"Slamma in Urbana: A Benefit Show for RACES"
BUZZ, 4//7/17
Today, Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling is making their first appearance at the Canopy Club to present the Slamma in Urbana. With four new wrestlers, CLAW has been putting in serious work for a colossal night of crushing blows and savage headlocks. Come one, come all, and if your mom is visiting this weekend bringing her is the move. [Keenan Schmidt]
"CLAW at the HighDive: Their Best Show Yet" (Photoset)
Smile Politely, 11/23/15
Champaign Ladies Amateur Wresting (CLAW) is a troupe of women who dress as villainous characters and wrestle WWF style to the sounds of punk music. Needless to say — it is awesome. Last weekend they wrestled at the Highdive, and I went out to photograph them. The venue was packed. Fans dressed up to support their favorite wrestler and the troupe delivered. There was new characters, re-incarnations of old characters, new props, and some awesome take downs. Check out my photos and follow CLAW on Facebook for their next event.
"Claw Gets Bigger, Badasser"
Smile Politely, 11/20/15
If you haven’t yet seen CLAW — Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling — in action, you’ve been missing out. Big time.
Picture an enormous slice of pizza doing battle with a hyperactive aerobics buff; two fighters throwing cheese puffs wildly at each other while ignoring the warnings of the referee; and elder anger embodied, complete with a loose bathrobe, hair scarf, and a secret stash of dangerous dust hidden in her bosom.
Those images should give you a sense of what you’re in for tonight, when CLAW takes on their biggest venue yet — the Highdive — at 8 p.m.
Surfabilly Freakout Guest Appearance (Podcast)
Surfabilly Freakout, 11/19/15
Listen here (with music) or here (music removed).
"Wrestlers Take Stereotypes to the Mat" (w/Video)
Illinoishomepage.net, 11/17/15
CHAMPAIGN -- A group of Champaign County women launched a new all-female wrestling club this year.
The Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling ("CLAW") includes women ages 25-45 who meet semi-regularly to work through professional wrestling-style routines. Fifteen women from diverse educational and professional backgrounds currrently make up the group.
"You bond as a group," notes Melanie Sheckles, a.k.a. Cher Nobyl. "It's women being women, but in a totally different and fun way. We empower each other."
"Champaign Women Take Down Conventional Wrestling"
The Daily Illini, 11/17/15
When Dusty Bazongas, a grumpy old woman known for her signature move, the Bazonga Dust, took the stage, audience members were unaware that this would be her final performance. But shortly after Bazongas’ match with the Thighmaster, she passed away due to natural causes.
For the woman of The Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling, or CLAW, the characters they play in the match, such as Dusty Bazongas and the Thighmaster, are a way of life.
However, on Nov. 20 at The Highdive in Champaign, a new legend will arise. With advanced technologies, Dusty Bazongas’ brain was salvaged from her decaying body and placed into the head of a robot known as Rusty Bazongas.
"Ready to Rumble"
The News-Gazette, 11/16/15
CHAMPAIGN — One of C-U's newest forms of entertainment, Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling, will have its next show Friday night at the Highdive, 51 E. Main St., C.
Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling, or CLAW, will feature six new matches, eight new wrestlers and new moves, plus live music by the regional punk bands Bookmobile!, Los Despeinados, and Jorts during RAVECAST1.
CLAW Vice President Joanna Troutman, who also wrestles under the name "The Slice," describes CLAW and what it does as entertainment that requires athleticism.
"CLAW: Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling" (Interview)
The Buzz, 7/10/15
Fangs, nun chucks and pizza toppings will fly as members of Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling (CLAW) get in the ring tomorrow for what will be the greatest showdown Champaign-Urbana, or perhaps even the universe, has ever seen. CLAW is a gang of ten women with butt-kicking alter egos, whose mission is partly to “avenge the world’s wrongs.” Buzz had the honor of meeting with founding members Melanie “Feral Hannah” Sheckels and Joanna “The Slice” Troutman.