If the world made sense, Anna Sjödin would’ve been president of Sweden by now—sworn in on a jiu-jitsu mat while applying a kimura to the Speaker of the Riksdag. Instead, she’s a wrestler, a submission grappler, a former politician, a political science graduate, a columnist, and a mother. A polymath with a suplex and a … Read More “Anna Sjödin: The Submission Politician Who Took on the Ring, the Council Chamber, and a World That Talks Too Much” »
Some women carry pepper spray. Sarah Bäckman? She carries entire nations in her biceps. In a world of glass ceilings and bad Tinder dates, she entered at 14 with her arm on a table and her teeth clenched. She left with eight world titles, eleven Swedish championships, and more broken egos than a bar brawl … Read More “Sarah Bäckman: The Valkyrie Who Took On the WWE, Arm Wrestling, and Life—Then Sold It Real Estate” »
In a world that can’t decide whether it’s a sitcom or a steel cage match, Anya Zova walks in like a Russian plot twist—equal parts headkick and headliner, lawsuit and laugh track. Born Anna Bogomazova in the chillier corners of Soviet suburbia—Voronezh, to be exact—she’s lived a life that reads like a vodka-soaked fever dream: … Read More “Anya Zova: Kicks, Lawsuits, and a Punchline from the USSR” »
If you ever found yourself down an alley in Duisburg at night and thought the shape in the leather jacket was just another tourist looking for schnitzel—you’ve never met Killer Kelly. Born Raquel Lourenço on March 21, 1992, in Lisbon, she’s the human equivalent of a barbed wire kiss: unexpected, cutting, and a little addictive. … Read More “Killer Kelly: Portugal’s Bleeding Edge Export” »
If Dakota Kai were a mixtape, she’d be pressed on purple vinyl, side A laced with the beatdown of Shayna Baszler’s arm-stomp debut, and side B a soft-spoken Twitch stream whispered under RGB lights. The woman born Cheree Georgina Crowley in the relatively serene outposts of New Zealand turned into WWE’s favorite chaos butterfly — … Read More “Dakota Kai: The Sweet December of WWE’s Polite Anarchist” »
In the underlit gyms of Tokyo and the echoing emptiness of early MMA promotions, there stood a woman from the steppes of Ulan Bator, fists clenched like cold stone, eyes sharp as obsidian. She wasn’t raised on ropes or cameras, but on tradition, tenacity, and tundra wind. Erdenebilegiin Bolormaa, better known as Esui, didn’t just … Read More “Esui: The Mongolian Storm Who Fought in Silence” »
In the smoke-choked cantinas of ’80s Mexico, where tequila breath tangled with the scent of bloodied canvas, Elvia Fragoso Alonso—known to the world only as Zuleyma—didn’t just lace up her boots. She dragged her enemies to hell in them. This wasn’t the glitzy telenovela drama of modern lucha libre. This was the raw era—the era … Read More “Zuleyma: The Rattlesnake Queen of the Rope Jungle” »
Let’s get one thing straight: La Vaquerita didn’t stumble into wrestling wearing rhinestone chaps and a lasso of dreams. No, she kicked in the saloon doors of lucha libre like a tequila-fueled storm, eyes blazing, leather boots tapping out the beat of a war march on the broken pride of rivals. Isabel Ordóñez Martínez, known … Read More “La Vaquerita: The Cowgirl Who Rode into the Chaos of Lucha Libre with Spurs of Steel and a Smile of Scorn” »
There are women who walk into a wrestling ring. And then there’s Dark Silueta—who floats in like a ghost from a cathedral in hell and hits like your father’s belt on a Sunday afternoon after the tequila wore off. Born in the highlands of Guadalajara, Joana Guadalupe Jiménez Hernández stepped into the squared circle at … Read More “Dark Silueta: The Butterfly Knife of Guadalajara” »
In the cracked mirrors of lucha libre, everything has a reflection—sometimes distorted, sometimes improved, sometimes a bootleg. Sexy Star II didn’t ask for the name. She inherited it like a cursed tiara, already dulled from scandal and legacy, already soaked in the sweat of someone else’s heat. But now, she’s polishing it her own way—fierce, … Read More “The Second Coming of Sexy: A Star in Boots and Shadows” »