SATURDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2015
4:10 PM PACIFIC STANDARD TIME
HILTON GARDEN INN- ROOM 744
PORTLAND, OREGON
“Wrestling’s a weird sport, isn’t it?”
And with those words we are now faded in on Wendy Briese . The flame-haired woman is sitting on a sofa in her hotel suite, as usual, dressed up professionally for her promo in a simple green dress, her hair combed straight back,but left loose.
“Five months ago, I faced Valerie Lamb in a match to determine the number one contender to the FFW Championship. I treated that match like my career depended on it, and I came away with the win.” She snorts, partly in exasperation, partly in acceptance of the ironies of the sport. ”And now, here I am… finally getting my FFW Championship shot after pulling out ANOTHER match- this time against the other top contenders in the company, and I FINALLY have a shot to reclaim the FFW Championship in a match with Scarlett Kincaid.”
A long sigh. “And Valerie Lamb.”
“No, Val, no. You have NOTHING to apologize for,” Wendy continues, closing her eyes as if pained. “You had the carrot dangled in front of you, and you leapt up and chomped down on it as hard as you could. Anyone… ANYONE who was in your situation and didn’t leave everything they had out there in the ring… I’d question their right to be in this sport. You took what was given to you, you made the most of it, and you got into this match, so congratulations, and well done.”
“But it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”
While Wendy’s face and voice remain calm, there’s a definite glint of frustration in her eyes as she continued. ”It doesn’t, and I challenge anyone to sit here in my shoes and not be at least a LITTLE miffed about it. To not feel at least a tiny bit like a schmuck for throwing blood sweat and tears into a match like the one at Sin & Sacrifice and to find out five months later that it didn’t matter in the LEAST because the exact same woman you threw EVERYTHING into defeating that night ends up in the exact same spot as you.”
“Yeah, Val grabbed the carrot. She did a darn good job of grabbing that carrot in the Superdome in front of a hostile crowd no less. But how many carrots were dangled before her and left to ROT previously? That match at Sin & Sacrifice, for one. She went into the Femme For All, washed out in the quarterfinals to Rebecka Hate. And that was just in the last few months!”
She takes a deep breath, and exhales through her nose. “So while you can’t blame her for taking advantage of that opportunity, you have to question why it was even there in the first place when she’s SQUANDERED so many previously. And even more so, why SHE suddenly goes to the front of the line, just like that, when I had to not just earn the shot, but EARN the right to get into THIS match, and Mika and Crystal are still waiting yet longer for THEIR shots.”
“And Scarlett,” Wendy continues, almost chuckling as she shakes her head. “I gotta say, I’m starting to think you don’t want this one on one match to happen! Cause twice now… two times we’ve been one match away. Everything else is in place, and all you have to do is win ONE more match… against an opponent you’re HEAVILY favored against, to boot, and twice now you’ve let it get away.”
“I suppose I should be flattered, maybe, that you’re so worried about the prospect of facing me, that you overlook someone just ahead and trip on them,” Wendy finishes with another, even more hollow chuckle.
And I’m sorry if I sound like I’m whining or bitter here,” She continues with a long sigh. ”But I promised you all that I wouldn’t sugarcoat things. That I would say what I felt and what I meant, even if it wasn’t the most palatable. If I sound frustrated, that’s because I am.”
“But on the bright side, I did say I wanted a challenge,” she points out, a small smile coming over her as her voice softens. ”And now I have one. A triple threat match for the greatest prize in wrestling, against two of the most talented wrestlers on the roster. And its historical too, at least as near as I can tell. I couldn’t get ahold of Pollaski to verify this beforehand, but I do believe that this is the first ever triple threat rematch in the company’s history. It definitely is where the FFW Championship is concerned!”
“But of course, things are never exactly the same, are they?” Wendy asks, arching her eyebrows. ”The champion coming in is different. We’re all thirteen months over. We’re now all in the Hall of Fame. But I think the biggest change here isn’t any of the obvious, superficial noticeables… it’s what’s deep down. Inside me. The way I feel about this match.”
“Like Sin and Sacrifice, this isn’t a dream match for me anymore. We’ve had that, and any prospect of there being a dream-quality to this ended in the Louisiana Superdome. . I won’t be walking into this ring starry-eyed, I’ll be walking into this ring looking for one thing and one thing only- to rip that title off of Scarlett’s waist and put it around my own, and to keep Valerie from doing the same thing. I’m not interested in creating a memorable moment, or tearing down the house, or winning match of the year, or anything that doesn’t involve winning that belt tonight. Anything less here is a failure, and I’m not going to fail again. Not after what happened at Unstoppable- and not after the tear I’ve been on since then, building up all this momentum as I worked my way into another title shot. I can’t let this momentum go to waste.”
Wendy’s tone is surprisingly business like and unemotional, silently shifting her weight to make herself more comfortable on the couch. ”I enter this contest driven, focused, and prepared, and not about to allow the mistakes I made- both last January and last July- to undo me again. And for all the frustrations I’ve dealt with in the past month, I feel really really confident that at the end of tonight, I will be the new FFW Champion for the second time.”
Wendy pauses for several seconds, a silent debate on the direction she wants to take playing out in her mind. ”And I enter this match concerned. Heck you could maybe even call it ‘scared’. Not for anything that could happen tonight, no. Not there. But beyond… I’m honest to God worried for the future of this business.”
“I’ve had an inkling for a while,” The White Knight states, tilting her neck as if stretching the muscles in it. ”But the past couple of weeks, ever since I went to SVW and sat in their booth as they contested their own top championship. And what I saw there sickened me. It sickened me to my STOMACH.
“And it’s not that I think something like that is going to happen tonight, I know it won’t, Thank God. But… it’s a problem. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again.”
“So why is it that when I mentioned that it was a problem, and mentioned a possible solution to it, that I got such RESISTANCE from EVERYONE! From a simple ‘duh it’s a single fall match, not elimination so you can’t DQ people’- because apparently we need to have Ultraviolence rules because you simply added an extra person?! REALLY?!”
NOW Wendy’s not exactly calm. In fact, she’s growing quite animated. ”We’re all wiling to wail and gnash our teeth when it happens, especially to us, but GOD FORBID anyone tries to come up with a way to PREVENT it, right? It’s MUCH better we deal with the drama of the fallout than having a CLEAN ending the fan’s can appreciate.”
“But what took the cake of all is what Liam Alexander said. To paraphrase ‘Well, Todd was smart enough to have that orchestrated’. Because nowadays having five people ready to run in on a one on one on one match is SMART. It’s a BRILLIANT strategy.”
Wendy shakes her head in disgust, color now quickly overtaking her features. “And as I stood there staring at my phone’s screen in shock that someone- someone who supposedly values technical prowess in a ring above all else- would actually say that- I remember he’s not the first person to ever tell me something along those lines.”
Wendy reaches over to the side, grabbing a piece of paper, and unfolding it. ’Heaven forbid that people don’t feel as if you “failed them” because you were outsmarted - and you were outsmarted, Wendy, whether you want to admit that to yourself or not.’”
“Valerie Lamb said that five months ago. That to grab the ropes during a pinfall was outsmarting someone. Almost identical to Liam’s sentiments. And I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong, but I always considered intelligence a good thing. Something to promote. We endorse being smart, right? And if that’s the INTELLIGENT thing to do, well then…” Wendy’s voice trails off, as if she herself can’t bear to draw the lines to the conclusion.
”That two highly respected, legendary, Hall of Fame worthy wrestlers would actually say that, and be okay with what Todd Williams and Mika Demidov did… that annoys me. But then I remember that these two are both TRAINERS. That they are passing their knowledge and philosophy onto the next generation.”
“And that thought terrifies me.”
Wendy closes her eyes, and takes a deep shuddering breath. ”I’m sure that offends Val. At this point, I don’t care, honestly. It’ll be nice to know SOMETHING offends her, because Lord knows being *cough* ‘outsmarted’ by Mika in darn near the exact same fashion she ‘outsmarted’ me didn’t do it, considering she was treating Demidov like her BEST FRIEND on Twitter the next day….”
“Maybe you don’t agree with me on the idea of disqualifying someone in a single fall match. Maybe there’s a better way to do it, I don’t know. And it’s almost funny that a woman that everyone seems to think is stuck in the 1950s is somehow the most radical and revolutionary when it comes to rules reform. But what’s NOT funny is the way everyone burys their heads in the sand like an ostrich and pretends everything in this sport is hunky dory and doesn’t need to be changed. And its even LESS funny that we’re to the point that someone trying to PREVENT outside interference, or illicit tactics, is viewed as MORE of an annoyance than the ACTUAL INTERFERENCE ITSELF… we’re in trouble. We’re in BIG trouble.”
Wendy bends over, pulling something from under her feet, and lifting it up, setting it on the couch beside her- her “Most Loved Wrestler of the Year” trophy from 2014. “I’m proud of this. I really am. It felt great to win and make a speech, and I consider myself blessed that so many of the fans who have voted on that award voted for me. And what I’m about to say… I hope they understand where I’m coming from here but… with Valerie Lamb and Scarlett Kincaid on this roster… how the HELL did I win this award?”
“Both women are younger than me, just as good in the ring as me, far more marketable, and far more cooler. Scarlett’s the face of this company, and has been for years. She’s pretty, she’s smart, she’s amazing. She’s WONDERFUL at promoting this product, and our merchandise. Valerie Lamb’s appeals to the more… darker crowd. The one’s who like the metal. But she’s hardly brooding, is quirky, also very pretty. And both are absolutely amazing in the ring. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. These two women are THE future of FFW, for DECADES to come. Or at least… they should be… ”[/b]
Wendy signs, holding her arms out slightly. And then there’s me. I’m not selling myself short here- I know I’m as good in that ring as anyone else. And I know I’m popular, mostly out of the fan’s respect for me, the effort I put into everything, and the respect people have of me to stick to my guns. But I also know that I’m extremely rigid and conservative, I have weird hobbies, and I couldn’t catch a pop culture reference if it had a flu virus attached to it. From a pure identifying standpoint alone, there’s no way I should be the most beloved wrestler. And yet…”
Wendy looks over at her trophy again, sadness in her eyes, as she sighs, and shakes her head. ”If I’m winning this award… heck, if ANYONE is winning this award besides what should be the two ICONS of this company, something’s wrong. And it’s not myself, or Misty, who won it the year before. It’s not the fans, no, they know what they’re doing. It’s not the vote counters.”
“It’s because you two have ROYALLY screwed things up”
Wendy swallows hard, a lump in her throat, as if this has suddenly become difficult for her. It’s easy to see where with you, Val. Heck, I’ve pretty much spelled it out for you time and again.. so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much because I know you hate that. The first thing is your record… its tough to be an icon when you spend the entire year winning four matches out of thirteen.”
“But even deeper than that, Val… it’s the fact that you practically go OUT OF YOUR WAY to not be a hero. It’s the fact that you’ve spent the last five years walking around this company making damn sure that any thought that pops in your brain couldn’t EVER be confused with a conviction or belief, because those are tough things to have, because then you have to live by them. Even worse… they might OFFEND someone!”
Wendy chuckles darkly and shakes her head. ”You know what offends people Val? When they take time from their lives, pull money out of their wallets, and their emotions out of their SOULS to pull for you in a wrestling match, watch you get SCREWED out of it, and going about it all the next day like it didn’t matter to you one bit that it happened. THAT is offensive.”
“As for you, Scar… it’s not as easy to spot, because, well, you do actually have convictions and understand the fans actually want us to show some fightback once in a while. But let me just ask you one quick question here.”
“If it hadn’t been your husband being beaten up by Isabella… if it had been someone else.. would you still have ran out there?”
“When it comes to worrying about yourself, Scarlett, you’re fine. Same with your husband, your sister. But anyone else, and you just clam right up. Mika Demidov being disrespectful, yeah, you’re in on that. But what about the Social Elite? What about Ignis? What about Aimee Easter? Why not pay attention to them- or at the very least, give the people fighting against them some sort of support?”
“People are so quick to accuse me of being ‘high and mighty’” Wendy says, slightly exasperated. ”But isn’t what YOU’RE doing, or rather not doing… the exact DEFINITION of high and mighty? You’re on your throne, and you’re worried about keeping your throne, but to heck with all the little peons down below fighting their own fights. Let Ignis break arms and let Valentina torture people. Not your problem.”
“What gets me the most is that the last time we faced, you had the GALL to make fun of me for trying to help. ‘Wendy the pirate out to plunder whatever attention and personal glory she can’. Conveniently forgetting that the ONLY reason I was even OUT THERE at the end of the Ten Femme Chaos match was because YOU and KELLY turned your back on your partners, and left them to the DOGS. Had you not done that, I’d have NEVER been needed, and HAPPILY so!”[/b]
Wendy pauses, and takes another long, shuddering breath. ”Nobody ever understands that part, do they? Wendy’s all over the place. Wendy sticks her nose in everything! But I’ll tell you what, there’s certainly people out there who are GLAD when I do, Kate Steele hardly the least among them at the moment.”
“I shouldn’t be extraordinary around these parts. The fact that I’m so known for HELPING people is because nobody ELSE in this company does it! I don’t make myself stand out by going above and beyond, everyone ELSE makes ME extraordinary by not even going this far!”
“Just remember- the only thing necessary in this business for the villains to succeed is for the heroes to do NOTHING.”
“And yeah, I get it, its hard. It might get you into a match that you run the risk of losing to an opponent far down the card, because you butted up against them, but considering you average a whopping EIGHT MATCHES A YEAR, Scarlett, I’m sure you could afford to be booked a bit more. And it’s tough to walk that line to where you’re supporting a friend and actually fighting their battles for them, but you’re a smart girl, you should be able to figure it out.”
Wendy sighs again, her voice rife with emotion as she shakes her head. “I’m going up tonight against what could have been… what SHOULD have been two of the greatest heroes this industry has ever known. Two women so good, so charismatic, so UNSTOPPABLE that the so-called heels of this business would have stopped in their tracks at the mere THOUGHT of them. And instead we have one who’s TERRIFIED of having an opinion, and another who only cares about how green HER lawn is, and not if anyone tramples in someone else’s yard.”
“And then there’s me…” Wendy’s voice catches on emotion again. “Sticking out like a sore thumb because I’m stuck trying to do damn near everything by myself and I CAN’T. And for every Kate Steele that rises up and pulls through and overcomes HER bullies, there’s a Kayleigh Clarke that gets trampled yet again. And I know I can’t- WE CAN’T save everything. But what do you think’s going to happen if we don’t at least TRY to make thi s company… this sport a better place?! It’s a lot easier to slip into anarchy and disarray than it is to bring it back, so if we’re going to start that time is NOW!”
“And if you don’t want a part of it, that’s a shame. Because both of you will be great in that role. But for both of you to not just ignore it, but to MOCK ME for doing what I can… for trying to keep this sport from going to HELL IN A HANDBASKET WELL TO HELL WITH THE BOTH OF YOU!”
Wendy pauses for several seconds, breathing deep, as she wipes her eyes. “There was a time, not too long ago, that I was planning to retire at Unstoppable 6. That’s obviously not the case, but I’m turning thirty four in three months. People younger than me, or my age, are seemingly retiring left and right around here. And I don’t know how much longer. All the more reason for me to win that FFW Championship tonight. It’s not going to make me feel any better about the future, but I owe it to myself to give myself at least one last run at the top before it all… before it all ends.”
“And then what happens after I’m gone. What then? What happens when the only woman highest echelon even TRIES to be a hero is no more?”
Wendy wipes her eyes again, and takes a long shuddering sigh. ”I’m tired of filling in for you both. I’m tired of taking abuse time and again because both of you refuse to leave your cocoons. The three of us… we could be competitive amongst each other, but cooperative in dealing with the issues of this company that threaten it. We’re not…
”Whatever happens tonight, whether I win, or either of you do… please wake up guys. Isabella Pazzini’s going to be fired tonight. We all know that. But we all know the next threat is not too far off. And when it emerges…”
Wendy sighes, and bows her head, shaking it. ”Tonight, we’re going to put on a show. But afterwords, HELP ME, girls. Because I need you. This company needs you.”
”This sport needs you.”
And with that, we fade out with Wendy sitting alone on the couch, looking as sad and lonely as we have ever seen her.
============
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2015
9:54 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY- PARTICIPANT RV LOT
ATLANTA, GEORGIA[/font]
Well, at least he didn’t crash today.
Terrence Thompson sat on the couch in his RV staring at the satellite dish’s message that the PPV he had ordered would be on shortly. His mind wandered back to the race earlier that day- a frustrating affair that saw him fall behind early, eventually to the tune of four laps on the mile-and-a-half track, and came home a fairly dismal 25th. Still, it hadn’t been an entire waste of time- he had spent most of the latter stages battling with fellow rookie Ross Chastain, only getting nipped out by the Chevrolet for 24th place at the end.
Still, it’d have been much better if it had been for a more notable spot.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up and called “Come in!”, reaching to his picket for his wallet. Must be the pizza man.
It wasn’t though- instead, it was a long legged brunette carrying an armful of FFW Racing merchandise, as well as a sharpie. Fifi, Terrence recognized, his new team’s marketing director.
“Another charity auction?” Terrence asked.
“Yuppers!” Fifi said happily, dropping the goods on the couch and sitting down as well. “There’s one every week, so you might as well get used to them.”
“Maybe we should do it earlier in the week then,” Terrence noted, although he picked up the Sharpie and started signing the merch.
“Mmm, perhaps,” Fifi said with a small sigh. “You should come tonight, and not sit here all alone.”
“Nah,” Terrence said, shaking his head. “Wendy’s PPV’s tonight. Hell, it’s just about to start. She’s going for the FFW Championship, you know.
“She said something along those lines,” Fifi said dismissively, with a shrug. “But aren’t those kinds of matches at the ENDS of the shows? Why watch all the boring early stuff?”
“Nah, I like it,” Terrence said, with a shrug. “It’s not Wendy, but there’s still some good stuff on the underc-“ He was cut off as Fifi leaned forward and kissed him.
On the lips.
Terrence went stiff as a board, his arms out to the side, blinking rapidly as the woman pressed her lips into his. His mind raced, the same two words over and over (OH SHIT!), but he couldn’t think of a way to separate himself from the liplock.
The sound of a toilet flushing in the lavatory broke the liplock, and Fifi, smiling victoriously, gathered up the merchandise. “Well, now you know what you’re missing in case you want to blow this off,” she said, jauntily bouncing out of the RV.
Terrence could only stare after her, a look of horror on his face.
“Who was that, dad?” his daughter’s voice caused him to nearly jump through the roof.
“Hunh?! No one! Uh, just the merchandise lady, uh… Fiona.”
“Fifi?”
“Yeah, her.” Terrence corrected quickly. “She had some stuff for me to sign.”
“Oh, cool,” Theresa said. “Pizza here yet?”
“Nah, should be soon though. Hopefully before the show starts… never mind here we go!” Terrence said, glancing at the TV and noticing the introductory copyright information.
“Oh, good. Think mom will win?”
“Hope so, hon.” Terrence said, looking up at the TV as the introduction to the show became to play. As it did, he quickly raised his sleeve up, and wiped his mouth.
Please god in heaven, let there be no lipstick.
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