Christie Ricci          Professional Wrestling    
 

 In the strictest sense of the term, professional wrestling isn't a sport. But delivering a credible performance to a paying crowd requires athleticism as well as creative artistry. At age 21, Christie Ricci admits she hasn't mastered the subtleties of her chosen profession. But she is driven by the idea of facing a new challenge each time she steps into the ring.

When Ricci isn't attending classes at Middle Tennessee State University she's a wrestler, appearing on independent cards in the South and Midwest. She's also working regularly for the Professional Girl Wrestling Association, a promotion based in North Carolina that puts on all-female cards.

Growing up in Clinton, Miss. About 30 miles from Jackson, Ricci got involved in sports at an early age, playing softball and basketball. Her mother played small-college basketball and encouraged her daughter in that direction. At 5-10, Ricci was a low post player on her high school basketball team and was a first baseman on the softball team. But by the end of her sophomore year Ricci had given up both sports to focus on beauty pageants. 

"I was burned out," Ricci says now. "I was forced to play basketball since I was probably about five years old.

 After graduation, Ricci had a chance to pursue her true passion—wrestling. She started watching  televised WCW matches when she was 12 and had gotten to know legendary wrestler Ted DiBiase, because they attended church services together.

 After a year of college, Ricci made plans to move to Atlanta and finish her studies at Georgia Teach along with attending wrestling school. But just before she was to move into an apartment in Atlanta she met Bert Prentice, a wrestling promoter based in Nashville who arranged for her to train with Leillani Kai, one of the legendary figures in women's wrestling.

 Riccci's training was rudimentary, to say the least. Most aspiring wrestlers spend several months in the gym, learning basic moves and the art of landing repeatedly on a wrestling mat without injuring themselves. Ricci trained for roughly two weeks before she found herself in a match against Kai herself, who was an advocate of the "learn by doing" school of wrestling instruction.

A month later, Ricci took hr first road trip, wrestling in a string of small towns in the Midwest over a long weekend. That was in the summer of 2002. In short order she began wrestling regularly and steps in the ring perhaps three times a week along with working on her marketing degree at Middle Tennessee State and working at a part-time job.

A professional wrestler is, more often than not, a storyteller, working with their opponent to present a drama to the audience that lasts perhaps 10 or 12 minutes. The art of establishing a story line and perhaps revising it on the spot according to the reactions of the audience is something that Ricci admits she is still trying to learn. 

"It's something that's taught very early," she said. "One day a few months ago I felt like 'Okay, I'm starting to understand it, I'm getting so much better at being able to tell a story and really feeling the crowd and being able to feed off them. Then last week I was I was thinking 'I don't understand at all.' It's a never-ending process.

"It's the most difficult part of the business, apart from the violence, but if your body is able to take the pressure you put in under then the psychology part is the most frustrating part. You could go out in the ring with certain intentions and all of a sudden it's not going the way you want and you have to do a 360 or make a total turn and go another direction."

In recent years women in professional wrestling have been portrayed more often than not as sex objects, perhaps one step removed (if that) from a strip club.

The PGWA has made a commitment to present its performers as athletes above all and while its lineup includes a number of very attractive women the promotion is selling wholesome entertainment that is suitable for the entire family. And in the long, run, Ricci believes that's the road that women's wrestling has to travel if it is to thrive.

 "I believe that people appreciate you more if you have the whole package," she said. "Not just athletically talented, not just another pretty face, not just another nice body. I think if you've got the whole package people respect you more and realize that you care enough about this business to keep your body in shape. The ability to wrestle is never given. You have to work at it. People respect you more if you have the wholee package and can do it all."

For more infomation about the PGWA CLICK HERE