Pieces of the past
Elena DeDraca.
To the uninitiated, that name might not mean much. She was a professional wrestler. She was a woman who did everything she could to get to the top of the business. Jumping from man to man, relationship to relationship, constantly trying to keep her name in the spotlight, and using those who she was with as a way to do it. She’s a woman who many in SCW might know as the former stepmother of Austin James Mercer.
She married Austin‘s father, who had been a part of his life, and even introduced Austin to his first wife Lisa Mercer, may she rest in peace. But Elena DeDraca had another role. One that not many people knew about.
She was the older sister of Finn Whelan and Dickie Watson.
She was a woman who brought Finn and Alex together long before they could be rivals in the ring. Alex had trained with Elena. They went on, becoming very very close friends and dating for a time. But after Alex‘s father had passed away, he needed to go back home. Leaving Elena's native England and traveling away from her. In her mind, it was a betrayal. She was self-centered and everyone knew it but Alex had loved her. But when they dated Alex had met Elena’s younger adoptive brother Finn. The meeting as you can imagine did not go very well.
Alex sat cross-legged on the floor of the Blackpool wrestling gym that he had found himself in. On his tour of learning different styles, he had gone from training in his native United States to going to Mexico and now to England to learn the British catch as catch can style. In the process had met Elena and started their relationship.
Alex took a deep breath, his long black hair with blonde streaks tied back away from his face which only had a 5 o’clock shadow. Alex was so young that he might not even have been able to grow a proper beard. His bright blue eyes were full of wonder and full of hope for the future. Long before he became jaded with life and had become the cynical old man that we now see before us. He looked over at Elena his eyes full of young love.
Elena was young and beautiful, porcelain white skin with deep blue eyes and long flowing black hair. A kind smile and a fit but still curvy body that moved in all the right ways in all the right places. She was like kryptonite to most men. Young, beautiful, and with a flirty nature that captured their attention. But at this moment the attention she wanted was from a young Alex Jones. He tilted his head looking over at Elena who was stretching against one of the corners.
”My god you're beautiful.”
Elena looked over her shoulder and smiled before stretching and turning around leaning back against the top rope as she folded her arms over the side of her around the top rope ”I know.” Elena chuckled and flashed an arrogant grin at Alex who raised his eyebrows. ”But it’s nice to hear you say it”
Alex smiled but his jovial nature quickly changed. The smile faded as he looked down and tapped his fingers on the canvas. Taking a deep breath, he put his focus back on Elena ”I don’t think your brother liked me very much.”
”He didn’t” Alan shrugged moving from the corner to where Alex was sitting before she slowly lowered herself to the mat and sat in front of him, stretching her legs out to the side and leaning back on her palms looking over at him with a amused smile. ”I wouldn’t take it personally. He doesn’t really like anyone. It’s just who he is.”
Alex shook his head and threw his arms in the air with a laugh ”He reminds me of my younger brother. Dylan. Moody and doesn’t really like anyone but wants to act like he’s too cool to have a general conversation let alone show who he is or what he’s feeling.”
Elena cleared her throat and sat forward ”Finnegan has… I guess what you would say is a massive chip on his shoulder. And I don’t blame him. With everything he’s gone through, I’d be standoffish too. But again, I wouldn’t take it personally. He doesn’t really like anyone and he definitely hates people who are dating Me.”
Alex laughed and slid closer ”Dating? Is that what we’re doing? he moved even closer sliding across the top of Elena and giving her a kiss. Elena moved backward onto her elbows as Alex moved above her. ”I thought we were just…fu-“
”Don’t you finish that sentence. I’m not that kind of girl.” They both laughed. Elena took a deep breath and shook her head before looking back up at Alex. ”My family life is…complicated….Finn will warm up to you….i promise….you’ll like him…”
”I fucking hate him”
Alex paced back and forth in the office of the New York-based gym Wolfslair. He growled as he shook his head with his hands placed on his hips. Sonja Jones, his wife with her long blonde hair tied back wearing pink workout gear and her arms folded in her lap watched her husband move back and forth with a roll of her eyes.
”Why? Why is that lanky annoying asshole standing in my gym?” Alex growled again pointing at the door of the office leading out into the main hall of the gym. Through the window, many members were gathered around Finn Whalen. Talking to him and picking his brain trying to learn from him.
Sonja shook her head and rolled her eyes again ”Finn is here because he can help. You know damn well how good he is, and while Austin myself, Alicia, and you are doing an excellent job. He has a certain amount of flare that we simply do not have. So I thought we should bring him in.”
Alex shook his head looking over his shoulder out into the main hall his nostrils flared and he then looked back at his wife with a stern narrowed eye ”You know this won’t end well. I give it a week before he and I are at each other’s throats and you are going to have to get rid of him.”
”Oh?” Sonja raised her eyebrows and moved forward, putting her elbows on the desk and leaning across tilting her head while looking at Alex ”We might have to get rid of one of you, but who’s saying it’s going to be Finn?”
Alex tilted his head while he looked at his wife. Sonia tried to keep her face as serious as possible but she slowly smiled and couldn’t help but laugh at Alex and his stubborn demeanour ”I…Sonja. You know the past that Finn and I have. We hate each other. This goes back decades. I first met him when he was a snot-nosed kid who could barely find his nuts with a fucking magnifying glass. And now he’s a grown-ass man who still can’t do it. And you’re expecting me to play nice with him in my house?”
”Alex, all of your issues with him have to do with things that have happened in the ring except one. And I know what type of person you are, you’ve had issues with many people when it comes to this business and you’ve been able to iron them out and bury the hatchet. you know the problem you have with him is really a problem that you had with his sister.”
”No I-“
Sonja raised her finger and shook her head, Alex stopped talking as Sonia leaned back and rolled her eyes ”I get it, you don’t have any feelings for Elena anymore. But she still abandoned you. You needed to go home and deal with your father‘s death and she just abandoned you and moved on to another man. But from Finn‘s perspective you simply fucked his sister and then ran back to the United States. and my advice to you, my love, is to get over it.”
Alex took a deep breath and closed his eyes, Sonja's words burned into his brain as he laughed to himself and threw his hands in the air before sitting down in the chair across from Sonjas. ”Alright, I’ll give him a chance because you’re the one who brought him in. But I want it on record that I don’t agree with this. And if he puts one step out of line, I’m tossing him right out the door.”
”Noted…”
L.I.B(Lanky Irish Bitch)
”I know that there are a lot of people right now scratching their heads. Wondering why I have a world championship opportunity. And I get it, I just returned and I’ve had two matches. One of them was the superstar Battle Royal where I made my return. And the other I ended up in a draw with Miles Kasey.”
Alex chuckles, he sits back in his chair in the office of Wolfslair. He is wearing a black leather biker jacket with torn black jeans and a black band shirt underneath with black boots on his feet. He takes a deep breath and pushes off the chair walking around the desk before looking out into the main floor of the gym.
”So, why after only two matches back and precisely zero wins am I getting in the ring with Finn Whelan and getting an opportunity at the biggest prize in this company and in this business? Well, it’s simple. Because I’m Alexander fucking Jones. Now, that might not be the best excuse for you people. Some of you are crying foul and crying bullshit. And I don’t blame you. Those of you out there who don’t have the name or reputation to own yourselves a championship match or to get what you want can keep on crying. But someone like Me who has been doing this for 25 years and who is a former two-time SCW world champion can afford himself a little bit of privilege.”
“But, that isn’t the only reason.”
“The other one might just hurt your fragile little feelings a little little bit more.. You see on the one hand you can look at it as a way of me using my name my recognition and my power in this business to leverage myself a title opportunity. Maybe even leveraging my past with Finn which many of you were going to learn about. However The much more real and tangible reason as to why I’m getting a title opportunity when so many others aren’t is a rather simple yet painful one for most of you.”
“Because I can do this better than any of you can and none of you are good enough”
“None of you have made a compelling case to stand up to Finn and this company has absolutely no faith in any of you to gather interest to sell a goddamn Supercard. Miles tried to make things interesting by attacking Finn from behind but all that did was piss him off. And I think we know how that ended. So this company looked around and saw that I just walked back in the door and they know what I’m capable of as well as a little bit of the history between myself and our current world champion. So they knew they had a license to print money. So instead of being angry at me for simply taking an opportunity that was given. Maybe you should all be angry at yourselves for not being interesting enough to have taken the opportunity from me”
He couldn’t help but laugh, looking over at his trophy case filled with all sorts of championships, including all of his world championships. Alex folded his arms over his chest and continued.
”Now, while I’m sure Finn will piss and moan about having to face me. I also know deep down he’s happy. Because he never, ever, wants to pass up an opportunity to try and kick my ass. See, he and I have a rather expensive history. You can look at this as a match between two huge names in the business and two huge names in this company. Many people haven’t been able to dominate the way that Finn has and he should be applauded for it. In fact, everyone should look at someone like Finn Whelan and try and emulate him, not so much his shitty piss poor attitude but definitely his success.”
“From the outside looking in this is just a match between someone like Me who is a former world champion in this company and him the current world champion. To many people, this is all it is. A world championship being contested with a staff from the past in Me, and the star of the present in Finn. But that is a fatal misunderstanding of who he and I are.”
“Before we look at the more recent history between myself and Finn we need to go back to the beginning. Long before he and I were both professional wrestlers at a level that others could only dream of.”
“The first time I met him, I saw this young pimple-faced lanky kid. Still tall, with barely any muscle mass, and I met him because at the time I was in a relationship with his sister. Straight away he and I didn’t like each other. We were like cats and dogs, oil and water, Republicans and Democrats. He and I just didn’t mix. And he hated me from that moment and I have to be completely honest. The feeling was more than mutual. So we fast forward a couple of years, and we end up in a company called Honor Wrestling. Yes, that honor wrestling.”
He can’t help but smile before slowly moving over to the trophy case unlocking the glass he swings the door open and wrapped his hands around the original honour wrestling world championship. The one that was given to the winner of a tournament.
”The company that would eventually merge with SCW that brought so many of its stars. Here was where he and I had our first match. It was a tournament final. It was to Crown the first honour wrestling champion. I gave Finn his due verbally and physically. Verbally I told the world that I’ve seen this kid become a great name over the last few years and I had. That was true. But physically I beat the holy hell out of that lanky little bitch.”
“I walked out as the champion. I was the one who got to say I was the first ever honour world champion and Finn got to say that he was the first runner-up. So we look at that point and then we go through everything else I have ever been through. We both ended up at WWH and we both held that world championship. We skirted around each other constantly talking shit before our careers took us to two separate paths.”
“I came here while Finn drifted from company to company. Then, one day I looked out into the main area of the gym that I owned, and who was standing there? Finn fucking Whelan. Hired by my wife to help help train some of the younger students that we had I was shocked, appalled, and pissed off. Because I still hated that lanky little bitch.”
“But, part of being a man is being able to admit when you’re wrong. And I was wrong. Finn has been an excellent addition to the gym. An excellent addition to the family. As much as I wanted to tell the world how he has corrupted young minds and made an entire generation of young professional wrestlers worse because of his influence I can’t do that. The truth is that Finn and I will never be friends but the last couple of years have taught me something. And maybe it’s just my old age or maybe it’s me being more open to these things but I know damn well how good Finn is.”
Alex places The championship back into his trophy cabinet and shuts the glass door, flicking the lock before turning and folding his arms over his chest.
”I respect what you’ve been able to accomplish Finn. And unlike Miles, I don’t need to attack you from behind to get a match with you. I’ll come at you face-to-face. I’ll tell you to your face that I still don’t like you as a person. I probably never will. And I’m coming for your championship. And I do say that it is your championship because it is. You earned it and you have been an exceptional world champion. Every single time they have lined up a challenger in front of you, you have knocked them down and you will be looking at doing the same thing this time.”
“Hell, you and Kayla have been able to make those mixed tag team championships that I once held mean something again. I’m in the Hall of Fame and truth is, you should be there. Already. Over 300 day reign as the world champion, a two-time world champion, you have done more than enough with who you’ve beaten and what you’ve accomplished. And I don’t have to like you to give you the proper respect.”
“And with all due respect, I’m telling you right now man to man, that I will be doing everything I can to walk out as the SCW world champion.”
“I will bend and stretch every rule, I will go after every perceived weakness and I will use every single piece of knowledge that I’ve ever learned about you to try and beat you. Hell, I know you were gonna do the same thing. But you and I have always been very different in one important aspect. No matter how you personally feel about someone and no matter how much you dislike or hate them you will never ever break a rule. You don’t feel the need to cheat and you don’t feel the need to do anything underhanded but that isn’t the kind of person I am. Is it Finn? You know that I will do whatever it takes. And that hasn’t changed. I’m still the same rotten bastard I’ve always been and you need to realise that. Because at inception I’m coming for that world championship and you will have to do everything in your power to stop me from taking it.”