fciwomenswrestling.com article, wikimedia phtoto
In discussions with many Europeans regarding history, there is a feeling that Americans walk on the past while Europe, with its preservation of extensive centuries old buildings, walks with the past.
The respected educational group southwest.library.arizona.edu expresses this well stating, “The reason for preservation of historic areas is twofold: to provide present and future generations with tangible evidence of lives of important people of the past who have been linked with the particular area, and to serve as an inspiration and benefit for the people of the area both culturally and economically, eventually creating a significant and positive social impact on the daily lives of people and communities where such preservation measures are taken.”
One of the dangers of not preserving the physical representations of important people from the past is that an industry or civilization can end up with written documentation of their existence but have hundreds of years wiped out of the physical monuments to their lives and the lessons that go with it.
Simply put, is it always wise to send a bulldozer in to demolish the old and make way for the new, no matter how profitable?
In our female wrestling industry, there are certain niches that were more prominent in the past that are still here but perhaps not performed with the same excellence. With the transition from video to the electronic downloaded product, many exciting female wrestling matches are being lost forever.
Never forget that what becomes timeless was once truly new.…….Nicolas Ghesquiere
Our star of the story is Ms. Treena Collins who perfected the scripted cat fight primarily during the late 1980’s and 90’s at the Joan Wise club.
I suspect part of Treena’s power speaks to the obvious in that she was incredibly good looking, regal in stature and extremely feminine.
Some of her matches can still be purchased at Green Eyes website who gushed, “We were ecstatic over our latest find–the beautiful Treena Collins who simply has it ALL. At 5′ 8 1/2″ and 136lbs, this tigress must be seen to be believed. Aggressive and mean is this lady as she tangles with always tough Cathy Savage, 5’4″, 132 pounds.”
Treena’s praise and fans are legion around the world. An international female wrestling news site, femfighting.blogspot had this to say. “Frequent readers already know I am a big fan of Treena Collins (a.k.a. Lynn Marie) and her charms – whatever combat skills she was able to show during her career. My crush on the wonder girl makes me see Treena in many fighting venues.”
Another respected fem wrestling source, cpcommentaryblogspot.com provided this insight. “One of my earliest favorites was Treena Collins who did a lot of work for Joan Wise. Throwing herself into her work, she was never caught with one of those “what should I do next” looks that just destroy a photo. As in the photo below, she was addressed the viewer, letting us know that she knew we were watching.”
I agree.
Because she engaged in so many scripted cat fights, there might be a tendency to think that she couldn’t perform well in straight up, hard competitive submission wrestling. Actually that was not the case. Our California brunette could mix it up with the industry’s toughest and most determined.
Treena’s resume boasts wrestling matches against the widely respect Charlie The Golden Katt, another against a scrappy girl in New York at a well-known club and post 2000 against a sexy newcomer who gave her a tussle but Treena prevailed and was happy to let the interviewer know afterwards that if she wrestled the newbie again, next time it wouldn’t be so close.
It was a very sexy match.
My favorite though was when Treena risked wrestling with a tough amateur club known for pitting inexperienced women against each other, mostly in a wrestling ring with grueling full tilt matches that could last for easily thirty minutes. That day it would have been nice if Treena would go up against an amateur but instead she took on someone else.
Here is how they describe the match at Video Sports Limited. “In the summer of 1987 one of Europe’s most respected women wrestlers toured the United States, coaching amateurs and challenging more seasoned athletes to matches. In 1982 Beatrice Goffin won the first European Women’s Wrestling Championship. In 1986 she ranked second in the world in the women’s 60 kilo class. Her strength is impressive; particularly her thighs and their deadly scissors but her mastery of wrestling technique and strategy has made her legendary in the world of women’s wrestling.
In July we invited her to go three rounds with Lynn-Marie in the Video Sports Ltd. ring. The end product is a forty five minute tape unlike anything we’ve been able to offer in the past. V008 pits the voluptuous American veteran, with her superior height and weight and unbounded will to win, against the Belgian Champion, armed with technical expertise finely honed during her ten year reign over Europe’s mats.”
Beatrice was charitable but still, anytime you have to take on one the industry greats, that takes a lot of courage. If you notice, Treena also went by the name Lynn-Marie.
Female Competition International goes to great efforts to research and create a competitor composite in article form because in a way the tribute becomes part of the online museum.
If our industry does not honor its own, who else will?
I think of defining moments in other theaters and the reason why some personalities from the past will forever be remembered is because they grasped the uncommon and enhanced it in an uncommon way. They accepted the mantle of what so often had been done before but performed it in such a masterful way, it’s almost as though they reinvented the genre.
There have been many boxing champions in the centuries old ring, but none with the charisma and magic like Muhammad Ali. When he spoke you believed. When he spread his philosophy, like an expansive wool blanket on a snowy night, you wrapped yourself in it tight. You hoped in him, dreamed with him and loved him. All things truly are possible.
He changed the world.
There have been many beautiful starlets to grace the screen but how many like Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Natalie Wood and Marilyn Monroe?
The film genre of the young Gigolo is as old as man but how many can superbly portray a Polo Lounge lizard any better than the masterful Richard Gere did as Julian Kay. It is clearly a cult classic that enthralls and mesmerizes even though when watching it for the first time, you can’t understand why.
Who better to explain it than one of the best film critics of all time, the late Roger Ebert?
He breaks it down for us at http://www.rogerebert.com. “Julian Kay, the gigolo of the title, is played by Richard Gere as tender, vulnerable, and a little dumb. We care about him. His business — making love to rich women of a certain age — allows him to buy the baubles by which Beverly Hills measures success.
But he says he’s in business for reasons other than money, and we believe him, if only because he hardly seems to value his possessions as anything other than props.
The whole movie has a winning sadness about it; take away the story’s sensational aspects and what you have is a study in loneliness.”
I watched American Gigolo at least twenty times. Seriously. Richard Gere created a character that touched your soul.
Which now brings me to Treena.
I’ve seen hundreds of scripted catfights over the years (for professional reasons of course) and truthfully it’s not my favorite neighborhood of women’s wrestling. I truly love the explosive, fully competitive women’s wrestling arena. Most of the reasons why I don’t really like the scripted catfights are because the majority of the time it is soooooooooooo horribly done.
Two nicely dressed hot chicks are in a living room only in the 80’s they were there in BIG HAIR. At first they are somewhat friendly with each other but you can sense the jealousy, rivalry and competition simmering beneath the lipstick and makeup and all that it takes to set these beautiful kittens off are the standard engagement lines.
“Hey, isn’t that my necklace you are wearing? Isn’t that my dress that you have on?”
The standard reply of course is “So what?”
You can see it coming a mile away.
Treena of course said the same lines but somehow she elevated it to an art form. The inflection in her voice, the movement of her hips that let her backbone slip; her very feminine persona was magnetizing. She made Joan Wise’s blue and gold mats look like imported silk.
Please forgive me for this but I’m going to say this anyway because I sense some of you may have felt the same way.
I loved her character; am mad crazy about Treena the competitor and as the expression goes, love her look. Having said all that, I must admit that I couldn’t wait for something to happen to our dark haired west coast maiden.
I craved watching her get absolutely dominated; which she often did.
I loved it!
Don’t ask me why, I can’t explain it. All I know is that when Treena was involved, I had to watch.
As a writer who promotes our female wrestling industry, I think it’s important that the memories of great artists like Treena’s do not get lost through time or minimalized through the limitations of what was available to women who wanted to wrestle in times past.
Just as future generations will judge us in other aspects of our lives, we can only work with the information and tools that are available to us. This is why, in my humble opinion, that you can never compare great quarterbacks from one decade to another. It’s not a fair analysis since the later one has far more information to learn from than his predecessor.
Once we discover how to appreciate the timeless values in our daily experiences, we can enjoy the best things in life.….Jerome K. Jerome
There were fewer options for Treena’s wrestling generation but you do the best that you can with what you have, and that’s what made Treena so great. It’s important that the women’s wrestling time clock remember her.
Over decades, including today, many beautiful girls stated the same lines as her and found themselves in similar living rooms and scenes as her; but I can say emphatically………
No one does it as well as Treena Collins. Not then. Not now.
No one.
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Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, https://femcompetitor.com, southwest.library.arizona.edu, , http://www.rogerebert.com. Photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.
