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Post by emmanuelle on Feb 5, 2022 6:57:42 GMT
January 9, 2022 Columbus, Ohio Nationwide Arena To hell with it, Emmy was going to indulge tonight. Cigar smoke wafted through the locker room as she sat alone in a small, private locker room in the bowels of the Nationwide Arena. The event had ended and the rewards she had reaped, the championship belt that she promised to hold…it was all resting on her shoulder. Even so, Emmanuelle was tired. Very tired. After a month on the shelf and so many near-misses to close out her wrestling year, she finally snagged her white whale. Within a year of arrival she had become Project: Honor’s Grand Champion, a conquest that mirrored her ascent to the top of WrestleWorld as it’s Shogun Champion the year before. The California native had won titles before, yes, but something about this particular victory just felt different! Maybe it was that the two victories had come in contrasting ways. She arrived at WrestleWorld an unknown, a prodigy sure but someone that her contemporaries knew extremely little about. Within months she stormed to a victory in the DreamScape cage match and defeated Arata Asakura to become Shogun Champion. All of this was done while being undefeated for nearly half a year. While her title win there was a sprint, the one that she had finally completed tonight was a marathon. She had gone from just barely being booked to Warrior Rising Champion to losing that title in the Tokyo Dome to losing a Cup final to beating one of her greatest enemies to claim the Grand Championship. Now what? It was a question that her body wanted to answer with a hot shower, cold drink and warm bed with an even warmer body next to her. The mind dwelt on less immediate matters, however.
“What’s next for me?”
She said it aloud, even if it was just to herself to break the silence in the room. The crowds had long gone home and all that was left was the sound of people packing things, disassembling equipment and preparing for the next trip. She took another drag from her cigar. One of the few vices she had picked up from her trainer, she assumed. What was the next move though? Obviously the Grand Championship was going to have to take priority but what would she do now? What would she explore?
*BUZZZZZZZZ* Thoughts came to a halt for the moment as she picked up her phone. The usual flood of congratulatory texts came from some of her close friends and even a rival or two. This was a different one though. It was from her mentor Carlos. It was almost like although he was on the other side of the country, the former wrestler was reading her mind.Congrats on the victory tonight. I know you’re not going to sit still though, you always want more. You’re a greedy bitch, just like I was a greedy bastard back in the days. I know you want to find more places to wrestle so I’ve sent you a few numbers to call. Make sure you get in touch with the first # especially. They’re a company’s been watching you for a bit and the door is open, even if it’s just for freelance stuff. There were a few places that were familiar to her on the list: Next Level Wrestling, Zion Wrestling, Action Wrestling. But the one that caught her eye was the first promotion name listed, the one that Carlos had directed her to call: Pro Wrestling Excellence. It seemed that she had decided on her next project! The Grand Championship would take priority, but she would always, always crave more gold. More gold, more money, more everything.
That was the only thing that someone as ego driven and materialistic as Emmanuelle could understand.
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I guess that this is the part where I should tell you all who I am, right? Alright, sit down, boys and girls, and let me have your attention for just a little while. My friends call me Emmy for short but you all can call me Emmanuelle. I am the Platinum Standard, the Project Honor Grand Champion and soon to be WrestleWorld’s Shogun Champion again. I’m not going to waste your time by going over all the little details of me getting into this wild and crazy business that is professional wrestling but just know that I’m very much qualified to step foot into the ring. When I first started out in this business, I focused most of my efforts on one place at a time, milking promotions dry. Several independents on the West Coast got into some serious financial hardships paying for me to appear at their events. Now, some of you are probably sitting at home or watching this on your phone at the gym or during some down-time at work and you’re saying to yourselves something like this:
“That’s bullshit! Why would some two-bit promoter bury themselves in the dirt trying to get this woman at their shows? She’s nowhere near as good as she claims, right?”
My response? Just watch me wrestle once and you’ll understand. Will I sit here and tell you that I’m better than everyone else entering this match? Yes. But that’s not the only reason to watch me perform in the ring. Anybody can be a tough guy or a tough bitch. There’s plenty of people who spend all their free time in the gym learning to beat people up. There are people in this match who can probably hook and shoot with the best of them in the world today. But, and I’m asking rhetorically because you all know the answer: doesn’t that crap get a bit boring after a while?
Wrestling fans are craving something new. Promotions are craving something new. Eyes were on me before when I went to wrestle in the so-called Neutral Territories for WrestleWorld. Wrestling fans in the United States started to get to know me when I went there. Then, as Shogun Champion and the embodiment of “Strong Style”, I went to Japan to defend my title there and garnered even more rave reviews. Then I went to Project Honor and collected two titles in my first year within the company, not an easy feat for someone barely a couple of years in the game.
The more I do, the more eyes fall upon me. I show up in the Omega Wrestling Alliance just ONCE for Dimensional Warfare and their ratings are through the roof. Slaughterhouse Wrestling brings me in and I’m standing toe to toe with their champion in the middle of the ring my first months in the company. Hell, I showed up to compete in a match very similar to this Olla-Rumble in Zion Wrestling. I did not win, but my impact was felt. How do I know that? This “rumble” was my debut match there. My second match? A #1 Contenders Match…for the World Heavyweight Championship.
I would like to lie to you guys and say that I’m humble about all of this, but I’m not. I’m truly a unique woman residing in a world where uniqueness is sorely lacking. Everyone is a musclebound hoss or a pretty bitch or a straight-shooter or some damn clown who is doing stuff for laughs. Me? I’m a little bit of all that rolled into one with an immaculate sense of fashion and an outright rejection of the very concept of being boring. I’m faster than your fastest, stronger than your strongest, and smarter than your smartest. I will poke, prod, and push until I find a weakness in your game and trash you in front of the entire universe. The very presence of someone like me, that’s used to competing in matches like this, that’s accustomed to fighting plenty of people at one time, should make every person entering this match extremely nervous.
Now, maybe I should backtrack juuuust a little. There may be some of you questioning as to why someone like me, already a World Champion, would be in the mood to leave her comfort zone and enter a match with a field of individuals she knows nothing about? My friends, leaving my comfort zone is something that I’ve done all my life. When I was a young girl growing up I pushed the boundaries every chance I got. I played basketball even though I was one of the smallest on the team. I was more comfortable in the water but I was more than willing to mix it up in the paint with bigger girls when I had to. My parents worked their asses off when they came to this country to make sure I had a better life…but when the time came for me to go to college I told them I would make my own way even though I was a spoiled little girl. I held down a job, played varsity water polo for UCLA, and graduated early. Nothing I’ve ever done is completely according to conventional means so why would my wrestling career be any different?
I know how many people are in the match, I’ve heard of some of the places that they come from and some of those eagerly lining up to compete in it. But, when Magnificence is getting kicked off and some of these people are getting their faces kicked in, I guarantee that they’ll all realize that Pro Wrestling Excellence has a new standard bearer: The Platinum Standard.
===================================================================== February 3, 2022 Mexico City Masaryk 52 Nightclub
There was no smoking this time for Emmy. Cigars were something she would only enjoy on the rarest of rare occasions. The big moments that were milestones of her career. Alcohol? There were no such restrictions. One of the things that the young wrestling starlet enjoyed about Mexico City was the vibrant nightlife and all the various clubs that she could wander off to after work to look for someone fun to bring back to her hotel. Her last visit to the city was complete bedlam. She wrestled in the famed Estadio Azteca, a moment that even someone like her would never forget. She had always heard how hostile and dangerous crowds could be in the infamous fortress of the Mexican National Football team, but to her surprise she was a hit with the people. After hearing nearly a hundred-thousand people cheering her name, how could she fail in her title defense? She didn’t. It meant a lot to her considering her victory brought back so many echoes of her own past. She had watched her mentor compete in the Rose Bowl in her native California, a moment that made up her mind that pro wrestling, for all its faults and trappings, was the way for her to go. How many young men and women had she inspired that day in the grand old stadium? How many were training throughout the city to eventually be like her?
She also remembered getting EXTREMELY drunk once her title had been defended. While she could easily defend herself sober, she made sure to travel in groups when she knew she would drink to excess. The little half-Japanese blonde had put so much booze away that when she finally did black out some traveling with her wondered if she would actually wake up. When she did, she awoke to the news that she had been banned from at least three bars for either participating in or being the catalyst of three separate brawls.
Oh, well. There were plenty of other bars that she wasn’t banned from and she made use of them whenever she stopped by. As she was sitting in a noisy karaoke section of the club with a few friends, she nursed a surprisingly potent frozen strawberry margarita. It wouldn’t win her any hipster awards but it was one of her favorite go-to drinks when out. She knew what she was there for in Mexico City and knew what she was likely walking into. Several had either declared their entry into this event or had entered secretly. She was sure that some of them were probably in a gym training, getting that last bit of training in before the Rumble. What did that matter to her though? Why was she feeling guilty all of a sudden? She worked her ass off! She tortured herself with workouts every day, including this very day in the afternoon. Her entire philosophy was built on staying prepared instead of getting prepared. There was no need to feel guilty about having a night out with some friends.
And besides, Cleveland was a bit of a dump. It was no place befitting a championship celebration like she had earned. It was almost a month after the fact, but it was a victory party for sure. As she was being pulled up to the stage, an irritated expression over her countenance, she only had one thought on her mind.
“I can’t wait to do this shit again after winning that Rumble….”
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I have never wrestled in the Arena Mexico, but I understand what being there represents. Lucha Libre. The fans, the songs, the horns, the tradition. The blood, sweat and tears that come with championship matches and luchas de apuestas. While I’m not much of a traditionalist when it comes to anything to do with pro wrestling, I understand the hallowed ground on which I’m going to be walking. I comprehend the ghosts that reside in that building, the luchadores and luchadoras that put it all on the line before me. I hope to put on a show befitting such a grand stage.
Now, as to whom I’ll be putting on the show against…I can’t say that I’m familiar with any of these people. I’ve looked up the names of some of the known participants and there’s not really much to be said. I could go on and ramble the names of everyone and yack about throwing them all over the top rope but saying the same shit most others would say in this situation has never been my style. There is one thing that is unique to me about this battle royal that caught my eye and it has nothing to do with the competitors:
If you finish in the top four, you’re guaranteed a prize. A title match of some kind, maybe? Maybe cash, something that I would more than happily welcome after a hard night at the office. The winner obviously gets the most coveted of those, something that a teacher would call a “Floating A”. You guys remember that, right? Teacher has the class do something quirky and everyone who finished it got a Floating A had a free pass to forgo a test but be given a 100 percent score regardless. This contract gives you a free crack at one of PWE’s champions at any time of your choosing. This would be pretty damn convenient for someone like me who has so much business to attend to elsewhere. I can walk in, win this Rumble, get my contract and disappear only to strike when I choose to do so.
A lot of wrestlers are going to blah-blah-blah about that, I would wager, but I don’t think most of them really understand how much of a godsend such a position can be. I do, obviously, and I plan on exploiting it. Some people will argue about their stamina, their experience in matches like this and the experience thing I’ll concede willingly to them. This is only my second appearance in a match like this. In that match I was able to hang around until there were only eight or so people remaining. I got my first taste of “Rumble” action and although it’s pretty basic and honestly a dumb way to have a wrestling match…I got a newfound respect for people who have won them.
Funniest and most convenient of things is that I personally know two people who have won events like this: my mentor Carlos and his younger sister Diantha, who was so damn nice she pulled the trick twice. I asked both of them for advice and they obviously gave me the obvious stuff. You know, stay away from the ropes, hit everything that moves, yada yada yada. But there’s one thing that they couldn’t tell me. I had to see it for myself. So, while I was on the way here to Mexico City I watched their victories in these Rumble matches. I paid attention to their ring positioning and strategy but the thing that I noticed most was something most of you wouldn’t think about.
Their eyes.
They didn’t have a look of desperation to them. There was no wild panic when the buzzer went off and someone else came marching down to the ring. There was no fear when they were double-teamed or even triple-teamed. Superstars, hall of famers, rivals, none of it mattered. The look in their eyes said basically “Fuck you and eveyrone else in this ring, I’m here to claim my prize.” Those looks stuck with me.
Now I obviously can’t replicate the looks. In some respects I may not be able to replicate the strategies they employed. But I can replicate the mentality. I can match the intensity. I can go into that ring in Arena Mexico and confidently say that no matter who comes out there, no matter how long I have to stay out there to get the job done, I will get the job fucking done. I know that a lot of you came a long way from all over North America and in some cases all over the world to get this W but there’s only one person with the mentality, the skill and the staying power to see it through:
Me.
I’m sure that there are plenty of you who will scream up and down about “OH MY GOD! YOU DON’T EVEN WORK HERE! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO JUST SHOW UP HERE AND START PUTTING OUT THESE CLAIMS ABOUT WINNING SHIT!?”
Because I’ve done it before. Because it’s what I was made to do. And it’s what I will do until I choose to retire. So, you don’t like it?
Consider this the gauntlet being thrown down, boys and girls. Come stop me. I have some more sights to see and a very pretty girl waiting for me upstairs in my hotel room but please believe that when that bell rings and the Olla-Rumble begins, I’m all about business.
If any of you get the smartass idea of trying to cause me cash flow problems, just be aware that I’m more than willing to turn my cash flow problem into your blood flow problem. Thank you, have a pleasant night, and be prepared to fight for second place.
First place was decided when I put ink to paper to take part in this shit. ===================================================================== February 4, 2022 Mexico City JW Marriott Hotel Mexico City Santa Fe Emmy was a little groggy when she felt the first cracks of sunlight hitting through the window, but she yawned and slowly sat up in her hotel bed. The battle royal that she was preparing to take part in was drawing closer and closer but she was not worried in the slightest. She had done a little research on some of the opponents that she knew would be taking part and honestly wasn’t concerned. There were some great competitors, sure, but they weren’t Emmanuelle. She looked over at the other side of her bed and couldn’t help but give herself a smug little grin. She managed to find quite the beautiful company for the evening: a graduate student at one of the local universities with long brown hair, enchanting brown eyes, and the type of figure that most models and actresses would kill for. It wasn’t a life that she would ever fully feel would be accepted by her mother, a devout Catholic, but the two had made peace with each other a long time ago.
She stood up and looked over the city, more than awestruck at the beauty of such an enormous city. She had grown up in Los Angeles, trained in New Orleans, been to Tokyo and Rio…but something about Mexico City just appealed to her on an aesthetic level. She had given up her one woman crusade against professional wrestling a while back. She realized that there were certain things that she could change, but others would have to be fought at another time. For now, she would enjoy all the perks that a star of her caliber could expect….including the indulgence of her carnal needs.
“Emmy….it’s still early….come back to bed.”
Goddamn, she loved this job. Funny enough, when she was younger she was always a bit of a wallflower and even a little bit of a nerd before athletics started to toughen her up and changed the way she looked at herself and the world around her. There would be plenty of time for preparation for battle. There wouldn’t be plenty of time to make sure this pretty college girl laying in her hotel bed would remember her name and face for the rest of her life. Guess which one got priority today?
“You didn’t say ‘Please’, sweetness.”
The girl certainly hadn’t said please. But before the morning was over, she would say Please, Thank You, Oh God or…well, whatever Emmy wanted her to say. And just to top it all off, there would surely be some angry patrons of rooms nearby complaining about the noise. That just made it more fun for Emmanuelle!
She hadn’t been kicked out of a hotel before. She figured now would be as good a time as any to see if she could manage it. Those other fighters, those other wrestlers? They didn’t register in her mind again until well into the afternoon hours. She was here for business, but she would definitely see that she got her pleasure too. That was the Emmy Mentality after all.
The rest of the world was about to see the more violent aspects of said mentality up close and personal.
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