What I Am Fighting For

We open in an empty gym...well, ok, it isn’t exactly empty.  We hear the smacking of fists against leather and as the camera pans around we can see that those fists belong to none other than Julia Braddock, who is laying into the heavy bag as hard as she can.  The lovely Braddock is dressed in red adidas windpants, white tennis shoes, and a plain white t-shirt.  Her blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail in the back.  You may expect her to give a speech of some sort but no, at least not yet anyway.  Another figure steps into the scene, blocking our view of Julia at the heavy bag.  This man is grizzled and shows signs of years of warfare inside of the wrestling ring.  He is wearing a gray workout outfit with the name “Braddock” printed on the front.  His scowl indicates anger and rage but those who know him best realize that this is his normal appearance, even when he’s happy and overjoyed.  This is, of course, Julia’s uncle, the world famous Glenn Braddock, owner and operator of the Braddock Wrestling School.

“No one is perfect.  No one except one and fucking Romans drove nails through his hands and feet.  In any event, no one else has ever been anywhere near perfection, despite what Disney Princess Wannabe’s or any other ego-centric nerd-blossoms want to think.  No one is perfect.  No one is flawless.  Humanity is an ugly thing that makes mistakes from time to time but you know what?  That’s ok.  It isn’t about making the mistakes.  It’s about learning from those mistakes.”

Glenn Braddock points behind himself with his thumb. “Behind me stands my niece…her name is Julia Braddock and to say that she’s made a hefty amount of mistakes would be a fucking understatement.  My niece allowed jealousy to cloud her judgment and so she threw her lot in with that crazy psycho bitch Aphrodite Noel, changed her last name to join that family, all because she was jealous of my daughter Gloria.”

“People do make mistakes and Julia will have to live with what she’s done for the rest of her life if she cannot fix it, but in any event, she is repentant and is ready to venture out into the world and make up for her past sins.  And part of that entails planting her boot squarely up the ass of Samantha Raine and Selena Frost.”

“Now sit back and listen you crazy sons of bitches while my niece speaks some truth.”  Glenn steps away from the camera view.  Julia then turns away from her punching of the bag and faces the camera.

“My name is Julia Braddock…not Julia Noel, and no I am not a Queen.  I never was a queen.  I was just a jealous little girl pretending to be a queen.  There are people who were born into royalty and have earned that title while there are others who fought to earn that title.  I neither was born into it nor did I fight to earn it.  I simply am not a queen nor will I ever be royalty of any sort.  Jealousy drove me to do what I did and no amount of apologies to those I harmed, especially my Uncle Glenn Braddock, will ever change that.”

“But I can get back into that ring and fight, not for some royal bullshit but instead for the honor of my family, the Braddock Family.  I’m not even sure I deserve the Braddock name yet…”

She sighs, shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter, though does it?  Call me Julia Braddock, call me Julia, or just call me Hey You, either way it’s me against Samantha and Selena and only one of us walks away with a tag title shot.  You, Samantha, probably have the most desire of any of us, considering your desire to get your hands on Wicked Intent.  And who knows?  You may very well win.  You are a former GDW World Champion, after all.  But I’m not going to make it easy on you.”

“I won’t make it easy for you either, Selena.  I’m not going to stand here and declare my victory before the bell even rings.  I’ve been humbled, Frost.  I’ve been humbled and brought down from my lofty perch, I’ve been reminded of who I am and most importantly of who I need t o be.  So no, I am not going to just declare victory this early, but I am going to tell you a few things.”

“First of all, I KNOW who I am…I am not a Queen, I AM Julia Braddock.  That is my birth name.  I was born to Peter and Alexis Braddock.  Peter’s brother is Glenn Braddock, the toughest son of a bitch in the United Kingdom.  My uncle Glenn was an undefeated UK national amateur wrestling champion on the verge of Olympic Gold before an injury ended his career.  I am not changing my identity over and over again for a cheap reaction like you suggest.  I am simply taking back the heritage that is mine…”

She lowers her head in shame “…a heritage I threw away, a heritage I threw into the garbage when I joined Aphrodite.  That is why I say I am fighting to earn it back because while my uncle Glenn is content with saying I deserve the Braddock name once more, I myself am not convinced.  I did terrible things…to you, to Marina, to many others in this sport while I was under the Noel banner.   The Braddock Family is a proud family full of honor and respect and so far I’ve done nothing to earn either.  I will begin to fight to earn it back on RIOT.”

“Will I earn a tag title shot?” She shrugs her shoulders. “Who knows?  What I do know is that I will give it my all and at the end of it, if I win, great.  I will go on to try and take those belts from Wicked Intent.  If I lose?  If you or Samantha win it…I will gladly shake your hand…because even in loss, even in defeat, I can still work to earn honor and respect back.  I can still work towards earning the Braddock name back.  That’s who I am, that’s what I want out of this.”