Diane Hunter

S
he is considered by many to be the hardest worker in the history of Apartment Championship Wrestling. She battled for years to make her way up the ladder and to get an opportunity to battle for the World Title.

““I busted my ass working in crappy little towns preparing for this day and I have no intention of ever going back!” – Diane Hunter

Diane Hunter has led a hard-scrabble life and her path to catfighting stardom has been anything but easy. While working as a secretary, she saw a feature about ACW in a magazine and on a lark decided that she was to give apartment wrestling a try. She was already in her mid-twenties so she was getting into the sport at an advanced age compared to most catfighting entrants. She struggled with her stamina and with picking up some of the basic skills and became the butt of jokes by other competitors. This only spurred her to work harder and she quit her day job and went fully committed.

Hair: Blonde
Height : 5′ 7″
Weight : 128 lbs.
Ethnicity : Caucasian
Titles Held : ACW World Champion, ACW Inter-Condominium Championship

Over time she improved immensely, becoming one of the top technical wrestlers in the promotion. She was considered all business, but in some ways, that seemed to work against her. She was a lunchpail worker, coming to work to train or wrestle and nothing else. The promotion, however, was trying to transition into a more glamorous presentation, highlighting the sexy elements of catfighting. Hunter, however, was adamantly against this, arguing that she was a serious wrestler, a warrior with no interest in being a powder puff girl playing pattycake. The more she fought against the tide, the more she saw herself being passed by less skilled and less experienced performers. She finally reached a point where she had to make a very tough decision. “I had worked too hard getting this spot, and I wasn’t going to let a bunch of prissy chicks who couldn’t hold my jock get title shots. I was plenty sexy and I just decided to to do what I had to do, to get my chance at the World Title.”

She began appearing in ACW ads wearing skimpy, sexy clothing and found herself featured on the promotion’s website and mailing. Soon, she found herself ready to compete for a title belt. Matches up against Rosario Delgado for the then vacant Inter-Condominium title. She wipe the floor with Delgado, winning in 22 seconds via submission. Now with the IC belt in hand, she began making a push to get a shot at the World Title, then held by Daniella Cartier. After several meeting with ACW President Tanako X, Hunter was slated to meet Cartier for the belt. Before their match could happen, however, Cartier made allegations that Diane had slept her way to the top, accusing her of sleeping with X. Hunter ignored the allegation and fought a hard battle against Cartier, but lost in the end via pinfall.

Nonplussed, she was able to get two more shots at the champion, but was unsuccessful again. Desperate for one more chance, she promised X that if she couldn’t defeat Cartier in her next matchup, she would walk away from the sport and go into retirement.

Profile : apartmentwrestlers.com/wrestlers/diane-hunter/
DVDs : apartmentwrestlers.com/dvd/
Photosets : apartmentwrestlers.com/photosets/
Clips : clips4sale.com/store/12000/

In her make or break match, Hunter seemed to put everything into her match and stunned the apartment wrestling world, pinning Cartier in a match at the Burr Ridge Suites. She then went on a five minute, profanity-laced tirade, denouncing what she referred to as the “ACW casting couch” and the shift towards a sexuality-based promotion. She took aim at Tanako X, members of ACW and other wrestlers. She had the belt, however, and now she was in charge. She defended the belt against all comers… All, that is, except for Cartier. Hunter held a grudge against Daniella, angry at having to beg and have to shake her ass to get a title shot. Through a series of technicalities, she was able to avoid matching up against Cartier for over a year. During that time, she became a human buzzsaw, ripping through all of her opponents with ease. In the end, however, she couldn’t elude Cartier forever. In their fifth matchup, a motivated Cartier overwhelmed Hunter, securing a pinfall victory over Diane. After the loss, Hunter took six months off from catfighting and when she came back she was named the new head trainer at the ACW Academy Dojo.

Diane Hunter was the embodiment of the underdog success story and her legacy will serve to inspire fledgling catfighters around the world.