When Delicious Diva (Eboni Adams), Texas Chainsaw Mascara (Chase Vegas) and Psychotic Slayer (Amy Halasa) enter the ring, look out for wrestling flips, somersaults, tosses and holds — with makeup and costumes. It’s Balthazar’s Ladies of Wrestling (BLOW) at its finest, and they’re getting ready for an epic upcoming event.
“It is a performance-based project here in Oklahoma City,” said founder and director Leslie Hensley, also known by her stage names, Balthazar and The Burger.
The project is influenced by the golden age of old-school professional women’s wresting. BLOW is a spinoff of the 1986-1992 TV show GLOW, also known as Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
“We have been working on a documentary film of what we do, and this performance will be part of it,” Hensley said.
This one-night-only event is Thursday at the historic OKC Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave.
“There will be pyrotechnics, lights, talkin’ trash and music as the pairs of wrestlers walk out,” Hensley said.
Everything has a nickname, it seems.
This match is complete with “faces” and “heels,” too. Faces are heroic good girls, and heels are villains. Each of the four paired matches pit one against the other. At the end of the evening, all of the wrestlers will be in the ring for a free-for-all.
The lineup includes BoneDust Cowgirl (Jennifer Hutchings), “a free spirit with an attitude and a quick draw, coming back for retribution,” Hensley said.
The South Side Strangler (Shavonne McRee) is a “first-time offender with a conviction to kill.” She has also adopted a Southern accent, and her persona grew up in prison.
Valhalla Holla! (Candise Chastka), “a Viking from the future,” sports a pretty mean-looking helmet.
And, of course, there is Hensley’s wrestling character. The Burger is “all-American, all beef, 100 percent hardcore,” she said.
None
of the wrestlers have a professional wrestling background but learn the
ways of the ring with instruction and training practices four to five
days a week.
“I have a
degree in theater performance at Oklahoma City University,” said
Hensley, who also is an owner of Grease Trap Gallery, 5100 N. Classen
Circle.
Special guests
in for the event will include Sweet Sherry (Sherry Dowlen), the 1984
World Championship Wrestling professional from Denver.
Johnny Cafarella (known as Johnny C.), producer and host of the original GLOW TV show, also will be on hand as emcee.
“It is an honor to be at the BLOW performance as a tribute to GLOW,” Cafarella
said. “When I talked to Hensley, I could sense a bootstrap excitement
about producing this locally, in a Midwestern city,” he said.
Godiva (Dawn Maestas), an original GLOW wrestler, will reunite with Johnny C. during the show.
“Godiva
is a British bombshell from Coventry, England. I would dramatically
enter the arena riding a white horse,” said the retired wrestler, who
has a thirddegree black belt in taekwondo and is now a vocational
minister in southern California.
Audience members will become part of the documentary while the event is being filmed.
