Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling - 1986
by Billy Ingram

Now that women have returned to the wrestling - and football - arena in a big way, it's important to remember the pioneers of the field - G.L.O.W. aka the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.

Shot at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, this hour-long 1986 syndicated offering was extremely popular in urban areas - outlandish women wrestlers would go at it in the same fashion as those trashy mud wrestlers from the Hollywood strip clubs. In fact, many of the 'Ladies' in the ring were current or former LA strippers and mud wrestlers.

Over-the-top characterizations and exagerated catfight situations made G.L.O.W an instant 80's camp classic.

Contestants with names like The Soul Patrol, Debbie Debutante, Suzy Spirit, Jungle Woman and Spanish Red played their broad stereotypical roles to the hilt, but the main attraction was undoubtedly the preponderance of bronzed legs, nearly naked butts in the air and women lying on top of one another.

G.L.O.W. lasted several years in syndication. The series was widely slammed by those people who crawl out of the woodwork to criticize various programs for lowering television standards to new depths.

Just a few years later, smart TV producers took this concept, added plots with homoerotic overtones and called it Xena, Princess Warrior - taking home major nineties' money!

For an update on GLOW, Johnny Cafarella tells us; "GLOW is not defunct.

"GLOW Entertainment is not in any way associated with David McLane - he sold his interest in GLOW to the Riviera Hotel back in 1987. David hosted in 1986 and early '87, I hosted the program from 1987-1992. Our group, GLOW Entertainment, purchased the property from the Riviera in June, 2001."

So can we look forward to a new generation of GLOW girls? Life just keeps getting better, doesn't it?

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BONUS: VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
FROM GLOW (Real Player):

The girls deliver a rap before they enter the ring.

This match-up featured The Cheerleaders vs. Spanish Red and Jungle Woman. The comments from the wrestlers and the announcers are hilarious!

Hot-blooded Latin lady Spanish Red leaves no doubt who the toughest wrestlers are. If you didn't get it in English, she repeats it in Spanish! Sin Verguenza! The match doesn't go well for Jungle Woman - her anthropomorphic boyfriend-on-a-leash is stolen out from under her by rival wrestler Tina Ferrari (later known as Ivy in the WWE).

The show also featured short comedy blackouts utilizing the star wrestlers.

Classic TV!

NOW ON DVD!

Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling

DID YOU KNOW:
Lisa Moretti plays a WWE Women's wrestler named Ivory. She previously played "Tina Ferrari" on GLOW - where she lost her women's title recently in what I believe was a mud-wrestling-type match - only instead of mud, they used chocolate pudding.

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