[Sam Marlowe]

Question…

You have won your first round match in the Blast from the Past tournament and are booked into the quarter finals…What do you do now?

Answer…

Step up and advance to the semi-finals.

Tagline:  Training day…

The soft hum of a young woman can barely be heard over the sounds of grappling and training in the one place you would not expect a person to be on Valentine’s Day. 

Staggs’ Dungeon

Sam Marlowe is rolling her neck as she can be seen wrapping her hand with tape.  Her hair is pulled back into a rather high ponytail that has the tips of her curls brushing her neck and shoulders.  Sam still has medical tape on her shoulder that plays peekaboo between the straps of her cold shoulder tee.  Her body is covered by a body-hugging spandex wrestling singlet with the Riverdale logo on it and a pair of beat-up Converse hightops over slouch socks finishes off the look.

Sam gives a final pat to the tape on her wrist as she moves towards a heavy bag that is hanging in the corner.  She uses her fingertips to make sure her earbuds are secure then she stretches using the bag to roll out her shoulders.  Windmilling her arms, she once more rolls her neck before she approaches the bag and with a slight jump, catches the chain holding it to the ceiling.  Wrapping her legs around the bag and locking them at the ankles, she begins to do sit ups with her arms crossed over her chest.  She ignores all the distractions and doesn’t see that she is being watched. 

Sam does a few reps of the exercise before dropping down and placing her hands on the floor before releasing her feet and flipping to her feet.  Opening her eyes, she looks around the gym and notes the looks before shaking her head with a smile and moves on to begin to throw punches into the heavy bag.  As she does, she is joined by a woman dressed in crimson tights with a Spike Staggs tee that is knotted at the back and wrestling boots.  Grabbing the bag, she holds it steady as Sam throws combinations of punches into the bag.

“So, Sam, what are you doing here eh?” asks Vixen Staggs, a concerned look on her face.  “It is your first Valentine’s Day as a wife…why are you not celebrating with that man of yours?”

Without missing a punch, Sam shoots a look at Vixen and smiles.  “He’s in Canadia filming,” she answers, a giggle escaping her lips as she sees the death glare from Vixen at the mention of Canadia.  “What, it is a Texas thing Vix.  All my friends seem to think that is the name of the place.”  A string of very beautiful sounding French curse words are heard from behind the bag as Vixen pulls back and hangs her head.    “Wow, that sounds pretty…care to translate?”

“Your poor innocent ears couldn’t take it,” taunts Vixen as she slams a kick into the heavy bag.  Sam pulls her hands up in a sign of surrender before both women laugh.  Sam moves once more to begin to punch the bag again.  Vixen moves to the side and watches as the redhead gets into a rhythm of punch and kicks that keep the bag moving.

“I was wondering about why you came back for SCW Sam.  When I heard that you got married to Colton I was sure that you were going to step back and do the wife thing.  Especially when you had that surgery on your shoulder.  Didn’t you think that it would have sidelined you enough?” asks Vixen as she crosses her arms over her chest and tilts her head to look at Sam who stops and looks over at the woman in surprise.  “Don’t get me wrong,” continues Vixen, “you have come back with a win but still…”

Sam raises an arm to rest it against the canvas of the bag.  Her body is covered with a sheen of sweat that only enhances her glow of health as she replies.  “I thought about it but answer me this Vixen…would you have stopped?  I mean, you left to have your twins and your married life with Spike but you came back and won that Grime championship.  Why didn’t you just step back and stay out of the ring?”

“Touche,” the French Canadian responds with an eyeroll and corresponding grin.  “I couldn’t not come back when asked and I am sure you are telling me that you are the same.  Quelle surprise n’est pas?  Donc, let us get you ready for your match.”

Sam straightens up with a questioning look.  Vixen is moving towards the mats after grabbing a pair of punching pads that she slowly pulls onto her hands.  Sam follows her to the mats and swipes the soft damp curls from her forehead and shakes her head to set the ponytail dancing.  She is ready, standing in a shaft of sunlight with dust motes like sparkles around her.  The pair grab the attention of some of the young wrestlers training in the gym who stop to watch the pair who begin to circle.

Vixen swipes at her with her left which forces Sam to back away quickly and stumble to the side before fighting to gain her pace once more.  Vixen keeps her moving and weaving with punches with a few kicks to change things up.  Sam is able to counter move and avoid a majority of the punches but one or two get under her guard and connect.  Sam shakes each one off only to come back for more.

After twenty minutes of hard sparring, Vixen holds up her hands and then pulls first off the right glove then the left which she tosses into an equipment case.  “Well, you are ready for any punches and swipes.  So that takes care of most of the bombshells doesn’t it?” teases Vixen before she looks serious.  “You didn’t say who you are facing for this match.”

“I’m facing Candy,” Sam offers nonchalantly as she picks at the tape on her left hand and begins to unravel it from her skin as she walks towards a table where a cooler can be seen.  Vixen follows her as Sam finishes unraveling the tape and manipulates it into a ball in her right and tosses it on the table before reaching her hand into the icy water to pull out a bottle of water.

Vixen puts a hand on the bottle just as Sam is about to bring it to her lips.  “Candy…the Candy that won your title from you?  THAT Candy?” she demands.  Sam’s eyes widen in surprise as her head slowly begins to nod in the affirmative.  “Ostie Sam…why didn’t you tell me before we started training?”

“Why would it matter who I was facing if you are helping to train me?” challenges Sam before bringing the bottle to her lips and taking a long sip of the icy water.

“If I had known it was Candy I was training you to face, I wouldn’t have gone so easy on you,” Vixen says as she shakes her head.  “Voyons donc, what else can I put you through to get ready?” she mutters to herself as she looks around the gym for something else to do which has Sam reacting with a spit take that sprays water all over the table. 

“What do you mean that you were going easy on me?” Sam says confusedly as she watches Vixen move towards more equipment.  Sam follows, a worried look on her face as Vixen holds up a jumprope.  With a sigh, Sam holds out her hand towards the rope.

Sam Marlowe can be seen standing outside of a wrestling ring as a voiceover can be heard.

“She’s known as the Sweetheart of Sin City Wrestling”

A slow smile crosses the lips of the redhead as she begins to walk up the ramp towards the camera as images light up on either side of her with scenes of wrestling matches showcasing Sam.

“She is a Sin City Wrestling Hall of Famer”

Sam looks down for a moment, a grin crinkles her nose before she looks up once more, this time the image of Sam flickers and flashes before changing into the image of a video game character.  The images change to show the character in the ring climbing the turnbuckles to wave at the animated fans. 

The camera view moves around to show the real Sam Marlowe with a game controller in her hands as she sits beside Pussy Willow who has her own controller and is seen shaking her head.

“And she is just one of the SCW bombshells in the new SCW video game by EB Sports…Get into the game!”

Sam leaps to her feet as she button mashes to get the win on the screen.  As she does, Drew Patton moves into view and holds her arm up in victory as Sam celebrates her win.

Who would have thunk it huh?  Sam Marlowe makes her triumphant return to SCW and gets the win in her first match of twenty twenty two.  And that first win was in the opening round of this year’s edition of the Blast from the Past tournament.  I was a long shot in everyone’s mind I am sure.  After all, last year didn’t have that many shining moments for me now did it.  But I silenced the nay sayers and the doubters who thought that I wasn’t going to be able to ‘hang’ with the Bombshells that currently are in Sin City Wrestling now. 

I myself had my doubts so I wanted to prove that I still had it.  And trust me, I did.  Did you not see the match…Supreme Machine and I facing Krystal Wolfe and Jack Washington and getting the win.  And it was ME, getting the win over the reigning Bombshell Roulette champion.  Something tells me that she wasn’t ready for what kind of opponent I could be.  She was riding the high of the fact that she broke my records which probably meant that she had the match on lock.  That was until I locked in the Sammiwrap and forced the champ into tapping out.  And I heard that Krystal wasn’t too happy about that…good thing I apologized beforehand.

Then for the past two weeks I have not been booked but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching closely for the weeks off.  I could have rested on my laurels and not worried until I found out who it would be that I would be facing in the next round of the tournament.  But honestly, with the caliber of talent in this tournament, you can’t rest on anything.  The difference between a win and a loss is a razor’s edge when it comes to the Blast from the Past.  And I am not going to dance on that edge, I want to go all the way and win.

But let me talk about my partner before I address our opponents in round two.  Supreme Machine.  Like I promised you, I wasn’t going to be the weak link in this team.  I gave one thousand percent and this coming match will be the same thing.  I am not going to let you down, we are going to move on in the tournament if I have anything to do about it.

With that, let me get to the heart of the matter…our opponents in this quarter final match.  The team of Goth and Candy.  I hear that they call themselves Dark Sparklez and you have to admit that it is a rather catchy name.  And knowing the pair, both of them are former champions and both of them are capable of winning this tournament too.

Goth for instance….he is one of the best here in SCW and has won quite a few championships having beaten some of the great wrestlers here in the company.  He is big and dangerous and very much in control most of the time.  He can snatch a win at any point of a match.  I respect the heck out of him.  You can’t help not respecting him.   Luckily however, I don’t really have to worry about him in this match because I don’t have to be in the ring with him, he is the problem that my partner has to solve.

My problem is trying to solve the problem that is Candy.  Well, she isn’t a problem like that.  She is just someone that is all over the place but when she focuses…she is dangerous.  I mean the woman is a pink explosion of sugary glittery confetti mixed with a whirlwind.  A force of nature sweet enough to give one a cavity and dangerous enough to pin you when you least expect it.

Candy and I do have a history you know.  She was the one that ended my last Roulette championship and took my title from me.  Back then I was a little bit cocky and thought that I was ten feet tall and bulletproof.  But Candy was my kryptonite.  Ironic huh…I am a diabetic and it was Candy that beat me and took my title.  And actually, I have to admit that was the start of my downward spiral or so I thought until recently.

When I lost to Candy, I seriously decided it then and there that I was done but there was that voice telling me to keep going and I did even though when I did, I lost more than I won.  But I didn’t care about wins or losses by that point because I was not worrying anymore, I was just doing my best to be the bombshell that the bosses could rely on night in and night out.  The bombshell that would be there for the fans.  And I was until it got to the point that I needed to heal and so I took the time away.

I went away and I healed.  Then I came back and first match back, I won.  And that win leads me to you once more Candy.  This time I am not going to underestimate you.  I am laser focused on this match.  I am not looking past you, oh no, you deserve my full attention.  You are the bombshell that I need to really prove myself against in this match because Candy, in my last match against you, I lost.  That is not going to happen this week. 

You see, this week is my chance to redeem myself when it comes to you and me.  You hold a win over me and I will admit, it stings just a little.  And I want to remove that sting and to do that, I have to beat you in this match which is the goal.  I have been preparing without even knowing it would be you that I would be facing.  Luck of the draw told me that I would be facing you at one point and even luckier, it is in the quarterfinals of the Blast from the Past.  And beating you will have a twofold effect for me. 

First, it will even out the advantage you hold over me by virtue of your win to take my Bombshell Roulette title.  I am aiming to erase that from my psyche with a win this week against you.  Secondly, facing you and getting the win is my ticket to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.  Either way, I want the win and am fixin’ to take it whether you like it or not.

The clock is ticking and it is almost time for Climax Control.  In a few more nights I will be facing you across the ring and you will get to see my determination and I don’t know what you will be feeling or thinking but I can tell you right now what I will be thinkin’.  I am going to be thinking three things.  One..that is a lot of pink and sparkles that you will be wearing.  Two, I respect you but Candy you are going to be crushed and three…time to get the job done to move on in the tournament.

I will see you in the ring on Sunday Candy.  Good luck to you, you will definitely need it with the way I am feeling about this match.