Profile - Ann Casey

Although there are many favorites, if June Byers isn't number one, then that distinction certainly belongs to Ann Casey. Any footage of her matches are practically impossible to find, though I have managed to build up quite the photo collection over the years. I'll be sharing those with the blog soon!

Sexy and Powerful - Now THAT is a Female Wrestler!

Bio:

In 1962, while working at the ticket counter for a professional wrestling promotion, she met The Fabulous Moolah, who offered to train Casey to wrestle. Casey soon decided to take Moolah up on her offer and moved to South Carolina to train. Her first match was a tag team match that pitted her and Judy Grable against Rita Cortez and Brenda Scott that fall. Casey also wrestled Miss Brenda in a two out of three falls match for the opening of a December 1962 card also featuring Fred Blassie. While working under Moolah, Casey traveled all around the United States; she was also one of the first women to ever compete in a tag team match in the state of Hawaii. While in Hawaii, Casey fell in love with a local champion surfer and took a brief hiatus from wrestling.

Two years later, Casey returned to the continental United States and professional wrestling. She worked for promoters Vince McMahon, Sr., Vince McMahon, Jr., and Leroy McGuirk. During this time, she wrestled Donna Christanello at Madison Square Garden in New York. In 1964, she had a match that pitted her and Penny Banner against Cara Combs and Kathy O'Brien. The following year, she defeated Kay Noble in a match, but was defeated in another match by Bette Boucher. She was also defeated by Mae Young in a 1968 NWA United States Women's Championship match.

With Vivian Vachon as her partner, Casey defeated Donna Christanello and Cara Combs in a 1970 match. In 1972, Casey discovered that her son had gotten involved in drug trafficking with a truck driver, and after she forced him to stop, the truck driver shot her six times. Although the doctors told her that her professional wrestling career was over, Casey was able to wrestle again within several months.

In 1974, Moolah offered to let Casey win the USA Women's Wrestling Championship from her, and Casey was subsequently never defeated for the belt. Later that year in December, Casey also won the vacated NWA United States Women's Championship by defeating Toni Rose in a match. She held the championship for approximately four years before losing it to Joyce Grable. Meanwhile, wrestling magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated recognized Casey as the "Girl Wrestler of the Year" in 1975.

June Byers vs Violet Viann

June Byers vs Violet Viann

This is a great 16 minute match!

Violet Viann faces June Byers (DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibly-Snyder) in a 1 fall match with a 30 minute time limit. Chicago International Amphitheatre.

Original: 16mm., B&W, Optical Sound. F.2008-04-0154.

Chicago Film Archives holds the copyright for this film and all films in the Russ & Sylvia Davis Collection.

Wild World Wrestling: Main Event Edition

Good Evening,

For those who enjoy RPGs, we'd like to take the time to introduce Wild World Wrestling.

Description:
Finally, Wild World Wrestling has come back to gaming... with a new Main Event Edition! Evolving from the cult-hit WWE: Know Your Role RPG, WWW returns with a further refined system to replicate the frantic action, flashy cast, and flamboyant drama of professional wrestling!

Wild World Wrestling: Main Event Edition cranks up the volume while still layeth the smacketh down like this:

• No character classes. Make a wrestler however you want with your choice of Gimmick Enhancements
• More options to customize and tweak your characters; get bonus attribute points and/or Gimmick Enhancements from having a basic character concept; change past Gimmick Enhancements as you progress to reflect character development
• Critically acclaimed easy and versatile maneuver creation system to emulate, customize, and attempt any wrestling move on the go, without having to check pages of tables or be limited to a rigid set of moves
• Head-to-head fighting for furious, nonstop battle without waiting for your opponent to finish a turn
• New submission rules for greater excitement
• Star Power to push a newcomer to the moon, re-push a mainstay over the top, or de-push an old hand to mid-card hell
• Character Flaws that an opponent can activate and swing the tide of a match
• More role playing- and troupe-oriented options to reward good characters and players
• Ring Rust for wrestlers returning from a long layoff
• No hit points, but suffering enough injuries will definitely impair your performance
• Multi-character cooperative yet competitive style of play. Character options include managers, announcers, interviewers, referees, promotion officials, and even ardent fans
• No GM necessary; just grab two characters and have a match alone if you want
• Fully supported with Roster Book (character collection), Contract Conflict (starter tournament), Promotion Books (“campaign settings”), Special PPV Main Events (“match scenarios”), and more to come

Wild World Wrestling will test your ring prowess as well as creative acumen and showmanship. Come walk the aisle as Da Champ of the best promotion in the world — yours!


Disclaimer: This web site has absolutely no affiliation with Wild World Wrestling or Timeout Diversions.

Easily the best wrestling RPG that there likely ever was, we here at June Byers dot com have been fans of the game for quite some time, and will be posting our own rules, characters, history and guidelines featuring a fictional world of Classic Ladies Wrestling set in the 1940s.

For an excellent review, please check out The Must Unread Blog on the Internet Ever.

You can also download a FREE Fast Count Demo Here.

Purchase the game - either as a PDF or in glorious softcover Here.

Finally, check out the home page of Timeout Diversions.

Video: Cora Combs vs Lorraine Johnson

Beginning today, we've opened our store for classic women's wrestling videos. All videos featured will focus on the old days of black and white women's wrestling, and are taken directly from our transfers.

These are NOT the low-quality videos sold elsewhere, and your satisfaction is guaranteed!

First up, we'll be kicking things off with Cora Combs vs Lorraine Johnson (from the 1950s) in a match that lasts nearly twenty minutes. All matches sold by Classic Ladies Wrestling will be low-priced at $5.00 each. More details at the link below.

Real screen caps:

For further information and to purchase the video: Classic Ladies Wrestling 1: Cora Combs vs Lorraine Johnson.

Profile - June Byers

Since this blog is in association with June Byers dot com, it's only fitting that we kick things off with a little information related to one of the greatest wrestlers of all time...

June Byers, born DeAlva Sibley, was arguably one of the women professional wrestlers of our time. She was born in Houston Texas in 1918 and became a professional wrestler in the 1940’s and was trained by Mae Young. Initially, she was trained at a young age by her uncle, a lightweight wrestler named Onoway Roberts. Later she married a wrestler and a promoter by the name of Sam Menacker. However, it was Mildred Burke’s husband Billy Wolfe that saw the potential in Byers and helped her break into the business. She would preliminary matches but would always lose to women like Burke and Mae Young.

If Mildred Burke can be considered the pioneer of professional, then June Byers would have to be known as her successor. June was tough combined mat techniques with sound ring psychology and knew how to draw heat from the fans when she was a heel. She would do things like choke her opponents when the ref’s back was turned and this would draw the ire of the fans. She debuted in 1944 but didn’t win any gold until 1952 when she won the tag team titles with Millie Stafford, taking the titles from Mae Young and her partner, Ella Waldek.

That same year, Mildred Burke had a falling out with husband, Wolfe, and left his promotion leaving the World title vacant. Although she was still relatively unknown, June won a thirteen woman tournament to capture the coveted gold belt in 1953. She quickly became a popular fan favorite and even appeared on game shows like “I’ve Got a Secret” and “What’s My Line”. However, a lot of people said that she wasn’t a true World champion because she never defeated Mildred Burke and that match finally happened in 1954.

Still considered today as one of the best matches in the history of Women’s wrestling, June Byers won the first fall of a two out of three falls match. The match lasted over an hour and the second fall never happened because Mildred Burke aggravated a knee injury and left the ring never to come back. Despite the inconclusive finish, the Atlanta Athletic Commission awarded the match to Byers. Byers then angrily returned to her own promotion, the World’s Women Wrestling Association where she held the title there and called it the World championship. The Byers-Burke match was considered a shoot on many levels by historians because the women disliked each other and at times tried to hurt each other during the match.

In 1964, Byers was in a car accident and had to retire from wrestling and in 1998, she passed away. Pound for pound, Byers was considered by wrestlers and fans as one of the best women ever to grace a wrestling ring.

AND IN ADDITION TO ALL THAT - WHAT A BEAUTY!