FitGems Nation Blog: 2024

Monday, February 19, 2024

2024 FitGems Awards Update

As you know, I do special awards every year to highlight the best of the female muscle world each year. I only cancelled it once due to losing a family member and it wasn’t fair to do those awards with a fractured state of mine. This year, life just happened and I failed to realized that I didn’t do them and that’s 100% on me. I didn’t prioritize my time and I apologize to you all for that. With the bodybuilding season about to kick off very soon, it’s too late to get stuff together tor the past year so I’ve decided to not do the awards this year. It’s also become painfully clear that I can’t do this alone anymore due to how things in my personal life are.

That’s where YOU all come in.

I’m looking for 10 people that would be interested in joining the FitGems Awards Committee. These 10 people will help decide on the nominees for each category of the awards. These 10 will be different each year so if you don’t get selected this year, you can submit to be part of the committee in the future. VOTING IN THE AWARDS WILL NOT CHANGE…it will still be decided by the fans as it’s always been.

Although it’s early, you can send in your submissions beginning now at fitgemsnation@gmail.com. Because of how serious I take this, submissions will be done via EMAIL ONLY. Submit your name, your relationship to the bodybuilding world (competitor, fan/spectator, judge, etc.), and a very brief but detailed reasoning on why you should be selected as part of the committee. Put FGAC 2024 on the subject line. Last day to send in your committee submission will be October 9, the day before the start of the 2024 Olympia. You will be notified by email if you made the committee by October 14, the day after the Olympia. The tentative voting week will be January 5-11, with the awards to be announced beginning January 13. That is subject to change, but I will give plenty of notice on that.

Thank you all for your support of FitGems Nation and the FitGems Awards. Again, my apologies for now being able to do the awards this year, but hopefully this new format will get it back on track and preserve these awards for years to come. To all of you, have a wonderful season and here to you all achieving your goals this year!

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Ash By Elegance: TNA Knockout

Credit to the original owners of the photos

When Ashley Sebera (formerly known as Dana Brooke in WWE) was released from her WWE contact, we would hope that if she wanted to continue wrestling, she would go to Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (TNA) as their women’s division (known as the Knockouts division) is viewed by most wrestling fans to be the best women’s division in mainstream wrestling and the REAL birthplace of the women’s revolution in pro wrestling (not WWE like they claim to be). On January 17, 2024, it was made official that Ashley did indeed sign to TNA.

Her first appearance for the company took place at TNA Hard to Kill under the name Ash by Elegance. During the premium live event (PLE), a blonde woman (whose face was not shown) stepped out of a vehicle and walked into the arena. A lot of speculation was made, and some folks discovered the shoes the mystery woman wore were the same shows Ashley wore in an Instagram photo from her Fantime site. Because of SPECULATION ONLY, her WWE name Dana Brooke trended on Twitter/X throughout Hard to Kill, even being talked about just as much as the event itself. Right before the TNA Knockouts World Championship match between then-champion Trinity and now-champion Jordynne Grace, it was revealed that Ashley was indeed the mystery woman, now going by Ash by Elegance. She even had a manager with her now, George Iceman. For those that watched Impact Wrestling before the TNA relaunch, he was part of BTI (Before the Impact) and would give insider scoops on what to expect on Impact shows and premium events. With BTI now a thing of the past, it looks like Iceman will be Ash’s manager going forward, which could do her wonders.

While not even making a promo or being in the ring, her look caused some folks to think she copied Timeless Toni Storm in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The problem with the comparison is folks are judging Ash by less than 30 seconds of footage from a PLE where she did not speak, nor did she get in the ring. In due time (maybe as early as tonight’s TNA iMPACT), we will get our answers.

One thing we can say is that Ash is ready to unleash her untapped potential that WWE refused to let out. TNA has done wonders for women who wanted to take their careers to the next level: Gail Kim, Taryn Terrell, Brooke Tessmacher, Tara, Deonna Purrazzo, Mickie James, and most recently Trinity, among others. If Ash gets her way, we can very well add her to that list. We said whoever gets her was gonna get a hell of a worker. TNA is about to find out why we sing her praises and will continue to do so for as long as we can. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the era of Total Nonstop Ash by Elegance!