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Since she began wrestling for the Southern Belles Amateur Club a decade or so ago,
Tyler Dare swiftly emerged as not only one of the most popular Belles, but also
one of the most successful American women in all of amateur grappling.
To many fans, she became the uncrowned "Queen of the Belles".
However, there is another woman who could lay claim to that title as well:
Pippa L'Vinn. The British wrestler enjoys just an enviable a reputation
as a successful competitor. She could also lay claim to something else...
a victory over Tyler.
That match came early in Tyler's career, when she was still just a raw rookie,
and Pippa was already an established veteran. Despite her lack of experience,
the redhead's skill took her far in the match, and she gave L'Vinn a real challenge.
Still, in the end, the Brit's mat knowledge proved too insurmountable for the American,
and she went down to defeat. (SB #32)
But as years passed and victory became a habit for Dare, that particular loss still
gnawed at her. She came to believe that she could not fully accept all of the accolades
that her fans and admirers heaped upon her unless and until she could face
Pippa L'Vinn once more, and this time beat her.
She began bombarding L'Vinn with challenges, some through the Southern Belles office,
some via shared acquaintances, and some directly to the brunette herself by email.
Those that Pippa deigned to ever respond to, her answer was an unwavering "No."
Pressed further, sometimes the Englishwoman would say she was simply too busy at
home in the UK to return to America. Other times, she was contemptuously dismissive
of her challenger, sneering, "She's hardly worthy." But whatever the excuse, the
fact was that, year after year, Tyler was being refused a rematch.
Finally, unable to put up with Pippa's refusals any longer, Tyler struck at the one
thing she knew her rival couldn't defend against... her ego. Dare went public with a
video challenge, sharing it widely across social media, announcing that she was coming
to Britain soon, so Pippa had no excuse to not face her. The challenge went viral and became a
trending topic among fans worldwide, and L'Vinn could no longer reject it. Begrudgingly,
she accepted Tyler's challenge... but with certain conditions.
Declaring that she still wasn't certain that Dare was worth a match with her, Pippa said
that first the American would have to face three English wrestlers of L'Vinn's choosing.
"I can be magnanimous, though," the brunette said with a sly grin. "You'll only have to
beat two of them in order to get your match with me."
It was, in all respects, a preposterous notion, and no one would have faulted Tyler
for refusing to play Pippa's game. But she had waited so long to get her hands on L'Vinn,
she wasn't going to pass up this opportunity, so she agreed to the conditions.
 
For the first match, Pippa set her partner in the Blackbirds tag duo, Raven, against the
redhead. L'Vinn's protégé has steadily grown into a skilled grappler, and she gave Dare an
aggressive challenge. But Tyler was too determined to allow herself to be halted so quickly,
and ultimately she made Raven submit. (SB #121)
 
Next up came Lisa Fury, who is no friend to Pippa L'Vinn, but who found the
opportunity to wrestle the vaunted American too tantalizing to pass up. Pippa chose well
in selecting Lisa, who has given L'Vinn herself some of her toughest challenges. As the
bout wore on, it became apparent that Tyler and Lisa were equals in terms of strength and
skill, and with the advantage seesawing back and forth between them, the result was
a veritable stalemate. Until, that is, when Fury finally managed to seize control of
the struggle with a brutal Indian Deathlock. Facing the possibility of being seriously
injured, Tyler had no choice but to submit. Lisa's joy at winning was tempered by the
respect the two combatants had for one another, and after the match
she told Tyler she was rooting for her to go on and beat L'Vinn. (SB #122)
 
With the score now tied 1-1, the redhead had no margin for error. Unfortunately for her,
Pippa's final paladin was the one woman, other than Tyler and Pippa, who could herself
lay claim to the title of "Queen of the Belles"... none other than Shelby Beach.
With everything riding on this match, Dare held back nothing. Shelby wrestled
superbly (as usual), and Tyler rose to the summit to match her. And ultimately,
after a long and grueling struggle, the American earns the submission from her opponent.
The path is now clear to L'Vinn! (SB #123)
Or at least it was until Pippa suddenly appeared and threw one more obstacle in Tyler's path.
She proclaimed that the redhead would have to face her and Raven in a tag team match and beat
them before she could have her singles match with L'Vinn. Shelby, unhappy with how Pippa
had been making pawns of them all, volunteers to
partner with Tyler for the match, but L'Vinn has anticipated this; she says the only time available for the
tag bout would be the following day…knowing that Beach was already booked for a wrestling card elsewhere
at that time.
Smugly, Pippa tells Tyler she could either face her and Raven in a handicap match (with the unspoken
certainty that the Blackbirds would do everything in their power to annihilate the redhead
in such a two-on-one mismatch), or else she could decline the match and "crawl back to America
with your tail between your legs."
In spite of the odds against her, Dare was about to accept the handicap match when suddenly who
should appear but... Lisa Fury! She had been backstage watching the proceedings on a monitor,
and was mightily unhappy with the hoops which Pippa had been making Tyler jump through. Thus,
the blonde now offered herself up as Dare's partner. Sputtering with rage, L'Vinn asks Fury
why she's interfering, and with a smile, the blonde purrs, "Not so much to help her, as to not help you!"
 
And thus the stage was set for a titanic tag team tussle, one that veered violently close to the realm
of professional wrestling as the four amateurs battled tooth and nail, with the action wildly spilling out
of the ring! Tyler and Pippa in particular slugged it out in what could perhaps best be termed a back
alley brawl! Finally, sweet victory came for Dare and Fury as they won the match, and L'Vinn suddenly
had no further roadblocks to throw in the way of her rival! (#124)
 
As one might expect, the resulting confrontation was nothing short of magnificent. Both Tyler and Pippa
are at the respective peaks of their careers, two of the very best grapplers to ever set foot on the mats,
and they proved it in this one. Inevitably, so nefarious a rulebreaker as Pippa introduced some vicious
cheating that made a mockery of every rule of amateur grappling, , including animalistically raking her
nails like claws across the alabaster flesh of her rival, and even biting her! (SB #125)
This confrontation proved to be one of the very finest matches in Southern Belles history, and it ended
with one woman standing triumphantly and laying claim to the title of Queen. And that woman was...
Pippa L'Vinn!
There is, of course, tremendous controversy about the conclusion of this match. The rulebook states
in no uncertain terms that the only way to win is to force your opponent to submit. But Tyler never
gave a submission. Rather, she was the victim of a ruthless sleeperhold from L'Vinn, and was knocked out!
Technically, the result was a draw, but the Brit wasn't about to see it that way, and she
declared herself the winner.
It goes without saying that Tyler disputes that claim. She is demanding a rematch with Pippa, and
furthermore says it doesn't even have to be an amateur match. "I'm a Southern gal, I'll fight you
in a no rules brawl if that's how you want it. Face me again, unless you're a coward!"
Not surprisingly, L'Vinn has thus far declined a rematch of any sort. Still, the challenge
remains open for another day.
And until such a day may come, what we have are five fantastic matches that show what the
unbridled determination of one woman can achieve. For even though she did not emerge from the
gauntlet with the submission from her rival that she sought, she battle so awesomely, there
can be no doubt in the minds of many that Tyler Dare truly is the Queen of the Belles!
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