1986
Stampede Wrestling Show
A part of the National Wrestling Alliance
Friday Night
The Ogden Auditorium in Calgary
Women's Dressing Room
Velvet McIntyre stood in front of the mirror of the women's changing room and ran a nylon brush through her hair, ratting it up as high as she could get it. Her friend and sometime tag team partner, Judy Martin, paced behind her, warming up for her own match.
"The money is better in Vince's WWF," Velvet informed Judy. "But it's a complete circus. Rock stars, MTV, celebrities all over the place. It's ridiculous!"
"Mmm." Judy agreed, switching to lunges. "And that bitch, Moolah, pretty much reigns like a queen. Still, if he can pay better than Stu..."
"And at least when you're fighting Moolah, people pay attention. Did you see who I'm facing tonight? "The Red Menace" Iskra Yerkhov. Another Soviet wrestler."
"Well, that Rocky movie last year, what was it? Three?"
"Four. Rocky Four."
"Yeah, well, just like in that movie. Soviet performers are really trendy right now in the US. They come over, espouse their commie morals, get booed, cash their paychecks and get to stay in the West."
"Maybe so, but this is Canada. It's not the same. How much of a failure must you be if you're a Soviet wrestler who can't make it in Vince McMahon's WWF?" Velvet put the brush down, suddenly cutting herself off as the door to the women's locker room opened. Walking in with a gear bag on one shoulder and a little boy holding onto her other hand, was Iskra Yerkhov herself. Velvet got quiet and busied herself applying her makeup.
"Where is locker?" Iskra turned to Judy and asked, without bothering to introduce herself. Standing nearly six feet tall, barrel-chested and with a very Russian, sullen face underneath her short, blonde fringe, it became clear that Iskra embodied the ideal of the Red Menace. No other gimmick would have been possible to apply to her.
"It's around that corner to the left." Judy replied. Iskra let go of the hand of the little boy.
"You stay." She burskly informed him. The slight boy nodded, and backed against one of the walls as Isktra went to change her clothes.
"Well, hello there!" Judy smiled at the little boy. "We don't get many little visitors back here. What's your name? Mine's Judy."
"My name's Daniel!" The boy replied. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and grinned under her attention. "I'm four years old."
Judy gave him a reassuring smile. "Well, it's very nice to meet you! This is Velvet."
"Yeah, hi." Velvet waved a couple fingers at the little boy and then grabbed Judy by the arm. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Velvet pulled Judy and muttered to her.
"What the hell is she doing, bringing her kid backstage? This is no place for children."
"How should I know?" Judy countered. "I was just trying to be friendly."
"Friendly?! His mother's my opponent tonight! What am I supposed to say, 'hey there little guy, I'm the one who's going to be punching your mommy in the face in a little bit?!'"
"So what do you want to do about it, complain to Stu?" Judy countered. "There's not much I can do about it, you know! It's not my kid, not my federation, not my responsibility!"
"Uh...." Velvet backed away from Judy and looked around the room. "...where did he go?"
"Vostok!" Iskra returned from the locker area, wearing her bright red one-piece wrestling gear, with a hammer and sickle over one breast. "Where is he? Where is Niklaus?"
She turned to Velvet and Judy, her stony face showing the same piercing expression she'd had when she'd walked into the women's dressing room. Velvet shrugged.
"Who knows? We're not babysitters."
"I thought he said his name was Daniel?" Judy asked, but Iskra ignored the two women and burst out of the dressing room. Her face was now as red as her outfit.
"Damn boy! Has the devil in him! Damn boy!" The door slammed shut behind her as she took off through the hallways. Judy looked at Velvet. Velvet shrugged.
"So...should we-"
Before Judy could get any further, the lights in the arena went out.
"What the HELL?!" Velvet nearly shrieked. Her frustration level was at its highest point. "Who turned the lights out?"
Struggling around in the dark, Velvet found the door and opened it into the hallway. The only thing illuminated was the emergency exit signs. The red light bathed moving figures as officials, personnel and wrestlers all scrambled around, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Power outage-"
"-find the boiler room-"
"-Hart's going to have a coronary if we don't-"
"-circuit breaker's in the-"
"Jim? Jim!" Velvet found Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart in the hallways. His sillhouette, with the broad sholders, flat head and pointy beard, made him easiest to identify. "What the hell's going on out here?"
"Sounds like some fuses got blown in the main power for the arena or something." Neidhart replied. "I'm a wrestler, not an electrician."
"Ssss....shit." Velvet cursed. "I bet Stu uses this as an excuse to not pay us."
"Break her neck."
Velvet felt an odd shiver down her spine as a whisper passed by her ear. She turned to look at The Anvil, but he was distracted talking to Davey Boy Smith.
"Smash her face, tear her knees, break her neck." Velvet heard it again, a hushed voice hissing so quietly that only she could hear it.
"Who is that?! Is this some kind of joke?"
"Be the hero. Break her neck." The voice hissed again as Velvet swung around. She couldn't see anyone, even if the waning light of the emergency exits was nearly on top of her. Velvet growled.
"If the light don't turn on RIGHT NOW, I am going to-"
As if on cue, suddenly the lights flickered back on. Velvet blinked, looking at all of the other equally surprised wrestlers in the hallway. Anvil looked at her and shrugged.
"I'll check and see if they're back on everywhere else." He informed her as he headed off down towards the seated part of the arena. Velvet let out a long sigh. She didn't need this extra stress in her life. As she headed back to her locker room, she paused to give Davy Boy Smith a nasty look. It would be just like him, the practical joker, to use a blackout as a way to pull a prank on her. What a jerk.
"Just a brown-out?" Judy asked when Velvet got back into the women's dressing room. She'd sensibly decided to stay in one place rather than wander around everywhere in the dark. Velvet shook her head and sat back down at the vanity.
"I don't know. Some of the boys thought that some fuses got blown or something." Normalcy resumed as Judy went back to stretching and Velvet went back to applying eyeshadow. After a few minutes, the door opened again, and Iskra burst in, dragging a red-faced and crying little boy. She was cursing at him in Russian.
"Вы маленький ублюдок! Вы разрушили мою жизнь! Я знаю то, что Вы сделали! Прекратите кричать!" Iskra yanked on his arm, knocking the boy onto the ground. Judy backed up and Velvet jumped to her feet.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" Velvet shouted at the Russian. Iskra turned and sneered at Velvet.
"Is not your affair! Keep nose out of our business!" The little boy sobbed and rubbed at his eyes. Iskra yanked him up again by the arm and started dragging him around the corner to to the lockers. Judy looked at Velvet, who looked back at her.
"You think I should go get Stu?" She asked Velvet as the sound of banging came from the other room. Velvet growled.
"Stu's got enough on his plate dealing with that power outage and everything else." A sharp "SLAM!" came from the locker room, and the resounding click of a padlock. Judy gawked at the corner...neither of them moving towards it.
"Did she just...." The sounds of pounding and cries became less and less, until there was only quiet from the other room. Iskra, her face stoic again but still quite red, came from around the corner.
"Will be silent now. Do not interfere. I see you in ring." She informed Velvet, brushing past Judy on her way out of the dressing room. After the door shut, Judy, quietly, tiptoed around the corner to the lockers. She poked her head back at Velvet.
"She...she locked him in one of the lockers. There's a padlock on it and everything."
Velvet looked down at her hands. They were balled into fists. Judy, a hand over her mouth, walked back into the main dressing room area.
"Do you think we should call the police?"
"No. Hell no." Velvet shook her head, opening and closing her hands, feeling her nails digging into her palms. "You know Stu doesn't want the cops wandering around backstage."
"Then....what do we do?" Judy asked, quietly. Velvet took a deep breath and let it out again.
"I'm going to go into that ring and face her down."
"But-"
"And then I'm going to break her fucking neck."