Review of "Battle of the Sexes: FlameDragan Wrestles The Bear" (34:35 minutes) newly available in September of 2005 at http://www.clips4sale.com/store/2378 Finally a great mixed wrestling video! Ok, there ARE others (I particularly like the ones where Helen or a topless Ziggy wrestles a man), but they seem all too rare. There are many mixed wrestling videos out there that are such a blatant mismatch, and so many of them also suffer from a lack of production value. For the most part, this video does NOT suffer from those things! Although I have a few criticisms (hey, nothing's perfect), overall I have to point out that this video is one that was done with more TLC than probably any other wrestling video I've seen - particularly in some 2-angle editing, nice title overlays, and a nice added touch of an effective scoreboard that other videos of the same kind tend to lack. There are a few other surprises too but I don't want to ruin things for you. Being that I'm a great FlameDragan fan (ok, maybe that might bias my review), I was one of the first people told by her people of this video. I admit therefore that I'm helping them promote it as such, but I'm doing so with a critical eye as well. First, since this video is exclusively available as a download from Clips4Sale.com, I should mention what I know of them. They've actually got quite a bit of material for the wrestling fetishist and even the "legitimate sports fan". As both the latter and the former, I've bought stuff from them before. I especially liked the female grapplers and female martial artists - especially in public mixed competition (see http://clips4sale.com/store/258 among others). It was not meant to be erotic but ... there's excitement in pure competition. In that vein, the FlameDragan video is more competitive wrestling than erotic wrestling, although wrestling fetishists will appreciate the muscle that's showing and some close, dare I say sensual holds - all occurring in a comfortably private setting. For better or worse, the slightly overweight (but strong-loooking) guy's shirt comes off - actually in a rather comedic fashion that I won't ruin for you. FlameDragan's shirt comes off too leaving her topless - but only for a little part of a bit of muscle posing she does at the end - showing her bare backside - not her front. But it's tasteful and beautifully done (nice dissolve! - a mixed wrestling video that bothers to have a nice dissolve?. I looked at that and wished I could feel the bearhug of that strong-looking upper body of FlameDragan's. Indeed, FlameDragan and The Bear performed that hold a few times - somewhat mutually at times too. I like that we have the rarity of a guy trying to do the natural (if not always effective) thing a guy fighting a woman might do - try to BEARHUG her. I guess that's why they call him "The Bear". There's some amazing choke holds here too that BOTH wrestlers suffer (and a great sleeper! poor guy!) - and finally we have a guy who can use body scissors as effectively as a woman! I LOVE that there are two camera angles, and that they actually bothered to edit them together, but I've got mixed feelings about the fact that the cameras do not move - two angles that apparently allow better quality in the video compression since the background does not more. The compression quality is good - detailed and smooth at 30 fps. You do see the facial expressions and what not. And although I was skeptical about submission wrestling (with some pins) being confined to a bed rather than a mat, it does seem to work and add a certain intimate charm. Next time however (perhaps in a sequel) I'd personally like to see hand-held roving camera work on a mat closer to the level of the wrestlers - and keeping the wrestlers more centered in the frame (although I've seen worse for the good money I've paid with some hand-held stuff). Also, I've got mixed feelings about what was a non-stop nature of the match. I can see how people would prefer this style of wrestling, but for my preference, it's only fair that wrestlers separate after a submission is gained, and here they often do not. There certainly were MANY submissions this way though - and the scoreboard certainly helped to keep track of it - one point for the admission of a pin, and two for a submission. All that said, what I am perhaps most happy about is what this video does NOT have in others I've seen: - Lighting or video compression so bad you can hardly see the wrestlers (although the color match could have been a little better in this one). - Only one camera angle. - Jiggly camera work (- none here as there are no camera operators except for the posing). - Bad audio (- whereas here you can hear the wrestlers fight and banter, although there were a few small audible "blips" - actually where a fraction of a second of audio is oddly repeated - just a small technical glitch I think). - People in the background making noises as if the camera can't hear it, seemingly unaware that it annoys the viewer (often as if they are whispering or coughing in the viewer's ear - again none here as there are no camera operators except for the posing). - A totally one-sided match with the impossible gimmick of a small woman dominating a much larger man who is pretending to lose. - streaming video that you CAN'T save to your hard drive, but that you can watch with annoyance as it pauses and drops frames right in the middle of playback. - WMV files that I can't back up or slide forward (or is this just something to do with my Mac? Frankly, I love Quicktime MOV files much better than the typical WMV files for that reason, and for what usually looks like better quality - and they did a good job with the Sorenson 3 compression). Maybe it's the technology, but it seems they're getting closer to perfection with them thar 'rastlin' videos! How nice that it was my favourite Canadian wrestler FlameDragan that was in THIS one. Now here's the official (and rather long) description of the video from the Clips4Sale Mixed Wrestling / Bearhug Productions site/store (which I can attest is truthful), or again, just go to http://www.clips4sale.com/store/2378 ... This is a UNIQE MIXED WRESTLING match in that it is an EVEN match (more or less) between well-muscled contenders! Or at least it was MOSTLY even for a good first part of the long 30-minute bout (not including a few extra minutes of action)! Can a female wrestler hold her own in a REAL wrestling match against a much LARGER and possibly stronger MAN? Even a man who is likely larger and stronger than others of his gender on average? At 5'11" and 235 lbs? Well she can if she's the highly skilled and strong FlameDragan! She's 5'7" and 150 lbs of beautiful female muscle and game attitude! She has her own website - http://www.flamedragan.com FlameDragan is shown in this video as up close and personal as her opponent's trademark bearhug! She wrestles "The Bear" in intimately close range on top of a large bed. As bodies wrap together and muscles under sweat-soaked skin strain against each other, both wrestlers fight to exhaustion - each at times dominating the other (no one-sided gimmick here!) with what turns out to be a few pins and MANY submissions from all manner of holds. The action is non-stop, with few breaks even between the submissions! For this rare video of FlameDragan wrestling a man, she bravely fought the largest man she had ever faced for a video at the time it was shot (in 2003). The video shows not one but TWO CAMERA'S ANGLES - warmly lit, closely mic'ed and edited together with the intent to "outdo" the production value of other wrestling videos! The event was a potent combination of sensual sexiness and exciting competition, along with some comedy that resulted, and even some after-match muscle posing. For those who are counting points, there's even a running scoreboard that is superimposed whenever the score changes. No tape or DVD of this video was ever made for sale, but in September of 2005, after it's producer discovered www.Clips4Sale.com, it was carefully encoded for that site in Quicktime - at an amazing 30 frames per second with little of the typical loss in clarity due to compression (avoided to some extent with the wrestlers moving moreso than the background. Note that the sample pics are actual frames of the compressed video!). Now this video can find a home with you as well, at a cost ($1 USD / minute) which is cheaper than it would be to buy a tape or DVD, and with faster delivery! Enjoy!