==========
Making Peace
Off Camera
==========
Julia
Braddock has been shouting at the top of her lungs to anyone who will listen
that her quest for redemption is over.
She is proudly declaring victory and proclaiming that she is no longer
the pompous, arrogant Queen Julia of old, but she has regained her former self,
she has once again staked claim to her Braddock heritage. Julia has won championships before in her
wrestling career, but reclaiming the trust of her Uncle Glenn Braddock and
reclaiming her Braddock name and heritage is, quite possibly, among her
greatest achievements. She is quite
proud of this accomplishment.
Unfortunately,
Julia Braddock does not truly feel that she has achieved this goal.
This would
be a shock for the rest of the world, for the entire wrestling world has
followed Julia on her journey, a journey that included convincing Glenn
Braddock and Henry Van Stanton that she had indeed changed and that she wanted
to redeem herself. It was a journey that
included Julia battling the likes of Mason Van Stanton, Lukas Montgomery, and Silas
Mason, all of whom wanted to try and lure her back to her old evil ways. And after Awakening, when she defeated the
combination of Lukas Montgomery and Mason Van Stanton, and then the following
Riot when she added to her momentum with a victory over Emily Cage, Julia
Braddock appeared to have shaken off the demons of her past and was ready to
move on with her life.
Oh but
appearances can be deceiving and they have been very deceiving when it comes to
the Braddock family. It was deceiving in
an ironic way, because while everyone was focusing on Julia Braddock, Glenn
Braddock, the Van Stanton Brothers, Lukas Montgomery, and so many other factors
that came into play in this multi-faceted journey, one big piece of the puzzle
was ignored…
…Glory
Braddock.
The irony
lies not in the fact that Glory Braddock is, arguably, the most famous of the
Braddock Wrestling Family, but more so due to the fact that this whole “Queen
Julia Noel” situation was started as a direct result of jealousy that Julia Braddock
felt towards her famous cousin.
Had it not
been for that jealousy, had it not been for Julia and her jealousy, she never
would have gone down that path that led her to the allegiance with Aphrodite
Noel, that led her to becoming Queen Julia Noel, and eventually led to Glory
Braddock being brainwashed into thinking she was Gloria Noel.
Julia does
have other issues to deal with, namely her professional wrestling career that
is blossoming. Julia Braddock defeated
Lukas Montgomery at Awakening, she defeated Emily Cage on Riot, and now she is
scheduled to compete in the tournament to crown a new number one contender to
the IWC World Championship.
Tournaments
are challenging enough, add to that the fact that Julia Braddock will be tested
like she has never before been tested as she goes up against Orlando Cruze in
the first round. Julia certainly has a
great deal of momentum in her corner right now, with two big wins under her
belt, but no doubt she is the underdog against Orlando Cruze, a self-proclaimed
Icon of IWC, and she will have to be at the top of her game in order to defeat
him.
That being
said, one would expect Julia Braddock to be focused almost entirely on Orlando
Cruze and, to be fair, her trainer and uncle Glenn Braddock does believe that
training is key right now…
…and he has
no problem letting her know it…
“This is a mistake.”
Glenn’s
voice is low but firm as he says this to his niece. They are standing outside of her cousin’s
apartment in London, England. The blonde
is wearing a floral print sleeveless sundress with a gently pleated Empire waist that allows the dress to flow
freely around her. The hemline stops
just above the knee. Her feet are
encased in high heeled sandals. Her long
blonde hair hangs freely to shoulder length.
The grizzled veteran standing next to her is her uncle, Glenn Braddock,
and he wears blue jeans, a white button up shirt, and plain white tennis shoes.
Julia Braddock agrees with her uncle, to an extent. She knows that being here in London, England
as opposed to Japan is a mistake. The
travel back and forth will no doubt drain her and she knows this. Being here instead of being in Japan is just
handing Orlando Cruze yet another advantage he does not need. But Julia Braddock feels that there is a far
greater goal to achieve here, one that is far and away greater than potentially
winning a world championship, and that goal is to finally, for once and for
all, put to rest the issues between her and her cousin Glory.
“You’re probably
right, Uncle Glenn.”
“Probably right? I know I’m right!” He snarls. “You should be in Japan right now preparing
for war with Orlando Cruze!”
“I know Orlando
Cruze is tough…”
“He’s more than
tough.” Glenn answers back. “He will
easily be the toughest competitor you have had to face in IWC and I don’t say
that just for shits and giggles, because you know how much I disdain that piece
of garbage.”
Julia giggles lightly. “I
never would have guessed that you don’t like him!”
“Point is that he is
good and you need to be prepared.”
“I know he’s good,” Julia
responds, turning her attention away from Glenn and back towards the apartment “but I also know that I need to settle
things with Glory.”
“That’s my daughter
in there.” Glenn says softly. “I can
settle things for you myself, I can talk to her while you prepare for Cruze.”
Julia shakes her head. “No,
Glenn. I was the one who did this to
her, I started this with my jealousy. I
need to finish this.”
The grizzled veteran stares at his niece, who stares right
back at him. Finally Glenn just sighs. “I’m not going to talk you out of this, am
I?”
“No, uncle Glenn,
you’re not.” She says with a smile and a wink.
“Fine then.” He
says, relenting. “It’s just…”
“What?”
“I worry about her.”
“Understandable.” Julia
responds. “She is your daughter. But she’s my cousin and I hurt her. Now I’m going to try and fix things.”
With that Julia Braddock turns away from her uncle Glenn
and begins to walk towards the front door of her apartment. Once she gets there she wastes no time in
knocking on the door. The beautiful
blonde stands and waits. And waits. And waits…until finally the door opens. Julia sees Kurt Logan, Glory’s husband,
standing there. He wears a plain white
t-shirt, blue jeans, and black boots.
“Oh, hi Julia,”
Kurt sounds as if he was not expecting her “umm,
what can I do for you?”
“You seem flustered.”
She remarks. “Surprised to see me?”
Kurt grins. “Yeah…kinda…”
“Well, you aren’t
the only one.” She remarks with a slight giggle, thinking back to her uncle’s
criticism. “Is Glory available?”
“Yeah, she is,”
Kurt answers “in fact, she just got back
from therapy.”
Therapy. That word
causes Julia to wince in pain. Glory
Braddock has to go to psychiatric therapy in an attempt to undo the mental
damage done to her, mental damage done in large part by Julia Braddock herself. This is a painful reminder of why she is
here, why she has to be here, to try and make things right between her and
Glory.
“May I, ummm…”
her voice trails off as she fights back tears “…may I see her?”
Kurt nods his head. “Yeah,
sure…”
Kurt turns and motions for Julia to follow him inside the apartment. Julia follows Kurt deeper into the apartment,
deeper and deeper, until they get to the living room. They step through the door and Julia finds
Glory seated in the plush black leather sofa, smiling warmly. The British Bombshell is wearing a pink
sleeveless dress with a scoop neckline and a hem that stops just above the
knee. Her feet are encased in matching
pink high heeled pumps.
Seeing Glory like this is enough to bring more tears to
Julia’s eyes. Before Julia can say
anything, Glory sees her, and greets her
first.
“Oh, hi Julia!”
She says, greeting her cousin with a polite wave.
“Ummm…hi...”
Julia says uncomfortably.
“I will leave you two alone.”
Kurt
responds as she takes his leave from the living room. Once Kurt is gone, Julia manages to find the
strength and courage to approach Glory on the sofa. Glory is still smiling, not noticing the
tears yet. She motions for Julia to sit.
“Sit down!”
Julia nods
and sits down. Glory stares deep into
her cousin’s eyes, still smiling, but that smile slowly fades as she finally begins
to notice the tears.
“Julia, you’re…you’re crying…” Glory
sounds confused “…what’s wrong?”
“You!” Julia exclaims, her tears rolling
down her cheek like waterfalls as she can no longer hold back.
“What do you mean? What did I do?”
“It’s nothing you did,” Julia assures
her “It’s just seeing you like this…the
pink, the dress…”
Julia shakes
her head “…you hate pink, Glory, and you
hate dresses. At least, the Glory I knew
hated pink and hated dresses. This is
not the Glory Braddock I know, this is Gloria Marie Noel.”
Glory
frowns, shaking her head. “You’re
wrong. My name is Glory Braddock. I’ve reclaimed my identity.”
“Maybe, but you don’t look like her. And besides, I did this to you, I created
Gloria Marie Noel.”
She bows her
head in shame. “That’s why I came here,
Glory. That’s why I wanted to talk to
you. I was jealous of you and your
popularity and success. Wrestling came so
easy for you that I guess it was just expected that it would come easy for me
as well but it didn’t, and when it didn’t, when the pressure came, I took my
frustrations out on you, I got angry with you and decided to make you pay for a
crime you didn’t commit.”
Julia looks
back up into her cousin’s eyes. “I decided that as Braddock cousins you
would always be the most successful, and the only way I would ever beat you was
to sell out to Aphrodite Noel, to transform us both into Noel sisters so that I
would be the most successful and most loved.
But I was wrong for what I did and I ask that you please forgive me.”
There is a
tense pause as the two cousins stare at one another. Julia is hoping that Glory will respond positively,
that she will forgive her. More tense
moments pass until finally Glory speaks up…
“Yes, you and Aphrodite Noel did a number on
my psyche with your mental attacks and brainwashing. But I have been going to therapy, Julia. And great progress has been made.”
“That’s…that’s good…”
Glory nods
her head. “That is good. And the therapy has helped me to realize and
to accept who I am, that I am a Braddock.
But I want you to do me a favor, Julia.”
“Anything.”
“Ask me one question…ask me who my mother
is.”
Julia blinks
curiously. “What…?”
“You heard me, cousin.” Glory answers
back. “Ask me about my mother.”
“Who…who is your mother?”
“Aphrodite Noel.”
Julia is
shocked at first to hear this, but that shock quickly changes into a feeling of
grief and sadness, even guilt as she realizes that she is the cause of this.
“Glory, please, I…”
“No, just shut up and listen!” Glory
exclaims. “Your brainwashing worked so
well that while a part of my mind, the logical part, tells me that my mother is
a woman named Mary Ford, but that is a very small part of my mind. The majority of my mind tells me that this
woman never bothered to get to know me, she never tried to raise me. My father, Glenn Braddock, raised me. Now your brainwashing was so successful that
I was convinced Aphrodite Noel was my mother.
But the therapy I have been attending has me in doubt, but that doubt is
very small, because quite frankly Aphrodite Noel is the only mother I have ever
truly known. I love Aphrodite Noel and
turning on her, betraying her, pained me.
I did it only because I love my husband Kurt Logan more and she was
attacking him.”
Glory sighs,
shaking her head. “Even mothers can make
mistakes, I guess. But because she attacked
my husband, I will be estranged from her…at least until she makes peace with
him.”
“But she’s not your mother.” Julia
answers. “I brainwashed you, you said it
yourself.”
“That’s right, you did brainwash me, at
least that’s what I’m getting from the therapy.
I have doubt now, all thanks to the therapy. I need therapy…” she points a finger at
Julia “…thanks to you. And you want to talk about seeing me like
this?”
She stands
up so that she can tower over Julia. “The
old Glory Braddock is gone. Too much
damage has been done. And if seeing me
like this hurts you so much then I hope it serves a permanent reminder of what
you did to me!”
Julia lowers
her head, her crying renews. “I…I am so
sorry, Glory…I really am. Honestly, if I
could fix things I would but…but…”
Julia sighs
as she stands up “…but I can’t. So I’ll just go. I’m sorry for bothering you, Glory.”
Julia starts
to walk away but Glory reaches over with her hand and places it upon her
shoulder. Glory spins her around and
then wraps her up in a tight hug.
“Don’t…I’m the one who should be apologizing…”
“Apologizing for what?”
“Apologizing for blowing up at you.”
Glory answers. “You were brave for coming
here to try and smooth things over with me.
That shows guts and sincerity.”
“I just wanted to make things right.”
Julia answers. “I just wanted to fix
things.”
“And this is a good start.” Glory smiles
warmly. “And another good step in the right
direction is for me to forgive you…so Julia…”
Tears are now
flowing down the cheeks of both women as Glory continues “…I forgive you.”
“I don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“What you deserve is irrelevant.” Glory
answers. “You and I both should get a
second chance, I think, and that’s what I’m suggesting. We start over from here. A clean slate.”
“Clean slate?” Julia says with a hint of
a smile beginning to f orm.
“Yeah, a clean slate. Does that sound fair?”
“Definitely fair.” Julia answers as she wipes tears from her
eyes. “Thanks, Glory…”
“Thank you, Julia, for making things
right. Now do me one more favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Beat Orlando Cruze, go on and win the
tournament in IWC, and become world champion.”
Julia
laughs. “You mean you follow my career?”
“Of course I do!” Glory exclaims. “Why wouldn’t I? We’re family.
We are Braddocks. I have done so
much for the sport but now, now it’s your turn.
You are the major player in the Braddock family. You are the one to carry the torch. Go back to Japan and prove to the world that
you are a world champion in the making.”
Julia smiles
“…will do!”
==========
Straight
Talk
On Camera
==========
The camera
begins to roll and the scene before us is that of an empty gymnasium. The walls are an off-white and the floors are
a gray cement. There are weights
scattered all over the floor, a blue wrestling mat on the far left hand side, a
heavy bag on the far right hand side, and in the center screen is a standard
wrestling ring. The ring has black ropes
and a black apron but the mat is a Carolina sky blue. It’s empty at this moment but that quickly
changes as we see, from stage left, Glenn Braddock entering the scene. He is wearing a gray hoodie, gray sweats, and
white tennis shoes. The grizzled veteran
steps up onto the ring apron and then steps between the ropes, entering the
ring. He steps into the center of the
ring and glares angrily at the camera.
“I heard a world title tournament is taking
place and you had better fucking believe I have been busting my ass to get
Julia ready, and you had better believe that Julia has been busting her own ass
to get ready for this golden opportunity.
Getting a title shot is an honor and a privilege. Title shots don’t come by every day and they
are hard as hell to earn, so when I heard of this half-arsed little tournament
IWC is putting on, I wanted to make damn sure Julia was ready. And then I heard that my niece gets to face
the so-called Icon in the first round.”
Glenn shrugs
his shoulders. “I guess she should feel
honored, right? Privileged? Shit, I don’t know about her but I can tell
you that the only feelings I have right now are complete and utter bloody
disgust at my blood having to face a bald-headed egomaniac like that.”
His eyebrows
narrow in a hateful glare. Those
eyebrows, you could take bottletops off with them! The veteran points a finger at the camera,
directly at Orlando Cruze if he is watching.
“If you want to throw around nicknames like
The Icon then allow me to inform you of who the fuck I am. I am Glenn Braddock and when I was wrestling
they called me Britain’s Best. In my
career I lost only one damn time. And if
you want to talk about being a man, then I could tell you about how little
chrome-domed boys like you have it easy, how you are pampered with your lap of
luxury, your money, and how you don’t know what it’s like to struggle. You’re competing in a tournament to decide a
new number one contender? Bloody hell,
Cruze, I competed in tournaments galore, but the difference is I fought
anywhere from six to nine times in one night whereas you are fighting just once
every other damn week.”
Glenn shakes
his head. “I could say all that but I refuse to do like you and put the spotlight
on myself like some egomaniacal piece of garbage. I am going to let my niece, Julia Braddock,
take the stage. I am going to let her to
tell it to you exactly how it is. And
boy, let me tell you, you are not going to like what she has to say, and you
are not going to like it when she pins your bloody ass to the mat to defeat
you, humiliate you, and advance in the tournament.”
The elder
Braddock turns and heads towards the ropes.
Once again he steps through the ropes, onto the ring apron. Glenn steps down and then makes his exit
stage right. Then, from stage left, we
see the lovely Julia Braddock approaching the ring. She steps up onto the ring apron and then
steps between the ropes and into the ring.
She heads to the center of the ring and turns to face the camera. We see that she is wearing blue jeans, high
heeled silver sandals, and a black t-shirt which reads “Pipe Bomb Queen” on the
front in purple lettering. Her long
blonde hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length.
“Thanks, Uncle Glenn!” She winks at the
camera. “That was just an absolute
wonderful introduction!”
Julia uses
her hands to model the shirt she is wearing. “You see this shirt, Lando? This
shirt was a gift to my cousin Glory Braddock…you remember her, right? The woman who you forced Brittany Lohan to
team up with back in Motor City Underground, not because you thought they’d make
a great team, which admittedly they did, but only because you thought it’d be
funny as hell to see them implode? But
yeah, that Glory Braddock, this was her shirt and it was a gift to her from one
of her best friends, Jackson Adams. One
thing Glory was infamous for during her pro-wrestling tenure was her venomous
pipe bombs and Jax thought it was appropriate to gift her this shirt to remind
the world who the pipe bomb queen really was.
So I thought that it was appropriate to wear this shirt, because right
here and right now, a new queen is about to be born.”
She smirks
knowingly. “Pipe Bomb…”
“Now Orlando, you are supposed to be the
good guy, you are supposed to be the one the fans look up to and cheer, you are
the hero who fought valiantly against the evil Cindy Todd and who will no doubt
continue the fight against other evils in IWC.
You are supposed to be the good guy, the hero, that f word that I am not
supposed to use!”
She chuckles
lightly, shaking her head in disappointment. “I’m not so sure, Lando. I mean,
does a good guy, does a hero, say that they are the only single solitary male
wrestler for any of the Triad to get excited about? Does a good guy, does hero, does that naughty
f word bury every single male athlete in all three Triad federations? What about Andre Jordan? He has been dominant in the Evolution title
picture and had a good run with the tag titles.
Are you saying he’s a nobody? A
nothing? And you know, you may not guys
like Chris and Scott Cannon, or Luckas Knight.
You may not like them and hell, I would agree with you that Monarchy
tactics are not right. But what you cannot
do and should not do is deny their ability inside of the ring. You can hate William Mason all you want for
whatever reason you want, and you may be right, but to deny that he is a future
world champion is wrong.”
“I think Ethan Von Aaron is among the most
perverted piece of crap pigs that I have ever been unfortunate enough to
meet. But he’s a former champion,
Lando. You cannot deny that the man is
good in the ring. You cannot bury all of
these athletes, whether they are morally good or morally bad is beside the
point. You cannot bury them and burying
them is not the action of a hero, it is not the action of the good guy, and it
damn sure is not the action of an Icon…”
Her face
grows much more serious “…those are the
actions of an egomaniac and quite frankly, Lando, if you’re going to act like
that and talk like that, then maybe you should join your wife Taylor in
Monarchy, because the way you and so many others fault them for talking and
acting is the same way you talk and act.”
“You ARE a great athlete, Orlando, and I am
indeed honored to get to face you at Riot in this world title tournament. But the difference between you and me is that
I refuse to bury you.” She shakes her head. “That’s the old Julia. Queen
Julia would have buried you, and I would have plenty of ammunition to do it
too. I mean, you love to bring up how
you built IWC, but let’s not forget that you also were responsible for building
that resounding success that was Motor City Underground…”
Julia si
ghs
“…yeah, I could
bury you on that history, but I am not going to do that, because you are a
great athlete, you are a former world champion, and I look forward to matching
wits against you. I was trained by the
best wrestlers I know, my Uncle Glenn and my cousin Glory, and I am excited
about testing myself against one of the best to ever come out of IWC, because I
know that if I can defeat you, then I can defeat anyone that comes my way in
this tournament. I know that if I can
make it past the famed Icon, then I can make it all the way through to the
finals where I will win it all and go on to compete for the IWC World
Heavyweight Championship.”
“You see, Orlando, this is the part where it
is MY turn to be just slightly arrogant, but not overly so. The fact is that I just completed a
redemption journey. I fought my way back
from the darkness and into the light once again. I’m sorry if that sounds cheesy but that’s
just how it is. Now I am embarking on a
new journey and that journey is to continue the Braddock heritage of winning
and being champions. My journey started
with a victory over Emily Cage, it
continues with this tournament and continues with you…”
She points a
finger at the camera “…you, Orlando, you
and me have a date with destiny and that date is Riot. Only one of us will advance in this
tournament. Either you will advance and
continue in your ridiculous quest to prove you’re the only real man in the
Triad, or I will advance and continue the proud Braddock heritage and become a
world champion.”
Julia winks
at the camera. “Good luck, Orlando…you’ll
need it…”
