==========
Off Camera
==========
The Queen of
the Ring Championship is just over the horizon.
It’s so close that Julia Braddock-Noel can almost taste it. The championship, a championship she had
sought after before in the Independent Wrestling Cartel and then later on in
the early days of Uprising itself, is now within her grasp. And arguably, it’s all because of lady luck.
It was
originally supposed to be Vanilla Skyy defending the Queen of the Ring
Championship against newcomer Jade. Jade
has had a win or two under her belt but she’s also lost a few important matches
as well. Julia, who herself was a former
UWA Hybrid Champion who had just competed for the World Championship, wanted an
opportunity to bounce back and she felt somewhat jilted when UWA didn’t grant
her a title opportunity.
No, she
wasn’t expecting a world title shot, even if it is what she thinks she
deserves. But any championship
opportunity would’ve worked. And yet she
was left out in favor of people like Jade?
It definitely left Julia confused but that confusion would be washed
away when it was announced that Vanilla Skyy could not compete at Against All
Odds. A new competitor would be required
to take her place in the match to decide a new Queen of the Ring Championship…
…and Julia
was more than happy to fill that role; a role she feels she not only has earned
but one she feels she deserves. Why
wouldn’t she feel that way? She has been
with UWA since the time it was still an extension of IWC. As a loyal UWA member, she fought the good
fight for UWA and for the fans. She won
the Hybrid Championship and earned the opportunity to compete for the World
Championship. For Julia, she feels that
these accomplishments, combined with her loyalty and dedication to the UWA
brand, should’ve granted her a title shot right away.
Yet it
didn’t. She had to wait until Vanilla
Skyy backed out due to injury so that Julia could be plugged in as a
replacement. And Julia feels that she is
much more than a replacement.
Part of
that, though, is the voice of her sister, Glory Braddock- Noel, speaking to
her, trying to influence her. Julia
knows this and, for the most part, she has tried to ignore Glory’s tempting
voice. And yet lately, as time goes on,
Julia has found it more and more difficult to ignore that voice. The easier thing for her to do would be to
just give in and embrace what Glory is telling her is her true nature, her true
self…
…embrace her
destiny.
Julia has
fought long and hard to bury that person, that true nature to which Glory is
referring. Julia wants to think that she
is better than that person and she knows she can be a better person than
that. And yet, the more she plays by the
rules, the more she seems to get taken advantage of.
At least
that’s what Glory tells her.
Should she
listen to Glory and just do whatever is necessary to get what she wants, to get
that Queen of the Ring Championship?
Julia feels guilty just thinking of that as an option. And yet another part of her mind tells her
that she deserves that championship and she should not feel guilty about
looking out for her own self interests.
Julia
Braddock sits in the bedroom of her hotel room.
She is sitting in front of a vanity staring deep into the mirror, as if
she staring deep into her own very soul and not just at the reflection
itself. She is about to go to sleep for
the night and thus she is dressed in a skimpy pink nightgown. A gold pendant necklace is around her neck.
She takes
the gold pendant necklace holds it up.
She flips the pendant open to reveal the contents inside: a picture of
herself and her boyfriend, JaMarcus Avery.
Normally a picture of one’s boyfriend would bring happiness but to this
young lady she sighs sadly and shakes her head upon seeing the picture.
Why is she
sad? The picture is evidence that her
sister Glory may very well be right about her.
She
remembers it all too well. It goes back
to several months ago…before she even took the name Noel and identified herself
as Aphrodite Noel’s daughter…
==========
Flashback
==========
Julia
Braddock is in her dressing room backstage at an arena playing host to a UWA
event. She’s wearing a silver knee
length dress and high heels. She’s just
arrived and has not changed into her wrestling gear yet. An odd feature, a new feature, added to this
outfit happens to be a pendant necklace around her neck. It was a gift from her tag team partner,
JaMarcus Avery. There’s just one
problem…
…JaMarcus
Avery is also Julia’s secret lover.
JaMarcus Avery is the current boyfriend of Melanie McBride and lately he
has been cheating on her secretly with Julia Braddock. She should feel guilty. She should feel ashamed…
..but she
doesn’t. She has no qualms with being
“the other girl”, and she has no fear that she, potentially could ruin JaMarcus
and Melanie’s relationship. Quite
frankly, she feels she deserves this.
She feels she deserves him.
It’s
strange, really. When she’s by herself,
or when she’s with anyone else but JaMarcus, part of her does feel guilty for
sleeping with him. But when she’s with
JaMarcus, all of those thoughts drift away.
Julia just forgets it all and enjoys his presence. She enjoys him and being with him. The guilty thoughts and feelings do not exist
when she is with JaMarcus, the man she feels she deserves, regardless of of who
he may be with right now.
Julia is
admiring herself in front of a mirror when a loud banging on her dressing room
door.
“Just a minute!”
This could
be JaMarcus, although since they started seeing one another in secret she
hasn’t known him to knock. Even before,
when they were still just simply tag team partners, he knew he was welcome in
her dressing room at any time he wanted.
It’s doubtful he’d knock. Still,
just in case this is her secret lover, she wants to look her best.
Julia sighs
as she fixes her hair. She primps and preens, posing a few times before winking
at herself in the mirror. She definitely
approves of what she sees there before her; beauty personified. JaMarcus will love this.
Another
knocking is heard, this time it’s more incessant and more impatient. Julia just rolls her eyes.
“Calm down!
I’ll be right there!”
She then
turns and walks over to the door. The
beautiful blonde reaches to the knob and pulls it, opening the door to reveal
an angry, glaring Melanie McBride standing there. Hatred seems to ooze across every pore of her
face. Julia suspects, based just upon
the look on her face, that she must have now found out about her and JaMarcus
Avery’s secret relationship.
“You cheating whore!”
And that
exclamation just goes to prove it. Julia
forces a pleasant smile on her face as she steps aside, allowing Melanie access
to the room. Melanie storms inside
angrily, stamping almost like a pouty teenager who didn’t get her way.
“Nice to see you too, Melanie.”
“Cut the crap, Julia! I know what you did!”
Braddock
rolls her eyes.
“What WE did, you mean.”
“Huh?”
“Me and JaMarcus. What WE did.
It wasn’t just me, remember that.”
Melanie
rears back and slaps Julia across her face.
“How DARE you! You have been sleeping with MY boyfriend and
you have the gall to taunt me?!”
“I am not taunting you, Mel. I’m just stating facts.”
“Stating facts? Is that what you call CHEATING now?!”
Julia nods
her head.
“Yes, I’m just stating facts. FACT, it takes two to tango, and I didn’t
force him to sleep with me. FACT, he
wanted me every bit as much as I wanted him, and FACT…”
She points a
finger at Melanie.
“…he came to me when you just couldn’t
please him enough.”
Melanie
shakes her head vehemently.
“No!
You’re lying!”
“Ask him yourself if you want, though I
think that might be a bit traumatizing for a sweet girl like you. And while we’re discussing facts, Mel, let me
tell you another fact. FACT, people like
me deserve this…I deserve him…”
She smirks.
“…people like you don’t always get what you
want. People like me, we always get what
we want. Got it?”
That just
does it. Melanie walks over and shoves
Julia as hard as she can, causing her to fall backward onto her butt.
“I HATE YOU!”
Julia sighs
as she stands back up.
“I’m sorry, I truly am, and because you do
have a reason to be angry, I won’t retaliate.”
She points
to the door.
“But please leave.”
Melanie can
no longer hold back her tears.
“You put on this façade of being a good
person. The people love you.”
Melanie
shakes her head.
“But I can see the truth. I see that it’s all a lie. You’re no better than any of the other women
in this industry.”
She sighs.
“I just thought you were different.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
Melanie
turns and walks away, making her exit as she cries. Julia watches as she goes, smirking.
==========
End
Flashback
==========
Julia,
however, is no longer smirking. In fact,
she is rather upset with herself. She
used to know who she was but now? Now
she isn’t sure. Is Glory right about
her? Her silent musings are interrupted
when the bathroom door of her hotel room opens.
She turns and spots JaMarcus Avery re-entering the main area. She smiles warmly.
“Hi babe.”
JaMarcus rejoins her where she is sitting. He doesn't sit down
fully before kissing her.
“Hey.”.
“I need to ask you
something.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“I am getting a Queen of
the Ring Title Shot at Against All Odds. Instead of being grateful I feel
as if I am entitled to it and I also feel somewhat cheated that I didn’t get
chosen from the outset for a title shot, that I had to wait until Vanilla Skyy
was injured before I got included.”
She sighs.
“My sister, Glory, she told
me that I am finally beginning to realize that I am just like her and that I
need to embrace who I really am. I don’t want that to be true, but then I
got to thinking about Melanie…”
She shakes her head.
“...when Melanie found out
about us, and she confronted me, I told her flat out that I did not feel
guilty, that I deserved you. And to this day, I don’t feel guilty about
what we did. So tell me…”
She looks deep into his eyes.
“...what kind of person am
I?”
“If you’re a bad person, so
am I. Melanie was a sweet girl. A bit naive to the way the world actually
worked at the time. There was a kinship between us. Blake kept hammering to me
over and over again that I deserved better. At first I chalked it up to his
problems with Karen. He ditched her for Kloe, they weren’t getting alone, I
thought he was trying to push me away from everything McBride related. He had a
point. As good as Melanie and I were, we are better together in every way
imaginable. Blake was right. He’ll love me saying that. He won’t hear it from
me, again.”
JaMarcus chuckles.
“Anyway, you are the cream
of the crope. The best women I know. Smart. Beautiful. Talented. A
Braddock-Noel, how can I lose? I have it all. There is nothing wrong with feeling
you should have been chosen initially over Jade. It should not have taken
Vanilla getting injured for you to receive this opportunity. If you don’t
believe you are the most qualified, who will? It’s called professional pride
with a healthy ego to boot”
Julia nods her head.
“You know something?
You’re absolutely right. I mean, hell, Jade LOST her match right
before being chosen to get a title shot. Whereas I was a former Hybrid
Champion who had never been pinned to lose the title and I didn’t get chosen to
participate in Against All Odds at all. I was passed over and only got an
opportunity because Vanilla Skyy was injured and there was no one else left?”
She shakes her head.
“That’s not right and I
deserve better. I will show them.”
“I’d never wish injury on
anyone. I see more than a few doors opening with Vanilla on the shelf, the
perception from what I have noticed is she is the ‘face’ of UWA. And with her
out the way, you can drive the point home that you are more valuable then
Vanilla can hope to be. She had her moment in the sun, the future of UWA shines
brightly with you leading the charge. Not the Ante Up kids who are still wet
between the ears. You, my love.”
She kisses him.
“Thanks, babe. I
needed that.”
JaMarcus smiles.
“Only speaking the truth.”
==========
On Camera
==========
“Adequate…”
“Merriam Webster defines adequate as being
‘barely sufficient or satisfactory’”
Laughter
permeates the air as a spotlight suddenly appears shining brightly inside of a
wrestling ring. The shadowy silhouette
of a female figure is seen standing off in the dark corners of the ring. The laughter is coming from her.
“…Jade, the woman who did nothing to earn
her spot in the Queen of the Ring Title Match, the woman who LOST to Gwen Black
just before being gifted this grand opportunity, has the nerve to call someone
else simply adequate competition for the Queen of the Ring Championship?”
That female
steps into the spotlight revealing her identity to be none other than The
Kensington Knockout herself, Julia Alexis Braddock-Noel. The beautiful blonde is wearing a form
fitting strapless teal mini dress with lavish filigree patterning and a skirt
that is plastered with sequins for a stunning finish. Her long blonde hair hangs down to below the
shoulders in waves. Her feet are encased
in strappy high heeled shoes. She faces
forward with a knowing half-grin on her face.
“To make a statement like that is enough to
speak of how little you truly know about the industry. But to call me, Julia Braddock, just simply
adequate competition, to say that I am just barely good enough to be an
opponent for you…”
She shakes
her head in disgust.
“…it’s stunning, it’s disgusting, and it
speaks not only of how little you know this industry but how arrogant you are
as well.”
“Newsflash, Jade. You are NOT as good as you think you are.”
“Or perhaps it’s just foolish pride? I mean, what else other than foolishness
could make you think that you deserved to be named as a contender in this match
for the Queen of the Ring Championship.
I mean, let’s look at some facts here, Jade. You were coming off of a LOSS to Gwen
Black. You, a loser, were chosen to face
Vanilla Skyy for the Queen of the Ring Championship.”
“If anyone should have been griping about ‘adequate’
competition, it’s Vanilla. She’d been
competing in the Pyramid, the elimination chamber, fighting Marie Jones, and
Gavin Taylor and so many other great superstars. And she got sacked with you?”
She
chuckles.
“I would have griped about having ‘adequate’
competition as well. But then again,
Vanilla was in no condition to compete.
And she had to back out, she had to forfeit the Queen of the Ring Title. She did the right thing because the Queen of
the Ring Championship deserves to have a champion that can be there and defend
it at all times. What gets my goat,
though, is that I only got this opportunity because Vanilla backed out.”
Julia shakes
her head.
“I should have been chosen from the
start. I should have been chosen ahead
of you, Gavin, and Victoria for a title shot.
Rachel Lee is excluded because at least she won a match to EARN her
title shot. She wasn’t just gifted with
a title shot.”
“But me, I am a former UWA Hybrid Champion
and I was never beaten to lose the title.
I was never pinned or made to submit to lose that championship. And yet someone like you is just granted a
title shot, a shot at the Queen of the Ring Championship.”
“Why?”
She shrugs
her shoulders.
“I have no idea. It makes no sense to me. Now don’t get me wrong, that isn’t to say
that you are not a good wrestler. Unlike
you, someone who clearly has no respect for anyone else but herself...unlike
you, someone who looks at me as simply adequate because you are arrogant…I will
give credit where credit is due. You are
a good talent. You are a good wrestler,
from what I’ve observed. You’ve had some great matches here in UWA and we’ll
have a great match at Against All Odds.
But can you honestly say that you deserve this title shot?”
The blonde
shakes her head.
“If you’re honest with yourself, the answer
to that question will be no, you do not deserve this title shot. You did nothing to earn it. Now some would say that you could say the
same about me, how I was just gifted with the opportunity and I never earned
this title shot, but at least I have a record to back myself up. At least I have done things to prove that I
belong. As the first ever UWA Hybrid
Champion and a former contender for the World Championship, I damn sure belong
wherever you put me, because that’s who I am and that’s what you refuse to see
within me…”
“…I am a Braddock, one of professional
wrestling’s royal families. My uncle is
a legendary amateur wrestler in England who trained me to be the best. My sister is Glory Braddock, a multiple time
world champion and hall of famer. And
then there’s me, Julia Braddock, and I have held championships of every type
except the big one and I was on the precipice of doing just that at Sectioned
in the elimination chamber. Granted, I
didn’t win it, but at least I was competing for it, but where were you that
night?”
She grins.
“You were stuck on the undercard fighting
Lilith Evans.”
“What you really need to understand right
here and now is that I am more than just adequate competition for you, Jade. As a matter of fact, Helms and Bryant did you
no favors by choosing me as your opponent.
You had a better shot of beating Vanilla even if Vanilla had been at one
hundred percent. Now you’re facing a
tougher challenge. Now you face The
Kensington Knockout Julia Braddock.”
Any hopes and dreams of becoming Queen of
the Ring Champion have gone up in smoke because you are not facing merely
‘adequate’ competition, but instead you are facing superior talent, tremendous
talent. You are up against a top notch
mat wrestler and submission specialist.
And I will live up to my moniker of The Kensington Knockout when I knock
you the hell out at Against All Odds.”
She nods her
head.
“That’s right, I’m giving away my game plan
and, quite honestly, I don’t really care.
I don’t care because I know that out of everything I can do, technical
wrestling is what I do best and so I am confident that when I lock you up in
The Guillotine you will just two choices…”
She holds
her two fingers.
“…tap out or pass out. It really is up to you. But winning the championship?”
Julia shakes
her head.
“That’s just not an option. That won’t happen. You may put up a great fight, I don’t doubt
that, and there is no question in my mind that we’ll put on a hell of a show
for the fans, but at the end of the day, you won’t win, you won’t defeat me,
and you will be faced with the harsh reality that you were sorely mistaken in
your evaluation of me. You will realize
that I am far than adequate…”
“…I am the next Queen of the Ring Champion.”
“That’s right, it will be me, not you, who
stands tall after the smoke has cleared.
It will be me with my arm raised high in victory, holding up that Queen
of the Ring Championship over my head.
And it is only appropriate that I do this at a pay per view event called
Against All Odds, because I am consistently the underdog. The experts consistently bet against me
despite the fact that I consistently prove the experts wrong.”
