One More Lesson From History

In order to be the best, in order to be The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling, you have to constantly hone your craft, you have to constantly take on new challenges, and you have to always be at the top of your game.  You cannot, not even for a second, ease up off of the gas pedal and think that everything is going just fine.

Always keep up the pressure.  Never give them an inch, or else they’ll take a mile.

I may have technically lost at Learning From History but the fact is that throughout the championship series, and even in defeat at the hands of Christy Matthews, I proved that I am main event material, that I can hang in there with and defeat the very best SCW has to offer, I proved to everyone, but more importantly to myself, that I am deserving of the moniker Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling.

And yet before I go forward, before I take the next step into my future, I must once more learn from history, I must once more go into the past and take care of a ghost…the ghost of an old friend…

…because everything looks good in HD, right Sam?

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Off Camera

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We open backstage in the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.  The redheaded Boston native Marie Annabelle Jones is walking with a determined purpose down the halls of the arena, searching for her dressing room.  She lost to Christy Matthews at Learning From History, but despite that fact she knows that her future within Supreme Championship Wrestling is very bright.   Marie has proven through a triple threat victory over two former world champions in the championship series that she can beat the best.  She proved at Learning From History that she can hang in there with the best, for she had Christy beaten and would’ve won had it not been for Christy taking a few shortcuts.  Still, despite the promising future that lies ahead, young Marie has a scowl on her face.  She isn’t happy about the current proceedings in SCW.

But there’s no use worrying about that right now.  That’s a concern for another day.  She finally spots her dressing room up ahead.  She begins to head towards the door but she is tackled from the side and pressed up against a wall.  Marie looks into the eyes of her mirror image, her sociopathic twin sister, Kimberly Williams.

“Hiya, sis!” She plants a big wet kiss on her lips. “How ya doin’?”

Marie finally manages to push Kimberly off of her.  Jones wipes her lips frantically and vehemently shakes her head.

“Kim!  What the hell are you thinking?!”

“Just wanting to get your attention.  No harm in that, is there?”

Marie takes appraisal of her twin sister.  It’s like looking into a mirror, except Marie is dressed slightly nicer, in a nice leather skirt, black high heeled pumps, a red blouse, and her signature black leather jacket.  Kim, on the other hand, is wearing torn jeans, flip flops, and a t-shirt which reads ‘I Groped Mr. D’.

“No, there isn’t any harm, except when you kiss me like that.”

“Just showing my affection.” Kimberly says with a playful wink.

“There are better ways to show your affection.” Marie says with a frown. “Ways that doesn’t make it look like you’re inbreeding.”

“Who said anything about inbreeding, other than you, of course, you devilish little thing?”

“I didn’t mean…” Marie sighs and just shakes her head “…fine, just whatever…”

Marie shakes her head with disbelief.  Kimberly shrugs her shoulders as she watches her sister storm past her towards the dressing room.  Kimberly follows suit.  The sibling pair enters the dressing room and shut the door behind them.  Once inside they spot their aunt Kayla Jones and Kayla’s sister, Kim and Marie’s mother Angelica Jones, already in the dressing room waiting.  Kayla sits in a blue steel folding chair dressed in a flowing, loose fit ankle length floral print skirt, a red short sleeved top, and sandals on her feet.  Her long gorgeous red hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length.  Angelica stands next to her, holding the remote control that controls the television monitor.  Together they watch the end of Breakdown as it happens live.

“I found the Grouch-O,” Kimberly remarks, motioning to Marie “I just need to know where Marx is.”

“Real funny, Kim.” Marie says rolling her eyes as she steps up behind her mother, hoping to get a good view of Breakdown.

“Kimberly does have a point, Marie.  You have been rather down in the dumps ever since Learning From History.”

“I lost, Aunt Kayla.  Can you blame me for being a little disappointed?”

“But look who you lost to,” Kayla counters “and look at how well you did leading up to that match.  You beat Ace Marshall.  You beat Christy Matthews.  There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“You don’t get it.” Marie sighs, shaking her head. “You just don’t get it.”

“I have had well over fifteen years experience, young lady.” Kayla retorts with a stern voice. “I think I do get it.”

Marie ignores her aunt for now as she just stands there, watching the television monitor, side by side next to her mother.  CHBK’s voice comes from the monitor…

“And Olek…I’ll at least give you a bit of a sneak preview since you are a friend…Kennedy Street made a very convenient patsy.”

The crowd booing can be heard.  Angelica snickers a little as she shakes her head.

“Somehow I knew, I just knew.  No one in this sport is pure, not even her.”

Without warning Marie takes the remote from her mother’s hand and immediately turns the television monitor off.  Angelica looks over at her daughter with a little hint of surprise on her face.

“Hey!  I was watching that!”

“Not anymore.” Marie hands the remote back to her mother and storms over to the far side of the room.  With her back turned she glares angrily into nothingness as she begins to question everything she fought for, everything she knew.

“Marie,” comes her aunt’s voice from just behind her “what’s wrong?”

“It just isn’t fair.  I busted my ass in that championship series, and did I lose?  Yeah, but at least I went about things the right way by trying to earn it.  Even Bree was done wrong, in a way.  She may be a stuck up bitch, she may be arrogant, but at least she EARNED her way into the title match at Learning From History.  Syren didn’t put forth any effort into a damn thing at The Future Is Now, she didn’t participate in the championship series, and still got put into the triple threat for the world title.”

Marie turns around to face her aunt Kayla. “Now we find out that it was all a ruse from day one. Not to mention Christy Matthews, who had to take a shortcut in order to beat me.  I just…” she sighs and shakes her head “…I just want to do things the right way but it doesn’t seem as if it ever works.”

“Yeah, that’s what Syren and her fake sidekicks said, and maybe there is some truth to that,” Kayla reaches out and places a hand on her shoulder “because there will be times in this business when you have to give back every bit as much as you receive.  Being on top isn’t always easy.  When people see you are vulnerable they will use that vulnerability to try and knock you off of your pedestal.  Christy Matthews clearly is afraid of you, she knows you could take her spot in the hierarchy.  Just make sure next time you run into her, take it to the next level of intensity.  You don’t have to stoop to her level if you don’t want to, you can be any kind of wrestler you want, but you need to be more intense.  Bust her in the mouth.”

“Yeah,” Marie snickers “I’ll do that, but I kind of doubt Christy is coming back after me.  No championships are involved.”

“True enough.  So just focus on you.  You’ve built up a hell of a lot of momentum since this championship series.  Keep it up. Keep going, keep winning.”

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On Camera

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There’s an old adage that has been used many times in the sports world, but it’s taken from mother nature herself.  For if you look within nature, specifically at a pride of lions, what you see is the old, dominant alpha male lion running the pride, ruling with an iron fist for as long as he can.  And sometimes that alpha male’s reign lasts a very long time.

But nothing is forever.  Everything must come to an end, except time.  Time always goes on.  Time is the master of us all.  No matter how good you are, time eventually catches up with you.  Time eventually catches up with that alpha lion.  That lion gets older, weaker, and when that lion shows its weaknesses, shows its vulnerabilities, a younger, more vibrant lion will come along and eliminate that older alpha lion and takes its spot as the head of the pride.

Samantha Raine, my dear friend, you are that alpha lion.  And our pride was known as Hidden Desires.

You brought me in.  I was originally just you and Faith, but you brought me in and I’m glad you did, Sam.  At the time you were the only family I knew, because I kinda burned some bridges with my own family and it took a while to rebuild those relationships.  But you were there.  You nurtured me, you molded me into, well, someone quite similar to you…

Fashionista.  Arrogant.  Some may even say bitchy.

I embraced the HD lifestyle and I embraced the opportunity to work with someone like you.  You were a great friend, Sam, you were my mentor.  I adored you to the extent that I traded my Mr. Money’s Briefcase in exchange for your tag title shot.

For those that don’t know, the Mr. Money’s Briefcase guaranteed a world title shot back in the old GDW.  But I gave it to Sam in exchange for her half of the tag titles.  Was it insane of me to do that?  Stupid, even?  Maybe.  But I didn’t care.  I felt I owed it to her for everything she had done for me.  Plus I felt I wasn’t ready for that level.  I hadn’t learned enough to try and usurp the top dog.  I wasn’t ready to try and overthrow the alpha lion.  So I gave her that title shot and I took a step back.  I remained in her shadows of Hidden Desires so I could continue to learn all I could, and prepare myself for the time that I would overthrow the alpha lion.

I learned a great deal from you during that time, Sam.  Hell, I learned almost as much from you as I learned from my own mother and my own aunt.  Because I pay attention, Sam.  I always take notes, I am a great student of the game.  Every experience, both good and bad, I always make sure to learn from it so I can improve and get better until the day that it becomes my time to shine.

That time is now.  I have observed your weaknesses, your vulnerability.  You’ve been barely getting by in SCW, whereas I’m oh so close to getting a World Title shot.  I already won the United States Championship and had many great battles with legends such as Regan Street.

In a way, I’m already at the top whereas you, you’re in my shoes, trying to find your way back to the top, trying to learn how to navigate the waters of SCW.  You were the master and I was the student but now the roles have reversed, my good friend.  I am the master, I am The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling and it is time for me to challenge the alpha lion known as Samantha Raine.

Many might consider this a “passing of the torch” moment, and in a way it is, just like it is in nature when the young lion takes that torch fiercely and violently away from the old lion, but this isn’t nature and this isn’t your typical passing of the torch moment.

You see, Samantha, I’ve been through hell the past several months.  I don’t mean that in a bad way, but more in the sense of the purifying fire that prepares a warrior for the next level.  That’s the kind of hell I am talking about when I refer to the championship series.  In triple threat action I beat two former world champions, one of whom was this year’s male superstar of the year.  I am on the threshold of greatness and I am not looking back.

In other words, Sam, I’ve already proven to be THE Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling, I have already taken hold of the torch passed on to me from my mother, Angelica Jones.  This match between you and I isn’t just about past versus present but it’s about closing the book on one awesome chapter of my professional career even as I continue to write the new chapters each and every time I set foot inside of a wrestling ring.

To put it bluntly, you are not facing that same star-struck young girl eager to learn from you.  You are facing a woman who has made famous the name of “The Phoenix” Marie Annabelle Jones, “The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling” Marie Annabelle Jones, and it is that individual who will step forward into a new era by dealing with her past once and for all.