Looking Ahead to 2005: FAWN's Big Three
Cynthia Stammons
Fortunes in FAWN can change quickly. For a case in point, you need look no further than Portia Van Buren. Early last year, POV went on a tear, outlasting Shea London in a Number One Contender's Match, and closing out January with an impressive win over Chrissy Daniel to win the FAWN Championship. The Long Island Blue Blood followed up with wins over Jeanette Lansdale and Shea London before absolutely drubbing one-time flavor of the month Abby Hoffman. Portia looked for all the world like she would retain her championship against LaKeisha Bates, but a vengeful Lansdale helped Bates derail the Van Buren Championship Express.
Since that loss, Van Buren has won just one match out of three. She went from being firmly entrenched in FAWN's "Big Three" to trying desperately to stop her free fall. Joining POV in FAWN's Big Three were Chrissy Daniel and Shea London. While the roster was (and still is) loaded with talent, those three had separated themselves from the pack. Today, London is out of FAWN, Van Buren has been bounced out of the Penthouse and onto Skid Row, and Daniel is just now showing signs that she's righted her sinking ship, having been thoroughly outfoxed by Holly Hotbody and outlasted by the chronically underachieving Lansdale before rudely welcoming Daniella Bryce to FAWN with a shiny new ass-kicking.
What a difference a year makes.
For 2005, FAWN's Big Three has a fresh look, with
Van Buren, Daniel, and London replaced by Hotbody, Ivy Armstrong, and LaKeisha
Bates.
Holly Hotbody arrived in FAWN selling herself as a good girl with an edge. Since her arrival, however she seems to drift toward "bad girl" with every appearance. While it remains difficult to pigeon-hole her as hero (arriving in FAWN and going after bad girls exclusively) or villain (the video taped rock star extramarital affair), it's pretty easy to file her under "winner." She hasn't lost in singles competition, and the list of women she's beaten is beyond impressive: LaKeisha Bates (twice), Miriam Gaiman, Ivy Armstrong, and Chrissy Daniel. She's undefeated and she's the World Champion. In FAWN, that's impressive. In fact, the list of women who have accomplished that feat is short...Holly Hotbody. End of List.
What can we expect from Hotbody in the future? None of her wins have been super-emphatic. Holly is not the biggest, fastest, strongest, or most athletic woman on the roster. But she's smart and has been just resilient enough to win every time out as a singles wrestler. The wins were all close, so it will be interesting to see if she maintains her winning streak, growing stronger with every win, or if the competition catches up to her, as it did Daniel and Van Buren. It's also worth noting that LaKeisha Bates fans are still shrieking about Jeanette Lansdale's role in Holly's championship win. Their protests have some merit, as Bates seemed poised to put Holly away before the blonde interjected. But a win is a win.
One factor that doesn't favor Hotbody is
the difficulty of defending the FAWN World Championship. In eight FAWN
World Championship matches (not including the tournament final that crowned the
first FAWN World Champion), the Champion has won only four. Three of those
defenses were by Van Buren. So that means that three former FAWN Champions
have only one successful title defense between them.
Number Two among the Big Three is Ivy Armstrong. She's been one of the most constant stars in the FAWN universe, but seemed to struggle against some of FAWN's biggest names until recently. An apparent split from her mother, Belle Butler Armstrong, seems to have awakened a killer instinct. She recently dropped the "Belle" from her ring moniker, and seemed to have dropped her mercy with it. She's turned in impressive wins over LaKeisha Bates (two of them), Sissy Landers, anyone named Mitchell, and won a brutal four-way elimination match to become FAWN's first-ever Television Champion.
Ivy has all the tools to defeat Holly
Hotbody. She's dropped one decision to the World Champion, but that seems
like a long, long time ago. She's meaner now, more driven, and ruthless.
She's also won three in a row and
six of her last seven (her lone loss a very forgivable one to POV). She's fairly strong, very fast, tremendously
skilled, and almost inhumanly resilient. She's also young and has already
paid her dues. That means, in this writer's opinion, that she's going
nowhere but up. Ivy Armstrong is the single biggest threat to Holly Hotbody's World Championship.
Only two factors seem unfavorable for the stunning red head. First, while she's no slouch in the strength department, she's been overpowered by stronger wrestlers. This means that her margin for error against some of the more powerful women in FAWN is less, since power seems to beat agility in this federation more often than not, even though Ivy is ahead of that particular curve, dealing defeats to Irena Malenakova and LaKeisha Bates. Secondly, Ivy seems to be carrying some emotional baggage with her. Her blinding hatred for the Mitchells and the split from her mother seem to have fuelled her recent dominance. That kind of motivation takes its toll, however. It can give a wrestler motivation or it can consume her.
Rounding out FAWN's Big Three is LaKeisha Bates. I know what her record looks like. In terms of raw wins and losses, it's hardly elite. But this woman makes an impact. She's one of the strongest women in FAWN and she may be the most physically gifted fighter in the organization. She's also the woman who beat the woman...Portia Ophelia Van Buren, ending her record run as FAWN Champion.
Granted, she's on a two match losing streak. But both were heartbreakingly close and both were to the other two of the Big Three and one of them (her World Championship loss) featured more meddling by Jeanette Lansdale. She also came within a few incisors of beating Ivy Armstrong for the FAWN Television Title. Her next match is against Lansdale, with whom she became acquainted last March during Lansdale's failed bid to wrest the FAWN World Championship from POV in FAWN's first Lumberjill Match. A win will cement her status as one of FAWN's most valuable commodities. A loss will probably make her the first of the trio to cede her spot among the FAWN elite.
If one of the Three should stumble, who's most likely to step up?
Daniel is the member of the old guard with
the best chance to step back up. Van Buren can't be counted out either,
but she needs a big win or two string together to remind us of how great she
still is. But who else has a shot to crack this elite group?
The most likely candidate is Sissy
Landers. She has turned in some impressive performances, thoroughly
defeating Shea London, Juliet Bloodwind, and Cynthia Mitchell. She was
also brilliant in defeat, extending Ivy Armstrong at Fall from Grace and
increasing her capital by being the last one eliminated from the Fatal Fourway.
She's lost to Armstrong twice, but the Princess is far too dangerous to
overlook. She's fast enough to outflank anyone in this federation and her
flighty persona is a thin facade for such a ruthless and efficient ass-kicker.
Another prospect is "Shady" Shannen Dennehy.
She's probably the strongest woman in FAWN.
Under
the tutelage of her elder sister, Shannen's skill has improved immensely.
If she improves to the point where her skill even approaches her physical gifts,
the sultry sex bomb is going to make a lot of noise. It may be premature
to mention Shannen with this group right now, but there's just too much
potential to ignore.
Lindsay Locke is a possibility, also.
She's been wrestling with some demons, but has said repeatedly that she's ready
to make amends for falling off the wagon. She looked good in her debut win
over POV, but she has to prove she can do it at this level match in and match
out. She's up against the best collection of women's wrestling talent on
the planet and the perception that she's past her prime.
The last name on the prospects list is Jeanette Lansdale. A year ago, any discussion about Lansdale cracking the FAWN elite would have included a punch line. But, she's improved quite a bit and has started living up to some of the tremendous expectations Maurie Devonshire had when he inked her to a contract. Early last year, she declared war on LaKeisha Bates and Portia Van Buren. She managed to beat POV and Chrissy Daniel, although she couldn't get it done when the gold was on the line. Her next match is against LaKeisha. A win would go a long way toward returning Lansdale's credibility as someone who can make an impact through some means other than interfering in other women's title matches.