Advice
Big wins and moments come all to rarely for everyone.
From the biggest star to the newest rookie to a veteran who doesn’t have what it takes anymore. The opportunities are there but not all of them come off. Not all of them materialize in a way that people want or need. So when those opportunities present themselves. When you have a big win, you need to grab it with both hands and hold on, not take it for granted and use every single advantage you have at your disposal.
Every resource.
Every piece of advice.
But sometimes, those resources are harder to ask for advice. To talk to. Zoey took a deep breath, her knees pulled up to her chest as she looked out into her sisters backyard. Her hair hidden under a black baseball cap flipped backward. She took a deep breath, enjoying the early fall weather. Behind her, she could hear them, her nephews, laughing and playing and fighting over the last small pile of nachos on the table.
Zoey chuckled, turning her head as she head the back door slide open. Alicia was home, back from seeing a certain tall, muscular member of wolfslair. She told her boys off, grabbing rhe small pile and popping it in her mouth much to their dismay. She moved around behind Zoey before groaning and sitting down next to Zoey. ”Good lunch date?” Alicia simply chuckled and nodded, stretching as the light breeze moved in front of them. ”Rory and Ryan were good, we played some Mario kart, ate nachos, they told me about school, it was fun.”
”Fun? Good.” Alicia rolled her shoulder, popped her neck and relaxed. She had recovered from all her injuries, any nagging ones she had disappeared. In fact, Alicia had been in better shape now than she had been her entire career till this point.
Zoey closed her eyes taking a long deep breath in, this was hard for her. Going to her sister for any type of advice. ”So…look…I need your help..” She trailed off, Alicia raised her eyebrow, sitting forward since this honestly shocked her. Zoey never asked for help, unless it was serious. Alicia stayed silent, letting Zoey move through her thoughts. ”I’ve never been in this position before. An opportunity basically fell in my lap…”
”Fell in your lap is a bit of an understatement. You earned that shit….” Alicia shot her a quick smile.
Zoey nodded slowly and took a deep breath before continuing. ”Yeah, maybe. But still, I’ve never been in this position before. I’ve fought for titles, I’ve had main events. I’ve done that but never on this scale. For a title this important.” Zoey stared off, as if going deeper into her thoughts. Alicia blinked a few times, not sure about what to do or say, if she should even say anything. ”I don’t want to screw this up. And as much as I hate to admit it, the only person I feel comfortable turning to…who has had this level of success…is you…”
”Well gee, thanks. Nice to know I’m so hard to approach, it’s not like we’re family or anything.” Alicia smirked and moved to the side, lightly pushing her shoulder into Zoey.
Zoey scoffed and shook her head looking away. ”I didn’t mean it like it sounded. It’s just really hard, asking anyone for advice or help. I’ve gone through my whole career…shit my whole life walking to the beat of my own drum.” She paused for a moment looking at Alicia and putting a small smile on her face. Alicia just stared back with a raised eyebrow. ”This opportunity though, it’s something special. There’s a pressure to perform and succeed that I’ve never felt before. And you succeeded through all that…I need to know how.”
”I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Zoey tilted her head, before she should say anything Alicia continued. ”I’m just fucking with you. I felt pressure going into every single big match I have ever had.”
”All of them? But, you’ve been in so many. You’re telling me this shit never gets easier? Like ever?”
Alicia chuckled and shrugged. ”Nope. Atleast not to me…or anyone else I’ve talked to. Not Austin, not Johanna, not Sierra, Miles, not even Alex and he’s been doing this a long long time. “ Alicia laughed and threw her hands in the air, Zoey seemed to relax a little, her shoulders dropping and she was suddenly able to breathe properly. ”We’ve all been there, and it’s not something you ever get comfortable with, and honestly…you shouldn’t.” Alicia paused and shook her head with a smile. ”Being nervous…wary of the pressure, aware of the weight and gravity of it all…it will keep you honest and real”
”Legit?” Zoey raised her eyebrows and let out a sigh, looking up to the sky she swallowed hard and then looked back down again. ”I wish Dad was here.” Alicia was surprised, that was somrthing she never expected to hear from Zoey. Zoey pushed off the ground, moving toward the back patio. Alicia followed, moving around to the side. ”He wasn’t the best, he wasn’t even close. But, he would have had something to say. Maybe even something good.”
”Yeah, maybe.” Alicia looked down and put her hands on the table leaning against it. Zoey stayed silent, she had no idea what else to say. ”He would have been proud.”
Zoey looked up and over. ”You think so?”
Alicia chuckled and stood up straight with a smile. ”Are you kidding?” He would have been the first one to call you. Or text. And he’d be running around telling all his ageing wrestling buddies that his “lil girl was gonna kick ass and be champion”...or something like that”
”That was a terrible impersonation of Dad…” Alicia laughed and nodded in agreement, Zoey laughed too, the mood finally lightening a little. ”But, thanks. I guess I needed to hear that.”
”Anytime.” Alicia moved to the side, reaching out and hiding Zoey tight, Zoey raised an eyebrow, struggled for a ,moment and then stopped. ”And….I’m proud of you to…so go get that title..” Zoey smiled and gave Alicia a small nod. She turned to go back inside. ”Or you’re out of the family.”
”What was that?”
”Nothing.”
Queen
”Giving me any type of power is a mistake.”
Zoey chuckles to herself. Her hair slicked back as she smirks, turning up her black painted lips.
”See, someone like me, while I will take what I want, when I want, I’ll also do things to just make me laugh. So when I realized I was in the Queen for a day match, I knew what I was going to do with that power when it came to. Well, me. But what was I going to do with the other matches? The rest of the power? Should I have given the remnants of Wolfslair scraps? Given Austin a shot at the world title? Or ask my sister if she wanted a shot at say, the Roulette or Internet title? Nah, I gave one person involved in Wolfalair a chance.”
“Laura Phoenix. A shot at the Internet title, because Laura earned it. She earned it by being a legend in this business and having a hand in training me…and many others.”
“So, I wanted to repay that, on behalf of myself, wolfslair and the wrestling world at large,”
“But what was I to do with the rest of my powers? Especially after I was told by both Mercedes and Tempest that I wasn’t going to win. Troll and BRADDOCK, and Raven vs GOTH. Why? Well, Why not? Those matches were for my own personal enjoyment, to have a laugh. See, when I was announced to have a shot at getting in the match, and when the Queen for a day was ready to go, all I heard was that I wasn’t going to win. In fact most of you had Tempest as the winner, cause she has beaten me before right? Or that Vargas would shock the world and regain former glories.”
She shrugs and gets to her feet, showing the sheer size that she had, the advantages with her athletic ability and god given physique.
”But, that isn’t what happened. I was able to stand up, and live up to all the potential. The people kept saying that they saw in me. And that really is a sticking point with me, all I keep hearing about his potential. That I have the potential to be a champion, that I have the potential to be one of the most dominant forces in this company. I get compare to my sister, my father, other larger, stronger women like tempest. But I never get looked at for me. And I’m going to change that. But, a lot of those people are also right in a way. I haven’t lived up to the potential that I have.”
“I have stumbled, fallen, but I have also stood back up. And while many people believe that I was all hype, I know the truth. For the last two years, I have been in this company, I have come in and out, getting a match here and there, and a chance, but then, for some reason not being used. so when an opportunity like this presents itself? I need to grab it with both hands and hold it. Hold it so tight I almost strangle it. See winning the Queen for a Day is like getting a blank check. Did anyone remember that movie? From the 90s? A kid find a blank check and writes on it and then goes on a spending spree?”
“That is what the Queen for a Day is. It is a chance, and a moment to write your own history. And in winning that I was always going to take a shot at the bombshells championship. Regardless of who ended up with that championship coming out of violent conduct, I was going to be going right for them.”
“And why wouldn’t I?”
“Why would I deny myself the chance of becoming a world champion? Anyone in my position would do the same. So, here we are. I have no doubt at all that Courtney knew this was coming. She’s not stupid. She knew Damm well, that if I won the Queen for a Day, I’d be coming for her. Just like Mercedes, Vargas would have, just like Tempest would have, just like Kim pain would have if she didn’t need to bow out of the match. Every single one of us would’ve been going for you Courtney and there is one reason for it. You are the best.”
She pauses, for dramatic effect, cause of course she does. Letting the words and realisation sink in.
”You are the champion. Because you hold that championship no one else can reasonably say that they are better than you. I think that is a fact that is missing in the professional wrestling business. The real respect for a champion. The fact that you are holding that championship means you are the only one in this company that has a right to say that they are the best professional wrestler in the world, or at least in Sin City wrestling. I can’t deny it, I can’t dispute it and to tell you, the truth, I wouldn’t want to. I’ve seen so many people win that championship and get torn down by stupidity. It shows a weak mind and a lack of respect for what that championship represents, and I’m not about to do the same damn thing.”
“See, this is something that even people close to me are guilty of. My own sister is guilty of it. You look at the history of that championship in the women have held it, and each one of them for a brief, second, was able to say that they were the best. From you, to my sister, to a woman, like Amber Ryan, who ran through the entire division, to someone like Roxi Johnson, who is a living legend, to her wife, Keira, who, so many people disrespect. Including my sister. But she two is able to call herself one of the best wrestlers to ever do it because she’s held that championship. And that Courtney is why I’m going for you. If you are in this business and you are not trying to become the champion then what the hell are you doing? You need to be the best, and if you don’t want to be the best? If you’re just in this to collect a paycheck? Then you don’t belong in a company like sin city wrestling.”
“But, I also know that that isn’t you. You wanted to get your hands on that championship and since you have you have been doing nothing, but trying to prove that you are the best. Even if your last championship defence was against someone who honestly didn’t deserve it, and yes, Ariana Angelos did not deserve a shot at your championship. She never had a chance to beat you. This is a woman who has failed in almost everything, she has ever done and refuses to take ownership of her values. That’s the exact opposite of me.”
“Every failure that I have had, every setback, every loss, I have learned from. I’ve excepted it. I’ve looked at my own weaknesses, and I’ve tried to come back, stronger every single time. And that makes me dangerous Courtney. It makes me the biggest threat to your championship reign that you have ever faced.”
“And that is both literal and figurative.”
“I am coming for that championship, and while you are, clearly, a worthy champion, and while everyone at jet city will be sitting there, cheering you on, wanting you to win, I have my own family to. I have everyone, and I mean everyone, at wolf slayer behind me. And those are two of the biggest gyms in the professional wrestling business. Full of champions, full of history, and you and I are just two of the newest products ready to roll on over it. I don’t think people realise the magnitude of this match. You and I Courtney, we are the future of this business. The future of the bombshells division. And a clash like this between us? I get a strange feeling that it’s just going to be the first of many. So I’m going to do everything that I can to take the championship from you.”
“Just like you will do anything to keep it…so I’ll see you there Court…Long live the queen.”
