The subdued lighting of the small room gives off a lazy, relaxing ambience which propels Cat Riley to kick off her multi-colored Adidas brand high top sneakers and prop her feet atop the glass topped coffee table stationed in front of the plush, brown leather sectional on which she is seated. Across from her sit two men, representatives of a popular professional wrestling magazine. One, an older man sporting short dark hair neatly combed down and making no attempt to cover his male pattern baldness checks over an old fashioned tape recorder; a rather quaint black and silver device bearing the faded emblem of Sony. The other whom Cat imagines to be in his mid-forties with a thick coif of sandy blonde curls with black framed eye glasses and a long, sharply pointed beak rifles through a weathered tan leather satchel, his hands emerging with a pair of notepads, pens and pencils along with a camera. A heavy set fellow he huffs laboriously as he shifts his bulk in his chair. The leather backed executive chairs squeaks in protest of the burden placed upon it while he sets his satchel off to the side and begins to fuss with a black Nikon camera, inserting a roll of film into the back of the device. Clipping it shut he sets it down on the table in front of her white socked feet and picks up a notepad which he opens to refresh his memory of the questions he intends to pose. Cat sighs indifferently while waiting on the pair and picks up a bottle of Dasani water, unscrewing the plastic blue cap and taking a swig. Despite having sat for several minutes while waiting on her companions the bottle remains cold to the touch of her soft hands as she replaces the cap and sets it down between her white washed jean clad legs.
“Just another moment and we’ll be ready”, the older man says while adjusting a red and white spotted tie. He stands up to remove his black suit jacket to reveal a thin, wiry build and drapes it over the back of his own executive chair which offers only a light squeak as opposed to the pained creaking emitted by his partner’s chair. “I apologize for the lack of organization”.
The man is very thin Cat muses with a shrug and she doubts he weighs much more than she does, maybe 65 kilos give or take. Leaning back on the sofa she reaches into her own satchel, a black, faux leather Louis Vuitton knockoff and retrieves her iPhone to bide her time browsing the internet while they prepare. She scrolls through a listing of google search results relating to wrestling news, her blue eyes scanning the links for her promotion Sin City Wrestling in particular. But after several moments of scanning the most she can find is random articles related to the SCW championship picture which fails to draw her interest. She closes the web page and opens the Twitter app looking for new notifications with the only one being from her friend Dani Weston posting an update on her status following her recent concussion. It is nothing particular news worthy, but in such a case she reasons that no news is good news given that she remains active on Twitter. The thread is populated with additional tweets from the SCW heavyweight champion Kristjan Baltasarsson, Ty West and Kristjan’s younger brother Aron sprinkled in with her own. She tweets a question asking if she’s feeling any better along with a reminder to keep her posted. With that she closes the screen and sets the phone aside casting a glance to the men across from her. The older man catches her glance and smiles,
“We’re ready to begin”, he says.
“You may fire when ready Gridley”, she answers borrowing a famous quote from American history and kicks back clasping her hands behind her head.
Leaning forward in his chair towards Cat the elder of the two men plugs a hand held microphone into the antique cassette deck. “This is Bill Apter for Pro Wrestling illustrated magazine your go to source for all thing pro wrestling alongside my colleague Dan Schott for this month’s edition of PWI Crossfire. We are here with one of the hottest young talents on the Indy scene, the undefeated SCW Bombshell ‘Cardiac’ Cat Riley who is set to team up with the reigning Bombshell roulette champion Sam Marlowe to take on the duo of Crystal Hilton/Zdunich and her friend/enforcer Mercedes Lewis at the Sparks Livestock event center in Reno; Cat, thank you for joining us.
Cat bobs her head indifferently, “My pleasure”.
“I’d like to start things off today by asking you about having a possible match against Brittany Williams, the daughter of Crystal thwarted by the co-owner of SCW Mark Ward due to – in his words – a contractual snafu in what was supposed to be a highly anticipated grudge match following the unwarranted attack on you by Brittany and Crystal during which you suffered humiliation at their hands by being forced to tap out. I can’t imagine you were very happy”.
“Well, first of all, let me clarify something for you”, she begins. “Tapping out is not humiliating in the slightest. I’ve said it before but I think it bears repeating; anyone who is serious about catch or submission wrestling has been forced to tap out hundreds and even thousands of times during the course of their training. It is an integral part of the learning process to be able to understand what you are putting your opponent through and how the hold you are applying truly works. It is important to be able to see the holds from both perspectives for a variety of reasons, such as possible escapes, how to inflict the most damage or pain and to know just how much pressure to apply. If you’ve never tapped or submitted then you’ve never done catch wrestling on a high level”.
A brief pause ensues with Cat taking a swig from the water bottle next to her. Replacing the cap she smacks her lips with a sigh and resumes her oration.
“As for the contractual snafu as you put it, I’ve spoken with Mr. Ward about that and it just happens to be that Brittany Williams is not currently under contract to SCW which means they cannot legally book that particular match. My management team is currently exploring other options for facing Brittany. In the meantime I am booked in the tag team match you mentioned with Sam Marlowe as my partner against Crystal and her bodyguard..,” she snickers prompting a curious glance from the interviewers. “I can’t be the only one who finds it humorous that a so-called professional wrestler would require the services of a bodyguard. I mean, wrestlers are supposed to be able to take care of themselves; it’s a combat sport, right? So what would such a person need a bodyguard for”?
“I believe Mercedes Lewis is Crystal’s enforcer”, Dan Schott offers.
“Enforcer, bodyguard, it’s all the same to me because no matter how you slice it she is sending the message that she can’t get the job done and needs help and to be perfectly honest I am not surprised”.
“Alright”, Schott bows his head in a reluctant acceptance only to rear it back up in retort, “But what makes you so certain that you are so far ahead of Crystal and Mercedes Lewis in skill? Crystal is a hall of famer and has held numerous championships where you have none to your name. One could make the argument that you are leaning on your partner Sam Marlowe to do the heavy lifting”.
The concept of PWI magazine’s long running crossfire interview segment has always been to present questions to the stars of the wrestling world from the traditional heel and baby face perspectives and, depending on the perceived alignment of the interview subject thrust them into the aptly named cross fire. Bill Apter, the senior of the two writers as well as being editor in chief for the magazine is widely recognized as being more sympathetic to the favorites and traditionally leads off the interview with the younger and heavier Dan Schott serving as the would be antagonist, his goal being to present an opposing view, often contrary to the one expressed by the subject. Cat however is not your typical subject as she had been exhaustively briefed prior to accepting the invitation by her management team and made keenly aware of the format as well as Mr. Schott’s agenda. Rather than becoming visibly agitated at the suggestion as he had hoped she merely rears her head back and laughs which promotes a puzzled expression on the younger man’s fleshy face.
“I fail to see what you find so funny about the predicament you’re in”, he observes dryly.
“You are what I find funny”, she offers reaching for the bottle of water. “Let me explain the difference between myself and Crystal Hilton”. Gathering her thoughts while taking another swell of water she sets the uncapped bottle down on the coffee table and leans forward making direct eye contact with the rotund writer. “Crystal Hilton was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and doesn’t even know what she wants to be when she grows up! She’s trying to act, she’s trying to run a studio of some kind, and she wants to be a musician.., oh look; now she’s a wrestler. Make up your bloody mind! To invest yourself into so many different endeavors at the same time only serves to distract you. That’s all it is, a distraction! There is no way she can become truly great at any of them without giving something up. I on the other hand have only one interest, wrestling. I have been training since I was 13 years old and it is the only thing I do. While she is vacationing in the Bahamas, I am wrestling. While she is shooting another B flick, I am training. While she is in the recording studio, I am training..,”
“Her record speaks for itself”, he interrupts.
“And so does mine! I haven’t lost since entering SCW and I’ve already beaten her equally frazzled daughter Brittany – another one who doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up – so say what you will about her supposed experience because it does not matter in the end. I will beat her, that’s all there is to it”.
“You sound very sure of yourself”, the editor in chief interjects.
“I’m not globe-hopping trying to be some sort of fashion plate. I’m not trying to make movies or record songs, alright? You don’t see me trying to get myself booked on Dancing with the stars or paying somebody to ghostwrite my memoirs. When I get up in the morning I don’t have to decide what I want to do, it’s already carved out for me!”
“Jack of all trades master of none”, Bill Apter offers in observation.
“Oh come on!” Schott scoffs. “I don’t buy that for a minute. Crystal Zdunich is in the SCW hall of fame! She’s held multiple championships and has been active for years. She has a decided edge in experience and a wealth of knowledge. All of your talk about her being distracted falls flat when you look at her accomplishments”.
Drawing a breath Cat holds it in while pondering the man’s words. His point is a good one she concedes silently while her mind combs through the outburst word by word in search of a point she can launch a counter attack. But it is not an easy task; to earn a place in the hall of fame and win multiple championships while juggling so many other outside projects simultaneously is a feat anyone could be proud of. However; she remains convinced deep down in the recesses of her heart and mind that she is far more capable than either of her opponents be it Crystal or her friend Mercedes Lewis but the question remains, how can she convince an openly skeptic antagonist? He mentioned Crystal’s supposed edge in experience, activity and knowledge; all things she has under her belt as well following more than ten years of training at the Snake Pit under the rigid and watchful eye of her father, uncle and cousin, all of whom are noted catch wrestlers. Between the three of them she was given open access to more than 60 years of catch wrestling experience and accumulated knowledge. Her cousin William is the reigning Japanese triple crown champion, her father Paul is a multiple time world champion and her uncle Ernie is widely regarded as the best trainer of submission wrestling in the world and is himself a former world champion and her grandfather William “Bill” Riley is one of the most celebrated figures in wrestling history, often referred to as the “father of catch wrestling”. Surely with such an incredible history behind her family legacy would lay an advantage? Finally one of the kernels from the kettle of memories pops and she leans forward to offer an answer to the challenge posed.
“There are 206 bones in the human body”, she begins in a soft tone, not wanting to give Mr. Schott the satisfaction of knowing he had agitated her. “In addition there are 360 joints and approximately 100 billion nerve cells, each of them capable of registering pain, and pain is the crucial component of effective catch wrestling”. Feeling her confidence growing she lapses for a moment, allowing her words to hang while treating herself to another sip of water and scans the reflections of her targeted audience, noting their silence as they cling to the branch she has led them up to. With a slight smirk she replaces the cap on the bottle and sets it down to resume. “Did you know that at the Snake Pit its students are required to study human anatomy?” Both men shake their heads. “It’s true; my family routinely quizzed me on it during the course of my training. If you want to have any hope of graduating from the Snake Pit you have to be able to name every bone in the axial and appendicular skeleton as well as the names and locations of the fibrous joints, cartilaginous joints and the synovial joints. Would you like to know why”?
Both men nod their heads in quiet acquiescence with Dan Schott, still playing the antagonist wondering aloud, “I don’t understand how this relates to the question at hand but please explain”.
“It’s really quite simple”, she explains with a small gleam of satisfaction twinkling from her sparkling blue lenses. “The more you know about the human body and its workings the more effectively you can exploit its faults. Case in point; the spine is made up of 33 vertebrae and between each bone is a thin disk of cartilage that provides flexibility. The spine is encased in muscle for support and as a whole is fairly durable but due to the spongy nature of the cartilage, which gives the spine its mobility as I said, the bones can be shifted out of position more easily than they can be broken. You just need to learn how to cause such a shifting”. Relaxed once more Cat shifts on the sofa, sliding deeper into the billowy cushions and pulling one of the arm pillows to her side and wrapping her arm around the plush ornament and continues, “That’s just one example. For another, the collar bone can only withstand about nine pounds of pressure before breaking; a simple elbow strike can do the job nicely since it is mostly ligaments, whereas the femur, which is the strongest bone in the body can typically withstand up to 4,000 newtons or about 900 pounds of pressure before breaking”.
“No”, she laughs. “I am not going to try to break her femur bone. That would be ridiculous, especially when there is already an abundance of soft targets on her body”.
“You say her”, Dan interjects sensing a change in momentum and looking to shift gears. “Obviously referring to Crystal; are you looking past Mercedes Lewis”?
“Not at all, Mercedes is a bit of an intangible in this match since we know little about her. She’s a brawler who likes to strike and has a penchant for bending the rules. Other than that I have nothing else to go on, but I can assure you that my knowledge of human anatomy applies equally well to her as it does Crystal and I have had ample training on dealing with strikers”.
“But having the knowledge and applying it to an unwilling target are two entirely different things”, the big man huffs, not willing to concede to Cat’s argument and fully intent on promoting his own agenda regardless. “It’s not like she’s going to lay there and simply allow you to target a specific area. Crystal is a veteran and will have her prepared. By the time the match rolls around they will have you well scouted and know your preferences”.
“I don’t need to soften up anything on their bodies”, Cat contends. She draws a deep breath and exhales slowly as she had learned in an effort to maintain her composure. This man obviously favors the other team and is doing his best to throw her off of her mental game before hand and give Crystal and Mercedes a psychological edge, an edge that she is not about to allow them to hold. “Let me give you an idea as to the depth of my knowledge and tell me how they can prepare for it based on film of ten matches”, she resumes calmly. “At the Snake Pit we used to play a game..,”
“I’m sure a nice rousing game of twister is more than enough to get you ready”, Mr. Schott mutters sarcastically.
“The game is called bone picker”, she continues unperturbed. “My father invented it about 30 years ago. Now, as I said there are 206 bones in the human body and 360 joints. During sparring sessions the lead trainer, usually my uncle would call out a bone by name; for example he might say ‘scapula’ which is the shoulder blade and our task was to attack that specific bone in a manner to either force a submission or break it and I can assure you plenty of bones have been broken during the course of training in the Snake Pit. If successful we would move on to another bone. If not we would continue until we got it right. We would take turns being the aggressor and the defender. The defender’s job during all of this was to try and stop you and since they can hear the calls too they already had an advantage. Needless to say it was a lot of work that resulted in many hours on the mat and a great deal of pain”.
A moment of respite ensues with Cat collecting her thoughts and continuing her trek down memory lane. The years wind back with a young teenaged Cat Riley finding herself on the dusty floor of the ragged shack behind her uncles’ home in Lancashire rolling with a mustachioed dark haired man ten years her senior and more than a hundred pounds heavier, desperately trying to decipher his impeccable technique and finesse around his demonstrable strength advantage. Her cousin William ‘Will’ Riley, named after her grandfather was already a legend within the Japanese submission wrestling community and often served as her assistant coach and training partner during his trips back home. Typically he would act as the defender to her aggression and not utilize his power to overwhelm her. He understood the purpose of his being on the mat with her and was more than willing to help his younger cousin learn the game. Regardless, she would still complain about matching with him to be unfair given the size disparity to which her uncle would only offer a simple shrug of his shoulders along with the callous reminder that life isn’t fair. So she would continue on the point of collapsing from exhaustion. Eventually she would find techniques that worked but developed a habit of dipping into the proverbial well too often and would be reprimanded by her eagle-eyed uncle. She would have no choice but to continually try to seek out new ways to mount her attack.
“Furthermore I was taught to not..,” she pauses for emphasis, “put emphasis on any particular body part because when one does that they develop a tendency over time to telegraph their attacks and become predictable. Instead we focus on defending first and going after the first opportunity that presents itself, no matter how big or small; be it a bone or a joint I was taught to quickly identify and implement an attack and let me tell you, my training partner was a lot bigger, stronger and tougher than Crystal or Mercedes”.
Bill Apter, the senior editor of the magazine conducting the interview can only rear his head back and sigh in amazement at the depth of his subject’s training and preparation. Over the course of a 30 plus year career he has seen and heard many tales of the extreme lengths some wrestler have gone to in learning their craft, but the yarn being spun by today’s subject strikes him as the most thorough and meticulous pilgrimage he has ever heard before. He cannot help but to be impressed and despite his own leanings in favoring the favorites of the fans he feels a surge of confidence in having backed the right horse. His colleague however remains unconvinced.
“What you have described to us would take years to learn”, he scoffs.
“A little more than ten years”, Cat offers with a subtle creasing of her pursed lips. “I have been learning this since I turned 13 years old”. She feels a smile beginning to emerge as the crows’ feet slowly take shape at the corner of her eyes; the tide is finally turning. “By my count there are 566 bones and joints combined in the human body, and that makes for a lot of potential targets”.
“Alright, but you have yet to address the other question heading into this weekend’s match.., your tag team partner Sam Marlowe”.
A hearty laugh ensues with Cat tilting her head upwards and bellowing atonally, there is just no quit in the man! Still she finds herself in admiration of his dogged determination. He has found a bone and refuses to release it. The rolling laughter subsides to a giggle as she lowers her gaze back down and nods.
“You sound as if you’re hoping she turns on me, but I see what you are getting at so fair enough, I don’t know her very well to be perfectly honest”, she says in a conciliatory inflection. “Bloody hell I don’t know her at all aside from what I’ve seen but I can tell you this; Sam Marlowe is perhaps the perfect complement to me style wise. She is a bit of a dare devil, a risk taker who likes to jumps off of high things with some good technical skills sprinkled in. I, on the other hand, am more grounded. That’s my office; it’s where I prefer to conduct my business. Sam and I are polar opposites in the ring so every time we tag in and out our opponents will be forced to mentally adjust to the differences in style and when things get hot and heavy and we’re tagging in and out quickly it can easily throw Crystal or Mercedes off, especially if we can act quickly before they can adjust.”.
“That falls under synergy”, Schott observes flatly. “That’s something that takes years to develop”.
“How long has Mercedes been out of wrestling?” She demands. “When was the last time she teamed with Crystal? How long have they been teaming up? They are not much different from Sam and I at this stage and I think it bears mentioning that while Mercedes Lewis claims to be friends with Crystal, she is still being paid by Crystal to do a job, now maybe in your world this is normal but where I come from a friend doesn't need to be paid. A genuine friend comes free of charge”. Having had her fill of Dan Schott Cat elects to go in with both barrels looking to derail his evening of contention and fluster another potential exchange adding, “So I don’t buy the friendship argument you’re considering”.
Sensing the growing animosity the editor in chief Bill Apter steps in by rising to his feet and waving off his glowering companion off and infusing his voice between the dueling sets of pipes. "That's all of the time we have for issue's edition of PWI Crossfire but be sure to tune in to Sin City Wrestling's Climax Control this weekend where our guest 'Cardiac' Cat Riley will be teaming up with the Bombshell Roulette champion Sam Marlowe to take on the team of the returning Mercedes Lewis and her employer, the hall of famer Crystal Zdunich! Cat thank you for joining us today".
"It was my pleasure", she replies cordially before grabbing her sneakers and thrusting them onto her feet. With a huff she stands up, reaching over to grab her satchel and jacket and offers a handshake to Bill Apter before turning her back to Dan Schott and striding through the door into the well lit hallway.
A long, drawn out sigh bursts through her tightly pursed lips as a whistle while her footsteps, muffled by the plush sand colored carpeting to a dull thud carry her along past rows of framed magazine covers used over the years. She pays them little mind until reaching the end just before the polished glass double doors where she spots the image of Fenris, the white wolf and reigning SCW champion featured prominently. Gazing thoughtfully at the image depicting the SCW champion and acquaintance she quietly ponders whether she will ever make the cover of the prestigious periodical. She smiles reaching for the doors, feeling a surge of pride swelling within her for having managed to keep her emotions in check during the contentious interview, something she has long had problems with, but not today. This is a new day for the improved Cat Riley.
"Some day".
