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Supercard Archives / “I Loved You At Your Darkest!”
« on: January 03, 2023, 08:03:59 AM »
The feud between Jessie and Melissa was supposed to be resolved at High Stakes XII but Melissa was seeking a tie breaker match and got her wish as an Ironwoman Match was booked for Inception VI! However Melissa would take things to a whole new level when she went after Jessie’s family, namely Jessie’s teenaged cousin and Hero Academy trainee Harper Mason! Jessie would retaliate in the weeks that followed first costing Melissa a non-title match against the World Bombshell Champion Masque but then giving Melissa what many would consider to be the ultimate humiliation, a pinfall loss to Bea Barnhart!
Now the two heated rivals would meet for the final time to resolve their rivalry, Melissa had won their first encounter when she was the Bombshell Roulette Champion in a Strap Match whilst Jessie would return the favour at High Stakes XII with a win in the Chamber of Extreme Match, would Melissa get her win back or will Jessie avenge Harper?
Jessie’s home, Las Vegas, Nevada
Monday the 12th of December 2022, 16:00pm
If I had to use a word to describe the past year, the first one that comes to mind is rollercoaster.
Kicking off the year as the first challenger for the Bombshell Internet Championship can go one of two ways, either you start the year off with a title win or fail in the attempt and start the year off with a bad note, for me? It was the latter and through many attempts to win another title (my match against Ariana being the most recent attempt) I admit, for a while I was considering calling it a career, then I met Melissa and the tone for the rest of the year would take a dramatic turn.
The fact that my beef with Melissa lit a fire under me that has yet to be put out is well documented at this point, though I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t wondering what I was going to do once I finally put this rivalry to rest! I thought the match against Melissa at High Stakes XII was going to be the end of it and with that match happening the same night as my Hall of Fame induction, it sure as hell seemed that way to me!
Then the last five weeks of programming happened, and you know the rest.
I have no interest in facing Masque again any time soon and Bea’s the biggest joke of the Bombshell Division but as far as costing Melissa her matches against those two women were concerned? I did what I had to do! Especially after Melissa tried and failed to cost me my match against Seleana earlier in the night.
Hopefully we can finally move past this after the Ironwoman match but I’m not holding my breath.
”So, when I graduate from Hero Academy, would you mind doing me a favour?” Harper’s voice rang out as the kid walked down the steps to the home gym and I looked up, Harper wasn’t dressed to compete or even train which made sense because it was just under a week since Keira marched her out of Hero Academy which could only mean one thing, Shame had told the kid that I was down here when she came looking for me. ”Remind me to never get on your badside?”
”Kid, you get on my badside every time you make me feel old or say something about metal that I dislike, like that Lamb of God cover you posted to Twitter.” I responded as I shook my head whilst Harper remained on the steps whilst leaning forward on the railing. ”I’ll concede that Shadow of Intent did a damn good job on that Laid to Rest cover but better that the original? Please!”
”I didn’t even say that it was better than the original! Just that I wasn’t sure if it was or not!” Harper defended herself as she shook her head and I said nothing as I continued my work. ”What are you working on anyway?”
”Just some basic maintenance of the weight machines! Jake said that this one wasn’t working properly and I’m trying to assess whether it’s something I can fix myself or if I need to call out for a professional to have a look at it.” I explained with a shrug as I looked over the machine and Harper came over for a closer look. ”Not really sure what the issue is, and I’d have you test it out if it weren’t for your injuries.”
”I can still test it out, just need to put it at the lowest setting.” Harper responded as she looked at the machine and I paused to consider her answer. ”I’m pretty strong for a chick but it’s not like I’m ever going to be doing the same weight levels as a guy as big as Jake even if I was healthy!”
”Fair point, just be careful not to strain yourself all the same.” I conceded with a shrug before I lowered the weight machine’s setting down to the lowest and Harper sat down on the bench after removing her jacket. ”This is one where you pull the two sides together to lift up the weight, designed to build up the strength in your arms without putting stress on your chest, think you can do that without straining your inured areas?”
”Well Melissa didn’t really target my arms when she ambushed me so I should be okay.” Harper responded before she used the machine a couple of times, I had caught the problem on the first try but had Harper do it a couple of more times to confirm. ”Almost feel ready to get back in the ring already!”
”Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves kid, it’s not like you were using this thing on the highest setting a woman of your height and weight would be expected to use it on anyway.” I responded as I shook my head and Harper nodded in agreement before she got off the bench. ”And I see the problem, the counterweight at the back is coming up way to fast, liable to give anyone walking behind it a nasty concussion if they are lucky and it’s also causing the sensors to give inaccurate readings.” I added before passing Harper her jacket back.
”So, easy fix or calling in a pro?” Harper asked as she put her jacket back on and I shrugged as I still wasn’t sure, was going to have Jake have a look at it when he got back from the shops later in any case. ”Actually Jess, I’ve been meaning to ask you something since I started at Hero Academy, just hadn’t had the chance to ask you with everything that’s been going on.”
”It has been pretty crazy, hasn’t it?” I asked rhetorically before I leaned against another machine. ”Luckily for you, the next SCW show isn’t until the New Year is in full swing! Ask away!”
”What exactly possessed you to become a wrestler in the first place?” Harper asked me with a curious look on her face and I had to pause as the kid asked me hat, wasn’t exactly something I was expecting to hear this late into my career. ”Don’t take this the wrong way but I found your first ever match on YouTube whilst you were at Climax Control last night, the one against Slamazon? Anyway, you didn’t exactly have a typical athletic build back then.”
”That match happened barely a year after I left rehab for my cocaine addiction.” I responded simply as I turned to Harper with my arms crossed. ”A few weeks after that I enrolled at wrestling school, I was in much better shape than I was after I left rehab because my trainers saw something in me and weren’t about to give up on me just because I was a recovering drug addict, but your right, I wasn’t exactly the most athletic girl in that year’s class!”
”Yeah, I remember you saying as much when we were doing those basic drills when we first met.” Harper nodded as she thought back to the Sunday before High Stakes XII. ”Even so, you had to know you had an uphill battle ahead of you right? I know you said that it was the GWA that got you into wrestling but that fed closed a few months after you graduated, didn’t it?”
”Actually I graduated in 2008, but I wasn’t a prodigy like Cass so the big feds weren’t exactly kicking my family home’s door down to try to sign me!” I corrected her and Harper nodded as she got the idea. ”You know how my career went from there so I’ll spare you the rest of that story, but the gist of my reasons for deciding on this career path in the first place? I vowed that I would never be a victim again after I was rescued from my first foster parent, my adopted family objected like I said last week but they eventually saw the light.”
”Almost makes me want to ask my parents why they couldn’t take you on back then, but I’m sure they had their reasons even though as far as I knew they still lived in Florida at the time.” Harper responded with a sad sigh and I shook my head, the long and short of it was? They had moved to Vegas not long after my birth parents died but I guess they hadn’t told their daughter that part yet. ”You ever wonder what your life would’ve been if you had a normal childhood?”
”What exactly IS normal these days? Wrestling schools are turning out more prodigies than I can keep track off, whether it’s you, Cass, her partner Blaze Darling or Lola Dane!” I scoffed as I shook my head and Harper had a bit of a laugh at that. ”But honestly? Who the fuck knows? Maybe I still would’ve discovered wrestling or maybe I wouldn’t? Same goes for metal music really! All I know is, what hasn’t killed me has only made me stronger.” I responded before I headed to the ring to do some workouts. ”You’ll learn that for yourself someday kid, until then? Keep at it Hero Academy once your medically cleared, Keira had nothing but praise for your advancement in the weeks leading up to Melissa’s attack.”
”Remind me to pay Keira for that compliment when we go over to the Team Hero compound for Christmas.” Harper joked getting a laugh out of me before I resumed training.
Jessie’s home gym, Las Vegas, Nevada
Wednesday the 14th of December 2022, 14:00pm
When I originally got the idea to turn my basement into a home gym, I had a few ideas of how I’d want it to go, younger wrestlers like Krystal and Ari using it to get some extra reps in I could see coming from a mile away because those girls are dedicated to their craft! One thing I didn’t see coming? Said home gym becoming home to a glorified Soap Opera.
I’ve heard it said that wrestling is basically a soap opera with fists and whilst that is true in some respects, I never thought it’d apply to three trainees!
In this case the trainees are Harper, Fayth Kross and Skylar Parker, yes the two girls who came out as a lesbian couple by having sex in a Hero Academy ring after hours and basically avoided expulsion after Keira caught them in the act after dropping all pretences! Then again they were apparently naked and scissoring when Keira caught them so I’m frankly surprised that there were any pretences to drop!
Oh and they also used one of the spare bedrooms for a round of sex the last time they were here! I basically told the lovebirds that they were only allowed in my home gym and if I caught one of their hands going up their tops I’d throw them out faster than you can say “get a room”! They at least understood how serious I was!
How does Harper fit into this? She’s had a rivalry with the pair because she’s the “teacher’s pet” of the class and that’s Harper’s words, not mine! But despite their rivalry, Fayth and Skylar offered to help Harper as she eases back into training.
Though considering Harper’s been questioning her sexuality for a few weeks now? I was wondering if in-ring help was the only help she was going to get whilst I was here.
”Okay girls, you’ve been under the tutorage of one of the best wrestlers I know and someone who produced a nineteen-year-old double champion from her training school.” I instructed the three trainees as I paced around the ring and the three girls nodded, though Harper, who was easily the youngest of the three at eighteen, was clearly the most focussed out of her, Skylar and Fayth. ”If you don’t know how to do a basic sparring match with one partner, let alone two, by this point then what the hell have you been doing at Hero Academy?!”
“Depends, do you mean with clothes on or without?” Skylar asked as her thick southern accent rang through the gym and Harper facepalmed hard whilst I shook my head.
”Not even dignifying that question with an answer!” I responded with an exasperated sigh as the blonde southern belle grinned sheepishly. ”On that subject though, I just want to reiterate what I said on Twitter, you girls are free to go upstairs if you need the bathroom or are on a break and fancy a snack but if you take too long and I hear moaning from one of my bedrooms, Keira WILL hear about it!”
”And considering you two nearly got expelled by Keira for sneaking into Hero Academy for a sparring match that quickly turned X-Rated, I somehow doubt she’ll be all that impressed!” Harper chimed in and the lesbian couple shared a look before they quickly nodded. ”On that note, you girls remember that your supposed to take it easy on me tin this match, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, we all saw your head get kicked to the moon by Melissa.” Fayth responded as she rolled her eyes and my eye twitched because that was a sore subject for me. “So, what? Is this Triple Threat or handicap rules?” The New Zealander asked at which point I hopped onto the apron.
”I don’t feel like explaining to Keira how her pet got reinjured because she tried to wrestle a handicap match so no, it’ll be Triple Threat!” I responded and the three girls nodded (whilst Harper tried not to laugh at my teacher’s pet comment) and I hopped off the apron. ”Since there’s no ref this match will end when I say it does, remember to play to your strengths girls and begin!”
Once I gave them the go ahead, Harper, Fayth and Skylar started their sparring match and considering Skylar and Fayth had been doing this a short time, they were coming along fast! But whilst she was injured and therefore couldn’t do anything to advanced just yet, Harper was still a league above the other girls! Obviously still in training? Absolutely but it was clear that Harper had taken to wrestling like a fish to water.
After about twenty minutes of light sparring the three girls stopped and I hopped onto the apron. ”Normally I’d be happy for you three to for the whole hour but with Harper’s injuries? I’m not risking it so we’ll keep the sparring matches involving her to a maximum of twenty minutes!” I explained and Harper groaned as she was clearly getting into the swing of things by that point. ”Sorry Harper but it was the only way that Keira would allow these sparring matches to happen.”
”Can I at least practice the Ripcord Cutter that I’ve been perfecting over the past month?” Harper asked and I glanced over at Fayth and Skylar to see who would volunteer to have Harper practice that move on them, Fayth ended up volunteering and to set it up she went for a running clothesline which Harper ducked before grabbing Fayth’s arm and going behind the taller girl, then in one fluid motion Harper spun her around and dropped Fayth with a Cutter. ”Still working on a name for the move but it’s coming along nicely.”
”Let me see it one more time before I pass judgment on the execution, Skylar, your girlfriend’s still regaining her bearings, so you’re up but go for something other than a clothesline, I want to see if Harper can hit this from any angle.” I instructed Skylar who nodded before going for a spear on Harper but Harper leapfrogged over it, Skylar then went for a reverse elbow strike which Harper reversed into the Ripcord Cutter. ”Very nice but I think you need to work on that move a bit more.”
”Really? I think they’d beg to differ.” Harper responded with a grin as she motioned to Skylar and Fayth and I shook my head. ”Then again you have been wrestling since I was three so I guess I’d better listen to what you have to say.”
One of these days, I’m going to stretch that kid out for making me feel old! That wouldn’t be today because she was still injured but still. ”You need to be a bit faster in the transition from the Ripcord to the Cutter for the move to work reliably! If you weren’t injured I’d demonstrate on you how I’d reverse that move into my Circle Pit finisher but we all know why you haven’t been to Hero Academy in other a week.” I explained and Harper nodded as she got the idea. ”The idea behind the move is solid enough but it needs refinement, not to mention a better name than “Ripcord Cutter”, both of which you can work on in the New Year.”
”I had been trying to brainstorm some name ideas, off course Fayth over here has it easy.” Harper admitted at which point Fayth looked up. ”By which I mean having a name that naturally applies itself to move names, not as a trainee.”
“See: The Fayth Breaker and KrossFyre.” Fayth responded with a grin and I made a note to ask the New Zealander about those moves later. “Anyway, you wanted to ask me and Skylar for some advice, right?”
”Oh, right, that, well the fact that you guys are gay is as clear as day, thing is? I’ve been wondering where I fall sexuality wise for a while.” Harper admitted and Fayth shared a look with Skylar as she helped her girlfriend up. ”I was dating a football player in High School but that ended after I walked in on him sharing a bed with four cheerleaders.”
“Lucky bastard.” Skylar muttered to herself and if Harper rolled her eyes any harder, the kid could’ve seen the inside of her head! “To be honest? We had a feeling that you were going to come out as gay or bi at some point anyway.”
“Take it from us, we picked up on the signs earlier.” Fayth added before she turned to me. “Come to think of it, aren’t you bi Jess?”
”Yeah, I came out about a month after my SCW debut but my preference always leaned more towards guys, hence why I married Shane.” I nodded in response as I leaned on the ring ropes. ”She told me this not long after Skylar broke Kata’s nose but I told Harper that she’ll know when the time is right for her to come out, by then she’ll know if she’s bi or a lesbian, I take it the same applied to you two.”
“Pretty much, I came out after I moved here from New Zealand, no idea about Skylar.” Fayth responded as she glanced at Skylar but the look Fayth was getting from Skylar told me that the blonde trainee had come out when she had been caught having sex with Fayth by Keira. “We may be rivals Harp but we’ll still help out, I know how difficult it can be to come out.”
”Thanks guys, it’s not like I don’t have enough on my plate with my parents wanting me to get my own place in the New Year.” Harper admitted and after a while Harper left the ring to let the couple go at it, by which I mean train off course.
And I thought the start of 2022 was crazy, now I’m dealing with a teenage cousin struggling with her sexuality whilst training to be a wrestler, got to love wrestling I guess!
Jessie’s home, Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunday the 1st of January 2022, 16:00pm
Another year gone and I’m another year older.
If you had told me this time last year that I’d still be wrestling one year later, I’d have called you crazy and likely have asked you if I had managed to dethrone Andrea to win the Bombshell Internet Title on top of that! Obviously my brief reign with the Bombshell Internet Title in 2016 remains my one and only reign as champion of that division and I’m still active! And I have a bitter rival to thank for the latter fact!
Funny how that works out huh?
Still, now that I’m into my eleventh year as an SCW Bombshell I am wondering what’s next for me now that I’ve entered the SCW Hall of Fame, I even have a protégé in the form of Harper who I’ve been helping with her training since I met her a few months back when she isn’t training at Hero Academy (and when she isn’t getting her head kicked into the next state by my rival but that goes without saying)! I’m 33 now and I’m well aware that there are women’s wrestlers older than me that are still active, including my old tag team partner Amy Santino.
Did I mention that Amy is my next opponent in Uprising? Our first match as opponents since our rivalry in 2018 and this should prove to be a lot friendlier than our last encounter! Then again I haven’t pissed off the Uprising brass to the same extent that I did to Mark and Christian so what do I know?
So yeah, the year’s off to a busy start already!
”Welp, here’s to another lousy year.” I muttered to myself not realizing that Harper was coming into the kitchen to get a snack. ”I wonder what the new year will bring me this time?”
”The past year couldn’t have been that bad, right?” Harper asked and I glanced over at the kid who was making no effort to hide the birthday card in her hand. ”Your feud with Melissa, as painful as it ended up being for me, revitalised your career and you got inducted into the Hall of Fame! You can’t deny that, right?”
”There’s no real point in me denying either of those facts Harp.” I responded as I held up the hand that had the Hall of Fame ring on it and motioned to the Hall of Fame plaque in the other room. ”But the further you get into a wrestling career, the less you worry about the past and more you start concentrating on the future, and before you bring the cause of my cynicism up? That fact doesn’t stop you from being bitter about certain things and how they played out!”
”Are you talking about my attack at Melissa’s hands and feet or your failed World Bombshell Title campaigns?” Harper asked me pointedly and I turned to her with a curious look on my face. ”Just because I’m too young to drink doesn’t mean I haven’t been following SCW over the years, and even before I knew we were related I saw a happy go lucky Bombshell be turned into a cynical shell of her former self over the years.”
”Yeah, that’s the kind of thing that tends to happen when you get your win/loss record rubbed in your face at every other opportunity! At least in Uprising, they’ve treated me with the respect that my fellow Bombshells have long denied me.” I responded bitterly as I blew a strand of hair out of my eyes. ”In truth? It’s a bit of both, obviously your attack was a lot more recent but I’ve been blaming myself for it since it happened, and the title shot thing goes without saying.”
”And I blame myself for the attack because I let my guard down, but I at least know that you plan to make Melissa pay.” Harper nodded in response before she handed me the birthday card. ”Happy Birthday by the way.”
”Thanks kid.” I thanked her before I opened the card, as far as birthday cards went? It was pretty generic, then again there aren’t any birthday cards for cousins so she was limited in choice but Harper at least got me a card with a dog on the cover, and the birthday message she had left in the card was heartfelt enough to bring a smile to my face to boot. ”You up for some training downstairs? I know you were medically cleared to train again right before New Year’s Eve.”
”Never thought you’d ask.” Harper responded with a grin before we headed downstairs.
Jessie’s home gym, Las Vegas, Nevada
Tuesday the 2nd of January 2022, 16:00pm
*promo time*
Here we go again.
”Melissa, Melissa, Melissa, don’t you know when to quit?” I asked bluntly as I leaned on the ring ropes. ”And don’t get me wrong, I am well aware of the inherent irony of someone like me asking another woman if they knew when to quit, but I am genuinely curious here! We went through hell in the Chamber of Extreme Match at High Stakes XII, the same night I got inducted into the SCW Hall of Fame I put my body through hell just to end a feud but rather than leave it at that, you came back for more!”
Don’t these youngsters learn?
”Only this time you got to choose the stipulation and you went with an interesting one to say the least, an Iron Woman Match does seem appropriate when I’ve been putting up with your bullshit since SCU was still active!” I added before shaking my head with a frown on my face. ”But even that wasn’t enough for you, was it Melissa? Because it was one thing to be a thorn in my side for the better half of 2022, you went and made things personal when you attacked Harper! And in doing so? You made the biggest mistake of your wrestling career!”
It was business, now it’s personal.
”If you think I can be vicious when attacking those who have angered me in general then how do you think I’ll react to someone attacking someone close to me? Costing you that match against Masque was just the beginning Melissa, and costing you and Goth that mixed tag match against the Barnharts? That was too good to pass up, especially after it became clear that I was going to get you pinned by Bea in the process, how’s your ego by the way?” I asked as a smirk crept onto my face. ”Still bruised? I mean you haven’t said a thing since that match so I bet it’s got a nasty bruise, right? GOOD!”
That was just the beginning.
”Make no mistake Melissa, even after I settle this rivalry by beating you again you are permanently on my shitlist for attacking Harper! And guess what bitch? That goes for Team Hero, that goes for every Hero Academy graduate up to and including Cassie Wolfe and Sarah Blaze, the fact is Melissa? You should count yourself lucky that you still have a job at Sin City Wrestling!” I added as I brushed some hair over my shoulder. ”Harper’s a wrestling trainee sure, but she isn’t an employee of SCW, she was my guest that night, it was meant to be an early Christmas present from me to her and now her parents are reluctant to let Harper attend SCW shows with me in case that happens again! Instead, the worse you got was a match against Masque which seems to be the go-to for someone who’s pissed off the bosses but they don’t want to actually punish them!”
You got lucky.
”I will say this about our title match several months ago, it’s proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that your win over me was nothing more than a fluke! You’ve struggled to regain the magic you once had after you lost the title to Ariana and if you enter that Open Invitational Match to try to get the title back I’ll be right there to stop you! Either as another participant or just to run interference!” I said before I leaned against the turnbuckle. ”Yes, I know I said that I wasn’t going to throw my name in the hat for that match because I’m not about to wrestle an Iron Woman match and a gigantic clusterfuck of a match in the same night but if you do decide that working two exhausting matches in the same night sounds like fun then it’s your funeral!”
As for the match?
”As I said earlier, an Iron Woman match seems appropriate for everything I’ve put up with since you arrived on the scene Melissa but I can honestly only name a handful of Iron Woman Matches I’ve competed in over the years, you? You’re still a rookie sensation, I’ll be surprised if you have had time to practice for such a match!” I stated as I brushed some hair over my shoulder. ”To put it simply Mel? This is a test of endurance and nothing more, you need a lot of stamina to compete in a match like this which begs the obvious question, can you do it?”
Good question.
”There’s no point in denying your talent at this point Mel but at the same time? You haven’t been tested like this before and this is your sink or swim moment! Unfortunately for you? I’ve thrown you in the deep end with no life preserver!” I added as I folded my arms. ”So as your flailing about in the water trying to stay afloat, just remember! You didn’t need to make it this personal and if Goth advised you to attack Harper? Maybe it’s time you divorced his overrated, has-been ass!”
It's that simple.
”Romans 5:8: I Loved You At Your Darkest! Those were the final words I spoke on Climax Control in 2022 but the question has remained since then: what the hell did I mean by that?” I asked as I left the ring and walked up to the camera. ”The original verse is about being there for someone at their darkest times, but that doesn’t really apply here does it? You see Melissa I’m reinterpreting that quote for this match just for you because I want you to take me to war in this match! I want this match to be as violent as possible because quite frankly? There’s no other way this can end in a satisfactory way!”
And with that I decided to wrap things up!
”Because after this match? WE ARE DONE! The only time I ever want to see you across the ring from me again Melissa is if we just so happen to be put together on a random episode of Climax Control, but even then I want it to be a few months before we tango again!” I said as I folded my arms. ”And if that means putting you on the injured list for months just to end this damn rivalry? That’s exactly what I’ll do because that would be karma for you injuring my cousin, just remember that as you are struck like Blood Lightning and I move on with my life! See you at Inception VI Melissa!”
I turned off the camera as the scene fades.
Now the two heated rivals would meet for the final time to resolve their rivalry, Melissa had won their first encounter when she was the Bombshell Roulette Champion in a Strap Match whilst Jessie would return the favour at High Stakes XII with a win in the Chamber of Extreme Match, would Melissa get her win back or will Jessie avenge Harper?
Jessie’s home, Las Vegas, Nevada
Monday the 12th of December 2022, 16:00pm
If I had to use a word to describe the past year, the first one that comes to mind is rollercoaster.
Kicking off the year as the first challenger for the Bombshell Internet Championship can go one of two ways, either you start the year off with a title win or fail in the attempt and start the year off with a bad note, for me? It was the latter and through many attempts to win another title (my match against Ariana being the most recent attempt) I admit, for a while I was considering calling it a career, then I met Melissa and the tone for the rest of the year would take a dramatic turn.
The fact that my beef with Melissa lit a fire under me that has yet to be put out is well documented at this point, though I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t wondering what I was going to do once I finally put this rivalry to rest! I thought the match against Melissa at High Stakes XII was going to be the end of it and with that match happening the same night as my Hall of Fame induction, it sure as hell seemed that way to me!
Then the last five weeks of programming happened, and you know the rest.
I have no interest in facing Masque again any time soon and Bea’s the biggest joke of the Bombshell Division but as far as costing Melissa her matches against those two women were concerned? I did what I had to do! Especially after Melissa tried and failed to cost me my match against Seleana earlier in the night.
Hopefully we can finally move past this after the Ironwoman match but I’m not holding my breath.
”So, when I graduate from Hero Academy, would you mind doing me a favour?” Harper’s voice rang out as the kid walked down the steps to the home gym and I looked up, Harper wasn’t dressed to compete or even train which made sense because it was just under a week since Keira marched her out of Hero Academy which could only mean one thing, Shame had told the kid that I was down here when she came looking for me. ”Remind me to never get on your badside?”
”Kid, you get on my badside every time you make me feel old or say something about metal that I dislike, like that Lamb of God cover you posted to Twitter.” I responded as I shook my head whilst Harper remained on the steps whilst leaning forward on the railing. ”I’ll concede that Shadow of Intent did a damn good job on that Laid to Rest cover but better that the original? Please!”
”I didn’t even say that it was better than the original! Just that I wasn’t sure if it was or not!” Harper defended herself as she shook her head and I said nothing as I continued my work. ”What are you working on anyway?”
”Just some basic maintenance of the weight machines! Jake said that this one wasn’t working properly and I’m trying to assess whether it’s something I can fix myself or if I need to call out for a professional to have a look at it.” I explained with a shrug as I looked over the machine and Harper came over for a closer look. ”Not really sure what the issue is, and I’d have you test it out if it weren’t for your injuries.”
”I can still test it out, just need to put it at the lowest setting.” Harper responded as she looked at the machine and I paused to consider her answer. ”I’m pretty strong for a chick but it’s not like I’m ever going to be doing the same weight levels as a guy as big as Jake even if I was healthy!”
”Fair point, just be careful not to strain yourself all the same.” I conceded with a shrug before I lowered the weight machine’s setting down to the lowest and Harper sat down on the bench after removing her jacket. ”This is one where you pull the two sides together to lift up the weight, designed to build up the strength in your arms without putting stress on your chest, think you can do that without straining your inured areas?”
”Well Melissa didn’t really target my arms when she ambushed me so I should be okay.” Harper responded before she used the machine a couple of times, I had caught the problem on the first try but had Harper do it a couple of more times to confirm. ”Almost feel ready to get back in the ring already!”
”Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves kid, it’s not like you were using this thing on the highest setting a woman of your height and weight would be expected to use it on anyway.” I responded as I shook my head and Harper nodded in agreement before she got off the bench. ”And I see the problem, the counterweight at the back is coming up way to fast, liable to give anyone walking behind it a nasty concussion if they are lucky and it’s also causing the sensors to give inaccurate readings.” I added before passing Harper her jacket back.
”So, easy fix or calling in a pro?” Harper asked as she put her jacket back on and I shrugged as I still wasn’t sure, was going to have Jake have a look at it when he got back from the shops later in any case. ”Actually Jess, I’ve been meaning to ask you something since I started at Hero Academy, just hadn’t had the chance to ask you with everything that’s been going on.”
”It has been pretty crazy, hasn’t it?” I asked rhetorically before I leaned against another machine. ”Luckily for you, the next SCW show isn’t until the New Year is in full swing! Ask away!”
”What exactly possessed you to become a wrestler in the first place?” Harper asked me with a curious look on her face and I had to pause as the kid asked me hat, wasn’t exactly something I was expecting to hear this late into my career. ”Don’t take this the wrong way but I found your first ever match on YouTube whilst you were at Climax Control last night, the one against Slamazon? Anyway, you didn’t exactly have a typical athletic build back then.”
”That match happened barely a year after I left rehab for my cocaine addiction.” I responded simply as I turned to Harper with my arms crossed. ”A few weeks after that I enrolled at wrestling school, I was in much better shape than I was after I left rehab because my trainers saw something in me and weren’t about to give up on me just because I was a recovering drug addict, but your right, I wasn’t exactly the most athletic girl in that year’s class!”
”Yeah, I remember you saying as much when we were doing those basic drills when we first met.” Harper nodded as she thought back to the Sunday before High Stakes XII. ”Even so, you had to know you had an uphill battle ahead of you right? I know you said that it was the GWA that got you into wrestling but that fed closed a few months after you graduated, didn’t it?”
”Actually I graduated in 2008, but I wasn’t a prodigy like Cass so the big feds weren’t exactly kicking my family home’s door down to try to sign me!” I corrected her and Harper nodded as she got the idea. ”You know how my career went from there so I’ll spare you the rest of that story, but the gist of my reasons for deciding on this career path in the first place? I vowed that I would never be a victim again after I was rescued from my first foster parent, my adopted family objected like I said last week but they eventually saw the light.”
”Almost makes me want to ask my parents why they couldn’t take you on back then, but I’m sure they had their reasons even though as far as I knew they still lived in Florida at the time.” Harper responded with a sad sigh and I shook my head, the long and short of it was? They had moved to Vegas not long after my birth parents died but I guess they hadn’t told their daughter that part yet. ”You ever wonder what your life would’ve been if you had a normal childhood?”
”What exactly IS normal these days? Wrestling schools are turning out more prodigies than I can keep track off, whether it’s you, Cass, her partner Blaze Darling or Lola Dane!” I scoffed as I shook my head and Harper had a bit of a laugh at that. ”But honestly? Who the fuck knows? Maybe I still would’ve discovered wrestling or maybe I wouldn’t? Same goes for metal music really! All I know is, what hasn’t killed me has only made me stronger.” I responded before I headed to the ring to do some workouts. ”You’ll learn that for yourself someday kid, until then? Keep at it Hero Academy once your medically cleared, Keira had nothing but praise for your advancement in the weeks leading up to Melissa’s attack.”
”Remind me to pay Keira for that compliment when we go over to the Team Hero compound for Christmas.” Harper joked getting a laugh out of me before I resumed training.
Jessie’s home gym, Las Vegas, Nevada
Wednesday the 14th of December 2022, 14:00pm
When I originally got the idea to turn my basement into a home gym, I had a few ideas of how I’d want it to go, younger wrestlers like Krystal and Ari using it to get some extra reps in I could see coming from a mile away because those girls are dedicated to their craft! One thing I didn’t see coming? Said home gym becoming home to a glorified Soap Opera.
I’ve heard it said that wrestling is basically a soap opera with fists and whilst that is true in some respects, I never thought it’d apply to three trainees!
In this case the trainees are Harper, Fayth Kross and Skylar Parker, yes the two girls who came out as a lesbian couple by having sex in a Hero Academy ring after hours and basically avoided expulsion after Keira caught them in the act after dropping all pretences! Then again they were apparently naked and scissoring when Keira caught them so I’m frankly surprised that there were any pretences to drop!
Oh and they also used one of the spare bedrooms for a round of sex the last time they were here! I basically told the lovebirds that they were only allowed in my home gym and if I caught one of their hands going up their tops I’d throw them out faster than you can say “get a room”! They at least understood how serious I was!
How does Harper fit into this? She’s had a rivalry with the pair because she’s the “teacher’s pet” of the class and that’s Harper’s words, not mine! But despite their rivalry, Fayth and Skylar offered to help Harper as she eases back into training.
Though considering Harper’s been questioning her sexuality for a few weeks now? I was wondering if in-ring help was the only help she was going to get whilst I was here.
”Okay girls, you’ve been under the tutorage of one of the best wrestlers I know and someone who produced a nineteen-year-old double champion from her training school.” I instructed the three trainees as I paced around the ring and the three girls nodded, though Harper, who was easily the youngest of the three at eighteen, was clearly the most focussed out of her, Skylar and Fayth. ”If you don’t know how to do a basic sparring match with one partner, let alone two, by this point then what the hell have you been doing at Hero Academy?!”
“Depends, do you mean with clothes on or without?” Skylar asked as her thick southern accent rang through the gym and Harper facepalmed hard whilst I shook my head.
”Not even dignifying that question with an answer!” I responded with an exasperated sigh as the blonde southern belle grinned sheepishly. ”On that subject though, I just want to reiterate what I said on Twitter, you girls are free to go upstairs if you need the bathroom or are on a break and fancy a snack but if you take too long and I hear moaning from one of my bedrooms, Keira WILL hear about it!”
”And considering you two nearly got expelled by Keira for sneaking into Hero Academy for a sparring match that quickly turned X-Rated, I somehow doubt she’ll be all that impressed!” Harper chimed in and the lesbian couple shared a look before they quickly nodded. ”On that note, you girls remember that your supposed to take it easy on me tin this match, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, we all saw your head get kicked to the moon by Melissa.” Fayth responded as she rolled her eyes and my eye twitched because that was a sore subject for me. “So, what? Is this Triple Threat or handicap rules?” The New Zealander asked at which point I hopped onto the apron.
”I don’t feel like explaining to Keira how her pet got reinjured because she tried to wrestle a handicap match so no, it’ll be Triple Threat!” I responded and the three girls nodded (whilst Harper tried not to laugh at my teacher’s pet comment) and I hopped off the apron. ”Since there’s no ref this match will end when I say it does, remember to play to your strengths girls and begin!”
Once I gave them the go ahead, Harper, Fayth and Skylar started their sparring match and considering Skylar and Fayth had been doing this a short time, they were coming along fast! But whilst she was injured and therefore couldn’t do anything to advanced just yet, Harper was still a league above the other girls! Obviously still in training? Absolutely but it was clear that Harper had taken to wrestling like a fish to water.
After about twenty minutes of light sparring the three girls stopped and I hopped onto the apron. ”Normally I’d be happy for you three to for the whole hour but with Harper’s injuries? I’m not risking it so we’ll keep the sparring matches involving her to a maximum of twenty minutes!” I explained and Harper groaned as she was clearly getting into the swing of things by that point. ”Sorry Harper but it was the only way that Keira would allow these sparring matches to happen.”
”Can I at least practice the Ripcord Cutter that I’ve been perfecting over the past month?” Harper asked and I glanced over at Fayth and Skylar to see who would volunteer to have Harper practice that move on them, Fayth ended up volunteering and to set it up she went for a running clothesline which Harper ducked before grabbing Fayth’s arm and going behind the taller girl, then in one fluid motion Harper spun her around and dropped Fayth with a Cutter. ”Still working on a name for the move but it’s coming along nicely.”
”Let me see it one more time before I pass judgment on the execution, Skylar, your girlfriend’s still regaining her bearings, so you’re up but go for something other than a clothesline, I want to see if Harper can hit this from any angle.” I instructed Skylar who nodded before going for a spear on Harper but Harper leapfrogged over it, Skylar then went for a reverse elbow strike which Harper reversed into the Ripcord Cutter. ”Very nice but I think you need to work on that move a bit more.”
”Really? I think they’d beg to differ.” Harper responded with a grin as she motioned to Skylar and Fayth and I shook my head. ”Then again you have been wrestling since I was three so I guess I’d better listen to what you have to say.”
One of these days, I’m going to stretch that kid out for making me feel old! That wouldn’t be today because she was still injured but still. ”You need to be a bit faster in the transition from the Ripcord to the Cutter for the move to work reliably! If you weren’t injured I’d demonstrate on you how I’d reverse that move into my Circle Pit finisher but we all know why you haven’t been to Hero Academy in other a week.” I explained and Harper nodded as she got the idea. ”The idea behind the move is solid enough but it needs refinement, not to mention a better name than “Ripcord Cutter”, both of which you can work on in the New Year.”
”I had been trying to brainstorm some name ideas, off course Fayth over here has it easy.” Harper admitted at which point Fayth looked up. ”By which I mean having a name that naturally applies itself to move names, not as a trainee.”
“See: The Fayth Breaker and KrossFyre.” Fayth responded with a grin and I made a note to ask the New Zealander about those moves later. “Anyway, you wanted to ask me and Skylar for some advice, right?”
”Oh, right, that, well the fact that you guys are gay is as clear as day, thing is? I’ve been wondering where I fall sexuality wise for a while.” Harper admitted and Fayth shared a look with Skylar as she helped her girlfriend up. ”I was dating a football player in High School but that ended after I walked in on him sharing a bed with four cheerleaders.”
“Lucky bastard.” Skylar muttered to herself and if Harper rolled her eyes any harder, the kid could’ve seen the inside of her head! “To be honest? We had a feeling that you were going to come out as gay or bi at some point anyway.”
“Take it from us, we picked up on the signs earlier.” Fayth added before she turned to me. “Come to think of it, aren’t you bi Jess?”
”Yeah, I came out about a month after my SCW debut but my preference always leaned more towards guys, hence why I married Shane.” I nodded in response as I leaned on the ring ropes. ”She told me this not long after Skylar broke Kata’s nose but I told Harper that she’ll know when the time is right for her to come out, by then she’ll know if she’s bi or a lesbian, I take it the same applied to you two.”
“Pretty much, I came out after I moved here from New Zealand, no idea about Skylar.” Fayth responded as she glanced at Skylar but the look Fayth was getting from Skylar told me that the blonde trainee had come out when she had been caught having sex with Fayth by Keira. “We may be rivals Harp but we’ll still help out, I know how difficult it can be to come out.”
”Thanks guys, it’s not like I don’t have enough on my plate with my parents wanting me to get my own place in the New Year.” Harper admitted and after a while Harper left the ring to let the couple go at it, by which I mean train off course.
And I thought the start of 2022 was crazy, now I’m dealing with a teenage cousin struggling with her sexuality whilst training to be a wrestler, got to love wrestling I guess!
Jessie’s home, Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunday the 1st of January 2022, 16:00pm
Another year gone and I’m another year older.
If you had told me this time last year that I’d still be wrestling one year later, I’d have called you crazy and likely have asked you if I had managed to dethrone Andrea to win the Bombshell Internet Title on top of that! Obviously my brief reign with the Bombshell Internet Title in 2016 remains my one and only reign as champion of that division and I’m still active! And I have a bitter rival to thank for the latter fact!
Funny how that works out huh?
Still, now that I’m into my eleventh year as an SCW Bombshell I am wondering what’s next for me now that I’ve entered the SCW Hall of Fame, I even have a protégé in the form of Harper who I’ve been helping with her training since I met her a few months back when she isn’t training at Hero Academy (and when she isn’t getting her head kicked into the next state by my rival but that goes without saying)! I’m 33 now and I’m well aware that there are women’s wrestlers older than me that are still active, including my old tag team partner Amy Santino.
Did I mention that Amy is my next opponent in Uprising? Our first match as opponents since our rivalry in 2018 and this should prove to be a lot friendlier than our last encounter! Then again I haven’t pissed off the Uprising brass to the same extent that I did to Mark and Christian so what do I know?
So yeah, the year’s off to a busy start already!
”Welp, here’s to another lousy year.” I muttered to myself not realizing that Harper was coming into the kitchen to get a snack. ”I wonder what the new year will bring me this time?”
”The past year couldn’t have been that bad, right?” Harper asked and I glanced over at the kid who was making no effort to hide the birthday card in her hand. ”Your feud with Melissa, as painful as it ended up being for me, revitalised your career and you got inducted into the Hall of Fame! You can’t deny that, right?”
”There’s no real point in me denying either of those facts Harp.” I responded as I held up the hand that had the Hall of Fame ring on it and motioned to the Hall of Fame plaque in the other room. ”But the further you get into a wrestling career, the less you worry about the past and more you start concentrating on the future, and before you bring the cause of my cynicism up? That fact doesn’t stop you from being bitter about certain things and how they played out!”
”Are you talking about my attack at Melissa’s hands and feet or your failed World Bombshell Title campaigns?” Harper asked me pointedly and I turned to her with a curious look on my face. ”Just because I’m too young to drink doesn’t mean I haven’t been following SCW over the years, and even before I knew we were related I saw a happy go lucky Bombshell be turned into a cynical shell of her former self over the years.”
”Yeah, that’s the kind of thing that tends to happen when you get your win/loss record rubbed in your face at every other opportunity! At least in Uprising, they’ve treated me with the respect that my fellow Bombshells have long denied me.” I responded bitterly as I blew a strand of hair out of my eyes. ”In truth? It’s a bit of both, obviously your attack was a lot more recent but I’ve been blaming myself for it since it happened, and the title shot thing goes without saying.”
”And I blame myself for the attack because I let my guard down, but I at least know that you plan to make Melissa pay.” Harper nodded in response before she handed me the birthday card. ”Happy Birthday by the way.”
”Thanks kid.” I thanked her before I opened the card, as far as birthday cards went? It was pretty generic, then again there aren’t any birthday cards for cousins so she was limited in choice but Harper at least got me a card with a dog on the cover, and the birthday message she had left in the card was heartfelt enough to bring a smile to my face to boot. ”You up for some training downstairs? I know you were medically cleared to train again right before New Year’s Eve.”
”Never thought you’d ask.” Harper responded with a grin before we headed downstairs.
Jessie’s home gym, Las Vegas, Nevada
Tuesday the 2nd of January 2022, 16:00pm
*promo time*
Here we go again.
”Melissa, Melissa, Melissa, don’t you know when to quit?” I asked bluntly as I leaned on the ring ropes. ”And don’t get me wrong, I am well aware of the inherent irony of someone like me asking another woman if they knew when to quit, but I am genuinely curious here! We went through hell in the Chamber of Extreme Match at High Stakes XII, the same night I got inducted into the SCW Hall of Fame I put my body through hell just to end a feud but rather than leave it at that, you came back for more!”
Don’t these youngsters learn?
”Only this time you got to choose the stipulation and you went with an interesting one to say the least, an Iron Woman Match does seem appropriate when I’ve been putting up with your bullshit since SCU was still active!” I added before shaking my head with a frown on my face. ”But even that wasn’t enough for you, was it Melissa? Because it was one thing to be a thorn in my side for the better half of 2022, you went and made things personal when you attacked Harper! And in doing so? You made the biggest mistake of your wrestling career!”
It was business, now it’s personal.
”If you think I can be vicious when attacking those who have angered me in general then how do you think I’ll react to someone attacking someone close to me? Costing you that match against Masque was just the beginning Melissa, and costing you and Goth that mixed tag match against the Barnharts? That was too good to pass up, especially after it became clear that I was going to get you pinned by Bea in the process, how’s your ego by the way?” I asked as a smirk crept onto my face. ”Still bruised? I mean you haven’t said a thing since that match so I bet it’s got a nasty bruise, right? GOOD!”
That was just the beginning.
”Make no mistake Melissa, even after I settle this rivalry by beating you again you are permanently on my shitlist for attacking Harper! And guess what bitch? That goes for Team Hero, that goes for every Hero Academy graduate up to and including Cassie Wolfe and Sarah Blaze, the fact is Melissa? You should count yourself lucky that you still have a job at Sin City Wrestling!” I added as I brushed some hair over my shoulder. ”Harper’s a wrestling trainee sure, but she isn’t an employee of SCW, she was my guest that night, it was meant to be an early Christmas present from me to her and now her parents are reluctant to let Harper attend SCW shows with me in case that happens again! Instead, the worse you got was a match against Masque which seems to be the go-to for someone who’s pissed off the bosses but they don’t want to actually punish them!”
You got lucky.
”I will say this about our title match several months ago, it’s proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that your win over me was nothing more than a fluke! You’ve struggled to regain the magic you once had after you lost the title to Ariana and if you enter that Open Invitational Match to try to get the title back I’ll be right there to stop you! Either as another participant or just to run interference!” I said before I leaned against the turnbuckle. ”Yes, I know I said that I wasn’t going to throw my name in the hat for that match because I’m not about to wrestle an Iron Woman match and a gigantic clusterfuck of a match in the same night but if you do decide that working two exhausting matches in the same night sounds like fun then it’s your funeral!”
As for the match?
”As I said earlier, an Iron Woman match seems appropriate for everything I’ve put up with since you arrived on the scene Melissa but I can honestly only name a handful of Iron Woman Matches I’ve competed in over the years, you? You’re still a rookie sensation, I’ll be surprised if you have had time to practice for such a match!” I stated as I brushed some hair over my shoulder. ”To put it simply Mel? This is a test of endurance and nothing more, you need a lot of stamina to compete in a match like this which begs the obvious question, can you do it?”
Good question.
”There’s no point in denying your talent at this point Mel but at the same time? You haven’t been tested like this before and this is your sink or swim moment! Unfortunately for you? I’ve thrown you in the deep end with no life preserver!” I added as I folded my arms. ”So as your flailing about in the water trying to stay afloat, just remember! You didn’t need to make it this personal and if Goth advised you to attack Harper? Maybe it’s time you divorced his overrated, has-been ass!”
It's that simple.
”Romans 5:8: I Loved You At Your Darkest! Those were the final words I spoke on Climax Control in 2022 but the question has remained since then: what the hell did I mean by that?” I asked as I left the ring and walked up to the camera. ”The original verse is about being there for someone at their darkest times, but that doesn’t really apply here does it? You see Melissa I’m reinterpreting that quote for this match just for you because I want you to take me to war in this match! I want this match to be as violent as possible because quite frankly? There’s no other way this can end in a satisfactory way!”
And with that I decided to wrap things up!
”Because after this match? WE ARE DONE! The only time I ever want to see you across the ring from me again Melissa is if we just so happen to be put together on a random episode of Climax Control, but even then I want it to be a few months before we tango again!” I said as I folded my arms. ”And if that means putting you on the injured list for months just to end this damn rivalry? That’s exactly what I’ll do because that would be karma for you injuring my cousin, just remember that as you are struck like Blood Lightning and I move on with my life! See you at Inception VI Melissa!”
I turned off the camera as the scene fades.