==========
Off Camera
==========
It wasn’t
but just under a month ago that Julia Braddock-Noel was questioning her very
career in the UWA. It is
understandable. Julia had been in a
lurch, she had been on a bit of a losing streak, only to be granted an opportunity,
an opportunity she perhaps did not deserve; a chance to compete for the UWA
Hybrid Championship at Olympus. That
night, Julia took full advantage of her opportunity and she became the new champion. She swore to be the best champion she could be,
and she was prepared to defend the title against all comers. And yet, nothing could prepare her for the
next news she would receive. At the
Sectioned pay per view, every singles championship would be defended, including
her Hybrid Championship, inside of the elimination chamber. Perhaps she could take that next step and
become UWA World Champion? It was not to
be. Not only did Julia fail to become
UWA World Champion, but she was eliminated second, thus guaranteeing she would
leave the elimination chamber empty handed.
This kind of
disappointment, to be so close and to have it taken from you, is something many
professional wrestlers are used to.
Julia, on the other hand, had never reached that point before. This was her first time being that close to
the world championship. She felt she
belonged. She felt she deserved to be
there. And then to fall flat on her face
the way she did, it took a great deal out of Julia. It took a lot of the wind out of her sails. So much so that Julia began to question
whether she should even continue her career in the UWA.
And she
probably would have given up had it not been for her mother, Aphrodite
Noel. She may not be her mother by
blood, but her motherhood towards Julia is a strong one nonetheless, definitely
strong enough that Julia tends to listen to her and abide by her advice. Aphrodite reminded Julia that the Noel family
are not quitters. They do not give
up. She told Julia not to give up and
that she should keep fighting. Aphrodite
assured her that another opportunity would come.
So Julia
Braddock-Noel decided to stick around.
She got a match against Lilith Evans and, for a brief moment, she felt
offended. She felt slightly insulted
that she would be booked against Evans.
A part of her felt that she was above Evans, that she deserved better
competition than Evans. These were
thoughts that Julia had not had in a long time.
But they
were thoughts that Julia clung to, held onto, and utilized as motivation as she
went on to defeat Lilith tonight on Outbreak.
Still, as good as it was to be back on the winning side of the equation,
Julia can’t help but think wonder if this is truly where she should be.
Questions or
doubts regardless, it is still difficult to hide the million dollar smile on
her face after she has picked up this win; a much needed win, as far as she is
concerned. She needed to get back to her
winning ways and tonight she managed to do just that.
The
beautiful blonde walks through the backstage area, still in her wrestling gear,
sweat pouring from her face after a hard fought match. She is happy with her performance tonight but
she also realizes that there is more to come and she must improve if she hopes
to capture the Queen of the Ring Championship.
That’s
right, she’s being granted yet another title opportunity coming up at Against
All Odds. The title, vacated by Vanilla
Skyy, will now be decided when Julia faces Jade one on one. While Julia looks forward to that match, she
also realizes that she cannot look past next Outbreak. An eight person tag team match in which she
will team with Myra Lynwood, Ricky Octavius, and Alana Starr to face Victoria
Salinas, Gavin Taylor, Rachel Lee, and Jade.
Julia’s
smile grows bigger and wider as she spots her uncle and trainer, Glenn
Braddock, standing in front of her dressing room door. A stoic, emotionless gaze is on his
face. For anyone else, this kind of look
would make people worry. But for Glenn
Braddock, this is just his normal appearance.
“Glenn!
Did you see the match?”
He nods his
head.
“I saw.
Congratulations.”
“Thanks, I guess I have some momentum back
in my corner, eh?”
He harrumphs
real big and loud as Julia approaches him and embraces him in a big hug. After breaking the embrace she starts to make
a beeline towards the door, a door which Glenn blocks with his massive
presence. Glenn, refusing to move,
causes Julia to gaze up towards him curiously.
“Can we go in? I need to, uh, you know, get changed so we
can leave?”
“We’ll leave shortly.”
“Right, so let’s go in and…”
Glenn shakes
his head.
“Not yet.”
Julia
frowns.
“Not yet?”
“You have a visitor.”
Julia is now
thoroughly confused. But Glenn does
finally step aside, allowing Julia access to the door. She pushes it open and steps inside. She finds her sister, Gory Braddock-Noel,
sitting there in a blue steel folding chair in the center of the room. She stands up, revealing herself in all of
her glory (no pun intended). Glory is
wearing a rose gold colored bodycon style dress. The gold dress is covered in lovely rose gold
sequins with a wide rounded neckline and three-quarter sleeves. She is perched atop strappy high heeled
sandals. Her lovely golden hair hangs
down to just below shoulder length.
“Julia!”
The younger
Braddock-Noel isn’t quite sure what to make of Glory’s excitement as she walks
over and embraces Julia in a tight hug.
Glory and Julia have had a bit of a tense relationship in recent months,
though they try to be pleasant towards one another publicly for the sake of
their mother, Aphrodite Noel, who wishes for the “family” to be united. But Aphrodite is nowhere to be seen and Glenn
certainly doesn’t care. Why is Glory
here?
After breaking
the embrace Glory looks her sister up and down and smiles approvingly.
“I saw your match tonight. You did a bloody good job, my sister.”
Julia sighs
and nods her head.
“Right, thanks.”
“I mean it.
Granted, Helms and Bryant could have provided you with a little better
competition, I think we both could agree on that…”
Glory
sneers.
“…am I right?”
Julia wants
to give Glory a piece of her mind but a part of her does, indeed, agree. Julia nods her head.
“Yeah…I agree.”
“Still, you battled valiantly, you fought
like a Noel, and you showed them exactly what you were made of and, perhaps,
you showed them what you truly deserve.”
Julia
ignores her as she walks on past Glory to a bench on the far end of the
dressing room. Julia picks up a white
towel sitting on the bench. She sits
down on the bench and then uses the towel to wipe the sweat from her face. Glory joins her over on the bench, sitting
down on her right.
“So tell me, my sister, how has the UWA
rewarded your efforts, not only for being a stalwart with this company since
its inception, but after your most recent victory over Lilith Evans?”
Julia sighs.
“I have a shot at the Queen of the Ring
Championship at Against All Odds.”
“Ah, Queen of the Ring…well…”
Glory starts
to say something but then thinks better of it, as she shakes her head.
“…nothing.”
“What?”
“I’d better not say.”
Julia rolls
her eyes.
“You have my curiosity peaked now, Glory. You may as well tell me.”
Glory smirks.
“Right, well, I was just going to say that
the Queen of the Ring Title is nice. It
is a start, after all, but…”
“But what?”
“…but maybe not what you deserve.”
Julia turns
and glares daggers through her sister.
“Don’t you start with that crap! Not here, not now, not ever! UWA has provided me with opportunities like
this before and I am grateful. I am
grateful for the opportunity they gave me at Olympus when I competed for and
became the first ever UWA Hybrid Champion…”
“…a title that you took and you fashioned
into your own image, a title you made famous.”
“And now I have a shot at the Queen of the
Ring Title. No, it isn’t the World
Championship, and no it isn’t even the Hybrid Title, but it is a title that
when I win it, because I WILL win it…”
Glory
smirks.
“That’s the attitude I’m looking for.”
“…and WHEN I win it, just like with the
Hybrid Championship, I will raise the standard, I will set the bar higher than
any other Queen of the Ring Champion before me, because no one is more worthy
than I am of being Queen!”
Glory grins
knowingly, staring at her sister. Just
then it sets in for Julia what she just said and she holds her hand over her
mouth. She shakes her head vehemently.
“No, I didn’t mean that!”
“And yet you said it.”
Julia gets
up and walks away from Glory.
“No!
I am not that person anymore! I
refuse to be that person anymore!”
Glory gets
up. She approaches Julia and then places
a hand on her shoulder.
“I won’t pressure you, Julia, but you know
deep down inside that this is who you were meant to be. You have an eight person tag team match on
Outbreak, correct?”
Julia turns
around to face Glory. She nods her head.
“Yeah…”
“Your own team thinks you are the weak link. Now you can play by the rules, you can be
that weak link…”
Glory guides
Julia over to a full length mirror and lets her see herself.
“…or you can be who you were meant to be and
take what is yours.”
Julia stares
at the mirror and her reflection in the mirror for quite some time before
finally turning to face Glory. She
points towards the door.
“Get out!”
Glory nods
her head.
“I will leave, but remember I am here for
you and also remember who you are and who you were meant to be.”
Julia
watches as Glory slowly makes her exit.
Once Glory is gone, Julia turns back to face the mirror. A smile creeps across Julia’s face.
“…worship me…”
==========
On Camera
==========
I feel
somewhat out of place. This eight person
tag is supposed to be champions versus challengers. It certainly is a nice concept, I guess. And I guess David Helms and Drew Bryant meant
well when they booked it. It definitely
has the possibilities of being a great match; but let’s look at both sides for
just one moment.
Jade…a
challenger to the Queen of the Ring Title.
Rachel Tatum Lee…a challenger to the Hybrid Title. Gavin Taylor...a challenger to the X-Class
Title. Victoria Salinas…a challenger to
the World Title.
Well, Team
Challengers certainly looks like quite a group.
What about Team Champions?
Myra Lynwood…X-Class
Champion. Ricky Octavius…Hybrid
Champion. Alana Starr…World Champion.
And then
there’s me, “The Kensington Knockout” Julia Braddock-Noel, a CHALLENGER to the
Queen of the Ring Title.
I have to
ask Helms and Bryant: is this some kind of joke? I’m the only challenger on a team of
champions. Yeah, I definitely feel like
I belong. Booking like this, putting me,
the lone challenger on a team of champions in a champions versus challengers
tag match, that makes ridiculous comments like Myra’s look legitimate when she
claims I’m the weak link.
One small
detail like that I could chalk up to a minor flaw in your plan. Or even just bad luck on my part. With 5 challengers and 3 champions it would
be unfair to book a handicap match, right?
Someone HAD to be the odd one out, perhaps it was just bad luck I was
chosen?
I can’t
chalk this up to a minor flaw or bad luck, not when I consider other bad
decisions, regarding me, that you have made.
For starters, I made the Hybrid division famous. The Hybrid Champion gets to determine the
stipulations for every title defense…except I didn’t get that privilege at
Sectioned. I was ok with that,
considering the circumstances behind the elimination chamber and every title
being on the line, but at the very least you could’ve granted me a rematch when
I lost it that night.
But no,
instead you gave me Lilith Evans.
Nothing high profile for me.
Granted, it was high profile for Lilith.
Match of her little UWA career.
But me?
I deserved
better.
And when you
were handing out title shots at Against All Odds, none of them actually EARNED
the title shot except for Rachel Tatum Lee who had earned a shot at the Hybrid
Championship awhile back. But Gavin Taylor
was just given an X-Class Title Shot against Myra Lynwood, Jade was given a
shot against Vanilla Skyy for the Queen of the Ring Title, and Victoria Salinas
was given a shot against Alana Starr for the World Title.
Not blaming
any of them. I would take the
opportunity myself. I’ve been gifted
opportunities myself. And Vicky, being a
former world champion, is certainly a worthy challenger. But I want to focus on one particular person
in particular…
…Jade. The same Jade who LOST to Gwen Black. And how
do Drew and David reward losses? With
title shots, apparently, because as soon as Jade LOST she is immediately
granted a shot at the Queen of the Ring Championship.
I only got
into that match because Vanilla Skyy was crippled and stepped aside because she
couldn’t compete. So what does that tell
me? I was Drew and David’s second
choice? Second choice behind a loser
named Jade?
I am not
just a second choice, I am damn sure not the weak link of my team at Outbreak,
and I deserve to be treated like the top tier wrestler that I am, because that’s
who and what I am. I am a wrestler and
that’s what I do best. I wrestle. I make people tap out.
So sit back,
watch, and prepare to be impressed, prepare to be in awe at the performance you
see from The Kensington Knockout.
I will show
Drew Bryant and David Helms that they made a mistake in overlooking the raw
talent and ability that I have.
I will show
my teammates that not only am I NOT the weak link, but that I am the best pure
wrestler on our team bar none.
And I will
give Jade a preview of coming attractions.
Jade will get to look into her future.
She will get to see exactly what I can and will do to her at Against All
Odds when take her down and claim what is mine, when I make her bow down and
worship me.


