2:30).
New girl Rain is passionate, give her that.
This is text book initiation wrestling with professor Rain DeGrey as the teacher. If Penny doesn’t block her, Rain is going to keep doing this over and over. This time Penny is ready for the headlock assault and keeps both of her arms extended and as Rain surges in, Penny uses her left arm to take Rain down in a tight headlock.
Now it is Rain’s turn to be underneath.
They struggle around and true to her earlier statement, Rain is having a hard time getting up as she squirms underneath Penny’s body crush.
Rain applies a behind the back body scissor and then breaks the hold. Caught off guard, now it is Penny’s turn to try and fight off a possible rear naked choke. Penny begins to cough. We all urge her to tap out, and she does.
3-0 for Rain (5:17).
Penny lies there for a minute to collect herself.
Time to engage.
Rain is the aggressor again and as Penny tries to lock her into a headlock, Rain mostly thwarts it. Penny’s left arm is wrapped around Rain’s neck but the hold is weak. Rain, in return, captures Penny with a hard side body scissor. The slender athlete pushes Penny’s arms away and completely breaks the headlock. She then rolls Penny over and powers to a possible full smother mount, sitting atop Penny’s waist. Penny failed to scissor one of Rain’s legs thus a full mount to smother is now possible.
Rain is now moving forward towards a smother.
Penny tries to use her hands to push her off when fenced arms might be better.
Rain continues to apply the pressure, starting to smother Penny as she adds a potential grapevine.
Penny’s sounds are muffled and she taps Rain on the bottom. We all thought it was a tap out but Penny insists it wasn’t.
Rain continues to smother.
We can hear Bryn in the background saying “there you go, there”, as Rain presses the smother issue and this time, Penny actually taps out.
Rain leads 4-0 (7:24).
Well, things are really going Rain’s way. As they are on their knees, ready to engage, Rain teases Penny, “So, you we’re saying…”
Penny smiles.
Time to engage.
First, arms outstretched, Rain achieves the headlock but this time Penny rolls backwards and Monkey Flips Rain. The audience sighs. Now Penny begins to take control and slides Rain into a side body scissor.
Rain resists.
Then Penny, from below, secures a tough arm twist on Rain’s left arm, Rain howls and taps out. Penny is finally on the board.
4-1 for Rain (8:32).
Though she was submitted with a very painful arm lock, Rain keeps her sense of humor.
Time to engage.
They clash above the neck and Penny, growing more confident, throws Rain with a Monkey Flip. The problem is that it was very close to the wall with only Bryn for protection.
The two beauties move closer to the center.
Penny immediately captures Rain in a floor to sitting body scissor potentially allowing Rain to take the top position if the hold fails, which, in general, it invariably does.
And it does here.
Penny tries a side body scissor but it is weak and though they are struggling, Rain is gaining the top position. Penny wisely lets go of the failing scissor, quickly flips behind Rain, has the slender girl bent over in the turtle position and begins to attack, at this point with a semi-Full Nelson. Penny then tries to roll Rain backwards in a behind the back scissor but misses. Still, she maintains a Full Nelson, controlling Rain, while Bryn Blayne profusely coaches from the sidelines.
We love Bryn.
We really do. She is quite the character.
Back to the match.
The struggle continues. Rain is really having trouble escaping the Full Nelson.
But she eventually does.
Penny is quick to capture Rain from the side and scissor her left leg while she controls the head and neck area. My, oh my, how this match has completely changed. This continues the same for a bit. Life in the big city on the female wrestling mats. So the story goes.
Penny keeps a struggling Rain trapped from behind.
Bryn continues to coach.
Wait.
There is a change in the action. Rain breaks the hold and manages to pin Penny down beneath, though the dark haired brunette keeps a head lock. Rain breaks the lock and once again applies pressure from above. Can she secure a submission?
Time runs out.
What a wonderful match, filled with insightful coaching from Bryn Blayne.
It was a part of history, never to be repeated again. Penny and Rain in the early stages of their fetish and wrestling careers. Bryn has long retired.
This was a lot of fun. Going down memory lane can be moving for a reason. The fully competitive female wrestling world has changed so much from then. Once the Armory in San Francisco closed down, so much dried up. We are so glad we have this captured on film.
This match was from a Golden San Francisco women’s wrestling era, worth more than its weight in gold.
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