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Indie Watch: Bants Now in Session – Martina “The Session Moth”

Indie Watch is our regular series that looks at all of the amazing talent working the independent circuits around the world. Some are veterans revitalizing their careers, some are indie prospects hitting their peaks, while others are names to be on the watch for! This edition looks at one of arguably one of the most popular Irish women’s wrestlers of all time not named Becky Lynch, “The Session Moth” herself, Martina.

She’s crass, she’s a drunk, and she’s socially reprehensible. But that’s why we fancy her. Welcome to the world of Ireland’s “Session Moth”, Martina, one of the UK and Ireland indie scene’s most beloved and outrageous characters.

She didn’t always start off as the beer swilling, party seeking, maneater named Martina. In 2010, when she started out with Mainstage Wrestling in Dublin, she was a brunette going by Kazza G. Trained at a time when women’s wrestling was still an anomaly, Kazza trained in a class where she was on the only woman. But it didn’t take long for the rough and tumble tom boy to make her mark. Soon she was working for other Irish promotions like Pro Wrestling Ulster (PWU) and Celtic Championship Wrestling (CCW). She even worked on the mainland Europe, where she won the Pro Wrestling Allstars (PWA) Queen of Diamonds Championship in Belgium.

Kazza’s big break occurred when a new promotion set up shop in Dublin named Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling in 2014. She was repackaged from the straight forward women’s grappler Kazza G to the foul mouthed, cigarette smoking, beer can toting valet for the tag team The Lads From The Flats (Paddy M & Workie) known simply as Martina. Nicknamed the “Session Moth” for her character’s penchant for finding parties. “The term ‘Session Moth’ is very heavily used in Ireland,” she said in an interviewt in 2017. “It’s a term for girls that go out to nightclubs and they just get absolutely hammered and the next day they are so hungover and tired, that they just go to the shops for a chicken fillet roll in their jammies. It also translates well to the UK, it’s every girl that goes out to a nightclub on the Saturday night and is just dying on the Sunday. She just wants to drink more – she doesn’t care what she’s wearing or who she’s dancing with. She just genuinely wants to have as much fun as possible.” But soon it wasn’t just Martina having as much fun as possible – the fans at OTT were quick to join the session train.

She didn’t remain a valet for long, and soon Martina was becoming a regular performer with the OTT Women’s Division. When OTT decided to create an OTT Women’s Championship, Martina defeated heavy favorite Katey Harvey, a former PWU Women’s Champion who had already worked with the likes of IPW:UK and PROGRESS. Her first run was only 50 days – losing it to Harvey – but she reclaimed the belt in August of last year and held it for 239 days, the longest reign in the belt’s short history.

Wrestling fans who are looking for the next Manami Toyota or Charlotte Flair aren’t going to find that with Martina. But that’s not the point of Martina or her character. Martina is about good fun and entertainment – although don’t let that fool you. She can still wrestle. But Martina is still all about the “sessions”. The booze, the frivolity, the dancing, and the sex. Yes, the sex. “I do use sex as part of my gimmick,” she told Wrestle:List. “I pretend that Martina is just mad for lads, so she grinds on everyone in such a vulgar way. I’m kind of taking the piss out of the Attitude Era where women had big boobs and no clothes on, just used as sex objects. I like the idea that Martina thinks she looks like that and acts like she looks like that but in reality she’s really hungover and is wearing pyjamas, her hair’s in a mess and she has a cigarette in her mouth. I slut drop badly, I booty shake badly, I put my vagina in people’s faces – that’s part of my asset but it’s all just entertainment and taking the piss out of sexualising women.”

By the end of 2017, Martina’s character had transcended the OTT women’s division – she was legitimately one of the promotions top stars, behind maybe only World Champion Jordan Devlin. In December, she was crowned the first ever OTT Intergender Champion, a title that was defended against any challenger, man or woman. In 2016, she also broke out from being a regional Irish attraction, seeking out sessions throughout the UK. She began to work with Scotland’s Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) and England’s Preston City Wrestling (PCW).

In 2017, Martina had a breakout year, debuting with several of the British majors, like PROGRESS, Pro Wrestling: EVE, Revolution Pro UK (RevPro), Defiant Wrestling, Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE), and Fight Club: PRO, as well as with Germany’s top promotions, Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) and the German Wrestling Federation (GWF). She took part in PROGRESS’ Natural Selection IV Series to crown the inaugural PROGRESS Women’s Champion, wXw’s tournament to crown their own inaugural tournament, and a Pro Wrestling: EVE title tournament. She even won the ICW Women’s Championship from Kasey Owens. Suddenly, Martina’s antics were being called upon for major events in the UK and Europe, not just for comedy bits between other matches.

And her ride hasn’t stopped in 2018. She was invited by Stardom in Japan to come over for a two month tour with the company, where she not only competed in the 2018 Stardom Cinderella tournament, but joined one of the top stables, Oedo Tai (which is lead by current World of Stardom Champion Kagetsu). In her third match with Stardom, she had a World of Stardom match opportunity against then-champion (and now NXT Superstar), Io Shirai.

This spring during WrestleMania week, she made her US debut, first appearing at the Beyond Wrestling/Women’s Wrestling Revolution (WWR) co-event Lit Up in intergender action, tag teaming with Orange Cassidy against Janelope (Joey Janela & Penelope Ford), then heading to Game Changer Wrestling (GCW)‘s Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2 to take part in the Clusterfuck Battle Royale. Her third match of the week was representing Fight Club: PRO for the Pancakes & Piledrivers co-event with All American Wrestling (AAW) and Wrestling Revolver, where in an intergender dream team, she was partnered with Joey Ryan to face Colt Cabana and Marty DeRosa.

As we head into the final months of 2018, Martina’s star couldn’t be brighter. She’s heading for a second tour with Stardom and continues to be a major star for OTT, Fight Club: PRO, SWE, and others. She’s just been announced for wXw’s upcoming Femme Fatales women’s tournament as well. The future is bright for Martina, as she continues to incite and delight from Ireland to the UK to mainland Europe and Japan, and its only a matter of time before we see more of her in North America. If you see her name on a card, either at a local promotion or on event on anyone of the great wrestling streaming services available, check her out. You’ll have more fun that you should.

And who knows? Perhaps you too can say you’re someone who #fanciesmartina

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