Ivory and Jacqueline abusing workers in OVW?

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

Don't know what to make of this, so i'll let it explain itself...

From former developmental worker Bobbi Billard's live journal.

 

Quote:

I've been silent for way too long. I get back from WWE training camp only to have fans of mine asking me if I took wrestling seriously and if I was missing practices. Do you believe everything you read? I certainly hope not! Always remember that there are 2 sides to every story. I haven't had a chance to tell mine so here it goes. In response to all of the stories about LaTasha Marzolla and I "not taking to wrestling", we weren't even given a chance. We got injured too soon to say. It's just interesting to me. WWE wanted me to sign something saying that I left on my own "to pursue other interests" in exchange for a lump sum of cash. I have a problem with that because that is a lie. I didn't sign. Tasha (I think) did and I'm assuming that she got the same type of release. Supposedly, everyone is supposed to agree that that's the story, that she "left to pursue other interests" right? However, they are still portraying both of us in the same light as before. Guess her agreement didn't really mean anything after all. I'm glad that I didn't sign anything because I can speak my mind. I'm not going to take hush money because I think that I owe it to anyone that is considering getting involved in the field of professional wrestling so that they can make an informed decision. I honestly had no clue what I was getting myself into and I'm sure there are others that don't. I'm going to start posting some of my stories here so stay tuned.

 

For starters, most of the stuff that has been said about me is untrue. It's pretty annoying and I for one am sick of it! For instance, all the missing practice crap happened before I got there, however I was blamed for it too and typecast as one of "the Playboy models" that was not showing up to practice, etc. Pretty easy to place me into that box and label me that. I have blonde hair and big boobs right so therefore I must be skipping practice with Tasha. Whatever!!!! And the funny thing was at least when I was there, Tasha missed practice to go to doctor's appointments or because she got sick. It's not like she was skipping just because she thought she was better than everyone and didn't have to go, as she has been portrayed. A lot of these stories couldn't be further from the truth and I'm wondering where the writers get their info from. As for me being flaky and skipping practice, I'm not about that and anybody that knows me could tell you that. I know better than to do something stupid like that. I know that there were a lot of people that didn't like us there. But if you think about it, there is a big cut-throat competition thing going on behind the scenes that most people would not understand unless they were there. It put any experience that I ever had in high school to shame!

 

This is a short version of our story at OVW. As for our injuries, everyone had practice for 6 hours a day. Then Melina, Tasha, & I stayed after for an additional (2+ hour) practice. For starters, I think that WWE meant well. I think that they were trying to get us ready quicker but it backfired and unfortunately Tasha and I were the casualties of all that. I feel the need to speak out since nobody is telling our side and I'm sure not that many people truly know what we went through. In the beginning, some of the guy wrestlers that worked on WWE held our extra practice for us. They got called up and then Ivory and Jacqueline came down. Then they held the beginners practices for us. On our first day with them, Ivory told us (speaking to Tasha and I) in front of other people, "Girls like you two //(censored word )// your way up to the top!". That was probably one of the most humiliating and demoralizing moments of my life right there. To be told that by somebody that you respected for their acheivements in women's wrestling is just plain harsh! She also told all of us (Melina, Tasha, & I) as she pointed to each of us, "I don't want you taking my spot, I don't want you taking my spot, and I certainly don't want you taking my spot!". Then they'd bump us like crash test dummies. Tasha would ask me if they were being extra rough with me. She felt that they were with her (as she had no experience wrestling before and had nothing to compare it to). I did feel like they were being a bit rough compared to WOW, but in WOW, the emphasis was in making everything LOOK really aggressive when in fact it was a super light touch, so I could have been wrong. She told me that when she was doing her snap mares, Jackie was actually forcing her to do her flips by her hair and neck. And on the hair beals she felt as if Jackie was grabbing and clawing her scalp like an eagle. I don't even want to hear it so let me just clue you in. Tasha is one tough chick! She is a professional kickboxer. She could probably beat the crap out of any of the chicks there but that's a whole 'nother story right there. Let's just say, I'd have my money on her over any of the female talent on WWE. And I wrestled before on WOW, so it's not like I am a "typical Playboy model". I was one of the few girls that did not get injured on that show (until the very last match at the PPV in which I sprained my AC). I'm not afraid to break a nail, so let's not even go there. I just wanted to make myself clear in case any of the stereotypers are reading my rant. Anyway, back to my story... I watched as Tasha was made to flip bump over and over and over... landing incorrectly and awkwardly onto her ankles each time. It seemed pretty obvious to me that something was not right, yet they had her keep repeating the action over and over. Tasha woke up the next day with swollen ankles. When she said that she was hurt and wanted to sit out, she was ridiculed by Ivory as if she was faking an injury. Then a few days later, after a visit to the doctors office, it turned out that she had sprained both ankles and tore ligaments in her foot. Tasha was excused from participating in the practices with a doctors' note and she wore a big black boot on one foot. While she was out injured, I continued on with my "beginners classes" every day after regular class, even though my neck pain was getting worse and worse as each day passed. Finally Tasha convinced me to go see a doctor. I, like a lot of people, felt pressured to not disclose that I was injured for fear of getting in trouble. I was scared to get fired. I was also fearful that they would ridicule me and treat me as if I were faking an injury after what I had seen happen with Tasha. I finally gave in because I was in way too much pain and the neck is not something to fool around with. The doctor excused me from practice too and Tasha and I were on the sidelines. Melina had a minor injury to her shoulder, however she played it off and practiced anyway. I think she finally saw the doctor too and took a few days off but went right back to it as if nothing were wrong even though I know that was not the case because I lived with her. That is what you are encouraged to do (regardless of how you feel) and I guess that is just the way it is. And I guess she did the right thing, after all, she still has a job and Tasha and I do not. All of us getting injured, along with Tank and a few others that I can't recall right now was causing the official WWE doctor to wonder what was going on over at OVW and they called WWE to inquire about our practices. That's when practice times got cut and Rip was fired. I can't prove that this was for sure the reason why, but I heard that it was.

 

I sat on the sidelines for a while at OVW, as did Tasha. Finally, Tasha was dealing with some personal family issues at home and decided that she could not be away any longer. Personally, I think she decided that getting treated like crap on a daily basis was not for her and she bailed. Whatever the reason was, I think it took WWE by surprise. They flew her out to Texas for a show and there was talks of bringing her up. Then a week later she was released. I stayed and stuck it out but part of me wishes I had left when she did. I was told by some of the other wrestlers that I should get back in the ring and not let too much time pass or they would fire me. One of the wrestlers said that he would "hook me up with all the pain killers that I needed" so that I could make it through training and get on tv. I decided not to go this route even though I really wanted to get back in the ring. I was working hard, studying tapes in my free time, and watching all the practices. I was getting antsy because I wanted to try out all of the stuff I was learning. However, I knew that there was no way that I would have been able to get back in there and start bumping. I could have done it if I wanted to be a parapalegic for the rest of my life but that would not be my idea of fun. I made a decision that I would listen to my body and the doctors and if they fired me, they fired me. Oh well... big deal. What's the worst that could happen. I go back to my house in California and spend time with the people that love and care about me. Yeah, it was my dream and all to wrestle... but spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair was not a part of that dream. You have to weigh if the risk is worth the reward. So I waited. And sure enough, they were right, shortly after my third cortisone shot, I was released. And now, I'm almost sure that I need surgery. I have one more test to go to find out for sure but I am in a lot of pain every day and that's a full time job in itself I tell ya! I just wish I had known more of what I was getting myself into in the first place. I'll give the experience some credit... I definitely learned a lot out there! 

 

Wow, it looks like Bob Holly syndrome is infecting other workers, Jacqueline is no real suprise but Ivory? I would've never picked her to be doing this sort of thing. Although I have to admit I laughed at the sentence regarding Latasha Marzolla being a kickboxer and being able to kick the crap out of any of the WWE girls, kickboxer or not, she'd last about 20 seconds with either Molly or Jazz in a shoot situation before getting stretched.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I just can't picture Ivory attacking people...unless she's drunk.

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

I just can't picture Ivory attacking people...unless she's drunk.

That's what i thought too, maybe these two have a bit of a grudge against WWE after getting released from their contracts.

[Guest JacK]

Ivory has a spot to take? What, are they going to go straight to training people or something?

It's stuff like that, true or false, which portray's the whole wrestling industry in a bad light, especially when it's employee's of the largest wrestling company in the world doing it.

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

Well, she does have a spot in that she appears every 6 months to put the top heel over, I guess that's what she might mean. I don't know though, maybe it has to do with that Ivory and Jacqueline are from a more "old school" background, since both trained in the territory system of the early 80's, I remember Luna Vachon saying that the Fabulous Moolah used to beat the shit out the girls that she was training, as a way of teaching them to "pay their dues", maybe Ivory and Jacqueline are of the same belief.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

You know I wouldn't mind an ass kicking, I can take one, I would just like to be informed before its about to happen so I get myself ready for it. I don't like surprises.

[Guest Deviant]

Damn, Jack beat me to it...

[haVoc 0]

I'm going to need pictures of these Playboy girls so I can judge, um, their toughness.

[Guest Loss]

I don't know if what was written was totally true, but if it is, it's just further proof that wrestling will never actually move out of the carny mindset because there's no respect for humanity within the business.

[Enigma 0]

Yeah, like Ivory has a spot to take. When was the last time she was on RAW again?

[Enigma 0]

I'm going to need pictures of these Playboy girls so I can judge, um, their toughness.

http://www.bobbibillard.com/

[AndrewTS 0]

"And I wrestled before on WOW, so it's not like I am a 'typical Playboy model'."

 

Yeah, because WOW was just brimming over with joshi-caliber workers, wasn't it?

 

Why the **** is Black Jackie and Ivory being trusted to train any wrestlers, again?

[Guest INXS]

It sounds like this chick is pretty bitter that things didn't work out for her. From her account it appears that Ivory and Jackie were just doing their job - it's pro wrestling after all. There's nothing wrong with working a little stiff or some verbal abuse when you are being trained to work for the world's biggest and most succesful wrestling company. It's the trainers job to weed out those who are pussys (heh). Imagine if they were given the softly softly approach, joined the roster and probably acted like a couple of spoilt bitches. Ivory and Jackie were humbling them. No problem there.

 

For those questioning Ivory's and Jackie's pedigree to train others - you really don't have a clue about pro wrestling.

[Enigma 0]

It sounds like this chick is pretty bitter that things didn't work out for her. From her account it appears that Ivory and Jackie were just doing their job - it's pro wrestling after all. There's nothing wrong with working a little stiff or some verbal abuse when you are being trained to work for the world's biggest and most succesful wrestling company. It's the trainers job to weed out those who are pussys (heh). Imagine if they were given the softly softly approach, joined the roster and probably acted like a couple of spoilt bitches. Ivory and Jackie were humbling them. No problem there.

 

For those questioning Ivory's and Jackie's pedigree to train others - you really don't have a clue about pro wrestling.

And you do?

[Guest INXS]

I do, yep.

[Guest Loss]

I think it's telling that some trainers think the only way they can earn respect is to scare the hell out of the trainees or demoralize them. Yeah, it's a tough business, and if you can't handle that, you probably have no business being a wrestler, but it doesn't make me question the need for those tactics any less.

[Guest TigerDriver91]

I wonder if these young women in OVW have ever seen the film GAEA Girls. Now that is some seriously badass training.

 

[SuperJerk 0]

I can imagine the shit about the girl taking Ivory's spot was intended as a head game, not unlike what military people go through in boot camp.

 

The only thing that seems out of the ordinary is how differently these girls were threated by Ivory and Jacqueline than how the rest of the training staff treated them.

 

I'm also really beginning to wonder how their training compares to Torrie Wilson, who wrestles on a pretty regular basis, or Trish (who I thought was hired to be a valet before she was ever trained as a wrestler).

[Guest Loss]

I don't know if comparing boot camp and wrestling training is appropriate, since you're not training wrestlers to kill or defend borders.

[AndrewTS 0]

"For those questioning Ivory's and Jackie's pedigree to train others - you really don't have a clue about pro wrestling."

 

In response to that--I give you the Tough Enough graduates.

 

I know you don't have to be a great worker to teach the basics, however I question the quality of training those two got in the first place. I'd already heard that Ivory was given next to no training and thrown in the ring, learning as she went, and Jackie I'm not sure about, but she hasn't exactly taken many or great-looking bumps, let alone had really any decent offense. Of course, all of the "divas" moves tend to look like crap anyway.

[SuperJerk 0]

I don't know if comparing boot camp and wrestling training is appropriate, since you're not training wrestlers to kill or defend borders.

In boot camp, the head games are meant to teach you how to work under pressure.

 

That's not too far from wrestling.

[Enigma 0]

I don't know if comparing boot camp and wrestling training is appropriate, since you're not training wrestlers to kill or defend borders.

In boot camp, the head games are meant to teach you how to work under pressure.

 

That's not too far from wrestling.

Wrestling is entertaining. Boot camp is military.

 

People don't get yelled and screamed at and beaten up in theatre school or acting school to teach them how to work under the pressure.

[AndrewTS 0]

"People don't get yelled and screamed at and beaten up in theatre school or acting school to teach them how to work under the pressure. "

 

That's a very poor comparison, however.

 

Neither involve people beating the crap out of each other or throwing people around a ring.

 

The extent to which this is isn't quite clear. If it is minor stuff, that's nothing to worry about. It if is crap like what Holly was doing, that's another thing entirely.

 

Also, if the trainers are teaching about trust then stiffing them without good reason, yeah that's bull.

[Guest wrestlingbs]

While Boobi doesn't look like a "hardcore" wrestler, I do believe her. Shit like this happens all the time. Hell, the WWE almost prides itself in forcing it's wrestlers to work injured until they give out. Look at the "Desire" videos. What they don't get is that wrestlers could last a lot longer if properly healed up. But as someone else said, it just shows how little wrestling has evolved in the past 50 years.

[Guest wildpegasus]

I wonder if these young women in OVW have ever seen the film GAEA Girls. Now that is some seriously badass training.

 

Forget GAEA Girls. I'll never forget the training I've seen the AJW girls go through. If people had to go through that over here we'd never have any wrestling because nobody would be tough enough to make it.

[geniusMoment 0]

Why didn't these girls tell me? If I knew they were so sore I would have personally given them massages, complete with happy endings.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Ugh, Jacqueline sucks ass. Only reason she had 1% of a normal person's heat is because she used to bump for men in USWA and WCW. Fuck her.

 

Ivory? She's old and boring and can't pop a crowd and has no moveset and needs to go away.

 

Get Finley and Malenko in there with the girls.

[Guest thatdude21601]

I love Ivory now! If it means we get one less Torrie Wilson, I'm all for abuse!

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Kinda hard to hear that about Ivory now that I read it again, I mean I did enjoy her work on TE2.

[Guest TigerDriver91]

Forget GAEA Girls. I'll never forget the training I've seen the AJW girls go through. If people had to go through that over here we'd never have any wrestling because nobody would be tough enough to make it.

Could you possibly enlighten us as to what happens in AJW training?