February 19, 2020
“Shit…”
I was into the action happening in front of me with my eyes glued to the television… and with my fingers button mashing the hell out of a GameCube controller. I was loose in the days following my win against Christina Rose and I wasn’t thinking about wrestling too much… especially since I was playing an intense battle on the television screen…
“Come on… COME ON…” I said as I kept mashing the buttons on my controller. “10 seconds… FUCK!!!!”
I was cringing at almost losing the game at that point, but at the end of the day, the clock ran out.
“SUDDEN DEATH” the Super Smash Brothers Melee narrator said on the screen as I let out a frustrated sigh.
“I guess your old man can keep up with you after all…” my father said with a laugh. This was the first time we had spent time together since he wrote the letter to me prior to my match against Christina. It was awkward, yet satisfying to see my father actually having fun for a change. But at this point, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was trying to win the game.
“Kirby is a weak character” my father said. “I don’t know why you picked him.”
“You never played an actual Kirby game. But hey, I guess to me he has a better appeal than MR. GAME AND WATCH! Dad, really? You couldn’t have at least picked Mario?”
I rolled my eyes as the sudden death battle continued. Kirby on the screen scurried to grab a bow and arrow while my father moved Mr. Game and Watch to a baseball bat. I loaded up the arrow, held it for as long as I could and as soon as my father grabbed the baseball bat with his character, I shot the arrow. Direct hit! Mr. Game and Watch exploded off the screen as the narrator yelled “GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“YES!” I said, as I felt 10 years old again!
“Really?” my annoyed father said. “You won with a fucking arrow?”
“Anything can happen when you’ve got 150% damage…”
“Aren’t you on quite a roll?” my father asked. “First you beat Christina Rose and… now this. Congrats on the biggest win you’ve had in Sin City Wrestling.”
“Thanks dad…” I said with a smile.
“Another reminder that I’m the luckiest father on earth…”
I maintained the smile I had as I got a notification on my phone that caused me to feel excited. “Oh crap… that’s what I’ve been waiting for all day!”
“What?”
“They’re about to do the drawing for the Blast from the Past tournament.” I said with anticipation. I grabbed my phone and waited for a notification to be heard. Once my phone made a sound, I looked at my screen and saw my name.
“Well… that didn’t take long…”
“They drew your name already?” my father asked. I responded with a nod.
“It’s only a matter of time before they draw my partner.” Right on cue, my phone notified me of such. “I could be teaming up with my future husband for all I know…”
“Let’s hope not…” my father said. Meanwhile, I looked at my phone and saw who it was and as soon as I saw the name of Bill Barnhart, any excitement I had about the tournament was officially gone. I let out an angry sigh and immediately put my phone on mute, not caring about the rest of the draw. “Wow… who did you end up with?”
“Clearly NOT my future husband.” I paused as I shook my head. “Bill Barnhart. Really…???”
“Damn… sorry Andrea…” my father responded with sympathy. “Considering we’re somewhat close in age… it’s like I was drawn to be your partner…”
“I’d rather you were…” I said with a sigh. “This sucks. I can’t stand him. I can’t even trust him. If it’s not his stupid, annoying antics in the ring it’s his stupid glorified comedy act…”
“Hey, you’ve overcome some uphill battles before…” my father reminded me. “You just did that this past weekend when there weren’t many that thought you’d beat Christina.”
“Yeah…” I said with reluctance. “I suppose you’re right…”
“Just remember that, okay?”
Feeling disgusted with the way the draw went, I walked over to the GameCube controller to shut off the system. My father, however, had other ideas.
“What? You’re just going to let this ruin your day?”
I let out a sigh.
“One more game… at least. And the fact that it’s me requesting this should say something.”
“True” I admitted. “Fine, one more game… but I’m in a pretty bad mood now and I guess it’ll be cathartic to kick your ass at this… AGAIN!”
Trying to do my best to get it out of my mind, I began to set up for the next Melee round. Still, that drawing left a bad taste in my mouth and once I had a moment to myself, I felt more disgusted by how it went down.
“Brutal. Just brutal. That’s how I’d describe this draw. It’s not just a trust issue. I already know that my so-called ‘partner’ is going to look out for himself. It’s a fact that… well… to be honest? The son of a bitch isn’t even lighting the world on fire in SCW. It’d be one thing if I ended up with someone untrustworthy and my partner turned out to be someone pretty damn good… but Bill Barnhart?
REALLY?
Four win, nine loss Bill Barnhart? Who’s wife I had just beaten recently?
Speaking of motivation for him to try and screw me over…
I wouldn’t trust him with my life. Right now, the only positive I can say is ‘hey, at least it’s not Teddy Warren’. God that would have been horrible. But whatever, I’ll deal. I’ve done it before. I just need to remember some of the more uphill battles I’ve faced in my career and I’ll be able to draw some inspiration from that. Uphill battles come in all shapes and forms… but the one I want to remember is one where trust was broken… and I faced the uphill battle of facing someone that meant the world to me…”
Flashback: May 2017
“Go get ‘em, Andi!” I heard Chelsea LeClair tell me as she tagged me in. Sedona Sky was in action against my mentor Myra Lynwood and her then-husband after we had broken away from Utopia and the evil GCW faction had essentially broken up. Considering the rage I had toward Myra for all she had put me through, I was ready to get some revenge.
“Oh I will…” I told Chelsea as I stepped into the ring. “...I’ll show Myra who’s REALLY going to amount to nothing.”
Myra was fearful of me as I beat her down and took control. In fact, I was even dominating her. After knocking her down on her back, I stood on the apron with the “Sedona Splash” move in mind. I was measuring Myra to make that jump and once she got up, I felt like I had the victory. However, I was tripped off of the apron, my face hitting it on the way down as I landed back first on the floor. When I came to, I felt the cold, sudden shock of Chelsea’s angry face bearing down on me. She picked me up off of the floor and threw me into the steel steps.
She had betrayed me and worse yet, the moment she threw me back in the ring, Myra clocked me with her finishing move and pinned me. If trying to break through in wrestling wasn’t hard enough… learning hours later that I’d be facing Chelsea in a “Loser Leaves Livewire” match in a couple of weeks made this tall order seem monumental.
Suddenly, my singles career began… and I was being thrown into the fire against my lifelong best friend.
February 21, 2020
“You think Bill would do the same thing to you?” Chelsea asked me as I visited her in New Jersey. We had just gone over the moment that she betrayed me for the first time.
“Duh…” I responded. “Why wouldn’t he? It’s not just about his wife… It's who he is. Granted, screwing me over so I could suffer the humiliation of being pinned by someone I had already beaten before in Bella Madison… who isn’t as highly regarded in the company as I am no less… is something that is right up his alley.”
“Yeah…” Chelsea said with a concerned tone in her voice.
“It takes a LOT for me to trust ANYONE…” I reminded Chelsea. “That’s why I’m not totally buying the idea of Christina and I being friends. That match wasn’t about friendship for me. It was about getting that win… which I did. I still don’t trust her quite yet… but I sure as hell trust her a hell of a lot more than I trust him.”
Chelsea winced a bit… appearing not to like the words coming out of my mouth.
“Is something wrong, Chels?” I asked out of concern.
“It’s nothing, Andi…” she lied. I could see it in her face though. She was definitely expressing guilt about something.
“It’s something…” I replied. “Don’t bullshit me. You know I can’t stand it when you do that.”
“It’s me, isn’t it?” Chelsea said with a sad expression on her face.
“What?” I said in confusion.
“I get that Bill is well… Bill…”
“Spare me the lecture, Chels…”
“You forget that he wants the same thing that you do. That’s not a lecture, that’s a fact. When there are world title shots at stake, WHY would he want to throw that kind of opportunity away? He’s not going to betray you unless he REALLY doesn’t care about being a world champion.”
“What does this have to do with you though?”
“You have a really hard time trusting ANYONE…” Chelsea reminded me. “...you weren’t like that before. And then I betrayed you…” Chelsea paused and sighed. “...twice.”
“I trust you now, don’t I?”
“Yeah, as a friend. But if Sedona Sky ever had a reunion would you even trust me at all?”
Caught off guard by the question, I didn’t answer it at all.
“I’m just saying… you don’t trust Bill… which I can SORT OF understand even though this type of situation isn’t one in which he’d do such a thing. But to not trust Christina even though she didn’t… you know… jump you after you beat her? That IS a bit ridiculous.”
“The idea of having to team with HIM is ridiculous….” I said with an angry sigh.
“You know damn well you can make the most of it” Chelsea told me. “When you and I had to wrestle each other after… you know… I betrayed you and stuff… that’s exactly what you did. I know you were reluctant to face me because of the friendship that we had, but you rose to the occasion on that night. You not only beat me, but you overcame the odds when so many people thought you didn’t have the guts to face me. Had I won? There’s no guarantee that the Shotgun brand would have signed you. Considering where you were in your career at the time, losing to me would have justified GCW cutting you loose entirely.”
“I remember.”
“And that’s one of the things that you SHOULD remember, Andi…” Chelsea continued. “You’ve overcome SO much worse than being forced to team up with some moronic geriatric who’s cornball bullshit is a disgrace to professional wrestling.”
“I suppose having a blast from the past to win Blast from the Past is the way to go…” I said, “I’ve been in some tough spots, but more often than not, I make the most of them. This tournament will have to be exactly that.”
“Do what you have to do.” Chelsea said. “Also… Andi?”
“Yeah?”
“About all this ‘trust issue’ stuff? About how things went down between you and I? And since I’m feeling a bit responsible for you being the hardass you’ve become since then? I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I ever betrayed you in the first place… if that helps any…”
“You didn’t have to do that… I’m past that now.” I let out a sigh before I continued. “But maybe that will help heal unresolved issues a little before I start the Blast from the Past tournament…”
With that in the back of my mind, I tried to focus on the positives of the past… largely through some of the hardest times of my career. There was no way I could deny that I’ve been in far worse situations. There was my UWA experience that I had mentioned in my second promo for My Bloody Valentine, there was suffering through all of the abuse that Myra Lynwood had ever put me through, there was OCW… which… my experience in that fourth-tier promotion speaks for itself, and of course… there was the aforementioned experience of Chelsea betraying me and having to face her one on one… the memory that stuck with me the most…
Flashback: The “Loser Leaves Livewire” match vs. Chelsea LeClair
I had just knocked Chelsea down on her back and I was raring for the finish. Anger flowed through my veins as I stood on the apron and waited for her to stand up in her own right. She stood up and once she did, I went for and connected with the Sedona Splash with unquestioned precision. I could hear the crowd get behind me as soon as I connected with the move and had Chelsea pinned down against the mat. The referee dropped down to make the three count and satisfaction instantly flowed through me in the immediate moments of that revenge victory.
“Here is your winner… Andrea Hernandez!” I heard the ring announcer say. “As a result of this match, Chelsea must leave GCW Livewire!”
My joy over this victory wouldn’t last long. Seeing security come down and escort Chelsea out of the ring and out of the building hit me hard considering the fresh wound her betrayal of me was. The Shotgun brand didn’t take long to sign her, but that didn’t take away the fact that I had lost my best friend in this cruel wrestling world. As part of my journey, I had to defeat my own best friend for the sake of my career and emotionally, it was not just the hardest thing I had to do in wrestling at that point… it was an uphill battle for the greater good…
It won’t be easy… but if I can overcome that… then I know I have what it takes to win the tournament even with a partner I don’t want or trust and who has hardly lit the world on fire in Sin City Wrestling.
This weekend… it’ll be another mountain to climb for the greater good.
But in these types of situations, I’m typically at my best.
Just ask Christina Rose all about that.
February 28, 2020
Coming off of that win against Christina, my confidence was growing stronger than ever. And yet, that confidence appeared to take a backseat to the unfortunate reality that I didn’t have the ideal partner for the Blast from the Past tournament considering what was at stake. Still, I maintained my poise as the camera came on and I began to express my thoughts.
“Blast from the Past…
I won’t talk too much about what it means. I know that there are world title shots at stake and that they will be awarded to the winners. That’s all well and good. From the Bombshell’s side of things, the likes of Misty, Evie Baaang and Christina Rose have won this tournament in the past and all of them at one point or another have been the Bombshells World Champion. There’s little reason to believe that I can join that rank in my own right especially since I JUST beat Christina for the biggest win in my Sin City Wrestling career to date. I may not have the history in this company that others may have, but I do know what this tournament means. I’m well aware of the fact that this is one of the most prestigious tournaments not just in Sin City Wrestling, but in all of professional wrestling and I’ve got a small history in tournaments.
Last year? At the company that stuck the “Tier 4 Wrestler” label on me? I proved JUST how much of a “Tier 4 Wrestler” I was when I participated in their Block Party tournament consisting of 32 people stacked with these “legends” of their past that were trying to come back and make one more run or these “big names” that had yet to win the big one and were looking to do just that. Despite the odds, despite people thinking otherwise… I BEAT one of those “big names” and subsequently? I beat TWO “Hall of Fame members” to advance to the semifinalists. Uphill battle? Odds stacked against me? I made the final four of this tournament so I know that when the mountain seems too big to climb I can rise up and scale pretty damn close to the summit. This time though? Final four? That’s real cute, but that’s not what I’m here for. This time, I AM planning to reach the summit… even though?
I paused and sighed, expressing further disdain for having to team up with Bill Barnhart.
“I’ve got another uphill battle on my hands with this tournament. As far as this first round goes, there’s definitely some bad news and some good news. The BAD news of course… is that I didn’t get a good draw with this tournament. Bill Barnhart hasn’t set the world on fire in this company. He’s been around a long time and he’s not the worst wrestler in the world but from a success standpoint, I certainly wish that I got a better draw out of it. And on top of that? UGH, his personality just annoys me. Well… that goes for ANYONE with the name Barnhart considering his wife was just dreadful with the cart analogy when she tried to speak out against me prior to my win over her. I guess this is the part I should at least look at it from a glass half full perspective and say “Hey, at least I didn’t get Teddy”? That’s all the bad news. The good news? Our first round match IS winnable and I’m planning on making the most of a situation that isn’t exactly the greatest for me. This isn’t any disrespect intended for Chris Crippler and Bella Madison, but I know that while my team draw wasn’t the greatest, the first round draw DOES make up for it a little.
I’m going to start with you, Crippler. For a guy with a lot of hype behind him and for a guy that likes to talk quite a bit, on the surface any casual person that knows about you would think that you’ve accomplished quite a lot in this company. And yet, I look around… I study my Sin City Wrestling history many times over and yes, you’ve had a long and storied career, there’s no doubt about that. However… you’ve never even won a championship in this company! You’re in the same age range as my father and I think it’s becoming a bit obvious that you’re hanging on for too long. If being shut out of winning any championship gold is one thing, then your recent words and actions in the ring are definitely something else. There you were at My Bloody Valentine doing the damn best that you could to hang with the younger crowd. There you were attempting to give Malachi and Jack Russow with a chance to compete for the men’s roulette championship and to perhaps prove your doubters wrong. And going into the match, you were very adamant that FINALLY, this was going to be your moment… and you had all this gusto as you talked about…
Wait… you didn’t say a damn thing at all, did you?
Your opponents pretty much knew that you’re largely just another guy on the roster and just another face on the television screen and that you probably should hang them up at this point because Russow was talking about being the guy to finally put you out to pasture and how you’re just a “third wheel” in the entire story between himself and Malachi. Malachi didn’t even BOTHER mentioning you in his promo until the end after he had devoted the other 99 percent of it to verbally running down Russow. Doesn’t that embarrass you? Doesn’t it make you sick that Malachi is someone who is a very pitiful two and seven in Sin City Wrestling… WORSE than even my reluctant partner in Bill Barnhart and that YOU are one of those two wins? Doesn’t that speak volumes? No? How about the really horrible “Crippled” jokes that BOTH of them made toward you? Or the fact that you have a loss on your record to your own Blast of the Past partner? Is it really getting through to you how far you’ve fallen? You’ve become a sad, waste of talent Crippler. Honestly, you need to hit the bricks before you ruin whatever legacy you built up in Britain even more. Perhaps when Bill’s done with you, that’s finally going to happen. Too bad you’re about 10 years too late on that already.
Shame… really… what a sad waste of a legend from the Isles…
I want to say that I feel sorry for you Bella that you ended up with an even worse draw for this Blast of the Past tournament than I did, and yet, I don’t. Let’s avoid the pleasantries and the reminders of what happened when we last met in the ring and let’s talk about what you’ve been able to accomplish since then. Unfortunately, there’s nothing for me to talk about in that regard. Yeah, you had challenged for the Roulette Championship against Candy and you were able to earn that shot and then just like you have done every time you’ve been in a big match situation in this company so far, you blew it and you were bested on a bigger stage by someone that proved far and away that they were better than you. Did you even LEARN anything from our last encounter, Bella? Say what you want about me, but I’ve at least beaten THREE former Bombshell World Champions in Mercedes Vargas, Seleana Zdunich and now Christina Rose. As far as you and I are both concerned, we’ve been in this company for about the same amount of time and yet, you have nearly HALF as less wins and DOUBLE the losses that I do. You couldn’t beat Candy because as always… it’s SOMETHING that’s distracting you or dragging you down. This time? It was this conflicting friendship that you’ve had with Candy and I’m not going to talk about that too much because that’s none of my business but what I will say is that this tension between you both is EXACTLY why I don’t necessarily buy into the concept of having friends in this business.
You were already showing signs of weakness prior to that match. I could see that in your eyes, Bella. It wasn’t just having to wrestle someone you care about, albeit that same person was causing you a lot of frustration and while I’m no psychologist, you may be starting to show the signs of someone that’s about to snap and go off the deep end just like Bobbie Dahl had done. I HOPE that’s not the case Bella and my other hope is that you’re better against me than you were the last time around… but… I really haven’t seen anything from you that indicates that this is going to be the case. You’re going off on social media saying you have to play “choke a bitch” which… hey, I GUESS you know all about choking since that’s all you’ve done in this company. Biggest stage at High Stakes? I beat you. Going up against Candy? That didn’t go so well for you. This tournament? Yeah, sorry… not sorry… the only thing you’re choking on Sunday is this match. Then again, misery loves company, right? You’re dating someone that’s two and seven so perhaps all the losing he does on a constant basis rubs off on you.
So go ahead Bella… waste all your time on social media talking about “choking a bitch”, updating your profile picture and spamming my timeline with “cute pictures” and stupid GIF’s and “booty workouts”... and you wonder why you’ve yet to live up to your family’s success. THAT’S the type of nonchalant attitude from someone who wants to be the “best in her generation”? The way you’re going, the only way that’s going to happen is if you limit that generation to yourself and your cousins on both sides of your family… and even then? That’d only be by default and not because you’ve actually done anything. By the way… speaking of ‘family legacy’... isn’t it interesting that you’re so STUCK on it and yet you’ve been “average Jane” at best whereas I’m letting it go and I’ve done what I’ve done already? Something to think about.
Still...
What’s coming for you on Sunday Bella… isn’t necessarily going to be on you. Unfortunately for you, you got saddled with a worse Blast from the Past draw than I did.
However… it’s going to be yet another microcosm of your general mediocrity since you’ve joined this company and why I’ve always been one step ahead of you… just like how I’m going to be once again this Sunday!
With the anger in me from the way the Blast of the Past draw went for me combined with the confidence I had in myself to make the most out of a not so great situation for the tournament, I turned off the camera… fire raging within… ready to take on the next uphill battle of my career.
