When people think of the 1980s, they refer back to the fashion, the music, the big hair, the glitter, the glamour, an all out spectacle that was just one big party that should have never ended.
Where it all started. Roxy Astor saying goodbye to the Riviera Hotel and Casino, the home of G.L.O.W.
It was also the time when professional wrestling went mainstream. Vince McMahon and the then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) crossed over with the MTV Generation (the “M” stood for “Music”), creating Rock’N’Wrestling, where popstar Cyndi Lauper would join forced with the likes of Wendy Richter, Captain Lou Albano and Hulk Hogan to face the challenges of Leilani Kai, the Fabulous Moolah, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Cowboy” Bob Orton all throughout 1985.
Move ahead just one year, blend in a bit of burlesque, sketch comedy to the already established pop culture phenomena that was professional wrestling, create an all female league and enter the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (G.L.O.W.).
For five unrivaled years, the ratings sensation surpassed the WWF, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and American Wrestling Association (AWA) as the most watched wrestling show in the United States. G.L.O.W. was “Sports Entertainment” before Sports Entertainment was every used by McMahon and his now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and along for that ride for seasons three and four, was socialite Roxy Astor, a redheaded rich girl from New York City. Actually, it was a blond hair stylist from Seattle, WA with temporary red dye. It was Astor who did a lot of the hair for G.L.O.W. during her tenure with the organization.
“Uh, I hated that stuff. After every TV taping I would rush back and wash that stuff out of my hair,” said Astor over dinner at The Lake House in Van Nuys, CA.
Astor moved to Los Angeles in her early-20s and was not particularly interested in being involved in the wrestling industry, but while doing hair in LA, she would watch the product on Channel 13 and heard the ad searching for new G.L.O.W. girls. Astor basically said, “What the Hell,” made the call and soon after was in Las Vegas, NV auditioning for them.
“If I had known there were 3,500 girls trying out I wouldn’t have gone. Tina Ferrari was my favorite. I wanted to be her or Hollywood, or someone like that. I loved Tina Ferrari, I ended up taking her place. They (Ferrari and tag partner Ashley) were from Beverly Hills, we were the Park Avenue Knockouts,” said Astor, who sent in photos of her in a short, black mini-skirt with gloves and big hair posing next to a motorcycle as part of her application. A far departure from the Park Avenue buffy in the green leotard that would become her trademark outfit.
Two days later she was in Sin City moves into a dumpy apartment building with 100 other girls fighting for 30 spots. Whomever was able to drive themselves to the desert to face dangerous living conditions had a shot. Astor would leave the oven on in order for and her roommates to have some heat, which looking back wasn’t the best idea.
Little-by-little, the girls were dropping off and Astor made the cut with tag team Tiffany and a wrestling career was born but ended abruptly after two seasons when Astor and her then husband became expecting parents.
Flash forward to 2012 and three kids later, Astor and her daughter who wrestles under the name Juvi Hall in Wrestlicious and tried out for WWE’s NXT as Britney Astor spent 45 minutes being interviewed for GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, which she was only shown for all of 45 seconds, if you count her time in the background.
As the G.L.O.W. Girls reunited for the documentary and Little Egypt initiated the meet up, Astor was handed the baton for the second leg of the race and took off like a rocket. In 2014 she hosted the first ever AfterGLOW Fan Party at the ACME Comedy club in Los Angeles, which was funded on Kickstarter.
“I did it via Kickstarter instead of GoFundMe because if we didn’t meet our goal then it just wasn’t meant to be. I was glued to the computer, living off coffee trying to make it happen,” said Astor about the first AfterGLOW Fan Party, which featured 12 original G.L.O.W. Girls.
Shortly after the success of AfterGLOW, the G.L.O.W. Girls reunited once again at Ru Paul’s DragCon and Astor met James Williamson from Carnival Cruise Lines that lead to a connection with Don Goodlin with Cruise Planners through a fan and the cruise was born.
“It’s like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s something that will never be repeated. We wanted to do something with the girls and we weren’t going to wrestle so let’s do the AfterGLOW! I kind of got the idea from Mick Foley and his story telling shows. We’ve got stories! Like with Godiva, we were wrestling in Laughlin (Nevada) and her boob comes completely out but she’s still going with it. I jump on her and started tucking her in like it was me who was popping out,” said Astor as she gave an example of the types of stories that will be shared on the AfterGLOW cruise.
A few surprises included on the AfterGLOW Fan Party cruise will include Hollywood hosting a casino night and Matilda the Hun’s Tell All story time…which to be fair, isn’t safe for confession.
Just like the series, the AfterGLOW Fan Party, like it’s name suggests is loaded with double entendre and tongue-in-cheek humor, this is the ultimate fan party.
“This isn’t like those concert cruises where they come out just for their performances. You will be partying with the Original G.L.O.W. Girls in the nightclub and on the shore excursions,” said Astor about the trip.
The G.L.O.W. Girls in attendance will include Sunny the California Girl, Gremlina, Daisy, Jailbait, Lightning, Dallas and MTV. Also the famed ring announcer, Johnny C will be MCing several of the festivities as they set sail on the Carnival Imagination out of Long Beach, CA with stops in Santa Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico from Monday, May 22 to Thursday, May 26, 2016.
For more information about the AfterGLOW Fan Party click here at AfterGLOW at Sea. There are some rooms still available.
Keep up with all the events on Facebook at The AfterGLOW Fan Party.
You can follow Roxy Astor on Instagram at roxy.astor and on Twitter @roxyastor1 and @GLOWWrestling1
