(OOC: The characters of Gabriel Stevens and HB Carter were used with permission from their handlers)
After High Stakes IX both SCW and SCU got an influx of new talent and among those new wrestlers were recent GO Gym Graduates Ariana Angelos and HB Carter who were signed to SCU, both Ariana and Carter were in their rookie years with Ariana being the younger of the two but despite this, they have put on impressive performances against more experienced wrestlers in SCU with Ariana showing that she could hang with SCW Hall of Famer Mercedes Vargas during the costumed Battle Royal were they both made their debut.
So, imagine Ariana’s surprise when Carter answered London Underground’s open challenge for the Mixed Tag Team Titles on her behalf and that the challenge was subsequently accepted on London Underground’s behalf by Daniel E. Morgan, their manager and close associate of Gabriel? Making the most of a bad situation Ariana asked Gabriel over twitter if she and Carter could get crash courses in tag team wrestling to prepare for their title match and now, despite an ill fated attack on Bobbie Dahl last night on Climax Control, Ariana was ready for her first title shot, can she and Carter pull off the upset of the year?
Go Gym, Las Vegas, Nevada
Wednesday the 20th of November 2019, 11:00am
How did I get here?
That’s a question I’ve been asking myself since I signed the contract with SCU last month, how did an eighteen year old high school graduate who was getting offers for college scholarships because of my talent for gymnastics end up a professional wrestler instead? Well, I’ll tell you, it was never easy, I first got into wrestling when I was twelve, I remember that day well because I was channel surfing at home when I stumbled across Climax Control, namely the episode were Jessie Salco made her debut.
Why yes, I do recognize the irony in that.
To say that my parents weren’t happy with my newfound fandom is an understatement, they both hate wrestling with a fiery passion and tried to turn me onto more girly things instead despite knowing that I was one of the biggest tomboys in school and needless to say, it didn’t stick, as for when I decided to make it my career path, it was when I was sixteen years old and from then I started saving up Christmas and Birthday money yearly, ironically my parents had moved to Las Vegas by that point and I would go to Climax Control shows whenever I could, my parents never knew off course.
As soon as I graduated from High School I signed up for Gabriel and Odette’s wrestling school and it was there that I met my best friend HB Carter, for the first few months of training I managed to keep it a secret from my parents knowing that they would never approve of my chosen career path, in hindsight? There was no way I could keep up the masquerade forever.
*flashback*
That fateful day started like any other, I snuck out of my bedroom window and Carter picked me up a few blocks down to avoid suspicion but they had grown suspicious by that point, did they think I was doing drugs? Underage drinking? Fooling around with men older than me? Or women older than me? I don’t know because frankly, I never bothered to ask them, all I know is that when it was my turn to do some drills with Odette the doors swung open and my parents stormed in.
“ARIANA MARIE ANGELOS, GET OUT OF THAT RING RIGHT NOW!” My mom’s heavily Greek accented voice echoed throughout the gym and I froze, standing right there was my worst nightmare come to life. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING YOUNG LADY?!”
“Making a career out of my hobby!” I responded as I left the ring and walked up to them, the other students were clearly getting uncomfortable by this point and Gabriel and Odette remained stoic. “Didn’t you teach me to always follow my dreams?”
“Not this dream Ariana.” My father responded as he grabbed me by the wrist roughly, in a way that was clearly hurting me. “You are coming home right now! This foolish dream is……...”
“Get your hands off my student.” Gabriel commanded in a low voice as he walked up to my parents, my dad was by no means a small guy, if anything he and Gabriel were around the same height though he was a bit heavier, and he was well built too, serving in the army will do that, but Gabriel wasn’t intimidated by him. “Ari is one of my best students and I won’t stand here and let you abuse her!”
“Abuse her?! I’m her father!” My dad responded as he squared up to Gabriel. “And I won’t let my daughter throw her life away like this!” He added before turning to me. “Where did you get the money for this anyway?”
“If you must know? I spent my last two Christmas and Birthdays saving up for this.” I responded before finally getting my hand free and glaring daggers at my dad. “This is my dream dad, and you won’t stop me from pursuing it!”
“Then you will have to chose young lady.” My mom finally chimed in as she stepped around Gabriel and my dad. “Either you stop this foolishness, or you don’t come home.” My mother added and I was speechless for the longest time.
“You can’t………” I trailed off as the tears welled up. “You can’t be serious?!” My mother said nothing in response, but I could tell from the look on her face that she wasn’t budging, without another word I ran off in tears before finally locking myself in the lady’s bathroom and dropping into a fetal position by the door.
I had no idea how much time had passed once Gabriel came to talk to me, I was later told that I was in there for at least an hour crying my eyes out, but it felt like minutes had passed before Gabriel opened the door. “The other students are worried about you.” Gabriel said sympathetically as he knelt down next to me. “How long have you been trying to keep this a secret?”
“Since I started.” I responded with a sigh as I turned to my teacher. “My parents never approved of me being a wrestling fan, I knew there was no way they would approve of this, but I thought I’d be able to keep up the masquerade for the length of my training.” I added before wiping away a tear. “I never thought that they would threaten to disown me.”
“Ari, listen to me.” Gabriel told me and I looked up. “Don’t take this the wrong way but this could be the best thing for you, I ran away from home when I was sixteen and moved to Paris and that freed me up to pursue my true calling, maybe it’ll do the same for you.” Gabriel added and I hesitated. “Don’t worry about finding a place to stay, I talked to Carter, he’s happy to have you stay at his apartment whilst you find more permanent residence.”
“I said that I wasn’t going to let them stop me from pursuing my dream.” I responded as I slowly stood up. “Even if it means cutting all ties with them, are they still in the gym?”
“Odette kicked them out after you ran off, last I checked, they are still in the parking lot.” Gabriel responded and I nodded before leaving the bathroom.
*present day*
The last time I visited my parents’ home was to collect my stuff, the arrangement with Carter only lasted a couple of months before I was able to rent a place but it was over those two months that we became best friends, best friends that are now teaming up to fight for a title.
Do I have any regrets? Not really, ever since I moved out of my parents’ house I’ve realized that they were mentally abusing me by being so controlling that I had to sneak out of my bedroom window just so I could train, I still remember the look on Odette and Gabriel’s faces when I told them that but I will be the first to admit that since moving out of my parents’ house, I’ve been a lot happier, following my dream at the cost of further contact with my family may have cost me in the short term but in the long term?
I’d do it all over again if I could.
“Hey there baby girl!” I looked up and saw Carter approaching me, we were on a break from the crash courses in tag team wrestling we had been getting since Carter answered London Underground’s challenge on me behalf two weeks ago hence why I’ve been thinking so much about that day, I stood up from the bench I was sitting on and hugged Carter before I sat down and invited him to join me. “We kicked some serious behind today!”
“Holding our own against the next batch of graduates from the GO Gym is one thing Carter.” I corrected him as he sat down next to me. “But The Good Shepherds and London Underground have been wrestling a lot longer than us and they have titles to their names, it’s not going to be this easy tomorrow on Underground or on Sunday at Climax Control.” I added before taking a swig of my water bottle. “So, how’s the head?”
“A lot better from when I hit my head against the barricade.” Carter responded and I grinned in response before sighing. “Your thinking about that incident again, aren’t you?”
“Am I really that easy to read?” I asked before shaking my head. “Don’t answer that, I don’t know why but I’ve been thinking about the day my parents disowned me ever since our Tag Team Title Match was made official and even more so since SCW posted it’s card on Sunday.” I added before running a hand through my hair. “I guess it’s because at the back my mind, I’ve always suspected that they’d try to come back into my life once I won a title.”
“Deadbeats.” Carter scoffed and I grinned in response. “Besides, I thought they had moved back to Pittsburgh? Wasn’t it right before you graduated?”
“That’s what I heard, last time I was anywhere near their hours there were new occupants living inside, a young couple of a son and a daughter, must’ve been about three and four respectively.” I shrugged my shoulders in response before sighing. “I only hope that that young couple doesn’t repeat the mistakes my parents made.”
“Here, here.” Carter nodded in agreement and my grin grew a bit wider. “Don’t worry about the depressing stuff Ari, you said so yourself, you’re a lot happier now that they are out of your life.”
“True, still wish that they had been more supportive.” I admitted with a sigh before two of the female trainees walked past, they said hi to me and Carter before they headed into the ladies changing room. “Are you going to be ready for tomorrow?”
“Honey, I was born ready to be in the ring with a man like Brother David!” Carter responded with a laugh before he stood up. “On a more serious note, I am ready to kick some serious behind in our matches this week, I’ve got some training to do, are you going to join me?”
“In a few minutes, got my first ever promo to do.” I responded and Carter nodded before heading towards the ring area, I went to a less used area of the gym so I could get my promo done.
“For those of you who haven’t been watching SCU Underground, my name’s Ariana Angelos, my friends call me Ari for short, but I’m otherwise known as “The Greek Angel”, why? Well aside from the fact that my family’s originally from Greece, my surname literally translates to “angel” in English, so I guess it kind of stuck! But more importantly, I’m a recent graduate of Gabriel and Odette’s training school here in Las Vegas alongside my best friend HB Carter and to date, we both have two matches to our names, why he decided that we should accept London Underground’s Open Challenge is something I’ll probably never know!”
But I will admit to being excited for this.
“I knew I’d eventually get my first ever title shot, I just thought that I’d have a few more matches under my belt first! I’ve seen other wrestlers address the members of a team individually when it came to tag team matches but without knowing which members of London Underground we’ll be facing I can’t really do that, what I can do this is point out that even though London Underground have been wrestling a lot longer than both me and Carter and are tag team specialists, well, stranger things have happened in wrestling!”
Even so……
“I really wish Carter had asked me for my opinion on his idea before he went and accepted this challenge! I guess when London Underground said that they’d be fighting champions they meant it because they were all to happy to accept Carter’s challenge even though Daniel has seen both me and Carter train here at the gym and thus has a good idea of what we are like as wrestlers, it’s like I said on Sunday, the likelihood of me and Carter walking out the champs are extremely low but miracles can happen in wrestling.”
I just need a heck of a miracle right now.
“Tomorrow night, me and Carter have a warm up match of sorts as we are taking on The Good Shepherds on Underground so it’s not like me and Carter are heading into this match completely blind and after some crash courses in wrestling here at the gym, well, our chances at winning the titles on Sunday have gone up! Only slightly mind you for the reasons I’ve already stated but it’s like I said, stranger things have happened in wrestling and for all we know, I might win my first title on Sunday.”
And with that I decided to wrap things up.
“He had all day to think about his decision and he still did it, Carter went and accepted London Underground’s open challenge on my behalf! The odds are definitely stacked in London Underground’s favor heading into this match and if you ask me, it’ll take nothing short of a miracle for Team GO to walk out of Climax Control on Sunday the new Mixed Tag Team Champions! That said, fortune favors the bold and this Sunday if a miracle does happen then London Underground will bear witness to the grace of the Angel’s Descent from “The Greek Angel” Ariana Angelos!”
I went off to join Carter in training as the scene fades.
