Birthday Beatdown

Any week involving a Vegas trip is always a bad week to try to get a shoot set up, but the guys and I were determined to make it happen this weekend. Unfortunately, because of problems with the models' schedules and securing a studio, we ended up having to bag the proposed 6-girl shoot. That really sucked, because we were especially excited about getting Margarita back onto the mats and we also had a couple of new girls coming in.

All was not lost, however.

Julie doesn't really do email all that much, but sent me a text message Thursday night asking whether everything was confirmed for Saturday. Oops. The thing is, I hadn't called her and told her there might be complications, because I had no concrete info at the time. The girls on email were all aware that there was a lot of back-and-forth regarding locations, dates, and times.

It had been cold around here most of the week, but the midday warmth on Friday provided me with the best possible solution - an outdoor shoot here in Ventura County. It would mean more travel for the girls - and for Pete - but we'd get all the space we needed and best of all, it wouldn't cost us a thing. One of the new girls had a scheduling conflict, however, and Margarita's car is in the shop, so that still meant putting that shoot on the shelf for the time being. Julie and her girlfriend were still onboard, though.

So, I told Julie to meet us at the park (where we did the Lia LaBowe shoot back in November) at 10am and told her we'd work until about noon.

When she arrived this morning and introduced me to her friend, I was amazed at how strong Phoenix's handshake was. Find me a girl with a great grip and we can do some things. She was a very athletic-looking 5-8, 140 lbs and told us she was there to kick some ass. She informed us that she had 7 years of martial arts training under her belt and I knew we had a winner.

Pete arrived a few minutes later and once the mats were set up, the cameras started rolling.

Phoenix quickly proved to be an absolute natural on the mats. Not only does she have quickness and great moves, but she's also strong as hell, something I discovered later as I was being choked out.

Julie's got a lot more experience at this type of wrestling, but by the end of the day, it was clear that Phoenix could more than hold her own. After a several extremely tiring and painful falls, the girls got to have a little fun during some 2-on-1 action vs Pete and then Darnell. Maybe it wasn't so fun for the boys. haha At the end, I took on Phoenix just to see what she was made of and boy, did she show me. I don't think we've had anyone else with that combination of strength, wrestling savvy, and SPEED...it literally took her only seconds to gain control and to begin the submission process.

Once they were done kicking our asses, the girls took our money, then headed back to L.A. to celebrate Julie's birthday. Well, she's gotta work first, but then she intends to party all night. Happy birthday, Julie - we enjoyed it!