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Scene 1
Off Camera
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Fear; it is
the mind killer. It forever psyches us
out and makes us doubt and cringe.
It could
even be said that society itself is founded on fear. That's what philosopher Thomas Hobbes seemed
to think. He claimed that in the state
of nature, human life is solitary, nasty, brutish, and short because everyone
is at war with everyone else.
Julia
Braddock finds herself at war with two enemies; one in the form of an
unstoppable monster, the other in the form of her very past itself.
The monster
Julia Braddock has to deal with is known as Blitzkrieg. His very name and presence invokes fear for
those who have to confront him. But not
for Julia; Julia is from the proud Braddock line and she fears nothing. She fears no one. She has faced down and fought against tougher
obstacles and more difficult challenges than the one Blitzkrieg presents and
come out victorious. She’s watched her
sister, the famous Glory Braddock, defeat opponents larger and more powerful
than Blitzkrieg and she came out victorious.
Julia knows she can pull off a similar feat against Blitzkrieg in the
first round of UWA’s End of Year Tournament.
Now this
particular tournament is not without its own unique motivation. This isn’t just about being able to puff out
your chest and declare yourself to be the best because you won a
tournament. It will be a tournament with
the UWA World Championship on the line.
It is Julia’s second opportunity to potentially become UWA World
Champion since she joined the company.
This won’t be an easy task for The Kensington Knockout. If she wants to be UWA World Champion, she’ll
have to win four matches in one night, and one of those matches will be against
the monster Blitzkrieg.
The notion
that she should be afraid of him or intimidated, however, is offensive to
Julia. She is a warrior, tried and
true. She has fought against worse odds
than this. For Julia, this is just
another day in the office. And she
definitely does not fear him or any of the other competitors that she may have
to go up against in this tournament.
What she
does fear, however, is the one opponent she will do anything and everything
within her power to avoid having to deal with: her own past.
That past
reared its ugly head in the form of her drug dealing ex-boyfriend Jacob
Samson. Julia and Jacob used to engage
in wild nights of drug use, abuse, and partying. Those nights of drug abuse nearly ruined
Julia’s professional career and personal life.
In fact, were it not for a unique intervention from Aphrodite Noel,
Julia may have ended up without a career, in jail, or dead.
Aphrodite
went to a great deal of trouble to not only help Julia get clean but to also
craft for her a new public image and a new life, a life that would not include
drugs in any way shape or form. Julia
thought that her past was behind her.
She was
wrong.
Now Jacob is
back and he wants Julia back in his life.
He claims he has information on Julia, information that would ruin her
newly crafted public image and he is using this information to try to blackmail
her into rejoining him in the life of drug dealing and partying. But the question remains…what is this dirt
that Jacob Samson has on Julia Braddock?
What information could he possibly have that would make her consider
throwing everything she has away?
Julia
Braddock finds herself pacing around the parking lot area of the arena shortly
after UWA Outbreak has come to its conclusion.
She beautiful British lady is nervously checking her watch every so
often as she impatiently awaits on someone’s arrival. Who that someone is could be anyone’s
guess. But what is definitely true is
the fear that is etched across her face.
Fear of what may come as a result of this meeting she will have.
She is
afraid because this is all too familiar territory for her. It is reminiscent of what got her involved in
drugs in the first place. She hooked up
with Jacob Samson and got involved in drugs and partying because she was
afraid; afraid of not living up to the standards of being a Braddock. The pressure of being so great became too
much, she was afraid of letting her family down, so she caved in and started
doing drugs as a crutch to get her mind off of her troubles. She didn’t realize until it was far too late
that they would just merely create many different new troubles for her.
Now Julia
finds herself in a similar predicament, where she will have to make a decision
on how she will deal with her fears, this time her fear of her past. She hopes she has made the right decision…
Headlights
catch Julia’s attention. The headlights
start to head in her direction. These
headlights belong to a vehicle that drives slowly up to Julia’s position,
coming to a stop in a nearby parking spot.
Julia Braddock takes in a deep breath and makes the sign of the cross
over her forehead and chest before approaching the vehicle and speaking under
her breath.
“It’s now or never…”
Julia
watches the driver’s side door open and it isn’t Jacob Samson who exits the
car; instead it is Julia’s sister, Glory Braddock, who exits the vehicle. The Kensington Knockout immediately makes her
way over to Glory, and Glory as well makes her way to Julia. The sisters meet somewhere in the middle and
embrace in a tight hug.
“Great to see you, Julia!”
“I’m just glad you came, Glory!”
The siblings
break the embrace. Glory grins as she
looks her sister over, nodding approvingly.
“You look good, mate. Real good.”
“Thanks.”
“And from what I can tell you look pretty
good in the ring.” Glory adds. “I
mean, you may have gotten off to a bit o f a slow start in UWA but every match
has been competitive and then there’s this tournament coming up. You have to be anxious about that?”
“You could say that.” Julia admits with
a nod of her head. “But I’m not
worried. Everyone thinks I should be
worried, considering I’m facing Blitzkrieg in the first round, but I am not
worried. I know damn well what I am
capable of and I know I can defeat him.”
“And more importantly,” Glory places a
hand on her shoulder “you can become world
champion. You have it in you.”
“Of course I have it in me,” Julia says
with a smirk “I am a Braddock, aren’t I?”
The two
sisters chuckle light-heartedly.
“You know, Julia, you really have come a
long way, not just in your talent but in your confidence. You believe in yourself, you are strong, and
you do not seem to be afraid of anything.
You have made tremendous progress since you first started in this
business in late 2012. I’m proud of
you.”
Julia hates
hearing that because it isn’t really true.
Julia did make her professional debut in September of 2012 and it was
shortly after her debut that she got caught up in drugs. She got her start in drugs because she was overwhelmed
with the fear that she would not be able to live up to the mightily high
standards of the Braddock Wrestling Family.
Yes, Julia did manage to get herself clean. But has she really and truly erased that
fear? Has she really and truly become a
stronger person?
It’s just
like Jacob Samson pointed out; Julia has never told anyone of her drug problem
outside of close family and friends. She
fears how the public, including her fans, would react to this knowledge if they
knew the truth. And there is still one
piece of information that no one knows about except for Julia and Jacob;
something that she has kept close to herself.
It is that piece of information that Jacob is blackmailing her
with. She realizes if she just came out
with everything, came out with the truth, then Jacob would have nothing to
threaten her with.
But Julia
isn’t certain that she is strong enough to do that. The look of uncertainly, the look of
nervousness on Julia’s face seems to tell the story of someone who is upset
about something and potentially hiding something. Glory Braddock immediately takes notice of
this.
“Julia, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Julia insists, shaking her
head. “Nothing at all. I’m fine.”
“No, something is wrong. I can tell.”
“Glory, I…” Julia’s voice trails off as
she considers how to handle this. She
does want to talk to her older sister Glory about this, but she isn’t sure how
to approach her. “…I mean, I do want to
talk to you about something, just not out here.”
“Fine, then let’s go inside the arena.” Glory
remarks, motioning to the entrance. “It
is rather chilly out here anyway.”
“No, not inside the arena.” Julia shakes
her head vehemently. “Definitely not
there.”
“Then where?” Glory asks, shrugging her
shoulders.
“Uh…” Julia looks around for a good,
safe place. She finally lays eyes on
Glory’s vehicle and nods her head. “…there,
your car.”
“My car?” Glory asks again with some
confusion. Julia nods her head. “Alright…fine
by me.”
With that,
Glory and Julia approach the vehicle again.
Glory enters the driver’s side and Julia steps in through the
passengers’ side. Once the two are
inside and the doors are shut, Glory turns her curious gaze back to Julia.
“So tell me, Julia…what’s wrong?”
“My ex-boyfriend is back.”
“Ex-boyfriend?” Glory’s face curls up
into one of confusion. This is a name
she never heard before and Julia can tell that Glory is lost.
“My ex-boyfriend’s name is Jacob
Samson. He and I were dating when I
still had my drug problem.”
“Ah, I get it. Jacob, I imagine, did drugs too?”
“Yes, and he still does.” Julia remarks.
“Tell him to get lost. You don’t need that shit in your life, mate.”
“It isn’t that easy, Glory.” Julia says,
sounding somewhat frustrated. “Damn it,
you always make it sound easier than it actually is. You just have no idea what I’m up against
here!”
“Then explain it to me.” Glory snaps
back. “It wasn’t that long ago that you
finally got yourself clean. You don’t
need any of that shit back in your life.
So tell me, why can’t you make him go away?”
“Because he has information against me!” Julia
exclaims. “He says he has evidence that
proves I was a drug abuser and that he plans to release it to the world. I can’t take the risk…I…”
“Whoa, let me stop you right there.”
Glory interrupts. “This is one druggie,
one little druggie, and you honestly think that he can prove you were one
too? He has nothing on you, Julia. There’s no way he has anything on you.”
“Glory…”
“Just tell him to bugger off!” Glory
remarks, continuing to ignore Julia.
“Glory, it isn’t that simple…”
“Yes it is!” Glory snaps back. “You don’t need him back in your life! Get a restraining order! Get…”
“I WAS HIS PROSTITUTE!”
Glory
immediately silences herself after hearing Julia shout this out loud. She is stunned upon hearing this
revelation. Julia is in tears now as she
nods her head.
“We bought most of our drugs with cash but
there were times that we were short on money and it was then that Jacob pimped
me out to other dealers he knew. In
exchange for sex those other dealers would give us drugs. We split them evenly.”
Julia
reaches up and wipes some tears out of her eyes. Glory can do nothing but stare and listen at
this incredible story.
“See?
I’m sure he has something that he could use against me, some piece of
evidence. Considering everything that we
did together…the drugs, the prostitution…and he has threatened to tell everyone
about my past. My family and close
friends know about the drugs, so while others may turn on me for the drug
revelation, you all wouldn’t. But…but
none of you knew about the prostitution…will you…how will you respond?” She
shakes her head. “I can’t take the
risk. If the world were to know, I’d
have very few friends left, if any at all. Jacob could destroy my life!”
“Bloody hell, he’d destroy you by
reintroducing the drugs back into your life!” Glory pauses as she narrows
her eyes, glaring at Julia. “That’s what
he wants, isn’t it? He wants you back in his life. He wants the ‘good old days’ of you and him
running wild with the drugs?”
“Yeah…” Julia says simply through tears,
confirming with a nod of her head.
“Julia, I want you to look at me when I say
this.” Glory begins as she takes her sister by her chin and guides her tear
filled eyes so that they meet her own eyes. “Drugs
will definitely destroy you. But what
Jacob is threatening to reveal may or may not destroy you.”
“Of course it’ll destroy me!” Julia
exclaims. “My family and friends, my
fans, everyone who has supported me, they’ll…”
“They’ll continue to support you.” Glory
remarks, interrupting Julia’s rant. “If
your fans, friends, and family, if your support is worth anything, then they
will continue to support you no matter what.
Jacob may tell the world that you are a drug addicted prostitute, but
that is who you USED TO BE. That isn’t
who you are NOW.”
“That’s all well and good, Glory, and once
again you make it sound very easy, but how the bloody hell do I make the world
believe that I am NOT that person anymore, especially if Jacob does reveal it
to the world?”
“Simple…” Glory smirks “…you need to beat him to the punch.”
“What?!”
“You need to tell the world the truth and
have faith that your family, your friends, and everyone else who has supported
you will continue to support you through thick and thin.”
“No, I can’t do it.” Julia shakes her
head. “They won’t support me…they won’t
believe me…”
“Yes they will support you, they will
believe you.”
“How do you know?!”
“Because, Julia…” Glory places a hand on
her shoulder “…I still support you. I still love you and I am still proud of
you.”
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Scene 2
Off Camera
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Glory Braddock
left her younger sister with a lot to think about. Julia knows that the choice is clear. She can either give in to Jacob Samson in
hopes that he will continue to keep her secret or reveal to the world herself
what she did, and in turn reject Jacob. Those are her only two viable options
and she must make up her mind which direction she wants to go. Despite the advice from her sister, despite
the encouragement, Julia remains fearful.
This is a decision that has racked her body with nervousness and fear,
fear of what the consequences of her decision will be.
The
consequence of one option would be to fall back into the world of drugs and
prostitution and, perhaps, to never be able to pull herself back out of it
again. The consequence of the other option
would be to risk losing her entire support system, losing her fans and her
friends because they grow disappointed in her and disgusted of her when they
learn the truth.
Julia has
made her decision and is ready to face the consequences. She just needs to inform the man of the hour,
her ex-boyfriend Jacob Samson.
A small
rental car comes to a stop in an old parking lot that definitely looks the
worse for the wear. Braddock exits the
driver’s side, shutting the door and locking it behind her. Most would be wary of this place; it
definitely would raise red flags for most.
For Julia, she’s not frightened or nervous about this place. She is used to this area as she has been here
before. It is familiar territory for
her.
This is
where she would meet Jacob Samson when they were doing drugs.
Braddock
begins walking away from the car and towards an alleyway. In the dim light that oozes through a narrow
gap lies the alleyway. It's the underworld of any town: gloomy and unpleasant.
The vines that crawl up window sills and the crumbling plaster that envelopes
the old stone bricks appear romantic at first but become daunting as the sun
sets behind the skyline of chimneys. Darkness is lurking in every corner inside
the labyrinth of narrow passages and dead ends. Litter is dumped on the street
and birds nest amongst the sprawling rot.
“Jacob!” Julia shouts at the top of her
lungs as she stops in the middle of the alleyway. “Where the hell are you?!”
There is a
pause as Julia waits impatiently for a few moments that seems like an
eternity. But then…
“Hush now, babe.” That masculine voice
belongs to Jacob Samson, Julia knows it.
Sure enough, the scrawny man in his torn jeans and gray hoodie emerges
from the darkness. “You don’t want to draw
to much attention, now do you?”
“Shut up, asshole.” Julia sneers.
“Oh I like that.” Jacob says with a
leery grin. “Spunk.”
Jacob slowly
approaches Julia but the British beauty doesn’t back down. He reaches out and strokes her cheek but she
swats his hand away.
“Don’t touch me!”
“You do realize that too much spunk can
become annoying, right babe?”
“Then don’t provoke me, Jacob.”
“I don’t think you’re in the position to
demand anything.” Jacob sneers. “Remember
that I know things about you and I have evidence to prove it. I can prove to the world exactly who you
really are.”
He points a
finger at Julia. “You are nothing more
than a dirty little whore and a drug abuser.”
“No, you are wrong about that.” Julia
shakes her head. “I am not a
prostitute. I am not a druggie. I am Julia Braddock, sister of Glory
Braddock, daughter of Glenn Braddock, former three time SWC Tag Team Champion,
former UWA Hybrid Champion, former UWA Queen of the Ring Champion, former GCW
Television and X Division Champion, former GCW Tag Team Champion, and former
GCW World Champion. And there’s a
tournament coming up, one I intend to win, because when I win that tournament I
will walk out as the new UWA World Champion.”
Jacob
chuckles lightly. “Nice speech, babe, but
that’s all it is; a speech. The truth
will be revealed if I ever decide to tell the world what I know and then we’ll
see if your fans and friends continue to support you, because then they’ll know
the truth.”
“I’ll be honest with you, Jacob, at first I
was afraid of what might happen, and I was on the brink of giving you what you
wanted just to guarantee your silence. I
even thought about just calling your bluff, as I wondered if you actually had
any evidence in the first place. But I
realized that had I called your bluff and I lucked up and it turned out that
you didn’t have anything on me, then this issue would come up again.”
“What are you suggesting?” Jacob
demands.
“I’m not suggesting a damn thing. I’m telling you what I did. And what I did is record a promo, a promo that
will be airing shortly; and in that promo I put my faith in my family and in my
friends who love and care about me. More
importantly…” she points a finger at Jacob “…I am taking away any and all power you hold over me.”
“You didn’t…”
“I did,” Julia nods her head “I’m going to tell everything. And as for you…”
She sighs
and shakes her head with disgust “…you
are done, Jacob. Absolutely done.”
“No!” Jacob shakes his head vehemently
and drops to his knees. “You can’t do
this to me! We had a great connection,
we…”
“Just accept it, Jacob!” Julia snaps
back at him. “The past is just that…THE
PAST! It is over and I have moved on.”
Julia turns
and starts to walk away. “You should move
on too.”
“NO!”
“Goodbye, Jacob.”
==========
On Camera
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Mark Twain
once said that “Courage is resistance to
fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
There’s been
a great deal of noise made about fear lately, especially when it comes to my
first round tournament match against Blitzkrieg and how I should fear the
man. But I’ll get back to that overgrown
duck dynasty reject in just a moment.
First I want
to talk about fear, because I think Mr. Twain has it right on the money. Fear will always be a part of our lives. There is no such thing as absence of fear. You can resist fear, you can master it, but
there will always be fear in some shape or form in our lives. It is simply a part of being human. We do, after all, fear a variety of different
things. Some people have unhealthy
phobias, fears of spiders or small spaces, arachnophobia and claustrophobia
respectively.
While I will
state that I am not at all afraid of Blitzkrieg, I will also admit that I am
not immune to fear. There was a time I
was afraid of not being able to live up to the Braddock name. That was back in 2012 when I got my start in
this wrestling industry. My sister Glory
had already been a multiple time world champion. My father, Glenn Braddock, was legendary in
his own right as an amateur in England.
The entire world, especially my home country, looked at me and expected
great things from me.
The
expectation from them to perform paralyzed me with fear. I was afraid that I would let my family down
and they would be disappointed in me. I
dealt with that fear in the worst possible manner; I allowed myself to get
caught up in drugs.
Yes, I admit
my fault. I admit what I did wrong. But with a strong support system that
included my family and someone very special to me, Aphrodite Noel, I was able
to overcome my drug problem and I became a stronger, better person because of
it. But fear was still there. Recently I was afraid of how people might
react if they ever learned the truth of my past.
But I am
going to spit fear right in the face and I am going to put my trust in those
who support me and care about me. I will
not let fear destroy me.
That is
ultimately what Mark Twain was talking about when he spoke of mastering your
fear.
Now that
brings me to Blitzkrieg.
He’s big,
he’s bad, and he’s powerful. Those are
three pretty damn good reasons right there why anyone in their right mind
should be afraid of what Blitzkrieg can do.
And I admit, that thought has gone through my head. I pondered what might happen when Blitzkrieg
gets his hands on me.
I’m not
blind, after all. I’ve seen what he’s
done to the likes of Sophie James, Rachel and Daisy Lee, and Mr. UWA…it was
complete and utter destruction. But as
impressive and monstrous as he is, there is another old saying that each and
every one of you should remember…
…the bigger
they are, the harder they fall. I don’t
give a damn how big or powerful Blitzkrieg is, I am a Braddock and we have been
beating the odds our entire career.
Hell, beating the odds is why we are a legendary wrestling family. Beating the supposedly unbeatable is why the
Braddock family truly is THE BEST IN THE WORLD!
Thanks to my
sister Glory for use of her catchphrase.
So here is a
little spoiler alert for anyone planning on tuning in to the end of the year
tournament: Blitzkrieg is going down.
As for the rest
of the tournament field? I can tell you
this, I do not fear any of them. How
could I possibly fear something I love and I absolutely love competition. You don’t get much more competitive than a
one night, single elimination tournament featuring sixteen of the very best
ever to set foot inside of the UWA.
After I beat
Blitzkrieg, it doesn’t matter who I end up facing from match to match. Mya Denton or Alex London, doesn’t make a
damn to me. Either of the Lee sisters or
Gwen or Lilith still doesn’t matter. And
who knows? Maybe in the finals I’ll get
the world champion herself, Sophie James, one on one?
I won’t be
intimidated if it does come to me and Sophie.
I won’t be intimidated if I have to stare across the ring at either of the
Lee sisters, just as I won’t be intimidated by Blitzkrieg. The respect is there but I have mastered the
fear and turned it into fuel to drive me forward throughout this tournament,
motivation to allow me to push myself further than I’ve ever been pushed.
Doing some
introspection, I realize that I have made mistakes in my past, in my personal
life and my professional life. I let
opportunities here in UWA pass me by, slip through my fingers. This is only the second opportunity I’ve had
to leave with the UWA World Championship since Sectioned 2016. And there have been many ups and downs since
then. I have learned a great deal since
Sectioned 2016 and I am now ready to The Kensington Knockout is still a top
star here in UWA, and that brings me to the next spoiler alert for anyone who
is going to watch the end of the year tournament…
…I am going
to be your next UWA World Champion.
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