I always
fashioned myself as a firm believer in redemption. Hell, my sister and I were once a tag team
known as Redemption. God knows, I’ve
needed redemption in my life. I’ve
needed to redeem myself after the infamous #GingerHoax, I needed to redeem
myself after the cheap tricks I used to pull in SCW. Were it not for redemption, I would have been
lost forever to whatever darkness I had found myself in.
I think I
can safely say that very few people understand and believe in the concept of
redemption more than me. That’s why that
I believe people like Shaun Cruze and Blake Mason are capable of
redemption. I needed it, I’ve witnessed
others who needed it. Redemption is a beautiful
thing if you take advantage of it and I do know of people in my life that still
need redemption of their own and trust me, they are fighting to earn it.
I’d like to
think I’ve earned my redemption but whether I have earned it in the eyes of the
fans and the wrestling public is irrelevant.
This isn’t about THAT kind of redemption. This is about a different kind of redemption.
I dropped
the ball in Puerto Rico and Jinn took advantage and took away my SCW United
States Championship.
It’s time I
fixed that.
==========
Scene 1
Off Camera
==========
“Failure isn’t falling down; it’s remaining
where you’ve fallen.”
The above
quote describes the frame of mind that Marie Annabelle Jones currently finds
herself in. It wasn’t but a few months
ago that The Phoenix made her return to Supreme Championship Wrestling and,
thanks to Fatal Fortunes, she had earned a shot at the United States
Championship. She would take advantage
of that opportunity and defeat Tyler Tucker to become the SCW United States
Championship. She was on cloud nine for
she had achieved her redemption. She had
vindicated herself and restored the trust her fans had in her by winning the
championship and by winning it the right way.
No one could bring her down from the high she was on…
…not even an
enraged bully by the name of Regan Street.
At Taking Hold of the Flame it was Street, as well as the former champion
Tyler Tucker, who challenged Marie in a triple threat match for the SCW United
States Championship. Against all odds,
Marie retained the gold, defeating both challengers.
Jones
thought her road to Rise To Greatness was now clear and set, that she was going
to head into the biggest pay per view event of the year as the SCW United
States Champion. But then came her next
challenger at Supreme Saturday from Puerto Rico; the strange, rather odd
individual known as Jinn.
Perhaps she
got careless and looked past Jinn? Perhaps
he was just better on that night? Or
maybe it was a combination of the two?
Whatever the reason may be, Jinn managed to defeat Marie on that night
to become SCW United States Champion.
The old
Marie would have sunk into a depression.
Perhaps she would have thrown a tantrum at worst or at best just been
content to stay exactly where she was as a former champion. But The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling
has changed her ways. She will not throw
a tantrum nor will she accept her place.
Failure, she realizes, isn’t in losing, but remaining where she’s
fallen. She’s lost the United States
Championship but that doesn’t mean she has to like it.
The Phoenix
is determined to right the ship as she sails towards Rise To Greatness. She is determined to head into Rise To
Greatness as the SCW United States Champion but to do that she will have to
defeat Jinn in her one on one rematch on Breakdown from El Paso, Texas.
She’s been
champion before. Can she do it again?
A luxurious
rental car has pulled up in front of the entrance to the Homewood Suites Hilton
in El Paso, Texas. Marie Jones exits the
passenger side, followed by her husband, Arthur Pond, who exits from the
driver’s side. Arthur is wearing a
Carolina blue button up shirt with black denim jeans. The Phoenix is wearing a cute sexy blue
cotton spaghetti strap sleeveless A-Line midi knot cut out button plaid fabric summer
slip dress. Her feet are encased in
black high heeled sandals. Her long
gorgeous ginger locks of hair hang unrestrained to shoulder length.
They’re here
for the Breakdown show in El Paso where Marie will be challenging Jinn for the
SCW United States Championship. The stay
here may not be long but she still needs to be prepared, thus she has two bags
with her, unlike her husband Arthur, who is traveling lightly with just one
bag. A man in a hotel uniform including
black pants and white button up silk shirt, no doubt the valet, approaches
Arthur who hands the man the keys to the vehicle.
“Thank you sir,” the man gives a slight
bow walks towards the driver’s side as Marie and Arthur begin the walk towards
the entrance.
“Ahhh,” Arthur takes in a deep breath “so this is El Paso?”
“I suppose so.” Marie says with a nonchalant
attitude, which Arthur immediately notices.
“Are you ok, babe?”
“Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind right
now. That’s all.”
“Jinn and the United States Championship?”
“Yeah,” Marie says, nodding her head “among other things.”
The United
States Championship is definitely important to Marie and Arthur knows this. The
title symbolizes the end of her redemption quest. Being champion meant a great deal to her and
losing it stung, it stung a lot. Winning
it back would mean the world to Arthur’s lovely redheaded wife.
And yet
Arthur suspects that there are other issues on his wife’s mind as well, issues
that she is keeping hidden away from public view. Arthur has his own suspicions as to what
those issues entail but he figures that
now is not the time to get into that,
not when they are about to check into the hotel.
The young
couple approach the automatic doors, which instantly slide open for them as
they enter the hotel. Next they approach
the lobby. Arthur takes charges as he
rings for the attendant. The attendant,
a young woman with long blonde hair and wearing a navy blue suit skirt and
matching blazer with a white silk button up shirt, approaches the front desk.
“Yes, may I help you?”
“My name is Arthur, Arthur Pond. I have a room here reserved for me and my
wife Marie.”
The
attendant furiously types away at the keyboard of his computer. It isn’t long before she gets a result.
“Ah, yes, here you are,” the attendant
reaches into her desk and produces a key card.
She hands it to Arthur “room 236.”
“Thank you very much, miss.” Arthur answers
back as he takes the card and tucks it away safely in his pocket.
“Is there anything I can help you with,
sir?”
“No, I think we’re fine thank you.”
Arthur’s
voice trails off as leads his wife Marie away from the lobby desk and over
towards the elevators. Arthur presses
the button calling for the elevator and the door opens. Marie and Arthur enter the elevator and then
Arthur presses the button for the elevator to go up. The door closes and the elevator begins to
rise.
The two
remain in silence. Marie feels her
husband’s eyes staring at her, studying her intensely. Arthur knows her well and can sense that
something is wrong but she remains quiet about it as the elevator continues to
rise.
The elevator
doors open. Usually she lets Arthur lead
the way, but on this occasion Marie steps out first and storms her way down the
hall of the second floor, looking for room 236.
Arthur, with the key card and now carrying both bags, does his best to
keep up. It isn’t long until his wife
stops in front of a door that reads “236.”
Marie turns as Arthur approaches…
“Here’s our room.”
Arthur sets
the bags down so that he can insert the key card into the door. He hears the door unlock and then pushes it
open. Marie steps inside first, followed
by Arthur, carrying the bags. Jones
steps in front of the window staring out at the skyline overlooking the city of
El Paso, Texas. Arthur sets the bags
down on the bed and then approaches his wife, standing behind her.
“Beautiful scenery, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Marie agrees, nodding her head “it is.”
“But you know what’s more beautiful?”
“No, what?”
“You.”
Arthur steps
in front of his wife and attempts to plant a kiss on her lips but she turns and
the kiss lands on her cheek instead.
Arthur sighs and shakes his head with disappointment.
“What’s wrong, Marie?”
“Nothing.” Marie says sharply and simply
as she turns to walk away from her husband.
Eventually she finds a place to sit on the edge of the king size bed.
“You don’t act that way when nothing is
wrong.” Arthur remarks as he walks over and sits down on the bed next to
his wife. “So tell me the truth, what’s
bothering you?”
“I already told you, I have a lot on my
mind.” Marie responds with some frustration in her voice. “I’m challenging for the United States
Championship against Jinn, the guy who beat me at Supreme Saturday in Puerto
Rico. I need to win this, Arthur.”
“Oh come on, babe,” Arthur retorts “I doubt you’d be this upset over a title
match.”
“You’d be surprised.” Marie answers back
with sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“Tell the truth, Marie.” Arthur answers
back to her sternly. “What’s wrong?”
“Fine…” Marie sighs “…it’s Jessica.”
Marie and
Jessica have always had a rather tense relationship, or at least that’s the
impression Arthur has been given. That
relationship got even more strained a couple of weeks ago when Jessica made her
way to Marie and Arthur’s home in Boston, Massachusetts. Arthur slept through the incident but he
heard all about it after it was over.
Jessica threatened Marie only to turn and assault their sister Kimberly
instead.
It seemed to
all start with Kimberly. The identical
twin sister of Marie Jones, half-sister to Jessica Jones, had been a thorn in
the side to the Jones family for a long time.
Her psychotic and sociopathic tendencies had made it hard for anyone to
trust her. But Kimberly insisted that
Marie give her another chance. She
insisted that she wanted to change, just so long as she was allowed back in the
family again.
Kimberly
went so far as to commit herself to a mental institution for treatment. The fact that she was willing to go to those
lengths seemed to prove to Marie that Kimberly was truly serious about fixing
her mental state. The mental institution
decreed that Kimberly was able to leave the institution so long as she was
under the care of close family.
Enter Marie
and Arthur, who chose to take Kimberly into their home. This move was not a welcome one by all, for
when Jessica got wind of it, her jealous rage boiled over and she assaulted Kimberly
at their home. Marie and Kimberly’s
relationship may be fixed, but the relationship between Marie and Jessica has
never been this strained.
“I don’t what to say to her, Arthur.”Marie
says, her voice beginning to crack. “I’ve
always sensed that there was something wrong with Jessie, some kind of hidden
emotional turmoil that she was keeping chained up, locked up inside, but I didn’t
know what to do about it.”
Marie sighs
as she shakes her head. “Perhaps if we
had just talked about it, more? Perhaps if
I had bothered to reach out more but I was always wrapped up in my own
problems.”
Tears begin
to form in her eyes. She reaches up to
wipe the tears away. Arthur wraps his
arms around his wife’s shoulder, hugging her closely and tightly to his side in
order to comfort her.
“I had my own problems with mom and I didn’t
seem to care if Jessica had problems with mom.
I had my own identity crisis trying to figure out who I was but I never
cared about Jessica’s identity crisis. I had my own obsession over being the
best wrestler in the world but I never cared about Jessica’s career or the
pressure she was under being the daughter of not just one legend but two.”
She sighs
and shakes her head. “I’ve been a
terrible sister.”
“Now listen here, Marie,” Arthur says as
he takes his hands and gently turns his wife’s head so that their eyes meet one
another “you are not a terrible
sister. You do the best you can. Now do we make mistakes? Yes, everyone makes mistakes. You make mistakes, I make mistakes, that’s a
part of being human. But do any mistakes
you may have made justify her actions a few weeks ago at our house?”
He shakes
his head. “Absolutely not.”
“Ok, maybe it doesn’t justify her assault on
Kim,” Marie answers back “but I still
can’t help but feel at least partially responsible for Jessica’s outburst.”
“You’re not responsible for her actions.”
“My mind knows that but my heart says
otherwise.” Marie says with a hint of sadness in her voice as she wipes more
tears from her eyes. “I need to at least
try to fix this, Arthur. I need to
repair this damage that’s been done to mine and Jessica’s relationship.”
“Marie, babe,” Arthur says as he shakes
his head “it isn’t your responsibility to
fix every problem in your family.”
“I know that, but I just want to.”
Arthur
smiles warmly. “That’s what I love about
you, you always want to help.”
Marie stands
up and walks towards her bag. Arthur furrows his brow in confusion. “What are you doing now?”
“I’m going to take care of this.”
She reaches
into her bag and produces her iPhone.
She immediately starts pressing buttons.
“Who you calling?”
“Jessica.” Marie answers. “And I’m texting, not calling.”
“Jessica?
She wouldn’t follow you all the way to El Paso, would she?”
Marie smirks
knowingly. “You don’t know Jessica that
well…but besides that, GCW is hosting a show near her so I’m going to see if
she’d be willing to meet me nearby to talk things over.”
==========
Scene 2
Off Camera
==========
Despite The doubts
from her husband, Marie Jones was successful in contacting her sister Jessica
and a time has been set for them to meet.
One thing that can be said about the children of the legendary Angelica
Jones is that, no matter how lost they may become, no matter how angry with
each other they may become, one thing that will remain important to them, more
important than any of their petty squabbles, is family.
The
importance of family is something drilled into their heads ever since they were
children. Angelica Jones knew all too
well what life was like growing up as a teenager without a solid family life to
support her. She did not want that for
her children and wanted to make sure they understood that, no matter what, they
would try to maintain loyalty to each other, that they would try to always be
there for one another and support one another.
So when
Marie sent that text message to Jessica requesting a meeting in El Paso in
order to repair their tense relationship, she was not surprised at all that
Jessica had no qualms with making that meeting.
It made perfect sense to them both.
Something had to be done. This
problem had to be resolved.
It is a
problem that, for Marie, is more important than even the United States
Championship. She does want to defeat
Jinn on the July 12th edition of Breakdown in El Paso to become a
two time SCW United States Champion. She
wants that real bad; but more than that she wants to resolve this situation
with her half-sister Jessica. Jinn can
wait, Jessica is more important than him right now.
This is what
brings Marie to the Hope and Anchor bar in El Paso, Texas. Jones is wearing an ankle length, floral
print skirt, a ruffled silver colored tube top, and flip flops. Her long red hair hangs unrestrained to
shoulder length, flowing beautifully behind her as she walks past onlookers and
patrons, a few making eye contact with the beautiful Boston native, some even
recognize and make catcalls, but she ignores them all.
Jones
reaches the bar. The bartender, a slightly
older woman with blonde hair, has her back turned towards Marie. She gets her attention by clearing her throat
loudly. The bartender turns around and
smiles politely.
“Oh, hello.” She greets her. “What can I get you, ma’am?”
“Nothing
for me, thanks.” Marie answers.
“I was just here to meet
someone. About my height, red hair…”
The
bartender nods her head and points outside to the patio area. “She wanted to sit outside.”
“Thank you.”
With that,
Marie immediately steps away from the bar and makes her way towards the
entrance to the outside patio area.
Stepping through the doors and into the patio area outside she notices
that there is another bar area outside along with high top chairs and
tables. It’s decorated beautifully with
green bushes. She scans the area,
looking for her sister. It isn’t long
before she spots a feminine figure over by the corner of the patio area,
sitting at one of the high top tables.
She’s hunched over and her long red hair is covering her face as a
result, but Marie is certain that this is Jessica.
Jones
approaches the table and pokes the female, presumably Jessica in the back. “Jess?”
“Huh?” She sits up and looks over at
Marie. Sure enough, it is Jessica. “Oh…hi…”
“Nice to see you too.” Marie hops up on
one of the chairs next to her.
“You’re lucky I even came, Marie.”
Jessica snaps at her. “So don’t push your
luck.”
“I knew you were coming, Jess.” Marie
responds confidently. “You believe in
this family every bit as much as I do.”
“Whatever.” Jessica rolls her eyes
before picking up a half-empty glass of Guinness and takes a sip. Marie notices it and points at the glass.
“How many of those have you had?”
“Just one.” Jessica holds up one finger
with a knowing smirk across her face. “Don’t
worry, I’m not getting like my dad.”
“Excellent,” Marie says, chuckling “that’s good to hear.”
“Look, Marie, I…” Jessica sighs as she
sets her glass back down “…I want to
apologize for what happened back in Boston.”
“No apology is necessary, Jess.”
“Yes it is.” Jessica answers. “I threatened you, I scared your son…my nephew…I
just lost my temper, that’s all.”
“Well, you get it honest. Mom always was known for having a temper.”
“As was my dad…” Jessica smirks “…you get a temper just from mom, I get it
from both our mom and my dad.”
“True enough.”
“So yeah, I apologize for my outburst.”
Jessica remarks, taking another sip of her Guinness. “But that changes nothing regarding my feelings towards the family and specifically
towards Kimberly.”
Marie sighs
and shakes her head. “Jess, we’ve been
over this before…”
“Yeah, and you keep telling me that she’s
changed. I heard that all before but
guess what?” Jessica shakes her head. “I
don’t buy it.”
She sets her
glass back down and then points a finger at Marie. “You are a fool, Marie. This is
the same woman who kidnapped you, held you hostage in God knows where, and
tried to take over your life. That’s
just one of the many hair-brained schemes she concocted in order to try and
destroy you and this family and yet you’re willing to sit there and tell me
that you’re going to forgive her?”
“Yes,” Marie says immediately, nodding
her head “I am willing to forgive her
because she is repentant and she has changed.”
“I don’t buy it.” Jessica shakes her
head. “Not for one second.”
“Redemption is possible for anyone, Jess,
even Kimberly.”
“I used to believe that,” Jessica says
quietly as she takes another sip of her Guinness “but not anymore.”
Marie stares
at Jessica as she finishes this glass of alcohol and slams it down on the
table. The look on her face and she
sound of her voice makes her suspect that she was lying when she said this was
her first glass. But she doesn’t bring
it up.
“This isn’t just about Kim, though.”
Marie begins. “You said yourself that
nothing has changed regarding the family.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So what’s wrong with the family, Jess?”
Jessica sighs
and shakes her head. “The fact that you even
have to ask that question is so sad that it’s funny…”
“What do you mean?”
“Mom always taught us to be loyal to family
and to always stick by one another. That’s
why I went through all I did and sacrificed all I did in order to rescue you
from Kimberly when she kidnapped you.
But honestly, what have I ever received in return?”
She points a
finger at Marie. “Mom always said YOU
were the glue that kept her together. But
what about me? You’ve betrayed her more
times than I care to count; only recently have you and her finally made up once
and for all. I’ve never betrayed
her. Yet you’re the ‘glue’ that keeps
her together, you’re the favorite.”
“And don’t you think I feel ashamed and
guilty knowing this fact?” Marie snaps back at her. “I hate knowing that mom favors me over you…”
“Bullshit!” Jessica hops down off of the
chair. “You love it!”
“Honestly, I…”
before Marie can get the next word out, Jessica shoves her off of the chair,
causing the chair and Marie to tip over and Marie to land on the ground below.
“You love it! You revel in it!”
“Jessica,
calm down!” Marie scrambles back to her feet only to get met by a hard, vicious
right hand from Jessica that knocks her back down. Immediately the few patrons on the patio stop
and stare, Jessica is shocked at what she did as she finally begins to regain
control.
“I…I’m sorry…”
Jessica
turns and runs away, Marie pulls herself up to her knees and shouts…
“Jessica!
Wait!”
But Jessica
does not listen, instead she continues to run, leaving Marie in the dust.
==========
On Camera
==========
“Nothing is real if you don’t believe in who
you are.” ---Sylvester Stallone
A great deal
has been made about reality, especially when it comes to my opponent. Every chance she gets, Regan Street mocks him
for his own rather…unique views about his own reality. But then again, that’s all someone like that
can do when she realizes her own reality of never getting a shot at the United
States Championship.
At least,
not until she grows up.
I could do
the same if I wanted. I could mock you
all day long, Jinn, and believe me when I say I can get nasty with the best of
them. Just look at who my mother is; the
infamous Dragon, and while she is reformed no one should ever think that I didn’t
learn a few things from “The Dragon” Angelica Jones.
Then there’s
my aunt, Kayla Jones. They say a leopard
never changes its spots and that is true with Kayla, whether the fans cheer her
or whether they boo her, she always is and always has been and always will be a
little bitchy.
Sorry, Aunt
Kayla, but you’ve said it yourself.
I could draw
upon that and get just as nasty as people like Regan Street but that’s not who
I am anymore. I’m not the same
overbearing, arrogant bitch who threw temper tantrums when she lost. Not anymore.
That person is gone. So while it
does admittedly pain me to say it, I will say congratulations, Jinn. You beat me at Supreme Saturday from Puerto
Rico.
I’m not
going to try and make any excuses about how I was simply looking past you or
how I was preoccupied or distracted with something else in my personal life, I’m
not going to pass the blame off onto anything else and thus cheapen your
win. I threw my best at you and you beat
me.
That is
reality. I have to accept it.
Another reality
is that I am now in the place of the challenger and it is appropriate that I
have that quote from Sylvester Stallone of Rocky fame because as the challenger
I once again feel that addiction that I no longer felt when I was United States
Champion.
You see,
Jinn, what you do not realize yet is that being a champion is like a drug. Once you’ve had a taste of that gold you have
to have it again. Once you have been a
champion but then lost the belt, that hunger to be champion again will drive
you insane until you get the gold back.
Some people can’t handle it. Some
people can’t take not being champion and they lose control.
Regan Street
is a case study of that.
I won’t get
that bad, I at least have some control over myself, but you had better believe
that I have that drive, that hunger to be champion again; or, as the band
Survivor put it in Rocky 3, I have that eye of the tiger, the thrill of the
fight…
…don’t
worry, I won’t break out into song, but understand that my new reality is that
of a hungry challenger, a former champion who doesn’t just want but needs to
have that championship gold back around her waist. That’s my new reality.
And your new
reality, Jinn, is that defender. No
longer are you trying to get where I am, you already ARE where I once was, you
have achieved that goal and, as a said, congratulations, but coming with that
is the responsibility of defending that spot from hungry competitors like me
who will not stop until they have reclaimed the throne.
The pressure
is also now on you, Jinn. Just think,
one more defense of that championship and you have a clean ride to Rise To
Greatness. While you suffered setbacks
against some top SCW talent and attacks from the likes of Regan Street, despite
all of that you can walk into the biggest event of the year as a champion.
But that’s
not your reality, Jinn. At least, it isn’t
your reality just yet. You still have
one major roadblock on your Road To Rise To Greatness and that roadblock is The
Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling, that roadblock is yours truly, “The
Phoenix” Marie Annabelle Jones!
I want that
to be my reality, Jinn; because, you can honestly all of those things about
me. I had setbacks in my SCW career that
caused me to have to take some time off, but then I returned and became United
States Champion, only to become the victim of attacks from Regan Street. I overcame that and now I could also punch my
ticket to Rise To Greatness as United States Champion.
I just have
to get through one major roadblock named Jinn.
That
scenario will become reality for me or for you, Jinn, and you had better
believe that I will do everything in my power, sacrifice everything in my body,
my heart, and my soul, every drop of blood, every tear, and every bead of sweat
in my body in order to claim that reality as my own!
And you
remember what Sly Stallone said about reality, right? Nothing is real if you don’t believe in who
you are. Well I believe in myself,
Jinn. I believe in myself because I’ve
been to the deepest darkest recesses of depression and I fought my way
back. I’ve been to the dark side and
fought on the side of “evil” as some may call it but I fought my way back to
the light. I’ve been to hell back and
lived to tell the tale.
So when you
hear what I have to say next, understand that I do not say it out of arrogance
or out of overconfidence. I definitely
do not say it because I’m some kind of egomaniac like some in this
industry. I say this because I am
confident. I say this because I KNOW who
I am and I KNOW my reality. I say this
because I believe in myself.
I say this
because I’ve played this game before and won.
Jinn, you
may have defeated me in Puerto Rico at Supreme Saturday, but that won’t happen
again. That won’t happen in this rematch
on Breakdown from El Paso, Texas. That
reality I described to you about overcoming the odds, capturing the United
States Championship, and marching into Rise To Greatness as the champion?
I’m going to
claim that reality as my own.
You are
good, Jinn, you are very good, there is no denying that, because you don’t win
a title in SCW without being good at what you do. Hell, I know from experience how good you
are. But trust me when I say I’ve done
my homework, I’ve reviewed the tapes, and I’ve made the proper
adjustments. Things will be different this
time; because as good as you are, this time from El Paso, Texas, I will be
better.
This time, I
will be the one who will raise the championship high over my head when all is
said and done and my reality will be set in stone, my road to Rise To Greatness
will be clearly marked with no further roadblocks to stop me.
Reality,
Jinn. We’re both going to have to face reality
in El Paso, but only one of us will get the reality we want. The other will have to settle.
I’m not settling,
Jinn. Not this time. I want to become a two time SCW United States
Champion. I want to walk into Rise To
Greatness as the champion. And if ending
your reign is what I have to do then so be it.
I will do what needs to be done, because I am The Phoenix, I am The
Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling, and by the time our match on Breakdown
has concluded, I will be your two time SCW United States Champion.
