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Topics - 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
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.”


6
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.”


7
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.”

8
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.”


9
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.


10
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*

11
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.


12
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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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.




13
Climax Control Archives / Living the Dream
« on: May 07, 2021, 11:19:14 PM »
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The Wall
Jet City Sports Lab - SEATTLE
4 MAY 2021
OFF-Camera

I had forgotten how much nicer the Jet City Sports Lab was than Jet City South. Jason really hadn’t spared any expenses building the place. Everything was so fresh and new that I thought twice about using it. It also felt a lot more exclusive than what Kris was doing at JCS. There were a lot of familiar faces. Students that had been around when I was first starting out a few years ago were now full-fledged stars coming here to get away from the public. Aaron Isaacs was the first one to greet me on my way out of the locker room. At least my career in Sin City was going a lot better than his. Kyle Kavanagh was working out nearby, and spotting him was none other than Ty West, as if I needed another reason to avoid that side of the gym like it had plague. Luckily, trouble had come to bail me out. I had only started brushing the surface on my daily routine when Kris came walking through the door. The moment that I found out that he was on his way to Seattle, I made my own arrangements. He made me a promise and I intended on forcing him to keep it, no matter what his plans were in the ring. It wasn’t my fault that J2H called him out. We had shit to do. I had the most important match of my life to prepare for. He wasn’t dipping out on me.  In hindsight, I probably should have at least let someone at the Gem’s mansion know where I was going. I am sure I’ll get an angry message or two about that later. That was a problem for future Court though. I didn’t have time for that in the present.

I made my way over to arguably the two most successful siblings in Sin City Wrestling history. One of them was a grand slam champion and then some, and the other was literally a champion for the entire time that he was under contract. There aren’t many people that can make that claim. Maybe Coby, but that was an entirely different circumstance. I let them do their thing, but once it looked like they were finally ready to get to work, I stepped in front of both of them to really give them a piece of my mind. On the bright side, they listen. However, the ass kicking that I have had to taken since that very moment may not have been worth it. I had trained with Kris dozens of times before, but there was something different about this one. I don’t know. Maybe J2H was already inside his head and he didn’t even know it. Maybe he was just super angry that I didn’t let him weasel out of the commitment that he made to me. It didn’t matter what the reason was. I was paying for it now.

Kris: You know, if you’re not going to get any better you’re wasting your time. Even worse… now you’re wasting mine.

He had finally had enough I guess. I had lost count of how many times he had put me either on my ass or face down in the middle of Jason’s ring. It got so bad that Jason had bailed on us a while ago. I wasn’t impressive enough to keep his attention. It wasn’t even like I was doing awful either. A few weeks ago I could barely keep up with Kris for a couple of strikes, but now I was pushing him around the ring. I was forcing him to try harder. That was something, at least to me. The end result was still always the same though. I ended up on the mat, and he ended up disappointed.

Court: Well it certainly doesn’t help that you can’t actually tell me what I’m doing wrong and pretending like I’m not getting any better.

I knew it was probably too much to ask for even a little bit of praise for the work that I was putting in. It wasn’t just with Kris either. I had spent time in the gym with Fenris. I had tracked down Kate at Jet City to help me out. I was putting the work in, and even I could see that I was making progress. It just never feels like Kris sees it too, which makes him the most frustrating person to learn anything from.

Kris: Fuck… I don’t know… learn by doing. That’s how I did it.

I wanted to just walk away before I said something that was going to ruin any hope for a productive day. I didn’t have time to wait for the two of us to cool off after some big blow up. Instead of lashing out I gave him more of a defeated shrug.

Court: It doesn’t matter what I do. You’re stronger. You’re faster. Somehow I’m always a step behind.

I thought it was the right answer. I was wrong. Instead of doing anything to calm him down, it only seemed to make him more irritated with me.

Kris: You think that I’m the only person that’s going to be bigger or stronger than you? You already forget the way that Tempest tried to turn you into applesauce a month ago? The point is to not get a step behind. Always be planning ahead.

I hadn’t forgotten. I had actually expected to be seeing her in the ring again long before I got any kind of shot at a championship. Then again, I never figured that the championship I would be getting my first shot at would be the biggest and best of them all. Life has been full of surprises lately. Most people didn’t expect me to last this long. Everyone said that I would be back on the disabled list by now. Maybe if Kris saw that I was only trying to protect myself, he might see that my defense isn’t weakness.

Court: I don’t have time to think like that in the middle of trying not to get maimed, sorry. Not all of us have the natural recklessness that you do. Some of us care about getting hurt.

Okay, so maybe that didn’t quite come out the way that I wanted it to, but I’m still a work in progress. It doesn’t matter though. We clearly weren’t seeing eye-to-eye.

Kris: One of us cares a little too much about getting hurt, and that’s the problem.

Of course I cared! I lost years trying to make my way back. I thought that of all people Kris would understand what that was like, but I guess not. Just another thing for me to be wrong about. I wanted to scream in his face. Instead, my voice got softer and sounded far away.

Court: That’s not fair, and you know it.

He wasn’t letting me off the hook though.

Kris: No, it is fair. Everything’s fair now. You may have been able to squeak by Johanna a couple of weeks back, but Amber’s a lot smarter than that. She’s going to push you the same way that I am pushing you, and right now you don’t have an answer for it.

Again, he’s not even going to address my progress so far. It’s black and white with him. Either good enough, or not good enough. I am still on the wrong side of that line, so nothing I’ve done matters. I think he could tell that I wasn’t buying it.

Kris: You want an example? Amber is naturally left handed, like me. Which means she’s primarily coming at you from the same side I am.

I can see where this is going already...

Court: I get it. Not only am I too slow… I’m backwards...

He slaps the mat and pushes himself back up to his feet. I guess our timeout was finally over.

Kris: You’re not too slow! That’s what’s so fucking annoying about it!

I get up off the mat, trying hard to ignore the fact that every part of me wants to lay down and give up on the day. I didn’t have any time for those kinds of quitting feelings. The only way out is through.

Court: You don’t have to yell at me….

He deflated a little bit and let out a heavy sigh. I guess that means that the yelling part of my day is over for now.

Kris: Apparently I do...

I wanted to keep arguing. It was probably just best to shut up though.

Kris: You are still all in your own head about getting hurt. I can see it in your eyes. You’re not planning your next move. You’re thinking about what is going to happen when you miss. You’re thinking about where the counter is coming from. You’re protecting yourself from attacks that haven’t happened yet, and you’re losing your window to really keep the pressure on anyone in front of you.

I don’t think he’ll ever understand that not everyone is as fearless as he is. I have seen him put himself in dangerous situations in the ring for minimal gain. There has never been a risk too big, or payoff too little for him to put it all on the line. I don’t fight that way though. I can’t fight that way.

Court: So I’m dumb for trying to protect myself? I spent too much time fighting to get back just to go out and get hurt again.

He nods in agreement with me. It was nice to be back on the same page.

Kris: ...and that’s why you’re not going to make it anywhere. That’s not something that you have time to care about when you’re in the ring with someone trying to beat your face in. You think Amber is going to be dwelling on what you plan on doing to her? Nah. She’s going to do whatever it takes to keep the Bombshell Championship, as any champion should.

It sounded like a vote of confidence, just not for me.

Court: Jeez… are you on her side, or mine?

It wasn’t a serious question. Clearly he was on mine. It was just frustrating to hear him throwing praise at Amber all while saying I wasn’t good enough.

Kris: I’m just worried that you don’t have all the answers yet because we’re running out of time to find them.

”We” are running out of time.... Not me. We. The two of us. At least that meant that he was still on board. It wasn’t much, but it was something. I still didn’t see a path forward.

Court: I don’t know what to do….

I didn’t think that there was a simple answer. Apparently he did though.

Kris: Eventually you’re just going to have to trust yourself. Stop planning for everything that can go wrong, and start planning for how you’re going to make it go right.

He was acting as if he wasn’t talking about making split-second decisions while someone is trying to rip your face off.

Court: When you say it like that, it sounds easy.

Kris: Not always. I’ve had bones break. I have torn my knee all to shit. I’ve had more concussions than I care to think about. Shit happens. This is the life that we chose.

I like to think of it more as the life that chose me. I never sought it out. Once it found me though, I was hooked for life. The only thing that scared me was the idea of something taking it all away, and from experience, the only thing that can take it away is something going horribly, horribly wrong.

Court: ...how are you not afraid of something like that happening again?

I thought that it would be a more difficult question for him to answer, but he didn’t even hesitate for a second.

Kris: Because I love being out there. Nobody is forcing me. Sitting at home in fear instead of being out there would be a waste of my life. Being out there and acting scared is just going to ensure that I end up at home and broken. There is only one way to do this. You’re either all the way in, or all the way out. I’m one of those that bought in. This is what I wanted. I knew what I was signing up for. I can take it.

It reminded me of something that I kept telling him from the very start of my training. I had told people the same thing every time that they told me that I couldn’t handle being in the ring.

Court: You’re built for it….

He laughed, but shook his head.

Kris: Nah, those are your words, not mine.

It was surprising to find out that he actually remembered something like that. It wasn’t a lot, but again, it was something. Just enough to keep going.

Court: Maybe it’s about time I started acting like it.



==========================================================



>I’ve been having a pretty amazing time being me lately….

It hasn’t always been like that. Actually, very rarely has it ever been like that. Since I was a teenager, people have been trying to tell me that I shouldn’t be in this business. Nobody wanted to train me at first. It was constant rejection. Once I actually got my foot in the door with Mikah things went smoothly enough for a while. Things outside of the gym and the ring were pretty awful, but only because I didn’t have time for anything other than work if I wanted to make it far enough to get signed to a decent company. Once I got to Sin City, things were amazing for about thirty seconds. I won Blast from the Past, but then that was it. After that things got really miserable. I got hurt. I got hurt again. Then life became a cycle of getting close to making it back only to suffer another setback. When I finally broke out of that and I was able to get back into the ring, I just couldn’t get it right. I started to get things together outside of the ring, but I was a mess professionally. That mess became a joke. That joke had people telling me to pick a different line of work all over again. For all of my progress, I had made it all the way back to square one. But then a month ago, all of that changed….

My life behind the scenes couldn’t possibly be going better, and things in the ring are finally starting to fall into place. I am more comfortable out there than I have ever been, and I am still improving everyday. Most importantly, I am finally in a place where I am getting to enjoy living the life that I have always wanted to live. A couple of weeks ago I was still convinced that I was the only one that noticed the changes. Before the official announcement that I would be taking on Amber for the championship I said I didn’t think that this would happen any time soon. I said that winning a couple of matches to break a losing streak wasn’t enough to even start taking a look at the lower tier championships in the Bombshell division. I was hopeful that I would get there in no time, but I didn’t think that the time was now. I didn’t think that I had earned a shot at anything, let alone the Bombshell Championship.

When I saw the announcement that Mark and Christian were offering me the opportunity to compete for the one thing that I set my sights on from the moment that I chose this life, I thought it was a dream. It couldn’t be real. I know there are at least a handful of women on the roster that probably feel the same way. I mean, Jessie Salco uses a win over me to invalidate the entire gym that I came out of. Andrea screams into the void about how much I don’t deserve to be here. Myra has been talking about how my win over Johanna shows that she doesn’t belong in a championship conversation, and Tempest tried to turn me into applesauce. And that’s all just stuff that happened before Char Kwan did her weird interview talking about how she has her sights on me or something. I know that none of them are happy that I am getting this opportunity. I know that they’ll all have something to say about it at Climax Control, if not before. There is only one person in the whole world that is happy about this opportunity, and that’s me. Although, I’m here hoping to negotiate for a second….

It isn’t lost on me that this upcoming show is Climax Control 300. This is going to be one of those shows that ends up on highlight reels decades from now. It can be argued that some shows are throw-aways, but this one is a milestone. This is one that is meant to represent the best that the company has right now. We are celebrating the life and success of Sin City on Sunday, and Amber and I are at the very top of that card. It would have been an amazing honor without the Bombshell Championship attached to it, because Mark and Christian are telling the world that Amber and I are the best that they have to offer. Amber and I are sharing this card with a match between two of the biggest names in the history of this company, yet we are the main event. We are the headliners. We’re the finale. Being told by the owners that we’re the ones they want to showcase, and the Bombshell Championship is what’s most important on this card is everything that I have ever dreamed of hearing.

A few weeks back, Amber came out during Climax Control and said that the Bombshell Championship wasn’t going to be a prop for people to carry around. It wasn’t going to keep being used as a prize to be won in some petty personal argument. She wanted to elevate the championship to represent what it was always supposed to: the best in a great division. If people wanted to bitch, squabble, or straight up fight about some personal beef, she was happy to meet them in the parking lot to settle it, but the Bombshell Championship was staying out of it. Not because she was afraid to defend it. I doubt there is a bombshell on the roster that would try to make that claim. But because the championship means more than that. I heard her say all of that before I knew that I would be the next up to challenge her for that championship, and I couldn’t agree more.

I can respect the hell out of Amber for going out and reminding everyone what the Bombshell Championship actually represents in this company. I can respect that it means the same thing to her that it does to me. If she wants a challenger that understands what she was trying to say out there, then Mark and Christian did her a favor by giving me the shot that I never got years ago. According to them, and according to the champion herself, I am exactly the kind of person that deserves a chance at that championship. I earned it by winning Blast from the Past. Being hurt didn’t change that. When the people in control of this company look at me, they see a challenger. When I look at Amber I see the Bombshell Champion, and maybe the best one that we’ve had in a while.

It makes me happy that I didn’t get this opportunity before now.

Instead, I get my shot on what will no doubt be an historic show. I get to be in the main event of the biggest Climax Control of the year. And I get to take on a champion who knows exactly what it would mean to me to win that title, because it means the exact same thing to her.

Like I said, I’m having a pretty amazing time being me.

See you soon!




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Reinforcements
Jet City Sports Lab - SEATTLE
6 MAY 2021
OFF-Camera


The last couple of days have been pretty brutal, not gonna lie. I thought that Kris was an asshole. His brother was on a whole different level as a coach. So far I’ve been pursuing this ring life for six years. I’ve never been pushed as hard as the two of them have over the last forty-eight hours. I can’t even really complain though. The hard work was already paying enough. Despite getting off to a rocky start, after Kris and I stopped arguing and started to actually work together, things had started to come along a lot more smoothly. He was helping me break every part of my game down, and helping me build back in a way that put me in the best position to beat Amber. Of course, it had the added benefit of being able to put Kris on his ass for all of the scores of times that he has done it to me. He was right. It wasn’t about speed. It was about fear. As soon as I stopped trying to plan his next move for him, and started working on mine, everything started to fall in line. Suddenly he was the one struggling to keep up with me. So far this morning, he has been flat on his back more often than I have. I haven’t been dumb enough to put my guard down though. I know that he is just waiting on me to get cocky so that he can put me in my place. Winning the Bombshell Championship would be great, but right now, it is a distant second to shutting The Miracle up. He fakes a move to his right side, but I know that the left is coming. I slip under it, and roll to the mat. I take him with me by hooking both arms around his leg as I roll forward, and he slams to the mat hard. Instead of staying back, he rolls backwards, and pushes himself to his feet. I had seen that enough though. Before he can even gather himself up to his full height, I leap into the air, landing on his shoulders. He raises an arm to try and block me from being positioned right, but the arm is what I really wanted. In a flash, my ankles are locked around his neck, and I trap the arm he gave up. Before he knows what hit him, the oxygen to his brain is cut off, and he slumps forward helping me sink the triangle in solidly. It only takes a moment for him to tap my leg. Jason calls it as Kris collapses, sending us both to the mat. He laughs breathlessly. I got him with his own move, and he knew it.

Kris: You’re getting there...

It was as close to a compliment as I was probably going to get. It was much better than being called incompetant in not so many words. That was a trade I would happily make any day of the week. Still, now that he needed a chance to catch his breath, I could afford to be cocky.

Court: Says the guy that just got put on his ass for the tenth time this morning….

He legitimately looks like I slapped him across the face instead of simply stating a fact. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he shook the comment off enough to explain it away.

Kris: You’re so lucky that Jason has been running me ragged long after you call it a day.

The older of the two brothers wasn’t willing to let that one slide. It was nice when both of them were around. I could usually play them off of each other instead of getting berated by either. Their sibling rivalry trumped everything else.

Jason: No excuses. That is why Jet City South is full of marshmallow students.

I hadn’t expected Jason to be able to cut us both down at the same time. There was no way that I could let that stand. Jet City South students had long surpassed the ones that came out of the northside.

Court: Marshmallow students?

I was just giving him the chance to take it back before shredding his argument, but he took my question in stride. He didn’t even seem upset about it. For him, it was a simply a fact.

Jason: Yeah… like you… Semi-successful but still too rough around the edges to be thinking about being the top champion of a company. If you would have stayed here instead of following Kris to San Diego, you wouldn’t have these problems.

Since he was going to heap the blame on Kris, that put me on Kris’ side. The least I could do was try to shift the blame a little bit.

Court: You can’t really blame Kris for that. Mikah is the one that starting training me to begin with.

Kris wasn’t willing to hang the blame on his friend though. He had her back immediately.

Kris: He knows… that’s why he is giving you any amount of credit at all. If it were just me, he wouldn’t be wasting time on us.

He made it sound like we were in the same boat, but I was really in it alone. Jason was going to help Kris before I even approached the two of them in the gym. The wild card here was me, not Kris.

Court: He would be helping you out regardless...

Again, Jason nods in agreement with me even though I was pretty sure that I was still disagreeing with him. Trying to figure him out was a lot more unsettling than dealing with Kris. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why though.

Jason: He’s blood, so unfortunately my hands are tied. You’re a different story. You qualify as a favor, and that means that he owes me one.

Kris perked right up at the words. He wasn’t sulking about the fact that I had gotten the better of him so far today anymore. He pushes himself up off the mat and pulls a towel free from where it hangs on the ropes to start cleaning himself up.

Kris: So that means that they said yes...

Now I was lost. I went from being part of the conversation to being the only one not having a clue what was going on in the blink of an eye.

Court: They?

Almost as if on cue, I heard footsteps coming up the ringside stairs behind me. I turned to see the woman that I had just tried to shove some of the blame on. The other Grand Slam Champion of The Black Sheep hadn’t really been an active part of my training since coming back. She had her own shit going on, and I didn’t want to get stuck dealing with it instead of working on myself. It was an amicable break, but it had been a break nonetheless. Yet, here she stood, apparently having come all this way to lend a hand.

Mikah: Well, she was originally my student so if she goes out there and sucks it up it is going to make me look bad.

It didn’t sound like she was just playing, but the quick smile she gave me let me know that she was. At least she was making an effort not to get things started off on the wrong foot. I could appreciate that. Plus, heading into Blast from the Past a few years ago, she had taught me everything that I knew. I still owe a lot of my success to her, whether I admit it to her face or not.

Court: ...and here I was thinking that you didn’t care what people thought of you.

She shrugs and gives the most MIkah-esque answer possible.

Mikah: People? No. You? Maybe a little.

She wasn’t the surprise though. She was just a distraction. I only barely caught the movement out of the corner of my eye. The blur leapt from the floor and slid under the bottom of the ring before I could get myself turned around. By the time my eyes could focus on what it was, she was sitting in front of me on the mat with a wide smile on her face.

Ruby: We definitely didn’t come all this way for either of these two ghosts of Jet City’s past. I want my main event. For that to happen, you need to pull this one out. You’re gonna win that Bombshell Championship so that we can steal the show at Into the Void, got it?

I was still dumbfounded that Ruby would come all of this way for me. I hadn’t exactly made it a point to fill her in on why I was leaving or where I was headed when I took off to Seattle. I thought I had mucked things up, at least temporarily. To see her here, smiling…. IT felt like a second wind that I didn’t know I needed. I wanted to say so many things, but Mikah cut me off before I could get into any of them.

Mikah: She doesn’t have a choice. If we’re all putting in all this effort, she has to win. Period. End of story.

What a difference a matter of days made… I mean, I went from getting yelled at by two guys that can never get along, to being built up by two of the most talented women that I have ever met. Their help meant more than I could explain, so I tried my best to sweep those feelings under the rug for now. I would deal with that later.

Court: Well as much as I love all of the support… does anyone have an actual plan?


==========================================================



>I am not like Amber Ryan.

It might seem that way at first. We are both super blunt about what we think, and aren’t afraid to tell people how we really feel. For the most part, we call it like we see it. We both say things that people don’t always like. For that reason, and that reason alone, people kind of put us in the same boat. The problem is, we fundamentally couldn’t be more different. And I’m not just saying that because the last year that she had and the one that I had look like polar opposites.

For one, I would never look past one contender for my championship and start planning for my victory over the next. We’re not going to be getting bogged down by anything that petty tonight though. It would only serve to make any legitimate gripe that I had with Amber feel cheap, and I promise, there are several. I mean, there are things that she says and does that are hard not to notice. 

I have been keeping my eye on her for a while. I mean, I’d be an idiot if I didn’t. Everyone on this roster is a potential champion or challenger at some point. It is in my best interest to keep up with what is happening. And I can’t deny, she’s one of the best that we have on the roster. She’s one of the main bombshells putting asses in the seats of the arena whether fans love her, or hate her. There is a reason that she is the Bombshell Champion. She’s good. She might even be great. I can’t come out and say that she’s not. That would get me laughed out of the building. One the last year she worked her way through the ranks. She got her shot against Crystal and she made the best of it. More importantly, at least to her, she did it the “right” way.

I think it’s awfully bold of her to assume that the way that she goes about anything is the “right” way. She’ll be the first to tell everyone that she’s done awful things. Sometimes she did it to people that deserved it. Sometimes, they were just in her way. Amber will proudly claim responsibility for all of the horrible things that she’s done, and threaten to do worse in the same sentence. She’ll talk about how low she has stooped, and brag that she would have had no problem going even lower. She’ll lie, cheat and steal her way through whatever hurdle she needs to. Why? Simply because she can.

….yet she lectures about the “right” way….

She’ll talk about hierarchy and about how people need to work their way through the ranks.Then she’ll tell someone like Jessie Salco, who has made her way up and down those ranks a handful of times in her forever long career here, and say that some people just aren’t meant to ever make it to the top. Amber makes the hierarchy, sets people up at the bottom, and then erases the middle.Does that sound “right” to anyone else?

Maybe it’s just me….

I believe that, in this business, anybody can beat anybody on any given night. That’s what makes it so exciting. There can’t be a hierarchy. Why? Because it would inevitably flip on it’s head anytime something unexpected happened. Stars rise in this company in the blink of an eye, and disappear just as quickly. Does that make their talent undeserving of a championship? Of course not. Just like being here forever doesn’t qualify you for a handout, being new, or putting up a surprising effort shouldn’t disqualify you. The only reasons for rules that are rigid would be to limit competition. If you make people form a straight line, it is all that much easier to stay at the top of the mountain I guess. If Amber was willing to shortcut her way through all of her hurdles, who’s to say she’s too good to use the same tactics to limit who can challenge her?

It kind of makes you see her other comments in a different light too, doesn’t it? She’s already eliminating people at the bottom of her rankings from even thinking they can get a shot. She’s saying anybody with any kind of personal problem with her can fight her, but not for the title. Now she’s trying to get anyone left to form some kind of orderly single file line to the top of a mountain of her own creation. And remember, she’s willing to sink to any depth to make sure that nobody else, not even a loved one apparently, makes it to the top at the expense of her legacy.

Chilling, right?

Apparently we have to be if we are going to make it anywhere in this business. At least according to the new Bombshell Champion.That’s her entire game. Week after week we hear her tell people that they have had it easier than she has. That they haven’t really searched the depths of their soul and trained the monster within how to attack on command. We have to listen to the horrible things she has done to advance herself, and the horrible things she is willing to do to keep her place at the top. Then she’ll turn around and say that she represents a better kind of champion. She places herself above people like Crystal, who just want the belt to add it to a resume. Amber might know what the championship is supposed to represent, but I’m not sure she understands what it actually means to be a champion.

I’ve tried the isolationist, focus-on-the-career, tunnel vision on success shtick before. I’ve dabbled in being a total bitch for the sake of being a bitch. I’ve tried talking down to people like one big win couldn’t turn their entire career around. I’ve told people they would never make it to the top, even though there is no way that I could possibly know that with any certainty. Nobody can. This business is about as random as a line of work can get. I have been the person that Amber openly brags about being, and I didn’t like it. It injured me and left me miserable. It took years away from me that I won’t be able to get back. It made me feel hollow. Maybe that’s how Amber feels. Maybe that is the way she thinks she is supposed to feel, like it is some kind of trade-off for success

I don’t think that it is. I don’t think you have to be a bitch to everyone you come across in order to get ahead. I don’t think that you have to cheat if you want to beat someone with talent. I don’t think any of us need to pull the kind of underhanded shit that Amber has in order to get a chance at the Bombshell Championship. If those are the ranks that she thinks all of us need to rise through in order to come out on top, I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for her vision of this business. If that is what I thought it was going to be like before I started, I wouldn’t have ever stepped foot in a gym. If that were my experience with it once I was in it, I would have hung up my gear when I got injured.

This is the greatest gig in the world, and we get paid to do it.

If anyone feels any other way about this business, they should follow the exit signs and find something that makes them happy. If the pain isn’t worth the hassle, then they shouldn’t be in the ring. If they aren’t good enough to win while playing by the rules, then maybe they shouldn’t be winning. And above all else, if you’re a champion, then you have a god damn example to set for the rest of the roster. The reputation of the company and the championship live and die by a champion’s actions. The same tricks that got her to where she is are just going to tarnish the belt that she carries. The culture that she is trying to force on the rest of us isn’t one that people are going to buy into.

Everything that comes out of her mouth directly contradicts the magical things that can happen inside that ring. Legends can be made in the blink of an eye. Careers can end in an instant. Lives can be changed forever in a shorter time than it takes to draw a breath.

...but she can’t see that.

All she can see is the wreckage that she has left in her wake. All she can see is the pile of bodies that she has stepped over and the faces she has stomped on in order to get where she is. She doesn’t see how great this business is. She only sees how horrible she is on the inside, and she would have us all running around and acting the same way. Her advice to me on my losing streak would have been to fake it until I made it. She would have had me steal a victory from someone else if it meant getting to keep it for myself. She is the very definition of the phrase “by any means necessary”.

Personally, I can’t do it.

I said it earlier in the week, and it was as true then as it is now, I am really enjoying being me lately. I might be a solo act in the ring, but I have never had a better support system of friends and family in my life. I finally snapped a losing streak, and I really did it the “right” way. I did it on the back of my talent, and my talent alone, and in the process I have rediscovered something inside that ring that I was really afraid was lost forever. Every second that I spend in the gym improving myself gets me one step closer to my goals, but make no mistake, I am already living my dream. This is everything that I have ever wanted to do, and I won’t sit back and watch someone tell the world that they have to hate every second of it if they really want to be successful. That’s not what I want people to take away from our shows. That’s not the example that I want to set.

Instead, come time for Climax Control 300, I am going to step up. I’m not going to take Amber’s low road to the championship. I’m not going to do anything horrible or underhanded. I’m not going to sacrifice everything that makes me a decent person in order to achieve my dream. I am going to keep putting in the work, just like I did when I was first getting started three years ago. I am going to overcome the hurdles put in front of me without cheapening it. I am going to believe that one any night, anybody can step out of the shadows and change the whole landscape of this company.

I respect Amber for the amazing things that she is capable of doing in that ring. I am proud of her for saying that she wants to elevate the championship that she is carrying into Climax Control. I just think that I am someone a little more suited for following through on the promises that she is making, because doing it her way isn’t what my dream looks like.

It looks like a nightmare.
 


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More Than Ready
Jet City Sports Lab - SEATTLE
7 MAY 2021
OFF-Camera



Another day in, and I was almost regretting having asked the group if they had an actual plan. They were all quick to tell me that we were rapidly running out of time. We couldn’t afford to take it easy. I had a lot to learn, and basically zero time to learn it in. The idea was simple. Mikah was a near perfect stand-in for Amber. They had the same technical ability, and veteran instinct. Mikah could slip away from me the same way that Amber was going to. She could also put me on the mat just as efficiently. They were the same size and employed similar styles, with one exception. Amber could fly around the ring to get the job done if need be. That’s why Kris and Jason put the call out to Ruby. She could mimic the same speed and high impact that I was going to be in for. Together, working as a team, they added up to one perfect Amber. The brother’s gave them each a set of moves and strikes to limit themselves to, and we were off to the races. They made short work of me most of the time. They were able to tag in and out, so they were always fresher than I was. None of that matters though. At some point in the ring with Amber, I’m going to run out of steam. I still need to be able to hold my own at that point, or else the ending of this match is going to come really easy for the champ. The idea was to be ready for everything, even if that meant reacting on instinct alone, and that’s what it boiled down to more often than not.

But, I didn’t have time to get lost in my thoughts right now either. Mikah had been picking her shots carefully all afternoon. Even though the guys were calling out what was coming, there was still no easy way to defend it. The majority of the time, the best I could hope for was stopping their offense. Anytime I got anything going, they would tag out and I was back to square one. Anytime that I gave in, or got pinned, all we did was rest. There was no way to win. I was at least lasting longer and longer every time that we gave it a shot. I was starting to be able to see when they were setting up their next moves. Every shift and vibration of the ring meant something different. If I stayed focused, I could avoid taking too much damage. If I let my guard down, I usually ended up face down on the mat with Mikah bridged over me and trying to rip my shoulders out of socket with Amber’s cattle mutilation finisher. She had gotten me with it so many times so far that I had a feeling I would be having nightmares about it later tonight. This latest time hadn’t been any different either, and I was running out of options.

Jason: Come on Court! Let’s just reset.

I wasn’t going to give in just because things looked bad. That was the thing that Kris wanted me to push out of my mind the most. I looked to my side to see how far the ropes were, and tried to get my legs closer to them. Almost like she was planning for that, Mikah started to shift herself, all from the bridge position, to prevent me getting any closer without making the pain worse. Jason was right, I was going to have to tap out.

Kris: Use your head! Stop panicking and think it through!

I was just about to give in, and stopped. He was right. I could get out of this. I brought my knees up to my chest, making Mikah have to work harder to hold her bridge. I got the toe of my shoe planted into the mat and threw myself forward as hard as I could. Mikah held on as best she could, but once I started rolling forward she was forced to break it. The result was a roll forward that allowed me to drop and elbow Mikah;s face before rolling away. I pushed myself up, trying to take advantage, but Jason’s words stopped me.

Jason: Ruby make the save for your partner!

I didn’t have time to think. I knew what her role was. She was going to be in the air. I turned towards her corner with my arms already up, and she was hanging in the air like she was waiting for me. I caught her under her shoulders and turned, using her own momentum to plant her into the mat with the Crowning Point.

Kris: Hell of a counter, Court! Where’d Mikah go?

I didn’t know. My first thought was to make sure that Ruby was okay. My second was to celebrate the fact that I had no control over that situation. My body felt like it reacted on its own, and for once it made the right decision. I was starting to get the hang of this, or so I thought. Mikah hit me with an elbow to pay my back from mine a few moments ago. We exchanged a few strikes and blocks, but Mikah won with a cheap kick that I knew I couldn’t complain about. I should plan on Amber doing the exact same thing.

Jason: Finish her off Mikah. She’s not ready to be the Bombshell Champion.

She hooked both of my arms, and was going to drive me face-first into the mat, but I wasn’t going to let her. Using all of the strength that I had left, I threw myself backwards. Mikah came off her feet, and I found mine before letting her plummet back to the mat with a suplex-style counter.

Kris: You got this!

I dropped to the mat instantly, and crosses Mikah’s legs before pulling them back and bending her in half. There had never been a more appropriate time for the move. I was in fact, Over It. She tried to fight to the ropes, but with nothing to gain by hurting herself, she taps and triggers the reset.

Kris: Hell of a comeback!

I could feel tears start to form in the corners of my eyes. I closed them instantly. I wasn’t dumb enough to let anyone see them. This was big though. This was the moment that I was looking for. For just this second, everything felt…. possible.

Jason: She got lucky. We all saw it.

...and Jason snatched it away that quickly.

Ruby: It didn’t feel very lucky to me….

I wasn’t going to give them the opportunity to talk down to Ruby like they did to me. She didn’t deserve that for trying to help.

Court: It was bound to happen… I mean statistically speaking. I was bound to win one eventually.

Mikah rolled over on the mat, still catching her breath.

Mikah: It would be different if this wasn’t a gym. We aren’t fighting for a championship right now, and we aren’t actually Amber. Nobody’s spitting mist or throwing fireballs here. There’s so much of this that’s still going to be on you. We can’t plan for everything.

Ruby: It feels like we’ve gone through everything....

I wasn’t quick enough to stop them from correcting her this time.

Kris: Stop complaining. This is good for you too. You’re facing the winner of this match no matter what. If it’s both of you in the ring at Into the Void, it’s in our best interest to make sure that you both make us look good.

As if that wasn’t a shitty enough reason to be helping me, Jason went ahead and made it worse by saying what Kris actually meant by it.

Jason: ...and making sure that Amber doesn’t make the two of you look like jokes instead. That would be the end of both gyms….

Ruby rolled her eyes and slid out of the ring muttering something that I didn’t quite catch. It didn’t sound very nice though.  Kris backhands his brother in the upper arm for the comment and shakes his head. He tried to call after Ruby, but that wasn’t going to work. I had been on the receiving end of one of her walk-outs before.

Kris: That’s not going to happen...

Kris’ eyes fall to Mikah, who reluctantly pushes herself up from the ring without needing to be asked. She heads off after Ruby. It was probably for the best. Ruby looks up to her. If there is anyone that was going to talk her down, it was Mikah.

Court: You two really are a handful.

They both laugh like they didn’t realize it was meant as an insult.

Jason: What’s the over-under on Mikah making it worse?

Kris looks like he thinks over the odds, and then follows in the direction that the two women went. I’m not sure what he thought he was going to help by going as well, but at least if it went wrong, he could break up the brawl.

Court: I would complain that you are too hard on students, but you’re worse on him...

Jason: He knows it comes from a good place. You should too. If everyone is standing around you pumping you up all the time, you’re never going to hammer out the flaws in your game. They’re just going to keep being weaknesses for your opponents to exploit. Everyone needs someone to point out what they’re doing wrong so that they can fix it. I don’t mind being that guy.

I shouldn’t have expected a better answer than that, but I was still mad that he didn’t give one.

Court: It might help if the people around here thought you actually believed in them.

However, he had an answer for that too.

Jason: I believe in him… and he believes in you. It’s not more complicated than that. At the end of the day do I hope that it all works out better for me? Of course.

I hated him for his honesty, but I think that was the point. He might say awful things to everyone, but he was never going to lie about it. There was something about it that I could respect. It also made him the only person around here that was going to give me a completely straight answer to an honest question.

Court: You think that I’m actually ready to do this?

I was bracing for the worst, but he nodded almost instantly.

Jason: Yes. I think that you’re more than ready. You know what she’s going to throw at you. You have worked on how to get out of those situations. You’ve even found a way to counter her strengths into yours. I can’t tell you how it’s going to go inside that ring, but you’ve put in the work. The rest involves playing your cards right and no small amount of luck.

It was more than enough. After months of trying to improve my skills to break the losing streak, I had gotten things turned around. Now I’m going to be competing for the Bombshell Champion, and a Hall of Famer thinks I can pull it off.

Court: Being the Bombshell Champion seems like a lot...

That was where he threw up the stop sign. He shook his head to stop me from getting ahead of myself.

Jason: That’s an entirely different question…. Beating Amber is one thing. Being a decent Bombshell Champion is something else. You won’t know if you’re ready for that responsibility until you hold that championship over your head or really feel the weight of it on your shoulders.

I understood what he meant, but it wasn’t a thought that I could shake out of my head. The last month has been filled with so many wonderful things. I had to believe that I had one more in my bag of tricks.

Court: I want to think that I’m ready. Wouldn’t it be amazing to walk into Climax Control and shock the world….

Jason: Then do that. Nobody can stop you without your consent. If that’s what you want, then go get that. Nothing less than that should ever be enough. No roadblock should be too high. No possible injury should scare you too much to try. If that is what you want, then go rip it out of Amber’s hands and take it for yourself.

He patted me on the shoulder, and made his way out of the ring, probably to go find the others. I watched him until he disappeared from my eyeline, thinking about what he had said. I looked down deep, but I couldn’t find any of the doubt that I had carried into Jet City Sports Labs just a few days ago.

Court: Maybe I will...



==========================================================



>So this is it, huh?

There’s not much more that I could be doing at this point. Whatever happens in that ring this Sunday, I will rest assured that I did everything that I could to rise to this occasion. Despite our differences, I know that Amber is an amazing competitor. I know that this match is not going to be easy, because it shouldn’t be easy. Just getting into this business is hard enough. There is not a whole lot of room for error, even when you’re just the one losing in the opening contest. That should tell everyone all that they need to know about trying to work your way up to competing in a main event. Amber has proven countless times that she is capable of handling that kind of pressure in her own way. She has been a champion all around the world, including carrying the Bombshell Championship for Sin City right now. I, on the other hand, have a lot more limited experience with it, and have never actually held a championship.

The only real main event that I have been in was when Fenris and I won the Blast from the Past finals. I was able to rise to that occasion, and I’m hoping that this next one will be more of the same. I’m nervous though. Probably more nervous than Amber is. She has been around the main event picture in enough companies that the butterflies of it all have probably worn off. It almost makes me feel sorry for her, because I am feeding off of the feeling of electricity in the air. It has been there in the gym with me all week. It was there last week when I was standing in the middle of the ring during Climax Control. Something about this feels huge, and it is not just because this is a milestone show. It can’t just be because this is a main event. I want it to be about the Bombshell Championship but it’s so much more than that.

It feels… possible.

The thing about dreams is that they fade as soon as you wake up. For a moment, after your eyes open, it all still feels real and makes perfect sense. Then as you wake up that feeling starts to slip away until you forget the details altogether. I have been living in that space between being asleep and being awake since the moment that this match was announced. For the last few years I have been chasing this dream of being the Bombshell Champion, and now that dream finally feels like it could be a reality. Even if this feeling is as good as it gets, it has already made all the hard work worth it. It has already made all the bruises worth suffering. Everything that I have done has brought me to this moment, and I have the chance to make my dream real. Not just for me. For everyone. In just a few days I could be the measuring stick that some young girl tries to live up to. I could be the face of the next generation’s championship dreams. I have spent months talking about the road back to the ring, but now I am seeing the prize at the end of the line. This match, this moment, is the end goal for every woman in this company. It’s a way bigger feeling than anything I experienced in Blast from the Past, but in the best possible way. It’s enough to make all of the pain and suffering seem worth it. It’s enough to not be afraid of if or when the next setback is coming. Being in this match and being able to compete for the thing that I have always wanted is more than enough to make all of the struggle worth it.

I know that I am going to be bringing my absolute best against Amber. I expect that she’s going to do the same, regardless of if she’s already looking ahead to Into the Void. I know that the championship means too much to her to phone it in. That means that there aren’t going to be any excuses once the match is over. Amber said that if someone steps up to beat her, she would be the first person to raise their hand in victory because that is what a real champion does. I can promise her that if the match goes her way, I will be there to do that exact same thing. Before I can be a champion that everyone in this business looks up to, I had to be a challenger that really understood everything she was fighting for.

I think I’m ready for that responsibility, and I’m definitely not ready to let this feeling go.

Get ready for the fight of your life Amber, because I’m not going to let you take my dream away from me.



==========================================================

14
Climax Control Archives / Back On Track
« on: April 09, 2021, 11:25:25 PM »
Back on Track
Jet City South - San Diego
7th April 2021
OFF-Camera



Things were going well. Everything at the Gem’s mansion had become a well oiled routine. You would think so many ladies under the same roof would cause issues. I had never felt more at home than I have there though. I assume that Ruby was quickly becoming a big part of that. To be fair, I had found myself thinking about that more and more… especially when I shouldn’t be. Like now. My head bounced off the mat as I landed hard on my back. I wasn’t really focused on this, and I think Kris knew that.

Kris: You still have to be able to keep up!

To be fair, he knew what was coming. He always knew what was coming. I’m still not sure how he does it. It almost has to be second nature. Maybe I just haven’t been doing this whole thing long enough to be able to move that like. Better yet, maybe he was just born with better reflexes than most people. At least then I wouldn’t have to blame myself for the fact that he was always somehow a step ahead of me.

Court: I honestly don’t understand how you’re still so much faster than I am. I can keep up with Coby and I know that kid runs circles around you.

He lightly jogged around me on the mat. I so desperately wanted to reach out and trip him, but I knew that I would just be opening Pandora’s box if I tried. He was actually taking all of this seriously. If I broke down that wall and made it a game, I might lose any chance at making real progress.

Kris: The problem isn’t speed. The problem is that I can see what you want to do, and I know if I take that away from you, you’re screwed. Here, get up...

There was a time that I would have never taken his hand, but I let him pull me up to my feet. It felt almost effortless for him, even though he had never had the best physique on the roster. I had been winded for the last hour, but it seemed like he hadn’t even really gotten started.

Court: Feels like I am spending more time on the mat than on my feet in these sessions.

I didn’t expect him to pity me, and the shrug I got for complaining was the answer that I expected.

Kris: Better in these sessions than in the ring, right? You won last time out. Clearly we’re doing something right. You stuck to your game plan and everything went smoothly. What happens when it doesn’t? Come at me...

I already knew how it was going to end, but I was still going to give it my best shot. Ever since we figured out that my problems were with being overly aggressive while being a subpar striker we had been working on closing that gap. There was nobody better to teach me than someone whose entire offense was based on situational striking and using himself as a weapon. Everything Kris did was on a whim. He had no plan. His offense was whatever his opponents allowed him to do. It made him look like a genius in the ring, even though he couldn’t wrestle his way off of a mat on his best day. Still, I was absolutely no match for him face to face. Ten second after I lunged forward, I was back on the mat. I turned my head to look down at it sarcastically.

Court: Hello old friend...

Internally the mat and I were singing about being reunited and it feeling not good. I almost missed that he was still talking.

Kris: Why was I able to do that?

I could have been productive with my response. I didn’t go that route.

Court: ..because you’re the antichrist….

I was still looking at the mat, but I heard him laugh at me. The comment didn’t get him off track though. It’s possible that he might actually be dedicated to helping me this time around.

Kris: You dip your shoulder before you throw the jab. It didn’t dip, so I knew it was a fake. I caught the leg, and swept the other out from under you because you weren’t ready for me to counter you.

I sighed. It was the same thing every time. Of course, the moves were different. It just always ended up with me on my back. I was making a little progress. At first he was countering and putting me on the ground after each strike. I had noticed that as the days passed, I was keeping on my feet longer. I always ended up back down here though, and today I was nearing my limit.

Court: If your goal is to show me that I need to think more defensively, I already know that.

He must have been able to tell that I was getting legitimately frustrated, because he stood right overtop of me and looked down into my eyes.

Kris: You fight like Mikah. You want to bait your opponent into a mistake that you can take advantage of. That’s going to work against a lot of people, but it won’t make you the Bombshell Champion by itself. You’re going to have to start eliminating the tells in your offense. Everyone can see what you’re going to do a split second before you do it. People that thrive on defense are going to eat you alive. Luckily, you have Johanna up next.

He started to walk away and I sat up angrily. That last bit came out a little too casually to just let him exit stage right. Not even I was willing to sell my next opponent so short. I wasn’t going to let him fill my head with lies that the next one was going to somehow be easier than the last.

Court: You say that like it’s a good thing. She’s Wolfslair which makes it intimidating enough….

I must have struck a nerve because he whipped back around towards me, and his playful nature was gone. The times that Kris got serious were the times that he got scary. It was The Nobody still hanging out just under the skin. It definitely got my attention.

Kris: Yeah, and you’re Jet fucking City and don’t ever forget it. There’s a long list of companies that Jet City has run all over, including the one you’re working for. Wolfslair was impressive in SCW for about a half a second before we came back. Look at which one of us as been more dominant in the time since we’ve been around.

I wasn’t going to point out that our two teams hadn’t really had to cross paths much. It was easier to point out something that they had that we didn’t.

Court: They’re a bigger group than we are these days, lots of competitors in lots of companies….

He wasn’t having any kind of objection. This chip on his shoulder was almost as big as the one he carried around because of the GO Gym kids.

Kris: ...and in the limited time we have shared the ring together, they have failed. So enough with this bullshit intimidation stuff. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t good enough to compete against the best, because that is just what we do.

I hadn’t been feeling like one of the best lately. I knew that he was coming from a good place, and that he was just trying to convince me to believe in myself, but I just couldn’t get behind it. I didn’t feel like I compared well against any of the Wolfslair members. They had all done more than me in less time. Not to mention the fact that Johanna looked like she could rip my arms off.

Court: ...yeah, you’re not the one that has to go out and fight a human tank….

He laughed, but this time it was in my face.

Kris: A tank, really? Stop being dramatic. You’re both the same height. She’s got you by like ten pounds, and maybe an inch or two worth of reach. Have you actually paid any attention to her offense though? Have you studied how she moves in the ring?

I had seen enough of her matches in passing to know what I was getting myself into. Plus, I had seen her backstage more than a handful of times. I felt like that was more than enough to give me a clear picture of what I was getting myself into.

Court: Similar to me. She uses aggression where I try to use speed. She’s like a blunt force objection, but only to soften people up before trying to choke them out. She uses that same running knee that Coby does, so that’s always fun to try and avoid.

The both of us have caught that one. Kris on purpose on more than one occasion. There was one time in the ring where I caught one by accident. Coby was just a little bit bigger than we were. The memory of it still haunted me a little bit. I wasn’t looking forward to reliving it in the ring at Climax Control. If she hits that, I wasn’t liking my chances of survival.

Kris: She has a simple offense. Pummel and pull apart. That’s it. Which means as soon as the bell rings, she is going to be the aggressor. She’s going to come at you, and she won’t stop until you make her. Do you not see how that plays right into your hands?

I could see why he was so carefree about it. Everything that we had been working on wasn’t really going to apply here. I didn’t need to have it all down right this minute. I should be able to match up well enough to Johanna with the skills that I already have.

Court: I can beat her the same way that people have been beating me for the last few months.

He nodded, and once again pulled me back up to my feet.

Kris: Exactly. All you have to do is sit back and counter. She is going to keep giving you opportunities to capitalize on. You just have to make them count. In the meantime, don’t get caught with that knee and you’ll be fine.

He had helped, but I still wasn’t sold on the whole thing being a walk in the park. It was still going to be a battle, no matter what Kris thought. Johanna wasn’t going to give up easily. After all, she was gunning for a championship, but also trying to establish herself as a threat in the division. I knew a little bit about that myself.

Court: As long as I don’t make the same mistakes that I have been….

Kris wasn’t going to let me feel bad for myself though. There wasn’t time for that at Jet City South. That stuff was already behind me. The only way we were allowed to move was forward.

Kris: Well, that’s what I’m for. I’ll be here most of the week. If I can pry you away from Ruby here and there, we can work on making you more unpredictable.

I reached out for his hand as he stepped away, but even as I brought up an elbow to his side, I could see that he was going to be able to block it with his free hand.

Court: Like this….

I released his wrist and dropped down in an attempt to sweep his legs out from under him, but he leaped overtop of my leg, and as I got back up, hit me with a hip toss that put me back down on the mat. It was a solid effort, but I wasn’t surprised to end up back on the mat. It didn’t sound like he was either.

Kris: No… but you’ll get there. It’s a slow climb back to the top kid. I’m awesome, and it still took me eight months. I believe in you.

I wasn’t sure why, but I believed him.

Court: ...at least someone does...


==========================================================

>It feels good, you know?

The feed comes to life with Court in the center of the frame. The camera whizzes around, attached to a drone hovering above the former Blast from the Past winner. The sunshine beamed down, lighting up her face. The smile that she showed to the camera was much different than how she had appeared in the months and weeks leading up to Blaze of Glory. Jet City’s most impressive student looked more like herself than she had in years. For once, her life wasn’t in shambles. Personally things had been going well for a few weeks. Professionally, she had finally broken the streak and cut the weight that was hanging around her neck. For the first time in a long time, she felt free to be herself. That didn’t mean that she had delusions of grandeur though.

Let’s not get crazy. I’m not going to stand around going on and on about how one win has changed everything for me. I know that I am still at the very bottom of the Bombshell’s roster. I know that I still have a lot of work to do if I want to be able to get to the level people thought I was heading towards a few years ago. I am not going to act like Jessie Salco after a rare win. I realize that what I accomplished at Blaze of Glory was more for me than anyone else. Everyone else is going to point at my record, and my lack of success, and say that a win doesn’t change that. I get it, and nobody that is talking shit is wrong. I didn’t change anything about the bombshell division by beating Bella.

It wasn’t a lie. She realized that nobody else could see the things that she was feeling. They were internal. To everyone else it was all business as usual. One win in Court’s favor changed things in the division about as much as Jessie Salco beating her weeks ago. Simply: not at all. But for Court, it was everything.

What did change… was me. I feel different. My outlook has changed a little. The crushing weight that I have been carrying about for months is gone. I feel like I can breathe for the first time in forever. I’ll be honest. The losing streak was getting to me. It was starting to feel that no matter what I did, I couldn’t put it all together. I was starting to think that maybe I spent too much time away. I didn’t have the pacing down. I wasn’t reacting effectively to what my opponents were bringing to the match. The more I lost, the more I tried to forcibly overcome the problem. It felt like I got sloppy and then sloppier every week, and I was on a one way trip to getting dropped off this roster all together. I didn’t even realize how much pressure I had put on myself until after all of it dropped off my back. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t breathing until I could finally take a deep breath.

So in that small way, everything has changed. It may not like it from all of you on the outside looking in, but I can feel it. Maybe that won’t be enough to keep things rolling the right direction, but maybe it will be. Maybe this is where I start to pick up steam like I did when I first arrived in Sin City Wrestling. Anything is possible, especially now that I have been able to prove to myself that I CAN still rise to the occasion. I didn’t just come back to be some punching bag for the new faces in the company. I didn’t come back to be bullied by the ghosts of Christmas past that are still roaming the locker room. I didn’t come back for some losing streak and the embarrassment that came with it. I came back for so much more than that, and for the first time in a long time, it actually seems like a possibility.

If she was honest, she was more focused on making sure that the losing streak didn’t get restarted than she was about jumping back into the championship mix. That didn’t mean that she didn’t have lofty end goals though.

I have gotten a front row seat to every single person in Jet City finding success. I mean, The Black Sheep have been undefeated in the mixed tag division. Kris went on the roll of a lifetime that took him all the way to the World Heavyweight Championship. Mikah has yet to lose a match on her own, and Coby has been one hell of a Mixed Tag Team Champion. Even Ruby made her debut, only to win Blast from the Past just like I did a couple of years ago. Kyle Kavanagh carried that SCU Television Championship for an impressive amount of time considering he is by far the worst of the worst to come out of our gym. In the last year, the weakest link has been me. I was the one that originally showed all of the promise in the world, but I have been the only one unable to live up to the hype. My comeback tour has been just as difficult and heartbreaking as the years that I spent trying to get back SCW only to be stopped by injury after injury. Losing match after match has just felt like more of the same.

...but Blaze of Glory showed me that maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is a way back to the place that I used to be. I have the ability to go out to that ring and stand face-to-face with the best and the toughest. Casting aside my recent win, look at the beatings that I have taken from the majority of the Bombshell roster over the last few months. I have had matches with Evie, who is one of the best this company has ever had. I have been in the ring with Maki, who might be one of the scariest. Tempest recently tried to maim me, and I have been beaten or forced into submission several times since stepping back into the ring. But I’m still here. I’m still standing, and most importantly, I’ve stopped the skid.

It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Kris had hammered into her that she needed to acknowledge those in order to keep moving forward. Nobody that anyone said or did could take that away from her. The streak was over. This was a new chapter in her career.

Some people are taking that as a return to form for me. As flattering as that is, I think it’s a little premature. Mark Ward shocked me as much as everyone else when he brought up the fact that I never got my match for the Bombshell Championship. I don’t think I have done anything lately to earn that kind of spot, and I have a feeling that the reward for winning Blast from the Past doesn’t have a three year shelf life. Having me jump to the front of the line after one win feels like a handout. I would rather earn that shot if and when I get back to that level. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I am in the running for any of the championships in this division. I mean, my partners in The Black Sheep are the Mixed Tag Team Champions, so it’s not like I’m going to be recruiting a partner to take them on. The Internet Championship feels a little too prestigious for someone coming off a losing streak, and it looks like the powers that be are already setting the table for the Bombshell Roulette Championship, and I find myself without a chair to sit in. As I have already said, I don’t think me and the Bombshell Championship are on a collision course any time soon, so being a champion in this company doesn’t feel like it is meant to be right now. It feels like I am meant to put in a little more work first. Maybe since the losing streak is over, I can string together some wins. Then I’d be comfortable with people floating my name towards the championship conversations.

Of course, she knew that none of her words would stop Mark or Christian from booking her as she saw fit. Court wasn’t going to turn down the opportunities if they came knocking. She just wasn’t going to start demanding anything without anything to show for herself.

Until then, the only thing that I want to do is be put in the ring with people that are going to force me to stay on top of my game. Mark and Christian seem to understand that, regardless of what they may say on social media. There is going to be a time and place for me to deal with what Tempest attempted to do at Blaze of Glory. There will be a time for championships. Right now though, my focus is on Johanna Krieger.

As the week went on, and she studied her opponent, she had become less intimidated. She thought that Kris’ advice was going to work. She was confident in her abilities, and wasn’t going to back down. Of course, it helped that she understood that her opponent was in a similar position.

I’m not even sure if people realize how intelligent this match really is. If there is anyone that is going to understand what it is like to be me, it is Johanna. I don’t say that lightly either. We are both part of wildly successful teams in this company. We both come out of gyms that have produced hall of famers across the globe. However, in this company, we are both at the bottom of those teams. I don’t say that as an insult either. It’s simply a fact. Nobody is going to rate Johanna above Alicia in SCW. Nobody is going to say that I am better than Mikah either. Who’s to say what would happen if Johanna or I were across the ring from our partners? It doesn’t change the way people view the dynamics in our groups though. I am stuck in Mikah’s shadow in the same way that Johanna is stuck in Alicia’s. I mean, Johanna wants a shot at the Internet Championship, right? Yet, it is Alicia with the opportunity to win and get into that match

...and SCW’s “Agent of Mayhem” is stuck way down the card in a match with me. Seems to be a far cry from what she was asking for, and it’s not like Johanna was undeserving. She has held championships in this company already. I haven’t even accomplished that much. Johanna is halfway to the Grand Slam already, and probably has a better record in this company than me. Yet, we are both at the bottom and looking up at a division full of women getting the opportunities that we hope eventually fall to us.

She shrugs.

Unfortunately for Johanna, I’m done waiting for those opportunities to fall down to the bottom of the ladder. I’m going to start working my way up, one rung at a time. If that means taking on people like Johanna… I’ll do that. If that means working my way back through the list of people that have beaten me recently, I’ll do that too. Wolfslair and Jet City aside, both Johanna and I want the same things. I’m pretty sure there’s only going to be space for one of us on this climb though. I’m going to need it to be me. Nothing personal, but this losing shit?

I’m over it.



15
Climax Control Archives / This Bitch
« on: February 12, 2021, 12:18:21 AM »
Solo
Court’s Apartment - San Diego
9 February 2021
OFF-Camera


Packing up and moving all of my shit wasn’t exactly what I had planned for the week. I wasn’t going to cause anymore problems though. Regardless of if people believed it, I was actually trying to stay away from trouble. It just felt that no matter what I did lately, trouble always seemed to find me. I did Coby the solid of helping him record his media shit, only to have everyone look at me sideways since he got attacked. I tried to bust my ass at Jet City South, but Ruby and the chip on her shoulder won’t fuck off and let me do my thing. It wasn’t worth getting kicked out of the gym over though. So instead of training, I am busy packing up a studio apartment by myself too busy to even notice even more trouble approaching the opened front door.

Kyle: Did they kick you out already? I have to hand it to him… I didn’t think Kris had it in him to actually kick you to the curb.

I regretted letting him crash here when he first came into town. I should have known better then. I damn sure did now. Kyle and I had known each other for a long time, and he had never been the type of person that I would trust with a secret. He has always been out for himself, and it wasn’t surprising to hear that he was the one that took out Coby at the gym. It wasn’t surprising that he was the one hiding under that Cyan mask. For Kyle, that mask was a fresh start that he wasn’t going to get by showing his face. He told me about his plan last summer while we were sitting in the limited crowds for SCW and SCU events. I wasn’t high on it then, and hadn’t warmed up to it since.

Court: I don’t know what you’re trying to brag about Kyle, but I don’t have time for it, or you.

He laughs and steps into the apartment. There are boxes piled up on both sides of the doors, but he slides in between them without hesitation. I hated how comfortable he felt in this space. My space. Well, I guess not anymore. I could rest a little easier knowing that there was no way that he was going to be sneaking into the Gem’s mansion. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to help me here and now.

Kyle: Oh come on! I know they have to have you fingered as our co-conspirator. You were the only other person there with Coby. You were supposed to have locked the place up.

There was nothing ‘supposed to’ about it. I suspect the reason that Coby and Kris haven’t said anything to me yet was because they watched the cameras and saw that I wasn’t lying. I locked up the whole place before we started. He wasn’t going to plant any doubt in my mind about that.

Court: Look! I don’t want to know what you did, or how you did it. It doesn’t have shit to do with me, and I’d like to keep it that way. As you can see, I’m busy. You can kindly go fuck yourself.

I could tell already that the casual blow off wasn’t going to get him to leave me alone. He was looking into the tops of boxes now, almost like he was making sure I was actually packing up and it wasn’t all some trick.

Kyle: So if they didn’t kick you out, where are you going?

I wasn’t dumb enough to answer that though.

Court: It’s wonderful! This new place. It’s on the corner of… right… none of your goddamn business. You know Kyle, fucking off is free. I’m sure you can afford it.

It wasn’t nearly as insulting now as it had been over the last couple of years. Most of the Jet City students had landed on their feet in other companies, or shifted into being trainers themselves. Some even had families to help them where money wasn’t such a big deal. Kyle had neither. He came to us as a poor assholey nomad, and never changed. Except now he was cashing championship level checks. It was a combustible situation that I wanted no part of.

Kyle: You’re awful feisty today…. This Ruby chick must have you all bent out of shape. I know this can’t be about your upcoming cream puff match-up with Jessie.

He was just pressing buttons now to see what would work. The problem was, the same person that taught him all of his tricks trained me too. I wasn’t going to be dumb enough to get sucked into another game that I didn’t want to play. It had cost me too much time already. It was the whole reason that I have been stuck in neutral and saddled with this match with Jessie. I should be doing bigger things. I WOULD be doing bigger things if I could just stay focused on what was important. I needed to clear out the distractions, starting with Kyle.

Court: Look, we may have been part of the same Jet City class, but we aren’t friends. You’re lucky I am still talking to you after the shit you pulled. Right now though, I’m busy. I don’t want to be part of whatever game you’re playing with Kris. I have my own shit going on right now, and I don’t have enough time for all of it, let alone whatever the fuck you want.

He holds up his hands innocently, but I’m not buying it. He’s not innocent, and never has been.

Kyle: I just wanted to offer you a leg to stand on for when Kris and Coby kick yours out from under you. Extending an olive branch, you know?

I shake my head. He must think that I am the same naive little girl that Kris goaded into breaking her hand. He must think that I haven’t learned anything in the last couple of years that were stolen from me. First it was Ruby. Then Jessie. Now Kyle. All of it is insulting. I wasn’t going to listen to his bullshit anymore. I knew why he was here. It was time to cut to the point.

Court: No, you’ve started a war that you aren’t sure you’re masked friends are going to back you up for. Now you’re here trying to get my help.

He shrugs.

Kyle: Wel---

Before he can even get started, I cut him off.

Court: AND! Before asking for the help that you need you went out of your way to remind me that you already framed me for having helped you last time. You put me in the position that I am in, and you want me to fucking pretend you’re here to help. No! Instead, you can get the fuck out of my apartment.

He actually takes a step backwards towards the door. It was the first show of respect that I had gotten during this conversation. He just needed to be reminded who he was messing with. He might be bigger than me, but I could take him a couple years ago and I damn sure could now. I don’t know if it was body language, or the tone of my voice, but he finally got the message and sounded more like he was backing down.

Kyle: You used to be so much smarter than this...

Now it’s my turn to shrug off his words.

Court: Yeah, well you’re just as dumb as always.

Ignoring him, I got back to tossing things into boxes. There wasn’t much left to pick up at this point. It was mostly sweatshirts, blankets, and other things of the sort to give every box a little additional cushion. As I started to make a final pass around the apartment, he finally found a new angle to come at me from.

Kyle: Humor me, because here’s how I see it...

I held up a finger, and pulled an egg timer from one of the boxes. I turned it just slightly and sat it on the corner of the box closest to him.

Court: Three minutes.

I didn’t think he would back down from the challenge, and at the very least it set a time limit on how long it would be before he would actually leave me alone. I was only  even half-listening to his pitch.

Kyle: Coby is dragging Kris down his hero path, but you know him. You know how he is. You know how he trained us. He wants to pretend to be the role model and attempt to throw us all under the bus as failed experiments. He wants to act like he is all high and mighty, but we know the truth.

It wasn’t anything that people on Sin City’s roster hadn’t already said week after week. I didn’t matter, and more importantly, I still didn’t care.

Court: ...yawn...

He shakes his head and I can see his frustration starting to build.

Kyle: The problem is, you don’t have it in you to pretend do you? You aren’t going to play nice for the sake of playing nice. I have seen it with how you have been treating the new girl. How long do you think it will be before they accuse you of being on my side all along? You’ve seen the distance wedged between Kris and Mikah because of his new change of heart. You’re like a carbon copy of her. You’re next.

The whole scenario made it seem like I needed someone to save me. It was disgusting, and there was no hiding it.

Court: So they are all going to abandon me and you’re here to pick up the pieces? That’s you’re pitch?

I laugh at him. There was so much more to the story that he didn’t know. Yet he was standing here and trying to tell me what I needed.

Kyle: All I am saying is that when they turn on you, you’re going to need allies...

It was clear in that moment that he really didn’t know where I was headed. Little did he know that I would soon have a house full of allies, assuming Ruby and I can work past whatever the fuck her problem is. But just in case, I wasn’t going to mention the Gem’s place just yet.

Court: ...and that Cyan mask of yours and all of your new idiot friends are going to be able to help me with that.

He looked like he thought he was winning the argument. No wonder I was always a few steps ahead of him in the ring.

Kyle: Better than being left to to dry solo.

The timer next to him chimes through the small apartment space. I give him a wink and gesture towards the door with my open hand.

Court: Time’s up Kyle.

He at least started moving towards the door. That was progress.

Kyle: At least tell me that you’ll think about it...

That was more than I agreed to. I gave him his three minutes, that was going to have to be enough. It was more time than I had to give, and he still got it. I still had to get all of my things to the mansion and then put together a plan for the week before my match. I wasn’t looking to add things to the itinerary.

Court: No, I don’t think that I will.

He still wasn’t taking no for an answer, but at least he was back out into the hallway, and no longer my problem.

Kyle: ...your funeral.

His smugness finally got to me.

Court: No, it’s your mistake. See, you came here thinking that I was some girl in need of being defended. Correct me if I am wrong, but we went to the same school for training. We had the same teachers. Yet, I have actually done something with my name and my career. You’ve flamed out everywhere that you’ve gone and hide under a mask these days. What makes you think that someone like me would need help from someone like you? You’re a male Jessie Salco. Beneath me.

None of my words did anything to wipe the smirk off of his face.

Kyle: We’ll see how long things stay that way. After all, I’m the SCU Television Champion, and you’re on the worst losing streak in the company.

I roll my eyes and grip the handle to the door. I knew that he wanted me to slam it. It was all a game to get me flustered, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

Court: I bet I get a win before you get that championship of yours back.

He thought it over for a split second, before determining that he liked his odds apparently. He attempted to reach out to shake my hand.

Kyle: Wanna bet?

I was done. He was gone, and I needed to focus. I didn’t even care that it was giving him what he wanted. Before he could touch me I slammed the door shut in his face and had to listen to him laugh on the other side. Looking back at the apartment full of boxes I couldn’t help but think that it was going to be a long and frustrating week.



==========================================================



>This bitch...

The camera is hovering above Court, looking down at her as she sits back nearly horizontal in an office chair. She sounds exasperated. The chair spins, but the camera over her rotates with her, making it look like the world is spinning around her while Court sits perfectly still.

Jessie Salco wants to pretend that she is better than me.

Court seems frustrated to have to even say the words. In her mind, there was no comparing her to Jessie. There was no world where they were the same. They were in different parts of their careers and Court had already leaped past her in terms of success. She had done something in so little time than Jessie never accomplished in all her years. Court had even been dominant for a stretch of time, something Jessie could never really lay claim to. There was no point where Jessie had been labeled as the next big thing of the company. She was never a rising star. She started dim, and never got brighter. They weren’t similar.

Yeah, the same Jessie Salco that had a worse record last year than I have had in my career in Sin City. The very same Jessie that is closing in on 200 matches worth of experience in this company, and still can’t seem to break 50 wins. The same Jessie that has been banned from championship matches in the past. The Jessie that was the less talented individual from a tag team that included a porn star.

Jessie was quick to accuse Court of being carried through a tournament, but would never admit to being carried by a partner to nearly half of her claims to championships. Court was going to do her best not to hold that against Amy. Kris had always spoke so highly of her.

I may have had a bad run last year, but Jessie has been in the middle of a bad run for the majority of a decade. She has been a punchline for years. She is the one blemish on an otherwise historically amazing Bombshell division in this company. There has never been an occasion where one of her wins wasn’t considered a huge upset. She has never been someone that you put smart money on. She exists as the bottom rung of the SCW ladder. Always has. Always will.

It was harsh, but that’s what happens when someone decides to speak above their station. Jessie had thrown the first stones on social media. Court had phrased her lack of enthusiasm about the match in the most pleasant possible way. Jessie took exception to it anyways, so now there was no point in trying to sugarcoat anything.

So she beat Evie at Inception…. You know what that says? Evie had a fucking off night. Jessie didn’t suddenly become way more talented than we have seen her be over the years. She didn’t finally put all the pieces together and show up as an actual threat. No. As per usual, she didn’t so much pull out a victory as much as Evie took a loss. It’s happened before. I’m sure if Jessie is around for another couple of hundred matches, it’ll probably happen at least one more time.

It was a clear underestimate, but Court wasn’t going to waste time correcting it for Jessie’s benefit. Any concern for her opponent’s feelings were gone. This wasn’t going to be a lighthearted comparison to a boring ice cream flavor. Court felt like she had something Jessie needed to hear, and there wasn’t going to be any stopping her from saying it.

I mean, that luck has carried her to championship reigns a few times. Nothing super impressive. A sex worker overcame the odds to carry her to a couple of tag team championships. Other than that, she had a couple weeks as champion here and there. Nothing that ever lasted long. Nothing that was ever impressive. How many times has she entered Blast from the Past? She’s never even made it to the finals, let alone won it all. In fact, the only time I can remember her even sniffing close to the Bombshell Championship, it was in a match that she eliminated herself from in order to get away from Maki. I might just be a handful of matches into a career here, but I never had to run from Maki. I may have lost, but I took it on the chin. You would have thought someone that has been around for so long could have at least done that. Especially with this whole hardcore punk bullshit she has been trying to sell people for years.

She rolls her eyes.

The fact is, Jessie is never going to go down in the Sin City history books for a good reason. Sure, she has that most losses record on lock, but is that really what anyone wants to be known for? She might have the longest career here, but that just means that every Grand Slam Champion was more successful than she was, but in significantly less time. She might have a few championship reigns to her name, but none of them are impressive enough to land her on the top lists of any division in this company. The only thing that she has going for her is that no many how many times she gets embarrassed and beaten, she always comes back. No matter what the Bombshells do to try and get rid of her, she is always in the locker room. Putting it plainly, Jessie Salco is SCW’s herpes.

She holds her arms out to her sides and shrugs before letting them fall back towards the ground. Her fingertips graze the concrete under her as the chair continues to spin.

Think about it. It’s true. Sure, it’s shitty to actually say out loud, but if the shoe fits, you have to lace that bitch up. Nobody is excited to see her show up. Nobody is watching her matches. Nobody wants to be stuck teaming with her, and everyone sees her as success inept. Being in a match with Jessie is where your Sin City career goes to die. Look at Evie. She went from the top of the division to talking about never showing back up after losing to Jessie at Inception. Granted, that’s not the first time we have seen that particular song and dance either.

Court slams her feet down on the floor suddenly and stops the chair from spinning. The camera goes around another rotation before stopping once Court is right-side-up in the frame. Court tries to shake the last thought away before it burrows in too deeply.

...but Evie’s not the focus of my attention today, and I’m not going to get off track.

It was obvious that there was something about Evie that continued to get under the young Bombshell’s skin, but that was for another time and place. If she was going to beat Jessie, she needed to stay focused on Jessie. Nothing else. Luckily, the long time loser had provided her the exact motivation that she needed to make that possible.

Jessie had the audacity to call out my gym for how I have been performing lately. I guess she missed how well Ruby has been doing, despite how annoying she is. I guess she missed that two of the gym’s trainers are Grand Slam Champions in this company. They trained me, the rookie that won a tournament Jessie has never, and will never win. They trained Coby and Chelsea Quik, both of whom have held championships in this company, one of which won that championship from Jessie herself. You want to point a fucking finger anywhere, you point it at me. The gym that I came out of has had nothing but success in this company. You don’t get to drag them through the mud just because I have had a bad run of it. My losses are on me, and me alone. Just like all of your losses are on you…. And there’s a fuckload more of those on your plate than there is mine.

She stands from the chair and the camera descends from the rafters to be face-to-face with the former Blast from the Past winner. Fans can see the faces of every Jet City South person at the gym all around her. Court had been in the ring surrounded by all of them. It isn’t just Kris Ryans and the rest of The Black Sheep, but all of the Gemstones, the Sweete Twins, and more than a dozen faces of what could be tomorrow’s wrestling stars. If Jessie was going to attack the whole gym, the whole gym wanted to show that they were standing behind Court. It only appeared to give her more confidence.

Maybe another 115 losses from now Jessie could open her mouth and talk this kind of shit to me. Today is not that fucking day though. That day is years from now, if it ever comes. Beating Evie does not cancel out a disappointing career. One win doesn’t change the fact that Jessie has been less than mediocre for nearly a decade. That is what makes this whole thing so laughable.

...but just like her one win over Evie, another loss isn’t going to change a damn thing for Jessie either. It is just going to be more of the same. After all, she has never managed to chain together victories without it being looked at as some kind of fucking miracle. She stole a win from Evie on a bad night and that highlight that will have to hold her over for the next few cold and winless months ahead.

It was as close as Court had gotten to sounding like she was actually going to walk away with a win this time around. Maybe whatever curse she had been fighting lately was finally starting to lift.

I may not be at the place that I wanted to be by now, but I’m going to get there. It doesn’t matter that Jessie wants to attempt to rewrite my history like I ran away. It doesn’t matter that she has been giving me shit all week on social media. I realize that I am in the midst of a slide that can tank my entire career if I can’t get it turned around. For the first time, I am looking at my record with more losses on it than wins. If this streak continues, a few years from now, I could be the one breaking all of Jessie’s shitty records…. That’s the difference between us though…. A few years. That’s why I need to stop the slide now. That’s why I need to get things turned around sooner rather than later. I have never run away from this company. I spent years trying to fight my way back so that I could compete. I have an entire gym standing behind me. I have so many people that I have to represent better than I have been lately. I’m going to get things turned around. There is nothing that I have ever wanted more in my life...

Court walks up to the camera so that she alone occupies the entirety of the frame.

...and come Sunday I will be face-to-face with what I will become if I fail…

...talk about motivation….


16
Climax Control Archives / Getting Started
« on: January 15, 2021, 11:16:30 PM »
Getting Started
Jet City South - San Diego
14 January 2021
OFF-Camera


Walking into Jet City South, it felt like it was going to be a good day. The god awful year of 2020 was over, and I was ready to put my losing streak behind me. I mean, I get it. Lots of awful things happened last year that were much worse than losing a few matches, but I’m allowed to feel a little sorry for myself. I was once the fastest rising star in Sin City Wrestling. These days I’ve basically fallen to the very bottom. That’s why I need to get things turned around. That’s why my losing streak is the most important thing that I needed to leave behind in 2021. That all started with Kris. He owes me, and I’m ready to cash in the favor.

Coby: He’s not here...

Half-stack must have seen me looking around because he cut me off on the way up to the offices. I may have been able to convince him to join The Black Sheep, but Coby stil didn’t trust me. I found it more annoying than anything else.

Court: How did you kn--

He brushes me off, almost like the formality of the conversation was boring to him.

Coby: You were doing your mean girl walk like you’re on the way to tell someone off. I know it’s not me. Also, common sense just says it’s Kris. But sorry, unless you want to hop on a plane, you’ll have to wait.

He barely broke stride as he spoke, and I had to grab his arm to stop him from just walking away from me. This was important. How could he not see that?

Court: He’s supposed to be here to help me get ready for my match. I thought that is what being a team was all about?

He didn’t try to pull his arm free, but he did stop and actually give me his full attention. I should have known better than to think that he would get angry.

Coby: If you need help, I’m around. It’s not like Kris is actually a useful trainer. The guy has no actual technical wrestling talent. To be honest, I’m not even sure why he is so interested in running a gym.

I couldn’t help but to be offended on Kris’ behalf.

Court: Hey! Whatever style he has got you gifted a championship, which is further than your talents have gotten you so far.

The little guy actually had to take a deep breath and close his eyes for a moment to stop from lashing out, so I take that as a victory for me.

Coby: ...and you wonder why nobody else around here is offering to help you. I’m around if you need me.

He finally does pull his arm free, and leaves me standing in the hallway, off to wherever he was headed before we crossed paths. He was right though. Nobody but Kris ever really showed interest in training me. Mikah was supposed to be my mentor but most of the time she was MIA. Kate had a lot of her own stuff going on. I guess I am on my own… as much as that makes me sick.

Court: …..fuck.



=====================================================


>I’m not going to say that this is a new year, and new me. It’s fucking played out, and even when it wasn’t, it was still pretty lame.

I get it. My last couple of outings haven’t been great. I don’t exactly know what I am doing wrong. In all my time trying to work my way back to Sin City, I never considered that when I got back I would be incapable of getting back to the place that I was in when I left off. I expected to cruise to the Bombshell Championship as easily as I did two years ago. I thought that all the dominoes would fall at the right time, and in the right order and my dreams would come true.

Obviously I was wrong. I was very, very wrong.

The last few months have been a nightmare. All of my teammates in The Black Sheep are hitting their strides. Kris and Mikah ended 2020 as the undefeated champions of their division. Kris won the god damn SCW World Heavyweight Championship and handed off the Mixed Tag Team Championship to Coby. In his own right, Coby has been inches away from the Television Championship in SCU a handful of times, and only hasn’t gotten there because he has been screwed. Every one of them is doing big things. It’s almost like I don’t belong in the same ring with them.

That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to sign up for Blast from the Past. Nobody wants to see a former winner fail to make it out of the first round, and I would feel bad for anyone that got stuck teaming with me. I need to figure out how to right the ship before I try and do anything like chase a championship. One thing is for sure though, I’m not giving up. The whole time I was injured, I kept telling myself that this was the palace that I wanted to be. I’m not letting that go. Not like this.

The position I find myself in is a nightmare.

It’s only fitting that the woman standing across from me is the living embodiment of that.

I might be at the lowest point in my career, but I’m not going to let that stop me from trying to take this nightmare apart. Something is going to wake me up. Maybe the answer is inside that ring with a woman that everyone should be afraid of.

We’ll see at Climax Control.




17
Climax Control Archives / Tired of This
« on: December 11, 2020, 11:32:41 PM »


>
What can I say?

I mean we all saw it happen. I went out to that ring to compete once again, and came up just short. Sam Marlowe made me out to be a liar, in what is starting to look like a trend. I don't have any excuses for it. In all honesty, I'm not even sure what's happening out there. I thought that I was ready for this. I thought that it was time for me to come back and make a real mark on this company.

I guess I just haven't felt much like myself since that last match was Evie. You know, I was just starting to get back to normal again and she swooped in to make sure to put me off balance again. I felt good going in. I mean, I really felt like I did back in the Blast from the Past tournament a couple of years ago. Then, over the course of that match, I just kind of felt that feeling slip away.

It's not like I'm doing anything differently. I'm spending more time in the gym than I ever have in my career or various recoveries. I'm trying to break down what my opponents bring to the ring. I'm doing the homework. You know, the part that everyone leave out when they talk about being in this business.

None of it seems to be adding up anymore though. I used to be able to confidently carry myself into these matches knowing that I have put in all the other work, and that the things inside the ring would just come together. Lately, they just aren't coming together like that. I'm making mistakes. More importantly, my opponents have been able to capitalize on those mistakes. For the first time ever in my career, I am on a losing streak. Since coming back, I have been losing a lot more than I have been winning. I can recognize it. I can admit it, and I'm not making any excuses for it.

Like I've said, I'm not even certain what's going wrong. None of the idiots at Jet City South have had any wisdom to impart either. For all of the mentors supposedly helping me, none of them seem to have an answer for this one. Then again, they are all too good to admit even half of the stuff that I am talking about now. If you ask either of the Mixed Tag Team Champions, they'd never even admit having lost a match before let alone dealing with a losing streak. There's no way anything that they have to say can help me.

The only thing that I can do is keep showing up and hoping that eventually I break through whatever is holding me back. If I am going to find an answer, my guess is that it is going to be somewhere in that six sided ring. Hopefully I find it sooner rather than later, because as it stands I am quickly becoming the next Jessie Salco-esque punchline around here.

All I can say is that I worked too hard to make it back to just pack and up and leave at the first sign of bad luck. I don't know how many times I am going to have to lose before things put themselves back together, but I'm not going to get discouraged. I'm not going to stop showing up. For all I know, I have two years worth of ring rust to work off, and I'm not quite back up to speed. Maybe it's been so long since I was at the top of my game that I don't even know what that's supposed to be like.

I know that I still want to be here. I know that there is fight left in me.

Maybe Char Kwan finds some way to bring out the best in me. Maybe this match will be what I need to shake myself free of the nightmare situation that I have been living in over the last month. She hasn't exactly found herself on the winning side of things very often lately, so my chance to pull out the win here is just as good as hers.

I won't quit. I won't go home a failure.

I'm going down to that ring Sunday.

This is where I was meant to be. This is what I was meant to do.

Fuck everything else and anyone that disagrees.




18
Climax Control Archives / Jump!
« on: October 30, 2020, 11:52:19 PM »
JUMP!
Jet City South - SAN DIEGO
30 OCTOBER 2020
OFF-Camera


I knew that the conversation was coming, but I was honestly surprised that it took him more than a week to think over my offer. I had made myself available. Stayed within his eyeline. There was not a day that went by where I didn’t give him the opportunity to get his head out of his ass and decide that he actually had some balls. I mean, Coby was wasting away on Underground. I was offering him the lifeline of all lifelines. Why should he care about the reason behind it? It was a gift. The fact that he was taking so long to fall in line was almost offensive. That’s why I was relieved to see him practicing what he was going to say all day while I was getting myself ready for the biggest match of my return. It was almost cute that he was going to have to try and work up the nerve to come and talk to me. I must be a lot more intimidating than I ever thought. Once he finally worked up the courage, I pretended not to notice his approach so that he could have the satisfaction of kicking things off however he wanted to.

Coby: I apologize for underestimating you.

Well that was an understatement, but I wasn’t going to insult him after a compliment. After all, he was in good company.

Court: It’s alright. Most people make the same mistake that you did. So I assume that means that you’re in?

Of course he was. He wouldn’t have left me hanging this long just to walk up and tell me no. Either something that I said to him finally clicked, or watching Kris squirm so much finally caught his attention. No matter the reason, I already won.

Coby: I didn’t say that. I said I underestimated you. See, I thought that this joining The Black Sheep was just about you wanting to latch onto someone successful to get more eyes on you.

He wasn’t wrong, but his view was limited. Just because it was a reason didn’t mean it was the only reason. In the big picture it was really more of a perk than a source of motivation. If he wasn’t going to ask those questions though, I wasn’t going to volunteer any extra information.

Court: Who says it’s not?

I tried looking at him and smiling but maybe it was too much. I think he pretty much immediately saw through it.

Coby: So you only asked me because you really think it will help your chances of them saying yes?

Again, he wasn’t wrong. It was just awfully short-sighted. He was part of the plan, but as usual, was giving himself way too much credit. Besides, even if I didn’t know when he was going to cave, I always knew that he was going to. It was a matter of when, not if. He was still treating it like he hadn’t made the decision yet, but we both knew otherwise.

Court: I don’t ask any questions before I know what the answer is going to be.

The only thing he was really looking for was a way to rationalize saying yes. It was up to him what that reason would be. It didn’t really matter to me what it was.

Coby: Which is why you spent so much time twisting up Kris...

If almost getting the picture was a competition I would have to give him a gold medal. I can see why Kris has kept him around for so long. I don’t think it’s that he is stupid though. More that he is too good of a person to think through these kinds of games. I found comfort in that. He was a lifelong pawn.

Court: I don’t know wh--

He cut me off, which was more than I would have given him credit for up to this point. I thought he was too timid.

Coby: See, he said something the other day that got me thinking. You have him so tied up in knots that he doesn’t get it, but I do. It wasn’t about him.

That’s right. It was about me. It’s not like I could say that out loud though. IT is much harder to get people to do the things that you want them to do if you come right out with it. There was finesse required.

Court: Sure it was. He needed to be taught a lesson. He spends all of this time manipulating people, and playing games behind the scenes, and it was about time someone did that to him.

I stopped short of saying the rest, but the surprising part was that he picked up right where I left off.

Coby: ...and you needed to rope me into it so that I would watch it play out. You knew the only reason that I wouldn’t want to join up with Kris and Mikah was because the three of us don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye. I don’t like the underhanded things he tries to pull. So you gave me a front row seat to you doing it to him.

I tried to sound as innocent as possible, knowing that it had zero chance of actually working.

Court: And?

At the very least, he wasn’t going to feel like I was trying to be deceptive.

Coby: Why is it so important to you that I’m in?

I gave him a shrug, and the easiest of all possible explanations. He was already dragging this out to the limit of my patience.

Court: You were never going to join if you thought that Kris was masterminding the whole thing so I needed to drop him down a few pegs. Now that you know he’s not invincible, you shouldn’t be so hesitant to say yes.

If that was what he needed to hear to make it worth caving in then so be it. I wasn’t above giving people what they wanted.

Coby: No, now I just need to keep an eye on you too. You don’t prove anything by being just as bad as he is. If it’s the games I don’t like, I’m not going to be impressed that you won one of them.

Trying to turn things around on me wasn’t going to work, and if he wasn’t impressed then he wouldn’t be here right now. There was no way he was ever going to admit as much though. At least not to me. Coby wouldn’t want to be responsible for the ensuing ego boost.

Court: I wanted to prove to you that joining doesn’t mean that you’re subject to whatever they want. There is such a thing as being part of a collective and still being your own person. The four of us on the same team is more beneficial than going it alone. I was just trying to erase some of your fears about it.

Stubbornly, he stood his ground.

Coby: ...but you’re still assuming that I’m going to say yes.

This was starting to get exhausting.

Court: Correct.

Coby: Why?

I was done trying to talk in circles around the point.

Court: ...because you’re here. It means that you already want to say yes. And despite the fact that you don’t like the games, you have to have enjoyed watching Kris lose one. Now, I have the big guy in check, and the two of us can step into Sin City with some real eyes on us and all the momentum that this team is already carrying.

It was still just part of the truth, but if he needed it spoon fed to him, I guess I would have to sink to that level.

Coby: I just don’t see myself supporting all the things you three are going to try and get into.

And there it was. We finally boiled it down to the real problem that he had with us. Luckily, I wouldn’t have started this all in motion without having an answer for him from the jump.

Court: Then don’t. Stay on Underground and hope that someone will eventually notice your existence. Sprint around backstage all night wondering when your luck is going to run out. Continue fighting the good fight and getting your ass handed to you for it. Whatever. I mean, I’m not going to twist your arm or put a gun to your head. All I am offering is the opportunity. It is you that has to actually jump.

Something about it made him laugh, which wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting in response.

Coby: Jump?

If that is what he was laughing about, it was over my head. I had been around Jet City and everyone involved with them for long enough to pick up on most things. Coby wasn’t exactly someone I knew well though.

Court: Something funny about that.

He nodded, but didn’t seem interested in giving me more than that.

Coby: Yeah, kinda.

The way he said it was just smug enough to get under my skin. I should have let it go, especially because he was on the brink of caving in. I had to ask though.

Court: Are you going to enlighten me, or just leave me hanging?

He shook his head with a smile on his face.

Coby: No, I don’t think I will.

Ugh! I could see how he can Kris managed to co-exist for so long. Hell, it was even pretty clear that he and Mikah could tolerate one another too. It’s possible that he is just the perfect antithesis of the two of them, and that’s how their friend works. Polar opposites attract and whatnot.

Court: You’re almost as intolerable as Kris in your own way, you know that?

The fact didn’t seem to bother him though.

Coby: That’s what’s up!

Even worse. The words send a literal chill down my spine and immediately make me feel dirty.

Court: Don’t catchphrase me! There aren’t any cameras here. No fans.

Now he wasn’t just laughing, he was laughing at me.

Coby: That’s the problem for people like you and Kris. You think there’s a difference between when you’re out there or you’re out in the world. There’s not. People think you are the person that you are in front of the camera. They assume that’s you. That’s the problem. You three don’t have a moral compass out there. I do.

Granted, his condescending rant did give me an opening, so maybe it was worth sitting through.

Court: So join up and be ours. We’ll watch your back. You’ll keep us in line.

I got up to my feet. I wasn’t going anywhere, but he needed to feel like my attention wasn’t unlimited otherwise he would just keep me here forever until he eventually got all the information that he could drag out of me.

Coby: You really are persistent.

I shrugged. Even if he wasn’t ready to admit it to me, he had already admitted it to himself. He was in. We were finally ready to go.

Court: You still haven’t ever said no.

I gave him a wink and walked away, acting like I had more of my routine to get through until he finally gave up and went about his day. It was a win for me. This time Sunday everything would be coming together. Then all I had to worry about was stepping into the ring with Evie for a third time.


==========================================================



>People forget history way too fast these days. I mean, two years isn’t a lot of time. Yet, somehow something that has haunted me for the last 800 days has already slipped from the minds of the people that matter.

Instead of throwing the camera into its flight pattern as she normally would, it is already airborne and circling her. The newly returned Bombshell is seated in the center of Jet City South’s six-sided ring.

The roll that I was on when I came into this company was awesome. Fenris and I walked through the first couple of rounds of Blast from the Past without a lot of trouble. I mean, that is before we got Evie’s attention. Things were still good. As she put it though, ”even the greatest runs can turn on you, and come to an end…” And then she made that her goal. Evie had only come back for the tournament. She had no intention of getting back in the ring one-on-one with anyone until she saw it through, but then the magic happened. Despite being saddled with a vertically-challenged partner that has spent a lifetime coming up a little short, her team kept advancing. Yet, they weren’t the story. They weren’t the focus. The focus was on two rookies that nobody had ever heard of. The ones that might go on to win the whole thing. Evie couldn’t let that happen. So she put herself in my way so that she could be the one to take all of my momentum and flip it on its head to gain some kind of advantage headed into the Blast from the Past Finals.

Court laughs. At the very least, she got to kick all of this off by talking about the high point of her very short career. The time before the wheels started to come off. There was a point where everything was looking up, and she couldn’t keep the smile on her face when talking about it, despite everything that has happened since. There was no setback that could take the success away from her, and it was only a matter of time until she got back to where she wanted to be.

I had her beaten… more than once. Think about that. I was a rookie just a few matches into the business, and nearly did something that Alicia Lukas struggles to get done most days. And I would have beaten her without the intervention of her pint-sized partner getting involved. She would have gone down as the legend that lost to a rookie, but she was helped to victory. And of course, me saying that would just be speculation if not for the fact that once the finals rolled around, without anyone there to cause a distraction or steal them a win, Evie’s team failed. Straight up, I beat her. More importantly, she can’t say the same thing.

Court spoke the words like they were the only thing that got her through the years worth of attempts at getting back into the ring. Although, the Sin City that she left behind in 2018 wasn’t the same one that she returned to a few weeks ago.

...but look how much the times have changed since then. Her plan to derail Fenris and I on our way to being rookie Blast from the Past Winners failed. Her plan to win back-to-back years failed. She walked out of the company and said that she was going to retire. I remember, because I bragged about being the one to put the very last loss on her record. I was the one that sent her off to an early retirement. But, it ended up being one of several mini-retirements acts before she would come back to rise to a championship. Once I was injured and no longer a threat to her, she came back to take on the whimsical violence of the Roulette Division. She succeeded in beating another rookie, but this time walked away with another championship to add to her resume. But, despite all of her efforts, that’s the most impressive thing that she pulled for for the majority of the time I was gone. It wasn’t until she won the tournament again this year and cashed in her chance at the Bombshell Championship that she got back to the top. It must have been nice. I wouldn’t know what that’s like. Not that it lasted very long. She could only beat Alicia so many times before losing one. Then what does she do? Plays like she is going back home. Like she does every time.

She makes no attempt to veil the disgust that she felt. The fact that Evie would willfully throw something away that Court would have given anything to have was untenable.

...and that’s what gets under my skin about Evie the most. It’s not how she tried to put words in my mouth two years ago. It’s not that she needed help and a liberal amount of rule bending to beat me one-on-one. It’s not that she ended my undefeated streak. What bothers me the most is the game of acting like she doesn’t want to be here doing this week after week. For the majority of the last two years I have sat at home, broken by one injury after another. I have been denied every opportunity to be here and in that ring, all while forced to watch her take it for granted. Being in this business is everything that I ever wanted. I entered Blast from the Past two years ago to see if I could hang with the best of the best and the answer was a resounding yes. I won an opportunity to go to the very top of this company within my first ten matches, and watched it all get painfully ripped away from me time and time again.

There was no defense for it, and Court wasn’t going to sugarcoat the truth of the situation. It wasn’t Evie’s fault, she was just the beneficiary of a world of random chances.

And Evie, the one that is supposed to be the best, wants to talk about going home? She wants to talk about retiring every time she has to take a step back and think of herself as less than indestructible. I could have done great things with the time that was taken from me. Instead I got to sit at home and watch as Evie pissed all that time away like it was nothing. I watched her sit back and evaluate her standing in this company. I listened to her complain, even recently, about rematches and a lack of treating her as she feels she deserves. When she threw herself into my path before, she lost. Yet, it feels like she has gotten everything that she could have asked for while I have been living in agony.

She was getting further and further away from the point, so she stops herself. One deep breath later, she was back on track.

...but life’s not fair. My problem last time around was that I expected it to be. I expected that if I worked hard enough, showed up, said the right things to the right people, and backed up what I said in the ring that everything would work out the way that it should. Thinking like that got me posted up on a couch while I watched a group of really talented Bombshells come and go through the locker room as they pleased. There are the rare few that stay, but for the most part, they show up for a little while and take a break. They pretend like they are going to walk away, and come back for opportunities that they shouldn’t be handed. Evie included, but not exclusively. There’s so many of you on the roster that are guilty.

Now wasn’t the time to run through the list of Bombshells that were on her shitlist, but they would all eventually get their opportunity. They weren’t the main focus right now.

I don’t blame anyone for the time that I had to sit at home. I don’t think it’s anyone else’s fault that I have spent more time rehabbing in the last two years than I have actually getting to live this dream that I am chasing. But I am sick and tired of watching everyone else treat being in this company like a bottom tier priority. I am tired of watching people say that Evie is one of the best this company has ever seen, only for her to shit all over the responsibility that comes with that. Maybe she has just been “the best” for too long. I don’t know. Because all I have wanted since winning that tournament was to compete in the SCW ring, and it doesn’t seem like being here is high on her list of priorities at all.

People weren’t going to like Court for saying it, but she didn’t care. She didn’t come back to get along with her competition, and she wasn’t going to take it easy on anyone, legend or not.

I have fought to be a part of this company since before the first time I signed my name on the bottom of a contract. I had to fight to get my foot in the door. I had to fight to find a gym to train me. I have had to fight to get myself back to a point where I am cleared to compete. I am used to it as this point. As I had to explain to people asking me why I would come back after so many injuries: I was made for this. Being in this business is the one thing that I have always wanted, and in my opinion, Sin City is the best place to do it. I have had roadblock after roadblock stacked in front of me. I have had so many people tell me that it wasn’t possible, or that I should give up. I have been broken, but I am still here. I am back, and nothing is going to stop me from moving forward.

She chuckles, but it seems like it is more out of agitation than enjoyment. Her words start coming more rapidly and her eyes are now locked on the camera, following with it as it circles around her.

Evie gets tired of being compared to others in the locker room both male and female so I’m going to do her a solid. The two of us are nothing alike. In fact, if you’ve been paying attention, you can see that we couldn’t be more different. Evie has been given every opportunity and still likes to act if she doesn’t know if she even wants to be here. On the other hand, I have been given every obstacle in the world to get around and I am still here. I fought my way back and now there isn’t going to be any getting rid of me. I have already lost so much time, and I don’t have any to waste on people that are one foot out the door.

In a way, she was happy that this match was booked sooner rather than later. Everything that came before it was it’s own challenge, but stepping into the ring with Evie was something more than that. It was about closing a chapter that Court never wanted written. It was about finally putting all of it behind her so that it stopped holding her back.

When I saw that this match was booked, I said that it was going to be a whole lot more different than my last two matches. That may have rubbed Kate the wrong way, but it’s true. My match with Kate was basically the two of us taking our sparring outside of the gym. It was a way for me to experience the speed of being back inside the ring. It was a way of putting pressure on me, because there was no stopping or taking a break until one of the two of us was beaten. It was friendly, and despite my checkered past with Kate, I couldn’t be more appreciative of all of her help. She understands what it is like to want to be in Sin City day in and day out. She wanted to help me get back as much as a handful of the bombshells were hoping to never see me in the ring again. Most importantly, after so many years of setbacks, I needed to get in a ring and have nothing go wrong. A win or a loss wasn’t going to matter. Psychologically, I needed to clear the hurdle of being in a real match again. I needed that. Kate understood. We both put on a hell of a show, and I’ve never felt better about losing a match before.

The positive note in her voice only lasted until the thought of her last opponent replaced the sight of Kate in her mind.

Pandora was a different story altogether. She was someone already one foot out of this company. I wasn’t trying to get back up to speed. I was going into that match to see if I could still dismantle someone piece by piece. That is what Mikah and Jet City trained me to do. That is what got me through Blast from the Past two years ago. That was how I beat Evie, and that is how I dominated Pandora in my last match. By the time that poor girl tapped out in the center of that ring, there was nothing left of her and no naysayers left in attendance. I proved a point about how ready I was to be back in the ring. I was able to show everyone that I am more dangerous now than I was as the naive rookie. I wanted to show everyone that Courtney Pierce was really back. Not halfway. Not hedging her bets. Not one foot out the door. I’m here to stay, and anyone getting in my way is going to have to raise the bar a lot higher than Pandora was capable of.

It wasn’t much of a compliment for Evie that she was raising the bar from where Pandora left it. In fact, it may have been more insulting having mentioned them both in the same sentence.

Which is why this match won’t be anything like the others. The match with Kate wasn’t personal, this one is. The match with Pandora lacked competition, and this one won’t. Evie and I have already stepped into the ring against each other twice, and it wasn’t one-sided on either occasion. The two of us are going to try and take one another apart. That is just the way that things work. However, I just came out of my last match proving that I’m willing to do anything to make sure that I make my way to the top. The only thing Evie has convinced anyone of lately is that she doesn’t actually want to be here at all.

Maybe it was harsh, but it wasn’t a lie.

Here’s some free advice Evie, if your heart’s not really in it, being here is just a recipe for disaster. If you want to go home, you should. If you want to retire and take it easy, feel free. Because for every person like you that takes all of this for granted and can walk away so easily, there is someone like me who absolutely refuses to be pried away no matter what the risk or the cost. I want to be here, and I want to prove to the world that I belong here. Just like two years ago, it looks like the path to that goal goes through you. And just like two years ago I intend to walk down that path. If I have to go through you, I will. And if you’re not really focused on doing this anymore, then this match is just going to get you hurt. Trust me. I’ve been there.

In fact, it was the one subject that Court felt like she was actually an expert in.

It looks like everything that I want in life is on the other side of this match with you, and we have seen how good I am at overcoming obstacles. On one hand, I hope this half-assed Evie shows up because it is going to make my life a whole lot easier. On the other, I don’t need a repeat of the match with Pandora. I want the multi time former Bombshell Champion and Blast from the Past Tournament winner to step up and give me a real challenge. I’m just not sure that is the Evie that we currently have on the roster though. I guess we’ll find out in a couple days.

Court holds out her hand, and on command the camera dips from its circle and comes to a perfect landing in her hand. She raises it up and gives a wink to the lens.

Personally, I can’t wait.

With that, the camera fades out, and the feed cuts.


19
Climax Control Archives / Playing Cards
« on: October 16, 2020, 11:47:50 PM »
SAFER TOGETHER
JET CITY SOUTH - San Diego
14 OCTOBER 2020
OFF-Camera



I knew that I had Kris exactly where I wanted him, but that was only one part of what I had set out to do once making up my mind about my return. Everyone in Jet City was going to have a part to play, and Kris was just the first that I had to get to fall in line. In all honesty, it was because I figured that the rest of the bunch would be much easier to get through to. I thought about possibly making my way from the hardest to the least complicated, but there was no way that I could handle taking on Mikah since soon after having to deal with her partner. I figured I deserved to take it a little easier for once. There was only one of us that anyone thought of as a genuinely nice person, which meant that he wasn’t going to be able to brush me off as easily as Kris had for weeks.

Court: You know, the two of us have never really just hung out. Why is that?

I had to talk loud enough for him to hear me over the music blaring in his ears. The fastest man that I had ever seen up close in the ring dropped the weight that he was lifting, and pulled his headphones down off his head without looking back at me. His voice was flat, but not hostile.

Coby: ...what do you want, Court?

I knew that interrupting him while he was in the middle of his routine would start off rocky. Even back when we were both just trainees, he always took it more seriously than the rest of us. Coby was the hardest worker in all of Jet City, and everyone else knew it. But that’s also how I knew that I would find him here.

Court: I want to know why we aren’t better friends! I mean, we were two of the first to come through Jet City Sports Lab. We’ve seen most everyone else come and go but we are still here. You would think we would be closer.

I could tell that he wasn’t buying it, but that wouldn’t matter for long. This was going to be easy, but Coby wasn’t stupid. Some effort was going to be required.

Coby: I think that this is just an in for you to ask me for something that you want, so if we could just get to the point...

He had definitely been spending too much time with Kris. He was even starting to sound like it. Fortunately, that worked more in my favor than he probably expected.

Court: Everyone always says that you’re so nice, but I’m not seeing it.

He takes a deep breath and finally turns around to face me. There is a smile still plastered across his face, but I can tell that it is just from practice.

Coby: That’s your problem. You are taking me not playing your game for me not being nice. If you would just come out and tell me what you want, we could talk. Right now you’re just wasting my time trying to win me over before you come out with it.

I was a little surprised that he wasn’t going to play my game at all. Then again, I expect that he had gotten tired of it after doing so much traveling with both Kris and Mikah. It didn’t necessarily bother me that he was making things more difficult. If anything, it just proved that he was more valuable to me than I was willing to give him credit for. I was almost impressed.

Court: Do you not hear how cynical that sounds?

I didn’t mean it negatively, but I knew that he would take it that way.

Coby: You’ve been spending too much time with Kris, but you’re not quite as good at this little game as he is.

It got a little chuckle out of the fact that he probably didn’t even realize the hypocrisy in what he was saying. I decided it was probably better for my goals to keep that thought to myself though.

Court: I think you’re just determined to see me as a person that you couldn’t possibly get along with, so you choose to not waste your time.

He was still way too nice of a person to let a statement like that stand uncorrected.

Coby: Or maybe that is just you making excuses to not actually put any effort into actually trying to be friends. Like you said, we’ve been around all this time and you’ve never thought about this before. Thinking about it now just means that you want something from me.

He wasn’t wrong, but he shouldn’t be so mad about it. In a way, all I wanted to do was help the guy along.

Court: Or maybe I was just trying to look out for you.

He reached down into his pocket and paused the music playing through the headphones around his neck. He probably hadn’t thought that blowing me off would take this long, so it was a good sign that he was preparing to be here for a while.

Coby: Now you’re really trying too hard. You don’t look out for anyone other than yourself. That’s why this whole forced conversation is so amusing. If you are being nice, it’s because it benefits you. Like training with Kate.

He had a point, but he was still missing the big picture.

Court: That doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t benefit you as well!

His eyes widened, and the smile on his face became much more genuine as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

Coby: So now we’re getting somewhere. You admit that there is something that you want. Now can you just spit it out so that we can both get on with our day, please?

Maybe I should have given him a whole lot more credit than I had, but at least now I had him on the hook. It wasn’t exactly what I had planned, but I have always been adaptable.

Court: I should have known better than attempting to bullshit you.

He shrugged his shoulders, and took it a step further.

Coby: You should also know better than to attempt to flatter me.

If nothing else was going to work, I was going to have to be direct now that I actually had his attention.

Court: You remember the Sweete twins?

I could see from the confusion on his fact that all of a sudden he lost all faith that he knew what I wanted from him. That was a good thing for me. It meant that he couldn’t shut me down before I came around to blindside him with what I actually wanted.

Coby: ....oh. Not exactly where I thought you were going to go with this, but yeah. They came to Jet City and SCW after competing overseas. Won the tag titles in some company after they left Sin City. They stayed up in Seattle with Jason and JCSL.

True enough, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Court: Yeah, but I mean in SCW specifically. Like, when they showed up.

He sighed, looking like he was trying his best to piece together the sequence of events from memory.

Coby: Yeah, they recruited my wife… I couldn’t really help but to notice. The twins showed up and basically stalked Mikah, Kris, Crystal and Chelsea until they agreed to form a big group of champions and take over the roster.

It was a start, but he hadn’t taken it as far as I was hoping that he would go. I had to walk him to the answer that I wanted.

Court: ...and what happened?

He rolled his eyes, obviously he wasn’t planning on being the duo’s biographer anytime soon. Since he wasn’t following me anymore, he had started to lose interest.

Coby: They all won a bunch of titles, well except the twins themselves, and then created The Black Sheep to watch each other’s backs.

That was the point that I needed him to get to.

Court: So it was never supposed to just be Mikah and Kris as a duo? It was always meant to be a group?

And just like I thought he would, he managed to put half of the picture together immediately.

Coby: I guess. Why, are you going to try and push your way into the group with them? It might not be the worst idea. You’re not the best at making friends.

Then it was time to actually get what I wanted from him.

Court: That’s kind of what I was thinking, but you know… not just me.

There was no hesitation in his answer at all, just a simple shake of his head before reaching back to pull his headphones back up onto his ears.

Coby: No.

I held up my hands to stop him, and starting talking quickly, hoping that he would at least hear me out.

Court: Oh, come on! Why not? It’s not like you’re doing a whole lot in Underground right now. Maybe it is time you stop being such a pussy and make the jump back to the big time.

Instead of jumping on the insult and steering the conversation towards a debate, he put together the rest of what I wanted, and called me out on it.

Coby: So your whole goal here was to get me supporting your bid to join The Black Sheep?

Except, after weeks and weeks of thinking about this conversation, I already had the perfect answer.

Court: If it was good enough for your wife, why isn’t it good enough for you?

His head pulled back like the words had physically slapped him across the face. He followed that up by shaking his head a few times and stuttering his way through a retraction.

Coby: I… I didn’t say...  It’s not that... I had never really thought about it. It’s not that it’s not good enough fo--

I cut him off before he could get out another word, and happily clapped my hands together excitedly.

Court: So you’re in! Good! That’s all I needed to hear. I’ll make it happen.

He held up a hand and tried to find the words to stop me, but I had already turned around, and started to briskly walk away.

Coby: Wait! That’s not what I….. ah nevermind.

I pretended not to hear him, but I knew that he wasn’t going to follow me while he was in the middle of his workout. Even if he wasn’t totally sold right now, I succeeded in putting the idea in his head. He would probably talk it over with Chelsea, and test the waters with Kris and Mikah before coming around to the idea. That is what made all of it so easy. It almost seemed silly that I spent so much time on Kris, when it all could have gone this smoothly from the start. It didn’t matter though. Things were coming along nicely, and it was all downhill from here.


==========================================================




>

People are expecting me to be mad about the fact that I came up a little short against Kate Steele back at Violent Conduct. They assume I will come into this match with Pandora with something to prove, or ranting and raving about how I should have won in my return. There are even more that will dismiss me as a failure simply because I wasn’t successful the first time out. They will say that I should take it as  a sign that I am not meant to be in this company, or this business in general. I get it. I understand why people would think that. I’m not the most liked person in the locker room, and I have had a long history of injuries. I can see how people would add all that up and assume that they know everything that is going to come out of my mouth. The problem is, they’re wrong.

Violent Conduct wasn’t a loss for me. Sure, I didn’t have my hand raised at the end of the night, but that wasn’t exactly my goal. There was a reason that I accepted Kate’s challenge, and there was a reason that I trained with her leading up to that match and even now. Don’t forget, all of that was my choice. I knew that Kate would help me get back to where I needed to be before I turned my attention to the rest of the Bombshell roster. I knew that she wasn’t going to be the type of person to come into the match talking about maiming me and putting me back on the injured list. I knew that we wouldn’t have to exchange unpleasant barbs leading into the match, and that there wouldn’t be any hard feelings no matter who won. The thing is, I wasn’t exactly looking to make enemies my first night back on the job. There is no point in putting a target on your back before you’re ready for it to be there.

See, there is no amount of training or preparation you can do in order to really be ready for being back in the ring. It is something that you have to experience. Things move at a different pace. You have to make decisions on the fly, and move more on instinct than with a plan. You have to be constantly adapting to an ever-changing situation in between when the bells ring at the start and the end of matches. You can’t simulate that in a gym. A gym is a controlled environment. There is nothing controlled about what happens when it is for real, and that is what I needed. It had been years since I had actually competed in front of a crowd. My match with Kate was about getting back up to speed. It was about testing myself and making sure that I could handle being back without having another setback. The goal wasn’t to win. The goal was to sharpen my game, and looking at it that way, it’s hard not to see it as a win for me.

What I learned at Violent Conduct was that I need to trust myself a whole lot more than I did in the weeks building up to that match. I was good enough to win Blast from the Past without ever having stepped foot in a Sin City Wrestling ring before the tournament got underway. And I wasn’t carried through the tournament by a veteran of the sport like so many others have been, because Fenris was in the exact same boat that I was. The two of us exceeded every expectation set for us within our first handful of matches. People are quick to forget the history. People are quick to sweep it under the rug after a loss to someone as talented as Kate Steele. Just because they want to dismiss it, doesn’t make it disappear.

Pandora Barrett is exactly the type of person to make all of the mistakes that I have listed. She is the kind of person that talks a big game about maiming her opponents while appearing to have a hard time picking up any victories at all. She is one of those people that spreads herself across multiple companies only to struggle to stay relevant in any of them. She is someone that always has so much to say, but can never quite back it up inside our six-sided ring. Plainly put, she is everything that people try to say that I am. She fits perfectly inside the box that so many of the Bombshells on this roster have already drawn around me. That is why this time around, surviving is not going to be enough for me.

The goal at Climax Control isn’t to get back into the swing of things. This isn’t another tune up match between friends. No, this time I am going to need to go a little further. I am going to have to remind everyone exactly how good I can be inside that ring. I need everyone to remember the way that I put the entire roster on notice only a month into my career. Because it wasn’t any of them that beat me. No bombshell on this roster can take credit for my setbacks or injuries. There isn’t a single one of them that can step up and say that they took me out. I got one shot in this company and cashed in on every opportunity that I had until my time was cut short.

It’s long past time to pick up where I left off.

Pandora has the unfortunate luck of being the first real step on my path to what should have been mine two years ago.

I guess it’s SHOWTIME!


20
Climax Control Archives / Once More With Feeling
« on: August 17, 2018, 09:19:15 PM »
 SCWrestling.net Exclusive
[Court]side: Live! [Once More With Feeling!]
17 August 2018


The scene opens on a shot of Courtney Pierce’s face. She has a half-smile on her lips, and behind her the viewers can see the light blue sky in cracks between tree branches. As Court walks forward, the camera in the palm of her hand, the audience can hear the faint sound of the rocks shifting beneath her feet. She raises the camera up and winks at the fans before speaking softly.

”To those of you that thought a broken hand was going to be my bitter end, this one’s for you...”

She blows a kiss to the camera, and lets it slip backwards out of her hand. To the surprise of the viewers, the camera does not fall and shatter on the ground. Instead, it falls to where the audience expects the ground to be, and just continues its descent downward. Court, standing on the edge of the cliff, comes into full view for just a moment before the camera plummets down to a point where she can barely be seen. However, the feed does not get cut off at the bottom of the fall. The speed of its descent noticeably slows before coming to a stop as the it arcs and propels itself back into the air. Before long, we are hovering back on eye level with the Blast From The Past 2018 winner.

”That’s a long way down, huh? I thought it was pretty fitting.”

Gears on the drone kick on, and the camera tilts down to show the water below. Even from this eye up, the fans could see brightly colored floats, and several individuals that had already made their leap of faith hanging out in the water below. The camera does not linger on them for long though, adjusting to be back on the SCW rookie.

”See, debuting in Blast From The Past was a big deal. Making it to the end of the tournament was an even bigger thing. Beating Evie Baang, who happened to turn back up the moment that I was out of the picture… well… you get the idea… even bigger. People were waiting for something or someone to cut me down to size. People were clamoring for me to lose in such a way that my spirit got broken. They wanted to see an injury cause me to second guess this career choice. They wanted me to take a really long fall, and they were hoping that I couldn’t rise back up from it.”

She shrugs her shoulders as the camera comes a little closers to where she stands at the edge of the cliff.

”...but what has anyone done in my absence? Evie came back to fight the rookie daughter of a schizophrenic. Is anyone surprised that she won that championship? She is supposed to be one of the elite bombshells in this company, but makes her grand re-entry by taking on a newbie for the bottom tier championship. She came back to be a glorified gimmick championship. She had a great opportunity to rise to the occasion and reclaim the top spot in this company, but settled for being champion of the talentless. Maybe losing in the finals after all that double crown talk was just enough to shake her confidence and send her back down to the bottom of the card. Maybe all of her time away made her reconsider where she belongs on the totem pole. Maybe she is just happy in that Roulette division. I mean, there are worse things.”

Court’s eyes widen, and her mouth falls open as if she has had some major epiphany. She raises her hand to cover her mouth, but nods a few times like she finally put together the answer to an important problem.

”Come to think of it, there is the mixed tag team titles. Nothing says taking a career dive like stepping back to become a tag champion. Nothing shows the world that you are incapable of handling the singles spotlight like taking up arms with someone way more talented than you are, and holding onto a group championship. However, that is exactly what boring ass Mercedes “The Statbook” Vargas did in my absence though. It is slightly more impressive than Evie taking on a child and winning the least impressive championship in the company, but only because we are talking about a team that handed London Underground a loss.”

It almost looks like it pains her to have to say something nice about Mercedes, but she gives a little bit of credit where it is due.

”I mean sure, her she is old enough to be The Cryptkeeper’s mom, and is only half as fuckable. And yeah, she needed a big, strong man to carry her to a championship since she couldn’t win much of anything on her own lately. Despite that though, I think it was a good move for her. She obviously can’t hang with Mikah, Crystal, or this new group of bombshells. She can’t keep coming out every week and talking about the fact that none of us are going to break a record that nobody cares about. She needed something new, something fresh. Maybe being part of a team will help her restore some of her former glory. She hasn’t been worth a shit as a solo act post-Mean Girls.”

The smile on her face widens as her eyes become more narrow. She is clearly getting some kind of enjoyment out of running down the Bombshell roster as a whole.

”At least people like Kate Steele and Sam Marlowe went out of their way to make super huge returns last week though. I mean, without Sam, the concession stand workers are a whole lot less pretty as a group. Plus, she is by far the best at making those soft pretzel things. She is quick, efficient, and from the looks of her, not too expensive of a hire. Fans around the world that are considering coming to the shows can look at Sam’s presence as a bonus. With her working the registers, everyone will miss less of the show when they run to grab snacks. Thanks Sam!”

She gives a fake thumbs up to the camera with her tone becoming more and more condescending as she goes.

”Kate on the other hand, I guess we have to humor her until she disappears again. I would put her in the same camp as Jessie Salco, but at least Kate has the common decency to bail out after annoying people for a few weeks at a time. Kate comes in, makes noise, commits to some big promises, then disappears. Jessie does the same, but is more like herpes. Going away for good is just not in her nature. The only escape from her whining about titles, and losing every match that she is in, will be death. Hopefully hers, and not all of ours.”

The thought seems to link her to someone else that she wanted to make sure to mention.

”...and speaking of those that lose everything that they take part in, let’s not forget about poor Dani Weston. Although, I think that I owe her a bit of a thank you. See, rookies have been popping up all over the place, and taking companies over. All you have to do is look at Twitter to see that people in their first ten matches of their careers are winning championships left and right. Think about it, I won Blast From The Past in match five. I would have won the Bombshell Championship not long after if not for getting injured. What this company needed was a rookie to come into this company and fall on her face time, after time, after time. We needed someone to prove to the fans that what Fenris and I did was truly remarkable, and not everyone could have pulled that off. So, thank you, Dani.”

She applauds a few times sarcastically, and moves on from her fellow rookie.

”...and before any of you think that Crystal and Brittany are going to skate under the radar, I got a little something for them too. I have had more than a month to sit at home and watch them fuck stuff up. Crystal had three back-to-back-to-back chances to take out Mikah, and only managed to win one of the three. I don’t know why anyone was surprised, because that is pretty much average for her entire career here. That is just what Crystal does. She talks shit. She positions herself for success. She gets choked out by Mikah. Her Bombshell Championship reign that my deserved title match got bumped for lasted what, two weeks? She got back into contention, just to lose again? She won the battle royal at Summer XXXtreme, just to lose at the end of the night? I guess that kind of thing is genetic, given that Brittany talked all kinds of shit just to have reality bitch slap her too. It’s not her fault though. She didn’t ask for the bad genes she was born with.”

Court’s smile finally starts to waver, just as the fans were starting to think that there was going to be no way to stop the roll that she was on. She shifts a little on her feet before kicking at some of the rocks at the edge of the cliff.

”I really wanted to stand up here and give a clean sweep of the entire Bombshell roster. I wanted to be able to say that nobody advanced past the spot that I was in when I left. I wanted to say that nobody did anything interesting. That is just not true though. Apple Coren was the shit before she left. Aviana looks to be decent, and Amy handed Jessie’s ass to her. Cat Riley is literally the most entertaining individual contracted in the entire company, and Mikah has been kicking ass ever since her misstep against Crystal.”

At the mention of her trainer’s name, she appears to hesitate for a second. There is definitely some kind of sore spot there, but Court does not let it get her off track.

”People were asking me for a comment about Mikah all week. I guess that is to be expected when you make your return and immediately call someone out. I have been asked how weird it is to call out the woman that trained me in this business. I have asked what it feels like to know that I have to wait until after this tournament settles to be able to get the shot that I earned months ago. I have been asked if I am angry with Crystal for basically shoving me to the side and taking my spot until after I was injured. I have been asked if I am going to do something like attack Mikah in response to all of these ways that I have been pushed to the side. She even has some new trainee now, and no time for someone like me. No time for someone that she knows is capable of taking her championship.”

It did not take long, and now the smile is back on her face. She pauses after that last blockbuster statement, and confidently glares at the camera. She nods, appearing to agree with the words like she was not the one to say them.

”Oh yeah, you better believe it, because I know that she does. That is why she started pushing me away, even before I was injured. You all sat back and watched her talk so much shit about Crystal, and then school her time after time in the middle of the ring, but what did she ever say about me? What did she have to say about me when I stepped out onto that stage last week? What does she have to say about the idea of me taking her championship from her? Nothing. Especially not after seeing Fenris raise the SCW World Heavyweight Championship over his head. Blast From The Past makes one thing: champions. Mikah knows that it is just a matter of time.”

Court raises up her hand and extends only her index finger out to the camera before shaking it back and forth briefly.

”That’s not to say that I despise her like I do so many of the others on this roster that have proven themselves to be little more than a waste of potential. I mean both of the females of London Underground have been nothing short of exceptional, but they are merely the exception that proves the rule to be true. Mikah is part of that group too, but so am I. I proved the world wrong time after time, right up until the moment that I became the real number one contender. No tournament, no crazy bitch making claims, and no other female in this company can change that fact. Mikah is intimidated by the idea of facing exactly one person on this roster, and I am that person. The rest of you are little more than background noise, or a distraction. You are speed bumps that she is going to casually roll over on her way to a full stop against me.”

She laughs, but does not let it derail her thought.

”....and it is not about hate. It is not the student thinking that they are better than the teacher. It is not jealousy about the fact that she opened up a gym, and has some barely passable students populating it. It isn’t that as soon as I got good she pushed me away either. There is nothing personal about it. Mikah has the one thing that I want, and I am the one person that can take it from her. The rest of the roster went out of their way to prove that in the month or so that I was away. Well, I am back to fill the void I left, because I am the only one that can.”

She shifts gears a little bit, turning to the one person that she was actually supposed to be talking about.

”That void could never be filled by someone like Parand Ara. Sure, she was interesting enough to keep an eye on back when she was dominating Jessie Salco, but that by itself is not really impressive. She typically goes out to the ring just to prove that even the worst of the worst can pick up an occasional win. This is not a person that should even share the same ring as me. This is not someone who will be thought of as a threat to Mikah’s championship, or even Evie’s sorry ass Roulette Championship. This is someone that is being put in front of me so that the owners can see if I really am good to go. This is Mark and Christian putting me in a match with someone dispensable.”

She laughs, and follows it up with an exaggerated shrug.

”It has been a while since I have kicked any ass, so I am looking forward to it nonetheless. It could definitely be worse. At least Parand will manage to keep me interested, and guessing. There are so many other options that would have bored me immensely. I guess I can’t be too picky about opponents though, because I have a little time to kill anyways. I have to wait to get what I want, what I earned, and what I deserve. I have to sit back and watch another unworthy person get a shot that they can’t win. My time will come though, and it is going to be awfully glorious.”

She looks down from the camera, and over the cliff to the water below.

”You know, everyone rooting against me was waiting for Summer XXXtreme to happen so that they could watch me fall.... Never say that I am not one for making dreams come true….”

Court takes a few steps back from the ledge, and then gets a running start before leaping out into the empty air space between the cliff and where the camera hovers.

”See you soon!”

The camera spins as she flies past, and starts to plummet down towards the water. In the air, Court straightens her legs, and points her toes down towards the water. The people below make a rough circle around the area that she should land in, giving her plenty of space. When Court hits the water, she disappears in an instant. The camera zooms in on the part of the screen that she used to occupy, just as she comes back up from her descent. With the fans seeing that she is perfectly okay, the camera fades to black, and the feed dies.


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