It all started with an unsubstantiated rumor posted on the ad saturated Pro Wrestling Torch on Monday, and by late Tuesday, wrestling forums were abuzz with the news that Shelly Martinez was accepting bookings for personal wrestling sessions. Wade Keller, editor of the Torch, pointed readers to this page on a directory of “women who wrestle men” as proof that “The former Ariel, Shelly Martinez, is available for very special appearanes.” [sic]

Under the subject “Someones Gone Broke,” a contributor to the WrestlingFigs forum added the following:

It was reported yesterday that former ECW Diva Shelly “Ariel” Martinez is doing a gig where you can “wrestle” her for an undisclosed fee. This is indeed true. This is current because there are recent photos of her on the page including one from a WWE shoot this year.

Come on, people. The wb270 page linked to by PWTorch could have been written by anyone claiming to be Shelly Martinez and the photos uploaded to that site can be found in just about every corner of the Internet. The site owner even includes a disclaimer stating. “I make no representation about the accuracy of this list. It is not possible to verify the accuracy of all the information I receive via E-mail.”

So what’s the verdict on this Shelly news? Worst. Rumor. Ever.

Unsurprisingly, Shelly published the following denial in a bulletin sent to her MySpace friends:

No, it is NOT true, you CANNOT pay a fee to wrestle me. I am NOT taking ‘personal’ sessions. Just wanted to clear that up. I guess internet reports are saying this is true. I have gotten tons of emails reguarding the post and I wanted to go ON the record and clear that mess up.

A shortened version of that statement was posted to Shelly’s MySpace blog.