Olympic Stadium, Los Angeles, CA, June 13, 2004.
Michelle Williams and Katie Holmes stood waiting in the ring. They'd been a successful tag team for nearly eight years now; frequently ranked in the Top Ten and had even reigned as the champs for a few months back in '02. If they weren't the very best any longer they were still better than most.
What made this match so different was their opponents. Rather than another top-ranked team, like Dushku-Reid or Banks-Theron, they were facing a couple of rookies. In fact, not only were they brand new to wrestling, but their identifies were unknown to all but the league's promoter. Michelle and Katie were dubious about wasting time with a couple of tyros, but the booker assured them that "the Gemini"...the only name the team was known by...had the skills to make it worthwhile.
Finally, Gemini was called down to the ring. They both wore masks, one red, the other black, and both had ponytails of dark blond hair hanging from the back of her mask and they wore identical black one-piece suits with red boots.
"Red" and "Black" were similar in size, both about 5'7" and 135 lbs. each. Their bodies were firm and toned without being muscle-bound. Katie and Michelle, with experience borne of a thousand matches, could tell by the way they moved that their mystery opponents had great agility. They were probably high flyers, rather than mere brawlers, which suited Katie just fine, because she preferred to work technical. But Michelle was a bit disappointed...she liked nothing better than to mix it up rough and tumble in the ring. Well, she figured, she'd just have to make do.
To start the match, Katie faced off against the mysterious woman whom the TV announcers called "Black" because of the color of her mask. The two cautiously circled one another, then came together for the lockup. They struggled against one another for a few moments, and then Katie suddenly shifted her weight, grabbed Black by the arm, and hip rolled her to the mat.
The masked woman got to her feet, a small smile visible on her lips. The two locked-up again, and again they strained against one another. Then, it was Black's turn to flip Katie to the canvas.
"So, she knows how to wrestle after all," thought Katie as she landed on her butt.
But the masked battler wasn't about to let the brunette regroup. Grabbing Katie by the hair, Black lifted her to her feet, then snap-mared her back to the mat. Then she did it again. And again. Katie was disoriented, her defenses in disarray. Black executed a powerful standing dropkick that sent the brunette sprawling backwards into her corner. Realizing she needed time to recover, Katie tagged in Michelle.
Impatiently, Michelle stepped into the ring. She was anxious to work off her nervous energy and show these amateurs what real wrestling is! Stepping to the middle of the ring, Michelle raised her right hand into the air as the signal for a test of strength.
Cautiously, Black brought her left hand up and grasped Michelle's, then the two women locked their other hands together. Muscles tensed as the pair poured their strength into their struggle. Before long, Michelle began to slowly force her opponent to her knees. Realizing that she couldn't overpower the blonde, the black-masked woman shifted tactics. Still holding Michelle's hands, she rolled backwards, planting her feet in Michelle's abdomen and, using her momentum to flip the blonde up and over.
But Michelle had half-expected this stunt, and as a result, she rolled with the fall, using her momentum to jump to her feet almost instantly. Whirling around, she planted a hard kick to the back of Black's head, then lifted her up to her feet where, with a roar, she hoisted Black Gemini up for a bodyslam, held her briefly and then smashed her to the canvas, dazing her.
Had she gone for the pin, Michelle might well have won. But she wasn't quite through yet. Seemingly bored with her current opponent, she helped Black up, then Irish Whipped her into her own corner so she could tag her partner.
Red stepped through the ropes, but the blonde was on her before the masked woman knew what was happening, hammering her with forearm smashes across the back. Red's knees buckled, but she managed to turn the tables by grabbing Michelle's leg and yanking her to the mat.
Applying an ankle lock, Red kept the advantage. Angry at herself for losing the upper hand, Michelle tried to reach behind to grab her tormentor, but Red managed to keep herself out of the blonde's grasp. Michelle could only squirm in anguish, and hope for a lucky break.
But Red wasn't about to give her any lucky breaks. Satisfied that the ankle lock had taken its toll, the masked girl moved like lightning, slinging her opponent across the ring with a slingshot. Michelle hit the canvas face first with a groan.
From her corner, Katie could only watch in amazement at what happened next. Frequently tagging in and out, Red and Black overwhelmed Michelle with a variety of holds. Katie was shocked at the fluidity with which the masked wrestlers worked, almost as if they could read each other's mind. Although they still applied their holds with a degree of amateurishness, they functioned with a grace which usually only the most seasoned tag teams possessed.
Finally, helpless at the sight of her partner being worked over, Katie decided to ignore the rules and ran into the ring, hoping to relieve Michelle. The referee, seeing her, halted the brunette before she could reach her partner. As she argued with the official, Katie never saw Black climbing to the top turnbuckle. When Katie finally shoved the ref. out of the way, she was wide open for Black's dropkick!
All four women were in the ring now, but the Gemini kept their advantage. Each masked woman grabbed her opponent in opposite corners of the ring, then they whipped Williams and Holmes into one another! Their chests and foreheads colliding with heavy thuds and they toppled over backward like two felled redwoods. Grabbing their ankles, Black and Red tortured Michelle and Katie with a rowboat. The blonde and brunette felt as if their hamstring muscles were being torn asunder!
Ultimately, the Gemini decided to put their foes away. Both Red and Black locked Katie and Michelle in Boston Crabs. The former champions tried to hold out, but it was useless. After thirty seconds of torment, they were both desperately tapping out, signaling their surrender.
The crowd erupted in cheers as the Gemini excitedly jumped to their feet, hugging one another. But the crowd's cheer's became a deafening roar as the two mysterious wrestlers peeled off their masks to reveal their true identities as Michelle and Katie stared in shock and amazement.
That was how Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen celebrated their coming of age on the night of their 18th birthday.