The Formation
The nerves were getting to her. Since receiving the email thoughts had invaded her mind. She had not been part of a gym in years, and never part of what was called a “fight team”. But she had been contacted by someone she’d never expected to hear from. A few years earlier she had trained with him at the dojo in Japan. His words and respect had meant so much to her then abs given her the strength to never give up. They had crossed paths a few times since. He was a former world champion. A legend of the sport and someone who could help her career. She pulled into the parking lot. This was the address. But was it really it? She was in an industrial area of upstate New York. Not far from her then boyfriend now husbands home.
She pushed the door open pulling her gum bag out with her throwing the strap over her shoulder. There were large truck tires in the corner with a few sledgehammers leaning against the fence. She moved up the steps stopping at the large glass door next to a steel roller door that was shut. She tried to push the glass door open but it wouldn’t move. She sighed and pulled out her phone sliding across the messages from Alex.
Her phone buzzed, she rolled her eyes moving around the building to the “back” there was another roller door, this one was pulled up, she looked through finding Alex Jones, Austin James Mercer and a few others she didn’t recognise. She smiled looking up to find a sign painted in red and black, a wolf's head above the red text with its front paws holding on reading “Wolfslair”. She moved up the steps as Alex came over with a grin. ”Alicia, so happy you could make it. Come on in.” Alex turned and ushered her through the roller door. His hair was tied back, his fingers taped up and he wore tapout workout shorts. Austin was dressed the same way, he lowered a large weight bar and smiled with a nod. Alicia always liked Austin. He offered a fist bump and a nod.
The other members of the gym looked her over. A tall woman with black hair, on the far side moved closer, a tattooed man with a blonde tattooed woman also looked her over. Alex and Alicia stopped near the small lockers against the wall. ”Pick any empty one. Then meet me in the office.” He turned and motioned for the dark haired woman to follow him. Alicia packed her stuff away, she was ready to work out. She was dressed in black and pink workout gear with black sneakers and her long hair tied back.
She moved into the office, Alex had his arms folded over his chest. The dark haired woman held out her hand. ”Nice to meet you Alicia. My name is Charlene, I’m Alex’s sister. Most people call me Charlie.” Alicia reaches out taking Charlie’s hand shaking it with a polite smile and a nod.
”Great to meet you.” Charlie moved around the desk behind Alex who sat down looking over some paperwork before looking flustered. Charlie looked up at Alicia with a smile before moving some more paperwork in front of Alex. He raised an eyebrow and thanked her.
He flicked through it before signing it and turning it around. ”Ok so here’s the deal. You get a breakdown in your pay and extras for merch. You will be helping in the training but joining different companies we work as a team.” Alicia blinked a few times. She seemed confused as she stuttered and just pulled the contract over the other side of the table. Her eyes darting down line by lone before flipping the page. ”Problems Ali?”
She swallowed hard and put the papers down before clearing her throat. ”No, no I just...I wasn’t expecting this. I thought I was just coming here to train.” Charlie and Alex both laughed. Alex sat back and clasped his hands together.
Charlie moved around sitting on the corner of the desk looking out the window to the floor of the gym. Members all doing what they needed to. Weight training, cardio work, mat wrestling. Two practise rings sat empty against the opposite wall. ”Do you see what we are trying to do here Alicia?. What we want to accomplish?” She smiled wide, looking up to the championship wall. Littered with replicas of Alex’s titles, Austin’s titles, Charlie’s titles. And empty slots for Alicia’s. ”We want to create more than a gym. More than a team. We want a family. A successful one...so we need the best.” Charlie turns back to face Alicia with a large warm smile. ”We need you. We need you to stand up and take your place as a leader. Alex, Austin, myself and you. The four is use as the pillars of the family.”
Alicia took a long deep breath in. She exhaled slowly, it was a huge honor and also a change. Alicia had always been on her own, even in Japan she was competing with the other. Training with them and against them. But now, it was a chance to be different. A chance to have a professional family. Real support. She smiled and pulled the contract to a bare part of the table signing it and sliding it back to Alex who just gave her a nod. He and Charlie exchanged glances and Charlie moved around opening the door. ”Welcome to Wolfslair.”
I own my sins
”Arrogance is earned.”
The voice of Alicia Lukas opens us from the darkness. She steps into the screen. The Sun city wrestling bombshells title being held in her right hand dangling down by her side. Her face is solemn, calm, almost with an arc of depression. Her voice is monotone, very little emotion to start off. Even as she seems to suppress her southern drawl.
”So many people have a negative view of being cocky, arrogant or confident. Sure, you can be confident in your own abilities but the moment you publicly expose others for their lack of right when it comes to arrogance you are the bad guy. I have that right because of what I have done and what I am able to do. In the bombshells division Evie Jordan has earned that right to go on social media and run her mouth, to walk out to the ring abs run anyone down or call her shot. See that is what success does, it enables you to have real confidence. You can say what you want as long as you back it up. Which brings me to the last Climax Control before High stakes. And the match that included my challenger and myself.”
“We won. WE won. I have to reintegrate the “we” part because if you saw Jack Washington’s actions you’d swear he won it all by himself. You’d swear it was some weird handicap match where Keira and I were inconsequential. And that is a problem. See Hack is the make representative as far as a world champion goes. And aside from those of us in SCW no one knows who he is. But me? I am the top star in this company. I say that with all the arrogance in the world but there’s truth there.”
“And as I stepped into the ring last week I have the same level of confidence that I have always had.”
“The same level I have as I step into the ring in a few weeks at High stakes. Now over the next few minutes I’m gonna say some things that many will not agree with, I’m gonna say some things that Moneek will hate me for. But the things I am about to say you’re not meant to simply wound or hurt or cause any type of real harm. The things I am about to say should be viewed as truths that no one else is willing to look certain individuals in the face and explain. Sometimes when you have people in your life that you care about it’s hard to tell them the truth because you know that will crush them. Austin and I had this problem when talking to Alex and explain to him, explaining to his fragile ego, that Jack Washington beat him fairly.”
“It’s hard to tell someone you care about that someone was simply better than them at that moment. For me, when I lost the bombshells championship the first time to Seleana...well I had people telling me the truth.”
Alicia shrugs and raises her eyebrows with a smile. She remembers back to everyone picking her up and dusting her off, her eyes go down to the bombshells championship still dangling at her side. She pulls the championship belt up and over her shoulder.
”When I lost the championship the first time I was devastated, I thought I had failed everyone. But Alex and Austin pulled me up, they reminded me what happened in that match, they reminded me who I was. And then after them helping me contemplate everything that was going on in my life and what I was capable of I came right back to win that championship. I then went on a run that has now become legendary, the most title defences in a single reign. Title defences against the best this company had to offer. And that wasn’t an accident, I didn’t just trip and fall into a title opportunity, I didn’t just lock my way through win after win in defence after defence. I did that because I was the best, and I am the best.”
“I proved it back then, and I also proved it in that tag match. Because whether Jack wants to admit it or not that was our win. which means it was also a win over my challenger at High stakes. Keira Fischer-Johnson.”
“Now, The first time I lost the championship the truths of people telling me what easier to hear because they were ones that I agreed with. But the second time, that is when I needed some Toughlove. So I lost my championship in a match where I was facing the best of the bombshells division in one match. A brutal match involving occasions very angry women. And in the end I left injured and without the championship that I had made my own. Keira’s wife, Roxi beat me. And while my ego wouldn’t allow me to look at it that way, that is what happened. That is what is in the history books. I was prepared to do everything necessary to get that championship back but then I was attacked, attacked by someone who was cowardly and couldn’t get the championship no matter how hard she tried.”
“I had to sit at home and watch the championship but I made into something become nothing. Passed around like it was just a cheap joke and a prop that no one actually gave a shit about. Up until Evie won it. So I put my foot down and I went back after the championship, and I lost. And again my friends in my family they needed to tell me certain truth that I wasn’t ready to hear. Evie Jordan was better than me, twice.”
She closes her eyes and takes a long deep breath again trying to calm herself down. Her hand clutches the bombshells championship harder.
”What I’m gonna say to and about Keira might be hard for her to hear. But it seems that I’m the only person who is going to be honest with her, since the friends and family seem more than happy to give her empty platitudes and lie to her face. Now, I like Keira. I do, she is a good natured person, she tries hard and put so much effort in and it’s something that we should all respect and that we should all admire. I have never once said that she is on talented, I have never once said that she shouldn’t deserve to get a championship match because she absolutely does. She deserves this opportunity more than others. And I’m not even saying that she can’t beat me, because she can, there is definitely a chance that I could walk out of high-stakes without my championship. There isn’t much of a chance but it is still there.”
“See Keira is a step above some of the women in this division. She is a step above Jessie Salco, Violet Amelia Holt, Bea Barnhart, Char Kwan. I could go on and on but iI think you get the picture. Keira Fisher-Johnson is a talent and should be recognised as such. But, don’t get this twisted Keira...because while I can admit you have a chance abs you are more if a threat to me and my title reign than the average bombshell…”
“You’re still not me….you’re still not someone I fear it worry about.”
“Your wife is someone I worry about. Amber Ryan, Evie Jordan she even Andrea Hernandez are all women that are on that level that part of me knows I could still do my best and lose. And yes I understand how many mentioning your wife might really get under your skin. Hell before our tagteam match that’s all you talked about, how do you were in her shadow. But do you know why so many people say that you’re in her shadow when you ride her coat tails? Because it’s true. Now, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. We all need ways that we can get ahead, we all need ways that we can get things that otherwise would slip through our fingers. And that is your way. Because let’s be honest, if you weren’t married to her, you would be put on the same pile as women like Samantha Tolson and Amy Jo Smith.”
“Women who wouldn’t be able to cut it in the same company as me so they don’t even try.”
She can’t help but smile and laugh, the title shining in the light above. Along with Alicia’s bright blue eyes and golden main of hair that flows down her shoulders and back. She is the picture of confidence, her voice still Carmen monotone as she struggles not to get excited about the prospect of beating Keira.
”Again, this is me just telling you the truth. Because going into this match you need to know what you are getting yourself into. Your wife and your friends, women like Candy, they are not going to sit you down and look you in the eye and tell you what the deal is when it comes to this match. They are going to publicly tweet you and tell you that you are going to “kick my ass” without any real evidence or any real advice. Your own wife gave you a small empty public boost while simultaneously doing her usual Wednesday cucking of you in public.”
“And again, people say all these things about you not just to get under your skin because they’re true. The same reason why people look at me and call me an arrogant bitch and say that I like to run people down, and it’s because that is the truth I do like to run people down I can absolutely be a toxic bitch. But I also take pride in making this championship mean something and dragging everyone I face up to a higher level. Some people can stay at that level and can still do great things. Like Seleana, like Evie, like Andrea. I can sort who has real talent and who doesn’t and who has the drive and determination to be at the top of the goddamn division. And as much as I like you, you are not one of them.”
“I am one of the best female wrestlers on this planet today, no actually, I’m one of the best wrestlers period on the face of the earth.”
“High stakes is the biggest show of the year and you are facing the best professional wrestler on the planet today. That is a hell of a lot of pressure for anyone to overcome at any given time. But you have the added pressure of trying to do this at a time when you are preoccupied with so many other things in your head. This whole saga with “sin” for instance. That has no bearing on our match, it means nothing in the grand scheme of things when it comes down to what this is about and what we do.”
Now she seems to be getting angry, her teeth grind together as her hand balls into a fist her other hand clutches the bombshells championship holding it close to her chest.
”This match is supposed to be about the bombshells championship, it is supposed to be about the most dominant bombshells champion for the last few years after regaining her championship going into a match with the number one contender who is a perennial underdog. That’s what this should be about, it should be about me becoming more dominant again and perhaps continuing my rain of dominance, or someone like you stopping it. Someone with talent but it was always looked over, that’s what this should be about. But instead do you know what this has become about? Your struggles with your mental health and some bullshit story no one gives a shit about. The sins and lust and all this other crap. This should be about competition.”
“Competition between two athletes.“
“And that makes me angry. It makes me feel overlooked. Because for the last few weeks I have been training my ass off. I have been reminding people that you and I are facing each other at high-stakes for this championship while you have been off in your little fantasyland. But no more, no more bullshit. Because now this is just about you and me, it’s not about sin, it’s not about your wife, it’s not about any of your friends, it is about one wrestling ring, one championship, and two women who are willing to do whatever it takes inside that ring to win the championship. That is what matters, not this other bullshit that you decide to continue shopping down our throats and trying to make us care about. When the dust settles, when high-stakes is done, one of us will hold the bombshells championship hi, one of us will be able to tell the entire world that we are the best and nobody can say anything different.”
“And I’m worried, I’m worried that if you do somehow get lucky over me and win this championship that is just gonna become a side pawn in your bullshit. But it’s going to end up in the same state it was when your wife lost it to fucking Crystalina. That is what I’m fighting for. I’m fighting to preserve the honour and prestige of this championship, I’m fighting to make the division proud. You there? You’re fighting because you want some kind of ideal, because you want to be looked at as better than your wife. You don’t want this to actually be a champion, do you want this is a fucking prop in your lame little lesbian love story. But I’m not gonna let that happen….at high stakes you will be getting the best Alicia Lukas this world has ever seen...be ready.”
Cult Of the Wolf
Success as a concept is dependent on your own ideas and goals. Your idea of success may be completely different than someone else's. When you come to your last day on this earth and you are forced to look back on your life, will your own self worth and visions of success be your own? Or will they be poisoned and polluted with the ideals of someone else and their grand vision and plan for you?. When your life and happiness is measured against the possibilities of what you could have done or the responsibilities others had placed on you, which way will the scales tip? What favor will your family, faith or government ask of you?. And how much of yourself should you sacrifice to keep it all alive?. Life has a funny way of presenting paths and we as a hole have coping mechanisms in place.
Three years ago Alicia Lukas had been presented with an opportunity. A question asked on how to change her life and become part of something greater than herself while also raising her position in life and gaining meaning as well as something she had always lacked. Professional support and family. At home she had her brother, her sister. And now she had a man in her life who understood. Even her sons as young as they were, had become her biggest source of inspiration and drive. But in her professional life she had never had that kind of support or challenge.
Until now.
A few weeks ago she was presented with an opportunity. Alex Jones had come to her, he said his peace. He laid out his plan and vision with his sister. And asked Alicia to become a part of it. She didn’t fully know what to expect. But she knew she had to leave Atlanta. She had been there a few years rebuilding her life. And even as she made mistakes in her love life she had flourished in the ring. Money, fame, championships. They all came to her. But this opportunity. Wolfslair. It meant she had to move. She had been splitting her time between Atlanta and D.C where Micheal had lived. But this chapter, this commitment. It meant she had to leave and relocate to the bustling metropolis of New York. A fact that angered her mother. Micheal had pledged to follow her, to build a life there with her. A level of support, love and faith she'd never had. But deep down there was a feeling of guilt. She hadn’t left Atlanta on the best of terms.
A few weeks earlier
”What do you mean leaving?”
Barbera Ann Lukas. Alicia’s mother stood in front of her. She was flustered. Angry. Frustrated and in her mind, completely justified. Her long hair was held up and behind her head in a silver hair clip, her make up done impeccably and she wore a blue sundress with a white flowing sheer shawl over the top. She sighed and shook her head as her hand moved up to her temples rubbing them looking to be in pain. ”You have a home here, the boys are in school. And you’re now going to run again?” her reaction wasn’t surprising. Barbera always tried to control her daughters. They both rebelled, both pushed away. But they did love their mother.
But Alicia needed this. And she knew it. She had her arms folded over her chest. Her eyes covered with black sunglasses as they stood in her mothers rose garden. The irony was not lost on Alicia as she looked over at her younger sister Zoey, whose non-wrestling birthname was in fact...Rose. ”I’m not running.! And you’re acting like I’m going overseas again. I’m goin up north.” Alicia sighed and shook her head. She could feel her own anger rising as she and her mother stood face to face. Alicia and her mother could not be more different, Alicia stood there in a cut off black Metallica shirt and cut off daisy dukes. Her long hair flowing down her shoulders and back. ”It’s not like we ont visit! Abs you can come see us! And go shopping in Manhattan..” There it was, Alicia knew how to get to her mother. Always a silver lining.
Zoey couldn’t help but laugh under her breath as Barbera's ears seemed to twitch. She folded her arms over her chest and grumbled, and in that moment mother and daughter looked more like and acted more alike than either of them were prepared to admit comfortably. ”I still don’t agree Violet!” Alicia’s nostrils flared, she twitched as if she had just been hit by a bullet she heard her name said out aloud, and in such a harsh manner. ” I have saved you too many times, I have bailed you out of bad positions over and over again. But not this time. This is your mistake and you will own it and pay for it. Barbara stormed off, pushing past her oldest daughter, looking over at her youngest who had to hide the mild indignation of enjoying her older sister step up and stand up to her.
But those words echoed in Alicia‘s ears.
Even as she got on the plane, even as she hugged her sister and her mother goodbye as they stood in the domestic terminal. All she could think of was those final words in the rose garden. Even now, a few weeks later after arriving in New York, moving into her new home that she was sharing with Michael. She had bought a car, she had signed the contract and was working for a new company as well as training at the gym. She had used it as fuel, fuel to push herself towards her own goals and her own success. Fuel to become who she was always meant to be. But now, instead of doing it by herself she had a support network. She had people who loved her and respected her, personally and professionally Alicia Lukas was no longer a lone wolf. She had found her pack.
Sweat poured down her face, her long blond hair was stuck to her body as she took long deep breaths in and out. In the past Alicia was challenged and became better by facing the best in any company she was in. It helped her improve week in and week out, but her progression stalled. Because iron sharpens iron. But now at Wolfslair, it had become a war of attrition. Battles took place inside the gym, she got in the ring and tested herself against new faces and names, people who she didn’t know and didn’t have time to study, as well as Charlie and Johanna. Two of the best women’s wrestlers in the world. It was only going to make Alicia better, and God help anyone else who was going to step in the ring with her.
Fairytales
Have you ever seen a modern day fairytale unfold?. Have you ever seen anything that would make you question your own cynicism?. Alicia Lukas stepped into frame. Her hair done up and curled wearing a a long flowing pink dress adorned with sparkling diamonds.
” ladies and gentlemen, in this world of uncertain times and horrible instances of corruption, it is important to remember that there are good people out there. People who are struggling in their day-to-day life but you also step up and decide to be the best that they can be. You see, we all live in a world where the idea of a fairytale is an abstract concept. Where people believe that nice guys finish last, and that happy endings are reserved for those who can pay for it. But there are some people, who decide that they want to control their own narrative, that they want to be the paragon of their own story. They want to put their best foot forward and give everyone something to believe in, that they can overcome the odds and become the hero. Hero, that word in and of itself is one of the most overused terms I have ever heard in my life.”
Alicia shakes her head, a small smile comes across her lips as she holds up her hand abs snaps her fingers. We pull out to find that Alicia has changed from the puffy pink gown with, let’s be honest here, probably fake diamonds, to wearing black skinny jeans. Torn in strategic places, black and red converse, and a black and grey Parkway Drive shirt. Her hair is now normal, flowing down her shoulders and back.
”Now, here we are back to reality. A reality that someone like Keira doesn’t really live in. See you, you have your own story to tell. One that you are shopping down the throat of everyone who will listen to you. You believe yourself to be a hero, much like your wife does, but neither of you actually know what that word is. Or what it means. If you are with someone who goes well above and beyond their own constraints, a hero is someone who does things for the greater good not just for their own selfish gains. You are trying to do everything for your own selfish gains. We all want to believe that we can overcome anything in front of us and that we can become the best of what we choose to do. And what we choose to be. That is what you believe isn’t it? Keira?.”
“And I get it, I mean I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I don’t dislike you. I don’t hate you. Part of me even admires and likes you. Most of the time you are a kind person, you love and enjoy what you do and you don’t normally have an unkind word to say about or to anyone.”
“But you live in a world where only your story matters.You live in a world where everything is a fairytale.“
“From your marriage to your friendships. To your career. You think that coming after this championship and winning is going to be some amazing victory for everyone. You think it is going to open up the heavens and people are going to sing your praises and the angels are gonna say that everything is alright with the world. But the truth is, the only two people on this earth who actually care about you and this championship are you and Me. Your friends say that they will and so will your bean headed wife but the truth is that this match only matters to two people. And this, this is reality Keira.”
She hold up the bombshells championship, the nameplate shining with her name on it. Her hand wrapped around the leather strap tightly as she then pulls it over her shoulder holding it tight.
”You live in this world where you were the protagonist, meaning I’m the villain right?. Okay, I’ll live in this fantasy world with you for a moment and pretend that I’m a horrible person keeping you from your goal. I elevated this championship up, I made people want it. The first time I want it off of Danielle Western, the championship already meant something, but I took it to the next level. Then I lost it due to means that won’t even my own, and the title instantly lost a little bit of its shine. So I went out, I want it back, and very slowly match by match, win by win, record my broken fucking record, I made the championship mean something again.”
“Now, I am going to say something that many people will probably not agree with, something that won’t be very popular and may hurt some people’s feelings. Not everyone can be the world champion. Not everyone can reach the top of the goddamn mountain. This championship is not something that should be held by everyone.”
“You may want this championship Keira. But wanting something doesn’t mean you should just get it.”
“Are you good enough to win it? Absolutely. But, are you good enough to actually make it mean something? Or is your win going to be a fleeting moment of happiness, one that makes you smile, one that gives your wife an excuse to gush all over social media?. Or the start of a dynasty?. Do you remember what happened last time I lost this championship? I do. I remember clearly. I watched as your wife lost the championship, I watched as it got passed around, I watched as more women held this title in less time than my entire reign was. I watch this championship become a trinket. All because everyone had to have a turn. So if I have to be the villain of your stupid little story to keep this championship relevant? Then just call me maleficent, bitch.”
Alicia pauses for a moment as a smoke comes across her lips. She looks at the championship then back forward again.
” But that’s the issue isn’t it? One persons hero was another persons villain. You put your heart out there and you told me your story and laid your soul bare. Thing is though, when it comes to me and what I say in these pre-match promos, when I talk about my opponents I try to lay it out more as facts. Because those are what matters. See Keira, I can admit, like I have many times before, that you are a great talent. You can get in the ring and you can win matches and you are more than capable of beating me. But if we look at this logically, if we look at this without any of the emotion involved without your soul baring story that you are deciding to use as a personal narrative, I beat you 99 times out of 100.”
“I have been the best for so goddamn long, and it’s a constant fight. It is a constant fight for me to stay relevant to silence people who will try and drag me down because they are too lazy to lift themselves up, but you aren’t like that. You aren’t someone who tries to drag me down to your level, you are trying to pull yourself up and for that reason alone I can respect you. But I am still one of the best in that ring, on a microphone, in the world.“
“I’m sorry honey, but your little story means very little in the grand scheme of things when it come to High stakes and this championship. It isn’t relevant to the match.”
“Do you know why? Do you know why personal stories and opinions don’t matter? Because everyone has that story. Everyone is the hero with their own fucking narrative Keira.”
“You are not special because you have personal struggles.”
“Even if we lived in a world where the outcome of the match was all predicated on the struggles and wants and needs of someone in their personal life, you still wouldn’t beat me. I am a single mother who lived through abuse, I am a person who watch their father walk away from me. From my family. I ran away from a horrible situation to put myself in a worse situation all chasing an idea of something that didn’t exist and as I sat there, at rock bottom, losing everything, I picked myself up. I picked myself up and I dusted myself off and I came back and I scratched and clawed for everything. Through horrible relationships through abuse through daddy issues through psychological trauma I went through it all Keira.”
Alicia’s voice cracks, she clenches her jaw together to stop herself from showing too much emotion. She takes a drawn out breath closing her eyes before releasing it pushing out all the emotion.
” I became a champion, I have a happy marriage, I have two beautiful kids, and I am not going to allow you to twist this and make me the villain in your little story. This isn’t about your personal issues or mine, this is about a professional wrestling match, a professional wrestling championship, and this is about me proving everyone wrong again and proving that I am indeed still the best professional wrestler to step in the ring as a bombshell in this goddamn company. You can do everything you can to try and stop me, you always have a chance, but I’m not gonna let emotions sway me or anyone else…”
“I have records to break, fans to bring to this company and new challengers to face. Even with all I have done, the truth is I have only just started. And everyone should be afraid.”