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Roleplay Boards => Archived Roleplays => Climax Control Archives => Topic started by: Julianna DiMaria on December 13, 2024, 11:44:02 PM
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November 27
I was back in Sedona for Thanksgiving the following day with my family, but I wasn’t exactly over the experience that happened in Tuscon just a few nights prior. High Stakes absolutely stung. Mentally, I was tempted to fall back into the old mindset that I carried with me the first time that I was on the SCW roster. Chelsea LeClair was with me as we hung out on the swings of the elementary school that we first met at when we were 9 years old. I could tell that she seemed concerned for me because I was barely saying anything at all. Right now, I just didn’t know what to feel.
“How can this play out exactly the same?” I asked myself. “The first loss in both runs happened in Tucson against the current world champion. Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t get it. I managed to face every demon of the past and I found every which way to overcome it. I had gone into that match with everything that I had and yet it still didn’t go my way…”
“Andrea, say something to me…” Chelsea said to me. I glanced over and I saw that she had a worried look on her face. “..you haven’t said anything on Twitter… though that might be a good thing in this instance… you haven’t really said anything to me about High Stakes at all. I’ve lost you once over SCW and I’m not going to have this happen again.”
I didn’t respond to what Chelsea was telling me though I could definitely feel the worry in her heart.
“Unfortunately, that’s the cruel nature of this business: you can do every single thing right and it still doesn’t go your way…”
She wasn’t lying and that was a truth that I was definitely having to cope with right about now.
“Give me something, Andrea…” Chelsea continued to plead. “Anything. You’re not spiraling are you? You’re not feeling like you let anyone down? Please at least give me that…”
I shook my head, which only worried her further.
“Whatever you do, don’t feel sorry for yourself and if you already are, stop. I know you’ve had losses affect you in the past and I get that it seems cruel that your second run played out exactly the way your first run started but don’t lose faith.”
“I haven’t lost faith…” I was able to say through all of my internal conflict at the moment. I could hear Chelsea breathe a sigh of relief.
“Good, because you have nothing to be ashamed of. Yeah, it’s cruel the way things all played out…”
“I’m bewildered by that more than anything else really…” I admitted.
“Maybe that’s the way it was meant to go…” Chelsea offered. “I know that’s not what you want to hear right now but fate’s just weird. Maybe things had to play out this way to give you a second chance to make the right choice. When you lost to Alicia all those years ago, you let that snowball instead of standing up for yourself and trying again. You gave up on yourself and all of that…”
“That’s not happening this time…”
“But why are you so glum? I don’t get it. Is it regret? Is there something you wish that you would’ve done differently?”
“Chelsea…” I said with a sigh. I have no shame in the outcome. I’m thrown for a loop that I’m experiencing de ja vu all over again, yeah. But who wouldn’t? This isn’t going to snowball, I can promise that. I can tell you for a fact that I’m not beating myself down over this. I’ve said it before that this isn’t the same old Andrea from the past that felt like she let everyone down. I don’t feel like I let you down, or my family or anyone that was rooting for me. I do feel like I let myself down…”
“No Andrea…” Chelsea said with a worried sigh as she grabbed me by the hand. “Don’t do that. This is ow the spiral starts.”
“I’m flattered that you worry about me so much but I should’ve been better…”
“How could you have been any better than what you actually were? You were fucking brilliant on the biggest stage SCW can offer.”
“I know where I went wrong, Chelsea….” I admitted to her. “I focused way too much on trying to overcome the past that I didn’t focus enough on evolving myself as a competitor. I will be the first to admit that to you. I know how I’m going to get back to that SCW Bombshells World Championship. You were in therapy once. You know how it is: you start by addressing the past and overcoming it and then once you do that, you start to focus on building for the future.”
“Right, of course…” Chelsea acknowledged. “But you HAD to overcome that past though so that you COULD move forward.”
“I’m not denying that, Chelsea. But ultimately, I went into High Stakes as a slight upgrade of the wrestler that won that World Championship and that was in that first run of SCW before everything fell apart. That’s the nuts and bolts of it. What I need to do is figure out how to bring myself to the present moment and build for that future. I’m not going to let heartbreak, tragedy and bullshit define my SCW career. I’m beyond done with that.”
Chelsea still looked conflicted, if not confused.
“What I don’t understand is why you’ve got a path all figured out for you and yet you’re still feeling and looking glum… almost like you did when you lost the world title to begin with…”
I could only chuckle at this.
“It’s the stuff out of my control, Chels. You know it’s natural for me to worry about that.”
Chelsea’s eyes widened when she realized what I was getting at.
“Aleesha’s title shot…” I nodded as she continued. “...she’d pick Kayla because of their history and if that were to happen, that would shut you out of the title picture and you’d be going back to random matches while wrestlers less passionate than you suddenly got opportunities.”
“That’s a harsh way to put it, but it’s basically that. I will be able to grow from that experience, as cruel as it is. Like I said, I’m not going to let that destroy me. But yes, if anything? I’m worried that my contention window is gone. Where do I go from here? What would I do? Go for the Internet title again? Try for the Roulette?”
“Crystal Hilton is back you know…” Chelsea pointed out as she rolled her eyes in an annoyed manner.
“That’s not a history I am looking to explore ever again…” I said without hesitation. “I can’t control what Aleesha does. I am fully expecting her to go after Kayla. You know how those Queen of the Day slash title opportunity nonsense goes: they always pick the world title. Chelsea, I promise you. This story is gong to play out differently. I’m not about to give up or to beat myself down. When I said that I was stronger and better, that’s exactly what I meant. You’re not going to lose me again. I do appreciate that after all we’ve been through together, you’re still there for me. And because I know you’re going to ask: of course you’re the first person I even talked to about High Stakes.”
Chelsea finally smiled and seemed assured at this point.
“To think, the first time we were ever on these swings together, life was so much easier. Fourth grade life, right?”
“Back when we didn’t have wrestling careers, haters, locker room drama… in your case a family… in my case the past demons I’ve overcome… absolutely.”
“No matter what Aleesha does or where you go from here, you’re going to be alright. I have faith in that now.”
“Thank you. I don’t know how far I’d have come without you.”
While at this moment, I wasn’t feeling a hundred percent on an emotional level just yet, at least talking about that cruel High Stakes heartbreak put me on the path to getting there.
Still…
What was Aleesha going to do?
And where do I go from here?
Last Sunday…
Back home in Paradise Valley, I was on my couch and just like I was when I spoke to Chelsea a few days after High Stakes, my brain was processing the loop that it was thrown into.
“Aleesha DIDN’T pick Kayla…” I said with quite the shock in my voice. “What the fuck? I thought for sure because of their history that she was going to pick her.”
Myra Rivers had sent me a text telling me straight up, with no minced words, that “this isn’t over yet”. She knew what I knew, but I was still thrown in far too much of a loop to respond. Still, my heart had just the glimmer of hope that it needed. I turned off the television for a moment as I stood up from my couch. I found myself at a cross roads knowing that now I had a decision to make.
Do I really go for it again? That would absolutely defy conventional wisdom knowing the history that I have in SCW. I’d be interrupted by my doorbell going off which caught me off guard because I wasn’t expecting anyone. I went to answer the door, and the surprises wouldn’t stop coming as my younger half-sister Savannah, who I hadn’t seen in a while (she’s just finding her feet as a wrestler herself in fact), standing in front of me.
“Andrea, you won’t believe what just happened on Climax Control!”
“Aleesha picked Bella and not Kayla…”
“Oh…” Savannah said with a chuckle. “I didn’t realize you were watching.”
“I didn’t realize you were coming…” I said to the lone family member that wasn’t at High Stakes. “What made you want to drop by?”
“I wanted to talk to you about… things. I’m sorry that I didn’t make it to High Stakes with everyone else.”
I stood aside to allow Savannah to walk in.
“Savannah, you had match to wrestle all the way in Charlotte the same day. I get it, even if I don’t get the company you choose to keep but I’m staying out of it.”
“You ARE okay right? You know… after High Stakes…”
I sighed, feeling annoyed more than anything but I couldn’t be annoyed by my baby sister checking in at all.
“More than fine. Though, now I have to wrestle with the choice of making another play at Kayla.”
“You should” Savannah said with no stutters. “That’s not even a question. You know I keep up with things because I study the business and all of that good stuff and we both know the trend of how many wrestlers in SCW get one world title shot, lose, and then just give up and willingly accept their place in the back of the line. There’s no reason why you should do that… unless you wanted to just have the same old SCW run like you did last time. Last time, after Evie…”
“Savannah, please do me a favor and never evoke that name again. I’ve moved on. I’ve purged all of that out of my system, alright? Yeah, I’m aware of what you just mentioned but on the other side? So many have made a second play at it and failed.”
“You’re really entertaining that?” Savannah said with a scoff. “Andrea, I wanted to be a wrestler myself BECAUSE of you…”
“Right…”
“I wasn’t inspired by you because you played it safe and decided to run away…”
I sighed as I sat back down on the couch.
“Except I did…” I admitted. “I don’t want to recap this again but I stayed away from the world title last time for the rest of my first run and when you became inspired by me, I was at my absolute worst with treating people like garbage, acting like a Karen, the “President of the Internet” thing, starting drama on Twitter… all of that bullshit. I don’t see why you’d be inspired by that phase.”
“I was inspired by the fact that you kept going being in the pain that you were in for two years after everything fell apart for you AND that you accomplished the things that you did. I don’t call that playing it safe or running away at all. What I call that is facing what is beating you down on a constant basis, making the most out of the horrible situation that you were in and STILL shining brighter than everyone else, even yourself, gave you credit for. That’s what inspired me. You’ve become even stronger through and since all of that and I have faith in you that you’re going to do the right thing and get back on that horse.”
“Going after Kayla again is a risk, I know this. I remember what happened with Myra after she couldn’t beat Amber the second time with the world title at stake. I pretty much knew she didn’t want to be in SCW anymore after that. But I can’t just ‘wait’ anymore. If Aleesha doesn’t want to go after Kayla for the moment, then who the fuck else is there on the roster that is a legitimate threat to Kayla? Victoria? Julianna already tried her twice and it didn’t work out. I can’t think of anyone else.”
“If it were me? I’d go after her again because I know you, Andrea… and that’s exactly what you would do. Think about our father if he were in this situation. He’d go for it all again. You once taught me, when I first started doing this myself, that you either have to go for broke or don’t go for anything at all and that is something that is drilled into my brain which is why you see me doing everything I can to make the best out of any situation I’m in. I’d be appalled if you didn’t practice what you once preached to me.”
Savannah had me there at this point. My heart wanted to make another play at Kayla for sure. My brain previously wasn’t sure, but logically? I know that she was right: go for broke or don’t go for anything at all. Considering that I had already endured the worst I’ll ever have to suffer through in my SCW career, if not my entire wrestling career, what did I have to lose? I knew how close I was the first time when I was still coming out of my ‘overcoming demons’ phase.
At this point, the question wasn’t ‘what if I try again and fail?’
It’s ‘what if I went into that match at High Stakes an evolved wrestler that was building for the future rather than healing from the past?’
That’s a question that I had more than enough fire to answer.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Savannah…”
Savannah’s eyes lit up knowing what I decided to do.
“I’ll wait for that right moment to make my intentions loud and clear.”
“If there’s no schedule conflict, I PROMISE I’ll be there the next time you challenge Kayla for the world title… or the world title in general…”
“I’ll hold you to that…” I said with a smile as I turned on the television again and I resumed watching Climax Control… and as it so happens, seeing Kayla regain the mixed tag team titles.
That just made that fire within me burn even stronger….
December 13, 2024
When the camera came on me for what was to be the first time I addressed anything related Sin City Wrestling. I was in good spirits. I didn’t feel nervous or pressured at all and any sad feelings that I had regarding High Stakes had long passed. I was back to that same motivation that I had going in and knowing the history of challengers that had failed and then decided to just give up and go to the back of the line, that just added more fuel to my fire as I began to speak my mind.
“I am going to start off by addressing High Stakes beginning with one, simple sentence.
No, it’s not “delay of the inevitable”. I’m not making that fucking mistake again. That sentence is summed up in three words: I’m NOT done…
High Stakes didn’t go my way. For me, it ended with a cruel twist of fate. I’m not going to stand here and feel sorry for myself or make excuses or to lament that I should’ve won at this moment or that moment or to be a victim and act like the sky is falling. I meant what I said when I said I was a better, stronger wrestler than I was four years ago and this week is where I truly prove that when I take on Prudence Steele. I’ve got plenty to say about her, but what I DO want to say is that with Aleesha Jones deciding to go in a different direction than what I thought she would considering her history with Kayla Richards, I’m going to stake my claim to another go with Kayla because I KNOW I can beat her on any given night and I only need to beat her ONE time. That loss pained me, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t break me. For too long, we’ve seen the trend of Bombshells that get a shot at the world title at a Supercard, lose and then just accept their place in the back of the line with an ‘aw shucks, I lost. Too bad’ attitude”. That’s not me and that’s not about to be me.
In fact, I am going to say something that’s going to piss people off but… since I’m bucking trends in this second run of mine, unlike before when I was caring so damn much about what people thought of me for my own detriment, I DON’T care. Don’t get me wrong, I have heard about what some of you have had to say about me. I’m not naming people. But I have heard the talk of ‘oh she’s still the same’ among other bullshit. I’ve had opponents drop labels on me without merit just like before. But like I said, I don’t care so I’m going to get to what I wanted to say: there’s nobody on this Bombshells roster that should have another crack at that World Championship other than me. I said it, I’ll own it. If it hurts feelings, then so be it and look at yourselves in the mirror. Most of the Bombshells roster doesn’t get after it. They just wait for a chance to fall on their laps. I know I did when I first came back because I was playing it safe and not wanting to ruffle feathers but honestly, fuck all that at this point. I’ve proven that I can still compete at the highest level and with that knowledge, going forward, it’s time to kick things up a higher gear. I will NOT be another one and done challenger that just gives up and accepts that the fight is over…
Because the truth is? In spite of the High Stakes result? It’s NOT over and it won’t be until I SAY it’s over.
One such woman on this roster that had such an attitude is my opponent: Prudence Pierce…”
I took a pause for a moment knowing exactly who she was.
“Or as I knew her the last time that I faced her, Ruby Steele. Our paths have certainly diverged in many different ways since we went against each other one on one, right? I managed to win the Internet Championship and have a hell of a reign as part of one of the most historic winning streaks this company has ever seen and you had your shot at the Bombshells World Championship against Amber Ryan and you lost but you gave it the good fight and showed that you had something in you. It’s not the worst thing to happen. As a matter of fact it’s something that you could build off of…
And then…
You didn’t…
You basically stopped trying and for one reason or another, you went from Blast from the Past winner to off the roster entirely by the end of the same year that you won that tournament. Though, I have to break the news to you, Prudence. Amber beating you wasn’t where you just gave up the fight. No, you gave up the fight long before you faced Amber. Where you gave up the fight was after you faced ME. You remember that match, right? You were undefeated and riding this huge wave of momentum coming right off that tournament win, then you were booked against me and I beat you and handed you your first loss. You weren’t the same after that. Hell, you managed to come back and you’ve come nowhere close to that level. It’s like you suffered that one loss and you just gave up and stopped trying. It’s pitiful and it’s sad and I can understand why people look at you and treat you like a joke, even going as far as referring to you as the worst Bombshells Blast from the Past winner in recent times, if not ever. As a matter of fact, if I just accepted that the fight with Kayla is over and just let someone else get the next title shot at Inception, the truth of the matter is, I’d be doing exactly the same thing you did after you had your title shot and lost.
So I guess in a way, you being in that ring with me reminds me NOT to just let things go and let things go to waste. It reminds me also, to not make the same mistakes that I did in my first run. You fell off so damn fast after that tournament because you truly didn’t believe in yourself and that’s the unfortunate truth. Whatever faith and bravado that you had during that tournament, you lost it after I beat you and you still never got it back. It’s an unfortunate shame and a bit of a disgrace to your family even that you went from winning Blast from the Past to losing to the likes of Bea Barnhart. I mean… come on girl… couldn’t that at least have woken you up a LITTLE? I get that it’s embarrassing as hell to lose to Bea. I can only imagine the humiliation that went through you after that happened, but you should’ve taken that and you should’ve used it as motivation to get better knowing that you had just hit rock bottom. Instead, you’ve been in the shadows and you’ve been doing WHAT? The potential is in you, but you haven’t had the heart to do a damn thing with it in years. Prior to that match against Bea, you were going off about how you weren’t impressed with her and going off about how you deserve ‘the best competition in the world’ and to be in the ring with ‘the best of the best’... well how in the hell are you going to deserve facing the best of the best when you can’t even beat, objectively, one of the worst Bombshells on the roster rom a win-loss perspective?
How do you deserve anything, such as your opportunities to get an Internet title shot that you couldn’t capitalize recently, when you’re someone who doesn’t even try all that much anymore? I don’t get it. I look at you now and see what I would’ve become in this company when I was at my lowest point had I chosen to just lie down and quit after doing just that against Crystal Hilton in my last High Stakes loss prior to last month. As a matter of fact, Prudence, let me paint the picture for you like this. That loss to Crystal? Fucking embarrassing. Most wrestlers? Hell if you were in my shoes? They, and you, would’ve just given up the ghost and decided not to try anymore. Not me. I came back with a vengeance. I got on that historic winning streak, which did include you by the way, and I became the Internet Champion, holding that championship for over 200 days. In a different context, that’s what I have to do and that is what I am going to do, in order to become the Bombshells World Champion again. No matter what it takes, I’m not going away and my story in Sin City Wrestling will NOT be as a one time world champion that lost the title far too fucking soon. I REFUSE to let that be my legacy here and I will continue to do everything in my power to change that narrative and to change what is ultimately my final story here no matter how long it takes. I come from a family of fighters, as you know. You do too… except you haven’t shown that at all lately.
The thing is Prudence, while I’m busting my ass and winning the Belle of the Brawl tournament and punching my ticket to High Stakes all while facing down everything that once anchored me and overcoming it, you’re over there cutting promos talking about how it’s been a while since you’ve actually been relevant, how it’s been a rough ride for you, and even going as far as admitting that you don’t even know if you have what it takes anymore and yet you’re trying to act as if you had any chance in hell of beating Bella Madison that week? Yeah, that doesn’t work. But why should anyone in the locker room even respect you if you’re going to be admitting stuff like that? If you’re questioning yourself and whether you even have what it takes anymore, what chance in hell do you have of ever getting back up from the doldrums that you find yourself in to even make something of yourself? I get that it must be draining when you hear people like Julianna talk about how the whole Blast from the Past tournament win was an entire fluke and I get that it must be tough seeing her tweet about you and asking SCW why you are even “a thing” anymore, but have you even bothered to fight that perception? Have you even bothered trying to flip the script? Nope. You’ve definitely lost to wrestlers that are better than you, but at the same time, we all know it’s because you don’t even TRY anymore…
And for a former Blast from the Past winner, that is honestly, and admittedly, downright sad.
I never imagined that after we had our first encounter and you wound up suffering your first loss that it would ever get this bad for you. I knew that after I beat you that night, that I definitely had dented your momentum and maybe even affected your confidence. But I had no idea whatsoever that I had dented your momentum and affected your confidence THAT badly. I didn’t MEAN to do that… even if I was being as cruel and as mean and as nasty as I was at the time to everyone else in general. But I don’t feel guilty about it at all, Prudence. All I did was win a match against you. I shouldn’t feel guilty about the fact that you chose to never capitalize on that tournament win and I shouldn’t feel guilty that you didn’t recover from that loss against me in time to even give Amber Ryan a half decent fight for the SCW Bombshells World Championship. I also shouldn’t feel guilty over the fact that you decided to full blown stop trying after the fact. Because at the end of the day? You created your own rock bottom. You manifested your current, unfortunate situation just like I did four years ago when I didn’t know how to handle the adversity that I was facing worth a flying fuck. Unlike you though, I’m going to keep up the fight. I’m not going to lie down and give up. I’m not going to manifest another rock bottom to the point where I relapse and grow to the point of being the most hated bitch in the locker room all over again.
I’m going to do whatever it takes, Prudence.
I have grown beyond the point where I let one loss destroy me to that point again. You, on the other hand? You’ve shown no growth since your tournament win and you have clearly lost any confidence in your abilities that you once had. It’s not going to get much better for you on Sunday…
Because what’s going to happen is?
I’ll beat you…
And I’ll show this division why I’m back at the front of the line and I’m going to stay there a hell of a lot longer than I did last time and why I’ll be the one to dethrone Kayla despite what High Stakes said…
Because the way I see it? I’m not going to let a world title match loss be the end of my story here…
Not like you did…’
With that familiar fire in me, I shut off the camera and start to focus on the journey ahead and what I am looking to prove on Sunday.