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Messages - Roux

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1
Climax Control Archives / My Story I: Bad Child
« on: April 26, 2024, 11:56:21 PM »
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Recently, it’s come to my attention that I’ve been letting too many other people speak for me.

Case in point, most of you people already know who I am despite the fact that I have never stepped into a Sin City Wrestling ring. Most of you have already formed an opinion about me, despite the fact that I was never allowed to make my own first impression. Even worse, people take one look at me and think that they know everything about me. They think they know who I am, what I am capable of, and the type of person that I will be in this industry. It’s like my whole career already has this predetermined trajectory. Everyone keeps trying to tell me who I am, and who I am supposed to be.

That ends now.

I don’t care who I am related to. The family that brought me to the West Coast has absolutely nothing to do with why I am in this company. I am not affiliated with any former Bombshell World Champions. I have not been trained by any of the handful of noteworthy gyms that seem to supply the entire roster of this company. I don’t have some legend in the shadows pulling all of my strings, and I am damn sure not the second coming of any of the people that have been enshrined in the Sin City Hall of Fame. I don’t care what you people have heard about me. I don’t care what you people think you know about me. I don’t care about your expectations, or your criticism, because I haven’t done a goddamn thing in this company yet. I haven’t shared anything with you people, so anyone that already has their mind made up about me is simply telling themselves lies.

I have been busting my ass for two years to get to a point where I thought that I could really compete in the Blast from the Past tournament. I didn’t ask for any help, and I didn’t take any handouts. Nobody helped me get here, and all it took was five minutes to convince Mark and Christian that I was worthy of one of their precious tournament spots. I am here because I put in the work, nothing more, and nothing less. And sure, I am going to be the least experienced person that takes part in this tournament, but I was also one of the very first to sign up. I didn’t drag my feet. I didn’t weigh my options. I didn’t wait until they doubled the field or whatever. I knew that this was where I wanted to be, and on the first day that I was eligible, my name was on the list. That should tell everyone everything that they needed to know about how I feel stepping into this tournament.

I can’t fucking wait.

...but I don’t have any delusions of grandeur either. I know that I am likely biting off more than I can chew. I know that I am essentially diving off the deep end. It’s not only the level of competition that I am going to face inside the ring, but the partner that I have been saddled with. I am well aware of Bill Barnhart’s reputation in this company, and I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t hoping to draw someone with a better chance of helping me get to the end, but it is what it is. That is part of the magic of the tournament. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what potential you have, you’re stuck with the partner that fate decides. Apparently my fate wasn’t to make it all the way to the end of this tournament, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t defy the odds and make a splash in the first round.

When you think about it, it’s kind of freeing. If I had gotten paired with someone that had a real shot of running the distance I would probably be all in my head about how I am going to mess it up. After I got over that initial foreboding one-and-done feeling, it really felt like this is the best case scenario. If we lose, well… we were never going to get to the end anyways, but if we win it will have been something that none of you people ever saw coming. Despite all of you people having made up your minds about me based on how you feel about Court, I still get to go out there and prove you wrong in the center of the ring because I can steal this first match regardless of who my partner is. I know I can.

...and that is why with my first match right around the corner, there is only one thing on my mind.

This is my story.

I’m done letting people tell it for me.




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“All my life been putting on a fake smile
Sitting on my own, feel like I'm exiled
Feeling like I always do the wrong things
Telling all their friends that I'm the bad kid
Now I'm on my own, I lost my magic
Dealing with your bullshit, now I'm over it”
-Tones and I
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I’ve been trying to figure out where to start. Part of me says that I should go all the way back to the beginning, but that just doesn’t feel right. To tell you the truth, I was fine with the way that my life turned out until recently. Sure, it wasn’t what I wanted. We all wish that our childhoods were the fairytales that we grew up on. It would have been nice to have been born to parents that were capable of taking care of themselves, let alone a child. It would have been better than having to bounce around through the system until a family was willing to take a chance on me. And while that environment was it’s one version of toxic, things could have certainly been worse than spending my teenage years inside one of the biggest houses in Long Beach. I could have been on the street and struggling to feed myself, so who am I to complain about the life that I was given? I was safe. I was taken care of. I considered myself lucky to have been given that much, because I had seen what happened to people that slipped through the cracks. I could have easily been one of them.

Instead, I was just the invisible child in a house filled with echoes. My adoptive parents wanted to turn me into the perfect daughter that theirs would never actually be. Because of that, my sister saw me as her replacement. I realize now that both of those relationships were irreparably damaged before I ever moved into the house. I didn’t understand the situation that I was stepping into back then, but I was only twelve. How could I have possibly wrapped my head around what was happening? But going back and trying to unpack all of that is a waste of time. It is what it is, and realistically I have very little to actually complain about. Nobody in this world is loved as perfectly as they wish they could be. Nobody is 100% happy with how their life has turned out. The life that I got was one that the majority of the world would have settled for, and that was enough for a long time.

So I guess the only real place to start is the very first day that it wasn’t enough anymore.

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Bad Child
Long Beach, California
1st October 2023
OFF-Camera

COURT: I didn’t see you downstairs…

Wakes weren’t really my thing. Besides, I didn’t really know any of the people that filled the first level of my adoptive parent’s home. To be totally honest, I don’t remember the two of them ever really having guests come to the house. They had no siblings that I was aware of, but definitely none that ever visited. I knew that the two of them were well-respected at the university they spent their adult lives at, but could have never guessed that they had the following that they did. I expected the church to be mostly empty this morning, but showed up to a room that was practically standing room only. When the whole group showed up here afterwards, I was overwhelmed to say the least. Then again, I assume that everyone downstairs was just as shocked as I was. None of this was anything that we had seen coming. I think the suddenness of it was what made people show up. Death has a way of doing that. My parents weren’t really open with their feelings, so I imagine there were a lot of people that never got to say things to them that they really wanted to. It was the only way that I could rationalize the crowd.

And it wasn’t their fault that I hated every minute of it. Everyone had been incredibly sweet all day. The ones that knew of my existence said that they had heard great things about me. However, those were few and far between. For the most part, it was a long line of people asking me about the one person that hadn’t chosen to show her face for the majority of the day. So when her voice filled my ears, part of me was relieved. However, a much larger part chose violence.

ROUX: It’s almost like you should have taken the hint.

My tone wasn’t overly harsh, but definitely gave the impression that I wanted to be left alone. She found me in their room, oddly a place that I had never really been allowed inside of while they were alive. It was comforting to finally be able to see them for the people that they were, and I thought it was the one place that nobody would dare trespass on.

COURT: I was going to ask how you were holding up, but I guess I already got my answer to that question.

I shouldn’t have held it against her, because I never had any intention of being civil from the moment that I heard her voice. However, her naturally shitty tone of voice only made my anger flare worse.

ROUX: How am I supposed to feel? Want me to act like you and pretend that nothing has happened?

I heard her gasp, and knew that I had managed to stab through her defenses. Sure, I was unapologetically provoking an argument at a wake, but if it was going to be the first real conversation we have ever had, we might as well vent all of our feelings.

COURT: That’s not fair! I don’t give those people unlimited access to my life like that. If not for Ruby, they wouldn’t know anything about me outside this ring. This isn’t a public matter.

It was funny that she was going to hide behind her career, and say that she didn’t want it to become the focus of a show, or a promo, but that was bullshit. She was pretending that we didn’t exist because it was business as usual. From the moment she left, she never once looked back and nothing that she said could convince me otherwise. I had lived through her decisions to exclude us from her life. She couldn’t gaslight me into seeing it her way.

ROUX: Yet your phony vacation is….

I still hadn’t looked at her, but could tell that she was about to try and change course based on the deep breath that she took before taking a few steps towards where I sat on the end of our parent’s bed.

COURT: I didn’t come here to fight, so can we just not? Can we call a truce just for the day?

I rolled my eyes even though it wasn’t an expression she could have caught from her side of the room.

ROUX: Yeah, sure, no worries. I was already figuring out how I was going to get out of here without everyone down there getting all bent out of shape about it anyways. Now that you’re here, the spotlight won’t be empty.

Her attempt at patience failed almost immediately, because she threw up her hands and once again started talking down to me.

COURT: That’s not what I meant either! You have every right to be here!

I didn’t even feel the words bubble up before they were being screamed out of my mouth. I also never intended to turn her way to say them to her face, and the tears that came to my eyes were automatic.

ROUX: YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DO!

She took a step backwards as the tears broke free from my eyes and streaked down my cheeks. I had done such a good job of keeping them in all day, but the dam finally broke. Not wanting people to start making their way towards the argument, I was able to temper my tone, but I didn’t dare break my eyes away from hers.

ROUX: It shouldn’t have taken them dying for you to finally fucking understand that either.

Clearly taken off guard, she took a step towards me in an attempt to comfort me.

COURT: I can’t chan--

I put up a hand that stopped her in her tracks halfway across the room.

ROUX: You’re right. You can’t. And now the only reasons we had to associate with one another are in matching urns in the dining room. The past can’t be changed, but we don’t have to keep going through this either.

I brushed the tears from my face, and then looked up at the mirror above my mother’s dresser to make sure that I hadn’t ruined my makeup with the outburst of emotion.

COURT: That’s all I have been trying to say. We ca--

I shook my head, which cut her off before she could finish. I was already done with this conversation. There was only one thing that the two of us actually needed to discuss.

ROUX: I’ll get most of my stuff out today, and what I can’t take with me I will store out in the garage for a little bit until you sell the place or whatever.

I got up from the bed and started to walk around her but she stepped into my path.

COURT: What are y--

I rolled my eyes again, and this time there was no way that she could have missed it.

ROUX: Oh don’t act like you don’t know. I figured that was the only thing that could pry you away from your precious little life as Bombshell World Champion. They left you all of it. My name wasn’t even mentioned.

I tried to step around her, but again she moved with me to cut me off from the door.

COURT: That’s gotta be some kind of mis---

I pushed her back, and she stumbled when her heel caught the edge of the area rug in the center of the floor.

ROUX: You would think so, right? I mean, all you ever did was leave the moment that I stepped through the door. You liked to pretend that none of us even existed. I guess I just wasn’t good enough to fill the shoes you left.

She managed to catch her balance without spilling all the way to the floor, but it had created the opening that I needed to make it to the door.

COURT: That’s crazy. You were everything that they wanted! They just must not have updated anyth--

I was halfway out the door, but stopped to make sure that she didn’t give herself the wrong idea about the people that our parents were.

ROUX: All of their wishes were last updated in April. I guess they must have been impressed with the woman you’ve become. Congrats. You win Court, like always.

I tried to close the door on her, but she managed to get a hand on it to stop me from pulling it closed. She forced it back open so that we were once again face-to-face.

COURT: It’s not fair for you to put all of this on me like I had something to do with it! I am just now hearing about it! It’s not like I told them to cut you out.

I shrugged, because it might not have been Court that drew up those papers for them, but everything that was on them was everything she had been telling me from the moment that I showed up on the doorstep. I was never really part of this family.

ROUX: It’s not like you ever supported them letting me in either. You ever stop to think that the moment you wrote them off was the moment they started to resent my existence? Nothing I ever did was good enough, because I’m not you. And you wouldn’t give them the time of day because you hated them for adopting me. You want to talk about fair? I didn’t ask for any of this. You people brought me in, and someone managed to make my life worse.

She didn’t have the capacity to feel bad for me, and tried to find a silver lining.

COURT: You had a home.

I shrugged, because that didn’t mean what she thought it did.

ROUX: It’s just a house. It was never my home.

I gave up on trying to pull the door closed, and let it go before starting to make my way down the hallway. If she wanted to follow, I was more than okay with that, but I was done being forced to have this conversation.

COURT: Roux, don’t j--

I didn’t even bother turning around.

ROUX: I got places to be, and people to see that actually give a damn. Good luck with your title and all that.

I waved back over my shoulder and made my way down the stairs and out the back door without anyone else stopping me. As soon as the open air hit my lungs I felt like I was finally able to breathe again. As much as it hurt, it was just another chapter of my life closed. I tried to stay focused on writing the next one.



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>My Story
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”In just two days I get to take on Caleb Storms and Nakita Niles….”

We hear Roux’s voice before the video fades in. The camera is positioned behind her, pointed towards the ring in front of her. The chairs all around her are all empty, even though they will be filled with screaming fans in just 48 short hours.

”....I guess it could be worse.”

She shrugs her shoulders and gives a wink back over her shoulder to the camera before continuing.

”I mean Caleb Storms ain’t shit, and ain’t ever been shit.”

She laughs, clearly familiar with his Sin City work from the years spent watching her older sibling compete on the same shows.

”....and I don’t even know who the fuck Nakita Niles is despite the fact that she has a pretty impressive resume.”

She was willing to concede that at the very least her opponent was significantly more experienced than she was.

”I mean Nakita had a year in 2022 that I am looking to have this year. She was named rookie of the year. She apparently stole the show almost every time that she competed, had some of the greatest matches in that company that year, and all of that culminated in being named Female of the Year. I don’t think you could dream up a better start in this industry. She has already checked all of the boxes that I am hoping to check off when award season comes around in Sin City. Despite the fact that I had no idea who she was before this tournament, there is nothing that I can say about her that can negate that she is clearly as good as she thinks she is.”

”Yet… she left that company because apparently they didn’t value her there. I find that hard to believe given that she won just about every award she was eligible for in her rookie year. I mean, this chick rose all the way up the ladder in that company and has competed for main event level championships since she basically kicked down the door. However, despite her meteoric rise, it appears that she has lost some momentum. She went to a new company and flamed out. She tried a third, and who knows what happened there, but now she is here in Sin City Wrestling. Granted, that is the story for a lot of people. They gain a little success elsewhere, and then turn up here for the big tournament in the Spring. I can’t really hold that against her.”

”...what I can hold against her is that she has apparently already peaked in this industry. She made a huge splash when she first came on the scene, but all signs point to it being tough sledding since people got accustomed to her. She hasn’t been creative enough to reinvent herself since first stepping into the ring. Once people were able to scout her, it didn’t matter that she was a former marine, or bigger and stronger than most women in the business. People found out her tricks. People started poking at her weaknesses, and since the moment they cracked the code, Nakita ain’t been worth a damn. She ended up in Sin City for this tournament because it really feels like she has fallen ass-backwards out of favor everywhere else that she has been. I may not know much, but I know that wrestling companies aren’t going to just let you walk away if you’re talented. I know that companies hate losing the competitors that fans pay money to see. So when I see someone that has barely put in two years, but has already been all over the map, all I see is someone who is going to flame out.”

”....and that is why I didn’t rush into signing anywhere before I was ready.”

”This might be my first match, in my first company, but all that means is that I did my homework. I didn’t just jump at the first opportunity. I didn’t take the first deal that was offered to me, even if it wasn’t really what I was looking for. I made the decision that I was going to wait until something felt right, because I don’t want to be some career journeywoman that pops up everywhere that offers me a shiny new opportunity. I don’t want to hop around winning championships that nobody has ever heard of and main eventing shows that nobody is watching. I wanted to come here, and I wasn’t willing to settle for anything less.”

”...and Nakita trying to fail upwards into this tournament is laughable, but not as laughable as the man that she has been paired with.”

”Caleb Storms should have stayed retired. When people were talking about familiar faces that they were hoping would show up for the tournament, his ugly mug wasn’t what they were talking about. It was hard to get people hyped up for him back when he was here every single week. This is the same guy that J2H handed the Internet Championship to as a fucking joke. I have no idea how he was able to hold any championship multiple times, let alone two of the titles in this company. He hasn’t ever been anything other than a punchline.”

”I won’t even lie. When I saw that I drew Bill Barnhart as a partner, I wasn’t sure that it could have gotten any worse than that. I didn’t even realize until the card came out and I saw my opponents that things certainly could have been a lot darker. I mean nobody in the world would have given Bill and I a chance to get out of the first round before this matchup was made. People know my name, but have never seen me compete, and I am not sure anyone remembers the last time that Bill actually won a match. However, when faced with a career jobber like Caleb Storms, our chances started to look pretty good. Vegas betting lines have this match as a push, which I feel says more about our opponents than it does about us.”

”...but all I can do is my part. I can’t promise that Bill and I are going to go out and upset the whole world by winning this match. I can’t really step into the ring when he is in there with Caleb, so I have to trust that the big man will be able to stay on his feet. The only thing that I can control is keeping my own two shoulders off of that mat, because if Nakita thinks that I am going to end my first night on the job tapping out she’s got another thing coming. I’d rather die. If she wants to be the one to pick up the win for her team, she’s going to have to knock me out because as long as I can move, I’m not stopping. No bells. No tags. No distractions are going to stop me from making a real first impression, so Nakita better hope that Caleb is going to have better luck with Bill.”

”Then again, with the way I am feeling, we might not even see either of the men step into the ring unless she runs away to tag Caleb. I’m not too keen on standing on the apron to watch Bill throw away this opportunity for me. I am the type of person to keep my fate in my own hands. I guess we will see if Nakita feels the same way.”

”This might be my first time around, but I’m not scared of what lies ahead of me in these next two days.”

”I know that this is just the first stop on a really long, winding road.”

”This is my story.”

”...and I’m ready to write my first chapter on Sunday.”


2
Climax Control Archives / The Real Champion
« on: February 02, 2024, 10:33:54 PM »
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Words v. Actions
San Diego, California  - Jet City South
31st January 2024
OFF-Camera

Christian may have tried to convince me that my first main event of the year was a fluke, but being involved in two of them in one cycle was more than enough proof of my worth. I may not be the Bombshell World Champion anymore, but clearly the two of them know that I am the biggest star that they have. Despite the fact that the Bombshell roster was far more stacked than the men’s side, I am the one constantly finding myself at the top of the card. I am the champion that they want to showcase. I am the Bombshell that matters. I wasn’t going to let that go to my head like it had as the Bombshell World Champion. I wasn’t going to take my eye off of what was important, even if the championship itself didn’t matter to me. What matters is being the very best, regardless of what anyone else tries to sell the bosses or the fans. It doesn’t matter if all of them hate me. It doesn’t matter if people think that I am holding the new generation down. The spotlight is mine, and I am not willing to share it. Of course, that means making sure that I keep all of my skills sharpened. I spend significantly more time in Jet City now than I ever did last year. I am not only competing against our newcomers, but anyone and everyone that steps through the door. I have been making trips up to Seattle to train with the veterans. I have spent every waking moment trying to figure out what I need to do in order to be ready for the next chance that I get to compete for the championship that I deserve to be holding.

Granted, none of that comes without a cost. The fact that I am spending all of my time hyper-fixated on greatness hasn’t gone over well with most of the people in my life. I have a younger sister that is begging me to fail. I have students who say that I am selfish for not dealing with their petty squabbles. Most importantly, I have a wife that thinks I have been freezing her out. The first couple of those things I can shrug off, but Prudence feeling like less than the most important part of my life hasn’t been easy. I thought that having her back on tour, and back and ringside would do more to bridge the gap between us, but it seemed like it was only drawing attention to how big that gap actually was.

RUBY: I can’t help but feel like you’ve been avoiding me a lot lately…

I was finishing up a long day at the gym, even by my standards, so I wasn’t necessarily at my best.

COURT: Sorry you feel that way.

I wanted to take back the words as soon as I said them, but I knew she wasn’t just going to let them slide anyways. We were off to a bad start.

RUBY: That’s more of a deflection than an apology…

She was right, and I already knew that but I couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t the time or the place to have this kind of discussion. We weren’t exactly alone in the gym, and I wasn’t the type of person to air out all of my business for the world to hear. That’s why I avoid talking about our life on social media. Maybe it was best to just try to get this over with as soon as possible.

COURT: What do you want me to apologize about then?

If my first answer had been bad, this one was even worse.

RUBY: You know what? Nevermind.

Instead of standing her ground, she turned away from me and threw her hands in the air in defeat.

COURT: Wait! No! Don’t just come in here, pick a fight, and then run off!

I chased after her, happy that she avoided leaving through the front doors of the gym and instead turned to head back towards the offices.

RUBY: I guess I’m just supposed to be doing that at Climax Control, right?

I caught up to her as she made it into the hallway, but she was rounding the corner towards the back door before I was able to grab hold of her arm and stop her. I turned her back to me, thankful that we were able to at least break away from the crowded floor before arguing.

COURT: Is that what this is about? Are you still mad about the Tempest thing? That feels like it was forever ago, and I have a match with her in a few weeks where we can make sure to get back at her.

She rolled her eyes.

RUBY: What about the Twisted Sister thing?

I had forgotten about that one. She really was instrumental in all of my matches lately, which usually involved her getting the short end of the stick. It wasn’t like I was the one booking the matches, or picking the stipulations though.

COURT: I didn’t even have anything to do with that!

She sighed, not buying into my excuse at all. I had underestimated how much all of it had been weighing on her, because she had already been prepared for my response.

RUBY: Maybe not, but you weren’t exactly concerned about what happened to me either. As long as I was able to be a distraction, my job was done.

I thought that she knew that was part of the job description of a manager, but then again, that was never the plan for her career either. She wanted to be where I was. Anything less than that was just settling for a role being close to me. Some part of me could understand that, but those words never made it to my mouth.

COURT: I made sure I got you unhandcuffed as soon as I could!

She shook her head, and I could tell that all I had done was make her more angry.

RUBY: Conveniently, only after you won a title that you don’t really care about.

She turned to walk away but I was able to slip around her in order to block her path to the door leading out to the alley.

COURT: For fuck sake you sound like Roux! Has she been in your ear telling you how terrible of a person I am or something?

The words were out of my mouth before I had any plans to say them. I clapped a hand over my mouth in surprise, but she didn’t get me the opportunity to take them back before throwing them in my face.

RUBY: No! You freaked out on me last time I talked to her. I have tweeted at her once since then, but I didn’t want to start another argument. I actually take your feelings into consideration when I do things!

She tried to side-step past me again, but I backed up closer to the door in order to keep myself in her path. I didn’t want to let her drive off angry, and I wasn’t going to let her leave thinking that she wasn’t the most important thing in my life.

COURT: Are you saying I don’t care about your feelings?

She shrugged again.

RUBY: Or my well-being apparently…

It was a step too far. I was actually feeling bad, but I wasn’t going to accept full responsibility for everything that she had been through in the last month. Even if I was MOSTLY to blame, she definitely needed to shoulder part of it.

COURT: You were miserable at home! I did everything that I could to get them to let you back into the arenas! You are allowed to be on Climax Control because of how big of a shitfit I threw about them banning you. Is that not enough?

I felt like I was getting blamed for the actions of others, which I would have been okay with if I was also getting any of the credit for trying so hard to get her job back. Would it have been worse to stay on tour without her? It was like there was no winning no matter what I did.

RUBY: I didn’t realize that I was signing up to be a punching bag between you and everyone that wanted your championship. I just wanted to be out there and be supportive.

Again, she was acting as if I was the one doing all of the punching.

COURT: Well when everything you say pisses people off, you have to expect that someone is going to keep that receipt. When you jump up on the apron during my matches, some people are going to take action to neutralize you. I thought you knew what you were in for when you wanted to be a manager.

Maybe I was just being defensive, and I will probably lose sleep thinking about it later, but I had a hard time believing that she didn’t know that squaring up with my opponents was kind of part of the job.

RUBY: I expected that you would have my back the way that I had yours! I expected us to be in it together. Instead, it seems a whole lot like you let me get beaten to a pulp without a second thought.

If after everything we have been through, and everything I did to bring her back wasn’t enough, then maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut.

COURT: If that is the way you see it, just stopping coming!

It was my turn to attempt to storm off, but this time she was the one that wasn’t done with the conversation. She reached out and pushed me backwards when I tried to go around her, somehow more upset now than she had been when she walked away earlier.

RUBY: So you really don’t want me to come with you?!?

I sighed, defeated.

COURT: I want you to do whatever it is that you want to do. If you want to be there with me, then be there with me. If you don’t want to become a target, then stay home. I don’t see any real middle ground between the two though. You knew what was going to happen when you showed up and we started taking shots at everyone.

She shrugged, and tried to throw it back at me again, looking determined to be right at any cost.

RUBY: It’s been pretty great for you.

I was too exhausted to keep the argument going, and tried one last time to get her to see it from any other perspective than her victim narrative.

COURT: Maybe, but I can’t handle what is going on inside the ring and outside the ring at the same time. How bad would you feel if I ran to save you, and it cost me the championship?

She opened her mouth a couple of times wordlessly, before apparently coming to a thought that didn’t involve backing down.

RUBY: A championship that you don’t even care about?

She was right. I didn’t care about it, and it was never something that I saw myself chasing after either. That wasn’t the point though, and on some level I knew that she knew that.

COURT: Would that actually matter to you? Think about it. I come and save you, but then turn around and get blindsided by Luna this weekend. How would you feel about that?

She takes a step back, and seems like she finally starts to see it from my side of things. She isn’t happy about it, but she concedes to my point.

RUBY: Not great.

I shrugged, and her eyes fell to the floor. Maybe she was feeling guilty for having picked this fight before trying to see things from my side, but I didn’t feel the need to rub that in her face. Instead, I tried to show her that things weren’t any easier for me either.

COURT: ....just like I don’t feel great about a lot of the positions that they have been putting you in lately. It’s not fair to you. The only thing I can really do to stop that in the moment though, is wrap up what I have going on in the ring.

She was at least hearing me, but I wasn’t sure she actually believed anything that was coming out of my mouth. The fact that she was even considering my words was an improvement though.

RUBY: It just feels like you would just sit back and watch if I was being torn in half….

I stepped forward, causing her to look up, and once her eyes were locked on mine I made sure to let her know that wasn’t the case at all.

COURT: Never! The only reason that I can stay focused is because I know that you are more than capable of handling yourself in most situations. You’ve been trained well. You have been in that ring almost as much as I have! You won Blast from the Past, which until last year was the only worthwhile thing I had ever done too. If I thought you were in real significant danger, you’d be the only thing on my mind.

I threw my arms around her and pulled her close, but when she put her arms around me I could tell that it was only a half-hearted gesture.

RUBY: .....

I held her closer, hoping that even if she wasn’t going to hear it in my voice, she would be able to feel it in my embrace.

COURT: I wouldn’t want to do any of this without you, and being on tour by myself sucked. I want you to be with me. I don’t know what else you want me to say.

She pulled back, and took a step away from me.

RUBY: It’s more about what I want you to do. You always manage to say the right things, but then when the time comes it’s not really what everyone sees.

I reached out and caught her hand, and luckily she didn’t try to pull it away from me. Instead, she laced her fingers with mine and for a moment it looked like she thought about smiling.

COURT: I’ll do better.

The words just seemed to deflect off of her without any consideration.

RUBY: Don’t promise things that you don’t actually intend to follow through on….

She shakes her head, and then gives my hand a squeeze before turning away and heading back towards the gym floor. It was a smart move. I followed her back here because we could have our conversation away from all of the eyes in the gym, and she knew I wouldn’t continue to push the issue in front of everyone. I had to let her go. More importantly, I needed to come up with a plan for how I was going to manage to fix things before we had to walk into Climax Control on bad terms.

COURT: .....fuck.



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>COURTside: The Real Champion

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”Here we go again…”

”I think it is time we all get a couple of things straight. I started the year defending the Bombshell Internet Championship in the main event of 2024’s first Climax Control. Now, I am in the main event of the final Climax Control before My Bloody Valentine, once again defending the Bombshell Internet Championship. That makes two defenses before we ever even get to the first supercard of the year, and yet there are women in the back that want to pretend like I’m not still the face of this division, the biggest star on the roster, and the best champion that Mark and Christian have to offer.”

”I might not be out in the ring wasting air time every week with a microphone in my hand. I might not have the biggest social media presence. I know that I rarely let any of the interviewers ask me questions backstage, but there is no mistaking how hard I bust my ass for this company. We have champions that only want to defend on the big stages. We have champions that are scheduled to appear, and bail at the last moment. For fuck’s sake, this company has champions that throw their goddamn titles down in the middle of the ring and walk away. Yet last year I was the one vilified. I was the one that apparently wasn’t giving this company my all. I was the one that everyone said needed to be knocked off of my pedestal. It goes to show that none of you know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

”I am the only rookie that ever skyrocketed to the top and had staying power. I am one of only a handful of Bombshells to sign here as a rookie and stay here for my entire career. I won Blast from the Past as a rookie. I won the 2023 Woman of the Year and the Bombshell World Championship five years later. The world knows that I should still have that championship, and should be in the midst of the FOREVER reign that I deserve because that is where I belong. I have earned it. I put in the work, overcame the obstacles, and made this company a whole bunch of money while making it look good. I am the most dominant champion currently in this company, and I have been in the main events to prove it.”

”The sad fucking thing is that I don’t even care about this belt. I never wanted the Bombshell Internet Championship.Frankly, it’s beneath me. It is a consolation prize. It is Mark and Christian’s way of telling me that they are sorry that Ariana inserted herself into my Bombshell World Championship rematch. Winning this championship was simply a matter of getting revenge against someone that should have never crossed me. It wasn’t about the belt. It wasn’t about being a champion. It was about taking something from her just like she took something from me. Unfortunately, I could only take something that she was good enough to win in the first place. The Bombshell Internet Championship represented the best that Ariana was capable of. She only had the talent and ability to rise to the middle, so that was where I had to meet her in order to rip a championship from her hands.”

”Granted, I thought after that things were going to get boring. Sure, I thought that I would enjoy beating Ariana into the ground a few times. However, I figured I would probably have to give up the championship and go on vacation in order to get rid of it. I thought that all of the mediocre Bombshells on the roster would be too afraid to step up to me and take their best shot….”

”Or maybe I just thought that they would know better…”

”Yet, the table for My Bloody Valentine is already set, and there isn’t one, or two, but three idiots. Three women that think they have something to gain by stepping into the ring with me. There are three women that think a chance at the Bombshell Internet Championship is worth getting embarrassed on the biggest stage that Sin City will be on this month…”

”...but that’s a story for another time I guess…”

”This we--”

”Correction: This MAIN EVENT, is about one of those three women hopping the line. See, it wasn’t going to be enough for Luna to walk down the aisle at My Bloody Valentine and compete against three other women for a championship. She wanted the chance to be the one bringing the Bombshell Internet Championship to the party. That’s why she jumped my wife and I backstage three weeks ago. That was what she wanted when she was named as my partner for the match a couple of weeks back. Luna has been trying to put herself at the very front of the line all year, and now the bosses caved in and gave her an extra opportunity at greatness.”

”I could have been mad about that. I could have thrown a fit. I definitely could have gotten this match canceled. Cards are subject to change, am I right? How many canceled championship matches are we up to already this year? And it is not like this one really matters anyways. No matter who wins this match, we are both headed to the match in a couple of weeks where we will be joined by Tempest and Krystal. There’s no real risk in losing here. Nothing changes. If I don’t want to put in the effort, I don’t have to…”

”...but we already have too many of those types of champions in this company. We already have too many people that talk a real good game, but can’t hold themselves to the same standard that they do their opponents. I don’t want to be that kind of champion, even if I couldn’t possibly care less about this fucking belt. I am more than happy to come down to the ring and teach someone a lesson. That is what I get paid to do. That is what I love. I am here to prove that between the bells, there is no other Bombshell in this company that I can do the things that I can do. Nobody is on my level. And the more that I think about it, the more I think this match is incredibly beneficial to me. I might be the only one out there with anything to lose, but I also have everything to gain. If Luna walks out as the champion, she is still going to be fed to the three of us at My Bloody Valentine. If I walk out as a champion, I send a message to Krystal and Tempest about exactly what I am capable of when I put my mind to it.”

”...and that’s what you’ll be this week Luna. A couple of weeks ago I walked out on you because I didn’t think that you were worth my time. As far as I was concerned, they added you to the match with Tempest and Krystal because they needed to make sure someone was there to get pinned or tap out at the end. They don’t go as far as pre-selecting the winners around here, but rest assured the match at My Bloody Valentine already has a chosen loser, and that’s Luna. Nobody is going to be surprised when it happens. Everyone already sees it coming, but that is what makes this Climax Control main event worth my time. I get to prove that I am capable of single-handedly taking out any Bombshell on this roster. I get to show Tempest and Krystal that the only thing waiting for them in a couple of weeks is a beatdown that they won’t forget.”

”...and Luna earned the honor of being my messenger when she stepped up to me backstage. The moment that she put her hands on me like she was my equal, her fate was sealed. She inserted herself into this situation, and I cannot be held responsible for the lesson that she learns this Sunday. I am not going to lose any sleep if she can’t manage to scrape herself up off of the mat. I am not going to feel guilty if she doesn’t make it to My Bloody Valentine, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tempest or Krystal opted out of their spots after witnessing what I am willing to put people through in that ring.”

”Eventually you people are going to realize that I am not to be trifled with. The whole lot of you should have stayed out of my way. Fortunately Luna won’t have to sit around for two more weeks thinking about how big of a mistake she made. I am walking into Climax Control in an attempt to take her off the board. When my hand is the one raised at the end of the show, nobody is going to cheer, but not one single person in the arena is going to be surprised either. The match itself is simply a vehicle for delivering one last warning to everyone with the Bombshell Internet Championship in their sights…”

”This title is spoken for.”

”Sorry not sorry.”


3
Climax Control Archives / Finally!
« on: January 19, 2024, 11:59:15 PM »
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Tunnel-Vison
Long Beach, CALIFORNIA  - Court’s House
19th JANUARY 2024
OFF-Camera


COURT: How are you not going to be home? At least at rehab I knew you were going to be there when I showed up….

The whole point of Jaycee moving so close by was accountability. When the guy was out on his own, he spiraled out of control. I offered him a place to stay so that he would have someone to look over his shoulder on the days that he wasn’t doing so well but, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember the last time that I actually saw him. Granted, he was an adult. He didn’t need direct supervision, and Prudence and I were back on the road together for SCW. I hadn’t thought anything of it until I was packing up for Colorado.

JAYCEE: That’s what you get for showing up unannounced.

It was Jaycee’s voice, but coming from the doorbell camera. It made me crazy when Prudence used them to talk to me, which I had apparently mistakenly mentioned to Jaycee.

COURT: Unannounced? You see the big house over there? That one’s mine. Technically your residence is in my backyard.

There was a long pause, and he almost had me convinced that he was actually gone before he finally responded.

JAYCEE: Yeah… well, not there. Sorry you had to walk over for nothing, but you should really call first.

The sarcasm in his voice made me want to rip the damn thing off of the door frame.

COURT: Do you even have a phone these days?

This time there was absolutely no pause before his answer, but he was definitely stifling a laugh.

JAYCEE: No.

I tried to grit my teeth and hold back what I really wanted to say, but it was no use. I was at home. Where am I allowed to be myself if not here?

COURT: Then how the hell am I supposed to call you!?

The laughter on the other end stopped immediately. He had probably just been pushing to see if he could get me to snap at him and now that he had gotten what he wanted, he was done with the conversation. It was a nasty personality flaw that he definitely picked up at Jet City.

JAYCEE: You’re not. Is there actually something you need?

I sighed, defeated.

COURT: Where are you, Jaycee?

He gives that answer freely as well, clearly having lost all interest in the game.

JAYCEE: Seattle.

Of all of the places that I expected to hear, that wasn’t one of them. I figured that Eiley and Oz had pulled him away somewhere on their seven month vacation, but cold, snowy and rainy didn’t feel like their style. It took a couple of seconds of processing before everything snapped together in my head.

COURT: When you said you might do some work at Jet City, I assumed you meant San Diego. What the hell are you doing at Jason’s gym?

JAYCEE: The real Jet City needed a fill-in for a few weeks. I am just doing what I can.

The “real” Jet City was an insult that I was going to let slide for now. I could kick his ass for it when he got back, but mentioning it now would just get us off track.

COURT: You better tell Kris’ brother that he can’t just come down here and poach my talent.

I was hoping that something about my words would strike a nerve, but he blew them off with a casual indifference that I found frustrating.

JAYCEE: I can’t do that. Jet City South isn’t yours, and I am not a student anymore. I’m basically a free agent.

If his goal was to offend me, he had succeeded once again, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction this time. Instead, I chose to focus on correct his error.

COURT: You’re not even one of those! In case you’ve forgotten, you work for Sin City.

He went silent for almost as long as he left me hanging the first time, and then responded with more uncertainty than I had ever heard in his voice.

JAYCEE: Yeah, well. We’ll see.

I wasn’t just going to let that go either. The guy was being groomed to be a big part of Sin City, and I wasn’t going to just let him throw that away because he got scared of the bright lights.

COURT: When are you coming back? I might actually need you for something important.

JAYCEE: It’ll be a few weeks. They were looking for someone with Blast from the Past experience to work with some of the new kids up here. I think Jason’s trying to get one of his newbies a spot in the tournament since nobody from South is going to step up this time around.

COURT: That’s not for a lack of trying….

Coby was doing what he could with the new crop of students that he had to work with, but he was unbelievably short-handed as well. Kris and Mikah basically ran away to Hawaii and rarely show up in San Diego. I was competing full time, and stopping having the time to work with the newbies. It might be the first year in a while that Jet City doesn’t enter anyone in the tournament that we have dominated.

JAYCEE: None of the new kids are ready. The only person that would actually be worth Jet City throwing their weight behind wants nothing to do with the gym. 

I was almost too lost in thought about the gym to catch what he meant, but his words were sobering enough to snap me out of it.

COURT: ...and the gym wants nothing to do with her either.

I can’t believe that I have to keep having this conversation with people. First Prudence, and now Jaycee. How many people in my life has she successfully gotten her claws into?

JAYCEE: No, you want nothing to do with her.

I shrugged.

COURT: You’re not wrong…

There was another laugh from the speaker.

JAYCEE: So, have fun with that I guess!

I was confused, and waited for him to elaborate, but nothing else came from the speaker. I finally broke down and asked.

COURT: Have fun with what?

Another few moments of silence passed before I realized that he wasn’t coming back.

COURT: ...and he’s gone…. Great.

I didn’t even get to tell him what I needed him for in the first place, and now he ghosted me. I would have to remember to text Jason about forcing him to get a phone while he was up there, but that was a task for later. I had to finish packing or I was never going to make my flight. I started to turn away from the door, but was startled as I did. It didn’t take me very long to realize what Jaycee’s last words meant either.

ROUX: You always spend all your free time talking to doors?

I didn’t even have to ask how long she had been standing there. Jaycee wouldn’t have even brought her up until after he spotted her on the camera. Making her the topic of conversation was bait, and I had taken it thoughtlessly. However, that wasn’t something I could get back at him for right now. I had an angry teenager to deal with.

COURT: Do you just pop up everywhere that you aren’t wanted?

She shrugged, choosing to brush off the insult and continue this forced conversation anyways.

ROUX: Harsh. Couldn’t help but overhear your conversation there. You lost your drug addict?

I shook my head, and moved around her in order to head back towards the main house.

COURT: He’s not lost. He’s in Seattle doing something productive with his life. That doesn’t explain why you’re here though.

She followed me, sarcasm heavy in her voice.

ROUX: Well, we all used to live here, remember? You know back before you inherited it… just like everything else.

I sighed, it wasn’t a discussion that I could have again. I never wanted anything, and I tried to throw it all away, but I’m apparently not even allowed to do that. Now that I was stuck with the house, apparently it was a bad thing that I was putting it to use.

COURT: As fun as a trip down memory lane wouldn’t be, you didn’t answer my question.

I was trying not to get lured into yet another fight, especially with a big weekend ahead of me.

ROUX: I still have some stuff stored in the attic above the garage. I was kind of hoping that nobody would be around, and I could get in and out without causing any problems. Then I saw you arguing with a door, and got interested.

I got to the backdoor of the house, and turned back to her. I wasn’t about to let her follow me inside, because things would eventually get broken. This needed to end out here, preferably with her fucking off.

COURT: Strange. The moment you showed up, I lost interest.

She shrugs again, having heard me say the line to her on several previous occasions. She had built up a type of immunity to it I guess.

ROUX: Good, because you should really be focused on Krystal and Tempest.

I wasn’t about to have her try to explain something to me that she knew nothing about. She hadn’t even made her official debut yet.

COURT: That’s not something that I need you to tell me. Tempest put her hands on my wife. Krystal had the audacity to break Prudence’s arm and end her time as a competitor in Sin City. I’ve never been more focused on two individuals in my life.

That wasn’t a satisfactory answer for her though.

ROUX: That’s awfully short-sighted, don’t you think? Tunnel-vision is just going to give Luna the opening that she needs to blindside you.

Nothing I said was going to be good enough. That was her whole game. No matter what my answers were, she was going to try and find a different one just to tell me that I was wrong. It was the way that she has always gotten under my skin, and it somehow still worked.

COURT: Are you under the impression that I need your fucking help or something? I have been doing this for years without needing your precious guidance. At what point did you decide that you were better at this than me?

I got another cold, emotionless shrug in response.

ROUX: Better? I’m not. I’m definitely a lot smarter about it than you’re being though. You just keep running in blind and angry. I got you all riled up a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden you were ready to rip Ariana’s arms off. Eventually someone is going to use all that rage against you.

I bit down on my tongue, and forced a smile onto my face.

COURT: I’ll keep that in mind.

I tried my best to make it sound sincere, but fell way short of convincing her.

ROUX: No you won’t, and that’s your problem. You’re too good for help. You look down your nose at good advice, and you push down anyone that you perceive to be a threat to your spotlight. It’s all going to catch up to you eventually.

It was my turn to try and shrug her comments away like they didn’t matter.

COURT: Not today.

She shrugged, but caved in and started backing away from me towards the garage.

ROUX: Maybe not today....but maybe Sunday…

She turned around and disappeared into the side door of the garage. I wasn’t going to stick around until she came back either, going inside and slamming the door behind me.


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>It’s About Time
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”Finally…”

”I know that I have been giving the cold shoulder to social media lately but it really does come in handy on occasion….”

”Had I known that all it was going to take was a few tweets, I would have talked about dismembering Krystal a whole lot sooner than I did. I know that the card writing interns are going to blame the scuffle last week for this little supercard preview, but we all know that what I had to say about Krystal on X is the real reason that the two of us are going to be standing on opposite sides of the same ring this week. I have been patient. I picked my spot. People thought that since time had passed, and it was a new year, that all was forgiven. All it took was one reminder about the unfinished business that the two of us have, and the bosses did what needed to be done. Krystal and I haven’t been in the same ring since Keira got rid of Sin. Now I get to finish what Keira started…”

”...and I know that we are not going to be the only two in this match. Krystal is going to be able to run away and tag in Tempest any time that she can’t take the beating that I am going to put on her. She gets to run and hide behind the most dominant force in the Bombshell division. The only problem with that is, I have just as much of a reason to square up with Tempest as I do Krystal. Sure, she didn’t break my wife’s arm or anything but she does always seem to be a threat lingering in the background of all of my matches. Tempest’s name gets used as a threat any time my wife is in the building with me. She has seemed to enjoy her role as Mark and Christian’s Bombshell enforcer, but that is because she’s never had to deal with any of the ramifications of her actions. She just gets to stroll out and put her hands on whomever she wants. Correct me if I am wrong, but she has even somehow gotten away with putting Christian through a table, right? That’s in addition to putting her hands on one of my students after she failed in the Mixed Tag Team division in her latest attempt….”

”...so for me it doesn’t matter. I will take my opportunity to dismantle Krystal in the center of the ring, but if she runs, and the only person I can get my hands on is Tempest, that’s fine with me too. When I saw the card for this week, I wasn’t intimidated. I was thrilled. I have a very short list of people that I want to share the ring with, and both of their names are on it. No matter what happens this Sunday, I get what I want…”

”....as for my partner… who knows what she wants?”

”I sure don’t. I can only assume that she is going to be waiting for the opportunity to stab me in the back because it means she is going to have a better shot at taking the Bombshell Internet Championship from me in a few weeks. It tracks, right? She picked her perfect spot to attack me without provocation last week. The problems my wife and I have with Tempest had nothing to do with Luna, but she still found time to show up and take a free shot at me. Then again, none of us can really be sure which version of Luna is going to show up to team with me on Climax Control. Is it going to be the one with the potential to be the Bombshell Internet Champion, or is it going to be the version that can’t seem to rise out of the bottom tier of the division? Is it going to be the person that seized their opportunity backstage last week, or the one that is so entirely forgettable every other week? Is Luna going to be motivated to show that she belongs in the ring with the rest of us, or is she going to be the weak link that costs us this match?”

”I hope that it is the former, and she better pray that it’s not the latter.”

”See, Luna is the only one in this match that can stop me from extracting the pain and anguish that I so desperately want to inflict on our opponents. For that purpose alone, I am willing to forgive and forget about last week. She can come along with me for the ride, and we can have our hands raised at the end of the night. We can take out these other two, and deal with one another at a later date. Why not? I can be an adult about things. I can see that last week was more about the cheap championship belt that I am carrying around than some kind of personal attack. Certainly she can put her aspirations aside for a night if I can find it in my heart to let her off the hook for getting involved last week.”

”Then again, maybe she sees it as more beneficial to try to serve me up to our opponents on a silver platter. Maybe she realized last week that it is going to take a whole lot more than she thought it was to take me out. It’s possible that Luna is just looking at this match as an opportunity to let Tempest and Krystal soften me up for her. I honestly don’t think I could blame her if that was her plan, but I can’t make the choice for her. Even worse, I doubt that any of us will really know what side of the line she is going to end up on until the match is already underway. That being said, I do have a warning for you Luna. I want you to stand on the apron for a few minutes before you make your decision. I want you to wait and see up close what I am willing to put both of our opponents through. I want you to witness the agony they have earned because of what they have done to me and the people that I care about. I want you to be able to feel the rage that I am going to unleash. I want you to understand how far I am willing to go when people cross me. After that, if you want to add your name to my shit list, go right ahead. I’ll have no problem teaching you the same lesson when you come for this championship that I don’t even want.”

”...because that is what this is all really about, isn’t it? All of you actually WANT to be the Bombshell Internet Champion. All of you would be bubbling over with excitement to represent the MIDDLE tier of this company. Sure, you’re a step above the unadulterated violence of the Roulette division, but the only thing that the Bombshell Internet Championship actually represents is that you aren’t good enough to carry the big championship. That is why I carry it begrudgingly. That is why I don’t make a big deal out of it. I took the championship away from Ariana because as long as I exist in this company, she isn’t allowed to have nice things. I don’t actually care about it though. I don’t see it as some kind of crowning achievement. I think about it as ten pounds of gold and leather that I have to worry about forgetting at the fucking airport, and that is what separates me from these three women. None of them are Bombshell World Championship caliber talents. The championship that I carry represents the very best that they could ever hope to be in this company.”

”...but just like Ariana, they won’t be able to do that for as long as I am here. They can’t rise to their full potential, because I’m lowering the glass ceiling. I’m not out here like J2H, trying to give opportunities to the next round of up-and-comers. I know how good I am. I know that I could easily play keep-away with this championship until this company closes it’s fucking doors forever. Unlike him though, I am not going to take myself out of the equation. I am not going to give anyone an opportunity, whether they deserve it or not. I am going to carry this stupid fucking belt down to the ring with my for this tag match, so that I can rub it in their faces. I am going to taunt them with it, and while they are focused on taking the belt, I am going to be extracting my revenge. Then, after the dust settles, I am going to get ready to beat them all over again if they can drag themselves to the next supercard. I’m not moving out of the way anytime soon because I’m not in the business of doing my lessers any fucking favors anymore. There was a brief, fleeting moment where I thought that was what I was supposed to do in this division, but that’s not my job.”

”I should have never wasted a second of my time trying to lift this roster up..”

”From now on, all I’m doing is laying bitches out.”

”Sorry not sorry.”


4
Climax Control Archives / Imitation
« on: January 05, 2024, 11:57:29 PM »
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Soft
Long Beach, CALIFORNIA - Longshots
4th JANUARY 2023
OFF-Camera

As a kid I used to love laying out in the backyard and looking up at the stars. With all of the light pollution from the city, they were always kind of hard to see. It seemed like most nights if it wasn’t for the lights, clouds would cover the sky and make it impossible to see through them. Tonight it was clear, I had time to kill, and also multiple problems to solve. I would have to put most of those problems off a couple of days. Some were for my promo tomorrow. Others I really wouldn’t get to sink my teeth into until Sunday night. There was one that could use my attention tonight though, but I wasn’t exactly sure if it was a problem that I could solve anymore.

The last time I had approached Roux, things got out of hand pretty quick. I said some things that she didn’t like. She said some things that got my blood boiling. It broke down into throwing hands pretty quickly, and I thought that I would be okay with that. I mean, I walked into Longshots with the belief that if I had to put her down, I would. I figured that if what she needed was humbling, that I should be the one to provide that lesson. I didn’t care that I was going to knock her down in front of all of her friends, because I have already done the same to each and every one of them too. I wanted to prove to them, and her, that I was in a league above them all. I thought that I could live up to my legend within the Longshots gym, and solve a problem that I was having at the same time. What I ended up getting was knocked the fuck out in front of everyone that used to think of me as this larger than life personality. I may have thrown the first punch, but it didn’t have the malice that Roux’s shots had behind it. She had been ready, willing, and waiting for seven years to throw those elbows. I don’t think I ever put any thought into how much hatred she has been carrying around for all of these years, and it blindsided me.

So I needed a new approach. I obviously couldn’t just walk through the front door and pick another fight. There is no way that everyone inside wouldn’t laugh me out of the building before I ever got the shot. Even worse, they will have all been inspired to stand up to me now that they have seen me put down in the center of the ring. I’d never make it to wherever Roux was in the building, but luckily I didn’t have to go in. I knew that eventually, she would have to come out, and in the meantime, I could spend time with the stars on the clearest night that I had seen in a long time. Honestly, when I first heard footsteps approaching the car, I had forgotten the reason that I was even lingering in the parking lot. I had been transported back to those nights as a child, looking up at the sky. It wasn’t until I heard the unmistakable sigh coming from a woman that had trained too hard all day to deal with more bullshit that I was ripped free of the illusion.

COURT: You should really keep an eye over your shoulder around here, especially at night. Never know who you’ll find lurking.

I didn’t make any attempt to move, or even to look over at her.

ROUX: I can take care of myself. Get off of my car. I’m tired. I want to get out of these gym clothes, and I have like a fifteen minute drive before I can even shower. Pick some other time to show up.

I could tell that she had little to no energy for this conversation, which meant that her first option wasn’t going to be to start throwing hands either.

COURT: Training hard for something special?

I still made no move to sit up from the windshield of the car, or move off of the hood even as she started throwing her things into the backseat.

ROUX: You remember all those times that you didn’t show up randomly and try to give me unsolicited advice? I miss those times. Let’s go back to doing that again.

I shrugged, not even sure that she could see it in the dark. From the sound of her voice, it seemed like she had moved from the backseat, up to the driver’s door. I could almost feel her staring at me from back over my shoulder which was vaguely satisfying after our last encounter.

COURT: Well you’ve spent all your teenage years begging for my attention, so here I am! Maybe you should have been more careful about what you wished for.

She pulled the driver’s door open in an attempt to ignore me, but by the time I was done she had slammed it closed and came around into my field of vision. She wanted to make sure that I heard the words that were about to come out of her mouth, causing me to make sure that I stayed focused on the night sky above us.

ROUX: It’s been a real long time since I have wanted anything to do with you.

I shook my head, and did my best to sound unconvinced.

COURT: Doesn’t seem like it. First you’re worming your way into my life through Ruby, and now you keep popping up everywhere that I don’t want you to be….

She must have been getting angry already, because she didn’t even let me finish the thought before cutting me off.

ROUX: So you’d thought you’d return the favor?

She raised her voice, but slammed her mouth closed the moment that I turned my head her direction and looked her in the eyes for the first time.

COURT: Something more selfish than that. If you like things the way they used to be, then maybe you should start finding your own way into the business instead of blazing down my path.

In an instant, the bass in her voice was gone, and the scowl on her face broke loose into a smile. She shook her head as if it had been too easy to manipulate me into telling her why I was really here.

ROUX: So now you have a monopoly on where people can train, or where they can work?

She said it with a smug smirk that made me think of Kris all those years ago when I broke my hand. I wasn’t going to cave in and play her game though. I didn’t come here to get angry. I kept the focus on her instead of letting her turn it around on me.

COURT: Training at the gym that took me in, and signing up to debut in the same tournament that I did isn’t exactly subtle.

She shrugged, unimpressed with the dots I was connecting.

ROUX: Yeah, and? It also just happens to be the path of least resistance. Do you think you’re some kind of fucking genius for figuring out that Longshots was the only place that was ever going to let you in?

She laughed, but I wasn’t going to let her gloss over the finer details like that.

COURT: It’s not jus--

She cut me off again before I could even complete the thought, the smirk now widening across her face.

ROUX: Oh, and Sin City having an “anybody is welcome” tournament isn’t just a great opportunity for someone that keeps getting called too young, or too green?

I was still trying to force down the anger, but I sat up from the windshield, and swung my legs off of the hood of the car before pointing an index finger in her face.

COURT: There are so man--

She slapped my hand out of her face and cut me off for a third time.

ROUX: Yeah, there probably are. I wasn’t necessarily trying to go out of my way to make things harder than they needed to be. I found a gym. I leapt at an opportunity. I couldn’t care less that you’ve done it all before.

It sounded nice, but I knew that there was no such thing as a coincidence.

COURT: And it is just a perk that we’ll be ending up on the same roster?

She shrugged again, and then grabbed both of my ankles before pulling me towards her. I slid off of the hood of the car, and landed on my feet in front of her. While getting my balance, she actually took a step back and put up both of her hands to show that despite the maneuver she wasn’t looking for a fight.

ROUX: Who’s to say that I even stick around when the tournament is over? Who’s to say that I even make it to the tournament without a setback? What I wanted was a deadline. I wanted to be able to put a date on my calendar. I was ready. They were looking for competitors. The timing matched up. It has nothing to do with you, and now that your ass is off the hood of my car, I can go. Good talk.

She turned to walk away, but I grabbed her by the arm.

COURT: You could have done anything else in the world and we wouldn’t have ever had to cross paths….

She pulled free of my grasp. The glare that I got in response warned me that it was the only freebee that I was going to get before we started throwing punches, regardless of how tired she was.

ROUX: Yeah, well… the world doesn’t revolve around you.

COURT: Yours still seems to.

The words came out of my mouth so fast that she wasn’t quite sure what hit her, and I was surprised I said them. However, as impressed as I was with myself for the comeback, she was unphased.

ROUX: That’s where you’re wrong. For you this is just a good idea, right? This is a way for you to rebel against our par---

I took the chance to cut her off and correct her to see how she liked it.

COURT: MY parents.

Surprisingly, she rolled her eyes and didn’t even try to take up that battle. Her focus was actually kind of impressive.

ROUX: Whatever. You got into this so that you could rub it in their faces. You ever think that is why you keep getting hurt?

It wasn’t exactly where I expected this conversation to go, but I decided to humor her.

COURT: Are you trying to say I’m brittle?

As if she had been dying for me to ask that exact question, she launched into an answer that definitely sounded practiced.

ROUX: I’m trying to say that as a spoiled little rich kid that never had a problem that a good temper tantrum couldn’t solve, maybe you aren’t cut out for combat sports. Your history in the ring seems to agree with me.

It was a fun new shot that she was taking at me, but I had heard it before. It isn’t anything that the whole Bombshell roster doesn’t try and throw in my face on a weekly basis. I gave her the same response that I always give all of them.

COURT: ...and yet I have done all of the things that you aspire to do. I am a champion in the company that you are hoping to getting a chance to compete in.

To my surprise, she didn’t even consider my words. Instead, she laughed, and seemed surprised that I actually let those words come out of my mouth.

ROUX: You’re a joke in Sin City. You realize that, right? You come out of the gym that everyone hates, because all it teaches is shortcuts. Your reign as the face of the company was a flop because you stopped showing up. You got beat by someone doing a better version of your whole act, and it’s only a matter of time before you break something else and disappear for another year.

She wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of letting that show on my face. Instead, I tried to spin it back to her.

COURT: I’ve clearly inspired you to pay attention.

Again she laughed.

ROUX: If that’s all you were ever hoping to achieve in the ring, then you really have made it to the top of the mountain. I want more than that though.

COURT: I thought you said you weren’t going to stick around after the tournament?

ROUX: I might. I might not. I am not nailed down to one place. It might not be my best opportunity by the time the summer starts.

COURT: It might have a champion or two that you’re going to want to avoid.

The whole thing had become a sort of verbal joust where we were barely letting each other finish a thought before trying to counter it in some way, but I saw her eyes light up at the mention of the champions of Sin City. She was quick to squash any kind of self-compliment though.

ROUX: Not unless they sign some new people and they rise through the ranks at a record pace.

COURT: You might be all inflated from your cheap shot victory over me a few weeks ago, and you really don’t want me to burst your bubble with only a few months left before you have to be able to do things inside the ring for real.

I stepped up to her, but she didn’t back down either.

ROUX: I remember that it was actually you that threw the first punch, and subsequently got what you deserved. I can make that happen for you again any time that you’re ready.

I shook my head, and made sure she understood the truth about what happened last time around.

COURT: I underestimated you. It won’t happen again.

She holds up her hands innocently, and backs away from me before opening the driver’s door of the car.

ROUX: It better not, because when it does, nobody in the wrestling business is going to have any more use for you.

She stepped into the car and turned the key in the ignition, but I put my hand on the frame along the window and refused to let her close it on me.

COURT: All that talk of better opportunities, and not trying to follow my path, but I can see what you really want. It’s in your eyes. It’s all over your every move. You don’t just want what I have, you want to take it from me in order to have it.

She smiled, but this time her eyes narrowed and maybe for the first time I could see the untapped ambition in them.

ROUX: I’ll start with everything you have, but that’ll still just be the start. You think you’re some kind big endgame for me, but you’re not. I don’t want to just rise to the middle. I don’t want to be six years in and taking steps backwards. I want to do everything you’ve done and then so much more shit that you aren’t even capable of doing.

She was scary confident, and it made me a little nervous that she was only going to grow more over the next couple of months.

COURT: ...and what makes you think you can?

She didn’t even have to think of a reason, it was already on the tip of her tongue.

ROUX: I’m not soft like you.

She yanked the door out of my hands, and shifted the car into gear. She wasn’t going to wait for a response, and the music inside the car started blasting so loud that she wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyways. She didn’t wait for me to take a step away, and instead peeled off causing me to hop back if I didn’t want to get run over.


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>COURTside: Imitation

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”Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery….”

”You hear that a lot, right? It is a phrase that people throw out all the time when copied by their lessers. I guess that I am supposed to be happy about the fact that Ariana has basically become me in her quest to beat me. Where once she was the Greek Angel, or even the Greek Goddess for a time, she has constantly lowered herself down to my level in a race to the bottom that not even I understand. I went low before our first match because she was crying into her pillow instead of getting amped up for the fight of her life. I didn’t care that my wife got involved at the tail end of our Bombshell World Championship match, because it helped Ariana save some face at the end of the night.”

”She didn’t lose! She was screwed!”

”It was a nice narrative, right? Did it actually change anything? Of course not. I was going to walk out with MY Bombshell World Championship no matter what happened. She was never going to win that match, but she also didn’t need to lose it in embarrassing fashion. I wanted to motivate her. I didn’t want to crush her dreams and leave her a shell of her former self like what Roxi did. I was attempting to leave her with a foundation to build from, even though that wasn’t my responsibility. For once, I was attempting to do the right thing for the Bombshell division, because it really wasn’t going to cost me anything. I knew that Ariana was going to get sent back to the end of the line, and would likely end up competing for another championship before ever getting another shot in the main event ever again. The way that our first match ended was what was best for everyone, even if Ariana didn’t feel that way.”

”...and I don’t know if that is because she is stupid, or just fucking blind.”

”Look at what I did for her! She was on the verge of becoming another company-wide joke like Jessie. She was destined to walk down the same path, littered with failed opportunities, until Christian and Mark had no choice but to start banning her from competing for gold. I could have crushed her back then, but where would that have left any of us? The company would be short yet another Bombshell on a roster that was already kinda top heavy. I saw her value. I knew that even though she couldn’t hack it in the main event, she could rise to the tip-top of the middle with the right opportunity.”

”And rise she did…”

”She became the Bombshell Internet Champion in the blink of an eye. Granted, that was because the real champion disappeared off the face of the Earth around the same time we lost several other superstars. Ariana was a fine pick to be the person to pick up the championship and run with it. I even congratulated her on winning a consolation prize so quickly!”

”....and it could have ended there.”

”...it should have ended there.”

”...but that is where this petty imitation kicked in full swing. She stepped in where she wasn’t needed and cost me MY Bombshell World Champion with a few cheap shots. She came after me backstage. She started taking shortcuts in the ring with my students, but ones without any purpose other than bringing a smile to her own face. Her actions weren’t any deeper than a puddle. She wanted to exact some kind of revenge for all of the times she has felt wronged by me, and the gym that I represent in this company. She wanted to prove that no matter how low I have gone in the past, she was capable of being pettier. She wanted to cost me everything…”

”And then she did cost me everything…”

”I am sure that she saw it as me getting what I deserved, but that isn’t what happened. At the end of last year I told her that all she did was open my eyes. All she did was make me realize that I should have pulled the trigger and put her out of our misery in that first match. I didn’t have to drag her away from her pillow. I didn’t have to let her live to fight another day. I didn’t have to build her up, and I sure as hell didn’t have to hand her excuse-after-excuse about why things weren’t going her way. I should have walked down to the ring and ripped her fucking arms off. I should have choked her out in the middle of the ring. I should have broken a few bones so that she had time to sit at home and wonder if this was really the right path for her. This would have all been over if I was as heartless as Ariana accuses me of being. I could have ended her before she had the opportunity to sneak up behind me and let some hack walk away with my championship.”

”So she needed to be taught a new lesson.”

”I am not going to go back on what I said at the end of last year. The Bombshell Internet Championship doesn’t mean dick to me. I didn’t want it. I don’t care about it. It is absolutely beneath me to be carrying it around, and I wouldn’t be doing it at all, if not for what it represents.”

”....and no, I don’t mean the Bombshells that are stuck in the middle of the card.”

”To me, this championship represents the pinnacle of what Ariana is capable of doing in this business. I don’t think she could shoulder the whole Bombshell division, and be the woman on all the posters, but she could definitely carry the middle tier. She could elevate this championship to exactly the place that it belongs in this company, and she would never have to bump her head into that glass ceiling ever again. She could settle as the Bombshell Internet Champion, and probably take down dozens of challengers. She could have set records with this championship. She finally could have been the greatest of all time at something. She seemed made for this championship, and this championship looked right on her shoulder.”

”....but if I can’t have what I want, she can’t have the Bombshell Internet Championship either.”

”She doesn’t get to reign as the Queen of the Midcard, because she stepped too far over the line. I had put Ariana behind me, and was ready to move on to my second, and forever, reign as Bombshell World Champion. She wasn’t even a thought in my head, and now she is all I think about. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and all fifty-two weeks out of the year, I am going to be sitting and thinking of ways that I can get back at her. I am going to be around every corner to take every bit of success she has in this business and flip it on its head. I am going to take every championship she captures. I am going to put a halt to whatever momentum she picks up, and every time that she thinks it might be over, or she might have suffered enough, I am going to be there to remind her that this will never EVER be over.”

”This championship is garbage to me, but I will beat her fucking face in with it as many times as it takes for her to realize that she wants nothing to do with me ever again. See, this isn’t like when I was the top champion. I am not going to even try and shuffle her off to the back of the line. I hope she keeps coming after me. I hope that Mark and Christian get so tired of seeing the two of us fight that they start taking rules out of the matches. I hope they start introducing stipulations that will allow me to maim Ariana the way that she deserves. The whole reason that my wife has become the centerpiece of these matches is because she is always around to make sure the abuse has a reason to continue. If she is closeby, Ariana is going to latch onto her as an excuse. She is going to use that to get herself another match, and I am going to use that opportunity to teach her lesson after painful lesson about not fucking with me.”

”She will regret causing herself to be my primary focus in this company.”

”She will be haunted by her decision to imitate me.”

”...but what else could she have done? There is another half of that oh-so-famous phrase that she is going to learn real well.”

”Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

”Ariana, I will never make the mistake of holding back my greatness for your benefit ever again. Every time we cross paths, I will embarrass you. Every time you find success, I will squash you. At every single opportunity from now until the time that you finally walk away from this business, I will be there to put you back into your place every time that you forget where you belong. It isn’t about some second tier championship. It isn’t about the people that pay to witness your destruction at my hand. This has nothing to do with the company we work for, or anyone else on this roster.”

”The moment that you swung that chair, you ended your career, and I will be around every corner to make absolutely goddamn sure of that. You can try to fight it. You can hope that one day I will forget about it. You can pray that someday I’ll change my mind. It’ll all be for naught though, and Sunday is only another chapter of what is going to be a long, long book.”

”Sorry, not fucking sorry.”


5
Supercard Archives / Re: ARIANA ANGELOS (c) v COURTNEY PIERCE - INTERNET TITLE
« on: December 15, 2023, 11:59:25 PM »
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Nothing
Long Beach, CALIFORNIA - Longshots
14th DECEMBER 2023
OFF-Camera

My parents were never excited or supportive of the fact that I wanted to be a wrestler. They had their hearts set on the fact that I was going to be in some office, behind some desk, wasting my life away like the both of them had. They didn’t see the point in putting my health and life on the line just to earn a paycheck. It was beneath us. They hadn’t paid to send me to the best private schools for me to get punched in the face for a living. When I was ten and told them that becoming a wrestler was my goal in life, they said that I would grow out of it. When I was twelve, and refusing to pick up additional extra-curricular activities because nothing other than competition interested me, their patience started to wane. At fourteen when I wasn’t interested in starting to visit colleges, or earn early credits towards degrees, they basically gave up on me. By the time I was sixteen, and actively training, they had already replaced me. If I was too stubborn to listen, but they weren’t going to give up their dream of raising a carbon copy of themselves. However, they weren’t going to start over from scratch. They knew where I “went off track” and figured that it was the perfect place to start over. The adoption process hadn’t taken very long at all, as they were one of the most perfectly qualified couples. They had the means, the space, and the time to adopt several children if they really wanted to. Instead, they scoured the country until they found the one that they wanted.

All of a sudden I had a twelve year old sister, and a constant reminder that I wasn’t the daughter they wanted. It was around that time that I tuned out of everything involving my family. I threw myself into training, and put the minimal amount of effort into everything else in my life. Now that my parents had their new pet project to focus on, they had no problems signing off for me to travel with Mikah, and learn everything that I needed to learn about the business all while training to actually start competing. I found a new family when I made the move to Jet City. I joined Blast from the Past and everything from that point in my life has been documented for the world to see. The rest of my life has transpired in front of the Sin City cameras, and been judged by the entire world. I have thousands of people that boo me every single week, yet it has never held a candle to the rejection that I felt inside my own home.

Prudence opening the door into my past, despite having the best intentions, hadn’t gone over well. I was livid that she had been communicating with my family behind my back, but never really even had time to process it before getting blindsided at Mikah’s showcase. One moment I was trying to convince my wife that I would be fine at December 2 Dismember all on my own, and the next moment I was blindsided by my replacement. So many things went running through my mind that I couldn’t process what was happening, nor be impressed by how well she was able to turn the tables on Eiley. She was fast. She was strong, and she wasn’t afraid of anything which she proved by taking a swing at me. We hadn’t spoken since then, which was the most normal thing about the entire situation. It wasn’t like the two of us had ever had a real conversation to begin with. She was a stranger to me, and I had been in the process of explaining that to my wife when things had gone off the rail.

I guess I shouldn’t have been upset that I wasn’t able to tear into her in Hawaii, because I honestly don’t know what I would have said. I was equally surprised as angry, and that is never a great mix for having a productive conversation. In the week since, I had time to think, and could only come to one conclusion. If Roux was already this skilled, it meant that she had to have been training somewhere already. Prudence had even tried to mention that she was better than I would have thought, and that meant that she could have only been going to one gym. It just so happened that before beating Roxi for the Bombshell World Championship, I had made a stop in that very same gym. I thought that my first teacher would have been more than happy to have me come in and let his students beat up on me a little to earn so cheap confidence, but he almost wouldn’t let me in. I feel stupid for having taken him at his word about not wanting the publicity. It was so obvious now what his actual reasons were.

COURT: Where is she?

He was standing with his back to me in the office, and the sound of my voice caused him to jump, not unlike what he had done to be at the start of the summer. He spun around on his heel, shoving the filing cabinet in front of him closed as he did so. His eyes were wide, and he stopped himself several times before crossing his arms defiantly.

ANTHONY: She who? And what are you even doing in my gym?

His reaction told me everything that I needed to know. Roux was here, and he had been the one training her. He knew that I wasn’t going to buy the lie. However, he would also be able to reassure Roux later that he hadn’t sold her out immediately.

COURT: You know who! That was the real reason that you didn’t want Ruby and I training here back in May, wasn’t it!

His expression softens, like he was impressed that I had worked out the lie, even if it had taken this long. He uncrossed his arms, and turned away from me before plopping down in his office chair. I had really expected him to put up more of a fight, but it didn’t feel like he had the energy for it this early in the morning.

ANTHONY: Can you really blame me? I was never able to tell you no either.

Hearing him compare the two of us made my skin crawl. This girl was nothing like me. She couldn’t be. Her childhood was over before she ever moved into my parents house. They were just two people there to provide them with an opportunity to create a perfect little puppet. And we weren’t related by blood, nor shared experience. There was absolutely no reason to mention us both in the same sentence given the things I have accomplished.

COURT: That’s not the same thing!

The smile faded off of his face, and he leveled his index finger at my face from his chair. I dropped the attitude immediately, and when he spoke, his words came out with authority.

ANTHONY: And you don’t know what you don’t know! Go see for yourself. If you really feel the same way afterwards, I’ll consider what you have to say.

I knew that there was no point in arguing it any further, and my time here as a teenager had conditioned me against trying to push him after he struck that tone in an argument. I was likely lucky that I had gotten away with as much complaining as I did before he finally cut me off.

COURT: If I go out there, you better hold up your end of the deal.

He raised his hands up innocently before nodding, but didn’t offer another word on the matter. I sighed, and shook my head in frustration before storming down the hallway from his office and out onto the floor. Longshots wasn’t as big as Jet City, and from the end of the hallway you could see every piece of equipment in the place. I scanned the room and when I didn’t find her, I knew that there was only one place that she could be. I crossed the room, and went through a curtain that blocked off a shorter hallway. The end of it opened up into a smaller room with a single ring where Anthony used to work with me before I was old enough to walk through the front door. It was likely how Ruby and I missed her last time that we were here too.

ROUX: Come on! Who’s next?!

When I came to the end of the hallway, still hidden in the shadow of it, I could see Roux standing in the center of the ring. Her back was to me, and she was focused on a group scattered across the benches on the opposite side of the ring from me. I recognized several of them as the same students that I had stepped in the ring with during my time here. I had pulled a few punches with them, but now that I know what they had been hiding from me, I regretted not putting them out of their misery months ago. They probably had a good laugh about it after we left.

COURT: I’ll go a few rounds with you if that’s what you’re really looking for.

She didn’t even have to turn around to know who I was, although the sound of my voice made a few of the others sit up a little straighter and pay more attention. If they wanted to learn the same lesson I was about to teach the woman in the ring, I was happy to teach it to them.

ROUX: Oh look! She does remember where she came from! Last time she was here it was like she forgot where the real training took place.

It grew a laugh from the crowd, and I couldn’t help but be a little impressed as I came out of the hallway and stepped up to the stairs at the edge of the ring.

COURT: Is that what you told yourself the whole time you were hiding out back here hoping that I didn’t find out?

There were ‘ohhs’ from some of the on-lookers but I could tell that this wasn’t exactly going to be the kind of room that I could win over. It told me more than Roux was ever going to about her ability in the ring. I couldn’t believe anything she said, and I wasn’t going to take my wife’s word for it either. However, the fact that people she shared a ring with on a daily basis weren’t won over by my presence meant that all of the money in the room wasn’t on me walking out the winner of this.

ROUX: If I didn’t want you to find out, I wouldn’t have started messing with your precious little trainees at their events. It was more like I was disappointed that it was taking so long. I was letdown that you were in the other fucking room for almost a week and never once tried to look at what was really happening in the gym. I hear all these epic fucking stor--

I took off my jacket and hung it on the ring post before stepping into the ring. I saw some of the student’s eyes light up the moment that I cut her off, possibly surprised that I was even willing to stand in the ring with Roux. I was becoming more and more curious if she could live up to the expectations now.

COURT: Yeah, well I never asked for anyone to talk about me, and I definitely never invited any of you to walk down the same path that I did. I guess if I cast such a big fucking shadow, maybe you should have tried a little harder to stay out of it.

She shook her head, and even took a step back so that I had space to meet her at the center of the ring without fear of being blindsided.

ROUX: The only thing I ever wanted was your attention.

Everyone around the ring had risen from the benches, and started to make their way to the apron for a better view of whatever was about to happen.

COURT: For what? So we could pretend that we are something that we aren’t? You might get to walk around with the same last name, but we aren’t a thing.

Again, she nods in agreement with me, as if none of the words packed even the slightest sting.

ROUX: Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear.

I took a step towards her, but she was done retreating. Instead of backing down, she was going to try and throw it back in my face. Maybe she hadn’t been hiding back here like I thought. Now that we were eye-to-eye it looked like she was more than happy to fight.

ROUX: No! I get it. You know, at the advanced age of twelve I was totally at fault for two people I’d never even met wanting another child. It was my fault they got their hands on a file with my name on it. I’m sorry that they picked me. What was I fucking thinking?

It was my turn to laugh and offer her a shrug of my shoulders.

COURT: Playing the victim?

I thought that would be enough to get her to take the first shot, but she smirked, and had a single word for me.

ROUX: Yours.

I should have known better, but the way it came out of her mouth got the better of me. I took a step forward, but she knew what I was going to do. She slapped my fist out of the air, and then caught my leg mid-kick and pinned it to her side with one arm before diving forward and hitting me with an elbow that I had no chance to block. She fell on top of me, but before I could push myself up she wrenched my arm and pressed my face into the mat before getting close enough that even the people at ringside might not have caught her words.

ROUX: You never once considered how much they wished that I was you, and I couldn’t ever live up to that. Because of you, I never even had anyone to talk to about it. You never thought I would understand how you felt, or that I felt the same way about it. You could have hated them anyways. You didn’t have to blame me for it either. I never asked for any of it, and you’ve treated me like the stranger that lived down the hallway.

I yelled out, before finally fighting my way up off of the mat, forcing her weight off of me and creating a little space between us.

COURT: I didn’t owe you anything!

I turned towards her, but she was waiting with a second elbow to the same spot that the first one landed. I was already seeing two of her, and I definitely tried to block the wrong one. I stayed on my feet for just a second, and she shrugged at me again.

ROUX: Then I don’t owe you an explanation for being here either.

She grabbed me around the neck, and in an instant, drove me face-first into the mat. Everything after that went a little fuzzy, but I clearly remember hearing two words after hitting the mat but before everything faded out.

ROUX: Good talk.


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>COURTside: Five More Words

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”Ariana thinks that I made this personal when I tried to break her hand…”

”That alone should tell you how out of element she is. This didn’t become personal just a few weeks ago. Don’t make me fucking laugh. This has been personal since the moment that I convinced you to stop crying in your fucking pillow and fight like you meant it. This was personal long before Ruby ever stepped up onto the apron during our match. This was personal before you spent months shitting all over Jet City every chance that you got. I was the one that inspired you to finally stop feeling sorry for yourself. I was the one that caused you to have this great resurgence, and become a champion. Yet, you had to do all of that without ever having to actually beat me. I got to lose our match, and get handed a consolation prize, but the way that I made you feel never went away.”

”That is the reason that you inserted yourself into my rematch with Julianna. We both know that it doesn't really have anything to do with my wife. We both know that it has very little to do with your championship. The fact that it is on the line just means that there are rules in place that make sure that the two of us aren't going to go too far. It almost makes me wish that the prize they gave you was in the Roulette Division, because they feels like something that would be more our speed. When you inserted yourself into my rematch for MY Bombshell World Championship, there weren't any rules. When we traded attacks backstage there weren't any fucking rules. When I almost did to your hand what fate did to mine five years ago, there weren't any rules....”

”The only think that the Bombshell Internet Championship guarantees is that we are both going to walk out of this match to fight another day. There is going to be a code of conduct that almost makes certain that we are going to have to do this all over again. I don't expect that beating you without my wife at ringside is going to make that fire inside of you burn out. I don't think that pinning your shoulders to the mat is going to be enough to put you in your place. I damn sure don't think that taking your championship and being one step closer to being a Grand Slam Champion in this company is going to leave you as battered and broken as you deserve to be for sticking your face into my business.”

”This is personal because you could have chosen to walk away. You could have let me be. It is almost like you wanted me to come and embarrass you on the last show of the year so that people wouldn't go into next year confused about where your place in this company is. The moment that you laid a hand on me, you were making sure that I knew that I hadn't succeeded in burying you yet. You made yourself part of the unfinished business that I need to take care of before becoming the Forever Bombshell World Champion.”

”December 2 Dismember is just going to be the opening paragraph in the next chapter in my career. It is my first step towards being enshrined in the history of this company for all time. I had one more thing to my resume, and when you manage to dust yourself up, and carry yourself to the back at the end of the night, just know that I will be more than happy to do it all over again. I will give you the third attempt that you accused me of chasing Julianna for. I will give you a chance to see how good that Bombshell Internet Championship looks around my waist up close and personal. And I will happily bounce it off your fucking face until you realize that you'll never get to touch it again until the time comes that I grow bored with it.”

”When I was the Bombshell World Champion I went way too easy on you, and you have come back to haunt me. I won't ever make that mistake again. From now on, everyone that steps into the ring with me doesn't get back up, and if they do, it just means that we aren't done yet. I am done being a mentor, or a face of the future. I am just going to start breaking people until I am the very last one standing. Maybe at that point you all would have realized that you shouldn't have pushed me.”

”Then again, maybe even that is giving you too much credit....”


6
Supercard Archives / Re: ARIANA ANGELOS (c) v COURTNEY PIERCE - INTERNET TITLE
« on: December 09, 2023, 12:35:35 PM »
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Backup
HAWAII - Mikah’s Gym
4th DECEMBER 2023
OFF-Camera

I felt like I had been in a freefall since losing the Bombshell World Championship. I had grand designs for how I was going to end my year by beginning my second reign with a bang. Because of Ariana, that didn’t end up being the life I am leading. She ruined my plans, created this nightmare, and let Julianna escape with what was mine. I may have lost my way entirely if Ariana hadn’t given me a clear and obvious target for retribution at the same time. My plans to celebrate being at the top of the mountain to end the year got twisted and warped into blueprints on how I was going to dissect Ariana and end this problem once and for all. However, week-after-week exchanging our best shots at vulnerable moments might be good for ratings, but having to be on edge from the beginning to the end of every single event was draining. That wasn’t the way I wanted to walk into an opportunity for any championship, even if it wasn’t the one that I really wanted. I needed a breath of fresh air before December 2 Dismember.

Mikah’s little “Showcase” event was a cheap and easy way to get my mind off of things for a few days. Mikah was trying to put together something with the former students of Jet City showing off to attract some new blood for her gym. There would be booths, and autograph signings, but also a few of us stepping into the ring with one another in a half-serious manner just to show off what we could do. It was all about being flashy enough to get someone to sign away their life and all of their money to the gym. Since there was a break between Climax Control and the Supercard, several of us took her up on the offer. After all, we were just in it to have a little fun before our big matches.

RUBY: So I did have an idea since you’ll basically be walking into the arena alone…

On one hand, I could understand why she was being so adamant that I not come into December 2 Dismember alone; that was the whole point of forming her group to begin with. Neither of us were ever going to be alone and vulnerable ever again, and we would ride that wave back to the top. The details of all of it didn’t matter to me, because she made me laugh, and the group made her happy. On the other hand, I have always been more than capable of handling my own business. I had already explained this to my wife over several of these video calls since the moment I left home.

COURT: The only person that I need to worry about is Ariana, and she is going to be standing across the ring from me. She can’t sneak up on me from right in front of my face. I’ll be fine. We’ve been through this.

That series of words had come out of my mouth so often in the last week that they were beginning to sound rehearsed. For some reason, she was still refusing to actually hear them though.

RUBY: Eiley is going to be busy, and even though she said she would, she hasn’t really totally thrown in with us….

I sigh, knowing that she was going to tell me her idea no matter how much I tried to protest. She was constantly telling me that I wasn’t allowed to say no until after I at least heard her out.

COURT: She has her own championship to go win. And even if she wasn’t busy I--

Apparently my words were so well rehearsed that she was able to cut me off and finish the sentence for me.

RUBY: You don’t need any help. I know. It would just make me feel better if someone was there to make sure that nothing unsavory happens to cost you yet another opportunity. A lot of that seems to be going around lately. It’s never a bad idea to have another set of eyes out there.

She had a way of making it all sound so innocent, even though we both knew what she actually meant. The problem was, she couldn’t understand how all of that just becomes too much of a distraction to ever be worth it. It was her interference in Ariana’s first match against me that created this whole situation. If I wanted it to be over, I had to show up alone. Taking her championship away from her was just a bonus.

COURT: Even if you were right, and I am not saying that you are, there isn’t anyone that I can trust to go out there with me. It can’t just be anyone, because then they become more of a distraction than anything else. It can backfire in my face. It’s an unnecessary risk. I can beat her by myself. I have beaten her by myself.

She shakes her head immediately to correct me.

RUBY: You had me out there with you last time.

I knew what she was going to say, and it still drove me absolutely insane that she said it, especially because it was the same excuse Ariana kept giving for costing me my rematch for the championship that actually means something in this company.

COURT: I didn’t need you out there, because I had it handled all by myself.

I stop myself short of what I actually want to say. I didn’t want to cause an argument over something Sin City related. I know that she is just trying to help in the only way that she knows how.

RUBY: ....but there is someone that would definitely have your back if you would just give her a chance…

The way she was just stepping over my wishes in order to get me to listen to her pitch was irritating, but it kind of came with the territory. In order to get her way, she was extremely capable of bothering people into caving. I wasn’t immune to that. I just found it slightly more amusing than others, especially when it wasn’t directed at me. Sometimes you hate what you love about a person.

COURT: Give who a chance?

I should know better than to play the game and ask. When her eyes light up, it is like I have given her permission to voice whatever terrible idea is going to come out of her mouth. Even if I hated it, technically, I asked her for it.

RUBY: You already know who…

Realizing why she had so-far refused to give me a name, I could my cheeks flush with color as my blood pressure shot through the roof.

COURT: No.

That was the only word that I trusted myself to get out without elaboration. I have seen the account floating around on social media, but I wasn’t going to give her the attention that she wanted from me.

RUBY: She’s better than you gi--

I cut her off. It wasn’t something that I considered to be up for debate.

COURT: She’s a child, and she should figure out something else to do with her life.

The two of us have had this argument before. She had even pointed out that people said the same thing about me when I was first starting out, which only made me angrier. It wasn’t the same situation, and we weren’t the same person.

RUBY: She’s nineteen, and has been busting her ass to get to a point where she would even consider asking you for any kind of help.

If she knew what was good for her, she wouldn’t ask me for anything at all, and my wife should have known that. I go through great lengths to separate myself from the undeserving people that want a place in my life. Apparently the person that should best understand that had been busy disrespecting those boundaries.

COURT: ....and the only way that you would know that was if you were already talking to her about it.

The awkward pause after the accusation told me everything that I needed to know before she could respond.

RUBY: It’s the holidays, Court! People usually talk to each other around this time of year. They check in with each other. It came up.

It was infuriating that she was making it sound like I was the one crossing a line, but I know blowing up about it wouldn’t solve anything.

COURT: It shouldn’t have. I don’t want her anywhere near me. I don’t want anyone there. I’m finally gonna get my hands on Ariana inside a ring where there won’t be anyone there to break it up. I don’t need anyone trying to split my focus.

She was ready and waiting for that argument though, because the words were barely out of my mouth before she was countering them.

RUBY: It’s not just Ariana. It could be Tempest trying to take away your opportunity before you ever make it to the ring just to get even with you. Why not bring someone along that would do absolutely anything to impress you? It sounds like a win-win.

My eyes roll, which I knew I would hear about later after this argument was behind us. The patience that I have for this conversation is waning though, and she’s not even listening to what I am saying.

COURT: We don’t like each other! That sure doesn’t sound like a win to me! This isn’t something that you need to be meddling in.

I was hoping she would just drop it, but so far that message wasn’t sinking in.

RUBY: No Court, you can’t stand her for some reason. That’s not the same thing.

It’s not like that, but I don’t exactly have the time to sit and explain it to her for the dozenth time either.

COURT: I have plenty of reasons to not like her, and even more to not even care about her existence at all. I don’t see why everyone is always trying to force it.

She puts up her hands as if to express her innocence even though she was the one making the case for bringing a reckless child with me to a championship match.

RUBY: I’m not trying to force anything. It was just a suggestion. I didn’t want you to have to go alone if you didn’t have to.

I laugh, my annoyance finally spilling over.

COURT: I don’t have to. I want to.

She shrugs in response, and adjusts in her chair to wrap her arms around herself. Her defensive posture was more than enough to tell me that the conversation was over.

RUBY: Understood. So are you alrea--

A loud crash from a much busier area of the gym draws my attention away from the screen. People are already circling up around the disturbance, but I am able to see both Eiley and Oz in the center of whatever it was that was going on. The last thing that any of us need is the two of them doing something to set Mikah off, so I get up from my seat and look back at the screen momentarily.

COURT: I gotta go… The children are causing some kind of scene.

I see my wife sit forward in her seat and bring the camera back up to her face. Her eyes widen, and she tries to start a few different thoughts. I hold up a finger to tell her to give me a second before sliding the phone into my back pocket.

RUBY: What?! Wait!! COURT WA--!

I can hear her still trying to get my attention from my pocket as I make my way through the crowd, but she could wait a few minutes to make me feel bad for not being more accepting of her offer. When I finally break through the crowd to the center where Eiley has a fan twisted around by her arm with a handful of her hair, just inches away from slamming her face into a table.

COURT: What’s going on? 

Eiley takes her eye off of her adversary for just a moment and the girl is able to reach back and twist Eiley’s wrist. She powers herself away from the table, and when Eiley tries to force her back down, the girl takes a big step up onto the table and flips backwards overtop of Eiley before shoving the former champion into the table.

ROUX: Just having a little fun is all.

I didn’t even have to see her face, and now I knew what my wife was undoubtedly attempting to confess to me before I put the phone down. The moment her voice hit my ears the dam broke and everything that I was holding in came out. I take a swing at her, which she is able to duck. She throws a right hand of her own that I catch in the palm of my hand. Instinctively she attempts to throw another punch with her free arm, but I manage to snag her by the wrist and halt her momentum. She leans in to attempt to headbutt me but is cut off by a knee to her ribs that finally stops her from thinking she could fight her way out of it.

OZ: You two know each other?

She doesn’t look up to meet my eyes, which gives me an odd sense of satisfaction. I was right when I said she needed to find something else to do with her life.

COURT: If she knew me at all, she’d have known better than to show up here. 

Roux pulls her arms away, and pushes her way through the crowd before disappearing back into one of the locker rooms. The crowd starts to disperse now that the action is over, but most probably thought that it was all part of the show.



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>COURTside: Retribution

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”This was not what I wanted for Christmas….”

As the scene opens up, we see Court sitting sideways in an oversized chair with her legs crossed and draped over the armrest. She is looking up high on the wall and the camera pans over to see that there is a poster for December 2 Dismember hanging in her eye line. Bella Madison and Julianna DiMaria are heavily featured on one side, while J2H and Alexander Raven take up most of the other. Court, in name only, is featured in an off-center listing of the smaller matches on the card and clearly isn’t happy about not being one of the featured athletes.

”This isn’t what I asked for. This isn’t where I saw myself standing two months ago. But then I lost at High Stakes. After that, I lost at Climax Control, twice. It doesn’t matter if I blame Ariana for one of those, and Mercedes for another. This isn’t where I wanted to be. This isn’t what I wanted to be doing, and Ariana wasn’t even supposed to be on my radar anymore.”

The camera pulls away from her to show that the chair she is in sits in the center of a wrestling ring, however nobody was going to be competing in it anytime soon. Behind her, taking up one of the corners was a fully decorated Christmas tree, and everything except for a small pathway to the front of her chair was piled a foot high with snow.

”Nothing has really gone my way since losing the Bombshell World Championship, and that’s the one part of all of this that I can’t blame on anyone else. I was the one that came up short at High Stakes. If that never happens, then Ariana doesn’t have any reason to get involved in my rematch on Climax Control. I never have to step into the ring with Harper, because it is beneath me. I wouldn’t have had to spend the last month trading cheap shots with someone that I thought was already in my rearview mirror. Regardless of what happened after High Stakes, none of this happens without that first misstep, and that is my fault. I take responsibility for that, and I can’t change it.”

It seemed like it pained her to admit that rectifying her off night at High Stakes was going to have to be put on the back burner for a while. She takes her legs off of the armrest of the chair and sits up, squaring herself to the camera.

”...at least not until after I take care of the world’s biggest pain in my ass first.”

With those words, her entire demeanor changed. Where at first she had simply sounded disappointed, now there was something more sinister in her voice.

”And I understand that me being the Bombshell World Champion is just a memory at this point, but I still have to bring it up because that is what all of this is about. Ariana could have moved on once she won the Internet Championship. I even congratulated her on picking up a consolation prize after falling short of beating me. I assumed that she could open up a new chapter in her career and leave me out of it. But it wasn’t enough for her. The championship belt around her waist didn’t fill the void that losing to me carved out of her. She had to step in and cost me the Bombshell World Championship when it was in my fingertips.”

She winces, as if even the memory of losing the rematch against Julianna was painful. However, the expression is only on her face for a moment before she forces it away.

”She didn’t have to do that. This could have been over. She could have been fed a handful of easy opponents and soon enough people would have forgotten that she fell short when my championship was the goal. I could have kicked off my second reign, and been the forever champion that I envisioned. Everything could have worked out for the both of us, and all Ariana had to do was walk away and stay away.”

She tries to keep her composure, but loses it a little. She shakes her head, but raises her voice anyway and glares into the camera incensed.

”...and look at the road that she chose instead! She thought it was bad when I broke her nose, but how is her hand holding up!? We’re only a couple of weeks removed from Ariana not being cleared to compete because of that injury! Is anyone delusional enough to think that she is going to be 100% for this defense?! Was that not enough of a lesson for her?! What does she think I am going to do when that bell rings, huh? How many times do we think I’ll have to stomp that hand before it’s so mangled that the referee has to stop the match?! How long does anyone think she can stop me from picking her apart when she is walking into the ring already wounded?!”

She stops long enough to take a breath, but stays focused on the injury with a scowl on her face.

”A hand injury is something that I know a little bit about as well. Kris Ryans taught me that lesson after I won the Blast from the Past tournament. It took months for my hand to heal. It took even longer for the strength to come back. Some Days, it still doesn’t quite feel normal though, and it’s been five years. That’s time that Ariana doesn’t have right now. There’s only a little over a week before she’s going to hand over her consolation prize before I do some damage to her that she isn’t going to be able to compete through.”

With the threats out of her system, the former champion seems to regain a little bit of her composure. She straightens herself up in the chair, and takes a deep breath before making another slight concession.

”I know that people are going to be disappointed that I don’t hold the championship that we are fighting over in high enough regard. There are going to be people disappointed that it seems like being the Bombshell Internet Champion is an afterthought in this match. Honestly, it is. For Ariana and I, this match is about so much more than a title belt. This isn’t about business. This is personal. The championship is secondary. I was blunt about the fact that after being the Bombshell World Champion for 147 days, doing anything else was going to feel like a step back. Now I look at the card, and I see the matches that are going on after this one, and I can see just how far the two of us have fallen now that the Bombshell World Championship has slipped away. A few months ago, we would have been the main event. If this were a champion versus champion match, maybe we still would be. Ariana’s actions on that first Climax Control after High Stakes messed that up for the two of us though. Now we have to settle for a position on the card that is beneath us. We have to settle for a championship that neither of us really wanted….”

It may have been harsh, but the Jet City alumni has never been known for withholding an opinion just because it might rub people the wrong way.

”....and it’s for that reason that I am going to tear her apart.”

”I am going to walk into December 2 Dismember alone, and I am going to unleash all of this frustration that I have been holding back for the last six months. I am going to do all of the things that security stopped me from doing to Ariana backstage. I won’t be satisfied with beating her, my goal is to erase her existence in this company altogether. I want the history books to forget about her. I don’t want to shorten her career in this match, I want to end it outright, because that is what costing me the Bombshell World Championship felt like. She inserted herself into my new perfect beginning, and caused this two-month long nightmare to continue. If beating the life out of her is what it is going to take for her to finally learn to leave me alone, then so be it. If Sin City is going to hand me another championship for doing so, then that’s just the cherry on top.”

”But I don’t want to see any of you pitying her once the bell rings. I don’t want to hear crying for me to leave her alone. Ariana asked for this over and over and over again. She had so many chances to just walk away, and couldn’t do it. She has stalked me over social media. She has cost me opportunities, and she has absolutely earned the way that I am going to put her back into her place. The last time we fought I said she wasn’t ready to take on the responsibility of being a champion, and she has gone on to prove my point.”

”Champions shouldn’t have the time to screw others out of opportunities. Instead of being so focused on what I was doing, she should have been worrying about creating something out of her own division. Instead, Ariana has dragged me down to her level, and now everyone that had eyes for the Bombshell Internet Championship is going to have to make other plans. I have been preparing myself to shoulder the burden of carrying the entire Bombshell division on my back. I have been stressing out about carrying my weight in weekly main events against the absolute best that this company has to offer. I had my sights on being the champion of champions, and instead Ariana has opened the door for me to dominate a group of up-and-comers after I take her championship.”

”Maybe that’s for the best. I can show a whole new group of Bombshells that they should just hang up their boots and walk away before they are ever able to rise to top. I can save them the extra time and the added despair of making it to the main events only to fail. I can be a champion that makes the Internet Championship look intimidating for the first time in a long time. There’s been too many of these tiny little reigns back-to-back and now a once meaningful championship is taking a backseat to a personal matter.”

”...but my reign could change that. My reign could return the Internet Championship to its former glory. Even though it wasn’t on my to-do list for this year, maybe taking one step closer to eventually being a Triple Crown, or Grand Slam Champion in this company isn’t as big of a step back as I originally thought that it was. Maybe before taking another shot at the Bombshell World Championship, I should go ahead and round out the rest of my Hall of Fame resume. That way, by the time I am back in the main events, my position as one of this company’s all-time greats is undeniable. Maybe I should be thanking Ariana for pointing out that I should knock out all of the small things that this company has to offer before cementing my legacy as the forever Bombshell World Champion.”

Court flashes a wide smile at the camera, the first one we have seen from her since before her match at High Stakes.

”My goals in this company have never, and will never change. However, it feels like I should be thanking Ariana for opening my eyes and showing me that I don’t always have to take the shortest path. I know where I am destined to end up in this company, and there is absolutely no reason that I shouldn’t savor every moment of the journey there. I can do things that I never would have imagined myself doing months ago, and still eventually get to where I want to be.”

”...and it all starts with slowly pulling Ariana apart until she can’t take it anymore. It’s a real shame that this match is going to have so many rules. I feel like it could have been a lot more fun without any, but I’ll have to make due. As long as she ends the night heartbroken and empty-handed, I’ll be able to enjoy myself.”

She stands from the oversized chair just as it starts to snow in the ring around her. She flashes a smirk at the camera with a shrug.

”Sorry not sorry.”


7
Climax Control Archives / COURTside: Haunted
« on: November 03, 2023, 11:47:49 PM »
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>COURTside: Forward.

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The crowd was still filtering out of the MGM Grand Garden Arena, but the backstage area couldn’t have been more busy. Stars from the roster littered the hallways causing stagehands to have to weave between cliques. The only part of the set not being taken down and packed away into crates was a small interview space. Against a black backdrop, and seated on by himself a couch, was Scott Oliver attempting to speak with anyone that would sit down with him. The only problem was that all the people that he wanted to talk to passed him by without a glance, and nobody could blame them. They had just spent hours putting on Sin City’s greatest show of the year. Now that the adrenaline was starting to subside, the couch next to Scott Oliver was empty. That was, until he noticed the chatter down the hallways go quiet. The sudden change caused him to look up, and he spotted the reason for the hushed silence.

Standing in front of him was the former Bombshell World Champion, Courtney Pierce. She still had the same scowl on her face that she had been wearing since coming back behind the curtain, and she sat down next to him without a word. When he looked at her dumbfounded, Court turned her attention to the camera, which seemed to snap him out of his daze. He made sure that the cameras were indeed rolling, and turned to his surprise guest with a forced smile plastered to his face. He cleared his throat, but she put up a hand in his face.

”Let me go ahead and cut you off before you make the mistake of wasting time beating around the bush. I know I didn’t give you the exclusive scoop or anything, but you’re probably just glad I am talking to you at all. You’re going to half-ass your way into asking me about the fact that I already named the time and place of my rematch against the new sham Bombshell World Champion.”

Scott’s expression changes and he seems to be about to defend the way that Julianna DiMaria beat Court for the championship, but she slaps the microphone out of his hand.

”It’s okay. You won’t be needing that. I can take it from here.”

Instead of turning back to the camera, she glares at him until he gets so uncomfortable with the situation that he removes himself from the frame and her sight. It was clear that the former champion had already gotten everything she required from him.

”It feels like you people expected me to throw some kind of fit. You thought that after my showing tonight, I would be pushed into another full-blown meltdown, right? You figured that there would be reports of me destroying the backstage area again, or scream-crying to Mark and Christian, right? Sorry to disappoint all of you.”

She shrugs her shoulders and raises both of her palms into the air in front of herself.

”There will be no bitching tonight. There’ll be no crying. I lost. That happened. I can’t do anything to change it, and I definitely deserved what I got. It’s already in the past though. Dwelling on it, or being upset about it now is just a waste of time. I have already lost too much time, and too many opportunities, to give anymore away willingly. High Stakes is behind us, and the Sin City year restarts anew on the next Climax Control. I am choosing to move forward with the new year, and the only way that I can do that is by walking out of the first Climax Control of this new cycle with MY Bombshell World Championship back where it belongs.”

She looks like she knows that the immediate rematch clause isn’t going to go over well, but it wasn’t enough to deter her. She had been there when Mikah had done the same thing and took her championship back from Crystal. At the time, and even for years after that, she had been angry with her mentor. She knew that she was about to become the subject of that same anger from every bombshell on the roster, but it didn’t matter.

”...and maybe that feels a little disrespectful to the woman that walked out of High Stakes with MY championship, but her feelings are none of my fucking concern. I don’t walk down to the ring in order to make friends. I do it to be the very best that this company has to offer. I came up short tonight on the biggest stage. I can own that, but I am still the woman that held the Bombshell World Championship for 147 days. I have dominated every single person that I have stepped into the ring with, except one. One off-night doesn’t invalidate my position in this company. One poor showing doesn’t outweigh the months where most were too afraid to utter my name backstage. One match doesn’t push me all the way back to the end of the line. I earned an opportunity for a rematch by carrying this division for months! And I did such an amazing job that I won the 2023 SCW Woman of the Year! There is no other contender. It’s me. Anyone that can’t understand that needs to grow the fuck up…”

She takes a deep breath, and tries to calm herself down before she breaks down and gives everyone what they expected to see.

”So, that’s why I am not going to wait for my rematch. Everyone knows that the Bombshell World Championship is going to be defended on a Climax Control whether I am in the match or not. It might not be the first one, but it was going to happen. I could have crossed my fingers, and hoped that Mark and Christian did the right thing. I could have waited for the “right time” or “right place” to make my move. However, I already have some experience being blown off for championship opportunities, and I couldn’t stomach Julianna being fed some subpar challenger in my place. This time I wasn’t willing to be passed over, and I wasn’t willing to wait. There is no reason for me to have to wait another six weeks or whatever in order to get back what everyone knows already belongs to me. I don’t need the biggest stages, or the flashiest lights in order to fight. Climax Control is fine for me. I don’t care if it seems too fast, or irrational. In this business you have to be selfish, and I have already watched an opportunity like this slip through my fingers because I took a backseat for a few weeks.”

”I can guarantee that I am going to be able to walk into Climax Control in fourteen days. I can guarantee that Julianna is going to be the one carrying my championship down to the ring for me. That sounds like as good of a place as any to put things back in their rightful places. As I have already said, doing anything else would feel like a step backwards. It is the Bombshell World Championship or bust for me. I wouldn’t feel right challenging one of the lesser champions. I have no interest in finding a partner. There is one thing for me to do in this company, and there is only one woman that I need to pummel to make it happen..”

Despite the fact that she had lost everything that was important to her just over an hour ago, a smirk forms in the corner of the former champion’s mouth. It spreads across her face until she is smiling at the camera, appearing to have found some of her missing confidence.

”Julianna admitted that when I won the Bombshell World Championship I was unstoppable. Back when I was on a mission to avenge all of the blemishes on my record, I was at the top of my game. Julianna was inspired to come to this company after watching me destroy people because I had something to prove. If she did anything at High Stakes, she woke that person up. I can admit that I got complacent. I can admit that after coasting through my first handful of opponents, and nobody coming close to being on my level, I got arrogant. I took my eye off the ball. I took weeks off. I put in time with the family. I closed my eyes and started enjoying the ride that I was on.”

She sighs, and shakes that feeling away. She didn’t have time for it. That was what got her into trouble in the first place.

”...and that’s exactly when it went off the rails. I won’t make that mistake again, and deep down, Julianna knows that. That’s why I didn’t go behind her back to make this happen. I didn’t have to run to Mark and Christian’s office to demand what I wanted in secret. I got on Julianna’s precious social media, and tagged the bitch carrying MY championship. I made sure she had no excuses, and couldn’t say she was surprised by it a week from now when they release the main event to the.public. I let everyone know that I was going to be at Climax Control to take my championship back no matter what anyone thought about it. Most importantly, I made my challenge directly in Julianna’s face, the way that she always wanted me to. So far, her silence on the matter has been deafening, but I don’t know…”

The smirk comes back to her face.

”...maybe she’s too busy planning her big victory celebration that she was so mad at me for not throwing after I beat Roxi. I can’t say that I blame her either. She’s only going to get one opportunity to do so, because it’s the only Climax Control she’ll ever walk into carrying MY title.”

She focuses on the center of the camera’s lens, and speaks slowly so that her next words have a chance to truly land.

”...and after that, it will almost be like she never won it at all.”




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24th October 2023
OFF-Camera

Adversity.

I’ve never been a fan. That’s kind of the point though, right? I guess I never bought into the line about it building you into something better. None of my injuries made me a better competitor. The reality of the situation was that I was much more limited today than I was the first time that I walked into a gym. Every obstacle has taken its pound of flesh, and I am made up only of what remains. The challenges hadn’t made me stronger. They hadn’t made me more resilient. They hadn’t motivated me to improve and overcome. Instead, the adversity simply tried, and failed, to beat something out of me that was too deeply ingrained. It put walls between me and the career that I desired, but it never changed me. As a sixteen year old, I walked into an autograph signing with Mikah Green with all of the same confidence that people see every week on Climax Control. It wasn’t something that I picked up along the way. I had already been turned away from every gym, and every notable trainer had already told me to fuck off. I still knew what I was going to do with my life though. See, everyone made the mistake of thinking that I was asking them for permission to join their industry. I wasn’t. I was telling them what was in my future and offering them a chance to be a part of it from the very start.

Mikah was the only one that saw the opportunity to train me for what it was. She got to attach her name to someone that was always inevitably going to make it to the top, and she would get to take the credit for it when my career paid off. But the same thing that brought us together was the thing that eventually ripped us apart. Just two years later, Mikah became the source of all the adversity I faced. I was ready to join Blast from the Past, and she did everything in her power to keep me out of it. I thought it was because she was the Bombshell World Champion, and was just trying to hang onto the spotlight for a little bit longer. She didn’t want me to show up and threaten her position, so she pulled the rug out from under me. Instead of helping, she sent me away to Jet City.

Of course, I won the tournament anyway. I proved her wrong. I proved that I was ready, and that after two years together, she had turned into just another obstacle like everyone else. I didn’t want to waste my time by slowing down, so she decided that she was going to stop wasting her time on me. It didn’t help that she lost her championship moments after I won the tournament. I was on top of the world, and she was at one of her lowest points. And since Mikah wasn’t the champion anymore, it meant that she needed me to step aside so that she could get back what was hers. She needed to be the first challenger, and it didn’t matter what I had earned. For a long time I thought that she was the only person that really understood me, only for her to kick me to the curb, and then step overtop of me. She became the embodiment of all of the people that didn’t want me to succeed, and that ate at me for the next five years.

COURT: I get it.

It was only three words, but each of them was impossibly difficult to force out of my mouth. It didn’t matter that I had flown hundreds of miles to be able to say them in person. It didn’t matter that I had spent days playing out all of the possible outcomes of this conversation in my head.. I lost more sleep over those simple words than I had about losing MY Bombshell World Championship. And as much as I hated adversity, it had nothing on admitting that I was wrong.

MIKAH: It’s about time.

I wished that she would have laughed me out of the building. That somehow would have been easier to hear. She didn’t raise her voice, and she didn’t even seem bothered by the fact that it took me so long to finally see things from her perspective.

COURT: It’s the first thing that I’ve ever lost…

She rolled her eyes, and immediately dismissed my words.

MIKAH: It wouldn’t matter if it was the 10,000th thing that you lost. You’ve wanted that championship from the moment that you decided that you wanted to step into the ring….

Her words drove a much larger knife into an already open wound. I nodded, unable to raise my eyes up to meet her gaze.

COURT: Yeah…

There was no mistaking the sound of defeat in my voice, but she wasn’t going to allow me to sulk.

MIKAH: Show me someone that feels good after losing, and I’ll show you a loser. Sure, it probably sucks more for you because you’ve been chasing the championship that I made famous for like… forever….

Not to mention that my pursuit of it was what had driven a wedge in between us in the first place.

COURT: ...and now I realize that there isn’t anyone that I wouldn’t step in front of, walk over, or choke out to get it back.

I forced my head up, so that I could look her in the eyes as I said the words. She deserved as much since it took me so long to finally grow up.

MIKAH: I have some experience with that.

She could have turned on the sarcasm, or kicked me while I was down. She didn’t though, and it made me hate that I had turned her into the villain of my story over something that never mattered.

COURT: I shouldn’t have taken that personally. It wasn’t about me.

She let out a deep sigh of relief, like a huge invisible weight had fallen from her shoulders. It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one that had been carrying it around for all these years.

MIKAH: Then losing to Julianna was a good thing, even though you’ll hate me saying that.

There it was. Adversity builds character. I still think it’s mostly bullshit, but I wasn’t in a position to argue. Had I won at High Stakes, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

COURT: Lesson learned.

A smile returned to her face, and I could tell that the time for letting me feel sorry for myself was over. She had pulled a few punches already, but now that I had gotten the near-apology out of my system she wasn’t going to be able to help herself.

MIKAH: Again, it’s about time. You decided that you had nothing left to learn over five years ago, and have been coasting ever since!

Apparently winning Blast from the Past, and a Bombshell World Championship, was considered coasting, but it is not like I could really argue that with her. She had done both of those things as well, and so much more..

COURT: Well, my eyes are open now.

She nodded, and tapped her index finger on her bottom lip twice before appearing to be struck by an idea.

MIKAH: Then maybe I know someone that can help…



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26th October 2023
OFF-Camera

Asking for help is never easy. It has always felt like admitting that someone else was better than me. Even more than that, it meant that I still had more to learn. For a long time I couldn’t stomach that idea. I wanted to believe that I was the best. I wanted to think that anyone that told me that I had something left to learn was just making an excuse to hold me back. And it’s not like it was an assumption without evidence. From the very first time I stepped into the ring I outclassed everyone around me. I impressed Mikah back when she was widely considered to be the best that the Bombshell division would ever see. I ran circles around everyone that came into Jet City, and eventually even their trainers had to admit that they could learn a thing or two from me. Eventually I took over for those people, and the work that I put in during that time has already produced champions.

But becoming the Bombshell World Champion was probably the worst thing that could have happened to me. For me, Roxi was just another person trying to take my dream away from me. She said all of the same things that I heard my entire career. When I won that match, it justified my beliefs and when I started running through everyone that they put in front of me, it went to my head. Every narcissistic thought that I ever had was validated each time that I stepped into the ring and dominated. I never thought that I could be knocked off the top of the mountain. I never prepared for the day that I would lose the Bombshell World Championship.

The illusion that I spent years crafting, shattered. Everything that I believed was flipped upside down. I couldn’t understand where I had gone wrong, because what happened at High Stakes had never once crossed my mind. The dream was that I was going to rise to the top of Sin City, and be the forever Bombshell World Champion. That was how things were supposed to be. Losing hadn’t ever been something that I had to consider, but as I was looking up at the bright lights of the MGM Grand Garden Arena, that didn’t matter. Whether or not I thought it was possible, it happened. The Bombshell World Championship was gone, and I was empty. The only thing I could think about was when I could get it back, and the things that I would do in order to make it happen. I thought about walking into the locker room and ripping it from Julianna’s hands after the show. I fought the urge to break something or someone just to vent the anger out of my system, and in doing so I knew what I had to do. Mikah had already shown me the path forward years before, even if I was too naive to understand. If the championship was something that I couldn’t live without, then I needed to do whatever it took to get it back as quickly as possible. Waiting was just going to cause me to lose even more sleep.

Patching things up with Mikah had been nice and all, but good vibes weren't going to return a championship to my waist. It’s not like she could offer much more than that in her current state either. She was still getting back to normal after inflicting her latest spawn on the world, and wasn’t ready to step back into a ring. I couldn’t go home, and I couldn’t go back to Jet City; not empty-handed. Yet, there wasn’t anyone else in Mikah’s gym that could challenge me. When I thought all was lost, it was my mentor that spotted the most obvious solution. There was really only one woman that everyone in Sin City is intimidated by. There was really only one person that could help me get to the level that I once thought I was already at.

Two days, and several hundred more miles after my conversation with Mikah, I found myself much more nervous about what I was going to have to do next. Fortunately, I also knew that there was no other way. If I didn’t push through by the time Climax Control came around, I would simply go out and fail all over again. I needed to leave my comfort zone. I needed to push myself in a way that I had been too afraid to admit was possible. This was the only place that I was going to be able to do that.

AMBER: Eleven days is a long time. You might not make it to Climax Control in one piece.

The last time the two of us were in the ring together, Amber Ryan tore me apart, and retained the Bombshell World Championship just like everyone knew that she would. I spent a long time trying to pretend that I couldn’t see the difference in talent between the two of us. However, when her voice startled me out of my thoughts, it couldn’t have been more obvious. I was nervous to simply be in her presence. The gnawing thoughts in the back of my mind were screaming that I should run before I made myself look like a joke next to her. I couldn’t listen to them though. I forced them to be silent. She might have thought it was a long time, but I couldn’t help feeling like eleven days didn’t leave me even a second to waste.

COURT: I can’t come up short again.

My words drew a slight furrow in her brow and a vague curiosity. A crinkle in the bridge of her nose that suggested a sense of amusement as she motioned for me to follow her.

AMBER: You won’t.



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>COURTside: Nightmares

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The Halloween season had ended, but somehow that made the former Bombshell World Champion’s surroundings even spookier than they would have been otherwise. Court Pierce was dressed in all black, like she came to this dilapidated house straight from a funeral. The patchwork walls around her were covered in red graffiti, and none of its messages were pleasant. Dancing flames from within several Jack-O-Lanterns were the only source of light within the halls, causing the shadows Court cast to shimmy around her as she moved down the hallway.

”A couple of days ago this place was full of people working, and others that paid to show up simply to enjoy the season. This was a place of excitement, with a line halfway around the block. Yet, in a couple more days, it will all be gone and forgotten. We’ll start talking about November feasts, and snow-capped presents. This horror show will be but a memory.”

As she moved, she ran the tips of her fingers along the wall, and even smiled at several of the more hostile messages she passed.

”I can’t help but be a little jealous. Spooky season might be over, and most people are already moving on, but our collective Sin City nightmare lives on. Julianna is walking around with the Bombshell World Championship for at least another couple of days, andI know that I am not the only one that is bent out of shape about that. As abrasive as I can be, at least people know that Sin City is exactly where I want to be. Right now we have a champion of the Bombshell division that has yet to even acknowledge that I am challenging her at the next show. I made the challenge, and it has been crickets since. The match was made official, and we still haven’t heard a peep. She hasn’t been celebrating her championship win. She hasn’t been cashing in on her momentum from High Stakes.Instead, she has already talked about moving on to some other company and winning their title. It’s been almost two weeks, and she hasn’t had shit to say about Sin City, or the Bombshell World Championship since the moment she won it. Need I remind all of you that this is the person that gave me shit for taking the same amount of time off to let her establish herself as a true contender to MY championship?”

”It’s a fucking joke, and I tried to tell everyone that this would happen if she won. She doesn’t bleed SCW like I do. The championship she wears around her waist is nothing more than a prop. She doesn’t care about this company, and that is what makes us very, very different people. This is the only place that I have ever wanted to be. The Bombshell World Championship is the only thing that I have ever chased after. I’m not splitting time in multiple companies. I’m not hyping up the possibilities of winning titles elsewhere, and forgetting about the one that I am chasing here. My focus is here, and now. That’s what being the champion of our division is all about.”

” I have been replaying the events of High Stakes over-and-over again in my head trying to figure out how it all went so spectacularly wrong. It has been on my mind non-stop for twelve days, no matter what I try to do in order to keep myself busy or prepare myself for what lies ahead. It wakes me up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. But the difference between my nightmares, and the one that existed here is that solving my problems won’t be as easy as the calendar turning over to a new month. If I want to be free from mine, I have to fill the void that was left inside of me when High Stakes went off the air. If I want the terror to end, I have to go reclaim what we all know that I should have never lost. That thought has driven me to push myself further than I ever have, and ask for help in the most unlikely of places. The pit in my stomach has been gnawing at me for twelve long days, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Salvation is just around the corner, and maybe I will be able to put all of this negativity behind me after just two more sleepless nights.”

”Although I should be glad that my nightmare is a whole lot different from a place like this. Haunted houses are full of actors, not real monsters. They have rules, and codes of conduct. They try to keep the fights to a minimum, and force people to buy-in to their false reality. I don’t have those kinds of limitations. At Climax Control, I am walking into a Street Fight, where absolutely anything goes, and I am doing so because I reject the results from High Stakes. I won’t buy-in on their sham champion, and the fact that she took possession of what we all know is mine means that this ‘match’ was always just going to be a fight. Throwing out the rulebook was supposed to be some kind of punishment, but instead it feels like Mark and Christian have taken off my handcuffs. I get to do whatever it takes to take back what is mine, and there is absolutely nothing that anyone can say or do to stop me. There aren’t any rules for me to break. There aren’t any codes to consider. If everything goes, it means I am truly free to do what I need to in order to make sure that Julianna never wants to challenge me ever again.”

”I have had to live with being haunted by my mistake for nearly two weeks now, but it is nothing compared to how the beating I give to Julianna is going to haunt her for the rest of her life. I am going to make sure that she has one of the most pathetic Bombshell World Championship reigns of all time. I am going to embarrass her in front of a crowd that wishes she would just fuck off to any of the other companies that employ her. I am going to raise my hand in victory, and end this nightmare once and for all.

Count on it.”


8
Supercard Archives / Re: COURTNEY PIERCE (c) v JULIANNA DIMARIA - WORLD BOMBSHELL TITLE
« on: October 20, 2023, 11:54:05 PM »
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>COURTside: Change of Heart

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”I feel like I can respect the hustle of just about everyone backstage in Sin City….”

”Sure, there’s people that I don’t like. There’s even more that don’t like me. There’s people that care too much about what the crowd thinks about them. There’s too many that demand championship matches for free. There are people on this roster that are clearly just here to collect a paycheck, and others that I can truly tell have an unrivaled passion for this business. There are heroes. There are villains. There are countless different ‘codes’ or ideologies about what people are willing to do in order to make it in this business, and for the most part, they are all valid. People don’t have to do things the way that I do them in order to make something of themselves in this business. If everyone was just like me it would get awfully boring around here, and for that reason, I can find a reason to appreciate all of the unique ways that people handle their business. Although I guess that’s not without exception…”

”...because the truth is there are people that I genuinely can’t stand. There is a particular style that I refuse to tolerate. There are people in this business that don’t have a spine or a real fucking thought in their head. There are people that say whatever needs to be said in order to make themselves sound good; even if they said the total opposite the week before. It’s these fickle, hateful-to-be-edgy, loudmouth bitches that really get under my skin, and not for the reasons they want to. They pretend like there aren’t people following along. They act as if we can’t see the blatant contradictions. Worst of all, they come out of nowhere like roaches in the night, kick around Sin City for a while, and then fuck off forever without ever doing anything but wasting everyone’s time.”

”Julianna loved me before this week, and I’ve never even really met the bitch other than the time I officiated her match. She gave me the credit for getting her to join this company. She was favoriting everything that I had to say about Roxi back when I beat her for the championship. She told Ariana that she had no hope of beating me, because I am at the very top of my game, and there are very few that can compare to me. That was just a few weeks ago. But just like all of you, I found out this week that she doesn’t think that anymore. I found out that because we have a match with one another, all of a sudden I am some kind of scourge on the Bombshell division. I have gone from the savior that she was waiting for, to the person she needs to eliminate, all in the course of just a few shows.”

”It’s enough to give a person whiplash…”

”...but we have to remember who it is we are talking about here. This is the same person that spent so much time bitching about the fact that I occasionally post random thoughts on social media without tagging people, but subtweeted at me that I was taking up too much time on Climax Control. This is the person that says I need to bring my concerns to her face, but spent months talking shit about Roxi on social media all whilst having her blocked so she couldn’t see it. Yet, a few tweets without Julianna’s name on them were apparently across the line? Give me a fucking break.”

”The real reason that she is upset is that she is desperate for my attention. She saw the way that I turned Ariana into a star everytime we stepped into the ring together. We went at each other on the microphone. We scuffled on several occasions and it even dragged on longer than just our match at the last supercard. Ariana went from a girl that was crying under her bed about having to face the Bombshell World Champion, to a wannabe badass that tried to step up to me. It might not have gone Ariana’s way, and it may have also gotten her nose broken, but it definitely got people to notice her. It got people to pay attention to someone that they had written off. It made The Greek Angel worth watching, even if just for a few weeks.”

”...but Julianna opened her fucking mouth in what I have learned is the most super-duper disrespectful way possible: a subtweet. She made it sound like I was wasting people’s time by talking about her, and I agreed. I went home. I let her attempt to stand on her own two feet, and what happened? She spent last week bitching and moaning about the fact that I wasn’t trying my best to turn her into the contender that people genuinely believed Ariana to be, even for just a night. Julianna thought that she was going to roll into High Stakes with me doing all of the heavy lifting, just like I’ve done for the list of contenders that came before her.”

”....but there’s a difference between Julianna and everyone else that I have faced up to this point and it is not all that hard to see. Ariana came up through the Underground. Devona came out of the GO Gym, and has been in this company as long as I have. Keira and Roxi are in the Hall of Fame. Each and every one of these women, whether I like them or not, have paid their fucking dues in this company. Our viewers have watched them grow up before their eyes. We have witnessed their accomplishments. There is a level of respect that I have for the people that helped put Sin City on the map, and the ones that have stuck it out during the shitty years.”

”None of them are loudmouthed outsiders that don’t know when to shut their fucking mouths. Julianna sounds less like a member of this roster, and more like the bitches that complain about the Blast from the Past tournament every year even though nobody ever asks them to join. She came into this company with a grudge against one of the biggest names in the history of Sin City, and ran her mouth like someone that was here to endure her stranglehold on the division. But she wasn’t. She sat at home until I finally ended Roxi’s time in the Bombshell World Championship picture. She waited to sign a contract until after Amber Ryan bailed. She bided her time until after Crystal and Mikah had moved onto other endeavors in life. Julianna was apparently recruited for years, even though none of us on the roster know who the hell she is, but things weren’t good enough for her until now. Does any of that actually make sense to anyone?”

”Why now Julianna?”

”You might have something negative to say about every single female that I just mentioned, I do too, but there is no challenging their place in the history of this company. If you’ve being recruited for so fucking long, why didn’t you show up to take on any of them? If you had such a fucking problem with Roxi, why did you wait for her to be broken down and at her weakest to finally sign a contract? Why did you wait until the last of the Old Guard was gone to show your face? And don’t hide behind the shit you were doing in other companies either. If they were so fucking awesome, you’d still be there. If their titles were so goddamn prestigious, you wouldn’t be chasing after mine.”

”If I had to guess, it  is because Sin City currently holds the shortest path to the top. I mean, Julianna’s pointed it out already. It isn’t impressive to her that I have beaten Roxi or Keira at this point in their careers. She doesn’t count Devona as a real challenge even though she won Blast from the Past. She thinks that Ariana is a joke. But who else is there? Nevermind the fact that her little undefeated streak is made up of Bea Barnhart and a handful of others that lose way more often than they win. Who is there on the roster that poses a significant threat to someone like me? Who is competing at the same level that I am? I look at the roster, and I don’t see anyone. Julianna looked at the roster and realized that from the moment she showed up, she would be Mark and Christian’s handpicked challenger. She might talk about how she won this opportunity from Ariana, but everyone knows the truth. Ariana was put in that match as a punishment for trying to insert herself into the championship picture. Christian said so himself. They had already made the plans for Julianna to square off with me, and the plans changed when I broke The Greek Goddess’ nose and she demanded a second chance at MY championship. The whole thing was an obvious sham, and I can say that because I was the referee. It wasn’t a contendership, it was a slaughter. It was a way to get an undesirable challenger out of the way so that Mark and Christian could get the marquee that they actually wanted for their biggest show of the year”

”There’s just one problem: they chose poorly.”

”Instead of picking someone that has taken the Sin City viewers on a ride over the years and could finally get what they are due on the biggest stage, they picked someone that would say or do whatever sounds good in order to take this spot. They picked someone that doesn’t stand for anything. They picked an attention-seeker without substance. And they picked an outsider, who is likely going to leave when things don’t go their way, although they will never shut up about Sin City for the rest of their miserable career. I have seen a dozen or more Bombshells like Julianna in my time with this company, and it always ends the exact same way.”

”Drama and disappointment, and like I’ve already made perfectly clear, I try to steer clear of getting any of that on me”

”I am the Bombshell World Champion because nobody has put me down from the moment that I came back. Not only that, but I have earned it over the years that I have busted my ass for this company. I am the best that this company has to offer because I stood toe-to-toe with the greats, and lived to fight another day. I didn’t pick the best possible time to try and steal my way to the top. I didn’t wait for all of the legends to fade out. I worked at it, and I kept working at it until I got everything that I ever dreamed about. There is no way that I am dropping this championship to some fickle bitch that clearly doesn’t understand what it stands for…”

”Sorry not sorry.”




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Distance
Las Vegas, Nevada  - MGM Grand SKYLOFT
18th October 2023
OFF-Camera


The week had been quiet; maybe a little too quiet. I had prepared myself to be anxious all week heading into the show. It would be crazy to think that I could feel any other way. This is the biggest stage that I have ever been on, and I was at the top of the card. Sunday was the dream becoming a reality. Perhaps it hadn’t really hit me yet, because I hadn’t stepped into the arena yet. Or maybe it was because I have spent my entire career having people tell me that this moment was going to be too big for me, but I was finding that I fit it like a glove. There wasn’t any imposter syndrome at play in the back of my mind. I deserved to be in the position that I was in for High Stakes, and there wasn’t anything or anyone that could change that.

So I wasn’t going to take any of it for granted.

Luckily, I was married to one of the few women in the world that actually understood where I was coming from. Prudence didn’t hold it against me that I was putting in extra hours. She hadn’t complained about the fact that I had become incredibly single-minded as the week went on. Not only was she supportive, she was an irreplaceable sparring partner inside the ring. She knew my style perfectly, and was always adapting her own to try and throw new things at me. Coming out of the same gym was another plus. We had the same expectations and standards when it came time to work. It was like the two of us were able to take Jet City with us anywhere that we could step inside the ring, with extra incentive to see each other succeed. Prudence was closer and closer to working her way all the way back from injury, and I was determined to become the greatest Bombshell World Champion of all time. High Stakes was our time.

COURT: I’m going to go on ahead and get warmed up! You can just meet me down there!

I called out to her on my way out the door and didn’t wait for a response. She had started to catch on to the fact that I kept waking up earlier each day in order to put in work before she came down. This morning she attempted to surprise me by beating me out of bed, not that it worked. When I was getting ready,  I closed the lock on her gym bag and it was going to take her a while to figure out that I had hidden the key. It bought me time to exhaust myself before she arrived. It was the only way I could simulate the way I would think and feel in the middle of the match at High Stakes. If my wife wasn’t worn down the way that I was when we first locked up, she had an edge against me that none of my opponents would ever get. And if I could consistently beat her in those moments, I could beat anyone, anywhere, at any time.

KRIS: You took the big room….

Not expecting him to be directly outside my door, he startled me. I was able to stifle a scream before it came out of my mouth, but wasn’t able to keep hold on my gym bag. It fell to the floor, and my hands came up instinctively to defend myself. There was no threat though, not really. Kris was fully sprawled out on a beach lounger, sporting a festive shirt like he was outside by a pool, not in the middle of a hallway. He held some kind of fruity drink with an umbrella in it, and took a long drink from it before looking up at me. I vaguely remembered a text from Mikah trying to forewarn me about this. Kris was the one that told me how great the view was from the SKYLOFTs, and put the thought in my head to splurge in order to make up for everything I was going to put my wife through this week. The only problem had been, Kris and Mikah decided they were coming to the show, and bringing their twenty kids with them. However, Prudence and I had already taken the largest of the lofts for just the two of us.

COURT: How long have you been sitting here?You have a new fresh goblin crying at all hours of the day and night. Aren’t you busy?

He shrugged his shoulders at me, and even though I couldn’t see through his mirrored sunglasses, I was certain that he rolled his eyes as well.

KRIS: Eh, after you go through it with a few of them, you’re basically immune. Plus, I’m retired. I have lots of time to deal with problems.

I sighed. I had already explained as much to his wife, but I should have expected that I needed to be more direct than that.

COURT: Maybe Jaycee is the problem you should be worried about, not me. I already told Mikah that you two can’t have my room.

He shook his head with a smirk on his face that wanted to tell me how wrong I was.

KRIS: Jaycee is doing fine, but you know that. You slipped in to see him before he was even allowed to have visitors. Eiley and Oz stopped by last week. Oz went again all by himself again this week. JD has been checking in daily. He has the whole support group.

I could tell he was trying to goad me into staying and playing his game, but instead I picked up my bag, and took a step like I was going to walk around him if he didn’t get to the point.

KRIS: I actually wanted to talk about the new girl.

I knew what he meant, but still wasn’t interested in playing along. I rolled my eyes and continued past him.

COURT: She’s certainly this week’s problem. In two weeks it’ll be someone else. After that there’ll be another, and so forth and so on….

He laughed, and I heard air bubbles pull through his straw as he finished his drink. It was like he somehow knew that I wasn’t actually going to walk away.

KRIS: So this is already a win in your book?

It wasn’t the words themselves, but the way he said it that was insulting. I dropped my bag in the center of the hallway, and turned back around. He hadn’t so much as turned in his chair, forcing me to walk all the way around him in order to look him in his face.

COURT: If you go into a match thinking that you might lose, you’re definitely going to. I won’t make the mistake that you did. She’s not as good as she thinks she is, and I’m gonna prove it to her.

I thought maybe that would be enough to piss him off, but all it earned me was a shrug.

KRIS: I don’t know. I have been seeing a whole lot of people saying that you two are similar….

Hearing the words made my skin crawl. The idea of being compared to that fucking hack made me sick and I think that he understood that from the tone of my response.

COURT: Not even on her best day.

A smile came to his face, and he pulled the sunglasses away from his eyes. Apparently those two words were exactly what he wanted to hear.

KRIS: Good. I think I’d be more worried if you agreed with the masses. Nobody thought that you were ready. Nobody thought that it was your time. Nobody felt like you earned it. Nobody wanted you to win the championship. You did all of those things anyways. If she is anything like you, it makes her sound pretty formidable. It makes it seem like on a stage like High Stakes, she could rise up and prove everyone wrong.

I could see his point. If everyone thought that we were similar, it was only going to close the gap that existed between us. She could just ride my coattails to relevancy if I let her.

COURT: Nobody is going to buy that. These days it’s really easy to spot a cheap knock-off.

He pushed his glasses back up to his eyes, and the smile on his face shrunk down into a cold smirk.

KRIS: Some people aren’t that bright. If you don’t want to make the same mistake that I did against J2H, then don’t. Make sure everyone sees how wide the divide is between champion and challenger.

Everyone thought he had been too kind during the Battle of the GOATs, especially given the yearslong Cold War of insults between himself and J2H. They only shared the ring once, and Kris lost. Now I understood he had camped out in my hallway to make sure that I didn’t make the same mistake.

COURT: You don’t think I’ve been clear enough?

He shook his head, and the smirk on his face seemed significantly more sinister than before.

KRIS: It’s High Stakes. There’s no reason to hold back.



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>COURTside: A Little Talk

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”Maybe the only thing that my silence has done is caused people to forget the divide that exists between Julianna and I.”

”That’s why I think that we all need to have a little talk. I get why there could be some confusion. Both of us have zero respect for the censors. We aren’t going to hold our tongues just to make others comfortable, and that seems to rub people the wrong way. For the most part, the fans don’t appreciate a lot of the things that we say or do, but that doesn’t seem to bother either of us. Everything we do is in service of making sure that we end up at the top of this business, and it doesn’t matter who we have to step on in order to make it happen. We’re both confident, probably bordering on arrogant if we are honest. And we both believe, regardless of the reality of the situation, that we are the best choices to lead the Bombshell Division into the future.”

”On the surface, it feels like quite a list…”

”However, I find the comparison to be misleading at best, and downright insulting at worst. See, everything that I say and do in this company, and the people that I say and do those things to, makes sense. It fits. Going into my match with Roxi I told her all about how she was one of the ones that I looked up to. I told her about paying attention to her matches, and the matches of her wife, back when I was training. They were two of the handful of performers that made me feel like this was an industry that I wanted to get into. Obviously, their style really wasn’t for me, but that didn’t matter. I had Mikah for that. However, it was their passion for this business that inspired my own, and when Roxi cut all my dreams out from under me before our match, I snapped. Understandably.”

”Compare that against some unknown coming in here with a grudge that didn’t make any sense. Julianna ran her mouth until she was granted a match with a legend. Even worse, she didn’t earn that opportunity in the ring, but on social media. I can admit that I am abrasive, but I don’t think I have ever said or done anything in this company that cheaply. I don’t have to. All of you have seen my story play out in front of you since 2018. You know the people I have problems with. You know the people that I get along with. I don’t have to manufacture a reason to fight someone on a dying app. My reason is draped over my shoulder, or wrapped around my waist every time I walk down to the ring. Because of that, you have seen some of the all-time greats like Amber Ryan pat me on the back for my reign as Bombshell World Champion, and that will always weigh far more than some hateful words from a challenger that nobody actually cares about.”

”You people don’t have to like me, but I know that all of you respect what I have done for Sin City, and what I will continue to do until my last day in the ring. That is why so many people in the SCW Hall of Fame have congratulated me for what I have accomplished. People react to my presence in the ring. I bring a certain gravity with me when I come down the aisle, that the audience can’t help but be pulled into. Everyone has witnessed me captivating audiences, even when they aren’t cheering for me. Yet Julianna thinks that this match boils down to capturing her attention on social media, without ever even having to tag her.”

”...and even though it couldn’t possibly be less important to what goes on inside the six-sided ring, that’s what appears to have irked my opponent the most. Let me ask all of you a question though. Does it seem like she has ever missed a word that has come out of my mouth? Does it seem like any of my posts have slipped past her? Because to me, it feels like she has dissected every promo and she has stalked every tweet. If nothing I say ever manages to slip past her, is anything that I am saying actually behind her back? So what exactly is her fucking problem? Or is she complaining just to hear the sound of her own voice?”

”The fact is, I know that Julianna is watching but beyond that, I know why she is watching. She looks at me, and she sees herself. She hears the words that come out of my mouth, and she can hear herself saying them too. She sees the things that I do inside the ring, and feels like she could do them just the same, if not better. She listens to me talk, and she hears her own stories from years where none of us were watching. She sees herself as a better version of me.”

”...but she is so very, very mistaken.”

”We aren’t the same. We are speaking the same language, and people are booing the both of us, but she can’t make them feel the same things that I do. That’s not where the differences end either. She is incapable of doing the things that I do inside the ring. Trust me, I got a good look when I was the referee for her and Ariana’s sham match. You know what I saw? Mediocrity. I saw someone that talks a pathetic game, and has the ring presence to match it. I saw someone that struggled to take advantage of someone that she clearly thought was beneath her. I watched her flounder each and every time that Ariana fought her way back into the match, and I saw the relief on her face when she managed not to fuck up the opportunity that was handed to her.”

”That couldn’t be further from the things that I have done in the ring this year. I broke Roxi Johnson. I have choked out half of the roster in the center of the ring without ever looking like I was in danger of falling short. I have dominated every single person that I have competed against, and the one time my wife inserted herself into my match, even Julianna has admitted I was already well on my way to a win anyways. I have accepted every single challenge that Mark and Christian have set up for me this year, and passed every test with flying colors. Back in April, I was labeled as the Future of the Bombshell Division, and as much as people hated to admit it, they knew that the owners were right. People saw me coming before I ever stepped in the ring with Roxi, and I have yet to fail to live up those expectations.”

”If there is one thing that is absolutely undeniable since my return, it’s that I am obviously The One whether Julianna or anyone else wants to admit it. It’s going to take a miracle for someone to take me out of the top spot and unfortunately, Julianna isn’t Kris Ryans.”

”Even if she was, everyone remembers what happened to him when he stepped up to the GOAT at High Stakes. The world got to see that there can only be one person at the top of the mountain, and it is nearly impossible to overcome the high ground. This year at High Stakes, the person at the top of the mountain is me. There isn’t an SCW World Heavyweight Champion carrying the belt into High Stakes, and the guy with the best shot to win it has already been put on his back this year. I am the greatest champion appearing on this card, and there’s no competition for my spot. It doesn’t matter how worked up Julianna gets trying to say it ain’t so, you can’t change the facts. I have steamrolled every Bombshell that has been put in front of me, and the only ones that can say I haven’t have simply been given the gift of extra time. I will get to all of them eventually. Julianna just snaked her way to the top of the list first.”

”After I sweep the red carpet out from under Julianna, there’s no telling if people will even remember her at all, but they will remember the night that I retained MY Bombshell World Championship, and got my first career victory at High Stakes. Sunday isn’t going to be the crowning moment that she thinks it is going to be. It is going to be my hitting the Crowning Point, and then folding her in half once I’m OVER IT!  The reality is, High Stakes was never going to be her big break. It’s just another step in my march towards being the best to ever step in the Sin City ring.”

“She is going to regret coming to my company.”

“She is going to regret setting her sights on MY Bombshell World Championship.”

“...and I am going to enjoy every fucking second of it.”

“Good talk.”


9
Supercard Archives / Re: COURTNEY PIERCE (c) v JULIANNA DIMARIA - WORLD BOMBSHELL TITLE
« on: October 14, 2023, 11:40:09 PM »
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Too Early To Win
San Diego, California  - Shoreline Recovery Center
9th October 2023
OFF-Camera


It had been a quiet week for me, but really just as a way of proving a point to everyone. Julianna had the audacity to say that I was talking too much in my efforts to keep people’s focus clearly on the Bombshell World Championship, so I granted her wish. Heading into Summer XXXtreme, and Violent Conduct, my matches were the most talked about matches on the card despite the fact that my challengers were lackluster. You would think that since the formula was working, the newbies would learn to just follow my lead and let me do them a favor. Julianna didn’t seem to get the memo though, so it felt like a perfect time for a personal week. I don’t have to talk about her in order to beat her. It doesn’t bother me if nobody cares about her after this match. I don’t have to do her the favor that I did for Ariana. I am not required to create a worthy challenger. So I won’t.

Besides, there were more pressing things on my mind. What happened inside the six-sided Sin City ring or in front of one of their cameras was important, but it wasn’t my only responsibility. My life had become a balancing act, and if I was taking the week away from Sin City, that created an opportunity to spend more time elsewhere. Things at home had been great. An unexpected week off really does a lot for partners that are usually separated by travel schedules. Prudence was closing in on being able to get back to the gym, and hopefully back with me on the road soon, so there wasn’t a whole lot of conflict at home.

However, there was something I considered a smudge on my near-perfect record. I was killing it as a wife. I was dominating as an unstoppable force as Bombshell World Champion, but something had fallen through the cracks. After the way that Kris and Mikah had treated me as a student, I was determined to be better than they were. I made a promise that I would always go above-and-beyond for the newbies that trusted me enough to come train with me at Jet City. When I stepped back into the ring myself, those duties became secondary. When Prudence got fired, Jet City became a tertiary concern at best, and a total afterthought on the worst days. In the middle of all that, one of my students made all the same mistakes as my mentor. My blind eye let someone walk down the very path I was trying to keep people off of. I couldn’t stomach that. If I had the week off of all other duties, I knew exactly where that time needed to be spent.

COURT: You through the worst of it yet?

I leaned against the doorframe, not wanting to step in without gauging what I was dealing with on the inside. I knew immediately that it was a stupid question. The lights were off. Jaycee was merely a shivering sheet on the bed. He was covered from head-to-toe, but from the shape of him, he was facing away from me and the lights from the hallway. At least I hadn’t stumbled across anything worse than the shakes. Maybe I came at a good time.

JAYCEE: Fuck off Court.

His voice was strained, and I could tell that he didn’t really have the energy to put any of his usual bass into it. It fell short of the force required to make it a demand. It sounded more like a desperate plea for solitude. Unfortunately, I had checked all of my pity for him at the desk before I came up to the room.

COURT: It’s a real bitch, isn’t it? All of that shit is out of your system now and all of your nerves are finally firing correctly for the first time in fuck knows how long. It’s like getting stabbed all over with about a million little needles, right?

It sounded like he tried to take a deep breath, but it didn’t work. I almost thought that the groan that came out of him instead, and the more intense shaking that it caused afterwards were going to be the only response that I got.

JAYCEE: I can deal with that part. It’s the sickness that I hate. The rest feels like a decent consequence of my actions. The inability of my body to retain absolutely anything seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

It took him a while to work his way through all of the words. It was one of the most cohesive thoughts he had produced in a few months though, and it sounded like he was rounding a corner towards starting to take some kind of responsibility for landing himself here. All-in-all it felt like a step in the right direction. I felt safe enough to come a couple of steps into the room so that he wouldn’t have to strain so loud for me to be able to hear him.

COURT: One is the consequence of your actions. The other is an added punch to make sure that you don’t end up in here again.

That was the only way I could think of to spin it in a more positive manner.

JAYCEE: Repeat offenders make up the majority of this place…

I crept my way further into the room, trying not to make much noise. I kept my voice low, trying to respect the fact that he was tolerating my intrusion even though he had gone to such great lengths to limit the amount of stimuli in the room.

COURT: The majority doesn’t mean everyone, and if it isn’t everyone, it means some people got out. Be one of those people.

I moved the chair back from the edge of his bed, and took a seat. He hadn’t snapped on me and thrown me out yet, so I was already doing better than Kris would have in my position. Although, this wasn’t just about making me feel better about the fact that I didn’t do more to keep him out of a place like this. Plus, he wasn’t buying into any of my optimism about his current state.

JAYCEE: ....or it means the other people got out, overdosed, and died.

I sighed, and did my best to not allow it to reflect the aggravation at the fact that he was putting himself in an even deeper hole with thoughts like that. He needed to be able to see that there was a light at the end of this. If optimism wouldn’t work, I thought maybe I could get some kind of spark out of him with humor.

COURT: So morbid today… I would have expected that from someone like Oz, but not you.

To my surprise, he didn’t take the bait.

JAYCEE: He’s blamed himself for everything that has happened to me since he made that phone call last year. It’s possible that could lead him here.

I didn’t think that he was wrong, but I was surprised that he was that aware of the way that Oz had been carrying that around.

COURT: He looks up to you though. Seems like they both treat you as an older brother as awful as that makes it sound that he almost got you killed.

I should have probably been glad that I waited to make sure that things at home were back on solid footing before venturing out to see Jaycee. I had apparently skipped over most of the hateful swings of the detox and caught him after a couple of days of clarity. It wasn’t enough to embolden me to make any sudden moves, or turn on a light, but it was a good sign that maybe Jaycee was going to come out of this in a better place.

JAYCEE: There’s no point blaming him. He was just surviving the life he was leading. I don’t look at it as him giving me up. I look at it as he saved himself. He had to do that, because nobody else was going to. If I allow myself to be mad about it, I am actually saying I would rather he be dead. We all made it out alive. That’s good enough for me.

He could just be telling me the answers that I want to hear so that I leave him alone, so I decided that I might need to poke a little bit just to make sure.

COURT: ....and yet he is going to be competing at High Stakes while you are missing it for a second straight year….

The sheet went deadly still, and for a moment even the shivering seemed to stop as Jaycee considered that fact, possibly for the first time. I almost felt bad for having brought it up. After a few moments of silence, he finally spoke up.

JAYCEE: When you say it like that it really does suck.

I felt bad for him because, again, I had been there. High Stakes had been an elusive show for me in the first few years of Sin City. This was only going to be my second one in five years, and the only other match I have had there so far was losing to Sam Marlowe. That’s hardly a Hall of Fame worthy High Stakes moment, but this wasn’t about me.

COURT: At least you still have a job when you’re ready to get out of here.

There was something that sounded like a chuckle from under the sheet, but it sounded painful. I knew that any amount of moment was going to shoot those needles all throughout Jaycee’s body like he was being cut up by razors. I half expected it to sour his mood but after a few moments of recovery, he seemed okay.

JAYCEE: Kris really paved the way on that one for me. Mark and Christian have done this so many times before that they didn’t even seem bent out of shape about it. They told me to get help and come back when I am ready. I expected to be fired.

That was all of the evidence that I needed to know that I was right to feel guilty about the fact that he was in here. Despite the circumstances being entirely different, the expectation of failure was something I was familiar with, and should have trained out of him.

COURT: I think all of this started because you were trying to get fired.

There was another moment of silence, but it didn’t feel like he disagreed with me.

COURT: They would have blamed you if you just stopped showing up. You would have been a quitter. You couldn’t just walk away from it. It all had to come crashing down around you. I think you wanted to see how bad it would have to get before it all got taken away, so that you could prove to yourself that it could be taken away.

I could tell that I struck a nerve, even without being able to see it on his face, because he immediately tried to turn it back on me.

JAYCEE: Sounds like something you have some experience with.

I knew that there was no way that I was going to be able to get through to him without actually being open about how I could relate, so instead of turning it into an argument, I gave him the truth.

COURT: Not the same, but similar. My problem was always pushing myself too hard, too fast. I just wanted to be where I should have been before all of the setbacks. I always felt like I was losing a race to some version of myself that didn’t exist. Every time that I failed, it was just more proof that time had already run out. I was out of time before I ever even actually got started.

It was probably a rare peek behind the curtain for him, but instead of making any attempt to reassure me, it almost felt like he wanted to agree with me.

JAYCEE: ...it did take you five years to get back to where you were a month in.

He had missed the point, or maybe I had just done a shit job of explaining it.

COURT: ...but the Court that didn’t get injured doesn’t exist. That’s a figment of my imagination. She didn’t win the Bombshell Championship. She hasn’t set records with it already. She hasn’t had the Hall of Fame career that I dreamt about, because it is some fictional thing in my head that never really happened.

He didn’t even give me a chance to pause before pressing me about it.

JAYCEE: When did you finally let that go?

I guess I hadn’t really even considered it. When I thought about it, I could tell that I didn’t have those feelings anymore. I know that I had already moved past it before my match with Roxi, or else I wouldn’t have been confident enough to step up to her. I couldn’t nail down a particular moment that stood out though.

COURT: It took way too long, because after I convinced myself that I already blew all of my chances, and that it was over, I got to go through all of the other stages. I felt sorry for myself for a while. I started to blame Kris and Mikah for even longer than that. I guess it really wasn’t until taking over Jet City that I finally started to find the right groove again.

Hopefully that helped him to see why I was part of the group of people that weren’t just going to waste away in here alone.

JAYCEE: No wonder you give a shit about the three of us rookies…

I hadn’t actually thought about it like that, but it didn’t matter.

COURT: More importantly, I was wrong. Look at what I have done since. I came back. I choked out a handful of bitches. I became and defended the Bombshell World Championship the way that I always dreamt of doing. Despite what Ariana might tell you, I’ve been pretty damn impressive.

I was hoping that more than the details, he was applying the moral of the story.

JAYCEE: ...so why are you here wasting your time with me instead of making sure that you shut Julianna up at High Stakes?

Again, another attempt to turn it around and keep the focus purely on me. I had given up too much ground by allowing him to get me to tell him my story, and now he was setting up roadblocks for me to bring the conversation back to him.

COURT: I’m not worried. It’s too early for her to win this championship.

The words seemed to offend him the same way that they had offended me back at the beginning of the summer, but they came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

JAYCEE: Don’t convince yourself that anything is inevitable, right? Don’t fall into that trap. That’s what you were just talking about with me thinking it was all destined to slip away. If you think you’re untouchable, you’re not going to see it coming when someone reaches out and slaps you in the face. That’s what happened to Roxi when you beat her.

It wasn’t the same thing. Roxi was being spiteful. My feelings were supported by fact.

COURT: The fans don’t care about her. The roster is already against her. She’ll be an afterthought before you know it.

That didn’t seem to be an argument he was willing to engage in either. The sheet in front of me dismissed my words immediately.

JAYCEE: Just like Roxi said that you were going to get bored and bail out of Sin City even if you beat her.

My mouth opened and closed a few times wordlessly. I can’t believe that he was telling me that I was acting like Roxi when I was only here to offer support.

COURT: Shut up!

He seemed to take my speechlessness as a sign of victory, and softened a little bit since he knew he got his point across. Apparently blunt honesty was flying both ways today, and I wasn’t sure that I liked it.

JAYCEE: The fans aren’t going to be in the ring with her, you are. So it doesn’t matter if they don’t care about her, it is going to be you that she is punching in the face and bending into a pretzel. Fate and crowd reactions aren’t going to beat her, so you need to decide to go out there and put her on her fucking head or it’s not going to happen.

That was always the plan, but clearly he had missed the part where I was calling her bluff about the not needing me to get people’s attention.

COURT: I intend to. She just told me that I talk to much, so I wanted to give her time to listen to sound of crickets she was getting without me.

He pulled the sheet away from his face to look me in the eye. It was incredibly obvious that he didn’t buy that line of thinking even for a second.

JAYCEE: She was in the spotlight. You were at home. Sounds like her plan worked out.

It was a lot like being slapped in the face. Maybe by trying to teach her a lesson, I ended up playing right into her hands. She did get to stand in front of the viewers at home without me there to check her. I thought I was stopping by to teach Jaycee a lesson, and it turned out that he was the one setting me straight.

COURT: Well then maybe I just need to go remind everyone who the spotlight actually belongs to.



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>COURTside: Too Late To Know

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The video opens with a shot of the Bombshell World Champion, seated in front of a slot machine, with her legs propped up on a second chair so that she can lean back and sit more comfortably. She seems to have been at it for a while, because the highs of a possible big win have faded, and she only absent-mindedly pays attention to the spinning wheels on the screen in front of her. They stop, and she pulls the lever on the side of the machine again, starting the process over without even a hint of enjoyment in her eyes. The Bombshell World Championships is draped over her shoulder, and she grips it tight to her chest with her right hand. She looks up, overtop of the slot machine in front of her, and the camera turns with her line of sight to show that the machine is sitting in front of a giant marquee advertising High Stakes next week. The pictures on the screen switch between the high profile matches on the card, including Courtney defending her championship against Julianna. As soon as the Bombshell Champion’s face fades off of the marquee, the camera moves back to Court playing slots.

”I have been part of Sin City Wrestling off and on for five years and I have never had my hand raised in victory at High Stakes...”

”To be fair, it is not like I have had very many opportunities. Three of those years I missed the show with an injury. Last year I was busy running Jet City while Kristopher Ryans was dead. The one match that I did get to have, I came up short to Sam Marlowe during one of the worst stretches of my career. Although, I am not telling any of you at home things that you don’t already know. You were here. You saw it all happen. My career started in Sin City, and I have never worked in any other company other than this one, because the competition here has never left me wanting for something better elsewhere. I might get thrown a few duds here and there but for the most part, every female on this roster rises up to give me their best shot each and every night, and that is about all that I can ask for as the face of this division.”

”You people might not like me, but you have been along for my entire ride in this company. We have experienced all of the lowlights together. You have seen me sidelined by a multitude of obstacles. Now, finally, you have seen me overcome all of those obstacles and take my rightful place in this company. A lot of people didn’t like that. There was a certain legend that said I wasn’t ready, and I never would be. However, the fact is, I changed the landscape of this company the moment that I won the Bombshell World Championship. I took the Bombshell Division to the next level. I paved the way for a future that was free of all of the mediocre shackles this division has been weighed down by in the past.”

”...and if you think that I am giving myself a little bit too much credit, think again. It’s not just me that thinks all this. It is not just me that knows how truly great I have been since returning for Blast from the Past this year. Julianna DiMaria knows everything I just said is true, because she has said it herself. She marked my defeat of Roxi Johnson, and ascension as Bombshell World Champion as the reason that she wanted to join this company. She saw it as a sign from the universe that it was time to come here to find her next challenge, and finally signed that contract that Mark and Christian had apparently been chasing for a couple of years. Julianna’s first day on the job, she credited me with getting her to show up. When she squared up against Ariana, she said that even without my wife’s interference at Violent Conduct, I was going to walk away from that match as the champion. Why? Because I am at the very top of my game right now.”

”...and it has been that way all year. There hasn’t been one person that has been able to keep up with me in the ring. I was dominant in Blast from the Past until my partner got us eliminated. I cut out the cancer that was Crystal Hilton. I ended Roxi Johnson’s farewell tour prematurely and choked her out to win MY Bombshell World Championship. I crushed the dreams of the winner of Blast from the Past. I was more extreme than Kim Pain, and I won a war against the fire inside of Team Hero. I spoiled the reign of the Queen for a Day, and for one night, I turned Ariana Angelos into a star. Over the last few months, I have accomplished every single goal I have set for myself, and made it look like it was predestined to happen.So you can see why it is hard to get excited about some new girl on the block that has squared up against Bea Barnhart, Dawn Warren, and Laura Phoenix to get to the spot she is in. Sure, she is undefeated, but her only credible victories came against Ariana, a noted failure, and a version of Roxi Johnson that I had already eviscerated. Can you see why it is hard to be excited for what should be my first grand High Stakes moment?”

”...and I could have chosen this match heading into Violent Conduct. Mark and Christian felt like they wanted it to happen sooner rather than later. She was the name at the top of the list that I was given, and I didn’t think she had earned it yet. Like herpes though, she just wouldn’t go away. Ariana won the honor of getting beaten to a pulp by me at Violent Conduct. Then apparently Julianna earned the right to be the next challenger by also laying her out. It felt a little flimsy to me, but what do I know? I was just the referee. I guess, in a way, I did end up giving her this opportunity, because it was my hand counting the fall that made her the number one contender.”

”Julianna should be grateful for everything that I have done for her. I basically brought her to this company. I am the one that handed her this contendership. I have provided her with the largest stage in Sin City to back up her claims that she is going to be a force to be reckoned with in this company. That’s all I can do as the champion, right? All I can do is give my lessers the opportunity to rise up against me, it’s not my fault when they choke. I guess you can take that metaphorically or literally, fun.”

”And that is exactly what is going to happen at High Stakes. It might be my championship on the line. I might be the one with everything to lose by stepping into the ring with a relative unknown in this company, but that just goes to show you how out of her league Julianna is in this match. I am not some over-the-hill Roxi Johnson that you can pick apart to make yourself look good. I am not some flash in the pan, villain of the week, that is meant to be discarded and forgotten. In case anyone doesn’t already know, I am The One, Court Pierce! I am the goddamn Bombshell World Champion, and I am the single most dangerous female inside the six-sided ring any day of the week. Julianna was right when she said that I didn’t need my wife to get involved in order to put Ariana away at Violent Conduct, because I really am that damn good without needing to bend the rules in my favor. And I am made more dangerous by the fact that if I have to, I will go ahead and bend those rules anyways. What can this nobody hope to do against me? I haven’t seen an answer to that question, and I have literally stood in the fucking ring for one of her matches. I was as close as I could possibly get. I was looking to see the spark that made her worth my time.”

”....and I still haven’t found it.”

”Julianna said after my segment before her contendership match that I was being a little bit too loud. She thought that I was wasting a little bit too much time, and because of that, I must like to hear the sound of my own voice. She missed the point though. I don’t like hearing myself talk, I like it when people are actually paying attention to what is happening in the middle of my ring, or while my face is up on the big screen. I don’t care if they boo me. I didn’t care when San Diego cheered me like I was some kind of saint. The only thing that would bother me out there is silence, and that is all I think about when you come to mind. Silence.”

”I gave you the week to generate the type of buzz that I have around each and every single one of my matches since I have been back. I sat back and allowed you to bask in the spotlight. I gave you the moment that you apparently craved, and what happened? Nothing, not even fucking crickets. Nobody even heard a pindrop, because by yourself, you couldn’t move a needle. Inside the ring, everyone already knows that I am going to break you down and beat you just like I have done so many others before you. And outside the ring, all you’ve done is ensure that there’s going to be a whole lot of eyes looking down at their phones instead of on the action. You told me to stop running my mouth, and the progress that this division was making, the progress that brought you here, halted with my silence.”

”...and that won’t come back on me. I had the world firmly behind Ariana Angelos, even if just for some fleeting moment. I have gotten the people to pull for the untalented to beat me. Yet, they could care less about you. They wouldn’t hate it if I won, because at the very least, I am entertaining. You’re just some bitch who showed up with a grudge against a washed up star of yesteryear. Congratulations, you did actually beat Roxi to everyone’s surprise. Just don’t think that puts you on my level. I didn’t just beat her, I took her apart and left absolutely no question in anyone’s mind that I should have always been at the top of this company.”

”Don’t think of High Stakes as the career defining moment that you’re hoping for, because the only thing waiting for you down in that ring is your first loss in this company. If you hadn’t of told me to hold me tongue all week, you wouldn’t have been too late to know that you are in so very far over your head this time around.”

”I will make an example of you.”

”At least then maybe you’ll have a shot at being remembered.”








10
Climax Control Archives / COURTside: Same Team
« on: September 08, 2023, 11:52:29 PM »
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Reunion
San Diego, California  - Jet City South
30th AUGUST 2023
OFF-Camera

My wife was a lot more excited about our return to Jet City than I was. I guess I understood. She never really lost the sparkle in her eye for this place. They were the ones that gave her a chance. They were the ones that helped push her through the Blast from the Past tournament. For her, this was a place filled with the best memories. This was where the two of us met, and where most of our best days were spent. I couldn’t blame her for feeling the way that she felt about our big return, I just couldn’t also share those feelings.

For me, this was the place that I broke my hand. This was the place that I gave up my career for. This was the place where my mentor was supposedly murdered, only to rise from the ashes over a year later. To me, this was a prison for my potential. Since I stepped away from Jet City, things had started going my way. I couldn’t remember the last time that I lost a match. I am the Bombshell Champion, and slowly people are starting to realize that I am not going away any time soon. For years the narrative of my career had been that I showed all the promise in the world, but could never capitalize on it. All I had to do was walk away from this building, and these people, to finally realize all of my dreams. Coming back feels like taking a big step back; maybe even several.

RUBY: First day back, and we’re walking in late…

On one hand, I could appreciate her anxiety. She wanted nothing more than for this to go smoothly. Ever since I walked out, she has been trying to convince me that it was a mistake. She even went as far as to say that I may have won the Bombshell Championship, but had to give up everything to get it. I had to cast aside friends and family. I had to put all of my professional relationships on pause. I had to focus on myself, and myself alone, because nothing was going to stop me from getting what I deserved this time. Everything else was just a distraction that I didn’t have time for. It made for a pretty lonely existence backstage. On the other hand, eliminating those distractions helped me turn my dreams into reality. I am not sure I would do it any differently if I could go back. I am finally in the place in my career that I always knew that I would be. If I didn’t need Jet City in order to get there, I didn’t feel like I really needed them now either.

COURT: Yeah well, when has anyone at Jet City ever actually been on time for anything?

Of course, as we pulled into the parking lot I saw how wrong I was. The cars lining the parking lot told me that we were, in fact, the last ones to arrive. It even looked like Jaycee was able to scrape himself out of whatever gutter he woke up in this morning to drag himself to the meeting.

RUBY: Kendall made it sound like whatever they’ve got planned was pretty important. Apparently all of the renovations are done, and they are showing off all of the new stuff now that all of us are back under the same roof.

The fact that they were calling it a renovation was worth a sensible chuckle. I had torn the place apart with a baseball bat six weeks ago, and Kris did everything he could to cover it up. I guess if it meant that the place looked less like a shrine to a person that wasn’t actually dead, I did them a favor. Still, as we approached the front doors, I couldn’t help but feel like I was taking a step backwards.

COURT: ...it’s a new day; same as yesterday.

My wife wasn’t having any of that attitude though. She pointed a finger in my face and glared at me with a final warning.

RUBY: You could at least go in and see for yourself before deciding that it’s a bad idea. Kris helped you for Violent Conduct. Give it a chance.

I shrugged and tried very hard not to roll my eyes, because that would start an argument that we would definitely take home with us later. I sighed, and tried to brush it off.

COURT: He operated a camera. I don’t count that as help….

Before either of us had a chance to reach for the double doors at the front of the gym, both of them pushed open. The face looking out at us was disappointed, but not at all surprised.

KENDALL: They’re all out on the floor already. I thought they told you two not to be late…

I shoulder-checked Mikah’s favorite student as I brushed past her with a laugh.

COURT: You're not out there either! What’s your excuse?

I tried to stop to see what she might say or do in response, but Ruby pushed me from behind so that it was impossible to break my stride. Once we were out of earshot she pulled on my shoulder hard enough to spin me around to face her. I had been pressing my luck the whole way here, but now she was done with the game.

RUBY: Stop being hateful already! Everyone seemed super excited to have us back, and even shouted us out after we retained the Bombshell Championship.

I could tell that I had definitely overplayed my hand, but she was already upset with me so it was the perfect opportunity to set the record straight. People were already talking about how I apparently needed to to retain MY championship against a scrub.

COURT: Feel like that was just me. I have been catching shit all week about how you inserted yourse--

Her expression hardened, and she pressed her lips together into a thin line while she bit down on her tongue to stop herself from saying something awful. I had seen this expression more than a handful of times during our relationship, and it never ended well for me. Luckily, I got bailed out by an even bigger fuck-up.

JAYCEE: Damn, even I managed to beat you two here? That’s gotta be embarrassing.

He stumbled into the two of us by accident and was just trying to cover for himself. Jaycee was dressed to work-out, but I could tell from the way that he was wobbly on his feet that there was no way that he had showed up to the meeting sober. I had put my neck out for him at Summer XXXtreme and he repaid me by missing shows, and falling apart in the ring when he did manage to show up. I was done making excuses for him and trying to put him back on the right path. He wasn’t my problem anymore.

COURT: You’d know.

I could see his wheels turning while he tried to figure out how offended he should be, but he was pushed away as more people started coming our way from the main floor of the gym. I didn’t even recognize some of the newer students, which was to be expected after so much time away. Others pretended like I didn’t exist, which I welcomed. The last one through was the one that managed to save Jaycee from himself.

COBY: I got it from here. You can all take five while Kris is wrapping up.

Nobody in the whole herd of students was going to argue with that idea either. Where Jaycee looked like he had come to compete, but had yet to break a sweat, several of the others looked like Coby had been putting them through the ringer long before Kris pulled them all together for whatever his big speech had been about. Ruby motioned the way that the crowd was moving, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me from being able to follow and continue our marital dispute.

COBY: Not you.

I sighed. It had been worth a shot, but I never thought it was actually going to work.

COURT: Of course not. I’m not that lucky.

He gave one look back over his shoulder and then turned back to me with a sigh. It was the same face that he gave me before he asked me to take part in this year’s Blast from the Past tournament when I was more than content to waste away in this gym.

COBY: They’re dealing with the little ones now, but they're mostly waiting for you.

And I understood immediately. It wasn’t just Kris that was going to be waiting for me out on the floor. Granted, he was more than bad enough by himself. The person that he was with was bad enough to have Coby worried though, so that could only mean one thing.

COURT: They’re? As in the two of them? I didn’t realize that this was Hawaii.

He wasn’t even going to rubber stamp my disdain for the married couple by responding to my sarcasm. He immediately took their side, just the way that my wife did.

COBY: Or maybe you should just see it as a show of good faith that they came all this way to make it easier for you. Yet, you couldn’t even show up on time. You trashed the place, and they fixed it back up. You both fucked up, they apologized. You left, they asked you to come back. If they give you hell, you earned it.

I opened my mouth to attempt to reframe the last few months from my own point of view, but Coby’s attention was pulled away from me before a single word left my mouth. The newbies were loudly headed our direction fresh off of their conversation with Reckless Elite.

OZ: What are we really supposed to learn from a guy that had to be handed the titles that we won on our first try? Feel like we’ve already long surpassed his level.

Oliver pretended like the comment had been directed at his partner, but it was plenty loud enough for Coby to realize that it was an obvious shot meant for him. Eiley didn’t take the bait though. That girl was smart enough to know when to keep her mouth shut, and was the only person I knew that could keep her partner in line.

EILEY: That just means it is an easier day’s work, right? If they think that Coby and Kendall can keep up with us, all we can do is prove them wrong. They’ll figure it out when we snap their records.

Eiley offered Coby a fake smile as the two of them passed by us without another word. With the distraction gone, I tried once again to defend myself, but he cut me off before I could get a word in.

COBY: ...as you can see, I have to go to work. Try to play nice.

He took off in the direction that the herd of students had gone earlier, likely hoping to catch them before the Mixed Tag Team Champions had a chance to start tearing into any of them. I yelled after him anyways with the first thing that came to mind.

COURT: Can’t do that, tiny. I trained here, and that wasn’t something you people ever taught me.

He didn’t stop, or even acknowledge that I had said anything at all. Then again, I had been the one in charge of keeping the newcomers focused on finally getting their big break not too long ago. I knew the pressure that he was under to create another star for Jet City. Plus, continuing our talk was just my way of avoiding what I knew was waiting for me out on the floor. I made my way through the gym until the hallways opened out into the main training area. Three new rings had been placed in the space to bring the total up to six. The skylights had been uncovered, and all of the old artificial LED lighting was gone. Instead of the single large photo of Kris with the Sin City World Heavyweight Championship on the wall, there were a half dozen others with him. Coby and the Mixed Tag Team Championship was on his left. Mikah with the Bombshell Championship was on his right. Eiley and Oz were heavily featured on an adjacent wall with LIMITLESS in big bold lettering underneath them. Across from all of those though, on a wall unto ourselves were me and Ruby, with smaller photos of our Blast from the Past tournament wins.

MIKAH: The Prodigal Daughter returns!

Kris had his back to me, as he was looking up at the images of Ruby and I on the wall. His wife spotted me the moment that I stepped into the space though. I didn’t even make eye contact with her, because doing so was going to cause both Coby and Ruby to tear into me about causing an argument later. Instead, I tried my best to brush her off as Kris turned to me.

COURT: Oh look, you actually showed up in a gym! Although, you’re still just filled to the brim with baby, so you’re not really of any use…

Kris shook his head. He had to have known this was going to happen though.

KRIS: Pretend you like each other for just ten minutes please…

I shrugged, and immediately tried to put it off on Mikah since she started it.

COURT: I can, but I don’t know if she ca--

I should have known that she wasn’t going to let me finish my sentence though.

MIKAH: This isn’t my gym. Pretend I’m not here.

It would have been funny if it wasn’t the story of our entire relationship. She was supposed to be my mentor, but instead had become more of a ghost that I was haunted by.

COURT: Shouldn’t be hard to imagine.

Kris must have had a rough time with all of the students beforehand, or maybe just Eiley and Oz because he wasn’t going to engage with either of us.

KRIS: I’m just going to ignore you both, and talk about what I want to talk about.

Mikah turned away from the two of us as I approached the ring, so I turned my sarcasm entirely to her husband.

COURT: So, the usual?

He sighed, but let that one slide as well. Maybe he really was intent on making this work for once.

KRIS: You’re the Bombshell Champion. Zoey Lukas is Queen for a Day. You know what that means, even before they announce the card on Sunday.

I rolled my eyes. The way that I saw it, I was probably in for back-to-back defenses. Wolfslair had walked out of Violent Conduct as Queen and King, and they always looked out for their own. It also made sense that they had Kris’ attention being that they were constantly shitting on his gym.

COURT: Yeah. It’ll be another main event for me. More publicity for you. It’s a real win-win if you’re planning on capitalizing on the fact that I added Jet City back to all my marketing.

He shook his head, and tried to stay on his point instead of patting me on the back for a cheap shoutout.

KRIS: I’m less worried about the business side of things and more worried about what we can do to help you get ready for the match that you already know is coming. I mean we might not be able to plan for whatever ways that Wolfslair will try and stack the deck, but we can at least work on the match-up between you and Zoey.

That was more laughable than thinking all of us working together was going to be anything other than a trainwreck.

COURT: Oh really? Are Mikah and the baby going to team up against me? All you have out there is Kendall or Eiley. Neither of them can do the things that Zoey is capable of doing.

He didn’t seem phased by the negativity though.

KRIS: I can.

All it took was those two words for my formerly broken hand to remind me exactly why that was a bad idea.

COURT: ...like that has worked out so well in the past.

That had him speechless, but of course his wife came running to his defense.

MIKAH: I thought the whole point of this new partnership was to do things better than you have in the past so that you can move onto a whole new brighter future….

I shot an angry look her direction.

COURT: I thought that you weren’t here…

She held her hands up innocently, but before we could go any further, Kris tried to refocus us on the topic at hand.

KRIS: She isn’t, but she’s right. I feel like we have a real shot to do things right this time around. I don’t have some agenda, or angle that I am working. I’m not gearing up to return to the ring. I just want to help while I can, if I can.

It seemed like he meant it. He wasn’t just trying to use me to sharpen himself back up for another run. It felt like he was actually trying to be a trainer for once, which was enough to gain my interest, even if I wasn’t convinced.

COURT: It’s going to take a whole lot more than my face on the wall to convince me that you aren’t full of shit.

He shrugged again, this time with his signature smirk coming to his face.

KRIS: I just thought that I was looking awfully lonely up there. There are so many more Jet City Champions that deserve their share of the spotlight.

I climbed up onto the apron of the ring, and took a look around the new Jet City.

COURT: Let’s just make sure that MY Bombshell Championship stays in our spotlight instead of going home with Wolfslair.

He extended his hand for me to shake with a laugh.

KRIS: There’s no group of people I’d rather see disappointed.

I shook his hand, which got an eye roll from Mikah. Even if Kris and I could get on the same page, there was still a deep divide between his wife and I, and there was no way to bridge that gap today. Besides, there were more important things to worry about.



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>COURTside: Jet City Main Event

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”Another Climax Control. Another Jet City main event. Another Bombshell Championship defense.”

”Such is life when you are The One. Honestly, it has been happening so often lately that I am kind of getting used to it. I like seeing my name on the marquee. I like that everyone else that competes on Climax Control is really just there rolling out the red carpet for me. Sure, all of the competitors in this company say they are coming out to steal the show, but we know the truth. The way that I look at it, they are just warming up the crowd for the real show. They are just building the tension in the room before I get to walk down the aisle. They are keeping the asses in the seats long enough for people to get to see what they actually came for: The Bombshell Champion.”

”...and yeah, maybe that is a shot across the bow of the men’s division in this company. I mean who really gives a fuck about Michael Harris? We were only vaguely interested in a J2H3 re-run, but even that got cut short. Where are the new rising stars of the men’s division?”

”....if anyone can find one, let me know.”

”While we’re waiting, let’s take a look at the mountain that I stand on top of. It is stacked from top to bottom. Laura Phoenix is one of the most underrated bombshells, but we’ll see how long that narrative holds. Ariana is coming out swinging these days now that I have restored her confidence. That new chick, Julianna DiMaria has all the promise in the world, and everyone is curious to see where she goes. Kayla Richards and Keira are always dangerous. Tempest is a near unstoppable force. We have a scary new Roulette Champion in Alexandra Calaway. We have the next big thing in the new Internet Champion Aleesha. And then you have the future of the Bombshell Division holding the Bombshell Championship. We have everything that the men’s roster wishes they had, and that is why we are stealing nearly each and every main event that we have in this company.”

”...and I appreciate that this division has stepped up from the moment that I took over as the face of the Bombshells. I appreciate how everyone is busting their ass to climb the ladder to face me. I appreciate that people are taking the time to call me out, and try and talk their way into a shot at MY championship, because that is what being on top is all about. I have the one thing that every woman in this company wants, and I have no intention of ever letting it go. Every bombshell knows that if they want to step up to The One it is going to take their best shot, and then some. Nobody disagrees that I am at the top for a very good reason. Sure, there are those that are going to point out that Ruby got involved in the match at Violent Conduct, but we all know that was nothing more than a shortcut. It didn’t change the outcome of the match. All she did was speed things up a little bit. Ariana was always going to lose. She was always going to come up short, but then again, winning wasn’t the point. I told her going into the match that I was going to rehabilitate her. I told her that I was going to give her back her confidence. Look at her now… I was right.”

”...and I know that she is going to whine her way into another shot that she doesn’t deserve, but I am moving on. If I wasn’t jumping at the chance to give Keira another shot at MY Championship, then why would I want to give a second freebie to one of the nobodies from the GO Gym? I could share the ring with a Hall of Famer if I wanted to rehash some shit I did last month. I don’t need a newbie for that. Sorry not sorry ladies. It’s the back of the line for the both of you.”

”...and the back of the line is where I feel that Zoey Lukas should be as well. She’s one of the ones that complained about the fact that Ariana was getting handed a shot at the Bombshell Championship at Violent Conduct, but she isn’t any better. Correct me if I am wrong, but she has had her chances to claim gold in this company. Has she ever actually followed through on all of that potential? Has she ever actually lived up to that famous last name that she is walking around with? Is she even worth half of what Alicia is to this company? ”

”Maybe that is unfair. Maybe she just hasn’t had enough time to make her mark. Maybe the setbacks weren’t always her fault. Maybe she deserves the benefit of the doubt. But, nobody felt that way when it was me holding the short end of the stick.”

”Everyone called me just another failure of Jet City. Everyone said that I was destined to never live up to the bar that my predecessors set. I have been told over and over again that I will never be as good as Mikah, and that I will never be as loved as Kris. I have been told that I have wasted years of my career by being too fragile. I was viewed as the bombshell that somehow squandered each and every one of her shots at greatness. People never thought that I was going to be the Bombshell Champion. Roxi fucking Johnson said that I wasn’t ready to lead this division, and that I would bail on it the moment that I got bored.”

”Well guess what, I didn’t squander shit. I may have had injuries, but they made me stronger. I may have faced obstacles, but I overcame them. Not only have I successfully led this division into being the only part of Climax Control worth watching, but each and every woman on this roster has upped their game from the moment that I took out The Icon. The entire Bombshell division has thrived with me at the top of the mountain, and everyone can see it. Not only was I ready for the position that I find myself in, I am arguably the best person for the job.”

”...but I know that not everyone is going to see it that way. Specifically, there is always a group of naysayers that are trying to shovel dirt on the grave of Jet City. No matter how many people recognize what my gym has been able to do in this company, there is always a tandem of idiots there to shit on us at every turn. They say that we aren’t loyal. They say that we are nothing more than flashes in a pan. Every time that we win something, they try to diminish it, and yet every time that we face off in the ring, the result is the same….”

”Of course, I am talking about Wolfslair.”

”This might be the first time that Zoey and I are sharing the ring with one another, but our two gyms seem to have a long history with one another. Kris and Alicia used to go at each other on the daily over social media before Wolfslair ever thought of stepping into a Sin City ring. Later, they even fought over who was the more popular star in this company. Austin James Mercer is always quick to demean and defame my students, even though Oz has clearly had his number since stepping onto the scene. Alex Jones never stepped up to Kris., and the young guns will never have the chance. Yet, every time they mention the name  Jet City, they spew nothing but hate, and I don’t understand why. Collectively we have won every single championship in this company, and most more than once. We have set records. We have drawn some of the biggest crowds this company has ever seen. We are synonymous with Sin City, and that is why we are always holding so much of the gold. We made our return for the Blast from the Past tournament, and look at what we have been able to do since. Mixed Tag Team Championships. Bombshell Championship. We are easily the most dominant group of individuals that this company has ever seen, whether we’re the Black Sheep, Reckless Elite, Limitless or just simply repping the gym that made us all famous.”

”...and that is why I am glad that Zoey walked away as the Queen for a Day at Violent Conduct. Let’s be honest, nobody wanted to see Mercedes win, because nobody wanted to watch me beat up an old lady that should have retired alongside Liz Smalls. Tempest would have put up a great losing effort if she would have been sharing the ring with me this week, but who would have actually cared? But Zoey Lukas has a last name that people still give a shit about. Zoey Lukas is affiliated with a gym that has always been the natural rival of Jet City. Zoey Lukas can be a representative of everything that her people have said about us, and she can catch all of the retribution that is coming to them. The two of us are going to be on the main event stage, and when my hand is raised at the end of the night, it is yet another victory over our biggest detractors.”

”Let’s be honest, this match was already going to sell itself even without all of that, because if you take away the gyms, and you take away all of the history, you are still left with two of the most impressive women in this company. You are still left with the most sought after prize in this company. You are still left with two of the most exciting Bombshells in the company squaring off with one another under the brightest spotlights. If you take away all of the bells and whistles, this match would still fill an arena. Why? Because we both have a lot more respect for this business, the Bombshell Championship, and Sin City itself than we do each other. Underneath all of the affiliations and championships, the two of us want the exact same thing. We both know that there is only one prize in this company that is worth chasing, and it is the whole reason that we ever signed a contract here. We are both here for the Bombshell Championship, and won’t settle for anything less. ”

”Unfortunately for Zoey, she is going to have to wait a whole lotta bit longer to realize her dreams, because I am not done living mine. Even if I was, there is no way that I am dropping MY Bombshell Championship to someone from Wolfslair. Your friends and family have been running their mouths for too long. I’ll have to put Zoey in her place so that maybe they will learn a lesson and keep Jet City’s name out of their mouths."

"Sorry not sorry.”


11
Supercard Archives / Re: COURTNEY PIERCE (c) v ARIANA ANGELOS - WORLD BOMBSHELL CHAMPIONSHIP
« on: August 25, 2023, 05:03:22 PM »
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Self-Centered
Yucatan, México  - Chablé Yucatán
21st AUGUST 2023
OFF-Camera

It seemed as if the tables had turned. Last week I was all upset that I was hyping up the match against Ariana while she was doing all that she could to run away from it. Now that she had finally come around, things should have gotten more fun. We were finally on the same page going into Violent Conduct, and the match should be fireworks. Only, I wasn’t into it. I should have been excited, but I wasn’t. I should have been rubbing my championship in the faces of fans at the handful of signings that Sin City had set up in the area, but I wasn’t. I could have been in the gym and working on strategies to neutralize Ariana, but I wasn’t.

RUBY: ....are you not planning on enjoying any of the perks of being in Mexico for a show?

My wife wasn’t even going to get to be at the show after her departure from the company. She wasn’t able to compete even if she was going to be allowed to be in the building. There was realistically no reason that she should be excited for this event.

COURT: What’s the point?

To be honest, I was just ready for the whole thing to be over already. It hadn’t started off well, and I was pretty sure that I already knew how it was going to end. I mean, even Ariana said that she didn’t really have a chance. Why put any effort into what happens in the middle? Although, it didn’t seem that my significant other was on the same page with me at all.

RUBY: Oh come on! This is getting OUTRAGEOUS! Ariana is finally coming out of her shell. You got what you wanted!

She plopped down onto the bed next to me, blocking the view of whatever I had been ignoring on the screen behind her. I shrugged my shoulders, and then pulled up the blankets on the bed, content to just curl into a comfortable little ball and forget that I had work to do this weekend.

COURT: ...I just want to go back to sleep.

She tried to pull the covers away from me, but this was a game that I was experienced with. I wrapped the blanket around my arm and pinned it to my chest. With the cast, there was no way that she was going to be able to wrench it away from me.

RUBY: Is this seriously about what Kris said then? How long do you intend to give that guy this kind of power over you?

She gives up trying to pry the blankets away from me, and gets up from the bed. Instead of attacking me directly, she pulls the cover free from the bottom of the bed, and crawls under it so that she is in my face.

COURT: Was he wrong?

She shakes her head, which just made me want to die. If she was trying to help, this wasn’t it.

RUBY: From his perspective? Never. That’s why you can’t let him get inside your head. If you start playing his game, you’re always going to lose. Didn’t you learn that when you broke your hand five years ago? You’re supposed to be over this already.

That cut pretty deep. I understood where she was coming from though. I thought that leaving Jet City would help me move past this. I thought that I was finally above needing their stamp of approval in order to live my life. It was a nice lie that I had been telling myself. Kris managed to shatter that illusion in just a few minutes though.

COURT: Everything that I have done up to this point really has just been rewriting me past. I joined Blast from the Past to try and prove that I was the dominant force behind winning the tournament with Fenris. Beating Crystal was about her stealing my opportunity all those years ago. Beating Roxi was about making sure that the detractors knew they were wrong about me. Kei---

She put her good hand over my mouth to cut me off.

RUBY: Who cares?

She definitely didn’t want me to actually answer the question because no matter how I tried to pull free she managed to keep her hand over her mouth and muffling my words.

COURT: I care!

I managed to pull her hand free long enough to get the two words out, but now that the blanket wasn’t between us for my defense she jumped on top of me and pinned my shoulders down to the bed with her kneecaps. She couldn’t hold me down with her hands, so instead she dropped all of her weight down on my midsection so that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere easily.

RUBY: It is YOUR Bombshell Championship reign, and you can do whatever you want with it. So you got off track at the beginning… Who cares? You spent a little time correcting the flaws in your history. That is the same thing that any of us would do in your position. Your first instinct should be to defend the way that you got there.

I sighed, and stopped struggling beneath her. Even if I managed to wiggle myself free, the likelihood that I would accidentally hurt her while doing so was too high. I didn’t want to make the situation worse just because it was a conversation that I didn’t really want to be having.

COURT: I don’t know why it bothers me so much…

My wife didn’t miss a beat though. She knew me too well, and had definitely already been thinking about this for the last few days.

RUBY: ....because you let someone convince you that somehow all of that was wrong. Before you can become the amazing champion that I know that you will be, you had some shit to take care of. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Of course, she was right. The first couple of defenses don’t define a champion, unless there aren’t a whole lot more that came after. There was still plenty of time to get things back on the right track.

COURT: It just feels like maybe he was right. I have spent all of my time looking backwards at my career instead of moving forward.

She didn’t seem surprised by the admission in the least. Instead, it was like she understood.

RUBY: It’s safer. You already know what went wrong in the past, because you’ve already lived it. It’s easier to tackle those mistakes instead of trying to avoid making any more of them.

Easier. That was the worst word that she could have used to describe it. I didn’t want to be seen as the champion that was just taking it easy.

COURT: ...and that isn’t supposed to bother me? Maybe everyone is right. Maybe the confidence that I have is unwarranted. I mean I have been champion for two months, and people still think of me as the failure that got lucky in 2018 by drawing Fenris as a partner.

That part didn’t surprise her either. Although, as harsh as everyone on the roster was on her, I could see how she would have more experience dealing with the negativity than I had.

RUBY: ...and? You’re never going to convince everyone that you’re the champion that they deserve. You’re never going to silence all of the hate. No matter how good you are, or what you do, there will always be someone trying to take it away from you. Don’t let them. Especially not Kris.

It wasn’t just him that I was worried about though.

COURT: I just don’t want to end up being another failed Jet City project.

Her eyes widened.

RUBY: We left Jet City, remember? That’s not a label that you have to care about anymore.

I agreed with her. I turned my back on them, walked out, and even went as far as taking a bat to the gym in my frustration. In retaliation, Kris had canceled all my travel, pulled all my friends off of the show where I won the championship, and hung the two of us out on our own which ended up getting Ruby attacked pretty viciously. With everything that had happened over the last couple of months, the last thing that I should care about was Jet City. Yet, I did.

COURT: ...and if it is something that I am worried about?

She shrugged her shoulders, and then got up off of me. She got to her feet next to the bed, and after a few attempts, tried to put her words together in the least offensive way.

RUBY: Then it sounds like you and Kris have more to talk about than your match with Ariana.

She kissed the top of my head, and left the room before I could fight her any further. It wouldn’t have mattered though. Deep down, I knew that she was right.

COURT: Fuck…



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Cease Fire
Yucatan, México  - Grand Ball Court of Chichen Itza
25th AUGUST 2023
OFF-Camera

Despite the fact that Ruby had been right, I wasn’t in any hurry to rush out and talk to Kris. In my experience, having a conversation with him before an important match usually led to my immediate downfall. Several of my injuries could be tied back to exploding based off something that he or his wife said to me. It didn’t even really make sense. The two of them went out of their way to make me feel miserable most of the time, and yet I still cared what they thought. I still cared about what happened to Jet City. I still wanted people to respect what we had all built together even though I wasn’t a part of it anymore. It would have been so much easier if I didn’t care. Unfortunately, it wasn’t something that I could turn off. Since there was no chance that I was going to try and hunt him down, I figured it was time that I did something productive. I hadn’t exchanged any words with Ariana since telling her that she needed to stand on her own two feet for this match. My last promo had been directed to the young girl that was running away from her date with destiny. Ariana had seemingly come a long way since then, and I definitely needed to to say something about that. Plus, she had taken a fair amount of liberties with my history in her comments and that was a record that needed to be straightened. I just couldn’t find the words.

I came to the Grand Ball Court to hopefully gather my thoughts. The crew was already busy at work trying to figure out how Violent Conduct was going to be set up in the space that we had. With the amount of tickets they had already sold, I had a feeling that many of their plans were constantly changing. People thought since Sin City was a smaller promotion, people wouldn’t show up when we went international, and they were proven wrong year after year.

KRIS: You know that the match is still two days away, right? You’re a lotta bit early.

I had heard footsteps coming up from behind me but I was secretly hoping that it was Jaycee finally showing up. Besides the fact that I hadn’t organized my thoughts yet, there was nobody here that I could trust to actually operate the camera. Unfortunately, it was the one person that I had been actively avoiding, and I couldn’t help but feel like Ruby had been the one to point him in the right direction. I gestured out towards the crew hard at work in front of me and didn’t bother to look up at him.

COURT: ....I figured that it would be a good backdrop to record whatever I was going to say to Ariana.

He took a look out at the crew for just a moment, and then returned his focus to me. He tapped his foot on the concrete next to the lifeless drone at my feet.

KRIS: ...and yet here you sit. This thing run out of batteries or something?

I shook my head, defeated.

COURT: I don’t know what to say anymore.

He laughed, but for the first time in a while it didn’t seem malicious. Usually he was trying to rile me up, and his laughter felt a lot like being mocked. This felt more like he was surprised by how his words had impacted me.

KRIS: What I said has you twisted up that bad, eh?

I didn’t want to give him all of the credit for the way that I was feeling though.

COURT: It’s not just that. I mean, you are a spectacular asshole. Every time that I should be excited or happy about how things are going you make sure to pop up and take it away from me.

I expected him to turn it around somehow and make it my fault, but he sighed, and agreed with me.

KRIS: Yeah, you have to stop letting that happen, and it would, if any of that confidence that you pretend to have was actually real.

I wanted to push back against his words, but I couldn’t. A week ago, I would have disagreed with him. I felt like I was on top of the world. He had successfully popped that ballon last time we spoke.

COURT: I am the Bombshell Champion. This is everything that I ever wanted. I beat Team Hero. I denied the Blast from the Past winner. I should be on top of the world, but I’m not.

He shrugged again, and tried to frame my actions through the lens of his perspective.

KRIS: No, because the moment that you won that thing you went on a rampage. You thought that everything would change overnight, and when it didn’t, you lost your shit.

I opened my mouth to disagree, but slammed it closed before I could say anything stupid. I didn’t want it to be true, but it was.

COURT: Fair.

Maybe feeling bolstered by the fact that I had agreed with him instead of fighting back, he tried to push his narrative a little bit further.

KRIS: And I didn’t throw you out of Jet City. You left.

Maybe that was true as well, but I wasn’t going to be taking the blame for that one.

COURT: You were supposed to be dead.

In a true role reversal, it was his turn to open his mouth to defend himself only to slam it shut. After a few moments he nodded, with a smile.

KRIS: Fair.

I could have blown up at him like I had every time we had seen each other since Romania, but Ruby’s words were ringing in my head. The two of us did have a lot to talk about, and we weren’t ever going to be able to get to it if I lost my cool. I took a deep breath, and even though I would have rather said anything else, I actually told him how I felt.

COURT: I did everything that I could to keep your dream alive for the last year. I didn’t want it all to fall apart just because we lost you. I thought that would be the most disrespectful thing that I could do to your memory. I put my dream aside to keep yours going….

It felt good to get the words out into the open air. I had been holding it in for the entire time that he was gone, and I knew that a whole lot of the rage that I was unleashing on the Bombshell roster had more to do with losing a year of my career to Jet City than it was anything that anyone else said. I felt duped by the fact that I bought into his death, and I felt like I deserved better than being lied to like the rest of the world.

KRIS: I never deserved for you to step up for me like you did while I was gone. I thought that people would just let Jet City fall apart after the shooting. It would have been easier for everyone to not have to go back to that building.

For those of us that had been around from the beginning like Kendall, Kate, Coby and myself, that certainly would have been easier. It was rough to walk into that space knowing that our mentor had been gunned down in the same building. I didn’t kill myself to keep the place running for the four of us though.

COURT: You gave us this opportunity. It was your success in Sin City that opened the door for the rest of us. It was the name of your gym that made getting a contract easier. I didn’t want to throw that away and ruin the chances of the kids like Eiley, Oz, Jaycee, or even Ruby.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few moments while we sat there in silence. I don’t think that he was prepared for me to be able to keep my cool like this. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure that this was something that I was capable of until the words were coming out of my mouth. I had lived in fear that he would lampoon me for having a soft spot for Jet City. I thought he would make fun of me for being soft. None of those feelings ever came across his face though.

KRIS: You never gave me the chance to thank you for that. From the moment that you knew the truth, you cut me almost all the way out of your life. And yeah, maybe I deserve a little bit of that.

I couldn’t help but cut him off before he got to his point.

COURT: You didn’t act like it.

I could tell that his first instinct was to try and counter that point and throw it back in my face but he held his tongue.

KRIS: I think we have both done a lot of things in the last few months that we wish that we didn’t. Hurt feelings are a real bitch sometimes.

I was impressed that he had so much restraint, and maybe it was my way to test that this wasn’t all some big prank that he was playing on me.

COURT: I should have let you explain your side of things to me back in Romania. I shouldn’t have just bailed. You’re a dick, but I should have heard you out.

Finally taking responsibility for my role in the last few months felt like a big weight being taken off of my chest. I hadn’t even been aware of how much it had been dragging me down. Maybe he was right. Maybe all of the extra fire and hatefulness that I had been pouring on my opponents wasn’t the new me.

KRIS: I shouldn’t have given up so easily. I convinced myself that it was for the best that you set off on your own because you were doing so much better without me than with me.

I shrugged, and then leaned over to nudge his shoulder slightly.

COURT: Maybe in the ring…

I know that we don’t have the typical mentor/student relationship but there was no question about the fact that when he was around he made me better. I have spent so much time blaming him for every time that I had a setback, but I had a role in all of that as well. None of the words he ever said broke my bones. It was my reactions that caused all the damage.

KRIS: Success is lonely. That is why people first started setting up these gyms. That is why people in Sin City are so fucking loyal to whatever training facility that they came out of. It is a group of people to prop you up while everyone else is trying to tear you down.

And that was the reason that I hadn’t lost contact with Eiley, Oz, or Jaycee during all of this. They had each managed to sneak around behind the scenes to congratulate me on my success. I helped them when and where I could, even giving Jaycee the advice that got him onto the Summer XXXtreme card. I missed having a place and group of people to call my own.

COURT: I wish I could go back and do it all a little differently.

He shook his head. I shouldn’t have been surprised. He was never the type that would change anything about his life. It had been hard, and painful, but it made him who he was. He wasn’t certain that he would have ended up in the same place if he moved any of the pieces around, so he always said he would never try.

KRIS: Don’t. Just do it a little differently from here on out.

I stood up and arched backwards to stretch out my back. I hadn’t realized how long I had been sitting and watching the crew set up for the show. When I looked back down to him, I extended my hand.

COURT: Same team?

He took it with a smile on his face, and let me pull him back to his feet.

KRIS: Same team.

With a smirk, I looked down at the drone still on the ground, and then over at the crew. The wheels were finally turning. I think I figured out exactly what I needed to say.

COURT: Good, because Jaycee didn’t show up to operate this thing, so I am going to need you to stand in.



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>COURTside: Game On!

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”Over the last couple of weeks of this disappointing saga, a lot of credit has been given to undeserving Bombshells.”

”I forewarned Ariana about trying to follow in the footsteps of those that came before her. For as dominant as someone like Crystal was in the past, I put her down for good. For all of Team Hero’s efforts, Roxi couldn’t stop my ascension to the top of this division, and Keira couldn’t snatch away my crown. Not even the Blast from the Past winner could hold their own in the ring with The One.”

”....and yet these are the women that Ariana is propping up in order to take me on. She is standing atop the pile of discarded losers that I already ran through like I am supposed to be intimidated. I get that all of those women have had their shining moments in this company. For some, those moments lasted years. For others, they were extremely fleeting. I cannot take away their accomplishments though, nor would I want to. Their collective accomplishments are what makes my flawless victories over each and every one of them so delicious. I don’t want to beat up on people that have done nothing. I want to highlight just what each of my opponent’s brings to the table, because that makes it all the more impressive when I take them apart.”

”Ultimately it comes down to legacy. The people that Ariana mentioned have already cemented theirs. I am still in the process of writing mine, as is my challenger. And while I can’t deny that it is always smart to look to the past for inspiration and direction, it can also be detrimental to your ability to live in the moment. If The Greek Goddess keeps thinking she is going to walk into Violent Conduct and avenge all of the people that I have stepped on in order to become the Bombshell Champion, she is going to suffer the exact same fate that they did. If she is going to spend all of her time digging into my past failures, she is going to be surprised to find that the woman she steps into the ring with on Sunday is a totally different person.”

”You can’t create a legacy in this business without a few missteps along the way. Forging one’s destiny into reality is not easy, and it is more than wins and losses. It is more than holding the Bombshell Championship. I mean, go look at my record in this company and see if it reads like the history of a Bombshell Champion. I am the proud owner of one of the longest losing streaks in this company’s history. I have spent more time away from the ring injured than I have competing in the last five years. I have been beaten by people that we think of as punchlines nowadays. I have fallen where everyone expected me to succeed. Until this year, I was viewed as the perfect example of Jet City’s wasted talent. Yet, each and every time I came back better than I was the last time. I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and gave it another shot. I got back up a little smarter, and a little more hardened each and every time that I failed and got laughed out of the building.”

”...and look where it has gotten me. Finally, at long last, I have arrived at the top of the mountain. And I didn’t do that by winning every single time I was in the ring. I didn’t do that by being carried through Blast from the Past. I did that because being champion in this company is more about surviving the best shot that each and every woman on this roster can throw at me and getting back up afterwards. It is about getting the most out of each of my competitors, and still weathering the storm. It is about not letting the setbacks against people like Alicia Lukas or Amber Ryan bother me, because these were women at the very top of their game and there is no shame coming up short against them. It is about making sure that each and every time I step into the ring, I am just a little bit better than my last time out. It is about progress, and you can’t progress if you are spending all of your time looking into the past.”

”Time has proven that I can be beaten.”

”Time has proven that I can be injured and sent away for months or years on end. ”

”These things are facts. They can’t be changed. I can’t erase them from the record books, and I cannot run from them. There is always a chance that on any given night, I am going to be beaten. I don’t think that I am somehow so great that I am above that. You know what every previous Bombshell Champion this company’s history has in common? None of them are holding this belt anymore. I am, but that isn’t something that will stretch infinitely. Someday, this will all come to an end, and that fact is not lost on me. That is why moments like these are so important. That is why when I selected my challenger for Violent Conduct, I was expecting to see Ariana seize this opportunity for what it was. Nobody handed me this championship. Roxi wasn’t just going to ride off into the sunset of her own accord, I had to force her hand, and if Ariana ever wants to hold MY championship in this company, she is going to have to wrap her head around this fact: if you want something in this business, you have to take it.”

”....when I got the chance to be the Bombshell Champion, I wasn’t going to be denied. It didn’t matter that Roxi didn’t think that I was ready. It didn’t matter that my partner cost me a shot at repeating as a Blast from the Past winner. It didn’t matter that my wife got booted from the tour. It didn’t matter that it was five long years in the making. I did not stop. I did not pack it in and walk away from this business. I survived each and every challenge. I weathered every storm. I eventually forced my dream to be everyone’s reality, and I will defend my Bombshell Championship against every woman that collects a Sin City Wrestling paycheck. Any time. Any place. Any challenger, in any order that makes them happy. It doesn’t matter to me because I am not going to be done writing my legacy until I firmly put all of them behind me.”

”....and Ariana mistakes the confidence that I have for unearned arrogance. Then again, she also mistakenly thinks that I was carried through both of my Blast from the Past tournaments appearances, and that I never earned the spot that I am in. Maybe that is just her way of projecting the way she feels about herself onto me. After all, she calls me a failure, and yet she was the one that let down her Jet City partner in the tournament when she got beaten by Devona and eliminated from the tournament. I mean, they had only advanced in the tournament on the back of what the man that I trained was able to do inside the ring. Sam Marlowe would have taken her out in the first round if not for Oz, and then Devona was able to finish her off the second time around, even after he took J2H out of the equation. Ariana fell short, and then got her match with Roxi anyways…”

”In contrast, I was making bitches tap out for the majority of the tournament until the one time that I needed Ken Davidson to step up. I was the one earning our way through the tournament this year, and he was the one that ended up blowing it for our team. I didn’t end up getting embarrassed by Devona in the tournament like Ariana did, and when the two of us squared up at Summer XXXtreme, I proved to the world that she wasn’t anywhere close to being on my level. Devona may have had a hand in eliminating both my team, and Ariana’s team, but that is where the similarities end. I proved that when I defended my Bombshell Championship against that GO Gym hack and mopped the fucking floor with her. ”

”...and maybe I should have a little more respect for the GO Gym people than I do considering what Fenris and I did as rookies, but ever since we won that tournament I have been hearing the same chirping bullshit from the rest of you. Each and every one of you has said that he carried me through the tournament, but if you watch it back you can see that I was pulling my weight the whole time. We wouldn’t have even made it to the finals without my contributions, and then the only thing he had to do to win the tournament was beat up on a man that was literally a third of his size. So he slapped around a little person and went on to be the champion. Is that really all that high of a bar?”

”If it is, I can see why the young guns of the GO Gym are being left off of the big events. I can see why so many of them have come up short, and I can understand why they would point the finger at Jet City. I was good with it. I understand that there is always going to be a rivalry between the two. I understand that so many clashes in this company have come down to people that are on opposite sides of these gyms. I get the history. I understand that we are probably all destined to do this until we all die, or the doors to this place finally close forever. The two gyms will probably never get along, even though we have come together to do a whole bunch of cool shit together. I thought that I was going to be able to free myself from all of it by stepping away from it and going out on my own, but now I realize that I was wrong. Whether I want to be, or not, I am stuck with the Jet City label. I am inextricably linked to that gym, this company, all of the petty bullshit that comes with it.”

”...but this match didn’t have to be about all of that though…”

”Ariana thinks that I dismissed her talents by leaving my challenger up to chance a few weeks ago. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I looked at the list that I was presented and realized that I was going to get the same level of competition from any of them. None of them stuck out from any of the others, and none of them felt deserving. I saw the match playing out the same no matter which one of them got the next shot at me. My hope was that no matter which card came up, that Bombshell was going to make the best of their opportunity. I wanted to inspire someone to step up to a challenge that nobody thought they deserved. I wanted to unlock a level of competition that every other champion in this company has written off. Sometimes, all people need is a chance to prove to you what they are really worth, and I was simply providing that chance to a randomly available Bombshell. So you can all imagine my disappointment when Ariana’s first instinct was to run away and cry.”

”...but I should have expected as much from the GO Gym. Ariana whined and complained about being in the Bombshell main event, just like Carter was bitching and moaning about being left off of the card. Whether you give them everything, or nothing at all, there is no pleasing them. There is no reasoning with them. They continually come up short, and then point the finger of blame at anyone that they can. I am glad to be crossing Ariana off of my list early, because it is one more of them that I don’t ever have to think about again. She can go all the way to the back of the line just like Carter has in the men’s division. She can build herself all the way back up from the bottom for all I care.”

”Rest assured, I have no intention of preparing her for ‘next time’ either. I am not The Icon. I am not going to say it just isn’t her time yet, and she’ll be better prepared for what the next opportunity might bring. I am not going to give her any false hope that she will be able to carry the Bombshell Championship one day. I am not going to lie. From the very beginning I have said that no woman on the list that I was given deserved to be sharing the ring with me at Violent Conduct. The beating Ariana is going to get this weekend isn’t going to end in the fairytale moment that Roxi said it would.”

”The Greek Angel may have gotten beaten by Roxi and had her confidence shaken….”

”... but The Greek Goddess is going to get dismantled at Violent Conduct, and I am not sure that there will be enough of her left to piece back together ever again.”


12
Supercard Archives / Re: COURTNEY PIERCE (c) v ARIANA ANGELOS - WORLD BOMBSHELL CHAMPIONSHIP
« on: August 19, 2023, 11:59:56 PM »
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Sleight of Hand
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - During Climax Control 369
13 AUGUST 2023
OFF-Camera

Everything had gone according to plan. Mark and Christian wanted me to pick my challenger, and I managed to make an uninspiring pick somewhat enthusiastically. The fans seemed receptive. I knew that there would be backlash about my choice later, but that was going to happen no matter who I picked. That is why it had to look like it was left up to chance. I couldn’t just call my shot like Kayla did with only the bottom of the Bombshell barrel left to choose from. All of those women would have been overmatched. None of them are deserving, so one of them was always going to feel like they won the lottery when I picked them.

My only concern now was getting out of the building before one of the airhead backstage reporters tried to dissect my choice. I didn’t want to answer any questions. I felt like everything that I did down in the ring spoke for itself, and got buttoned up real nicely there at the end. However, it was just a matter of time before one of the bimbos, or the stoner with a microphone caught up to me to ask their stupid questions. Since my wife wasn’t with me on the tour anymore, there was no real reason for me to stay and leaving was a much simpler process. I hadn’t even brought attire to compete in. I never even took anything out of my bag. All I had to do was stop by the locker room to grab it and I was gone.

OZ: You really expect people to believe that you actually had everyone’s names on those cards?

He had been waiting on me. I never even had a chance to spot him early and avoid him on my path. The moment that I opened the locker room door, half of the Mixed Tag Team Champions was waiting on me with my bag sitting in the middle of the floor in front of him.

COURT: I clearly flashed them at the camera. You can go back and look.

I took a step towards the bag, and he didn’t move. He hadn’t been holding it hostage as much as he had been guarding it until I showed up. Clearly the kid wanted to talk, and I couldn’t imagine that it was actually about how I picked Ariana.

OZ: Yeah, maybe everybody had one. Are you actually going to try and tell me that everyone in the mix had their name on the same amount of cards though?

I picked up the bag and threw the strap over my shoulder. Surprisingly, he made absolutely no move to stop me from doing so. If he wasn’t going to prevent me from leaving, then he was going to have to rapidly get to the point because I had no plans to humor him.

COURT: I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I am not sure if I like the accusation.

I turned back towards the door, and I heard him shift forward in his chair with a sigh.

OZ: I think you wanted to pick your challenger without making it look like you were picking your challenger. I think you knew people would talk about you taking a night off if you just straight up challenged Ariana, and believe me, they’re still gonna.

I turned back to him, doing my best to play stupid.

COURT: What are you trying to say, Oz?

I could tell that he wasn’t buying the act, but he also wasn’t asking me to confirm his theory. He wasn’t really asking me if the draw was rigged, as much as he was telling me that he knew that it was, and if he already knew, then this accusation of trickery couldn’t be the real reason that he was here. I found myself suddenly interested in the point he was trying to make..

OZ: I am trying to say if it was all just part of the game, why bring up Eiley’s name at all?

And all at once, my interest was lost. I thought being bothered by one of the backstage interviewers would be bad. I wasn’t going to be roped into any white knighting bullshit, especially not from Oz.

COURT: Oh, so you’re just calling me a liar in defense of your partner, is that it? Eiley is a big girl. If she had a problem with being one of the options, she could have just come to tell me herself.

I turned back towards the door, and this time I didn’t stop. If he was going to want to continue the conversation, he was going to have to do so while I was leaving. This wasn’t worth standing around for.

OZ: That’s not it. I just saw through the game. If the purpose was to make everyone on that list feel just as interchangeable with any of the rest of them, you could have left her out. She is holding a championship already. She was booked in a match. It was a shot that you didn’t need to take.

So he doesn’t care that I was screwing with half the roster, as long as his girl was left out of it. It would have been funny if I didn’t find the whole thing incredibly pathetic. Eiley was more than capable of handling herself, and the fact that she wasn’t here making this argument herself was more than enough proof for me that nothing had been out of bounds. Oz was the only one with a problem.

COURT: ...and apparently a shot that you think that she should be exempt from for some reason.

I pushed open both of the double doors leading out to the parking lot, and regretted having called for a driver instead of booking my own rental car for the event. I would give anything to escape the conversation, but a glance at my phone screen said that salvation was still a few minutes away. Oz apparently took that as an opportunity to convince me of his point.

OZ: Shouldn’t she? She made a pass through Jet City while you were the one running the place even if it wasn’t where she spent most of her time. You have stuck your neck out for me. Why throw us under the bus with everyone else?

His whole argument was baffling. It’s not like I could go back and take Eiley out of the deck of cards. What was done, was already done and seen by every fan in Sin City Wrestling. There were even more problems if he was expecting some kind of apology. First, I wasn’t sorry. And second, even if I was, I didn’t actually owe him anything.

COURT: So it is “us” now? I don’t recall mentioning your name at all.

He shrugged that sentiment off immediately.

OZ: We’re a team, so it comes with the territory.

I was tired of playing this game. I had attempted to just weather the storm until the car arrived, but he was determined to push my buttons. If he really wanted to know what I thought, I was willing to tell him.

COURT: ...and if the card would have come up with her name on it, what would have happened to that team, huh? You think she would really care about Limitless if she had the chance to rise to the very top of the card? Are you sure you aren’t just mad that I may have put that idea in her head, and she might leap at the opportunity to leave you behind?

I hoped that the words might have cut deep enough to get him to walk away from the conversation. I expected that at the very least they would elicit some kind of frustration. However, he simple shook his head and cut right through the words in a disappointed tone.

OZ: I think the only reason that you would do that is to try and take her out and break her confidence before she was ready for that kind of thing. I think if you goaded her into a match it would be all because you're jealous that Mikah didn’t pay you more attention back in the day. I think you added her to your shitty little stunt to get one over on her even though she’s never actually done shit to you, and I thought you were better than that, ya know?

Luckily, just as he finished, a notification on my phone went off, which was quickly followed up by a car rolling up in front of us. Relieved, I turned to him and did my best to mimic the shrug he gave me earlier.

COURT: I guess you you were wrong.

He was amping himself up to say more, but I opened the door to the car and didn’t even look back. I told the driver to take me to the airport, and closed the door behind me without so much as looking back.



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Attention
LBC - Court’s House
14 AUGUST 2023
OFF-Camera

The whole thing had been a disaster. I watched Climax Control back just to see that before I ever even named Ariana the challenger, she was already talking down about herself. Instead of jumping at the chance to prove herself, her first response to the news was a simple, “no”. Instead of wanting to seize this opportunity and do better than she did against Roxi, she thought the whole thing had to be some kind of mistake. I had been aiming to inspire some kind of fight in her, and instead she was running away. I may have named the person that I would be stepping into the ring with at Violent Conduct, but I didn’t really have a challenger. Somehow out of the list of embarrassments that I was given, I had successfully picked the only coward.

I never expected that any Bombshell on the roster would ever want to run and hide from this opportunity. Back when Amber was champion, everyone that stepped in the ring with her knew that they were going to lose. That didn’t stop any of them from stepping up to the challenge. It certainly hadn’t stopped me. When Mark and Christian surprised me with the chance to dethrone Roxi, I didn’t tell them that I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t call it out as a mistake. I stepped up and took what should have been mine several years ago. Why wasn’t Ariana doing the same thing? I couldn’t wrap my head around how she had taken the news?

RUBY: Have you seen Ariana’s post from this morning?

I was so zoned out in my own thoughts that I hadn’t noticed her come into the room. I shook away my daze to see that the end cap of Climax Control was still frozen on the screen in front of me. I couldn’t have honestly answered how long I had been sitting there. I had been avoiding social media for the morning, so I hadn’t seen what she was talking about, but could imagine the content.

COURT: Whatever. I don’t care. She can cry her way through the next couple of weeks then.

I could tell that she wasn’t satisfied with that answer. Truth be told, while everyone else seemed to be hating me more and more every week, the two of us hadn’t ever been more on the same page. She wasn’t part of Sin City anymore, and didn’t get to come with me on the tours because of what happened last time she was in the ring, but that never drove a wedge in between us. She knew that I was finally getting my time in the spotlight, and how important that was to me.

RUBY: I honestly never thought that I would see someone run away from hitting the lottery, but that’s exactly what it feels like. She should be psyched that you are offering her a shortcut to the main event.

The whole situation had drained any enthusiasm that I had for showing up at Violent Conduct. I figured that I had built up enough good will as champion to skip some of the events. After all, they owed me for playing nice with all of the fans on the boat for Summer XXXtreme. I would just show up, knock out another defense real quick, and head back home. There was no need to get excited or put in a whole lot of effort when Ariana falling on her face is a foregone conclusion.

COURT: You would think….

I was just looking forward to getting it over with at this point.

RUBY: ....somehow you still make it sound like this is a bad thing for you. She is clearly afraid of you or something. That means you are basically guaranteed to walk away with the Bombshell Championship. You get to keep it. You get another defense, and you didn’t even have to try hard.

I couldn’t disagree with all of the positives. It was awesome that I wasn’t going to spend the next week and a half worrying about whether or not my reign as champion was going to end before it really got a chance to get started. I wasn’t going to lose sleep. I wasn’t going to get hurt by pushing myself too hard at the gym. But since there was no risk, there was no fire; no passion.

COURT: ....yeah. On paper it is an easy day’s work. It just…

I couldn’t find the right word to sum it all up succinctly.

RUBY: Boring?

It felt like a harsh way to describe a Bombshell Championship match at a Supercard, but she wasn’t wrong.

COURT: I was hoping for a match that people were actually going to want to watch. That was the whole point of not picking from the list of disappointments they put in front of me. If I actively chose any of them, whoever it was would have been lackluster.

Ruby nodded in agreement, and even went a step further in an attempt to make me feel better about the choice I made.

RUBY: Well, they didn’t really give you a whole lot to work with.

Since I couldn’t come up with a solution on my own, I just started saying all of the thoughts that I had been lost in out loud. Maybe Ruby could make sense of all of it.

COURT: I thought making it random would make Ariana feel like maybe it was destined to happen. She would get to work and feel like it was her time to shine. I thought that of the group, she would be the one to make it interesting.

She frowned, and seemed to finally grasp why I was feeling so let down by the whole situation.

RUBY: ...and instead it looks like you broke her without even laying a hand on her. That alone takes talent.

She tried to put a positive spin on it, but that didn’t change that I really didn’t have a challenger. The nacho and bathroom lines were set to be packed while the top championship in the Bombshell division was being defended, and that was a problem.

COURT: Yeah well, it doesn’t make me look all that great when I am beating up on someone that isn’t fighting back.

Ruby shrugged as if that really wasn’t a problem, and offered another simple answer.

RUBY: Then make her fight back.

That was much easier said than done apparently. Down in the ring, I had done my best to make it seem like I was excited about stepping in the ring with her, but so far she hadn’t capitalized on any of that.

COURT: I tried. Apparently my whole spiel wasn’t inspiring.

Ruby shook her head. Clearly I had misunderstood her meaning. The smile on her face widened, and she gave me a playful nudge with her shoulder.

RUBY: Well, how far has flattery ever gotten you in life? You went out and tried to build her up, and that didn’t work. You gave her the opportunity of a lifetime, and she wasn’t grateful. People can block out all of the positive shit, and write it off. That’s why that little pep talk she got from Carter didn’t work. It’s on you to go give her some real motivation.

I shook my head. That was the problem. Nothing that I was doing was working, and if she was content to just bury her head in the sand until Violent Conduct, there was nothing that I could do to stop her.

COURT: I am not sure that can be done.

Ruby hadn’t even considered that for a second. Not only did she definitely believe that it could be done, she wasn’t going to accept any of my excuses for not trying anymore.

RUBY: Sure it can. Mikah and Kris used to do it to you all the time. If you want her attention for real, run to social media and piss her off.

I shrugged. Kris and Mikah used to torture me in person at Jet City South. Shutting them out was never as simple as staying away from social media until bell time for a match.

COURT: She’s avoiding me.

That didn’t seem to be an obstacle for Ruby either, and I shouldn’t have been surprised. Somehow, she had become one of the most hated members of the roster through her use of social media to irritate people.

RUBY: Then do something she can’t avoid. Take it out on her partner. Go put yourself in front of an SCW camera and put her on blast.

Maybe she was right. Maybe if I ratcheted up the pressure early enough, I could do something to save this match and make it something worth watching. It certainly couldn’t hurt to try, and venting all of my disappointment at a camera was going to be much better than bottling it up and wallowing in it all week.

COURT: ....I can’t believe people actually think you’re dumb.

She gave me a small smile and a kiss on the top of my head before getting up and heading out of the room.

RUBY: People can think whatever they want. They’re allowed to be wrong.

She was right. They were, but not Ariana. Her first impression had been bad, but if I really wanted to change that, I was going to have to go draw it out of her.



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>COURTside: So Fucking Disappointing

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The scene opens with a spotlight shining down on a gray and black backdrop. From the shadow behind where the light shines down, the Bombshell Champion takes a step forward. The Bombshell Championship sparkles on her shoulder when she steps into view, and the bright light clashes with the streaks of eyeliner running down her face. Court’s eyes are wide, but the rest of her face is twisted into a scowl as she takes a deep breath and prepares to unleash all of her frustration at the camera.

”I almost wish that Carter was a woman instead of a power bottom, because this whole thing would have been a whole lot easier if he were my opponent….”

It isn’t meant so much as a compliment to Carter as much as it was supposed to be insulting to her opponent, and his partner.

”I mean he is the one doing all of the heavy lifting for Ariana this week. While she was busy cowering in fear, and crying into her pillow, he was the one trying to give her a pep talk. When I started taking shots at her, he was the one that frantically ran to her defense. When I said that Ariana was a disappointment, it was Carter that started throwing their accomplishments in my face in an attempt to cut me down. It was Carter that started going through my career with a fine-toothed comb and picking out the shots that he could take at me. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that he was angling for a shot at hopping to the Bombshell division. If he did, he’d probably have an easier time actually getting on the card when the big stages come around. Then again, if he had a match of his own to think about, he probably wouldn’t have had time to protect his partner from me on social media. Carter would have probably been at the gym, or celebrating finally seeing his name on a super card the day it was released.”

At first she laughs, but the joy on her face only lasts for a moment. She cuts it off in an instant, and the intensity returns to her expression.

”...but that is not how things went. Carter doesn’t have anything better to do, so he spent the day making sure that I knew that his tag team partner wasn’t a disappointment like I said that she was.”

The Bombshell Champion rolls her eyes as a clear indication of how well that worked out for him.

”I mean, it didn’t work. He sure did put in a valiant effort though. The problem was, it was hard to take him seriously. The guy was bragging about their past championships from the defunct underbrand of this company like it wasn’t super fucking cringey. When are people going to learn that if your company can’t last, their titles never meant shit? And I know that Underground was technically under the Sin City umbrella, but the shit that they did down there regularly wouldn’t have been good enough to make it on the Climax Control card. The stars that they had holding their championships would have been left off the shows on the main roster. Need proof? Carter is literally living it.”

”....and so is his tag team partner, my opponent, and number one contender to MY Bombshell Championship, Ariana Angelos. I mean, they were successful tag champions down in the minor leagues, but they couldn’t even manage to be one of the handful of teams to qualify for a shot at the real deal. Carter even got handed a shot at the top championship just a couple of weeks ago by the golden boy himself. J2H wiped the floor with him exactly like I am going to do to his partner, and exactly like Roxi did once before.”

The Champion still visibly winces when she says the name of the woman she beat for the championship. Something in the lead up to that match had gotten deep under Court’s skin, and she still hadn’t managed to shake that off.

”Unlike Roxi though, I am not going to be flattering Ariana by saying that I think that maybe one day she will be able to rise up to the position that I am in. Even if I believed that back when the card showed her name, that feeling has been gone for a couple of days now. Ariana showed me, and showed the world, who she really was the moment that she ran away from this match. Her first impression as the number one contender was to say that there must have been some kind of mistake. Instead of deciding to bring the fight to the champion, she decided she wanted to go bury her head in the sand. Instead of being excited to be taking part in the Bombshell main event of Violent Conduct, she was saying that she wasn’t ready and that the match should go to someone else....”

Court takes a second to consider whether or not Ariana might have been right, but appears to be more disappointed than anything. It takes a moment, but she shakes her head and rejects that idea in a flurry of emotion.

”You know what? No. Fuck that!”

She takes another step forward, and with the light now behind her, shadows move between the streaks of makeup on her cheeks with each word out of her mouth.

”If Ariana doesn’t want this match, not only should she not get it, she shouldn’t be in this company. If she doesn’t wake up thinking about how she is going to be the Bombshell Champion, then she shouldn’t be collecting a goddamn paycheck in this division. Nobody should ever want a match like this to go to someone else. They should never be sitting in the back with their fingers crossed that they get passed over. Nobody should be cheering about being forced to sit on the sidelines. I mean, look at her fucking partner for Christ’s sake. He would have been forced to sit out at Summer XXXtreme if he hadn’t bitched and complained until Jaycee stepped up to the plate. He wasn’t booked this time around, and was actively complaining about it when I started in on him. Then you have this make-pretend Bombshell saying that she wishes she was passed over? I can see why she started out in the Underground instead of coming to the big girl roster right from the start.”

”Not everyone is cut out to carry the biggest prize in this company, but I know for a fact that the ones that do know it from the very beginning. That is why people like me come into this company and make a big splash at Blast from the Past. I did it. My wife did it. Look at where I am now! I did the thing that nobody thought that I was going to be able to do. I did the thing that everyone thought I would fail at. I have become the champion that this company has deserved for too long. I was labeled the future of the Bombshell Division, and not even that was good enough for me. I went out for the main event of Climax Control and became the fucking PRESENT. That is what you are supposed to do when this company presents you with an opportunity. That is what it takes to not only make it to the top of this company, but to stay there, and rest assured that I plan to stay here for a very, very long time.”

”Ariana? That I am not so sure about. She certainly isn’t GOing anywhere in this company. She’s not GOing to be the new Bombshell Champion.”




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Rearview Champion
Yucatan, México  - Chablé Yucatán
16th AUGUST 2023
OFF-Camera

Ruby’s plan had worked flawlessly. It had taken a few days, but finally the Bombshell Championship match was starting to look like something that was going to be able to keep everyone engaged. Ariana was finally willing to step up and fight back after I really went hard at Carter. I could tell that she was a little out of her element, but it felt like she could really get her shit together over the next week. Ruby warned me that I may have created a monster, and that inspiring Ariana to bring the fight to me always had the chance to blow up in my face, but that was a chance that I was willing to take. When I think of the greatest Bombshell Champions in this company, I don’t think of the ones that held the belt during the lean times. I don’t think of The Mean Girls manipulating things to be on top.

I think of the times that Crystal and Mikah, or Alicia and Amber dominated each and every bombshell that had the audacity to try and unseat them from the throne. I think about how those women forced each bombshell to throw their best shots, and still managed to walk away victorious. If I wanted to be better than all of them, I needed to create that same environment, and then set the bar even higher than they did. Ariana actually fighting back was a step in the right direction. It snapped me out of being lazy and wanting to skip the events. It made me move up my flight, and find somewhere nicer to stay. If the Bombshell Championship match was destined to be a fight after all, then I was going to treat Violent Conduct like the grand event that it deserved to be. After all, that was my job as the top champion in my division, and soon to be the greatest of all time.

And maybe I had gone a little overboard. Dropping a thousand dollars a night to really treat myself to the best of everything was probably a little overly extravagant. However, the gym that they had was second to none and the wellness programs they offered were going to have my best self walking down the aisle in just over a week. I also knew that there was a limited chance of being bombarded by fans or co-workers if I was pricing them out of my personal space. It all seemed like a win-win situation, right up until it wasn’t. I was on my way back to my residence after working out, and saw the kids first. KJ and Myles had teamed up against the middle child. Lindsey never stood a chance when the two boys were actually getting along. They were chasing her across the grass, and once she saw me her eyes lit up and she ran right at me. While she hid behind me, the boys tried to go around, it didn't take much effort to lift the two of them into the air and pin them to my sides. They kicked and fought but couldn’t escape, which gave Lindsey more than enough time to flee back into the villa they were staying in. When I put them down, I got harsh looks from the two of them before they both ran off towards the house to find her. I knew that if they were out here playing this openly, then the adults responsible for them couldn’t be very far behind.

KRIS: I bet you’re feeling real proud of yourself, aren’t you?

I heard him before I saw him, but I knew there was no way he was talking about how I saved his daughter from her two siblings. Kris only ever had one focus, and that was what happened in Sin City.

COURT: No, but I figured you’d be proud of me. Pissing Ariana off is a page out of your book, not mine.

He sighed, and shook his head to disagree with me.

KRIS: You think so? Because it feels like yet another page out of your biography.

I gave up. When I don't do enough he is upset with me. When I do too much, I don't do it the right way. If I say yes, the answer is no. There was no pleasing him, and I didnt even necessarily need his approval

COURT: You’ve lost me.

He laughed. It wouldn't have been surprising to anyone that he was taking joy in my confusion.

KRIS: I mean, I get that you like yourself but this whole championship reign has been a little masturbatory, has it not? I was okay with you going out there and stroking your ego the first couple of weeks out of the box but it is getting old now.

There was apparently a whole lot of context to this conversation that I was missing. It was like I stumbled into a conversation that he had been having with himself about me. The only thing I could do was go on the offensive myself.

COURT: You’re one to talk! Somehow you’re not in the company and yet somehow always find a way to make everything about you.

He didn't react to the sudden change in my attitude or voice. Instead, he deflected focus back to me with a simple shrug.

KRIS: This isn’t about me, it’s about you.

Fine, if he was determined to talk about my opponent, so be it. That doesn't mean that I had to play along. If hostility wasn't working, I could just plead ignorance.

COURT: I’m just knocking down the pins that they set up.

He laughed in my face a second time. I was starting to wonder why I never just walk away from these conversations with him. It never does me any good to hear him out.

KRIS: That’s a good lie. Do you actually believe that?

I hated how every word out of his mouth was condescending. The fact that he went days without causing fights with his words was genuinely surprising.

COURT: I didn’t even pick Ariana! Ho---

He shut that down before I even got the lie out of my mouth, and of course he knew. If Oz had been quick enough to confront me about it in real time, obviously Kris could spot it on a replay once he could pause the frame for a closer look.

KRIS: You clearly rigged the cards, and even if you didn’t, you definitely picked Keira, didn’t you? She didn’t even want a shot at the title and you handed her one for no reason. Sure, you blamed it on your wife, but was she actually saved from anything?

Ruby may have fallen victim in a different attack, but that didn't change the fact that Keira stepped in the first time.

COURT: I was just tr---

He cut me off again. He wasn't going to let me interrupt the narrative he was weaving.

KRIS: Again, no. It looks like maybe you’re just meandering through this, but I know you. You forget, I have been around since before you could hold your own in that ring, and unlike everyone else, I have been paying attention from the start.

That was up for debate. If he and Mikah had been as hands on years ago like they are with Eiley and Oz, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

COURT: So you knew that I would eventually be the Bombshell Champion before very many people even knew my name. Congratulations.

He nodded, which caught me off guard. I had expected the opposite, and when he didn't shoot down my argument, I was at a loss for words.

KRIS: I did. And I also remember how when you got your first shot at it you weren’t ready and Amber Ryan crushed you in front of the world.

There it was. That was the series of words that I was hoping never to hear. I had gotten this far without any of my opponents mentioning it. I felt like maybe that was a loss that was lost to time.

KRIS: Speechless? Yeah. I thought you might be. I remember the time that you cashed in your 2018 Blast from the Past shot, and failed. I remember how that left you broken, and how you disappeared again. I thought that maybe when they announced that big match with Roxi, there was going to be a chance that you stood up and did what was right…

That would have been stupid. Nobody would piss away the opportunity of a lifetime just to stand on some moral high ground.

COURT: ...I’m not Mercedes. It is not my job to keep up with all of the matches that people have forgotten over the years.

He wasn't going to let it slide though.

KRIS: You got a match you really didn’t deserve, and then you beat the bombshell that has always been the face of the company.

I didn't see how that was a bad thing. He was essentially talking down to me for succeeding in doing the one thing every Bombshell in the company dreams about.

COURT: I rose to the occasion.

He shook his head again.

KRIS: ...you stole the match that was supposed to belong to the Blast from the Past winner… just like Crystal did to you.

I tried to stop it from happening, but I knew that he could see the smile forming on my lips. There was no amount of playing stupid, or fighting his words that was going to work. When he said he knew me, he wasn't lying. He really had seen through it all, so the only thing I could do now was own it./i]

COURT: Feels like they should stop letting that happen…

He still wasn't done though.

KRIS: ...and then you used the flimsiest logic to challenge the half of Team Hero that you actually identified more closely with as a fan. I guess it also helped that it was right in the middle of everyone targeting Ruby for not being able to keep up with you. Is that not the same thing that Keira and Roxi have had to deal with their whole careers?

I shrugged, not even trying to bury the smile on my face anymore.

COURT: History repeats itself I guess.

I was hoping it would end there, but Kris hadn't even gotten to his point yet. All of these things were just ramping up to how he was going to tell me that Ariana was the wrong choice.

KRIS: It certainly does. Ariana got her chance against Roxi a while back, and Roxi had the audacity to tell her that maybe one day she could be champion, but she wasn’t ready yet. Correct me if I am wrong, but that is the same thing the Roxi said to you that hurt your feelings, right?

I shrugged, trying to be every bit as condescending as he was being.

COURT: She was wrong.

And we had finally arrived at what he had been trying to get to the whole time.

KRIS: Just like Amber was wrong back when she beat you, and all you needed was a second chance. You got your second chance and you beat someone that everyone said you couldn’t. You won a championship everyone said you weren’t ready to hold. You did the thing nobody thought you could do.

When he put it like that, with all of the stops along the way, I could see why he was saying the whole scenario was just me patting myself on the back, albeit in more colorful language. The problem was, I didn't see how any of it was a bad thing.

COURT: Ariana doesn’t also deserve that chance?

He thought about that one for a minute without saying anything. For once, it felt like he was actually considering something that I said. It was nice to feel seen for once.

KRIS: It’s not about her. It’s about you. You’ll never be one of the all-time greats if you are wasting so much time reliving all of the shit that is behind you already.

He looked over at me, and for the first time I could kind of see his point. I was already playing through all of my greatest hits instead of doing anything new. If I wanted to be one of the greats, I couldn't afford to just retread my own path. Luckily there was still a week before Violent Conduct.

13
Climax Control Archives / Snapped!
« on: August 04, 2023, 10:12:26 PM »
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Boiling Point
JORDAN - During Climax Control 367
23 JULY 2023
OFF-Camera


I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everyone had kept trying to warn me that something like this would happen. Maybe I should have listened. Maybe it was just arrogance that made me think that nobody would dare go this far. As much as everyone may have hated Ruby and I, nobody ever took it further than sideways glances and negative comments in passing. I never thought that someone would go as far as to try and actually take one of us out. That is not the way that these things are supposed to go. Each and every one of us in the locker room is capable of snapping someone’s arm. The fact that it doesn’t happen every single show is simply a demonstration of our restraint as professionals. The goal inside the ring is to win. You want to beat your opponent, but you aren’t trying to take their career from them.

….and yet that is what I saw unfolding in front of me on the screen. Ruby screamed in agony until Krystal finally snapped her arm. She had already bent the rules as far as she could in her favor. She had already pulled all of the dirtiest tricks that you can inside a ring. I was angry that she was getting away with so much, but that is just how the game is played. I am no stranger to bending the rules a little bit, and neither was my wife. Someone turning the tables on us is simply the cost of doing business sometimes. There are lines that you simply don’t cross though. There are things that any normal human would stop short of doing. Krystal didn’t stop. Ruby wouldn’t give in. Not even after her arm gave in. Not even after the bone was broken.

The moment that she went limp, I was dashing away from the monitor. Where the crew was set up backstage wasn’t much further away then where the medical staff were waiting on standby in case anything went wrong. I heard the bell chime, and the fans immediately started to boo despite the fact that they weren’t fond of my wife. I caught up to the medical personnel as they were loading up to head out, even before Jasmine threw up the X with her arms. I tried to follow them out to the ring, but two arms around my waist stopped my forward momentum.

OZ: Court just let them do their thing!

I threw an elbow backwards that hit the soft tissue between two of the kid’s ribs. I didn’t feel guilty about it either. I don’t know who he thought he was. Apparently he felt entitled to walk up and put his hands on me, but we weren’t close like that.

COURT: Let go of me Oz!

A second elbow that felt like it hit between two lower ribs actually broke his grip on me. I tried to spin away, but he was quick. He grabbed me by my elbow and spun me back around to face him. He didn’t seem angry about either of the two elbows, and his voiced remained calm.

OZ: We both saw it, Court. It’s broken. There’s nothing that you can do out there but be in the way..

I pulled my arm away from him and he raised his hands in front of his chest in a sign of surrender. After all, the medical team was probably already down to the ring doing their thing. Clearly all he had wanted to accomplish was to stop me from cutting them off.

COURT: I still need to be out there! I should have been out there the whole time! Everyone tried to warn me about…

I didn’t finish the thought. To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure how to finish the thought. I remember everything that happened with Keria and Sin a few years ago in Sin City. Now apparently Sin was back, but was Krystal. It was all a little too strange for me. Whatever they wanted to call themselves, I got their message.

OZ: They’ll splint it and have her out of that ring in a flash so they can continue their show.

I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. I hated that he was right. Despite what we all just witnessed, I knew that the show was going to go on like this was all some normal occurrence. The camera feeds would cut somewhere else where they would interview some poor idiot just to distract the audience while they brushed this under the rug. The show was more important than just one person; especially if they hate the person.

COURT: Fuck them and the rest of their show!

I was the one that put in all of the effort to train this kid, and he had the audacity to try and explain to me how the business worked. I knew that the show was going to continue, but there was no rule that said I had to do that happily.

OZ: I get how you feel, but that’s probably not the best way to look at it. Things around here aren’t gonna stop because one of us goes down, ya know? Expecting it to is just setting yourself up to be more angry about it than you need to be.

The fact that I apparently wasn’t allowed to have a normal human reaction to what I was seeing in the ring was ridiculous. I shouldn’t be the only one losing my mind either. If anything, everyone else was underreacting.

COURT: More angry than I need to be? People have been warning both of them about Krystal. It’s not like she hasn’t been out of her fucking mind for weeks. They let this happen because they didn’t care. All Krystal did was solve a problem for them. You see how they talk about Ruby. They never wanted her back in the first place!

I had been the only person that was supportive of her being back with Sin City. Everyone else said that she was just an anchor that was going to weigh me down. In reality, she was the one thing on the tour that was helping me hold it together. Now they were taking that safety net away from me.

OZ: Bullshit! As much as people like to talk shit about the people that come out of Jet City they know that we are all built a little better than the rest. They would have been stupid not to bring her back.

That was just indoctrination talking. If the kid actually looked at the history of Jet City, he would know that there are only a few of us that ever amounted to anything. In Sin City alone there were a dozen or so that flopped and were never heard from again. Other promotions saw others take a big swing but miss the opportunity to make an impression with fans. For the most part, the people that shouted negatives at us are right. We don’t have champions all over the world like so many others do. We aren’t even all on the same side anymore.

COURT: What’s with all this ‘we’ shit? Did you forget the last few months? Ruby and I got the boot. Should I be surprised that all of this happened after basically everyone cut ties with us?

Medical personnel started to come back through the curtain, but security boxed me out. The group turned into a tent just a few feet down the hallway, and closed the curtain behind them while they went to work. I knew what was happening inside without even looking. I had been in her position more than once. I tried to leave OZ with my words, but he grabbed my arm again and stopped me from walking away.

OZ: So now it’s going to be Kris’ fault that Krystal hurt your wife? That’s a stretch.

I didn’t have time to have this conversation. I would give anything for it to be over, so I took a trick out of Kris’ book to try and cut him off.

COURT: I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re sticking up for him! You two are practically the same person!

To my surprise, he appeared to take it in stride instead of getting as angry about it as I have seen him get during his promotional work. It wasn’t enough of a slap in the face to get him to leave me alone.

OZ: ...yeah and it is not my fault that she got hurt either. Shit happens. You’ve been there.

If words weren’t going to work, raw power was going to have to do the trick. I pulled free of him and shoved him backwards with both hands.

COURT: You’re right! I have been there, and I have had to fight my way around more roadblocks than I ever deserved to have set in front of me. Why would I want to wish that on my wife?

I didn’t wait for a response. Several members of the medical team exited the tent, and I saw that as my opportunity to actually be there for the only person at this event that I actually gave a shit about.



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Outta Here
JORDAN - After Climax Control 367
23 JULY 2023
OFF-Camera

Pain killers were a hell of a thing. My wife had gone from being in agony, to being silently content as they took effect. The injury was not good news, but it was far removed from the worst case scenario. Neither of the bones snapped and broke through the skin. The giant splint they placed on it was going to be more than enough to keep it stable until we could get her to an actual hospital. We turned down letting them take us there in exchange for everyone leaving us the fuck alone. The last thing we wanted was a crowd.

JAYCEE: You know that you didn’t ask for this to happen, right? This isn’t your fault.

Ruby was already waiting for me in the car. She wouldn’t have been much help packing up anyways. I was so hyper-focused on what I was doing though that I didn’t notice Jaycee standing in the doorway. After all, the show was just now ending. I figured everyone’s attention would be on more important things.

COURT: Like I was telling Oz, none of this would have ever happened if we all stuck together the way that the GO Gym or Wolfslair people do. They have all their issues with one another sometimes, but they would never stand for someone getting singled out and maimed by someone.

I figured that Jaycee would understand that more than anyone. The last year of his life had been running from the fact that OZ sold him out. There was never a time that all of us were ever all on the same page. There was always some kind of conflict that kept Jet City divided, which was one of the reasons that I had to get as far away from it as possible.

JAYCEE: So the night isn’t even over and you’ve already written all of us off? It just happened! Give people a chance to show up for you. If you really cared this much, you should have tried to fix it instead of walking away!

Clearly he had already talked to OZ about our conversation earlier. He had been prepared to come out swinging like he knew I was going to lash out at him.

COURT: I’m not the one that spent a year playing dead, nor am I the one that created that situation. That was on you and Kris. I am the one that wasted another year of my career cleaning up the messes that everyone else made. I finally decided that I had enough of it and I am the bad guy now.

I was hoping that was going to be another ‘gotcha’ moment that could get me out of this conversation like the one with OZ earlier, but I wasn’t so lucky. Maybe it was because Jaycee was much more comfortable with me than his squirrely friend ever was. He was emboldened by that familiarity.

JAYCEE: If you want to blame Ruby getting messed up on Jet City being fractured, then yeah. We had one shot at everybody getting back on the same page, and you threw your little temper tantrum instead.

I shrugged my shoulders. There was no way that I could change any of it now, nor should it be entirely my responsibility to fix it all now.

COURT: Well until tonight it seemed to be working out for me better than being part of Jet City ever did.

He took that in stride as well, and managed to turn it right back around on me.

JAYCEE: Yeah, you finally got that title. You beat Roxi… but what else do you have anymore?

I turned away. That wasn’t a question that I was prepared to answer. I tried to shake it off and act like I was collecting the rest of our things, but the silence that filled the air got awkward quickly.

COURT: I…

He must have sensed my hesitance, because he took the opportunity to pile on.

JAYCEE: You used to tell us during classes that you had everything in the world with the exception of the championship that you always wanted. You got that now. What else you got?

I wanted to tell him that I had an injured spouse that was way more important than whatever point that he was trying to make. I wanted to scream at him the way that I had screamed at OZ just over an hour ago. Instead, I threw our bags over my shoulder and turned around with as blank of an expression as I could muster up.

COURT: She’s waiting on me…

He shrugged, but stepped out of my way and let me move past him into the hallway.

JAYCEE: Handle your shit…



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>COURTside: Little Things

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The scene opens with the camera following the backside of the Sin City Bombshell World Champion, Court Pierce. We follow her a few steps as she walks into the front of a building, and then the camera takes off; ascending up and over her shoulder. The wall in front of us reads “San Diego RAGE!” and is surrounded by pictures of people destroying various objects. Viewers know almost instantly that they are in for a good show as Court picks up a bat off of the counter in the room. The camera pivots as it comes around her, but Court turns away from it and down a hall.

”...I am soooooo fucking tired of the stories that too many of you have been telling yourselves about me…”

We zip along behind her as she moves through another door and into a much bigger room than the first. There are several tables set up in the room, all with small trinkets set up on them. Each corner of the room has a bookshelf, one with snow globes, and another filled with beakers and other small containers. At the center of the room was a disco ball hanging from a sturdy chain.

”I am not some Mikah 2.0. I am not a Keira knockoff. I’m not just another Steele family spouse. I’m not a fucking member JET CITY!”

It is the last two words that really bring the rage into full view on the champion’s face. She puts both hands on the bat and swings with an upward trajectory. The disco ball smashes to smithereens on impact, the shards bounce off of the ceiling before showering the camera as it tries to pull away.

”Maybe it was Kristopher Ryans that planted this idea in everyone’s head that I am some kind of easy mark. He goaded me into breaking my hand when I was a rookie, and now every single person takes it upon themselves to poke and prod at me like I won’t do anything about it. Mercedes mocks me and says she is worried about the Bombshell Championship because I am carrying it. Roxi doesn’t think she left the title in good hands, even though I pummeled her so badly she refused a rematch. Now there is this Krystal thing where she thinks it is okay to snap my wife’s arm for a laugh!”

She turns the bat on one of the shelves by first clearing it of all of the snow globes on top of it with a swipe that sends them smashing against the wall. At the end of her swing, she brings the bat around, and over her shoulder before driving it down through the top shelf, and breaking two more before her momentum is stopped.

”I try to do things the right way, and I get disrespected at every turn. My gym abandons me. The whole company, including the two bosses, come after my wife’s career on a daily basis. I mean, I won the Bombshell Championship, but at what cost? People still say that I don’t deserve it like I didn’t make Roxi tap out in the center of the fucking ring. Those same bombshells will then turn around and say my wife is a liability when she just got her arm broken, and would rather pass out due to the pain than give in. She is tougher than anyone in this company has ever given her credit for. She is more talented than the majority of the people that have come out of Jet City, and she has done things in this company that only a few people have ever done. People don’t win the Blast from the Past tournament by accident, I can assure you that. People typically don’t get Bombshell World Championship shots as a rookie. She did those things, and yet she was still never good enough for you people.”

Clearly the champion’s emotions are getting the better of her, but she couldn’t have been in a better place for that. Thick black sunglasses cover her eyes, but the fans can see the flushed color of her cheeks, and the fact that her makeup was streaked on her face.

”...and we’ve somehow come full circle. First it was Kris with my broken hand. Now it is Ruby with a broken arm. It is Keira with this championship. It is these newcomers that somehow already have my name in their mouths despite not doing anything worth recognizing. Every time that I take a step forward, someone or something else comes along and tries to take it away. No matter what progress I make, the business always tries to push me back. There’s just one problem with that….”

Court brings the bat down through the glass top of one of the tables. She manages to break through the shelf on the second level as well, as the containers from both shelves spill to the floor and break on contact with the tiles.

”I can’t be put in my place, because I am already there. I am at the very top of this company, and that is exactly where I belong. Anyone trying to get my attention is just trying to drag me down to their level. That includes Keira. That includes Krystal. That includes whichever one of them is claiming Sin these days. I am so far past what either of them can do on their own, so somehow  they have managed to entangle me into their bullshit by taking out my wife. They could have had their little spat without trying to involve me. First they drag in Ruby with all of their cheap insults on Twitter. Then I actually had to commend Keira for doing the right thing so that I could focus on Devona at Summer XXXtreme. I tried to reward that, but look at how it has blown up in my face. My life partner is sitting at home, when we are supposed to be out on the road together for a world tour. And for what? Fucking nothing.”

Court lets out a guttural scream before turning on her heel and bringing the bat down on the table opposite the first. This time she breaks through all three levels of shelves and splits the thing in half. She shakes her head afterwards, and shoulders the bat before taking a deep breath.

”After the first time that I got hurt, I started doing these kinds of rooms so that I would never let that anger get the best of me again. I thought that I could just take out my frustrations in a room like this, and approach everything in the ring calmly and rationally. I was wrong…”

The champion shakes her head. That wasn’t quite right.

”No… Strike that. I was naive.”

She nods. That was a much more accurate assessment.

”I was naive to think that would be enough to dissuade people from fucking with me. I thought that my dominance in the ring since my return was going to be enough of a deterrent to make sure that nothing like what happened to Ruby would have ever crossed the mind of anyone on the bombshell roster. I thought that if I came back and made myself look unbeatable in the ring it would be enough to keep everyone in line, lest they be embarrassed by the champ.”

Court shakes her head, the frustration boiling back up in her face.

”...and now I just realize that I was doing all of you a huge favor. I was taking out all of my worst intentions on inanimate objects. I was breaking all of these little things, when all along we were allowed to be breaking our fellow co-workers. I was pretending like this company wasn’t founded by some of the most violent, sadistic, and hardcore people that have ever graced the center of the ring. The lifeblood of this company has always been the violence produced in the Roulette divisions, but somehow I tried to leave that level of ruthlessness locked away inside a room like this; far from it having any use for me in Sin City.”

With both arms, she swings the bat towards the bookshelf in the far corner and lets it go halfway through her swing. It flips end-over-end before it hits the shelves vertically and shatters all three of them simultaneously. Court turns back to the camera satisfied.

”I am done doing all of you this favor. I am done playing nice. I have nothing left to be nice about. You idiots have teamed up to remove the light of my life from this tour that we are on, so I am going to make sure that I turn it into a living hell for the both of you for as long as I possibly can. If I have to put the Bombshell World Championship on the line to do so, so be it.”

Court crosses the room and picks up her bat. She smacks it against the wall twice, knocking the debris off of it before once again bringing it up and resting it on her shoulder.

”I am done looking over my shoulder and waiting to see who the next person to step up and stab me in the back is going to be.”

She points the end of the bat into the lens of the camera.

”You’ve both been warned. The next bones that get broken won’t be mine. I am tired of breaking all of these small things. I am ready to take on something bigger.”

The champion turns away from the camera, and heads out of the room as the disco ball finally stops swinging and drops to the ground. The wreckage smashes and spreads across the floor as the scene fades to black.




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Retribution
San Diego, CA - Jet City South
28th JULY 2023
OFF-Camera


Jet City South was in ruins. Everyone had been sent home before the day even ever got started. The authorities had already shown up and been dismissed. The parking lot was empty with the exception of two cars that got roped in by the caution tape that surrounded what used to be the front entrance of the building. Three of the four big glass windows at the front of the building were smashed, and the one remaining had “ASSHOLE” spray painted across it in big red letters. Both of the sliding doors leading into the lobby were missing their glass, and one had been knocked entirely off of the guide. The dents in the frame of the hanging door showed that he had been beaten with something several times until it finally gave in. Inside, everything had been cleared from the front desk. Multiple computer monitors were broken on the ground, and papers that had been sent flying lay scattered on the floor. The neon Jet City display that separated the lobby from the actual gym was missing most of the logo, and only the ‘J’ remained lighted.

Unfortunately, the fury had not subsided in the lobby. The path back towards the offices was littered with other signs of rage. Equipment had been flipped over, and several of the mirrors lining the walls were smashed. Turning into the hallway where the offices were located, there was a hole punched through the drywall in every place where a framed photo used to be. The floor was little more than a trail of shattered glass all the way down stairs at the end. Up the stairs, the main office window had been smashed when a replica of the Sin City World Heavyweight Championship crashed through it before landing in the center of the ring down on the gym floor. The room itself looked like it had been torn apart by a hurricane. All of the bookshelves were emptied, and the contents of every desk drawer was emptied onto the floor. Both of the desks in the room had been flipped onto their sides, and the only lighting came from two toppled lamps that cast large shadows across the room.

In the center of the room was a single office chair, and in it sat the Sin City Bombshell World Champion. She was still dressed in the black and purple outfit that fans saw in her promo the night before. The dark sunglasses that covered her eyes hid just how bloodshot they actually were. She had destroyed the rage room in a drunken stupor, but by the time she had arrived in Jet City South, she was at full black out. She hadn’t even attempted to run. She wasn’t trying to get away. In fact, she wanted Kris to know that it was her. When she had her fill of destruction, she grabbed the chair, tossed her bat to the floor, and simply waited for him to arrive. After all of the pain he had caused her, both directly and indirectly, she wanted to create a problem that he had to clean up. She wanted to give him a small taste of his own medicine, even if she only remembered scarce details of actually wrecking the place.

KRIS: .....I’m going to be pulling glass out of my shoes for months….

Despite everything, he did sound angry. Court wanted him to blow up. She wanted him to scream and yell. She wanted to see the same kind of rage that she felt boil up in Kris. The fact that he was blowing it all off took a lot of the fun out of it, and the fact that the hangover was quickly setting in was making it even worse.

COURT: You should’ve just let them arrest me.

It was unfathomable to Court that he was just going to let her walk away from all of this. He hadn’t so much as shown even a hint of surprise since the moment that he arrived and saw what she had done to his gym. When he spotted her in his office, he sighed and went about concocting the bullshit stories he was going to sell to the police when they arrived.

KRIS: Trust me, it is better for the gym when there is some kind of mystery around what happened.

After the shooting last year, Kris couldn’t imagine that anything that happened at Jet City did anything other than add to the legend of the place. The more craziness that surrounded it, the more people would talk about it. That was always good business.

COURT: What did you tell them?

He shrugged, as if the whole thing hadn’t required a whole lot of thought. She knew that he had likely just annoyed whoever came to investigate the place until they gave up trying to get any straight answers. It was how he got away with most of his schemes.

KRIS: Aggressive remodeling. We are kind of in a strange business where they are willing to believe that kind of thing. It also helps that nobody saw you do anything.

They both knew that didn’t matter. Kris had found her at the scene, and she wasn’t denying the role she played in the destruction. She wanted to be caught. She wanted the spectacle. That was probably why Kris was so dead set on denying her any of it.

COURT: There are literally dozens of cameras in this place.

Of course, Kris had already taken care of that as well.

KRIS: They all appear to have missed it. Not sure how that happened. There’s some 35 minute gap in the video where it was like the whole system reset. I think it would be unfair to make assumptions about what happened while they were off.

It was likely that they wouldn’t have even needed to catch her in the act at all. As soon as her promo from the night before caught traction, everyone would know that she was the one behind the assault here. That was evidence that Kris had no power to make disappear.

COURT: It probably helps their case that I posted that promo last night where I broke a whole bunch of shit with a bat. I was literally down the street with a weapon and motive an hour before the first windows were broken here.

Although, almost acting as her defense attorney instead of the victim of the attack, Kris managed to brush that off too.

KRIS: Who is to say that you were actually even in San Diego for that? I could print out a banner that says Puerto Rico right now and hang it on the wall if it would make you think it was true.

She finally snapped at him since he was so adamant about keeping his cool. She didn’t have the patience to keep playing his game until he finally broke down and said something that wasn’t total bullshit.

COURT: Why are you going so far out of your way to make it seem like you actually give a shit?

Though, not even yelling at him provoked any kind of emotional response. He came at her with a calm and collected counter.

KRIS: Why do you go out of your way to make me seem so much more cruel than I am? I am enough of a piece of shit without you having to blame me for every little thing that goes wrong in your life.

Court sneered at how he tried to turn it around on her.

COURT: You’ve earned your fair share of the blame that I give you.

He wasn’t going to take the bait either. He could have gone negative, but instead he kept hammering at her with the facts as he saw them.

KRIS: ...and a whole lot more credit than you give me. I have spent years trying to teach you that the rage that you bottle up inside yourself is going to be the thing that rips you apart in the end. I used to try and poke at you to get you to let it out in small spurts. You hated me for it, but when I leave you to your own devices… look around.

The problem with Kris is, he makes it impossible for anyone to want to admit when he was right. The condescension in his voice made her blood pressure rise, but she didn’t have it in herself to scream.

COURT: I am not going to apologize if that’s what you’re fishing for.

She got up out of her seat, and picked up her bat before putting it back over her shoulder. She almost wanted to dare him to step to her so that she had an excuse to swing it at him.

COURT: It didn’t have to be like this. We should have all been here together. If we were more of a united front, nobody would have dared to mess with any of us.

He didn’t make any move to stop her from making her way to the door.

KRIS: I never threw you out. You walked away.

Court didn’t stop, and made her way down the stairs without asking for his permission. If he was determined to let her walk away once again, she was done trying to convince him not to.

COURT: ...and you made me. When you’re willing to admit that, maybe we can actually talk. Until then, stop trying to do me favors.



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>COURTside: Just That Court

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”A full week later than planned, but here we are.”

”It’s been a much different ride than I expect it to be. I threw out this match after Summer XXXtreme because I felt like Keira had done me a solid. I figured that she deserved some kind of reward for all of her effort to help keep my wife from coming from harm. Back when we were standing across the ring from one another in Rome, I said that I wanted us to be able to share the ring as gladiators and have a battle that we could be proud of, win, lose or draw.”

”I only kind of believed that then. For the most part, I feel like I was ‘yes, and-ing’ everything that she said. Keira said that we were the same. Yes, and I am much more successful. Keira said that we are both warriors inside that ring. Yes, and I have never been in the shadow of my wife. Keira said that we should have a big clash between us. Yes, and I should put my Bombshell World Championship on the line because when I beat her I will have dominated both halves of the most dominant team in Bombshell history. I will become the one that dismantled Team Hero with the biggest prize of Sin City on the line. Keira said that we are both way more talented than people ever gave us credit for. Yes, and I am way more upset about that than some hero wannabe.”

”....we all know what Keira really is, don’t we? We’ve seen it time and time again. We all remember when Sin first showed up. We certainly remember the path of destruction she left in her wake a few years ago. There is not a single person in the locker room that really blames Krystal for anything that she is doing. There is not a single fan at home that is really going to hold her accountable for any of this when things are said and done. Everyone knows that without Keira in Sin City Wrestling, there would be no Sin.”

”...and as far as I am concerned, if there were no Sin, my wife wouldn’t be sitting at home instead of enjoying life on tour with the Bombshell World Champion. Sin took that away from us, and even though Krystal will eventually regret everything that she has done, she is not the person that I am going to hold responsible first. The first has always been Keira. It’s funny that she got this opportunity because of the favor that she did my wife, and now she is going to get ripped limb from limb because of the injury Ruby suffered. Like I said, these last few weeks have been an unexpected ride.”

”I fully expected to play nice coming into this match. I had done so well against Roxi, and against Devona. I was harsh, but not too harsh. I was fair to my opponents, but I was honest about the threat that they posed to my aspirations with this championship. I gave them the credit that they deserved for their contributions to this business, and respected them as competitors. I did everything right, and where did it get me?”

”Roxi said I was a disappointment that didn’t deserve to carry the title. Devona thought that I ruined her dream match because she was stuck sharing the spotlight with me. Not one bombshell in the locker room thinks that I am fit to be in the position that I am in, and the only person that has always had my back just got her arm snapped in the center of the ring….”

”...and of course their show went on. The wheels didn’t stop turning. Once again this company found a way to take something away from me that I didn’t think that it was possible to lose. I do every-single-fucking-thing right in this company, but I am the only one that is made to suffer because of it.”

”No more.”

”I know that I have said it before, but I am truly… finally… OVER IT!”

”Fuck the events. Fuck the signings. Fuck the fans. Fuck the bombshells that are on this roster. Fuck every single gym faction that you people shove down our throats every single show. If you people want me to feel singled out, I do. If your goal was to show me that in order to be the Bombshell World Champion that I have to go it alone, then I will. I am done trying to give any of you what you want. I am done holding my tongue, and taking it easy on people for the sake of being the face of this company. I am done with the over-the-top feigned respect that I am supposed to summon up for every has-been that this company places in front of me.”

”In three matches since this company finally realized that talent that I am, I have faced two women that are long washed up, and one that never deserved to make it this far in the first place. Both Roxi and Keira would have been impressive to share the ring with a few years ago, but we all know that both of these matches are a joke. These legends are simply being fed to me because Mark and Christian want to demonstrate that while they may have blazed the original path, the Bombshells of today are head and shoulders above the bar that the old guard set. We should stop propping up these corpses of yesteryear and trying to sell tickets based on the women that they used to be.”

”It’s no wonder that Amber left. We shouldn’t be surprised that Mikah is wasting away on a beach. We shouldn’t expect Alicia Lukas to step back into the ring and give it another serious go.”

”With the exception of myself, the Bombshells at the top of this company are just the empty shells that all of the most impressive women in the company have dismantled for years. Not a single one of the truly legendary competitors stick around, because after they get done beating all of the old ladies they get bored. Maybe that was what Roxi feared me finding out once I actually got my hands on this championship. Maybe that was why she felt such a responsibility to prop up this division and put on a brave face. She knew of the rot that was just under the surface, but pretended that it wasn’t there.”

”I can’t stomach that. We all see it, and it is long past time for someone to point it out. So that is exactly what I will be doing at Climax Control in Peru.”

”For once, Keira is going to wish that she stayed in her wife’s shadow and safely out of my line of sight. I am going to do to her what I should have done to Roxi, and what I should have done to Devona. Krystal slapped that submission hold on Ruby and didn’t stop until she heard something snap. It wasn’t going to matter to her if my wife tapped out. It wasn’t going to matter if she went limp. She went into that match on a mission to maim, all because of the curse that Keira brought into this company. There is no way that I am going to be able to push that thought out of my mind once the bell rings, and I shouldn’t be expected to.”

”So far, I haven’t seen any consequences for those that go too far. The only people that I see getting taken advantage of are the ones that allow it to happen. I was one of those people for too long, so now I need to prove to everyone just how big of a mistake they are making if they are trying to get my attention.”

”This thing with Keira could have been what you all wanted, but you just had to keep pushing…”

”Now it’s going to be a slaughter.”

”Deal with it.”

14
Supercard Archives / Re: COURTNEY PIERCE (c) v DEVONA - WORLD BOMBSHELL TITLE
« on: June 30, 2023, 08:49:20 PM »
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Hustlers
Los Angeles, CA - Princess Cruise Ship
25 JUNE 2023
OFF-Camera


Casino night on the cruise ship was taking a lot more time than I wanted it to take. Although, I couldn’t really complain. Given the fact that the event had started with more than a hundred guests throwing their money in, making it to the final four was a little bit impressive. I also wasn’t surprised by most of the people that joined me at the table. I knew that Kris would be involved for as long as he stayed interested in his opponents. It was a good sign that Oz joined him at a table fairly early on, and they appear to have worked together to pick off fans one at a time. Several members of Sin City got in on the action as well, but most of them realized that they had better things to do hours ago. However, for me, winning wasn’t optional.

OZ: I don’t think that you’re as good at this as you think that you are.

We had all four long gotten past the high stakes that the cruise line set for the evening. The fact that one of us was leaving the table with the $25,000 prize was nice, but it wasn’t what any of us were playing for anymore. When Kris put up the ring that he got for entering the Hall of Fame, the fan was inspired to put up the second of his two rooms as collateral. Oz got in on the action by throwing a Rolex into the middle of the table that I knew had to have been pilfered from one of the other guests in the room.

COURT: I think that because I am the only one at the table without a penis, you’re all taking me too lightly.

Luckily, I didn’t have to throw anything in. For the last hour or so, they had all taken turns giving away their money one chunk at a time. By the time we knew everything was coming to an end, all of the chips were already on my side of the table. All of the flashy bits that they were throwing in were their last ditch effort to not walk away empty-handed. I was willing to give them that chance. After all, I was planning on bribing someone out of their room with the winning. I never assumed that I could walk away with the key that I needed too.

KRIS: I am pretty sure we all understand what you’re capable of.

The dealer flipped over more cards on the table, but nobody else seemed like they felt any more secure with the cards in their hands. Then again, none of them would have made it this far if they were that easy to get a read on.

COURT: If you really believed that you never would have let me leave Jet City.

I wanted to push him a little bit, and maybe goad him into throwing away whatever was in his hand. Kris’ tell was that he got quiet when he had nothing. The better the cards he was holding, the more he liked to rub it in everyone else’s faces. He extracted enjoyment out of those that he played against, so actually winning didn’t matter.]

OZ: Can we all just keep things moving? I am tired of splitting the world’s smallest cabin with Eiley. People need space. I can’t spend every hour of every day with her all spaced out anymore.

Oz was trying to bluff his way through the hand. I knew it. I am pretty sure that Kris knew it. The fact that he was the only one even a little bit anxious told the rest of us that we didn’t need to worry about him stealing the pot. He acted like he was having a bad time, but I think that is all it is. He likes being so close to Eiley. That much was obvious.

KRIS: I am sure your right hand misses you too. Unfortunately the separation is going to continue a little longer. That room is mine.

It was a joke, which threw up the red flag for Oz. He tosses his cards down onto the table and shakes his head before pointing at me with an incredible amount of contempt.

OZ: Oh! Fuck you!

The fan joined him in his outrage, and looked back and forth between Kris and Oz in disbelief.

FAN: I thought you said that he was bluffing!

It was nice to see them all implode and blame each other. None of them was smart enough to realize that I was the only actual threat at the table. When Oz tried to direct it back at me, it blew up in his face.

OZ: That wasn’t me! That was all Court!

The fan threw up his hands in defeat, tossed his cards to the table and then stormed off without another word. It is not like he could actually get away from us though. We were all trapped on the same boat until after Summer XXXtreme, and Jaycee was about to become his new neighbor for the week. I waited to correct Oz until after Kris started to reach for his winnings.

COURT: I never said that he was bluffing. I said that he wasn’t winning. There’s a big difference.

I threw down my cards, and Oz’s mouth fell open.

KRIS: You’ve to be kidding…

Kris sat back in his chair, shook his head, and then motioned towards the chips at the center of the table.

COURT: Nope. Not at all. I tried to warn all of you that you were underestimating me.

I didn’t reach for the chips at first, and instead grabbed hold of Kris’ ring before sliding it onto my middle finger. I held it up next to my face and gave him the biggest, fakest smile that I could muster.

OZ: It wouldn’t have helped. You already had the win in the bag.

I took the watch next. It hung super loose on my wrist, but looked just as out of place as the giant gaudy ring. Together with my Bombshell Championship later, they were going to make a hell of a social media post.

COURT: You didn’t have to push all your chips in. The poor dumb sap didn’t have to throw in his room key. I didn’t have a gun to your head or anything.

Kris was the only one to see through my plan for what it was though.

KRIS: Nah, but you needed them to stay in the game so that you could walk away at the end of the hand without anyone goading you to stick it out for another.

I shrugged, because even if he figured out how I did it, I was still walking away from the table with all of their shit. Plus, I found a way to cover all of the money that Ruby was spending. The whole night had really turned into a win-win for me.

COURT: I guess I learned that from one of the best.

Oz sat back, and his mimicry of Kris was taken to the next level. If I wasn’t watching the words come out of his mouth, I am not sure that I would have known which one of them said it.

OZ: I think that means you’re  finally giving someone else a little credit for some of your skills.

I could have taken it personally, but I chose to take the win instead. I grabbed for, and pocketed the key before offering them a final smile.

COURT: Definitely. If you want to learn how to be a piece of shit, there is nobody better to learn from. Thanks for the extra room. It’ll be nice for Ruby to have a place to put all the merch she’s been buying.



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>COURTside: REintroductions

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The video kicks off with a view of Court, with the Bombshell Championship already draped over her shoulder, walking towards the balcony of the deck in front of her. The camera moved past the railing and hovered in front of her before spinning to show the cheering crowd of fans surrounding a pool in front of her. As Court approaches, the camera snaps back to her, and we can hear her words over the noise from the crowd.

”I don’t really think that I need to reintroduce myself to all of you, but I enjoy it so I’ll be doing it anyway. Welcome to the Summer XXXtreme Cruise! I am here amongst all of the people just like I am supposed to be. See? ”

She steps up to the railing and raises the Bombshell Championship into the air. The camera backs away from her so the the crowd is also in view when she asks them her very simple question.

”Who am I?”

Immediately, the crowd roars back with their response.

”SCW BOMBSHELL CHAMPION, COURT PIERCE!”

She looks pleased with herself as the camera moves back towards her, cutting the crowd from the frame. She places the Bombshell Championship back down on her shoulder, and continues to address the fans instead of the camera hovering in front of her.

”You’re right you know. That’s me. That’s who I am. That’s who I was always meant to be. “The One” Court Pierce. The Future of the Bombshell Division. The Genius of Jet City.”

She gets cheers from the people below, and raises the championship up one more time before moving away from the railing. The camera zips past her as she starts to come back the way that she came. Now that she is not in front of the live crowd, her tone becomes slightly more honest with the viewers at home.

”...but all of you already knew all of that, didn’t you? Of course you did. There is no way that any of you could ever forget it, because I have been letting people know every week on Climax Control. I have showed up. I have competed. I won this championship, and despite Roxi Johnson’s suspicions to the contrary, I am still here and still very much excited to be the face of the bombshell division. I am still dead set on hanging onto this championship for the foreseeable future. I am still showing up at all of the events, doing all of the right things, and making sure that I represent the company the way that it deserves to be represented.”

It seemed like it annoyed her to even have to say those words. Being the Bombshell Champion was the only thing that she ever wanted.

”I know that is going to surprise some people. Apparently Amber Ryan was never subjected to the same type of comments that I have been getting as a champion. Most of them fall just short of being told that I need to smile more. To be honest, I am getting a little tired of everyone thinking that I need to be informed what it means to be the top champion of the Bombshell division. It is almost like everyone has forgotten that I have been here for a very long time. I have seen this championship change hands almost as many times as Mercedes Vargas. I may not have always been competing in the ring, but there was never a time that Sin City didn’t have my full attention. So the fact that people think that I could somehow ruin the prestige of this championship is laughable.”

A bigger person probably would have left it at that, but she wasn’t above throwing people under the bus. She wasn’t about to change that now that she actually had possession of the prize she had always been chasing.

”I was around to witness Alicia Lukas and Seleana trade this championship back and forth once a month as neither of them felt like it was worth hanging onto. I have watched Crystal bitch and complain her way back into championship contention time after time, when she has seldom been able to elevate the championship during one of her reigns. That is why she is in the history books for something like quantity of reigns, instead of looking at the quality of her time as champion. Amber and Roxi were the last two to hold the championship before me, and even they only managed a couple of months.The fact that Roxi acted as if all of her work to bring relevance back to the Bombshell Championship was going to be undone the moment that I won it is laughable. She wasn’t doing anything super interesting this time around. She was just trying to convince herself that she had more left in the tank than she actually did. She tried to speak her dominance into existence, and it didn’t work, so she tried to take me down a peg on her way out. ”

Obviously Roxi had done a little more than strike a nerve with some of her comments if they were still haunting Court over a month later.

”There is a reason that Roxi Johnson isn’t in this match. It was her right to force a rematch after I took this championship away from her. She should be standing in the Summer XXXtreme ring waiting for me just like Devona will be, but she’s not. And why is that? Because the moment that she stepped into the ring with me she realized that she just didn’t quite measure up anymore. She knew that she was overmatched from the opening bell. I went out to the ring at Climax Control to end her championship reign, and make a statement from the very beginning of mine. The legends of the past just aren’t going to cut it anymore. The gatekeeper that the Bombshell division tried to install didn’t work. The glass ceiling didn’t hold me back. I am so much better than any of you have given me credit for, and after all of these years I am thoroughly, emphatically, and overwhelmingly OVER IT!”

She is unable to control her volume on her last couple of words, but she quickly gets herself back under control as a couple of fans quickly pass by her in the hallway. They are out of the shot before they even have the opportunity to look back.

”You people don’t think that I care enough about these stupid little events? You’re right.”

She doesn’t seem to care who hears her anymore. All of the negativity was weighing her down, and she wasn’t going to carry that into her first title defense. That would be a mistake.

”You don’t think that I give a shit about all of the fans? I don’t.”

More painful honesty that she probably would have gotten booed for if she was screaming it off of the balcony. She counted herself lucky that she had kept her composure for at least that long.

”You think there is a chance in hell that I actually take any of these notes that I have been given over the last few weeks? Fuck off.”

She turned out of the hallway and through the door of her cabin. The camera followed behind her and zipped through the door before it was able to swing closed. Court dropped the Bombshell Championship onto her bed in the room and kept walking through the center of it until she arrived at her own private balcony window. Outside there was nothing but the ocean and the passing breeze. Court took a deep breath and looked more at peace than she had moments ago. It felt like she was going to manage to keep herself together. The camera floated out through the glass door and turned around to face her.

”I didn’t need anyone’s help to get to the position that I am in today. I got myself ready to come back better than ever. I walked out to that ring to end and Icon. I won the championship, and I FUCKING TOLD EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!”

She quickly ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it away from her face. After another deep breath, she looked up at the camera with a scowl on her face.

”You can all stop pretending to be so fucking impressed and surprised. It’s already getting old.”

With that, she closed the curtains in front of the camera, leaving it outside in the wind before everything cut to black.




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Favors
Princess Cruise
26 JUNE 2023
OFF-Camera


I eventually caved and gave Kris back his Hall of Fame ring. I demanded that, as payment, Oz had to return the watch from whomever he had stolen it from. The only one that actually lost anything as a result of their game was the fan that put up his room. Granted, that was the only prize that I actually had any use for anyways. Kris would pester me about it until I gave him his crowning accomplishment back, and there was no way that I was getting busted with something stolen while I was representing Sin City as the Bombshell Champion. The only thing that I needed was the key. It was part of a promise that I made a few days earlier.

COURT: Don’t say I never did anything for you….

I tossed the key to him as he came aboard the ship. He missed the original launch, but it hadn’t taken a whole lot of effort to get him to a place that we could scoop him up later. Jaycee had been through a lot. He deserved to be a part of the show.

JAYCEE: You’ve done a whole lot for me. More than enough. For real. I wouldn’t be here without you.

I felt like he was going to try and hug me, so instead, I turned and started leading him through the hallways to where he was going to be staying. It turned out the room that Ruby and I reserved was much nicer anyways.

COURT: I’m glad you can admit that here in front of all of these people. That really means a lot.

Of course, that was sarcastic. The hallways were mostly empty while everyone was out on the shore during the stop.

JAYCEE: That’s not fair, and you know it. You are the one that tried to draw everyone into the middle of this you versus Kris thing. You put everyone in a shitty spot. You had to know that everyone was going to try and silently play both sides.

Maybe he had a point. Expecting them to join me in a war against Kris didn’t make a whole lot of sense. These kids were all just starting out. They weren’t really in a position to throw away all of Jet City’s resources.

COURT: You were actually the last one to congratulate me on winning the Bombshell Championship…

He let out a fake gasp like he was surprised that I was keeping track of that kind of thing.

JAYCEE: I didn’t think that you cared that much about my approval. I also figured you would hold onto the thing forever, so there was no need to rush to talk to you about it.

It wasn’t just his approval that I was looking for. After so many people told me that I was going to be a terrible champion, I was kind of just looking for any kind of positive feedback.

COURT: That is the plan…

He stopped me just short of the door that I had reached out to open.

JAYCEE: You didn’t exactly say that like someone that was excited to be in one of the headline matches of this card. Is there something that I need to know about the show? I just busted my ass to get involved at the last possible second, and you don’t seem like you want to be here at all.

It wasn’t something that I was looking to talk about. I should have been more careful about keeping my mouth closed.

COURT: I do. I am just not sure that I have an opponent that does. Devona was so pumped about earning her shot at the Bombshell Championship, and then it got announced that it would be against me. It feels like she is disappointed.

Maybe that was just pity talking. I couldn’t really tell anymore. Everything that Roxi said about me was still kicking around inside my head. Jaycee wasn’t having any of that though.

JAYCEE: Maybe she is just disappointed that she didn’t get the opportunity to slap around Roxi’s corpse and win the championship the easy way.

He was determined to break me out of the spiral just like I had done for him.

COURT: I get that you’re trying to make me feel better, but she wasn’t actually that bad out there.

He shrugged. That wasn’t anywhere close to an acceptable answer.

JAYCEE: She wasn’t that good either, or she would still have the championship and you would be drinking by the pool without a care in the world like Oz.

No matter what the situation was with my match, we both knew that was very unlikely.

COURT: That would involve having to be around a lot more people than I want to see in one day.

He wasn’t accepting that answer either though.

JAYCEE: Well, get used to it. That is the life of a champion. Isn’t that part of everything that you’ve ever dreamed about doing? Even if it is the worst part of the dream, it’s still the dream.

But that is when it finally clicked for me. I could tell that the fog was starting to lift. He was right. This was my dream, and it was also Devona’s.

COURT: ....that actually makes a lot of sense.

I turned away from the door, and looked out over the balcony in thought. He pointed at the door behind me, but my mind was already elsewhere.

JAYCEE: Alright. I can see that the wheels are turning. I appreciate all the h--

I am not even sure that he finished the sentence. If he did, I wasn’t around to hear it. He had sparked an idea.



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>COURTside: Headliner!

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The scene opens and we see Court sitting on the end of her bed. She is hunched forward with her elbows on her knees, looking down at the Bombshell Championship in her lap. It is the same room that she barged into with all of the confidence in the world early on in the cruise, but she wasn’t radiating that energy in this moment. She appeared almost lost in thought, and speaking to the camera seemed secondary to what was going on in her head.

”I guess I can’t really put it off any longer.”

Court struck a more melancholy tone than viewers were used to. She had been especially boastful and abrasive since beating Roxi making her calm demeanor feel all the more strange.

”I have been trying to wrap my head around how I want to do this for the last month or so.”

She still doesn’t look like she has actually decided on a way forward through the words running through her head. There were a few moments of pause before the champion took a deep breath, shrugged her shoulders, and looked up at the camera for the first time.

”Part of me really wanted to come out the next week after beating Roxi and attempting to build a bridge with Devona. Realistically we both want the same things. We’ve already said as much. She agrees that if you aren’t in this business to be standing in the spot that I am standing, and holding the championship that I am holding, then all you are doing is wasting everyone’s time. This opportunity that she has at Summer XXXtreme is a lifetime in the making. She has wanted to rise to the level of World Champion since she was a little girl. This was her dream, so I know that Devona knows what it takes to be a champion in this company. She knows the responsibility that comes with the Bombshell Championship, and will undoubtedly be a great champion whenever the time comes.”

There is another intentional pause placed there to drive her not-so-subtle point that Devona’s time wasn’t the present.

”I know that because the two of us aren’t all that different. We both came out of great gyms with a long history of doing great business with Sin City. We each made a big splash fairly early on, and led people to set super lofty expectations for us right out of the gate. Neither of us really had a voice in that. People saw that we provided a little spark of something different in the ring, and instantly got the vibe that we would be heading to the top of whatever companies we were in. In spite of those goals that other people set for us, we both ended up taking time away for one reason or another. People kind of started to write both of us off as flops. It was fun when we showed up, but over time, the expectations went away. We were both looked at as failed projects at one point or another; it is what it is.”

Her voice tried to convey that those opinions didn’t really matter to her anymore, but her body language betrayed her. Almost instinctively her fingers run across the front plate of the Bombshell Championship in her lap, and she pulls it closer against her body like it could somehow protect her from the negative vibes.

”We both signed up for Blast from the Past 2023 with something to prove. We wanted to show the world that their first impressions of us weren’t wrong. We wanted to demonstrate to everyone that we were every bit as talented as we were when we first burst out onto the wrestling scene. However, there is a lot more to the tournament than just having something to prove. There is a way to do absolutely everything right and walk away empty handed anyways. Devona and I know that, because we have both been there.  I also know that it was no easy feat for Devona and J2H to run the gauntlet and win the Blast from the Past tournament, because I have experienced that first hand as well. I wouldn’t dream of trying to take that accomplishment away from Devona just because she is challenging for my championship. Let’s keep it real though. One of us got the golden ticket by being blessed with the greatest of all possible partners. The other had to slay an Icon to earn her place at the top.”

There was no mistake about which one of those paths Court found more merit in.

”Before the finals, Devona was pumped about the opportunity she had in front of her. Either she was going to compete against Roxi, who she always looked up to, or she was going to square off against someone else from the GO Gym. No matter what happened back at Into the Void, it felt like Devona was going to have a match to look forward to at Summer XXXtreme. Unfortunately for her, I took my tournament win from five years ago, and turned it into the Bombshell Championship by beating the biggest Icon the Bombshell’s division has ever created. She was looking forward to getting her hands on Ariana or Roxi on the cruise ship, but got me in their place. I can see how that would be pretty disappointing on paper.”

”...but let me take away that heartache, Devona. I did you a favor. I know that deep down inside you still feel like the little girl that just wanted to be the best. I know that you have spent enough time in this company to know what it means to step into the ring with Roxi Johnson with the biggest and best of all possible prizes on the line. I know how much that moment would have meant to you, because of what Roxi means to every Bombshell that came after her. I also know how badly it would have twisted you up inside for her to tell you that you weren’t ready. I know how much it would have hurt to have her call your motivations into question just because you had the audacity to step away on a few occasions. I know what it is like to have someone that you respect to have you say that you aren’t ready, and maybe you never will be. You don't want to know what it is like to have the person that you looked up to stare that little girl inside you in the eye and crush on each and every one of her dreams.”

”Regardless of what the outcome of that match would have been, I can promise you that there would have been some lasting scars. There are some things you can’t unhear. There are words that can’t be unsaid. I’m not saying that, like me, Devona wouldn’t have been able to shake that off and pull off the victory anyways. I am not convinced that Roxi’s last championship reign wasn’t more delusions of grandeur than actually being grounded in reality. I can’t be certain that she wasn’t simply coasting on aura alone, but I know that the match itself didn’t live up to my expectations. I expected the best of the best to put up more of a fight, especially after how deep all of her words cut into me. I walked out of that Climax Control on cloud nine as a competitor, but that little girl inside of me was both incredibly hurt, and insanely disappointed.”

Even all these weeks later, it was clear that Court still hadn’t gotten over the things that we said about her leading into her championship match. The words had gotten into her head, and stuck there. She tried her best not to let it derail her any longer, and shook the thoughts out of her mind..

”Devona might think that my ‘line-jumping’ cost her the match is always dreamed of, but I know the truth. I helped her dodge a bullet. I helped keep that little girl’s dream alive to fight another day. I have the ability to give Devona the match that she deserves, because I have a whole lot more left in the tank than my predecessor. I can’t afford to coast, because I have so much more left to accomplish before my time runs out. Devona and I may have both signed up to Blast from the Past with something to prove, but I have found even more reasons to be relentless about my success in the time since. And my opponent might think that she has my number because it was her team that eliminated mine from the final four, but if she steps up to me with that her head, she’s going home empty-handed.”

Court abruptly stands up from the end of the bed, and shoulders her Bombshell Championship before crossing her arms around it and clutching it to her chest

”I know that somewhere deep down Devona probably thought that she dodged a bullet back in the tournament. Any time she came up against another Bombshell that could really take her apart, J2H was there to pick up the slack for her. When Eiley had her number, despite it being her very first match, J2H was there to save the day with a low blow and a cheap win. A similar thing happened when she stood across the ring from me. All of a sudden she was out on the apron, and her partner was doing all of the heavy lifting for her. Sure, she got in a few of her best shots, but that didn’t matter. She couldn’t get the job done, so once again, just like nearly every round, she sat back and let J2H go to work.”

The fact that technically Devona can claim a win over her even though the two of them had nothing to do with the decision felt like an unwarranted smudge on Court’s record.

”...but they won the tournament, so she gets her shot. It doesn’t matter how it happened. It doesn’t matter what my opinion of it is. The history books will always have her name listed as one of the two winners of Sin City’s biggest tournament this year. And I know that you’re all probably thinking that I shouldn’t even be bringing it up because all of that happened months ago….”

She shrugs her shoulders, almost in a defeated manner.

”....but what else can I do? What else is there to talk about?”

”I haven’t exactly been silent about Devona. She had my attention from the moment that she came out during my match with Roxi. I have been focused on her since she plopped down in a chair and watched as I made the most of my Blast from the Past opportunity. I get it. She wanted to mark her territory, and let me know that I was on radar. This is a business, and she was doing what was best for herself.”

”...but where has she been since then?”

”I have given her plenty of space to make peace with the fact that I am her opponent. I have waited for her to attempt to show me even one ounce of the respect that she would have shown Roxi. I have gone out and competed on Climax Control all while looking over my shoulder and expecting her to appear out of the shadows. There are times where I was walking around backstage expecting her to come across my path. None of that ever happened though. No words were exchanged. There was no confrontation. We didn’t have some kind of public contract signings so that the fans could at least see us face-to-face with one another. There was all of the time in the world for Devona to turn this match into the spectacle that she always wanted it to be, but all we have seen her do is continue to coast just like she did all the way through the tournament.I have tried to poke and prod at her. I haven’t shied away from this match or my responsibilities as champion, but I have had a distinct lack of a real challenger. Look at the things that her partner has done since winning Blast from the Past. J2H has become part of the biggest story of Summer XXXtreme, and he isn’t even carrying a championship into the event. The SCW World Heavyweight Championship stole the main event away from the Bombshells this time around because Devona hasn’t found it important to actually be around. She was gifted the opportunity of a lifetime, and is pissing it away the exact same way that Roxi accused me of doing for the last five years.”

Her eyes widened like she was just now finding this new frustration with Devona. Where she started out speaking like she sympathized with her opponent’s journey, now that feeling was fading.

”That is why this whole thing feels different for me. Usually I find motivation to beat my opponents by focusing on all of the ways that we are different. I can’t do that this time around. Devona and I are so very similar in too many ways. All I can see are the similarities, and deep down all I want to see her do is succeed in this business.”

Yet, that wasn’t the whole story anymore. Court had reached down and pulled out a deeper meaning from it all.

”....but there’s something else to it. As similar as we are, I could never let myself sit back and simply wait for the day of my biggest match to actually arrive. When I learned that I was going to be competing for the Bombshell Championship, I was shouting it from the rooftops. I did everything that I could to show Mark, Christian, and the world that I was a worthwhile investment in the main event of their show. I busted my ass to make sure that I was the most talked about aspect of the show that I was on. As the challenger to the face of this company, I made myself the center of attention because I wanted to prepare everyone for what life was going to be like after my big win.”

Everything finally made sense to Court, and the confidence that she was filled with just a few days ago finds its way back to her when she needed it most.

”Devona hasn’t done that, and there is only one reason that I can think of for her to be shying away. For that matter, there is only one reason that I could ever see myself doing what she has been doing this last month.: She doesn’t think she can win.”

In Court’s mind, there was no other explanation.

”...and she’s not wrong.”

She knew how her words would be taken, so she backtracked almost immediately so that people would get the wrong idea.

”Against Ariana? Certainly. Against Roxi? Probably. But against ‘The One’ Court Pierce? Not a fucking chance.”

”It’s okay. That’s not anything for her to be ashamed of. Who was ever really giving her a chance? She has been gone for three years, and the biggest win she has gotten for herself was in the finals against Dawn Warren, but how anticlimactic was that? Both teams in the finals had women that were brought to the dance on their partner’s backs, and yet they somehow ended up being involved at the conclusion of the match. And yet, other than that one, she has only really shown that she could hold her own in the ring against people like Jessie Salco and Ariana. Everyone knows that none of the three of them are anywhere close to getting a shot at the Bombshell Championship.”

”On the other hand, I have yet to make a real misstep since I have been back in action. I was the far more dominant half of my Blast from the Past team. I choked out Seleana my first night back in Sin City. I beat Zoe Lukas who everyone thought was going to eat me alive. I shut up Crystal for good back at Into the Void, and then I ended the last Bombshell Championship run of Roxi Johnson’s career. We may be a lot alike Devona, but our paths this year have been very, very different. I haven’t had a whole lot of help. I have had to get things done on my own. My partner let me down. My gym let me down. My friends wrote me off. A literal hero told me that my dreams couldn’t be achieved.”

”I went out there alone, and accomplished the biggest thing that I’ve ever done  in my career. I cut all of the dead weight out of my life and finally lived up to the limitless potential that people saw in me five years ago. Every step of my journey has felt like taking the hardest possible path. There were countless setbacks. There were numerous distractions, but I never settled for squaring off against anyone other than the best. I have run head first towards every single opportunity that I have been given, and it makes me livid to see someone like Devona just sitting back and counting the days until the bell is going to ring. She is everything that the naysayers have tried to label me as, but where is the outrage? Where are the people telling her to make sure she participates in the fan events? Where are the people clamoring to actually see their number one contender in action? Where has all of the effort, fire, and passion for this business gone? I thought those were the things that fueled her in the ring. It’s been awfully hard to see while she has been sitting at home. It is awfully hard to hear, when she doesn’t say anything at all. It is hard to feel her energy, when it is absent from every single show.”

It was somewhat cathartic for Court to dump all of feelings onto Devona that Roxi unlocked in her.

”...but now she finally wants to show up. She wants to walk down to the ring for the first time in over a month, and square off against me for the Bombshell Championship at Summer XXXtreme. I guess that’s her right, but it damn sure doesn’t feel like that’s her dream anymore. I don’t know if that is because of the fact that it is me holding the championship now, or something else. To be honest, I don’t really care. I just know that it means that I can’t let her beat me. I can’t allow her to walk away as the new face of the division if being the best in Sin City isn’t the driving force in her life. I won’t let myself be bested by someone who doesn’t want it as badly as I do. Surrendering my championship to Devona would make me feel worse than never having won it in the first place. I didn’t work so hard to get to where I am just to watch it slip away this soon.”

”There is nothing that I won’t do…”

She cut herself off. There was no need for her to finish the threat. Letting everyone else fill in their own blank had a better chance of fully expressing her sentiment.

”...but everyone already knows that.”


15
Climax Control Archives / COURTside: Champion at Last
« on: June 09, 2023, 10:19:22 PM »
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OUTRAGEOUS Success
Reno, NEVADA - Reno Events Center
28 MAY 2023 - Climax Control 362
OFF-Camera


The world looked like a blur around me. At first, the crowd had been near silent in shocked disbelief of what they had seen. The booing didn’t even start until my theme filled the air. I didn’t check on Roxi. She was already an afterthought before I even got to my feet in the middle of the ring, and everything else fell away the moment that the Bombshell Championship touched my fingertips. Having the official drop it into my hands was surreal. It was finally mine, and nobody was going to be able to invalidate that. All of the hard work, despite all of the setbacks, had finally paid off. I don’t know how long I sat there staring at it in my arms. It felt like an eternity, and I never wanted it to end. If I never won another match in my career, it wouldn’t matter. I had finally claimed the prize that eluded me for more than five years. The whole experience was a dream come true, and I was hoping that I wouldn’t wake up. I was finally snapped back to reality when Justin’s voice boomed through the PA system announcing my big win to everyone in attendance.

He lifted my hand into the air, and I could hear the booing cut through the music in the arena. Hearing that reaction was better than any cheering I had ever heard. The ferocity of the hatred in the air let me know that nearly everyone in attendance had been pulling for Roxi. They had blown their hard earned money on coming to see this show, and I was sending them all home disappointed. The Icon had fallen. The One had risen to the top. I could have stood their soaking up their disdain all night, but fortunately for them, there was one person that I wanted to share that moment with more than anyone else in the entire world. She hadn’t come down to the ring for the match, because she didn’t want to be a distraction, but I knew as soon as I went back behind the curtain at the top of the ramp, she would be there waiting.

I didn’t wait for Roxi to scrape herself up off of the mat. I didn’t have the time for her to “walk of shame” herself back to the locker room. I knew that the cameras in the arena weren’t recording anymore, so I dove out of the ring, shouldered my new Bombshell Championship, and sprinted up the ramp towards the back. I didn’t even get through it before the curtain was thrown aside, and Prudence Pierce came through it, and she was absolutely beaming with pride. She threw her arms around me, and pulled me close, even as the championship belt hung over my shoulder separating us.

RUBY: OH MY GOD! THAT WAS OUTRAGEOUS!

That word had a way of rubbing everyone else the wrong way, but it was the exact thing that I wanted to hear. I wrapped my arms around her, and refused to let her go. The shock of the moment was fading, and I was finally starting to realize exactly what had happened out in the ring.

COURT: That happened, right? This isn’t a dream? This is real life?

She finally let go of me and took a single step back; just enough for the Bombshell Championship to slide off my shoulder and fall into my hands between the two of us. She dropped her hand to the centerplate of the belt and looked at me with a smile.

RUBY: Doesn’t it look and feel real to you?

Even if I was still having a hard time believing it, it was. After spending the last five years chasing it, I almost didn’t know what I was going to do with myself now that it was actually in my hands. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.

COURT: Yeah, I just can--

Ruby stepped further away from me and threw her arms out to her sides. The commotion was able to break whatever trance I was in, and caused me to look up. Heading towards the two of us were Scott Oliver and Ms. Rocky Mountains, likely wanting to blindside me about the big win for an SCWrestling.net exclusive. Ruby absolutely wasn’t having any of that though. As far as she was concerned this was our moment, not theirs. I wasn’t to be bothered.

RUBY: Absolutely not! Back off!

I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder to tell her that she didn’t have to be like that. I mean, the two interviewers were just trying to do their job, even if the show was already over.

COURT: It’s really okay if they wa--

But Ruby cut me off with a shake of her head. She wasn’t going to budge on this one. After all of the long nights that we had spent talking about what we would do if one of us ever became the Bombshell Champion, she definitely wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it.

RUBY: It’s really not! They can’t even let you enjoy this for thirty seconds before getting all up in your face! THAT’S NOT RIGHT!

The two interviewers stopped in their tracks, and immediately turned around to head the other direction. I almost felt bad for them.

COURT: You’re right, but you don’t have to put it like that. Just give us a few minutes….

I did my best to signal to them that we would just need a few minutes before we would be able to comment on the win. Plus, there was no way that I was going to get in front of a camera for an interview looking like I had just been through hell in the ring. However, before anyone else could swarm around us, Ruby was already leading me through the backstage area.

RUBY: I knew that you could do it. This is why I wanted to come back with you. There was no way that you weren’t going to be the Bombshell Champion sooner rather than later. I wanted to be the first one at your side when it finally happened. It is soooooo OUTRAGEOUSLY overdue.

I could feel how excited she was for me from the frantic pace of her talking. There was no daylight between any of the words, and she wasn’t even pausing between thoughts. It was all a stream of consciousness as we raced through the hallways, and into our shared locker room backstage. She slammed the door closed behind us, and put her back to the door so that there was no chance anyone was going to walk by and push it open.

COURT: I still don’t believe it. It is all kind of a blur. It all happened so fast. One second I was walking down the aisle towards the ring, and then next time I had time to think about it, my hand was being raised by the referee. It was all just… instinct.

I wasn’t sweating about not being able to remember the details. I knew that I would be watching that match over and over again for the foreseeable future. Eventually I would be able to picture every second of this win with my eyes closed.

RUBY: I told you that it was your night, and you wouldn’t believe me. You’re the only one of the two of us that is actually surprised. Roxi’s time is just about over and done with. I bet she is going to retire soon. She’s just going to ride off into the sunset, and hopefully take her wife with her.

Before the match was booked I wouldn’t have wished that on Roxi. I had respect for her position in this company. The things she said about me a few days ago changed all of that though. I would happily embrace being the one that sent her packing, especially after how Keira had been all over me and Ruby on social media since the moment the match was announced.

COURT: It really got under my skin that she didn’t think I could do it. I mean, I thought that it would be different. Back when it was supposed to be me against Mikah for the Bombshell Championship, I would have expected to hear something like that though. I didn’t think I would get it from Roxi. She can see how bad I have wanted this for years. She has been on the shows where I have gotten injured. Yet, she still wanted to throw all of that in my face as a way of telling me that I wasn’t ready. Maybe I believed her a little bit.

That didn’t appear to come as a surprise to my wife, which shouldn’t have surprised me. Even when I think I am doing a good job of hiding the way that I feel, she always sees through it.

RUBY: Good. You believed her just enough to go out there and prove her wrong. Maybe that was the point. Plus, now she guilted you about having to make sure you hang onto it for a while. The whole reason she didn’t want it to be you was because you would just throw it away.

Maybe there was a point to that. I have been in and out of Sin City more times than most of the other bombshells, but it is not like any of that was planned. Most of it was out of my control. I never meant to get injured, and I never meant to be promoted at Jet City. Those weren’t things that I planned for, and yet Roxi was still willing to hold it all against me. And if that was what they thought about my past, I had a feeling I knew what they were going to be saying about my future.

COURT: Is that why you’re keeping close to me? So that you can pick it up when I get bored with it?

It sounded like something that Keira, or Krystal would have said. It was their words coming out of my mouth, but that didn’t matter to Ruby. I could see that hearing them in my voice wounded her.

RUBY: You asked that a little too seriously for it to not hurt my feelings.

I didn’t want to let that negativity hang in the air. I moved the championship into one hand, and held it out to her for her to take it. If she really wanted it that bad, I wouldn’t stop her, and she knew that. This relationship was worth more than any accolade

COURT: Stop. I know better. So do you.

She pushed my hand away, and the championship with it. As much as she wanted to one day be the Bombshell Champion, she wasn’t willing to sacrifice what we had for it. Neither of us were, and that is the way that it should be. The offer did bring a smile to her face though, especially after how rough the last couple of weeks had been.

RUBY: You better!

She finally stepped away from the door, but only long enough to grab a chair and jam it under the handle, securing it from any possible intruders.

COURT: Of course I know better. I wasn’t even competing when we started getting serious. You were nervous about me getting back into the ring. It’s not like you’ve been manipulating me into this position. You aren’t Kr--

I stopped short of saying his name. If he wasn’t going to support me, or let the people that I trained by here to support me, he didn’t deserve to be name dropped on the biggest night of my career.

RUBY: Wow….

Unfortunately, my wife didn’t feel as strongly about it as I did.

RUBY: Now you’re so mad at him that you aren’t even saying his name anymore?

She didn’t sound angry, but her voice was tonally equivalent to being shamed by a parent.

COURT: If I could stop myself from even thinking his name I would. Did you see what he did tonight? He pulled everyone from Je---his gym--- off of the show. He wanted to make sure that even though I was Bombshell Champion, we were alone. None of the newbies were backstage, and nobody was even allowed to sit in the crowd.

It sucked, but it was the truth, and if he was going to be petty, I was just going to have to be better than him at that as well. I knew that nobody other than Ruby would be taking my side. I was just one person standing up to a well-known gym, and two Sin City Hall of Famers.

COURT: It’s bullshit. It was just his way of making sure that nobody would be here to congratulate me. He’s just doing his best to be a distraction like he has always been. I wasn’t falling for it this time.

At least I could say that I had gotten a little wiser over the five years of my career.

RUBY: Then it’s probably a good thing that Roxi pissed you off so that you didn’t have time to even think about him.

However, like always, Ruby had a way of making me look at the silver lining.

RUBY: It’s about time you finally got what was yours. Now go get cleaned up so that we can go celebrate.

Almost as if on cue, the pounding on the outside of the door began. At once, Ruby pointed towards the small bathroom inside the locker room. It wasn’t much when compared to our setup at home, but there was a single shower stall, and it was enough so that we never walked out into the arena looking less than our best.

COURT: Stall for me… Or maybe just tell them to fuck off.



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>COURTside: At Long Last

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The scene fades in, as highlights from the main event of Climax Control 362 flash on the screen. The battle between Roxi and Court rages on for a few moments before cutting to Roxi’s face in agony as she taps out, making Courtney Pierce the new Bombshell World Champion.

”At long last….”

We zoom out from the screen to see Court standing next to the monitor, watching the biggest win of her career for what had to be the thousandth time. She was wearing a solid black hoodie with the word “Unaffiliated” across the front, a jab at the fact that she was no longer repping Jet City. The Bombshell Championship was draped over her shoulder closest to the camera. The nameplate on the bottom had been fixed to display her name instead of Roxi’s and the whole thing sparkled in the lights.

”I have been waiting years to be able to stand her with this championship on my shoulder.”

”...and yeah, that is the kind of thing that everyone thinks about when they first start out in this business. It is not anything special that this was my goal all along. Honestly, if there is a bombshell on the roster that doesn’t have their sights set on my championship, they are in the wrong line of business.”

”...but that is not how I meant it. The Bombshell Championship has never been a goal that has ever seemed far off for me. It was never some unreachable future goal. From the first time that I stepped foot in the Sin City Wrestling ring, it has been within my grasp. My first match ever happened during Blast from the Past. Right out of the gate, this was the championship that I was chasing. And it wasn’t the way that Jessie Salco has been chasing it for a decade or whatever.”

”I won Blast from the Past five long years ago, and was always supposed to get the opportunity that I seized two weeks ago. As a rookie, I took care of business and catapulted myself to the very front of the line. Do any of you know how painful it has been to be so close to this championship for all of those years? I never went to the back of the line. I never blew my shot. I deserved it. I earned it. Yet, everytime I reached out for it something else went terribly wrong. The universe itself conspired to keep the Bombshell Championship away from me, and for five years, it won every battle. Two weeks ago, I won the war.”

”...and it wasn’t some fluke. I didn’t have to steal this championship. I didn’t get lucky. I didn’t have help. Going into that match, I said that I only needed to be better than Roxi Johnson for three seconds. However, after seeing everything that Roxi had to say about me, I knew that three seconds wouldn’t be enough. That wasn’t going to be definitive enough after she had the audacity to tell me that she didn’t think I was ready for this because after five long years, I couldn’t have been more fucking ready. I walked out to the main event of Climax Control, and made SCW’s most beloved Hall of Famer tap out. I caused her such pain that she was forced to relent and submit the championship to me.”

”...and now it finally rests exactly where it has always belonged.”

”...but I can’t help but see history repeating itself. This isn’t the first time that the Bombshell Championship has changed hands between Blast from the Past and Summer XXXtreme. The year that I was named the number one contender, Crystal hopped the line and stole my date with destiny against Mikah. I was supposed to have the opportunity to take down the most dominating bombshell ever, only to have someone slide in and take my place.”

”....so if Devona was feeling the same type of way, I couldn’t really blame her. I know how frustrating it can be to watch someone step up and do the thing that you told yourself you were going to do. Fortunately for you, it looks like you still get to compete at Summer XXXtreme. You still have your opportunity. You won’t have to wait years, letting that frustration build to the point of being heartbreaking. There won’t be a dozen setbacks between your big tournament win and your shot at my championship; just one. You don’t get to be the one to end Roxi Johnson’s final Bombshell Championship reign.”

”You won’t get to end mine either, but that is another story entirely. I don’t get the luxury of getting to dwell on it until Summer XXXtreme either. I have a much less exciting date at Climax Control that requires my full focus.”

It was the first time that we heard Court’s voice seem less than enthused. Clearly she was still riding the high of finally winning the championship, but just the mention of her upcoming match put a damper on that. Kimberly Pain might have a notable sibling, but a she was not a superstar in Sin City Wrestling, regardless of what she may have done elsewhere.

”On the bright side, it’ll give me an opportunity to showcase what I can do against an opponent that isn’t anywhere close to being on my level. I mean, I just dissected a hall of famer that has beaten every big name in the history of this company. What do you people think will happen when I step into the ring against the entirely average Kim Pain?”

Maybe it was harsh, but she definitely didn’t care. She was the champion. It wasn’t the time to start holding back.


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Jet City Cold War
Tucson, ARIZONA - Tucson Convention Center
4 JUNE 2023 - Climax Control 363
OFF-Camera


I wasn’t booked, but that wasn’t going to stop me from showing up and speaking my mind on Climax Control. I mean, technically, I needed to be at all the shows for all of the fan events and signings even if I wasn’t competing. That was just the cost of doing business when you are the Bombshell Champion. I was still getting ready when I heard the door to the dressing room open. Ruby had disappeared after I had gotten changed. Who knew what she had gotten into in the meantime. I am sure that there would be a story. I poked my head out of the tiniest bathroom in the world, but was surprised by the person actually standing in front of me.

OZ: Got a second to talk?

Oliver wasn’t my favorite student, and I didn’t really care for him as a person. I never got the feeling that he could be trusted, and that totally made sense now, given his role in what happened at the gym last year.

COURT: Sure the fuck don’t. What are you doing in my room, Oz? I thought that you newbies were supposed to pretend that I don’t exist.

I didn’t have time for him. I couldn’t walk out in front of a crowd the way that I looked. And if it wasn’t my wife, I really wasn’t in the talking mood.

OZ: You’re right. We are, and you know, I usually try to be a team player and all that good stuff but---

That wasn’t a lie that I was going to sit and listen to, and if I let him keep going, he was just going to keep trying to butter me up. I didn’t have the time or patience for that.

COURT: You have never tried to be a team player for even one second of your entire life. That is why you let your partner down during the Blast from the Past tournament.

Although, he was just as quick-witted as always.

OZ: Correct me if I am wrong, but the same thing happened to you right?

Instead of poking my head back out of the bathroom door, I simply pointed across the room to where the Bombshell Championship was hanging inside my open locker.

COURT: ...and how did that end up working out for me? The person that won the tournament is still waiting on their Bombshell Championship shot.

Honestly, when I was in Devona’s position, it annoyed me that people jumped the line in front of me. I could imagine how Devona felt about me being the Bombshell Champion, but that was her problem, not mine.

OZ: I am just saying. You were the one that actually did the legwork training me. Technically I fell victim to the same team my teacher did. Sounds like a training error as opposed to something that you can hang on me.

There it was. I couldn’t let him know it , but he managed to stumble onto the reason that I had been so livid with the reaction from Jet City last week. Kris wasn’t pulling his people off of the card. He was pulling the people that I put my own time, blood and sweat into training. Eiley and Oz were more a product of me and Kate running the gym than Kris or Coby. They might have the big jobs, but the two of us had been doing the work. Even Ruby had more of a hand in their development than Kris. It was nice to hear someone finally admit it, even if he was only doing so to insult me.

COURT: That might make sense if you ever listened to a damn thing that any of us tried to teach you.

It worked to keep him at a distance. If he was going to undercut any compliment that he was giving me, I wasn’t going to bite my tongue.

OZ: It is hard to listen to people that never really lived up to their potential, ya know?

A couple weeks ago something like that may have sent me into a shame spiral once I was back home. It was easy to let the words just bounce off of me now though. I never wasted my potential. It was just unrealized until recently.

COURT: ...and I assume that you’re only here now because that changed?

To my surprise, throwing the hostility back in his face seemed to work. Even with a closed over door between us, I could hear him soften a little bit.

OZ: No. I just wanted to stop by to say congratulations. Obviously I would be asking for trouble if I put it on social media, and sending a text felt a little impersonal. Felt more like a face-to-face interaction.

Finishing up, I walked out of the bathroom and crossed the room in front of him. If he wanted to say something complimentary to my face, who was I to deprive him of the opportunity.

COURT: ...which is only because nobody can ever actually prove that you were here.

That fact didn’t bother me as much as I made it sound. I understood that he was still green enough that he needed to hedge his bets. He wasn’t the type to put all of his eggs into one basket, because he could find a use for anyone willing to give him the time of day. That was probably the reason he was trying to stay on my good side while everyone else fell in line with Kris.

OZ: Exactly. Why create a papertrail?

The fact that he could be honest about it made me laugh.

COURT: I would say that you were just being paranoid, but I know who you are dealing with. Just make sure not to get sucked into the same trap that I did. Those people stole five years of my career with their bullshit. I never amounted to anything until I finally left.

Over the last few years I had been more concerned with saving their brand than I was making sure my name didn’t get dragged through the mud. It wasn’t until I flipped that script that I finally found the momentum needed to rise to the top. In reality, it wasn’t their fault. Both of those things had been my decision. However, the way that everyone at Jet City reacted to me leaving earned them the flak I was giving them.

OZ: You would have never gotten that shot without winning Blast from the Past all those years ago. You have to still give them some credit for that.

Maybe that was true. Maybe it wasn’t. Sure, I learned things from both Kris and Mikah, but it always seemed like when I was around them I was learning what not to do. I was learning how much I didn’t want to be like them. I was determined not to make the mistakes that they did. They didn’t add anything to my game. They just gave me a roadmap full of pitfalls to avoid.

COURT: Not as much credit as I give to the GO Gym, and the fact that Fenris and I were one of the best randomly drawn teams of all time. The people that trained me didn’t create that chemistry, and they didn’t compete in those matches. They don’t deserve a damn thing as far as I am concerned.

Even if that was a lie, I was going to keep repeating it until I believed it.

OZ: I still think that is a little harsh.

Maybe it was, but given who I was talking to, I didn’t think that it mattered. Oz was abrasive under the best circumstances. Who was he to judge me?

COURT: Is it? Well they got five years of my life. Is that enough of a price to have paid for all of their guidance?

In a way, we were even. I managed to make Mikah seem like someone worth being trained by. I kept Kris’ gym afloat in his absence. That sounded like a fair trade to me.

OZ: I am not sure that I am going to make it through five years of the games to be honest. Kris took it upon himself to make sure that my big first impression was him leveling me in front of a sold out crowd. It’s going to be a minute before I can erase that image of me from everyone’s mind. That’s just who I am now, all because he wanted to prove a point.

At least the kid was learning. In the eyes of Kris and Mikah, there were no better superstars, and no more impressive bombshell than Reckless Elite. Everything was framed around the two of them, and nobody was going to be allowed to overshadow them from within. Kris taught that lesson to Oz on his first day back in the spotlight, and I knew that it would likely only get worse from here. Kris had set a precedent.

COURT: It’s worse than that, kid. Cause and effect. He made sure that everyone knew it was open season on you, and then Austin James Mercer beat you senseless with a chair. Did you think that kind of thing was just a coincidence?

The reason that people didn’t mess with the newbies out of any of the prominent gyms was because there was always someone bigger and angrier coming for revenge. Kris made it a point to show the world that Oz was on his own. The kid’s future was looking pretty painful.

OZ: I guess I hadn’t thought about it like that.

Somehow, I had walked out the Jet City kids, but I was still having to teach them the basics.

COURT: Well, get used to it. Don’t worry, the longer you stay the easier it will be for you to see it coming. The lessons never get any less rough though, trust me. 

I picked up the Bombshell Championship and put it over my shoulder before taking one last look in the mirror to make sure that I was presentable.

OZ: You make it sound like none of it was worth it.

I gave him a smile and a shrug on my way past him and out the door.

COURT: I’m not sure that it was. Look at what I’ve accomplished in the short time without them. You’re probably going to want to wait a few minutes before leaving. Wouldn’t want people to see you anywhere near me.



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>COURTside: Sorry, not sorry

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The scene catches back up to Court, still wearing the same “Unaffiliated” hoodie from before. The camera zooms out from her to show that she is standing inside the GCU arena, at the top of the entrance ramp. The camera catches a view of the ring crew working to set up the rest of the ramp, and several others working to actually construct the ring in the center of the open space. In just two short days, this place would be finished, and filled with screaming fans. On Sunday, Court will be stepping into the ring for the main event in front of all of those fans, hoping to send them home disappointed. The whispers on the dirt sheets were all about how Kim Pain was going to humble her. The online wrestling community wanted to see Court fall on her face for distancing herself from Jet City. Others just wanted to see Court get beaten as badly as Roxi had been a couple of weeks ago. No doubt there would be #JusticeForRoxi signs scattered throughout the arena on Sunday. People that usually didn’t give a fuck about Court were going to be actively rooting for her to make a mistake and get beaten. They wanted her to make a joke out of herself on her first night competing as champion. Realistically, Christian and Mark probably knew that too, and that is why they were making such an effort to make sure that disappointment didn’t come at Summer XXXtreme where it could do real damage to the brand.

”Being the Bombshell Champion has already come with its unexpected highs and lows.”

She didn’t sound like she was celebrating anymore. Back when she spoke about beating Roxi, it was just to gloat. She wanted to rub her big win in the faces of anyone watching. However, it seemed like that time was over now. Court was back to being all about the business end of things, and her focus never left the ring in front of her.

”I mean, I went from the very top of the mountain against Roxi Johnson with the Bombshell Championship on the line…”

A slight smile tried to curl up at the corners of her lips.

”...to nearly the lowest of valleys against an unproven Kimberly Pain.”

...and in an instant, the smile was gone and replaced by a look of disgust.

”I mean, the person standing across from me isn’t always going to be exciting. I shouldn’t expect to be pushed the way that Roxi pushed me two weeks ago every time I step into the ring. There isn’t enough star power on the roster to blow me away with a new impressive opponent each time out. Some are going to hit; others are going to miss. On the off weeks, it is nice to be the Bombshell Champion. Having this championship has perks, and they are paying off immediately. Need proof? If I didn’t have this title, where do any of you think this match would have been placed on the card?”

”I guess any main event is better than some forgotten piss break match in the middle of the card though, right?”

”...and that is where someone like Kim Pain belongs as far as I am concerned.If you take away the multiple wins over Seleana, what has she accomplished in Sin City? Nothing. Not a damn thing. Aside from beating up on Crystal’s least talented spouse, all Kim has done is fall short. A few weeks ago she blamed that on holding back in her first few matches, but I am not buying it. She’s not some new kid on the block. In fact, back when she was breaking into this business, I had no idea I would even end up competing. In my defense, I was seven. There was a whole lot that I still hadn’t made up my mind about.”

”...and I am not bringing that up as a shot at the fact that she is old. Roxi is old, and she still put on one hell of a main event two weeks ago. Nobody thought that she was too old to be holding the Bombshell Championship. I am a firm believer that, at least up to a point, age doesn’t matter. There is not a firm time limit on how long people can stay at the top of their game. It’s not an exact science. Like me, she has been a head trainer at a prominent gym for years. She is in incredible shape, and has managed to maintain that for like sixteen years. There is no way I can honestly tell you that she is past her prime. She very well might be sharper, faster, stronger and wiser than she has ever been. For all I can tell, Kim Pain is still very much at her peak.”

”The problem is, her peak just ain’t shit compared to me.”

”See, it seems like we both had the same kind of setbacks. Some of them left physical scars; a whole lot more left ones not even the people closest to us can see. We have both bounced into, and then out of companies.We made big splashes right out the gates of our careers, only to kind of fizzle out. We both left our jobs on the road to settle down and teach the next generation of athletes the ins-and-outs of this business. There is so much in our histories that lines up like Kim could be my long lost, much older, sister.”

”...but while we have walked near identical paths, we have ended up in very different places. For instance, her path has been pretty uneventful for over a decade. People thought the five years it took me to finally get my shot at MY Bombshell Championship was a long time, but it’s less than half as long as we have all been waiting for Kim to rise back to prominence. She says that her time chasing titles is behind her, and that should be a problem. That should make her angry. That should have forced her to dig down deep and find the motivation to actually make something of herself in this business. Nobody, myself included, can predict when it’ll be too late for her to make it to the top, but that doesn’t mean that clock isn’t ticking. For all of us, each match is one step closer to our last. If Kim isn’t careful, she is going to get to that end before she ever did anything worth doing.”

”...but when I look at her I don’t see that fire, not really. Sure, she has had some amazingly violent matches in places that don’t matter the way that Sin City does, but she doesn’t strike me as someone that competes with a giant chip on her shoulder. When I listen to her talk, I have a hard time believing the words that I am hearing; it is almost too cliche. Then, when I see her compete in the ring, it doesn’t look like her heart is really in it. She doesn’t appear to have the single-minded focus that it takes to take an opponent apart. She goes out to the ring, and goes through the motions. That is more than enough to get the job done against someone like Seleana. It’s not going to take her much further than that though.”

”She may represent a gym that has created champions and legends, and she may have even had a hand in crafting some of those men and women, but that doesn’t mean she has the same talent. Everyone knows about the gym that I came out of, but I never actually did anything with my career until I put all of that bullshit in the rearview and started focusing on what was important. It isn’t about who you spar with during your down time. It doesn’t matter whose name is on the front of your shirt. I don’t care who Kim’s friends and family are, or what they have managed to do in this business. She might be surrounded by the best in this business, but that doesn’t make her one.”

”...and if she hasn’t gotten there yet, what makes anyone think that now is suddenly going to be the time? Has everyone seen the things I have done to Bombshells inside the Sin City ring lately? Didn’t everyone see me take down The Icon? I have torn through everyone that has been put in front of me. I have risen to heights that Kim Pain has only dreamt of, or heard stories about, and I am still only twenty-three. I have so much more time left ahead of me to make sure that my name is forever etched into the history of this industry. On the other hand, Kim probably has less days in front of her than she does behind her. Squaring off against me could actually be the last best hope for her career.”

”...or, far more likely, one of the last big let downs of a mediocre, albeit long, career. Nobody can really say for sure, but I think we all know which way the betting lines are going. That might be harsh, but I don’t really care. Unlike Roxi, I don’t have the patience to try and sugarcoat things when I think my opponent has squandered any potential they may have had.”

”If Mark and Christian were really trying to test me before Summer XXXtreme, there were so many better options. The only thing that makes sense is that they have set Kim up as some kind of sacrificial lamb. I have no choice but to graciously accept their offering as the reigning Bombshell Champion.”

”Sorry, not sorry.”


16
Climax Control Archives / The Reset
« on: May 26, 2023, 10:45:41 PM »
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Longshots
Long Beach, CALIFORNIA
22 MAY 2023
OFF-Camera


Last night was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, I got to accompany my wife out to the ring for her first match back in Sin City. On the other hand, things hadn’t gone her way. She took the loss pretty hard, not that I could hold that against her. I shouldered a lot of the blame for that, even if she would never admit it. My wife, Prudence Pierce, saw how much fun I was having being back on the road for Blast from the Past and realized it was time for Ruby Steele-Pierce to return. She heard the things that people were saying about how well I was doing in the ring. I was probably making it all look a little too easy to resist. The social media world has been consistently complimentary about my return, and the people behind the scenes at SCW clearly had big plans for me.  I stepped out of Jet City, and directly back into the spotlight.

It is no wonder that she wanted to get back in the ring, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Around the time that she was falling short in her return, Mark and Christian had been finalizing the decision to give me a shot at the Bombshell World Championship. I was going to be in the main event of the next Climax Control. That meant while my wife felt crushed, I had to somehow act like I didn’t feel like I was standing on top of the world. I couldn’t really savor the opportunity that they were giving me, because it would feel like rubbing my success in her face. Walking out of Jet City had already caused a rift between us, even if she pretended it wasn’t there.

And it was the combination of those two problems that made me glad I was able to convince her to come back to Long Beach with me. I knew that if we had gone back home, she would already be toiling away inside Jet City South trying to make sense of how things had gone wrong. Since I promised not to step foot back inside that place, I wouldn’t be there to support her. And if I wasn’t there helping her through it, I know what the other trainers and students would say. It would suddenly become about this opportunity I was given. The narrative would become about how I was putting my career in front of our relationship. That wasn’t something I was willing to tolerate.

Long Beach was far enough away for us to be able to put Jet City in the back of our minds, but close enough that she didn’t feel like she was abandoning them by taking off with me. If anything went spectacularly wrong, she could alway rush back. However, if the two of us planned on stepping in a gym today, it wasn’t going to be there. Luckily for me, I didn’t actually have to compete last night on Climax Control. Both the match and the travel had taken a lot out of Prudence. By the time she finally crashed, I figured that there was no chance that she was going to be up and ready for the day like normal. That gave me the morning to be unapologetically excited, and channel that into something positive.

I hadn’t slept at all, but I wasn’t dragging. From the moment that I saw my name under that main event headline, I felt like I had electricity pumping through my veins. Add to that the fact that I was back in Long Beach for the first time in years, and it just felt like there was magic in the air. Before the sun even thought about rising, I was already running through the neighborhoods that I grew up in. It was strange running past houses that used to be parks, and other things that had changed in my absence. I made it to the beach in time to watch early sunlight chase the purple sky all the way out across the ocean and past the horizon. It was the way that I started every morning before I left here with Mikah.

I could say that it was about the view, but that was only half of the story. The spot where I watched the day was the exact halfway point between my parent’s house, and the only gym in the city that was willing to look past the fact that I was too young, and too small. It hadn’t been like the state of the art facilities that either of the two Jet City locations have become. It wasn’t even in the same league with places like Wolfslair, or Hero Academy. In fact, it was almost the exact opposite of that kind of place. The owner never wanted the place to be renowned. He never wanted to create a beacon that would attract the greats of the next generation of athletes. He wanted to put together a place where people could put in the work, and not be bothered; a place that people grew out of once they made a name for themselves. He didn’t bury the lead either. The name on the door told you who was welcome: Longshots.

Looking at it from the outside, he hadn’t changed a thing about the place in the six years that I had been gone. I knew the real secret though. The outside was meant to keep people away. The inside was where the owner spent money. The exterior paint job that had been fading when I first started showing up had flaked off almost entirely, and the windows were so smudged from the inside that you couldn’t see through them. It was my first time really seeing it for the negatives though. As a teenager, and even now, all I could see was the potential that the place had.

ANTHONY: Somehow looks worse, even though you didn’t think that was possible, right?

His voice startled me. My eyes had been busy studying the place and I hadn’t noticed the fact that I wasn’t alone waiting on the light anymore. Before I turned to him, I was embarrassed to have been caught so off guard.

COURT: I thought maybe the owner would have put some of that money people have been giving him to good use.

He didn’t look any different than the last time I saw him. Granted, I shouldn’t have expected any less. Anthony Dawkins had spent nearly all of his forty-five years of life inside that gym. When I was growing up he was something of a local legend, because he made being inside the ring look effortless. He was putting on amazing matches that had his phone ringing near nonstop from companies that wanted to sign him exclusively. The only problem with that was the guy hated the lifestyle. He hated jumping from one hotel to the next, and living out of a suitcase. He hated the crowds, and couldn’t stand the interviews. The only part of it he enjoyed was being inside the ring, and once he realized he could do that at home in his gym his career was over. He packed it in and went home.

ANTHONY: If I let the outside keep going to shit, I don’t have to tell as many walk-ins to fuck off.

That was just his way of gently telling me to do the same thing. After all, I knew the rules, and my presence would come with the kind of attention that he didn’t want. The light finally changed, and the two of us started to cross. If I wanted in, I was going to have to talk my way into the building.

COURT: I’m not necessarily a walk-in. It seems like my dues come out of my account every month like clockwork.

I wasn’t naive enough to think that mattered. Back when I first left I hadn’t canceled any of the payments because I wasn’t sure that everything with Mikah was going to work out. I wasn’t convinced that I wouldn’t be back. I should have trusted that instinct. The whole Mikah, Kris and Jet City chapter of my life had been a disappointment professionally. I should have just stayed, and deep down I have always known that.

ANTHONY: I consider it a residual. You give all the credit for my work to those two sociopaths. I earned a little something for all my efforts.

He couldn’t really use that excuse. Not with me. I happened to know that credit was the last thing that he actually wanted.

COURT: If that’s the case, I can always make sure to call the place out next time there’s a camera in my face.

It made him laugh, and he pointed up at the building.

ANTHONY: People would think you were crazy. Any reasonable person that laid eyes on this place would just leave. Any unreasonable person wouldn’t make it past the front door before getting sent packing. All you’d ruin was your own reputation.

We were getting close to the front door, but I wasn’t just going to let him shut me out. As he reached for the handle, I stepped in front of it.

COURT: Then clearly it’s best for us to just make a compromise. I don’t say anything to anyone, you keep pocketing all my money, and me and my wife can use the place for a few days while we are in town. Everyone wins.

He shook his head without even a moment of consideration.

ANTHONY: No, that’s everything you want. Pass.

He tried to reach around me for the door handle, but I slapped his hand away and stood my ground.

COURT: Look, we’ve done all this before, and I won this argument as a teenager. We know how this is going to go. You’re going to say no. I’m going to keep annoying you about it. You’re going to get tired of hearing my voice, and you’re going to cave. I know all the rules, an--

I was surprised he let me get as far as he did before cutting me off.

ANTHONY: If you know the rules, you know why I am saying no. You’re not going to come in, and make this whole place about you for a couple days.

The fact that he thought I had those kinds of intentions was insulting. I had never stepped out of line inside of his gym. Most of the time, I had gone about my business without saying a word.

COURT: I wouldn--

He wasn’t going to let me even try to convince him otherwise.

ANTHONY: You wouldn’t have to try. It’s not like we don’t know what you have going on this weekend. You’re a local. They follow you. You show up, they’re going to swarm you. You become the focus. That’s not fair to them, and you know that.

I hadn’t thought about it that way. Things were different at Jet City because everyone there was expected to get out into the business and do something special. They were set up to be the last stop before people actually signed a contract. That was why Prudence and I both came out of the gate polished and ready to go. In Anthony’s gym, I would suddenly be a much bigger fish in a smaller pond.

COURT: Just give it a shot. I’m not even asking for any kind of special treatment. Give me a chance to fuck it up before saying no.

It sounded more like begging than asking, but I wasn’t above trying to pull the pity card.

ANTHONY: It’s not a good idea.

It was progress. There wasn’t a single ‘no’ in that sentence, and there was just a touch of guilt in the way the words came out. That was the opening I needed to wear him down.

COURT: Look, you have classes this morning, right? You usually have someone there to be the training dummy. Use me. Everyone you’re worried about will spend the morning beating on me, and then I won’t be shit to them anymore. Kill the questions before they feel the need to ask them. Show them I am nothing special. If it works, they won’t be interested in me anymore. If it doesn’t, you get to have them beat up on me before throwing me out.

I could tell that the prospect of taking me off the pedestal that the students had placed me on was interesting to him. It could solve one of his problems long after I was already back on the road.

ANTHONY: You’re willing to risk that with what you’ve got coming up?

He surprised me all over again. I was thinking that he would be more focused on what taking me out could do for his students’ confidence, but he was worried about me.

COURT: I’ve got to get in a ring somewhere, and no way I’m going back to Jet City. Going anywhere else would draw attention. This is my only option. Either way you win.

I stepped out of the way of the door as a show of good faith, and finally got him to crack a smile.

ANTHONY: I won’t let them hold back.

He opened the door, but then paused, and motioned for me to head inside in front of him.

COURT: I wouldn’t want them to.



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LBC, What About Me?
Long Beach, CALIFORNIA
22 MAY 2023
OFF-Camera


My time at Longshots had gone better than I could have ever imagined. Anthony hadn’t lied when he said he wasn’t going to let anyone hold back. He forced me to hold my own against anyone that walked in the front door. Most of the faces were new, and I knew that most of them would be gone by this time next year. I remembered a handful of the people that strolled in over the course of the morning hours. Most of them were on the backside of any potential career they could have had and were just looking for a place to stay in shape. A few were just getting started back when I left, and were now in prime condition. Of those, there were only a couple that seemed like they had the talent to really make it. Regardless, Anthony had me squaring off with all of them. The object of the morning had been to shatter their image of me. His goal was to show them that I was no better than any of them, and not worth their attention. It was to show them that there was nothing special about me at all. However, despite being their crash test dummy for a few hours, I just kept getting up and getting back at it.  Nothing had gone according to Anthony’s plan. Instead, I proved the same thing that I did all of those years ago; I was never a longshot.

I didn’t belong there. Maybe I never did. I fully expected him to show me the door when classes were wrapping up, but he surprised me. He decided anyone that would willfully take that kind of beating was crazy enough to stick around. Besides, after showing up everyone else, there was no way anyone tried to come anywhere near me while I was in the building.  Since it was just a few days, he wouldn’t have Prudence and I thrown out if we needed a place to train. Mission accomplished! And despite my lack of sleep, I still had all the energy in the world left to head home and tell my wife the good news. She could probably use it.

I didn’t make as good of a time as I did on my morning run to the beach, but I wasn’t disappointingly far off given the intense workout that I accidentally sandwiched in between. By the time I slowed down to a jog in order to make the turn into the driveway, the sun was hanging directly above me in the sky. I hadn’t planned on being gone for the whole morning, and was praying to any higher power that would listen that Pru was still sleeping off the effects of her match last night. Luck had been on my side recently, so there was a chance she hadn’t woken up abandoned. Even if I was wrong, I was hoping the fact that I had secured us a place to train while we were in town would soften the blow. After all, how mad could she really be that I got an early start on preparing for the biggest opportunity of my life?

Although, leaving my phone behind probably wasn’t the smartest idea. I didn’t think that I would be gone long enough for it to matter, and there wasn’t necessarily somewhere for me to put it inside my top or leggings; not that I would have wanted to. It would have been a distraction, and I was doing my best to avoid them. I needed to stay present in the moment if I was going to get to where I needed to be before stepping into the ring with Roxi. I had to stay focused. Prudence would understand that.

RUBY: You look like hell…

I barely made it in the front door before she came my way from the living room space. I could tell that she hadn’t been up long, because her hair was still frazzled from the bed. She hadn’t functionally gotten started on her day yet either, because she was still draped in a massively oversized Sin City shirt that we had stolen off of the merch table. The neck hole of the thing was so wide that it was hanging half off of her shoulder, making one of the short sleeves nearly reach her wrist. The whole thing hung just past her knees, and would have looked ridiculous if it wasn’t so commonplace around our house.

COURT: I thought I would have time to get myself cleaned up before you got up…

I shook my head, confused by my own words. Even as I was saying them, I was contemplating how I was going to try and explain myself. But those particular words were too honest, and had come out without my consent. I hadn’t even given myself space to bend the truth a little. I guess that was a good thing, it just wasn’t natural. Maybe the sleep deprivation was finally starting to catch up to me.

RUBY: Cleaned up?!

I had taken for granted the actual look of concern on her face. She hadn’t broken her stride since laying eyes on me coming through the door, and grabbed my wrist to hold my arm out. There was already a bruise starting to wrap its way inside my forearm from the backside of my elbow. The whole arm was stiff, and I could tell that it was starting to swell. She didn’t stop there, and raised her hand up to my eyebrow which made me wince away from her as what felt like a bolt of lightning ran down my face.

COURT: Jesus fuck… I didn’t necessarily look in a mirror for all the bumps and bruises. There’s no way I look that bad though.

I could already see on her face that I was wrong about that though. It didn’t matter how I felt, because she was legitimately worried. I fucked up, and there was no way around it.

RUBY: Not that bad? You look like you got hit by a car and you’ve been gone all morning. I woke up and the whole place was empty.

I stopped whatever words tried to rise up to my defense, and shook them away before they became a problem.

COURT: I’m sorry. I’m okay though, really. I didn’t expect to be gone for so long. I went for a run. The same one that I used to do back before I left to train with Mikah.

The concern on her face disappeared, and worse, was replaced by frustration. She was about to burst and cut me off, so I slammed my mouth closed so that she could get it out.

RUBY: You didn’t think that I might want to do that with you? It’s hard enough to get you to open up about your life before Jet City. I could have gotten the grand tour, but you left me behind?

She took a deep breath, and tried to swallow the rest of it. That would end up being a piece of evidence in a long ongoing argument in our relationship, but now was not the time. Since she got it out, she was more concerned about why I looked like I got mugged.

COURT: I said I was sorry. I just thought after last night maybe you wanted to sleep in a little. I didn’t want to bother you, and I couldn’t sleep.

Her eyes fell to the parts of my body she could see, and now that she had drawn my attention to it, I was starting to feel all of the imperfections from the morning at the gym. My arm would be back to normal with some ice. Aside from a little swelling, and a busted lip, I couldn’t imagine my face was too bad or Anthony wouldn’t have let me walk out of the place without getting cleaned up. There were small superficial cuts on my knuckles, and a pretty gnarly burn from the mat on the backsides of both of my arms. All in all, it was nothing that I hadn’t experienced dozens of times before, but I could understand why seeing it out of context would be cause for alarm.

RUBY: You didn’t get like this running.

Suddenly the good news that I had to share didn’t seem like it was going to go over very well at all.

COURT: Well since I walked out of Jet City, and we were going to be here for the week, I ran past my old gym. I worked some of the morning classes to earn our way in. We’re good to go.

She was trying so hard to give me the benefit of the doubt, but she wasn’t having an easy time. I thought that she might actually get angry, but she managed to keep her voice level.

RUBY: You did this on purpose?

I laughed. That seemed silly considering what the two of us did for a living. There were days at Jet City where the two of us came home a little busted up. I didn’t see why it was such a big deal.

COURT: Well yeah. We can’t just go anywhere. We would draw a crowd. We didn’t have many options, so I went and earned us a spot.

She tried to turn away to stop from blowing up at me, but I reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her. I didn’t understand what the problem was, but it seemed like every word out of my mouth just made her more upset.

RUBY: You mean we could have literally walked into any gym in the entire world, but being asked questions was so inconveniencing that you decided to maim yourself before the biggest match of your life?

When she put it like that it did seem like a stupid risk, but that was the price I had to pay. Everything was good. No harm, no foul.

COURT: I’m fine Pru, really. I’m sure it looks much worse than it is. I feel great though. I mean I ran all the way back home after. It’s not like I am barely standing or anything.

She pulled her arm away from me, and started heading back towards the living room. I wasn’t going to let her just storm out on me though, so I followed behind her.

RUBY: You just don’t get it!

I matched her angry tone and immediately regretted it.

COURT: Then explain it to me instead of storming off!

The spun back around towards me with her index finger leveled in my face.

RUBY: You just got up and decided one day that you needed to go back to Sin City without me. You didn’t tell me anything about Coby or Kris asking you to join the tournament. I heard about it the same way that the world did. And it was the same thing all over again when you left Jet City. Now this. You keep making all of these big decisions, and it doesn’t feel like I am ever a part of the equation.

Her eyes watered, and the anger faded out of her face. Maybe I was wrong and it was never really anger at all. I had hurt her, and she was right about all of it. I hadn’t talked to her about going back on tour. I had sprung the fact that Kris was alive and I was leaving Jet City on her at the last minute, and only because she caught me in the act of packing. I didn’t have an excuse for any of it. We were supposed to be a team, and I kept making this life altering decisions without her.

COURT: I keep making the same mistake over and over again. I should have come to talk to you. I should have waited for you this morning. I don’t know wh--

She wasn’t going to let me talk my way out of trouble though. This wasn’t some small offense.

RUBY: What makes it worse was how you made it look so fucking easy! You just stepped in the ring and it looked like you never left! That’s not something that just anyone can do, you know? Look at what happened last night…

I can’t believe that I had missed the mark by so much. I should have known better. Somewhere in the back of my head, I probably did. That was the reason that I had been so nervous about getting back before she woke up. It was the smart part of my brain trying to tell me that it was a bad idea to leave at all. Last night had been hard on her, and I left her to deal with it alone. Worst of all, she only suffered that defeat because she wanted to spend time with me on tour.

COURT: I’m sor--

She didn’t want to hear the words. She wanted to see the behavior change, and I couldn’t blame her. There was no point in trying to defend it.

RUBY: Stop. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the fact that you are so good that they are handing you the opportunity of a lifetime. They’re giving you the chance to do what I came up short of doing, and you’re throwing it away fighting it out with some nobodies at a gym in Long Beach.

I nodded, defeated. She didn’t deserve to be as upset. I caused that. It would have been so easy to loop her in every step of the way. A better partner wouldn’t have had to realize that in hindsight. Looking back, every decision I made was selfish.

COURT: You’re right.

She reached forward and pushed me playfully in the chest. It shouldn’t have taken me off balance, but I had to take a step backwards to stop from falling backwards.

RUBY: You’re damn right I’m right! You have got to start talking to me before you do crazy things! I may not even want to talk you out of it! At least give me the chance to do them with you. That’s what we signed up for with the vows, flowers, and gathering up our friends and family.

She brushed at her eyes, and forced a smile to her face. I think it helped that I wasn’t getting defensive about any of it at all.

COURT: I’ll do better.

I stepped forward and threw my arms around her. She rested her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms around my waist, and suddenly the whole argument seemed to fade away. I am sure her breaking point had something to do with the loss last night, but I couldn’t fault her for it. Everything she said was something that she had been holding back for weeks. It felt better to have the air between us cleared.

RUBY: You better! Or I am going to have to come take that Bombshell World Championship from you after you beat Roxi.

She squeezed me around the waist, which was more painful than I was willing to let on. I broke away from her, but looked back with a smile.

COURT: I’d like to see you try.

I took off as fast as I could away from her, and she laughed before giving chase. I knew that I was in no condition to out run her, but that was a challenge that I would be happy to lose.



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>COURTside: Five Simple Words

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The scene opens with a shot of the Reno Events Center from the sky overhead. We zip across the building and spin back to look at the marquee on the side of the building as it changes. The first message read: SCW Climax Control This Sunday. However, when it switched, pictures of Roxi, Court and the Bombshell World Championship flashed on the screen under the MAIN EVENT heading. The camera doesn’t linger on the board though. Instead, we start to plummet towards the ground before stopping to hover just above the sidewalk. The crosswalk in front of us changes, and the camera crosses as if it were a pedestrian. Fans finally spot where it is headed to though. On a bench across from the venue is Court Pierce. The camera whirls around her, showing that she is literally watching her name light up the marquee in front of her.

”Sometimes the best things in life are the ones that you never saw coming. Seems like those kinds of things are happening to me a lot more often. Being in the main event of Climax Control this week was one. Stepping into the ring with Roxi was another. Competing for the Bombshell World Championship was one I never expected, at least not anytime soon.”

She stands up from the bench, and the camera rises with her. As she moves forward, the lens stays squared up on her face, cutting out the world around her.

”Honestly, I am still dealing with the shock of it all. If anyone had asked me Saturday if any of those three things were in my immediate future, I would have laughed in their face. I mean obviously the main event is where everyone in our business aspires to be. Being the Bombshell Champion has been a dream of mine since I first started training with Mikah. And there is nobody that represents the Bombshell division better than Roxi Johnson. Stepping in the ring with her is a big enough deal on its own, but add in the other elements, and my mind was blown. But I know what you’re all thinking. Being that complimentary is not usually my thing. However, I think I should start this off on a slightly different note than normal because of how huge this moment is for my career; my story.”

She looks up, away from the camera, probably waiting for the light to change so that she can cross towards the event center.

”I usually try to come out of the corner swinging for these little promotional videos. I try to say something headline-grabbing, and usually a little below the belt about my opponent in order to get things rolling. I bet Roxi expects the puns, the condescension, the superhero jokes at her expense. She expects me to hype how I was trained by the best, and talk about how that makes me so much better than everyone else she has faced. But it’s my turn to surprise all of you, because I don’t want to do that tonight. Better yet, I don’t think that I can do that tonight.”

She didn’t seem bothered by the fact that she couldn’t conduct business as usual, but most of the fans watching already had an educated guess as to why based on Court’s social media posts.

”Roxi Johnson is one of the very few people in this business that I have nothing negative to say about. She is one of the very few people that I am thrilled about seeing my name across from on a big marquee like this. Like I said, there is nobody more synonymous with the Bombshell division than she is. Sure, people like Mikah, Amber Ryan, and Alicia Lukas have come in and shattered all the records during their runs of dominance. Others like Mercedes and Crystal have stockpiled a bunch of championship reigns that they spend all their time reminding others about. I guess Jessie Salco and Keira have been around roughly just as long, but neither of them have the reputation that Roxi does inside that ring. What’s better is that Roxi knows all of this. She hears it every time that she steps into the Sin City ring. For the longest time, all of her opponents have given her props. She is one of the most loved members of this company’s Hall of Fame.”

”More than that, and certainly more importantly to someone like me, Roxi has been something like a gatekeeper for the Bombshell division. She is the measuring stick, and that is because if you take all of the best qualities of the notable bombshells of Sin City’s history and add them all together, Roxi is what you would get. She has longevity. She can be as dominant as anyone that has ever squared up with her. She debuted nearly a decade ago, and she is still at the top of her game, despite the fact that she isn’t getting any younger. I can’t say anything negative about Roxi, because there is nothing negative to be said about Roxi. There is no flaw. She isn’t riding off of long forgotten glory days. She has proven her worth and earned her place year after year.”

”She is what all of us want to be when we first sign our names on the bottom of a Sin City contract.”

”...and don’t misunderstand that to be as flattering as it sounds on the surface. I am not saying that I agree with how she gets things done. I’m not necessarily even a fan of her as a person. I certainly haven’t tried to mold myself after her, nor would I say that I follow her example. I’ve never cared about the people in the back, or the people in the seats the way that she does. I couldn’t care less if people love me or hate me, and I would do just about anything to get what I want. Roxi and I couldn’t be more different as people, and I am more than fine with that. However, if I can be half the competitor that she is when I am her age, I could retire happy. That would be a career worth having.”

”...and realistically, all of those things are the reasons that I am so happy that I get this opportunity against her. She represents what the best bombshells in this company can do on their best day. She isn’t some transitional champion, or one hit wonder. Roxi is the real deal, which makes this Bombshell World Championship match feel huge for me. Back when I won the Blast from the Past tournament, I thought that nothing could be bigger than facing off against the woman that helped to train me. I was wrong, and it took me this many years to figure that out. It couldn’t be anyone other than Roxi, because when I beat her, she’s the one bombshell with the ability to admit it.”

”Mikah or Crystal would have tried to take that win away from me all of those years ago. Alicia or Amber would have called it a fluke. Most of the bombshells go one of those two directions each and every time that I prove I am better than just about anyone in that ring. Nobody likes admitting defeat, even in a meaningless matchup. Roxi is one of the few that can actually own up to it when she falls short. She is the type of person that can admit when someone got the better of her. I mean, maybe her hands are tied by the whole gatekeeping thing. You can’t be the measuring stick if you can’t admit the potential that you’re measuring. Look at everything that she said to Ariana. Apparently Roxi didn’t think she was ready, tried to warn her, and then went out to prove it to the world. I have no doubt that if the match had gone the other way, she would have been the first to raise Ari’s hand and admit she was wrong.”

”Which is why she would also be the first person to raise my hand if she had to. When I win this match she isn’t going to try and take it away from me. She isn’t going to say that I wasn’t worthy. She isn’t going to leave the ring and say that I don’t deserve to be the Bombshell World Champion. She will acknowledge everything I have accomplished, and everything that I have yet to accomplish because that is the person she is. That is what makes her The Icon.”

”Strangely, getting this match has brought me a whole lot of peace of mind. I came back for the Blast from the Past tournament with a chip on my shoulder. I wanted to prove that if I really put my mind to it, I can be just as good as I ever was, if not a little bit better. Each time I stepped in that ring, a feeling started to grow inside me. I started to feel like if I could stay healthy this time around, maybe things could be different. When I beat what was left of Crystal WhoTheFuckCares I started to think maybe my luck was finally turning around. Something about this time around has felt different, and it seems like everyone else sees it too. Never in my career has anyone given me praise anywhere close to calling me the future of this division. I never felt that the powers that be had the belief that I could carry this division. I didn’t think it was possible that I could be mentioned in the same breath as Roxi, let alone step up to challenge her.”

”....and that is why it surprised me when it happened. That’s why the announcement of this match flipped my world upside down. I am finally in a position where something like this is starting to feel possible, and then the opportunity drops into my lap. If I had to dream of the most perfect opponent to start my first Bombshell World Championship reign, it could only be Roxi. And finally, it seems like everyone feels like it is possible, maybe even likely.”

”So I am not taking this opportunity lightly. I am not going to make it cheap by taking shots at Roxi that she doesn’t deserve during a promo that neither of us really care about. I look up to Roxi because of what she represents inside the six sides of that ring, and I am going to do everything within my power to make sure that I am better than her, even if just for three seconds. I know that Roxi is every bit as good as advertised. I know that her hype is real, but she better understand what she is stepping into the ring with as well. I didn’t earn all of the nice things that people have said about me later by pandering to them. I won people over by stepping between those ropes and showing them what I am made of.”

”Hopefully that is going to be enough to finally take the step that I wouldn’t have been ready for five years ago. I can’t describe how badly I want to lift that Bombshell World Championship into the air. Roxi is going to have to be at the very top of her game to rip that dream away from me on Sunday, because it’s so close that it almost already feels real. I know that she won’t go down easily, but I have faith that I will still be standing with the smoke clears.”

”I crave those five unbelievably simple words that would make that path I took to get here somehow worth the setbacks and heartbreaks.”

”....and new Bombshell World Champion…”

With that, the camera moves up from Court for one last shot at the promotional pictures of both champion and challenger on the marquee before fading to black.


17
Supercard Archives / Re: CRYSTAL CALDWELL v COURTNEY PIERCE
« on: May 05, 2023, 11:50:39 PM »
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Explanations
Romania
23 APRIL 2023
OFF-Camera



I was just ready to get out of Romania. Nothing about the trip here had gone according to plan. The flight to this godforsaken place had been a nightmare in and of itself. Camping in the woods was not only ridiculous, but a pain in the ass. I hadn’t gotten to do the one thing that I felt would give me an edge in Blast from the Past because of the stupidity of lodging in a haunted forest. Add a pinch of Jet City South drama, a guy returning from the dead, and one very embarrassing fainting episode, and there was no way I was getting into the right headspace to take on Devona and J2H. I felt it going into the match. I was distracted during the match. I wasn’t there for my partner when he was starting to fall short. I guess I should have felt good about the fact that I wasn’t the one that actually blew it for our team. It didn’t help though. Not really. The only thing that was going to help was getting the fuck out of here and getting back to a place where things were normal.

I had been running around nonstop since the start of the tournament. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried there was always some new problem to address. I needed time to decompress. I needed to go home and get away from all these people, even if just for a few days. I had never gotten changed, packed and out of a venue faster than I had the BTArena. I hadn’t even planned to go back for any of the things at camp. There was no point. Sin City would take care of anything left behind, lest it tarnish their reputation as a company with the community. Besides, trying to take any of it with me would have been more trouble than it was worth. It’s not like I was ever going to mistake camping for a good time anytime soon.

I burst out one of the many backdoors of the arena, and out into the parking area expecting to see it empty. Fans weren’t permitted to roam through the area, and everyone involved with the show was still inside doing their job. Once again, I was wrong. There was not only someone waiting outside the door, but a car waiting with them, and an envelope with my name on it. Jet City hadn’t bothered with the details of getting us to Romania, but they were apparently concerned with getting me out. I knew that it could only mean one thing. I mean, it is not like we were going to be waiting on any of the others. I was being singled out.

I don’t think that I exchanged a single word with the driver. Why would I? I wasn’t going to have to share the same space as this guy ever again. It wasn’t his fault that I didn’t really want anything to do with what was undoubtedly waiting for us at the airstrip. He was just doing the job that he was hired for. He even got out and opened the door for me once we arrived and pulled into the hangar next to Jet City’s private plane. He hadn’t followed me toward the plane, and the only bag that I had with me was already slung over my shoulder. I took a deep breath before climbing the stairs that had already been lowered for me.

COURT: Let’s get this over with….

I caught sight of him before I even reached the top of the stairs. His eyes were glued on the phone screen down in his lap but there was no way that he hadn’t heard me coming. He was wearing the same plain red, hooded sweatshirt that his early Sin City promo work had made famous. It was strangely comforting, even if the man underneath it seemed completely different than the man I knew. When I crossed the threshold, he must have caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, because his eyes shot up at me.

KRIS: I figured you might be in a hurry to leave Romania behind…

I wasn’t going to let him start off our conversation with a lie though.

COURT: Are you sure that’s what it was? It wasn’t that you’re supposed to be dead, and since you aren’t you definitely owed me some kind of explanation of why I put my entire life on hold to make sure your gym didn’t fall apart.

I didn’t raise my voice even though the thought of doing so was more than intriguing. He deserved as much. At the very least, he owed me for all of the tears shed at his expense over the last year.

KRIS: I thought that went without saying….

It was such a typical Kris thing to say. It was an apology without actually having to say the words. That wasn’t going to be enough for me.

COURT: It doesn’t. Never did. People just let you get away with murder…

In this particular case, I guess the meaning was literal. I could tell that he wanted to make a joke about my choice of words, but somehow he knew that this wasn’t the time.

KRIS: I don’t know what you want me to say.

I took solace in the fact that for once he actually said something that was the truth. For the first time in all of our interactions, he had arrived at the rational human answer to his predicament.

COURT: Was it all a lie? Were you ever even at the gym that day?

He didn’t answer me at first. I could tell that he was struggling to come up with the words to actually explain himself, but he didn’t have them. Instead of trying to stall until he could find them though, he stood up from the chair that he was seated in. Kris reached down at the bottom edge of his sweatshirt and in one fluid motion pulled it up and over his head. The scars that he revealed were telling enough that the whole thing hadn’t been a lie. Just an inch or two beneath his sternum, and ever-so-slightly towards his right arm, was the first of two discolored scars, still not entirely healed. It would probably be years before the skin changed to a more normal color. A few inches below that one, and off-centered the same distance the other direction was a second. He pointed to the top one without hesitation.

KRIS: ...because of the angle it took, it nearly nicked my spine. I would have been paralyzed at the least. If it had missed to the other side, I wouldn’t be standing here now….

His fingers traced around it before moving down to the second of the two.

KRIS: This one was just above my stomach. Got a piece of it, but just barely. If it had hit square, or bounced around, I would have been dead and gone before the EMTs ever made it to the scene. Luckily for me… it didn’t.

He turned around, revealing several tiny marks on his back that still hadn’t healed, along with the exit wound from the second shot. It hadn’t bounced around because it had passed straight through him and into the ground where he was laying. The scratches looked like what happened when the bullet split the tiles on the floor, causing them to shatter and stab at him.

COURT: ... so you almost died? That still doesn’t explain why you left us all in the dark for the last year. You know, people have even joked that you were still around. Do you have any idea what that was like for all of us? We went to your fucking funeral!

I had to raise my voice. Seeing the scars on his body made my eyes start to glass over, and I wasn’t going to allow him that kind of satisfaction. Just because he was telling me the truth now doesn’t mean the whole family hadn’t lied and manipulated me all year long.

KRIS: I did die, for something like four minutes.

He phrased it like that admission was supposed to make the whole thing better somehow. It didn’t, and I wasn’t going to let him use it to get himself off the hook.

COURT: Sorry it didn’t stick…

He looked genuinely stung by the words. He physically recoiled away from them, and then slid his hoodie back on as if trying to protect his wounds from the words.

KRIS: They brought me back pretty quick, but I didn’t wake up until closer to my birthday. It was safer that way, and at the time, Mikah didn’t think that drawing attention to the fact that I was alive was the smartest idea. I can’t say that I blame her. She had kids to worry about.

Suddenly some of the little things about the last year started to make a little more sense. Mikah abandoning Eiley’s training and shipping her away made a lot more sense if she was harboring a dead person in her house. That still didn’t make any of it okay.

COURT: I get that you didn’t want the world to know you were alive, but it seems like everyone knew but me. We were friends! I was the one that ended up putting my whole life on hold to take care of the gym! Why didn’t I deserve the truth!?

I finally found myself unable to control the volume of my voice, but unlike all of our past conversations, he didn’t seem to find any joy in getting me to break. If anything, it only made him look more guilty than he had when I first stepped onto the plane.

KRIS: It wasn’t just you, it was everyone. Mikah and her kids are the only ones that have known the whole time. Jason didn’t know until I was finally awake and coherent. Coby didn’t know until just before Blast from the Past.

None of the information was a big piece of the story, but each time he opened his mouth, something else about the last year snapped into place.

COURT: That was why he couldn’t tell me why he wanted me to sign up for the tournament. Coby knew that I was happy living life at the gym. He only pushed me so hard because you were the one that asked….

The words didn’t come out as a question because I already knew the answer. The way that Coby had acted that whole afternoon seemed off. The way that he wouldn’t tell me why he was upending my life finally made sense. Coby hadn’t been the one asking me to join Blast from the Past.

KRIS: You were the one that trained Jaycee, and you were the only one that had an eye on all of the other students everyday.

Jaycee had started to tell me that part of the story the other night before Kris surprised me and I passed out.

COURT: Jaycee said it was all Oz’s fault, but it was only the two of you at the gym that day. We all saw it on the cameras. You two argued, and then you went to throw him out. Then they found you on the floor…

He shook his head. The whole situation was strange. Usually Kris tried everything at his disposal to try and avoid giving anyone a direct answer. Yet, there he was walking me through everything step-by-step. I hoped that he didn’t think it was going to make me cut him any slack. There was no explanation that could make all of this okay.

KRIS: Jaycee was running away from some people that Oz sent his way. That’s a long story that I don’t even fully understand. We didn’t even know it was him until after the tournament started.

It all made sense. Every horrible thing stacked nearly perfectly on top of one another, and the question that I had been asking all year didn’t have a real answer. Nobody was actually after Kris. They came for Jaycee.

COURT: ...and you were just in the way. Probably running your mouth until they had no choice but to shoot you…

His face twisted and he looked offended by the accusation.

KRIS: They weren’t going to be leaving any witnesses no matter what I said or didn’t say, and that’s the point. If I wasn’t the target before, not dying made me one. That’s why we kept up the lie. That’s why even now you are one of just a few people that know, and likely ever will. That’s wh--

That was when things turned. He went from filling in blanks and answering questions that I hadn’t yet asked to creating more questions without answers. I hadn’t signed up for that.

COURT: I don’t care.

I wasn’t trying to hurt him with the words. I didn’t even know that they were going to come out before they did. They popped into my head the moment that they came out of my mouth, and suddenly the weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

COURT: I really don’t. It’s always something with you people. There is always some reason that the world is crashing down around you. There is always some clear and present danger facing all of us. And you know what? None of it has ever been my doing. I walked in the door to your gym and the only think any of you have done since is make my life so fucking hard…

I didn’t want any of this. I was a kid that loved the wrestling industry. I wanted to be seen by massive crowds all around the world. I wanted them to see what I was capable of inside that ring, and acknowledge my small existence whether they loved me or hated me. None of this had anything to do with me. None of this was my fault, or my responsibility. Jet City had hijacked my dream, and superseded it with their bullshit. It was the worst distraction that I never asked to be a part of. Guilt had been keeping me involved, but with Kris sitting in front of me, that wasn’t something that I felt anymore.

KRIS: Court, I’m so--

I wasn’t going to let him say it.

COURT: Don’t you dare say those fucking words to me! You don’t mean them. If you did, I wouldn’t be in fucking Romania right now. I wouldn’t have signed up for this fucking tournament…. I wouldn’t…. I wouldn’t have broken my hand five years ago. You don’t care about me. You only care about me doing what is right for you.

He avoided my eyes like looking into them would have turned him to stone. The physical deflection let me know that he knew I was right.

KRIS: That’s not wh--

If he couldn’t look at me while he lied, then he didn’t deserve to speak. I cut him off again.

COURT: I don’t need this, and I don’t think I ever did.

I didn’t give him the chance to change my mind. As soon as the words left my mouth, I turned away from him and headed back down the stairs. I didn’t care that it meant flying commercial. I didn’t care that it meant heading back to the creepy driver that I never wanted to share the same air with again. I wasn’t flying back to the states with Kris no matter what the inconvenience. It was just going to be a gateway for them to lure me back in. I wasn’t going to let that happen. What I needed was distance between myself and Jet City. Permanent distance.



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>COURTside: Me, Myself & I

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”Affiliations are overrated.”

”What good has being a good soldier for Jet City ever done for me? I have been injured. I have been a punching bag for the people that they really value. I have been an afterthought in Sin City, even though Jet City takes all of the credit for getting me in the door there. They take all of the credit for all of my successes, and leave me to face all of my failures alone.”

”Did Jet City stop moving any of the times that I was hurt? Have any of their students ever come out to commend me for giving them the leg up that they needed in this business? Look at people that have come out of this gym in the time that I have been a trainer. Have you ever heard one of them say something positive about me? Have you ever seen Kate Steele step up on my behalf as someone that I have worked side-by-side with for years? I wasn’t even permitted to promote myself through the company social media until after I joined Blast from the Past this year. Never even a mention.”

”They basically blackmailed me into joining The Black Sheep to help protect Kris and Mikah’s reputations. They manipulated me into stepping up into a higher position in the wake of Kris getting shot. They coerced me back into the ring after I was more than happy to stop competing. They saddled me with rookies that were supposed to be the next coming of well… me. And then they were willing to disregard me without even a pat on the back for coming so close to the Blast from the Past finals for the second time.”

”For all of the effort that I have put into Jet City, I haven’t gotten a single fucking thing back. I have given that place my heart and soul since the moment I first walked through the door, but I am starting to realize that there was never a point where I got a return on that investment. Sure, I met my future wife inside the four walls of that gym, but that was more happenstance than anything. We were competing in the same company. There was no way that our paths weren’t well on their way to crossing with or without the help of Kris and his merry band of idiots.”

”...and if you take my relationship with Ruby out of the equation, the only thing that is left is misery. For years I have justified countless injuries, gaslighting, and horrible experiences by telling myself that Jet City was giving me back more than I was putting in. That was never the truth though. It was just the company line that I was sold. I never got any opportunity through them that I wouldn’t have earned on my own. Better yet, if I would have done it without being affiliated with them, I wouldn’t have to deal with their constant credit claiming for the things that I have done in my life. They didn’t train me up to win the 2018 Blast from the Past, Mikah did. They didn’t have anything to do with Ruby repeating that performance a couple of years ago, because that was all me. It took me watching them trying to push the same lie with Eiley before it really clicked.”

”When times are good, Jet City is always there to take the credit. When things are going bad, I am always forced to deal with it on my own. When I got injured, it was because I wasn’t level-headed enough. I was weak. I could be baited into making mistakes. Yet, that wasn’t a problem for them when I was winning matches or being called the future of the Bombshell Division. When Kris Ryans was around, I got reminded constantly that I was never going to be able to do the things that he could do in the ring. I was never going to be Hall of Fame level great. However, the moment that he was gone it was me that they asked to step up and take over. When it came to the tournament this year, I was just supposed to be the babysitter for their new talent. Yet, I was the one that made it the furthest out of all of them. I was the one labeled as their best hope of a third tournament victory.”

”Maybe five years ago I was too young, and too naive to see them for what they were. Maybe I had too little opinion of myself to care that they were taking advantage of me. It doesn’t matter, because whatever the real reason was, I was blind to the reality of my situation. Jet City didn’t exist to make things easier for me or my career. I existed as a vehicle to bring more attention to their gym. I was an advertising ploy. I was a feel good story so that they could worm their way into the pockets of girls like me that actually wanted to make something of themselves in this business.”

”I don’t know when I stopped being the teenage girl that stalked Mikah day-after-day and begged her to train me. That kind of thing is taken for granted these days now that Mikah has her own gym where she takes on students willingly. I was good enough to convince the most self-centered Bombshell in the history of Sin City wrestling that I was good enough to invest some time into while she was busy standing at the very top of the world. Mikah was the Bombshell Champion with children and a whole manicured life to live, but she saw something in me from the moment that I first stepped into a ring with her. She saw the talent that was begging to burst out of me. She knew that I was going to be something special.”

”I have sat around and let Jet City squander all of my untapped potential for long enough. Fuck’em. I’m out; done, for good.”

”The only person that I ever really needed was me, myself and I.”




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All Signs Point to The LBC
San Diego, CA -- Jet City South
4 MAY 2023
OFF-Camera



I thought that being back home was going to make me feel better. I thought that if I got back into the routine that I had before I joined Blast from the Past that I could somehow find the feeling that I was missing. Before Coby brought me into his office and coerced me into babysitting his new projects, my life was perfect. I was finally happy. Sure, I wasn’t competing anymore, but I didn’t need it. I had found a purpose at Jet City South. I was good at my job, and had hope that the people that came through our program would do big things in the business. I even had all of the things that someone could hope for outside of a career, but Jet City had been responsible for that as well. Ruby and I wouldn’t have the story that we have without them, or without Sin City for that matter. The gym, and the family that came with it, were deeply woven into every part of my life.

That was the problem. My time in the Blast from the Past tournament showed me the drawbacks of being so closely tied to this place. The last year of looking at it through rose-colored glasses hadn’t helped. Ever since Kris had gotten shot, I had done whatever I could for this place. They needed someone to step up, or everything that he worked for could have just fallen apart. I made it my purpose to make sure that didn’t happen, because I felt obligated to repay him for all of the things that he had given me. As it turns out, that was never the reality of the situation at all. Everything in this place was a lie, and it always was.

Kris was the one responsible for several of the setbacks that I suffered in my career. Whether directly, or indirectly, the chaos in the last few years of my life always ties back to him. Back when it was just Mikah and I, I couldn’t be stopped. Things didn’t start getting sideways until after he got involved, and they had been sideways ever since. I had stepped up in his absence to try and keep things stable, but that joke was on me. Things around here had never been stable. They couldn’t be. Kris is the human embodiment of instability, and all of the hard work that I put in to try and fix that was based on a lie. He wasn’t dead. It wasn’t some great mystery how or why it happened. I didn’t need to be on edge every time that I walked through the doors of this place for the last year. It was all bullshit, and they dragged me right into the center of it by asking me to join that damn tournament.

Being back at Jet City hadn’t been the warm hug that I wanted it to be, but it had brought some clarity. I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to reclaim the person I was before all of their drama got dumped in their lap. Oddly enough, it was the exact thing that I should have done the day that Kris goaded me into breaking my hand as a rookie. The truth was, I never really needed this place. I was well on my way to becoming a superstar without them. And they don’t need me either. While Kris was gone, the wheel kept on turning. The place didn’t even miss a beat. I wouldn’t even be leaving some kind of soul crushing hole in the place by leaving.

And that’s what made it easy to pack up all of my shit without a word to anyone. It’s not like I owed them an explanation, since I hadn’t deserved one for any of the things they asked of me. There wasn’t enough in my office to even require anyone’s help. The desk and furniture had all been provided by the gym. I hadn’t brought many personal effects. Everything that I needed would easily fit into the bag that I carried in and out of the place on a daily basis so nobody would even notice anything out of the ordinary about me. I collected most of what I needed before there was a light tap on the door. It was just my luck that I wasn’t going to be able to make an escape uninterrupted.

COURT: Please leave me alo--

Whoever had been on the other side of the door wasn’t waiting for permission to enter. The door opened before I could even get all of the words out of my mouth.

RUBY: I think it’s OUTRAGEOUS you think that you could head out to London without at least saying--

The reason that she didn’t wait for a response made sense. She knew that there was no way that I would kick her out of my office, regardless of what I was doing in here. She was the one bright spot that existed for me in the murky swamp of bullshit that the last five years had been. I hadn’t told her about the conversation with Kris because I didn’t know how. I had planned to pack everything up and then talk to her about it while I was on the flight. I should have known that any plan that I had was bound to backfire.

RUBY: What happened to your office?

I hadn’t changed much about the office since it first became mine, but the absence of those few personal items were enough to make the place seem foreign. Her voice had been light and playful when she first opened the door, but the second question came out with legitimate concern. I felt my blood pressure kick into overdrive as I leapt into an explanation.

COURT: I knew that you would try and talk me out of it so I just thought that I would just kind of pack it all up and then kind of deal with it later. Like I know that it is all for the best, but there is no way that I could talk to you about it without you thinking that you had something to do with it, and you don’t. I promise that there is nothing that--

Tears started to well up in the corners of my eyes. I tried to blink them away, but it was no use. I was already rambling, but I never made it to the end of the thought. As the words ran closer and closer together and started making less sense she could tell that something wasn’t right.

RUBY: It’s okay. Just calm down.

She moved forward and wrapped her arms around me. That was all that it took for me to finally break down. I had been in a kind of fog since talking to Kris, and I had done everything that I could to avoid mentioning it to her. All of it was killing me though. I couldn’t be dishonest with her anymore.

COURT: I have to leave. I have to get out of Jet City. I can’t do it anymore.

I hugged her back tightly so that she couldn’t pull away from me. I knew that she wasn’t going to like hearing that. She still gave full credit for our relationship to the gym itself.

RUBY: You have taken off a lot since K---

I couldn’t allow myself to let her make excuses for him anymore. He may not have wanted anyone to know, but there was no way that he expected me to lie to the woman that I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

COURT: He’s alive… It’s all just been some dumb game. All of it. Me taking over so much. Asking me to join the tournament. Taking me away from you. All of it was bullshit.

She didn’t let go of me, but she did lean back so that she could look into my eyes. It didn’t take more than a second for her to realize that I was telling the truth. It may not have made any sense to her, but she knew that there was no way that I would lie about something this big.

RUBY: Kris is alive?

Each word came out individually as she tried to reconcile that information with everything that we had gone through in the last year.

COURT: He surprised me before the match in Romania and told me everything.

Her mouth fell open. The fact that she was actually speechless would have been hilarious under any other circumstance. I could tell that she was still working her way through the information though.

COURT: That’s why I have to leave. I won’t let myself be a part of the games anymore. I understand if you don’t wa--

She snapped out of the shock at the thought of my leaving without her.

RUBY: No. I’m going with you. I’ll let Coby know I’m headed to London. You’re more important to me than anything going on here.

That was when it clicked. That was the warm feeling that I was looking for when I stepped into Jet City. It was never the place. It was always her, and if she was with me, none of the rest of this even mattered.



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>COURTside: The Future in the Present

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”What can I say about Crystal Caldwell that hasn’t been said a thousand times already?”

”Five time Bombshell Champion if you count up the reigns from all of her different names. Two time Bombshell Roulette Champion. One time Bombshell Internet Champion, and at the time she retired the belt by unifying it with the Bombshell Championship that she took away from Mikah.”

”She’s had well over a hundred matches in this company, and has done more than almost any other woman that has come down SIn City’s aisle, or stepped into their ring. We have watched her go through dozens of name and personality changes. We have watched her fall all the way to the bottom of the roster, just to work her way all the way back to the top. Nobody has climbed the ladder in this company as many times as Crystal, and I couldn’t take that away from her if I tried. The result of this match won’t change what Crystal has done, or who she is in the history of this company. It’ll hardly be a footnote in her story whether she wins or loses this match. In the grand scope of her career, this match means nothing.”

”...but it's not nothing to me….”

”I have been around this company a lot longer than most of the Bombshells currently on the roster. I may not have ever had many matches before disappearing for large stints of time, I may never have held the spotlight for very long, but I was always lurking in the shadows. I have gotten to watch the majority of Crystal’s career; first as a fan, and later as a colleague. I can talk about her various reinventions because, for the most part, I was there. Early on, I was being trained by Crystal’s greatest rival. By the time I was actually competing in the ring, Crystal had joined up with The Black Sheep, standing side-by-side with everyone that had a hand in training me. When I competed in Blast from the Past, she was the one holding the championship that I wanted my fair shot at. So rest assured, I know what I am talking about when it comes to Crystal. Everything that has happened in my career has been in the backdrop of hers.”

”...and that is what makes this important to me.”

”Let me take it back to 2018 for those of you that haven’t been following along that long. I was the rookie that nobody thought would make it out of the first round of Blast from the Past. Fenris and I were given zero shot to win the damn thing, but if anyone put money on us, they are probably still living off of the winnings. Back then Crystal and Mikah were in the middle of a series of matches that everyone was tired of seeing. It seemed like every time Mikah or Crystal’s music hit, the other wasn’t far behind. They couldn’t have been more involved with one another if they were joined at the hip, and the Bombshell division was suffering because of it.”

”I mean, Sin City could have had a real Bombshell division revitalization on their hands. Chelsea Payne was up and coming before suffering the same kind of injury that took me out. Mercedes and Sam Marlowe were still legitimate threats to win titles. Evie was just about unstoppable. The ladies of London Underground impressed just about everyone. Yet, I was the real hyped acquisition at the time, and I went and won the biggest tournament of the year if that tells you anything. However, none of that really mattered. The only two Bombshells that the company was invested in were Crystal and Mikah. Mikah was already talking about being part-time and not really being invested in competing anymore. Crystal was gobbling up every possible chance in an attempt to finally beat her before she rode off into the sunset. Mark and Christian were more than happy to push that match on everyone card after card, no matter who hated it.”

”....even at the expense of the Blast from the Past winner. You see, everyone remembers that I got hurt before I ever got my shot at the Bombshell Championship. They might even know that my injury had something to do with Kris Ryans being his usual vindictive self. The fact that somehow got lost in all of that shuffle was that the entire situation was the fault of one bombshell in particular: Crystal Caldwell.”

”I won the Blast from the Past Finals at Into the Void 2018, and on that very same night, Crystal managed to finally pull off the big one and take Mikah down for the Bombshell Championship. Granted, that probably something like the twentieth time that she tried. That should have put the two of us on a collision course for one another, but that wasn’t meant to be. Mikah wanted her rematch, and Crystal was more than happy to step back into the ring with her. It pissed me off at the time because I was the next rightful contender. Crystal was too afraid to step into the ring because I was looking unstoppable. Instead she agreed to try and pick the bones of the greatest bombshell of all time because Mikah already had one foot out the door. The only problem was, even with Mikah one foot out the door, she was more than capable of putting Crystal down. Crystal’s Bombshell Championship reign ended the show after it began.”

”Understandably, I thought that the timeline had been reset. Going into the finals, I was sure that my date with destiny against Mikah for the Bombshell Championship was a foregone conclusion. The Crystal detour only being a week was something that I could stomach. I was still going to get the prize that I earned in Blast from the Past. Summer XXXtreme 2018 I was finally going to get what I deserved, only instead, Crystal pried her way back into the picture. For some reason not only was she going to get another opportunity, she was going to get to crash my opportunity. Instead of getting my shot at the championship that I deserved, I was going to be competing against both Mikah and Crystal. I was on the verge of being iced out for a second time, but luckily for me I got hurt and saved myself the embarrassment of being passed over yet again. There I was, a rookie that had done something spectacular by winning the tournament only to have my shot given away or bastardized.”

”...and we all know what happened from there. Each time I came back, the powers that be wanted to make me start from the bottom. I had to have match after match with bombshells that everyone knew weren’t going to go anywhere. I can barely remember some of their names; there weren’t many that left a lasting impression. Whenever it looked like I was finally going to be in a position to get what I deserved all of those years ago, more roadblocks got thrown in the way. Whether that be Crystal, one of her flavors of the week, or one of her offspring, there was always someone trying to take my spotlight. By the time I did manage to get a one-on-one shot against a Bombshell Champion, three years had gone by and that champion was none other than Amber Ryan. I’m sure everyone remembers how many contenders she went through during the full year that she held that championship.”

”...and how many more shots did Crystal get in all of that time? How many times have we all seen her challenge for championships? How many supercards has she been in the co-main events of all of these years? Crystal was never someone that was made to wait. She was never a Bombshell that got blown off for some flashier match. Since the first day that I stepped into this company, she has gotten everything that she has asked for without question. It doesn’t matter which personality she wears to the ring. It doesn’t matter what her name is this week. It doesn’t matter if she is an active member of the roster, or the executive assistant to the bosses. For some reason, Crystal gets a free shot at whomever she wants, whenever she wants, the rest of us be damned…”

”...and I’ve tried to get over it. I’ve tried to let it go. Do any of you think that I have wanted to carry this around for five years? Do you think that this is what I want to be spending all of my time talking about? Do you think this is the match that I want? Of course not. But the thing that I want is the one thing that nobody can give me. We can’t go back to give me the match against Mikah. We can’t go back and set my career off the way that it was intended. Crystal’s selfishness cost me everything that the last five years of my life should have been. People are still calling me the future of the bombshell division, I should be the present. I should be chronicled in the recent past of this company. I should be known as the most dominant bombshell in the history of Sin City by now, but I am not. Crystal made sure that I never got that opportunity. She took my career off the rails before I ever really got to show people what I was made of. And for what? All she did was add a couple more losses to Mikah to her record, and that time cost me everything.”

”This match at Into the Void isn’t going to be what Crystal expects it to be. I am not going to walk down to the ring in awe of the things that she has accomplished. I am not going to step through the ropes as her friend. The only thing that matters to me is that she was the one that started me down the dark path that nearly ended my career. Crystal is going to find out that nobody holds a grudge like I do. I have been waiting a very long time to get my hands on Crystal, and I am not going to be wasting this opportunity.”


18
Climax Control Archives / COURTside: Haunted
« on: April 21, 2023, 10:33:28 PM »
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Haunted
Hoia Forest - Cluj-Napoca, Romania
20 APRIL 2023
OFF-Camera



Camping hadn’t been something that was on my bucket list. I had to be coerced into even signing up for this tournament before this stupid tour was even announced. Usually whatever insane place they sent us was offset by Jet City footing the bills. That was off the table this time around. Mark forced everyone into the forest by some kind of decree. Granted, it wasn’t like we were all spread out in five dollar tents that would collapse in a light breeze. Everyone had seen from social media that J2H’s tent was basically a small house. The size and spectacle definitely went down from there, but nobody’s situation appeared intolerable. The real struggle had been setting up in a place that was outside the walking paths of this tourist trap.

I guess they had been lured by stories of disappearing little girls that came back years later yet not aged a day. Or maybe the man with a whole flock of sheep that disappeared into the forest only to never be seen or heard from again. That wasn’t the reality of the place though. The stories about witches, UFOs, and paranormal activity didn’t feel real when the only thing I had seen since arriving were co-workers and groups of amateur ghost hunters startling each other while looking for unexplained mysteries. Sometimes those two groups overlapped, which I found particularly sad. I was only here to compete at Climax Control. I wasn’t going to get sucked into the ghostly stupidity.

More importantly, the only individuals I was interested in were already on this plane of existence. I didn’t need to go exploring any others. Originally, I was entered into this tournament so that I could keep an eye on Jet City’s two new prospects. Yet, somehow I was the last one remaining. Eiley and Oz weren’t really to blame. Neither of them took the falls that eliminated their teams, and both of them had the bad luck of running into J2H and Devona in the opening rounds. It was the best thing that could have happened to them. There was no shame in being eliminated by the favorites. Unfortunately, that made them incredibly valuable to me this week. I may not have to hold their hands through their matches anymore, but I still wanted to sit down with both of them. I had already watched the matches back as many times as I could stomach on the flight to Romania, but there was no substitute for being able to talk to people that had already stepped into the ring with my next opponents. It is not like they could say no either. They were only holding their own inside the Sin City ring because of what the staff at Jet City had taught them. I was willing to take as much credit for that as it would take to force them to walk me through what they saw in the ring. If there was an advantage there, I wanted to find it.

The problem was, none of us had arrived together. We hadn’t coordinated where we were going to set up either, because we weren’t exactly sure what we were walking into. Oz had been convinced that SCW was going to set up some kind of little tent city for us. I expected the worst, having had some bad experiences before Jet City took over the travel arrangements, and over-prepared as a result. Eiley seemed to have faith that she would figure something out on the fly, and I hadn’t heard from her since. However, thanks to social media I did know that Oz was going to be out trying to find her; all I had to do was find him first. I tracked down most of the roster before finally coming across the right idiot. Since he didn’t have any match to prepare for, Oz had been living it up. Before I even knew it was him, I knew that the swirling lights up ahead had to be the result of someone partying a little too hard. When I caught up to him, it made a lot more sense. Instead of the regular headlamps that several people used as night approached, he was wearing a legitimate construction helmet with a light affixed to the front. The blinding white light made the bright yellow helmet stick out when contrasted with the forest, but also made it impossible to look directly at him.

COURT: Where did you find a mining helmet?

He jumped, having not heard me approaching. It’s not that I had gone out of my way to be quiet, he just seemed more focused on the job at hand. When I finally got a good look at him I could tell that he was taking the “haunted” part of this camping experience a whole lot more seriously than I was.

OZ: WHAT THE SERIOUS FUCK?!

He backed away from me, and turned the spotlight attached to his head towards me. Instantly, the entire forest around the light faded away. My eyes burned, and I raised a hand to block the light from them.

COURT: Take that stupid thing off….

I lunged forward, and took a blind swipe at his head, knocking the helmet backwards and off to the ground. As my vision started to clear and refocus I could see the light flicker on the ground before going out. Oz turned to it and slapped it a few times, trying to get it to turn back on.

OZ: Oh come on! Uncool! Now I’m basically blind out here and gonna get cursed by some evil bitch.

I rolled my eyes, and tried to remember not to take him too seriously.

COURT: Witch.

He shrugged at me, still fiddling with the light and trying to get it to come back on. With each passing second he seemed to get more and more nervous.

OZ: Same thing. I mean, look at you sneaking up on me and murdering my helmet. Are you working for the spirits in the forest now? You trying to get me disappeared out here? I’m onto you! You’re not even real, are you?

He reached out like he was going to pinch me and I slapped his hand away without hesitation.

COURT: Stop it. It’s just like any other forest. None of the stories are real. It’s just like any other story about Romania. You have to be smarter than this...

I took my backpack off my and set it down on the ground between us. He raised his hands defensively like I was going to pull some kind of ghost or goblin out and attack him. Oz was relieved to see me pull out a second blue-light headlamp like the one that was positioned just over my ear. I clicked it on and handed it to him as an apology.

OZ: NIce! Apparently I wasn’t the only person that didn’t bring anything with them. By the time I was looking for one of these, nobody had one. The helmet was a last resort.

It was a story that I didn’t need. It just meant that he owed me yet another favor.

COURT: Now that you’re not going to blind every person you come across, have you found Eiley’s tent yet? I was going to pick your guys’ brains about what I can do to win this match against J2H and Devona.

His expression soured at the thought of being forced to do something less than fun. Not that it really mattered.

OZ: She’s about the only person that I still haven’t found. I feel like I have been going in circles trying to find her or something because I have been past my tent five or six times now.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. The fact that I had even considered using him as a way to lead me to Eiley was laughable. It would be faster for me to find her myself and then come back for him.

COURT: Well where is your tent?

Instead of answering, he turned in a full circle before heading off to our left. Through a handful of trees there was a small clearing, and a tent much better made than my own.

OZ: I mean it’s small, but I don’t have to duck down to get into it. There’s room for activities. It’s really not all that.

It was easily twice the size of the one that had taken me hours to properly put up. It was square with walls stretching up at least seven if not eight feet. The heavy supports at the corners basically canceled out any of the effects of wind and the canopy overtop was see-through plexiglass for stargazing. There was no way that he had found one like this at the last second, or erected it himself. The whole thing created more questions than answers.

COURT: How did you pull this off?

I started to make my way towards it but he put his hand on my shoulder to stop me.

OZ: I mean we don’t have to go in or anything. It was nothing really. When I got here, I kind of wandered around until I saw one that I liked, and threw money at it until the person that was in it left. No big deal… come on.

He tried to lead me away from it, but there was no way that I wasn’t going to check it out. If anything, I would just throw a fit until he let me have it and he could go stay in my tent. He didn’t have a match to prepare for, and we both knew that if he found Eiley’s he wouldn’t be coming back to this one anyways.

COURT: Nah. I want to see this!

He reached out again, but I shrugged his hands away effortlessly. He couldn’t keep up with me on his best day, and he was a few steps slower and sloppier than usual.

OZ: ...but we were looking for Eiley…

I unzipped the front of the tent and pushed the flap open. The inside was already lit up, and even roomier than it looked like from the outside. There was a queen sized bed along the wall opposite the source of the light. Oliver’s things were already strewn about the floor, which actually felt like it had some sort of foundation between it and the ground underneath. I turned towards the small desk in the back corner, only to leap into the air. I let out a scream that I couldn’t hold back. At the chair in the corner was an individual that I hadn’t seen when I pushed my way into the tent. Instinctively, I turned towards them with my arms coming up to my defense as I landed ready to fight. At first I thought the reason Oz had tried to lead me away was that there was no way this was his tent. I hoped that I had simply snuck up on a stranger that was equally as startled by my presence as I was by theirs. That was before my eyes focused on the man in front of me. He was a year older than he was the last time I saw him, but he was unmistakable. I had heard his voice through an intercom just two weeks ago, and Jason had refused to answer any of my calls or texts since.

COURT: What are you---

I lunged forward with both hands balled into fists. There was no Jason to stop me. There was no door between the two of us to stop me from getting my hands on him. He was finally close enough for me to get my hands on, or so I thought. Oz’s arms wrapped around my waist, and pulled me back at just the right time. The right-handed hook that I had thrown at Jaycee’s cheek came millimeters from landing before my forward momentum was halted. It missed, and I was airborne once again. I kicked my legs as Oz pulled me backwards, and elbowed him in the ribs. That managed to get me dropped back to the floor, but it didn’t break his hold on my waist. For his part, Jaycee hadn’t moved an inch despite all of this happening right in front of him. In fact, there was a smile on his face.

JAYCEE: I know you want to hurt me for what you think I’ve done. I get it. But you should know…. That was actually all -his- fault.

He motioned at Oz, which was enough to give me pause. When the usually quick-witted rookie was speechless, I knew that whatever Jaycee was saying wasn’t bullshit. A second elbow loosened his grip on my waist, and a third bought me all of the space that I needed to spin out of his arms. He put his hands up, but this wasn’t an actual match, and we weren’t at Jet City. One quick motion lifted my foot from the ground to his groin, and he dropped with a whimper. I wasn’t playing any more games. I turned back to Jaycee while Oz was writhing on the floor, and he held out his hands in a defensive posture.

COURT: Somebody better start talking!  I am tired of all this! It was super strange that Coby wanted me to join Blast from the Past! Then Mikah blowing everyone off didn’t make sense! And then you and Jason show up randomly in Hawaii! Now this! What the hell is going on?

Oz tried to push himself up off the floor, but I caught him in the ribs in a stiff kick that rolled him over on his side. From the wet, choking cough that came out I knew I knocked the wind out of his lungs. That would make him think twice about trying to put his hands on me.

OZ: Why the hell do I have to be the one that keeps getting beaten on? I didn’t even know the guy…. Yet somehow it is my fault that he got shot…

Everything started to come together a little more clearly. Jason had tried to tell me that it wasn’t all Jaycee’s fault back in Hawaii. Granted, he could have loosened his lips a little bit and filled me in himself. I thought that I was done playing games with that family when Kris got put in the ground.

COURT: Somebody better start spilling…

Oz tried once more to lift himself, but when I turned towards him to cut him off Jaycee finally leaned forward in his seat. I wasn’t going to let myself get wrapped up and tossed around for a third time in as many weeks. I can’t stand people thinking that just because they are bigger than me they can just lay their hands on me whenever they want. I wasn’t some child throwing a fit. I didn’t need to be restrained. They needed to start talking. I whipped back towards Jaycee, straightened my hand, and jabbed him in the center of the throat, cutting off his airway. His hands recoiled away from me and to his neck as he gasped for air.

COURT: Nobody has anything to say, huh? If training with me didn’t teach either of you to keep your damn hands to yourself I don’t know what will. I can take on the two of you for as long as it takes. Somebody is going to tell me what is going on.

Jaycee falls out of his chair gasping for air, but Oz finally starts to be able to breathe more regularly. Neither of them make any move to try to restrain me again, hopefully both having already learned their lesson the hard way. Still, my patience was already gone.

COURT: START TALKING!

In hindsight, I had tunnel-vision. I was too focused on making sure that neither of them made any more moves towards me that I didn’t feel the slight breeze in the room. I was so enraged that I didn’t hear the steps behind me. I didn’t feel another presence enter the tent. The two of them looked up wide-eyed, but they weren’t looking at me. They were looking past me, at the door. I turned, but got stopped in my tracks when my eyes found my assailant.

”Hard to answer questions when you can’t even breathe…”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. This had to be some kind of mental break. Ruby had warned me that if I let my anger control me that it would make my senses play tricks on me. In that moment, enraged in one of the most haunted places in the world, the dead had risen right in front of me. He smirked. I felt the same familiar knot form in the bit of my stomach that I used to feel during his “lessons” at Jet City. I forced the thought out of my mind though. I went to his funeral. I saw him lowered into the ground. Whatever this was, there had to be some other explanation.

COURT: You’re not real…

I felt my eyes water, and every muscle in my body tightened up. This was a cruel trick, but that is all that it was. He wasn’t there. He couldn’t be there. I swung at him, nearly convinced that my hand would pass right through him like I had seen so many times in the movies. I was determined to shatter the illusion, or pummel whomever was responsible. I never expected the strike to land on anything solid, but it did. In a flash, he raised an arm and blocked the shot. He pushed my arm away, but I countered with my free hand. It should have hit him in the cheek but he caught it with the palm of his hand and stopped all of its momentum with ease. The smirk on his face stretched into a smile.

COURT: Kris?

It was all I could manage to get out. All of the anger faded. It felt like all of the energy in my body disappeared in an instant. The light in the tent appeared to dim. The area surrounding us got hazy and undefined. The last thing that I remember was the feeling of falling, and then there was nothing at all.



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>COURTside: Last Best Hope

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I have heard people say that after last week I am Jet City’s last best hope to win this tournament…

When the scene opens, Court is sitting across from the camera. It is a little startling for fans that we are not sitting in the palm of her hand like normal. There is no wink and smile from Court that sends the camera flying through the air as if by magic. We don’t buzz around the forest around her, surveying the venue she chose to speak to both of her opponents. Instead, we stay focused on her, with the tents of other superstars and bombshells behind her in the woods. We can see the scattered camp fires, and hear the low chattering of the whole roster and crew of Sin City that filled this small corner of the woods.

I don’t really like how that sounds. I mean, I stand behind the talent that Eiley and Oz have, but let’s be real. Eiley was a project between Mikah and Jet City that just didn’t pan out. Oz has all the natural ability in the world, but he isn’t ready for all of this yet. I know that, because I had a hand in training the two of them. If any opinion of the two of them matters, it is mine. If anyone is an adequate judge of what those two were capable of, it’s me. That is why the idea that I have only recently become the best hope for our gym is downright laughable, if not entirely insulting.

Her tone shifts a little bit. The fans understand while we aren’t light-heartedly whizzing about. Court wasn’t her usual carefree self. Something had been bothering her. She wanted us all up close to hear what she had to say and not be distracted by the bells and whistles of it all.

From the moment that I signed up for this thing I was Jet City’s best hope of winning. The reason that Coby came to me was because he knew that when the rookies fell short, I would still be hanging around. He knew that it wouldn’t matter who my partner was, because I am able to put all differences aside because the match result is all that really matters. He knew that I would be able to adapt and overcome the challenges of this tournament even if the rookies fell flat on their faces. He realized that he couldn’t let the gym get embarrassed by not making it out of the first round. He wanted a sure thing. I was the answer to that problem, before the teams were even picked. I was the reason that he could take a risk on the rookies. I am more than good enough to make up the difference. I have proven as much in this tournament already. Last time I won the whole damn thing. This time around I haven’t even been challenged yet.

It didn't sound like she was bragging. For Court, it was all just a statement of facts. She wasn’t trying to insult her opponents from the opening rounds, or anyone for that matter.

Ken made sure that I didn’t have anything to worry about in the first round. He took care of business and all I had to do was not make any mistakes in the ring. That is how the teams in this tournament are supposed to work. You don’t have to like each other, but you do have to have each other’s back. If you do, you don’t have to cut corners and cheat like some teams have had to do.

It was an obvious dig at how her opponents this coming Sunday had advanced in the opening round..

See, when you work as a team, you can stay inside the rules without having to worry about falling apart. You can rely on one another. You know that if you reach out for a tag, that your partner is going to be there waiting on you because they want the win just as badly as you do….

Another dig at the dysfunction that her opponents showed in the previous week in the match against Ariana and Oz.

...no. Ken and I know what is waiting for us at the end of this tournament, and we are more than happy to do anything to make sure that we take home the prize. We may not have been the heavy favorites back when the teams were first announced, but I like to think that we have done enough in this tournament to get noticed for the threat that we pose to everyone else. Did anyone else literally choke out their opponent to advance out of the first round? Did anyone look as impressive as Ken did taking apart J Mont? My partner had an answer for every little thing that his opponents have thrown at him. He has proven that he is a former World Heavyweight Champion in multiple companies for a reason. He is a true veteran of this business that isn’t going to be caught off guard when someone tries to cheat him. He knows every trick in the book because at one time or another, he has tried to pull them himself. He isn’t some rookie that is going to fold under the pressure of Blast from the Past.

A subtle smile crosses her lips, bringing her to her next point.

...and that is all that the so-called favorites have had to deal with in this tournament. I know the level of competition that they have faced, because I am the one that trained them. Devona and J2H have advanced through the other two representatives of JEt City, but what did they really prove in that time? Devona had the chance to school Eiley in her first ever match. Did that happen? Of course not. J2H had to bend a few rules when nobody was looking in order to steal one. He even came out with compliments for how Eiley did in the match afterwards. He was surprised at her ability to hold her own inside the ring. She apparently exceeded his expectations by such a wide margin that it inspired him to be humble in a victory….

Court shakes her head, not impressed in the least.

I got to see Eiley up close and personal on a daily basis in the lead up to this tournament. I wasn’t surprised by what I saw. She performed the way that I knew that she could. And know what else I already knew? That I am lightyears ahead of her in that ring. We aren’t even in the same league. She is a long time away from rising to the level that I am on, and that is so obvious that it is hard to even argue against. If J2H was so taken aback by Eiley’s ability that he felt he needed to keep himself in the match and cheat to win, what is he going to do when I step into the ring with Devona?

[She paused and allowed the fans a moment to do that mental math before shifting to her next point./i]

...and what should we expect to see if J2H does decide to try and handle this match all on his own? I am not bringing some untested rookie to the ring like Oliver Zahn. I am bringing a battle-tested veteran of this business. I am bringing my own nearly unstoppable force with me to the ring. I have a partner that competes in this business week-after-week, month-after-month. Devona is saddled with a primadonna that only steps into the ring a couple of times a year. Devona is bringing a partner that couldn’t gain traction against Jet City’s cockiest rookie. J2H had to depend on his partner when Oz was giving him all that he could handle last week. Why? Not because Oz is amazing in the ring, but because J2H looked rusty. Any offense he tried to pull off eventually got countered. Any punishment he dealt out got returned twofold. Devona finally had to tag herself in so that she could save him from getting embarrassed, and we all saw it happen.

She shrugs her shoulders again, but looks visibly annoyed.

...but Devona and J2H are the favorites. They always have been. They were always going to be. People were always going to focus on how unstoppable they seemed on paper. People were always going to put more weight on their reputations than what they were actually doing in the ring. Everyone was supposed to feel intimidated by them before any of the matches ever got underway, and that has been the biggest joke of this whole fucking tournament. These two haven’t done a single thing that can be considered impressive. They haven’t worked well together. They haven’t been on the same page, and they have had to lie, cheat, and steal to get as far as they have gotten.

Court shakes her head confidently.

That ends at Climax Control.

She states her claim with more conviction than we have ever seen from her. She wasn’t hedging her bets. She wasn’t giving herself any space to save face later on. To Court, there was only one way that this match could end.

Come Climax Control, I am going to push Devona to live up to her team’s “Best in the World” label. I am not going to let her coast on whatever heist her partner can pull to steal the victory. If she wants to make it to the finals, then she is going to have to go through me to get there. I know that Ken Davison is going to give a “Godly” effort to make sure that J2H has to summon up every ounce of what made him the greatest superstar in the history of this company just to keep up. We are going to put these two to our test, and they are going to fail in front everyone watching.

It doesn’t seem to bother her that she is promising more than anyone ever expected from her team.

We aren’t going to be in awe of these two. We aren’t rookies to push around, or middle of the roster hacks that never had a real shot to win. Ken and I are a team that should have been taken a lot more seriously from the jump, and this week we are going to step up and prove it to all of our doubters. The only history that matters between the four of us is that I have already been here and done this once before. I know what it takes. I know what it feels like to be the team with the best chance, but zero recognition. Fenris and I already walked this path once before, and Ken has already done more in this business Fenris ever dreamed of doing.

She stands, and moves around the campfire to the camera. As she lifts it there is no blown kiss, or wink like we would usually get. Instead Court stares confidently right down the lens of the camera.

I am not the last best hope for Jet City. I was always the only one that ever had a chance of going the distance. Ken Davison and I should have been the favorites all along. This is our time, and nobody is going to take what is ours.



*edited to fix a coding problem*

19
Climax Control Archives / COURTside: Vanishing Act
« on: April 07, 2023, 07:49:15 PM »

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Foots in Asses
Mikah’s House - HAWAII
04 APRIL 2023
OFF-Camera



I should be excited. I cleared the first round of Blast from the Pats. I was even responsible for picking up the win for my team. That was something that I would have killed for the first time around, but I couldn't enjoy it last week. Everyone talks about Fenris carrying me through Blast from the Past the first time, so choking out Seleana to advance was that defining moment that I would have killed for five years ago. All I ever wanted back then was a little bit of acknowledgement. I never got it, and I am not sure I ever got over it.  Had Mikah just given a fuck back then, I wouldn't have had to deal with Kris. I wouldn’t have ended up hurt. If she would have just stepped up and done her job there wouldn’t have been any setbacks.

Before I stepped back into the ring, I had successfully compartmentalized those feelings. I built a life for myself outside of competition. Being married, being part of a real family for once, made all of those negatives not suck anymore. I stopped being angry. I managed to channel all of that energy into being a better trainer and coach. I devoted myself to the gym, and the students, no matter my feelings about them. I wanted the next group through Jet City to have the advantages that I didn’t. I was happy when it was Eiley and Oz heading to the tournament. It felt like my hard work was finally paying off, but then history started repeating itself.  The tournament finally kicks off, and Mikah is nowhere to be seen. Eiley gets passed off to Jet City, and then shipped down to Jet City South with excuse after excuse about why Mikah thinks it is best to be hands-off. It was bullshit, but it wasn’t my place anymore. I did what I could to help everyone along, but then Coby asked me to participate.

He dug up all of the resentment without knowing it. And then when Eiley lost, I snapped. If Mikah wasn’t going to show up for her students, she was going to tell me why. I wanted her to look me in the eye and give me a reason. I wanted her to tell me why she wasted our time. Was she that cruel? Getting to Hawaii from Barbados wasn’t necessarily the easiest thing in the world, and certainly didn’t improve my mood. Even a direct flight would have been thirteen hours, but four layovers had added another eight. It was nearly a full day sharing air with strangers, and having kids scream or kick the back of my seat.  By the time that nightmare was over my fuse couldn’t have been shorter. I pulled up to her house just in time for the announcement that she had made a move to an even bigger house.

Another ten minutes into a trip that was already way too long, I couldn’t promise myself that I wouldn't seriously harm her. The gate at the end of the driveway was open, which was the very first thing that had gone my way. I basically sprinted up to the front door and had to stop myself from attempting just to kick it open. I balled my first to knock, but stopped. I forced myself to remember the searing pain that had radiated up my arm the last time my anger got the best of me. I took two deep breaths, and then summoned the restraint needed to knock reasonably. When there was no answer, I tried again; this time with a little less composure. By the third time, that restraint was gone.

COURT: I KNOW YOU’RE HERE! AND I AM LIKE 80% SURE I COULD KICK THIS DOOR IN!

Nothing. Not a peep. I cocked my arm back and balled my fist. I figured if I aimed for the glass the worst that I was going to get was cut up. That could be stitched, wrapped, and worked around. I was willing to take the risk if it meant being able to blow off some of the rage that had been building for years. I didn’t close my eyes like I had when I swung at Kris all those years ago. My stance and form is a lot better these days. My eyes were locked on my target, and I was already picturing how it was going to shatter when my fist drove through it. It never got there though. The tunnel vision that the rage gave me prevented me from hearing the footsteps behind me. As I threw my weight forward behind my fist, an arm wrapped around my waist, and I felt my feet leave the ground. In a flash I was whirling around away from the door like I was weightless.

JASON: That’s a bad idea.

The rage was gone as soon as his voice rang in my ears. I felt all of the tension that I was carrying disappear in an instant. He put me down as quickly as he had scooped me up, and took a step backwards towards the door. The two of us had gone through this several times before. When Mikah had shipped me off to Jet City, he warned me about letting that rage control me instead of me controlling it. I even got the ‘I told you so’ conversation after I broke my hand because I refused to take that warning seriously. Yet here we were, years later, still in the same situation.

COURT: Why am I always the only one that is ever angry?

I turned back towards him to see that he had positioned himself in the center of the double doors leading into the house. His hands were up in front of his chest with his palms facing out to me. The smile on his face that made it annoyingly hard to stay angry.

JASON: ...because you want to see the best in people, and the rest of us just accept that everyone sucks.

He wasn’t wrong about the latter. It was frustrating to watch how his dysfunctional and codependent network of friends and family interacted. Somehow these people put together a few incredible in-ring careers and launched a handful of successful training schools in spite of the fact that they were all awful.

COURT: Is it so bad that I am angry? Is it wrong to expect her to actually step up for someone other than herself? It’s literally what she signed up for when she took on students. It doesn’t just piss me off because she did it to me, it's everyone. I couldn't live with myself if I did that to any of the students at Jet City. Why does she get a pass?

It didn’t look like he disagreed with me, but he stayed put between me and the door.

JASON: Maybe even though you can see it from the perspective of a student and a teacher, you are still missing pieces of the puzzle.

It was just another excuse, and I wasn’t going to let any of them waste my time with more of those.

COURT: You’re the one standing in between me and the answers that I want. Move, and I can go get them.

He shook his head. That wasn't an option.

JASON: I can’t do that. Besides, she’s not even here right now. You’re angry, and deservedly so. I understand, but I can’t condone what you’re here to do.

I couldn’t believe that he was drawing his line in the sand. For years we all watched him enable the worst in his brother. He spent years covering up all of Kris’ faults, but now he was trying to take some righteous stand.

COURT: Why are you even here?

The sudden change of topics didn’t appear to surprise him at all.

JASON: Mikah needed a hand with getting her gym up and running down here. We talked about it at Christmas, and I said if there was anything I could do, I would. So Eiley got sent up to Jet City for a while and I am doing what I can to help out down here.

If it was a lie, it had been one that he rehearsed because the words rolled off his tongue effortlessly. I wasn’t ready to just accept it though. A lot of it didn’t add up.

COURT: Christmas? You two aren’t necessarily friends. Why would you have been down he--

He didn’t let me get to the end of the thought before leaping at the chance to answer the question.

JASON: This time last year wasn’t necessarily the easiest time for any of us, and some had it much worse than others. Mikah and I didn’t have to be super close. When awful shit happens to family, you show up for them.

Again, it sounded well-rehearsed. Something about it just felt wrong though. Sure, everyone involved with Jet City had strange familial relationships that I didn’t fully understand, but this was a stretch. Jason barely had anything to do with Kris and Mikah’s relationship, and refused to help him with Jet City South. If he felt guilty about that, maybe he would reach out a little bit following what happened at Kris’ gym last year, but showing up here felt like a few steps too far. It didn’t mesh with the man that I knew.

COURT: I don’t believe you.

The surprising thing about his reaction to the words was that he wasn’t surprised at all. The smile didn’t fade from his face. He didn’t tense up. I was standing there calling him a liar and he wasn’t phased by it at all.

INTERCOM: I think you’re going to have to tell her the truth, man. She ain’t dumb like everyone else.

That voice wasn’t Mikah’s but it was familiar to me. More importantly, the tension that I thought I would see rise up when I called Jason a liar was all over his body language now. Whoever was on that intercom was the reason that he was trying to sell me this bullshit about Mikah needing his help. He turned his head towards the intercom and his tone was much harsher than when he was addressing me.

JASON: I don’t need any of your help. I thought you were supposed to be shutting up?

The realization hit me like a slap in the face while he was responding. It wasn’t the words that he said, but the tone that he said them in. There was real hostility there. I hadn’t heard him talk to anyone but his half-brother that way. However, that wasn’t Kris’ voice that I heard. I would have had that one pegged from the jump. I was on the right track though. It was a voice I knew; a voice from Jet City.

COURT: Jaycee?

I didn’t mean to say it out loud, and my hands came up and clasped over my mouth as soon as the name slipped out. The moment of realization was short-lived though. The series of thoughts played out at a rapid pace. At first I wanted to know what in the world the man that was responsible for what happened to Kris would be in Mikah’s house. That thought was dissolved by wondering why he would have been with Jason, of all people. The guy had been missing for more than a year, and was the only key to figure out exactly what happened at Jet City South. None of us had been given any real answers. We just walked in and found the scene.

JASON: Court, you have to under--

There were no more thoughts. I didn’t even really hear the words that Jason was trying to say before cutting him off. The blind rage that had subsided momentarily, boiled over. I reached out and grabbed Jason by the hand, lacing my fingers with his. Before I even knew what I was doing I had twisted it left, and ducked under his arm. With his arm locked behind his back there wasn’t a whole lot that he could do to reach me. He tried to push me back with his free hand, but I drove the toe of my shoe directly into the back of his deteriorated right knee. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

COURT: OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, JAYCEE!

There was no answer from the intercom. I grabbed the handles on each of the doors and started to twist and rattle them, hoping either of them would give. Jason grabbed a hold of my ankle, but I kicked his hand away.

JASON: He didn’t do it Court. It’s not his fault.

I heard what he said, but I wasn’t listening to him. Just a few moments ago he was standing between me and this door, lying, with a smile on his face. He wasn’t going to tell me the reason that he was actually here. He was going to lie just like everyone else. If I wanted answers to any of my questions about last year, I needed to find the source. A source that we all thought was long gone.

COURT: THEN LET HIM TELL ME THAT!

Ruby and I had worked closely with Jaycee. He had been one of the first students that we actually got to take on ourselves. Kate was busy basically running the place. Kris was busy being Mikah’s partner. Jaycee was one of my students. Then he just disappeared the day that they found Kris. The day that the world stopped turning at Jet City. How could Jason be so calm?

JASON: You have to calm down!

He hadn’t even made an attempt to get up off the ground. Instead, from his knees, he wrapped his arms around my waist and tried to pull me back away from the door. I turned towards him before he could tighten his grip and tried to fight him away, but he wouldn’t let go.

COURT: Why are you protecting him?!

I tried to pull his head back so that he would have to look up at me, but he ducked his head down and put his cheek into stomach. Again, he lifted me into the air, this time as he got to his feet, and turned me away from the door. He didn’t drop my feet back to the ground like he had last time though.

JASON: You don’t understand, okay? And I wasn’t ready to tell you. It’s the whole reason that I had Coby ask you to be in the tournament though. I promise. You deserve to know the truth…

I kept fighting at his arms even though I knew that it was futile.

COURT: You were lying to my face just a second ago, and I am supposed to just trust you now, why?

I didn’t think that there were a series of words that would make any of this okay. I didn’t see a way out of the rage until I finally got to put my hands on Jaycee. Mikah’s lack of enthusiasm for her students was long-forgotten. I was going to beat every detail of the story out of that kid if it was the last thing that I ever did. Kris would have wanted that, and wouldn’t have accepted anything less.

JASON: You have to listen to me. He didn’t do anything wrong. People came after him and Kris got caught in the middle. Jaycee is literally the only person on the planet that can help us find those guys though, okay? You can’t go pummeling him because we need him. Beating him down isn’t going to solve anything.

It wasn’t an answer that I wanted to hear though.

COURT: How do you know? He had all year to come forward! If he had anything to say, he already would have.

I was still fighting against his grasp when the intercom clicked twice and Jaycee’s voice came through once again. He didn’t sound like the confident kid that I remembered. He wasn’t loud, or cocky. He wasn’t even angry even though I knew that he could hear everything that I was saying.

JAYCEE: They took me when they shot Kris, because they were there for me, not him. He was just a witness that they didn’t need talking. Jason’s lying to you Court. I might not have pulled any triggers, but it was definitely my fault. I brought them right to him,  when I should have run.

His words didn’t make me feel any better. They answered a lot of questions, but it didn’t make the fire burning in my stomach go away.

JASON: They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, Court. Kris went there in a rage, just like you. Jaycee went there to hide, just like he has been doing for the last year. There is a lot more to the story than you know.

I felt my eyes get glassy again, and knew that this time I was not going to be able to fight it off. I carried all of this around for a year without even realizing it. It was all too much to deal with right here, Jason was right about that much.

COURT: Put me down Jason.

I didn’t scream it. I wasn’t mean about it, and did my best not to let my voice crack through the words. He didn’t argue, and I didn’t look back. From the moment that my feet hit the ground, I ran to the rental car, slammed the door, and took off. This was not something that I was equipped to deal with at the moment.  My problems with Mikah had waited several years, another couple of hours or days wasn’t going to matter. I needed time to process everything.



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>COURTside: Vanishing Act

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I wasn’t terribly excited about the tour going hand-in-hand with the Blast from the Past tournament, but I can’t lie, this feels pretty fitting.

The feed opens with just Court within view of the audience. As usual, the viewers appear to be in the palm of her hand before the camera takes off with a mind of its own. It ascends from where she sits, and backs out to show that she is sitting atop a railing. As we get further and further away, the screen flashes white momentarily as the light of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse blinds the screen. The railing where Court sits is just above the light itself high above the ground on an island surrounded by crashing waves. There is a helicopter on the helipad behind her, most likely the way she had gotten to the now automated lighthouse in the first place. The camera starts to dip back down towards her, but we can hear her voice as clearly as if she were in the room with us.

Apparently the Unsolved Mystery of this place is people going missing. Three guys just up and disappeared. They didn’t take any of their shit with them. Didn’t even light up the lighthouse during the storm. They were just gone, without any explanation. Of course, people have their theories, but nobody really knows…

She pauses for just a second as her voice trails off. There wasn’t the usual confidence in her that the fans were used to seeing.

Seems like the Jet City comparisons are aplenty. Throughout the history of this company we all seem to come in, make some big splash, only to disappear without a trace. When was the last time any of you saw my wife in the ring? What about Coby? Or even Jason Halich, the guy that started it all? I am just as guilty as any of them. I show up and win this tournament as a rookie, only to disappear. I came back for my big shot, and vanished without a trace. I finally got some momentum last time around, but gave it up to focus on being a trainer at Jet City. And none of that even starts to compare to the way our favorite Jet City Hall of Famer seemed to come and go as he pleased, always leaving the fans and locker room hanging.

She shrugs her shoulders, and forces herself to keep going.

This time last year two people disappeared from Jet and Sin Cities without a trace and without any real answers to what happened. I can understand the way the families of the people that went missing here feel. It sucks not to have answers. It sucks to be left wondering what went wrong, and how it could have been avoided. If you don’t even know what happened, there’s really no way you can even process it and start to move on, is there?

She looks around at the lighthouse, and then back up to the camera as we start to close back in on her.

It even happens in this tournament every year. People from all over the world sign up, but once they lose, we never really see them again. Very few of the fresh faces actually stick around after they watch their opportunity to challenge for the SCW or Bombshell Championships slip away. Personally, I think that is a little short-sighted, but we have already talked about my history. I don’t really think that I am in a place to criticize anyone that disappears, regardless of their reason. Plus, this week I get to step into the ring with two people that are looking to make me vanish all over again.

She allows herself a brief moment of excitement, and a smile crosses her face.

I mean, the competition in the first round had the same motivation. Did anyone see what happened when Seleana and Peter Vaughn tried to put Ken Davison and I out? I don’t think that there was a more resounding win in the first round than Seleana actually getting choked out. I don’t think that there was a time in the first round that we weren’t in full control of what was happening and where things were going. Ken and I went in with a game plan and came out with a near flawless victory. For everyone that thought that the two of us couldn’t coexist, or that I was going to be too rusty to win this tournament, I hope that was a wake up call. Then again, the first round is usually the easiest one to clear. Look at J-Mont and Zoey Lukas. They basically had a bye.

A gust of wind shakes that camera where it hovers in front of her, and her hair blows wildly with it.

I can’t really say anything bad about J-Mont other than the fact that I don’t particularly like his name. The guy came in as an SCW unknown, and dominated the first round for his team. Zoey was barely even needed at all, which is why I am not going to be hearing any excuses about how Ken and I got a week off while you two are going back-to-back. I can’t take away or pick apart anything J-Mont said or did in the first round because the shit he talked was entertaining and the way he backed it up was more than impressive.

It wasn’t like Court to be handing out free compliments without a catch, and she didn’t leave the viewers waiting for it either.

...but I am still going to take a former SCW World Heavyweight Champion over any newcomer, no matter how impressive. And look, I know that J-Mont is not new to this business, and has been competing basically his whole life. I watched the same promo that everyone else did last week. I watched him ramble about how he was the leader that this company had been looking for. I listened to him talk down about Mac Bane, who has won this tournament, and has dominated Sin City. For all of his big talk though, he did manage to make me laugh. His big gripe against Mac was that he was nothing but a follower, even though he has been leading this company for a while now.

She laughs.

It wouldn’t be funny if J-Mont hadn’t ended the whole thing talking about how he was going to follow in our footsteps. It wouldn’t be ironic if his big finale wasn’t all about how he wanted his name etched into the history of this company the same way that mine is. The same way that my wife’s is. The same way that Mac’s was last year. He said he wants to be the one to knock Mac out of the tournament for his own self-serving reasons, but the drive to win the whole damn thing is to help Zoey Lukas climb up out of her sister’s shadow.

Turning her attention to the woman that she will actually be locking up with, she takes a much more serious tone.

I think the fact that she thinks she is in Alicia’s shadow is impressive. She’s huge, which is something that J-Mont was most impressed with last week. Her record also isn’t bad. I mean, she missed some time due to some emotion damage, but who hasn’t?

Having already run through her own checkered history with the company, it’s obviously not a point that Court wanted to stay on for very long.

... my problem is with the idea that Zoey has been so dominant that J-Mont feels she deserves the recognition that would come with winning the title. He says he wanted her to jump out of her sister’s shadow, like that is something that can be done so easily. My wife and I have each won this tournament. Does that mean that Zoey is currently in our shadow? Of course not. Just like winning it won’t change the fact that Alicia is one of the top three bombshells in the history of this company. I should know, I have been in the ring with her. Winning this tournament won’t change the shadow being cast by Alicia. Not even winning and then successfully cashing in and taking home the Bombshell Championship could shake that shadow aside. The fact is, Alicia has earned her place as bigger and better than either of those two things. She has set records in this company. What has Zoey ever actually done?

She paused like she was waiting for a response even though she was the only person in sight.

She was given every physical gift possible, and had the privilege of debuting against the always-losing Jessie Salco. She dominated Sam Marlowe and Mercedes a few years after either of them could be considered a real contender. I can’t even give her credit for what she did to my wife and Kate back in their match, because everyone knows that Alicia being in the match was the real trump card. It is easy to do everything right when you have one of the best in the business in your corner.

Court cocks her head to the side, and brings her index finger up to her cheek.

...but what happened when she wasn’t so much bigger than her opponent? What happened when she squared up with someone that wasn’t obviously past their prime? Oh right, Tempest mopped the floor with her, that’s what. That told me all that I needed to know about Zoey. She might be gifted. She might be trained by some of the best. She might even be crafty enough to stand her ground with any bombshell past, present, or future. But she is also human. She is not unbeatable. She is not some superhuman that is impossible to keep down. She is not what J-Mont thinks that she is. Look no further than the fact that she had little to no impact on her team winning last week. J-Mont did it without her. Just like Alicia could have done it without her. As physically dominating as she looks, Zoey hasn’t really ever done anything worth mentioning. She hasn’t won any huge matches. She has never succeeded under any real pressure. She has beaten pushovers and bullied people smaller than her. Nothing more. Nothing less.

It was a bold statement, but not the most important.

..and that is why she doesn’t scare me. I have almost always been the smallest competitor in the ring, and it has never pushed me off my game. I have had to deal with the pressures that come from winning the big ones against the big stars. Ask Evie if you can find her. I have come out on top of this tournament before, and even if that’s the high point of my career, it is still a mountain that Zoey has never actually climbed. Just like everyone else, she will try to take away my accomplishments by saying that my big win happened years ago. Let’s not forget that I choked out my last opponent in this tournament not even two weeks ago. Underestimate me if you want, but don’t complain when you meet the same fate.

She looks away from the camera, and out to the shoreline where waves violently crash on the beach.

At least when the two of you vanish after losing this match, nobody will think it’s an unsolved mystery. They’ll all get to watch your embarrassment live.

With a wink, the scene fades to black.


20
Climax Control Archives / COURTside: Favors
« on: March 24, 2023, 11:45:48 PM »
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Favors
Jet City South - SAN DIEGO
20 FEBRUARY 2023
OFF-Camera



Getting asked up to the big office isn’t a common occurrence to me. I mean maybe it happened a little more often when Kris was the one running things, but not really anymore. When Coby took over, a lot about Jet City changed. I got promoted. Obviously that was the most important change. Kate and I basically have a full run of things on the floor. We are the ones actually handling the students. That doesn’t usually get me an invite upstairs though, so I was more suspicious than curious about why Coby wanted to see me. The door at the top of the stairs was open, and I could hear him talking to someone as I came up. His desk was out of view from the doorway, but I knew he saw me headed this way from the office window that overlooks the gym floor. I couldn’t catch who he was talking to, but the voice did sound familiar. Unfortunately, he ended the conversation just as I crossed the threshold, and looked up in my direction.

Court: You wanted to see me?

The office was a whole lot different than it had been back when he and Kris shared it. At one point, it had been split down the center during an argument between the two. Half of it was the controlled chaos that was Kris, with papers and folders scattered across every surface, and even wedged into the spaces between the cushions of the couch that lined the wall. The other half was plain by comparison, but totally spotless with everything organized in its proper place. This time last year it had become a combination of their clashing styles with chairs comfortable enough to fall asleep in, and framed posters of events that Jet City students and trainers had main evented lining the walls. The two had built a display case dedicated to all of the championships won by anyone under the Jet City umbrella that had actually starting to look pretty respectable. Of course, that all changed last summer when Coby took over entirely. The office I walked into was nothing like I last remembered. It was plain. The walls were bare. The only furniture in the room was his desk, his chair, and the two chairs on the opposite side facing him. There was a closed laptop on the desk, and the screen of his phone was still lit up from the call he had just ended.

Coby: Yeah, have a seat….

I didn’t like the tone of his voice. He sounded like he was about to give me bad news, further confirming my suspicion of the meeting. First it was the feeling downstairs, then the plain hellscape of an office, and now his voice sounding like his grandmother just died. It all made me feel uneasy just being in the room.

Court: I hate what you’ve done with the place by the way…

I tried my best to deliver the bad news with a playful tone and a smile on my face so that he wouldn’t take it too personally. He had to know that it was at least a little off-putting though.

Coby: An office shouldn’t feel like something you want to spend a lot of time in. Now everything about it makes me want to get everything done and go home. It was easier that way.

That wasn’t the only thing that had changed about him in the last year though either, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by his answer. He pretty much cut all ties with anything but the numbers and paperwork of actually running a gym. It was hard enough trying to keep the place going after it became a crime scene, harder to do without a best friend, and even more so when he had to be the one to convince everyone to stay. Especially since I know that all he wanted to do himself was never step foot in this building again.

Court: I mean you’re never out on the floor anymore and you clearly don’t want to be up here. Why do you even stay?

I didn’t even really expect an answer, but he had one.

Coby: Because I have to.

They were the most matter-of-fact words ever spoken. There wasn’t joy in them, at least not like there used to be. This used to be his dream career, and now it just seemed like any other job. That was hard to see on his face, so I didn’t press the subject any further.

Court: Well, what do you need from me?

If he wanted an office designed for leaving, I was more than happy to oblige by getting to the point so that I could get the hell out of there. He opened a drawer on the left side of the desk and flipped through a few things before pulling a file out and opening it. He looked down at it and sighed heavily.

Coby: I know that you are loving things as one of the head trainers here, but…

His eyes fell to the papers in front of him, and mine followed his down. There was a giant Sin City Wrestling logo at the top of the page. It wasn’t hard to put together from there. Everything kind of snapped together once I had all of the pieces of the puzzle. I had already seen a whole bunch of the recruitment on social media. Shit, I had even had to participate in it as the person behind the Jet City account. We already had two students headed into the tournament, but his whole negative attitude meant one thing.

Court: Oh, come on! I have already won it once. All I can do is fuck up….

I knew that he had already foreseen this argument. It wasn’t the first time that we had this conversation. Last year he had all but begged me to be the entrant for the gym, even though the Jaycee kid was the clear and obvious choice. I had been right about the kid’s talent, but none of us could have ever known how it was all going to play out.

Coby: I just got off the phone with Christian. They asked if we wanted another spot.

Now it made even more sense. Mark and Christian were always happy to give our students a foot in the door, but they made no effort to hide that they liked it when the people with recognizable names showed up. In the past, Kris had always done that when the phone rang. He left Sin City and came back more than anyone else I had ever seen with the company. He never wanted to let them down though. That is likely the reason that Coby felt obligated. Without Kris he was forced into this position at Jet City, and with that came the ties to Sin City. There was no way he was going to get in the ring himself anymore. Still, I didn’t see why I needed to be the next logical choice.

Court: We already have Mikah’s girl Eiley, and that one mouthy kid Oz--

He nodded, like I was making his point for him before cutting me off.

Coby: Which is why I think we should send someone that has been in the tournament and knows what that is like with them. Someone that knows what it takes to win the whole thing…

There was really only one key to winning the whole thing, and everyone knew it. It always comes down to the random draw that kicks off the tournament.

Court: ...I can’t teach them how to get paired with a good partner.

He wasn't letting me get away with the excuse that every first round loser uses every year.

Coby: It isn’t about getting a good partner. It is about being a good partner. It is about making that team work. If those two had gotten paired together, maybe they would have a chance. As they are now, they are going to stubbornly be the reason that both of their teams fail. You can go show them how to make those random pairings work to your advantage. You’ve done that. Arguably, you cracked that outer shell of Fenris before others.

It wasn’t like that ever amounted to much though. I got hurt. I blew my chance to win it big in Sin City at every turn. Sure, people remember that I won the Blast from the Past once, but I am equally known for my epic losing streak and colossal title match failures. I couldn’t even win the Queen for a Day.

Court: I could always just go keep an eye on them. I don’t need to compete myself. Give it to one of the other students.

He wasn’t having that either.

Coby: There is nobody else on the floor that is ready.

If he wasn’t going to cave in and give it to someone that actually wanted it, I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

Court: How would you know? You don’t ever go down there and see for yourself.

I thought that the comment would bother him, but he didn’t even pause to consider it before boldly telling me I was wrong.

Coby: I see enough.

Maybe he did, but that didn’t really feel like the reason that he wanted me to join the tournament. Why have this argument about it when there are others that would jump at the chance to fill the spot? It didn’t seem to add all the way up, no matter how he tried to sell it to me.

Court: You’re going to have to do better than that.

He shrugged, without any sense of fear or anxiety that this conversation would end any other way than what he wanted. There was confidence somewhere under the plain expression he was wearing. I think the real Coby was still buried in there somewhere, even if the last year had gotten pretty dark.

Coby: Call it a favor.

I shrugged back at him, and stood my ground.

Court: I don’t owe you any.

For a second, I thought I saw a slight smirk appear in the right corner of his mouth, but it vanished quickly.

Coby: I didn’t say that you did, or even that I was the one asking it.

He flipped the contract around on the desk and took a pen out of the cup next to it.

Court: I just don’t understand---

He cut me off again, holding out the pen for me to take.

Coby: Would I ever ask you to do anything without a good reason? I know you and Ruby have your safe little corner of life now. I know that you’re enjoying not dealing with the pressure or the spotlights. I know that you’re probably scared of going out there and not measuring up. All of it.

He paused, and I finished the thought for him.

Court: ...but you’re still asking, so that must make it pretty important.

He nodded, and softened a little bit.

Coby: You know me. Unlike others that have run this place, I wouldn’t have even brought you up here if it wasn’t the only real option.

I couldn’t deny any of it. Coby wouldn’t willfully lead me astray even though oftentimes, Kris would do exactly that to make his point. Those days were long gone though, I guess best summed up by the crummy, unwelcoming state of the office we sat in.

Court: Fine, but before I step foot in the ring you better let me know what I am actually doing there…

I flipped through a few of the pages in the folder on the desk before finding the one that actually required my signature. I had never actually read one of these things, so I wasn’t about to start now. The checks had always cleared. I had always gotten to compete. What more was there to even know to justify all the paperwork? I signed quickly and flipped it closed before dropping the pen down on top of it.

Coby: Thank you.

He looked relieved, which only added to the weirdness of all of it.

Court: Even if this favor isn’t for you, you owe me one.

Coby: Add it to my tab.

He didn’t miss a beat, even though the words that came out of his mouth weren’t his own. He seemed as surprised to have said them as I was to hear them come out of his mouth. It appeared to have happened before he could stop himself from saying it. It did give me a little more insight into what was on his mind though. We only knew one annoyance that would spout phrase commonly.

Court: No more tabs. The last guy never closed his out and left me hanging.

I didn’t look back to see his reaction to the words, and left him there. He had gotten what he wanted, and didn’t even tell me why he wanted it so bad. There was more to figure out, but first I had to figure out how to tell my wife that I was getting back into the ring.



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>COURTside

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I feel like we’ve been here before…

Court comes into center frame as the video starts. She winks to the viewers, and then tosses the camera into the air as always. It doesn’t fall, and starts to hover from the point of view of the viewers. We zoom out, showing Court standing on rocky ground despite the trees surrounding her. We can faintly see her breath hanging in the air, and she is bundled tightly in a jacket and scarf. She doesn’t take her eyes off the camera, even as the beauty of the landscape around her comes into frame.

I didn’t think that making a comeback to my favorite tournament in all of wrestling would bring me all the way to Canada. I am proudly from southern California. The cold isn’t really my thing, but I’ll be damned if I am going to be spending all my time up here locked away in some hotel room waiting for Climax Control to arrive. I figured if this is where Blast from the Past is starting, this is where I belonged. And if I have to bring myself all the way up to Kelowna, I may as well take in some of the sights while I wait for Sunday. That is what brings me to Black Mountain…

The camera backs up a little bit more to show the drop off, and spectacular view behind where Court stands. Above the treeline, viewers can see down the mountain back towards the city. The orchards and vineyards below look great from afar, but we are far enough away not to see the individuals toiling away.

I figured if I was going to be attempting to make my way up to the top of Sin City through this tournament, maybe I should find an easier mountain to hike up first, you know? Set tiny goals on the way to accomplishing the big one. A few thousand steps here today in order to bring me one step closer to the top of the metaphorical Sin City mountain on Sunday. Plus, it’s not a bad way to kill a day when you really don’t want to spend it around either of your gym’s other competitors.

The camera comes back down, drawing attention away from her surroundings and back to Court herself.

...and I know there are going to be a lot of people saying that there is no reason for me to be back. There are more that are going to say there is no need for me to be in this tournament. I know this, because for the last few years, I have been one of them. I've been no stranger to saying that I didn’t need to prove myself by winning this tournament again. I have done it once, and within my first five professional matches. There is no way to do it better than I have already done it. It seemed like even trying was going to result in another failure for people to try to pin to me.

She shook her head, unwilling to let that narrative even start, let alone take hold in the locker room.

...but that is a loser’s mentality. That is an excuse. That is a way to paralyze myself into inaction. If the bar is so high that I can’t reach it, good. I am the one that put it there. And the version of me that set that bar so high wasn’t as well-rounded in the ring as I am now. That person was naive about what it was going to take to stay focused, and work with your partner to make it through to the end of this thing. That person didn’t know what she was in for back then, and she managed to prove everyone wrong. If all of you want to know why I am back now, then look no further. If I was that good back then, why can’t I be that good now? I am far from old, or past my prime. I am just as physically gifted as I have ever been. Why not do something bold like reach for Sin City’s biggest and best prize? If I have done it once before, nobody can say it is impossible for me to do it again, and I am not ready to give up on that.

Court starts to walk down the path in front of her and the camera zips out of her way before hovering on her right side. There is only a slight incline in the trail, and viewers can spot specks of snow on the ground behind her. Down at sea level, the ground had been soggy and wet from rain. The day itself hadn’t been cold, but as she had ascended, the running water cascading down the mountain had slowed to a frozen stop, and the ground got more solid. Trees still lined the area but seemed to thin out as she went.

...and my partner this time? I can honestly say that I was hoping for someone more like Goth or Mac, but not just because they are more talented than some of the others, that goes without saying. At least I have some kind of familiarity with the two. Mac even won the whole thing with Mikah, who trained me in this business. The fit would have been there, and we already have a foundation to build from. Even Alexander Raven or Teddy would have been okay, because at least we have crossed paths with one another in the back. J2H might not give a single fuck about who I am, but at least he has some amount of respect for the gym that I come out of. At least I got to avoid all around assholes like Calvin Harris or Jack Washington. I could even add the new guy from Jet City to that list. Like always, there are going to be a lot of people feeling like the random draw could have gone better. I am here to say that mine certainly could have gone worse.

She seems like she is trying hard to check her own personal attitude and feelings about her partner in an attempt to look at the brightside.

”Godly” Ken Davison and I are going to have our fair share of differences. In any other circumstance, I am not sure that you would spot the two of us standing on the same side of any issue, let alone a ring. We have very different outlooks on life, but there is one very important thing that we have in common: we are willing to do whatever is necessary to make sure that we advance in this tournament. Even better, neither of us have failed to back up those kinds of claims in the past. Ken was a World Champion in Sin City until very recently. I have already won this tournament once already. On paper, that feels like a match in my book. That seems like something that we can build on. In fact, it is something of an advantage that many of the other teams won't have. We might clash a little bit personally, but luckily, we don’t have to be friends. We just have to be on the same page when we step inside the ring together. Right now, we are little more than strangers, but we share the same goal. I’ll take a motivated stranger over a friend that I would have to carry through the tournament any day of the week. When it comes down to it, all that matters is the results that we get, and I think we can get some good ones.

The trail bends a little and the camera whips around behind her before coming up the opposite side. The trees behind her shrink the further away that they get and the drop off opens up around a lake that appears crystal clear, even from this distance.

...but that is exactly the kind of thing that Seleana Zdunich and Peter Vaughn are going to be showing up to make sure doesn’t happen. They are going to be the first of several teams that are going to stand directly opposite of our goal. To beat us, they’re going to have to figure out how to work together, and I am not so certain that they’re strengths are going to add up to a win. I would say that Peter is more of the wildcard in this one, because he hasn’t been around long enough for anyone to really be able to tell what he is made of, but Seleana is definitely their team’s weak link. She's well on her way to becoming the next Mercedes Verges. She wins only half as much as she loses, especially in the ones where it really matters.

Fans could tell that this was the part of it that Court had always really gotten a kick out of. Her body language appears a little more confident and a genuine smile crosses her face. As much as she enjoyed competing in the ring, the people that trained her had always emphasized the right choice of words to get inside your opponent’s head. That was one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole dance of the match. Only some of which was because it was the only part that didn’t hurt, at least not for Court.

It must suck a little bit for Seleana to have put in work in over one hundred Sin City matches only to have her most noticeable quality being the fact that she’s married to the resident crazy person. I mean, her lone Bombshell Championship reign happened about as long ago as me winning this tournament, and anyone would tell you that’s old news. It’s even the second time in Blast from the Past for both of us, but nobody even remembers her first, unlike mine. Why? Because to win it, you have to be able to come up big in the big moments… and she can’t.

She pauses, and taps her chin a few times while she tries to think back for a couple of examples.

Like say… I don’t know… number one contenders matches that you should obviously win…

Clearly poking fun at Seleana’s Blaze of Glory failure brings Court a small amount of amusement, but does remind her of a bigger flop.

Or… any of the other chances you have had to win any and all championships in this company in the years since you were a subpar Roulette Champion…

She laughs, having honestly missed this part of all of the action.

Seleana, you can’t escape the fact that your wife trained you and brought you into Sin City. You can’t stop the comparisons between the two of you and you are most definitely guilty by association. That is why everyone lampoons you for the things that she does, especially when she changes her last name every few days. Kudos to you for trying to find the bright side. I applaud you for trying to flip that narrative on its head because yes, you were trained and groomed for this company by one of the most decorated bombshells in the company...

She pauses just long enough for people to gather that there was a big -but- about to be attached to the end of that statement.

...but see, Crystal's resume in this company isn't nearly as impressive when you place it next to say… Mikah's. You may have been brought in by someone with more championships than just about anyone, but I was brought in by the greatest bombshell of all time. You won the Bombshell Championship long ago, and I won this tournament around the same time. I know that I have been mostly nonexistent since, but I'll take that over being mostly irrelevant despite having matches week-after-week. At least the people that have written me off did so because I was gone. Everyone wrote you off to your face. Harsh.

The trees start to get fewer and fewer as she continues her climb. The ground around her starts to look more icy as she picks her steps more carefully. It takes her attention away from the camera for a moment, but she manages to look back up with a shrug.

I know that you'll probably take it as me underestimating you, but that's not it. If anything, I am perfectly estimating you based on what we have all seen in the ring. Maybe I am even giving you more credit than you deserve because I am taking this match seriously despite the fact that you are in it. If you find that insulting, then look in the mirror and blame that bitch, not this one. Maybe you'll rise to this occasion, but nobody has seen that happen in such a long time. Don't blame us for the level you're at. Use it as motivation, or keep putting in half-effort and getting made fun of. Either way, you're only a victim of what you've done to yourself, not what everyone says about you. To tell you the truth, the only person that can even possibly be underestimated in this match is your partner.

Although, that was hardly a stretch of the truth being that he was easily the most unknown person in the match. Viewers could tell that wasn’t exactly what Court meant though.

Nobody should be excited by someone formerly known as wrestling's friendliest janitor….

Sure, she was jabbing at the easy laugh, but there was a bigger point.

...and nobody that has ever gone by that moniker should ever turn so hard, so dark, and become so underhanded all because he….

She reaches into the left pocket of her jacket and produces a small piece of paper in her hand. Her eyes scan it and the tone of her voice changes slightly while she is quoting him.

”...is underestimated and not taken seriously….”

She shakes her head and pockets the note with a roll of her eyes.

Seriously?

The look of confusion comes back to her face as she tries to work her way through the logic.

I mean he hasn't been wrestling for Sin City long but am I missing something here? He kicked around a few companies as a person of no consequence, but gets mad about people thinking he is some curtain-jerker that doesn't matter? He called himself the best janitor in the business and gets bent out of shape about shitty jokes?

She winks at the camera.

Pun definitely intended.

It was another easy laugh, but she keeps it moving.

...and I get it. The guy has really picked it up before making a splash in his first few matches here. He is a real feel good story. He went from janitor, to show opener, to winning championships in other companies that the people here in Sin City just couldn’t bother to give a shit about. I understand that he has to have done something worthwhile in order to snag one of these valuable tournament spots. I saw him beat Jack Washington. I get it.

She shakes her head and turns to face the camera, it pulls back from her slightly to show she has actually reached the top of Black Mountain, and can look down on both the city to her right and natures untouched beauty to her left.

Nothing in this tournament is going to come as easily as anyone hopes. If it was a walk in the park to get to the finals, everyone could do it.

She shakes her head.

But they don’t. Because they can’t. Yet, little old me did it on my first try. What do you think I have planned for my second go around?

She holds out her hand and the camera swoops down, dropping into her palm so that she can bring it up to her face.

I can’t wait to be back in that six-sided ring… See you Sunday!

She leans in and plants a kiss on the lens with her lip gloss leaving a print on the screen as she pulls back from it with a smile. The frame lingers on her for just a moment before fading to black.




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