Post by RedLetters on Mar 7, 2020 18:37:48 GMT -5
𝕴𝖋 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖘𝖊𝖑𝖋, 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖉 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖚𝖑𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖆 𝖍𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝖇𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖑𝖊𝖘.
Saturday, March 7th, 2020
Gastonia, North Carolina
Gastonia, North Carolina
"When I said be real, I meant don’t put on a front for the crowd because they’ll see right through it. This is too real-", says the wonderful Stacy Lang, dark-haired assistant, journalist, agent, and girlfriend of APW's newest signee, Red Riot, while the two carefully navigate through an old, worn down, and battered wrestling arena. Rusted metal chairs, decayed wood, and an almost collapsing wrestling ring are the obstacle course the two navigate with plenty of grunting and carefully moving around broken wood or exposed pipes, or mysterious holes of which they cannot see a bottom until Riot sits on the ring apron and Lang gives her the thumbs up. Lang raises a camera, steps to the left until the beaten up gym doesn't look like it's about to cave-in around the two, and nods and wipes a bead of sweat from her forehead. "-like, typheus real."
Riot slaps the ring apron a few times to slap up some dust, and brushes it in her partner's direction for that insult to her home arena. It's been years since this arena, known to many locally as the Dungeon, was forced to close after larger wrestling companies began running shows in southern North Carolina, and her father was too stubborn to sell, leading to it going unused and neglected. "This is the gym I grew up with. It’s not the prettiest, but I can’t think of anything realer than coming back to the Dungeon. I’d spend my Thursdays watching a revolving door of indie wrestlers walking in and blowing the roof off the place. I’d be sitting in the front row with ‘the girls’, cheering on people I knew I could beat if I got the chance. I'm sticking around Alpha Pro for a while, so people might as well get used to the realest, most uncut version of me there is, and I can't think of anything better than this."
“And you trained for years, and you’re here. Out of all PhD dropouts, you’re honestly probably one of the few that made their dreams come true,” giggles Stacy, knowing Riot's following eyeroll is so powerful that it almost makes her headache.
“Yet of the Riot family, I’m the only one that’ll be in attendance during my debut.”
This comment's met with silence, along with the crowing of the birds that call this building's tattered roof home, and the wind breezing through the building. After a few seconds not knowing whether the wind or the silence are more chilling, Stacy steps forward, puts a hand on her chest, and tries to straight up her face for a few seconds of seriousness. “Hey. Don’t say that," Lang bites her lower lip, and looks up to her love, perched over the ring apron and hanging her head, and lays on a very sweet, syrupy like molasses level of calming, as she comforts her loved one. “I’ll be there. The Riot family you grew up with isn’t the only one. We’re starting our own, aren’t we?”
“Y-yeah. You’re right. We don’t need them but… whatever. It’d be nice. Can we shoot? This place is starting to get to me.”
“You’re sure we don’t need to stop?”
“No. I invited you because I knew it’d be hard, but I wanted you hear. Plus, the bears out here are stupid aggressive, so we should probably start like… ten minutes ago." Riot's girlfriend mouths words that wouldn't make it through APW's content filter, before hitting the button to start filming.
“For nature, Spring is the signal of renewal and growth. I’m looking to follow suit in trying something new, so I cannot emphasize how important this tag tournament is to me. As a new face to the A-P-Dub, getting a chance to prove myself and my ability to partner with a complete stranger, find a chemistry, and work to defeat the likes of twenty-eight other competitors is an amazing opportunity for growth. Despite both myself and Danica Kane barely knowing one another, we’re facing established teams and are going to have to learn-as-we-go. By diving right into the pool, I’ll quickly find out whether I’ll sink or swim. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t nerve wracking, but growth feels uncomfortable, and every time I vision myself fighting next to Danica, I feel the same discomfort I’ve felt with every major change for the better in my fighting career," she says, while looking down at the ring she knows like the back of her hand, as she thinks about stepping into the Dunkin Donuts Center for her upcoming first-round tag tournament match.
“It's March, and it’s about freaking time it started to warm up. People that once were bundled up behind layer after layer of North Face and Uggs are starting to show their perty lil’ faces again, and wrestling federations everywhere are putting off those corny holiday gimmick matches and putting on the real action, hoping to get whatever new faces they could in the arena to show off what they’ve got. I love this time of year. It smells like industry, baby," she takes a large whiff, and aside from the faint scent described by her wonderful girlfriend as 'typhus', it still faintly smells like the sweat spilled putting on the performances that inspired her lust for the industry, the blood of competitors locked in a battle of wills, and like home. "Stepping outside without a coat and getting to soak in some rays always makes me start reflecting back, because this was a time of year that was always significant for us. I grew up in a family of wrestlers, so this time of year’s special to me. This time of year meant ribs. Sometimes it meant new cars, a new addition to the house, damn near anything as long as people were working their asses off, we were reaping all the benefits.” There are a few moments of fists clinching, of laughing in frustration while thinking back to being parked to a chair in a collapsing federation, despite being talented enough to be signed to the Alpha Pro Wrestling. Lang looks up and mouths a question asking if they need to stop, but Riot shakes the question off.
“For them, at least, it meant that. For me, it meant exams and finals, because making the mistake of being a girl meant I was too delicate, soft, and fragile to even separate the ring ropes, much less compete in a ring. As such, debuting as Spring opens up is a bittersweet victory. I could use this time on television to tell them ‘I told you so’, but I won’t. I’d rather show ‘em in the ring. It’ll just feel exponentially more satisfying if I show them while I happen to be partnered with another woman. They won't think it's funny, but I think it's a Riot.”
“Growing up without being allowed to step into a ring or on a mat was hard, because I always got a taste. It started with sparring with my brothers whenever they needed a sparring partner. It progressed to other sports - but field hockey and rugby never scratched the itch for me - I wanted to feel the wind underneath my wings, to feel the awe from the eyes of spectators, and to feel the warmth of the bright lights on my back. I needed that adrenaline. I needed the surge, and I was this hyper impulsive, highlight reel chasing woman that would do anything for it. I hit harder than anyone, and if I had to choose between a highlight reel for myself or a win for my team, I’d always choose myself. I was impulsive, selfish, and greedy for the type of affirmation I had been starved." Riot rubs the back of her head. She can still feel the lumps from a few of those selfish decisions going horribly wrong, and learning from it. "Ergo, it’s kind of weird seeing my name on an advertisement for an actual federation, and even weirder to face two people that have the same look in their eyes as I used to have. But that isn’t me anymore.”
“Nowadays, I fight for something important. Instead of being like Andre and only fighting when I am in a tournament or a battle royal for a title shot, I fight because I love to fight, not because I need glory or attention. That’s why last week, I debuted against the first person a GM could find to step into a ring with me.” Red Riot shrugs her shoulders and cracks her knuckles. She's a fighter, so she fought. Simple. “It wasn’t the prettiest or highest profile match, but that’s fine. I’ve got a point to make. Lucy Sixx and Cecilia aren’t anomalies or exceptions to the rule - women have always been capable fighters, and looking forward to being yet another example of it. Whenever Red Riot steps into a ring, she’s proving not only that a woman can dominate, but even wrestling fans can’t deny cheering for someone so unabashedly willing to give everything she’s got on her way to blazing a trail of victory. That's why Danica and I are a good fit. We're from different backgrounds, but we're women that know wrestling, and that's a universal language neither of our opponents can speak.”
“I’ve spent most of my life forced into a classroom, as I was told to be someone I’m not, and told to believe the world to be different than I know it is. The most important difference between the classroom and the fighting scene? The best students of the game always show, don’t tell. APW champions aren’t running around like Icarus Aquarius, using their airtime to tell you about how great they were somewhere else, about how much their performances in another federation were worth so much money, dooming themselves to crash and burn because of their need to fly as close to the sun as possible. I don’t have to tell you what I’m worth - you’ll see it whenever I step into a ring.” Almost as if she's feeling the urge to make an example of her words, she rises up to her feet, sprints along the apron, and leaps onto the turnbuckle. She looks out to empty seats, but smiles, as it'll be different Monday.
“The problem with these two will be their unraveling. They're fighters of very different backgrounds, both with large insecurities they carry on their sleeves. Both find liberation in leaning into being a caricature of themselves, as if to say ‘so what if I am’. They thrive on beating you to the punch: so what if I don’t speak perfect English, so what if I’m rude, so what if I’m unbearable, so what? They focus so much on beating you to the punch, that they don’t ever look at whether or not that punch lands. Show, don’t tell.”
“Don’t tell me that it doesn’t matter what I, the APW staff, or the fans think about you. Show me. Show me that it doesn’t matter by winning. Show me that it doesn’t matter by putting on impressive performances. Show me that it doesn’t matter by making a name for yourself here if you’re Amirah, or in Andre’s case, show me by repeating your past successes instead of being stuck worshiping your past accomplishments. Andre’s looking for this next match to be his redemption tale, and Amirah’s hoping it’s her coronation. I’m afraid I’ve got bad news.”
“It’s going to be a Red Wedding.”
