As many of you should know by now, Bruce - from Academy Wrestling, passed away two months ago after a long struggle against cancer. A women wrestling video maker front runner, he started producing and distributing fights in the 90´s, having being responsible for adding substantial erotic spice to the genre. I still remember the first time I got to know Bruce´s output - it was an AX series video, in that legendary Female Sports Video store near the Madison Square Garden, New York: it was remarkably more erotic than the usual women fighting at that time.
He brought to the scene some of my favorite hot wrestlers - like Amy Lewinski and Izamar Gutierrez; as myself, he also liked joint locks, stretches and exquisite holds that he - as a real fetish addict, knew other fans would appreciate. As you can see in the video sampling below, he could be crowned "The King of the Matchbook Pin" due to the number of times this hold appears on his productions.
Bruce has been active during all of his career having produced hundreds of videos. My preferences were with the AX series style, a bit less with ACA and much less with the SOAP branch.
The sample below starts with AX01, goes on with AX02, ACA06, AX36, AX59, AX37, AX47, AX? (Amy Lewinski vs Ora), SOAP041, SOAP093, SOAP? (Isamar Gutierrez vs Jewell Marceau), AX263, AX264 and ACA? (La Angel Blanca vs Dia Zerva).
The only interview with Bruce I am aware of, was done to Catfight Report on September 2010. A thread about Bruce death is available here.
There is also a candid testimony about him here, done by Dia Zerva, that is very interesting. However, I have a point of disagreement with her: I do not think Academy´s fights were competitive: just look at the scenes above. That do not take away the Academy´s videos merits but they are not as real as Women Warriors combats or many of DWW fights.
Having said that, I am sure all of us will miss Bruce´s work.
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thanks for the tribute to Bruce; I personally liked his early work at Academy. On another note,I noticed your recent post on breast to breast wrestling has a 15 rating, which it seems is the highest rating for your most recent posts. I for one would like to see more of the same. thanks.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the passing of Bruce. I did enjoy some of the ACA matches; however, their competitiveness left something to be desired. You have previously discussed the relative merits of Amy L; however, when she accompanied Trish (VSL) and Grace to a DWW 2002 Summer Event, it was obvious that she was over her head in terms of competing with that crew. Nevertheless, I give her credit for being very sporting about it.
ReplyDeleteAcademy was the first company that blew me away. Before they came along, I was always a little disappointed with what I saw. The sensual part of a good, intense match was always missing. And the girls were never beautiful enough. Academy made great, sensuous matches between stupendous women. Thanks, Bruce! You'll be missed.
ReplyDeleteA great man for the industry will be sorely missed and never replaced RIP big guy...you've earned it..
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment about
ReplyDeletecompetitivness but do not forget
Festelle which together with
DWW has produced the very best
competitive nudewrestlingfights
without sex. Unfortunately it's
many years since they made any
nudewrestling worth looking at.
An exception is DWW:s nudeboxing
but it was stopped after one season.
The video clips you have posted are from the early era of Academy wrestling, when the matches were highly staged. Somtime around 1996/1997 (starting with ACA 65 and AX??) the company switched to semi competitive erotic wrestling. Bruce trained the girls, mostly local dancers, himself . The outcomes were not staged but the women were instructed not to go 100%. Combined with gorgeous and athletic young women, Academy churned out countless erotic wrestling
ReplyDeleteAll of Dia Zerva's matches shot in the Academy studios were real and unscripted, hence her comment. They were all also shot 10 years after those video clips you posted......
Thanks for clarifying the historical records of Bruce´s production. Good to know that somebody is reading old posts. I will have to give another look at Dia´s fights for Academy (gee, how old is she nowadays???)
DeleteCheers