The match Jackie wrestles with Tanya Jackie's hair clung to the sweat on her face and I quickly brushed it aside as much as Tanya's hand would allow. Her eyes were closed but flitting slightly and her face was going pale. Her mouth was opened a little even though her teeth were pretty much held shut by Tanya's arm under her jaw. She was going out, and would probably start to drool before the sleeper had finished it's job. I'd seen sleepers before, even had a couple used on me, and this was a good one. I knew Jackie was done before I lifted her arm for the first time. I'm a referee for several wrestling clubs on the east coast. I sort of stumbled into it as a wrestler. I had had a number of matches against women, Jackie herself more than a few times, and after they got to know me I'd get a call every once in a while asking if I'd ref for them. These were generally small affairs, never more than 20 to 30 people at ringside watching the matches, and most of them were other wrestlers and some of their friends. I was refing all of the matches tonight. For the most part they were challenges that had been prearranged through the internet or phone calls. I don't think Jackie and Tanya knew anything about each other before Tanya responded to an open challenge Jackie had posted online. Most of these matches were pro-style submission matches. Women especially seem to like the finality of a wrestler submitting or being knocked out versus a pin. No question in anyone's mind as to who won and I think they get off on the little rush of dominating an opponent. I know I do. We'd already had two matches that night when Jackie and Tanya's turn came. This was Jackie's home ring and Tanya had flown in from somewhere in Florida. Not much pomp and circumstance surround the matches. When its your turn you come up the steps and climb through the ropes. The wrestlers are introduced, the rules for the match are explained and the bell rings. Since I'd been refing all night I hadn't seen either of the women that night. I knew Jackie from matches I'd had with her before. She is about 5'-6" 130lbs and really nice looking with dark hair down to her shoulders. If I had to guess I'd say she's probably mid to late twenties. I knew from refing and from personal experience just how good a wrestler she is. She knows more submission holds than anyone I know. There seems to be no end to the number of ways she can lock you up, and she really loves making other wrestlers helpless, and then dialing up the pain. As a technician she's amazing. I'm sure she's had a lot of training and she must lay awake at night dreaming up new holds. I knew nothing about Tanya. She had stright blonde hair with bangs to her eyebrows. She was about Jackie's height and to see her on the street you'd think she had a nice body but you probably wouldn't guess she was an athlete. In the ring though, wearing her blue two piece workout outfit and wrestling shoes, the way she moved told me she knew what she was doing. They were introduced and came to the center of the ring so I could go over the rules. Jackie was in a white two piece excercise suit a lot like Tanya's, but was wearing those tall Indian-style moccasin type boots. The rules were simple and the first 3 out of 5 submissions or knockouts won the match. The bell rang, and they came out of their corners. Not much circling as they came toward the center with their hands up and eyes locked. Then Tanya shot forward and grabbed Jackie's thigh's for a double-leg take down. Jackie didn't get her legs back quickly enough and Tanya was able to lock her hands, then lift Jackie, twist and drop her to the mat. Jackie rolled to her stomach and I could hear her swearing at being in trouble so early. Tanya was on her back and looking for an opening. I moved around to the side and dropped to the mat watching every move. It wouldn't be the first time someone had gotten themselves trapped in someone else's favorite submission hold within the first few secondsof a match. Jackie managed to get part way up onto her knees. Tanya was quick and reached her left arm up between Jackie's legs. She grabbed jackie's right hand with her's, and forced it down underneath Jackie's body until she could grab it with her left hand. Then she pulled it down between Jackie's legs, planted her right knee in Jackie's back, grabbed her chin with her right hand and started pulling. The crowd was already on its feet and yelling as I slid around to the front to watch Jackie's face. She was in some pain but not enough to make her submit this early in the match. But she wasn't going anywhere either. Wrestling is as much a mental contest as physical, and although I'm sure Tanya was hoping this hold would help wear Jackie down, She was also sending Jackie a message and it was all about humiliation. After a few seconds Jackie used her free left hand to get Tanya's hand away from her face, and tucked her chin to keep Tanya from reapplying the hold. Then, with her right hand still being pulled up between her own legs she got up onto her knees again and began turning into Tanya and driving with her legs. Tanya released the hold on Jackie's hand and stood as she quickly backed away. I could tell Jackie was pissed at having been caught early with no payback. She moved forward and grabbed Tanya's head in both hands, locking her fingers behind her neck, and in a classic kick-boxer's move began drilling her knees into Tanya's sides, alternating left and right. She'd used this on me before and it didn't take a whole lot of it to soften you up for what ever she had in mind. Tanya was getting hurt and she knew it. Half a dozen knees had landed on the sides of her belly and ribs as she got backed into a corner, and now Jackie was pulling down harder on her neck and getting a few shots in on her chest. She had no real defense against it so she grabbed Jackie around the body and pulled her closer. With no room between them Jackie's knees landed a little more weakly against her sides. Then with her face buried in Jackie's chest, she bent her knees, tightened her grip around Jackie's waist and lifted her. She took a couple of quick steps into the ring and raising her right knee up between Jackie's legs, dropped down in a version of the atomic drop. Jackie saw it coming and braced herself but was still jarred by the impact on Tanya's thigh. The move had been pretty frantic though, and both women fell to the mat somewhat weakened. I moved in to see if Jackie would be able to continue after the knee to the crotch, or if I should start counting, but both of them were already starting to get up. Tanya got to her feet first and moved in on Jackie while she was still on her knees. She grabbed Jackie's hair and snapped her head back and stepped into her so her hips were right in Jackie's face, then putting her other hand on Jackie's shoulder to brace herself, swung one leg and then the other around Jackie's sides to plant her feet in between Jackie's. I recognized what she was doing. It was the classic way of entering into the Mexican suspended ceiling hold. Everything had to be done in one sweeping, smooth motion. Once her feet were behind Jackie, she would grapevine her legs as she simultaneously fell backwards and grabbed Jackie's upper arms. She would then push up with both her arms and legs and Jackie would be suspended by her trapped limbs. If Tanya could maintain the hold, all of the pressure would be on Jackie's hips and back she hung above Tanya looking like a sky jumper in free fall. She wouldn't say "no" to me for very long. I couldn't believe Jackie was in trouble again. She wasn't undefeated, even I had managed to wring a submission or two out of her, but she was good. I had seen her take much larger opponents apart, both male and female, and then suddenly they'd be trapped in one of her favorite holds, eyes wide and screaming their submission. Here she was about to fall into her second threatening hold after only five or six minutes, and had shown very little offense. I'm sure Tanya was as shocked as I was when just before she could fall back and pull Jackie up into the hold, Jackie reached up and pushed her over backward. She fell onto her back leaving Jackie still upright on her knees, and the grapevine that was going to help torture Jackie into submission was now working against herself. She was on her back with her legs wide open and wrapped around the outside of Jackie's with her feet locked underneath. Jackie scooted her feet further underneath her, pulling Tanya's with them and opening her legs even more. Jackie was delivering a message of her own. Tanya had nowhere to go and she knew it as she held her hands up to put up some kind of defense. The obvious move to me was for Jackie to just start pushing down on Tanya's knees with her hands in a classic groin stretcher. I dropped to my knees beside them to watch for Tanya's submission and break the hold as soon as I heard it. Again Jackie surprised us both as her right hand shot up through Tanya's hands, rotated to the left, and clamped a claw hold on her stomach just an inch or two below her rib cage. In Tanya's current position he abs were flexed and Jackie had no trouble finding the ridges between the muscles to dig her finger tips into. Even without long nails Jackie's finger tips were doing their work. She instantly reinforced the hold by gripping her right wrist with her left hand. Tanya screamed and tried to push Jackie's hands away but with no effect. With her legs locked up the way they were she could only just barely left her hips in an effort to struggle out of Jackie's grip. I pointed my finger in Tanya's face and started to ask her if she wanted to submit. "Had enough?...Wha' d' you say Tanya?...Are you all done?...Say yes, and I'll break the hold." I repeated the questions over and over watching to see if she nodded or tapped out. A tired wrestler trapped in a painful submission hold isn't always thinking clearly and may even be on the verge of passing out. It was my job to recognize that submission or knockout in what ever form it came and break the hold before things went farther than they had to. Tanya's teeth were clenched and she grunted "no" to each of my questions in between short hard fought breaths. The claw hold this high on her abs was making it difficult to breath in addition to the toture it was wreaking on the muscles. Every once in a while, out of the corner of my eye, I'd see Jackie's hair and shoulders bouncing as she'd jerk a little more pressure into the hold. I didn't want to take my eyes off Tanya but I didn't have to to know that look was probably on Jackie's face. That hint of a smile that says she's in her own little world thinking about what she's doing to you. I was amazed at how long Tanya had lasted. Jackie had clamped the hold on a good fifteen or twenty seconds ago, and although she was powerless to break it or escape, Tanya wouldn't submit. Then, with no warning, Jackie loosened her grip, and in a lightning move, slid her hand down the belly to the top edge of Tanya's briefs and savagely reapplied the hold with her fingers just pushing down the waistband of Tanya's suit. I warned her to "watch that hold". Any lower and I'd have broken the hold as illegal, but right there Jackie still had Tanya clean. I could clearly see the five red marks left on Tanya's upper abs and knew that she wouldn't last long with the hold applied on these new muscles. Jackie was bouncing up and down again forcing her fingertips even deeper into the ridges of Tanya's lower abs. Tanya was thrashing about with her upper body, but her lower body was held helpless in the agony of the hold. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her teeth were clenched as her breaths came short and hard between grunts of pain. The people at ringside were yelling, some for Tanya to hang on, some for Jackie to finish her. As soon as Jackie had locked in the new hold I started asking Tanya gain. The moment of a submission can be a pretty chaotic thing. The hold usually comes pretty suddenly. The crowd is yelling, The wrestler putting the hold on is often yelling as Jackie was now, as they add pressure and try to wring out a submission. The trapped wrestler is often yelling in pain, all three of us are usually revving on adrenaline and the moment of truth often comes within seconds in a highly charged atmosphere. This time Tanya began screaming yes over and over and tapping out at the same time when I asked if she wanted to quit. I let her say yes a couple of times so there was no question in anyone's mind, then I quickly grabbed Jackie's arms, pulled on them and yelled for her to break the hold. She did, but she knelt there for a few seconds supporting her upper body with her hands on her thighs. Tanya's legs were still trapped open and Jackie watched her for a second or two as she rubbed her belly and waited to be released. I stood and tapped Jackie on the shoulder. "Come on, let her up". As Jackie stood I pointed to her corner and said, "first fall to Jackie by submission to a stomach claw/leg-lock combination. Score is one to nothing". Jackie was in her corner getting some water as Tanya rolled to her knees, got to her feet and made her way into her own corner. She had one minute to recover.