Whew, I just noticed that I never really posted about or personally mentioned VeVe's ridiculously painful 2-hour long competitive bondage wrestling match against Kevin from last month. Now, I know that VeVe posted her immediate personal after-thoughts, and I'm always glad to have her guest-blogging here! But I'd like to take this moment to provide some visuals as well.
... and also, a little more background info from my perspective.
First off, VeVe and Kevin first met in September of 2014, when they had a long, suspenseful, and very sweaty competitive submission wrestling match. Kevin had been gunning for VeVe, and he was very eager to defeat her on the mats. However, VeVe overcame a hefty weight disadvantage to squeak out the one and only submission in the match - in Sudden Death overtime, no less - thereby barely snatching the win for herself. Since then, Kevin had been itching for a rematch; but enough time would need to pass before an exact rematch could be set up.
Fast forward a few months, into the dead of winter. February, to be specific. VeVe and Kevin had finally managed to reconnect, meeting up for a competitive bondage wrestling match which they'd been trying to schedule for a little while. Though it wasn't a submission rematch, it was another chance for Kevin to take a competitive crack at VeVe. And so, he was eager for the opportunity... and determined to take home the win on this one.
Did it matter to Kevin that he'd never tied someone up before? I really don't think so. He didn't seem worried at all about the new medium, and I suspect he figured he'd just find his way through by instinct. What mattered more than anything was the renewed opportunity.
VeVe, on the other hand, was less single-minded about the whole thing. On the one hand, she felt confident that she could defeat Kevin in bondage wrestling: this was her arena, her game, and only she had the refined arsenals of quick-tying techniques. However, she strongly suspected the match would be long and tough (oh, if only she truly knew what was to come...). Kevin outweighed her by about 60 lbs, a disadvantage that was exacerbated by the fact that he was an experienced wrestler, both in scholastic pin-style and in submission style.
But VeVe had more years of experience in jiujitsu and all of the advantage when it came to rope-work, so she felt confident in this one.
When we arrived at the studio on that cold February day, we discovered the room had been pre-set for a party that was to take place that evening. The space was split at a diagonal angle by a large, clear plastic backdrop that'd been decorated with red dots. There were red balloons along the ceiling and occasionally around the room. And some of the usual props and furniture items where in different places or standing at different angles.
As a result of the partitioning, we decided to use only 3 of our 4 mats, creating a slightly smaller playing space. With the combination of colors involved - the red and blue mats, and the red and clear backdrop, Kevin and VeVe in respective red and blue - and the way the light interacted with the drop, I felt like the setting looked like a game show. Frankly, I liked the background and set up so much that I wish we could have used it for more things later. But, alas, that setting was but fleeting, as these party-decor type things are.
Anyway...
The match turned out to be unlike anything we had expected it to be. Well, actually, maybe I should more accurately say that it turned out to be an unexpected amplification of anything would could have expected it to be.
I won't go into too much detail about the match itself, since I've written about it in a variety of other places (such as the official description page), but I will give a few general impressions before getting to the pictures.
The thumb injury. That was a massive handicap. If you hadn't heard, VeVe suffered a thumb sprain about 27 minutes into the match. That proved to be a big hindrance when it came to actually finishing a knot tightly enough to hold, to looping the rope, to doing any really fine work with the tying in general. So, a match that might have lasted 40 minutes ended up lasting 2 hours. There's no doubt that VeVe's loss of hand dexterity played a huge role in making that battle that much harder. What would it have been like if that didn't happen? Also, since it did happen, how fortunate that it was the left hand and not the dominant right hand.
The pain. Both VeVe and Kevin seemed keen to ignore their pain receptors on this one. Putting thumb injury aside, we also witnessed some pretty considerable rope bite going on. Some indeed especially with Kevin on the receiving end. But while rope burn and rope bite can force an opponent into stillness and can intimidate the struggle out of them, Kevin's will to win was so strong that he just dealt with the pain and kept working. 'Tis but a flesh wound. VeVe, for her part, demonstrated some interesting vocalizations when dealing with her various pains, but, like Kevin, she refused to let a little thing like pain get in the way of her critical fight for victory.
The fatigue. This was an immune system test, for sure. What with time being no object - we had no need to vacate the space any time soon - and with both competitors being much more interested in victory than in anything else at that moment, these two drove themselves on in marathon style. I remember seeing them sweating at one point, but then, as they climbed toward their second hour, they weren't really sweating any more... It wasn't overly warm in there as it was, given the winter + warehouse factor. Then, again, there was the drive-yourself-into-the-dirt factor, the desperate-to-win factor, the wrack-your-dehydrated-brain factor. Yeah, immuno test for sure.
Thirst for Victory, indeed. Really. Literally, I mean.
Well! Anyway, it was a feat! But enough words from me, enjoy some of the screen still pictures below!
... and also, a little more background info from my perspective.
First off, VeVe and Kevin first met in September of 2014, when they had a long, suspenseful, and very sweaty competitive submission wrestling match. Kevin had been gunning for VeVe, and he was very eager to defeat her on the mats. However, VeVe overcame a hefty weight disadvantage to squeak out the one and only submission in the match - in Sudden Death overtime, no less - thereby barely snatching the win for herself. Since then, Kevin had been itching for a rematch; but enough time would need to pass before an exact rematch could be set up.
Fast forward a few months, into the dead of winter. February, to be specific. VeVe and Kevin had finally managed to reconnect, meeting up for a competitive bondage wrestling match which they'd been trying to schedule for a little while. Though it wasn't a submission rematch, it was another chance for Kevin to take a competitive crack at VeVe. And so, he was eager for the opportunity... and determined to take home the win on this one.
Did it matter to Kevin that he'd never tied someone up before? I really don't think so. He didn't seem worried at all about the new medium, and I suspect he figured he'd just find his way through by instinct. What mattered more than anything was the renewed opportunity.
But VeVe had more years of experience in jiujitsu and all of the advantage when it came to rope-work, so she felt confident in this one.
When we arrived at the studio on that cold February day, we discovered the room had been pre-set for a party that was to take place that evening. The space was split at a diagonal angle by a large, clear plastic backdrop that'd been decorated with red dots. There were red balloons along the ceiling and occasionally around the room. And some of the usual props and furniture items where in different places or standing at different angles.
As a result of the partitioning, we decided to use only 3 of our 4 mats, creating a slightly smaller playing space. With the combination of colors involved - the red and blue mats, and the red and clear backdrop, Kevin and VeVe in respective red and blue - and the way the light interacted with the drop, I felt like the setting looked like a game show. Frankly, I liked the background and set up so much that I wish we could have used it for more things later. But, alas, that setting was but fleeting, as these party-decor type things are.
Anyway...
The match turned out to be unlike anything we had expected it to be. Well, actually, maybe I should more accurately say that it turned out to be an unexpected amplification of anything would could have expected it to be.
I won't go into too much detail about the match itself, since I've written about it in a variety of other places (such as the official description page), but I will give a few general impressions before getting to the pictures.
The thumb injury. That was a massive handicap. If you hadn't heard, VeVe suffered a thumb sprain about 27 minutes into the match. That proved to be a big hindrance when it came to actually finishing a knot tightly enough to hold, to looping the rope, to doing any really fine work with the tying in general. So, a match that might have lasted 40 minutes ended up lasting 2 hours. There's no doubt that VeVe's loss of hand dexterity played a huge role in making that battle that much harder. What would it have been like if that didn't happen? Also, since it did happen, how fortunate that it was the left hand and not the dominant right hand.
The pain. Both VeVe and Kevin seemed keen to ignore their pain receptors on this one. Putting thumb injury aside, we also witnessed some pretty considerable rope bite going on. Some indeed especially with Kevin on the receiving end. But while rope burn and rope bite can force an opponent into stillness and can intimidate the struggle out of them, Kevin's will to win was so strong that he just dealt with the pain and kept working. 'Tis but a flesh wound. VeVe, for her part, demonstrated some interesting vocalizations when dealing with her various pains, but, like Kevin, she refused to let a little thing like pain get in the way of her critical fight for victory.
The fatigue. This was an immune system test, for sure. What with time being no object - we had no need to vacate the space any time soon - and with both competitors being much more interested in victory than in anything else at that moment, these two drove themselves on in marathon style. I remember seeing them sweating at one point, but then, as they climbed toward their second hour, they weren't really sweating any more... It wasn't overly warm in there as it was, given the winter + warehouse factor. Then, again, there was the drive-yourself-into-the-dirt factor, the desperate-to-win factor, the wrack-your-dehydrated-brain factor. Yeah, immuno test for sure.
Thirst for Victory, indeed. Really. Literally, I mean.
Well! Anyway, it was a feat! But enough words from me, enjoy some of the screen still pictures below!
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