Post by LAW-JET Alliance on Apr 25, 2021 5:04:01 GMT
Lethal Angels of Wrestling (also known by its initials as LAW) is a women's professional wrestling promotion that began in 1986 and has gone through a reboot in 2018 after being closed down for 17 years. Despite being a legit wrestling promotion, LAW has been known for its mix of colorful characters and strong women from athletic backgrounds. Most of the original roster were trained wrestlers, former bodybuilders, stuntwomen, and martial artists.
David Jane created the conception of the promotion while working as an announcer and promoter with Indianapolis-based World Wrestling Action (WWA) after seeing fans react positively to women's wrestling. The showrunner Dick Bruin believed that Indianapolis audiences would not be receptive to a wrestling promotion featuring female wrestlers and dismissed the concept as an unprofitable novelty.
Undeterred, Jane went to Hollywood and posted casting notices in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, leading to over 500 women showing up for auditions at The Hyatt on Sunset. The first audition was at Gold's Gym, and a dozen finalists selected trained for six weeks at the Broadway Boxing Gym at 108th and Broadway in the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts. Jane hired professional Mexican wrestler Miguel Salvatore to train them and later brought in wrestling veteran Jasmine Jade to take over from Salvatore. Jade also wrestled in the promotion, winning the Lethal Angel Championship at least once. Fortunately, the majority of the women had experience in wrestling, martial arts, and athletics which made training go smoothly. This was a different process than many other wrestling promotions used as the industry was still using the territory system.
Jane partnered with the television distribution company Independent Network Television (INT), headed by a former Lorimar-Telepictures executive. Through the executive, Jane met with the Boyd Gaming Corporation who wanted a unique attraction for their Sam’s Town Las Vegas hotel and casino located in Sunrise Manor, Nevada. At the time Jane’s yet unnamed show would be the first all women’s promotion televised on national - albeit cable television. It is said Jane was inspired by a cover of pulp magazine Heavy Metal when the name Lethal Angels of Wrestling came to him. His investors were thrilled with the name and they went forward with production.
A number of the original dozen wrestlers moved to Las Vegas and were supplemented by regional talent, many of whom had only a few years of experience. The first show was filmed before a live audience during the 1986 NATPE Convention. Following the successful initial sale to 30 major television markets in the US and six other countries, Jane brought in Jackie Malone, a well-known fitness guru, and former professional wrestler to become general manager. LAW became a cult hit, a status it would maintain well into the 90s along with its countless sold-out live shows. Unfortunately larger promotions would take notice of LAW’s success and use their blueprint to create their own women’s divisions, offering LAW talent top dollar to jump ship. Eventually, LAW would lose many of their stars and their fanbase. In 2001, LAW would close its doors after their farewell show.
In late 2017, there were talks of a possible revival but it was all considered speculation. It wasn’t until early 2018 that a revival was confirmed with a joint venture of popular female wrestlers investing in the brand led by former LAW superstar Madam Vega. With LAW’s revival, it would form a working relationship with Joshi Extreme Takeover, much like the original LAW did with NEO Joshi in the 90s. This partnership would be formed under the umbrella of the International Joshi Wrestling Foundation (IJWF). The IJWF would establish a streaming service called The Alliance Network hosting LAW & JET episodes and events. In 2019, former LAW star Marilyn Bellamy aka Miss USA took majority ownership of the company with the backing of her husband’s sports brand, Catch United.