Remembering Who I Am

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Off Camera

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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…”

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On Camera

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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.