Post by Aidan Carlisle on May 21, 2016 3:58:45 GMT
“Kang Mina, you are the first person to stand in my way in the Falcon Cup Tournament. Admittedly my first inclination is to have a good snicker at how your name makes me think of that disembodied brain driving a stumpy-armed robot around from inside its belly. Come to think of it, that robot's get up even looks like something a wrestler might wear, eh?
Forgive me my moment of waxing poetic on childhood memories. I realize you probably have no idea what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are, since they were likely not approved of by whoever was playing Tyrant in your country twenty years ago. Rest assured that joke was funny to people who come from places where a sense of humor isn't against the law.
Political ideologies aside, what you have done in the ring speaks for itself. You are a skilled competitor and I know that I'll have my hands full when it comes time for the two of us to step in the ring. While I suspect it is not a mutual feeling, I respect what you've accomplished so far over there at Wrestle Olympus. Perhaps by the time we meet you will be their Titan and you and I will treat the Guerreros of Lucha to a champion versus champion match.
I do not dismiss you, and I do not doubt you. I know someone of great principle when I see them. We both want this, and our reasons are not so very different. We are, each in our own way, looking to bring prestige to the place that we call home; you to North Korea and me to Boardwalk Wrestling.
Unfortunately, only one of us will be able to walk away the victor in that match. I am not going to let you be the one, Mina. You are my first opponent, but you will not be my last. I will be going on to the next round, and the next.
You come from a place that is notorious world-wide for grandstanding. The 'Leader' that you unfortunately hold in such high regard makes threats and decrees, but little more. A little roll of the eyes and an amused chuckle; this is what most give at the thought of North Korea. I, however, am known for stepping into the ring and doing exactly what I say I will.
Mina, I will beat you.”
As Aidan stepped through the doors of Daddis MMA, she was already dressed and ready to go. Generally she changed in the locker room and mulled hitting up the steam room, but she was determined that night. So much so that she'd made arrangements with the owner to get to come in after the place would otherwise be closed.
It was costly but well worth it. There was something to be said for not having to weave your way between an overly peppy fitness bunnies in toddler sized yoga pants and slow-moving behemoths that spent more time admiring their
Judging by his appearance he had already done some work of his own. That wasn't surprising, he had turned her on to the place to begin with after she had signed with Boardwalk. Dropping her bag against the wall was enough to get his attention. He tucked his phone away quickly—probably tweeting at his girlfriend, the lovesick fool—and shot her his usual dorky smile.
“Hey.”
“Howdy, how are you feeling today?”
Something about his question came across as hyper-technical, making her arch a brow at him.
“Like I’ve got some work to do.”
“Well, no shit you got work to do. You worried about that tournament thingy you’re in?”
“I wouldn’t say worried exactly, but I need to prepare for it.”
“Yeah well… let’s get to it I guess.”
“You’re a better technical wrestler than I am, Bryan. You always have been. I want you be my trainer for this. If I need to lift different, then tell me what to do. If I need to go with a different diet, then set me up. I trust you with this. Where do we start, Mister Miyagi?”
Despite the joke, the look on her face was serious.
Earlier That Day
“What are ye doing?”
Aidan didn't look up from her laptop as she heard the question from behind her after the door swung shut. She sat on the floor, cross-legged in front of the coffee table where her computer was resting, eyes glued to the screen. Liam leaned down to kiss her temple as he glanced at the video of a wrestling match that was playing.
“What's this?”
“Kang Mina versus Jezebel Koresh. It's her latest match in Wrestle Olympus. I'm going through and watching them all.”
“And how many times have ye watched this?”
“Three times a piece, just to be sure I don't miss anything.”
Having already taken her notes on the first viewing, she was now raptly following each and every moment of the match. Her dark brown eyes took in every move, in-ring habits, and those tricky little tells that everyone had.
“Is she any good?”
“She's very good. As far as I can tell, she hasn't lost a match there since their first show, and she won a rumble for title contendership.”
“Is she better than you?”
As the match came to an end, with Jezebel Koresh being pinned, Aidan finally looked up at him, head tilting first to one side, then the other.
“Well, if I answer that I either look overly cocky or like I lack confidence, now don't I? She's very talented.”
“So are you.”
“That's what people keep telling me.”
“What's on your mind then?”
“She is very different than I am. Not just the whole different country, different life thing. Her skill set is not at all like mine. I've got some brushing up to do I think. I'm sure she's out there doing the same thing I am, watching my matches and digging up what she can on me.
“She'll think she knows who Aidan Carlisle is. Well I want to give her something completely different than she's expecting when the bell rings. I know who I need to call.”
“Technical wrestling is about precision, being able to do something over and over again with pinpoint like accuracy. You don’t practice until you get it right, you do it until you can’t get it wrong.”
Punch after punch landed on the heavy bag as Bryan held it in place. Sweat poured down the back of her neck. Though her fists were wrapped, her knuckles were starting to ache. The pounding of her heart in her chest was like a war drum keeping tempo.
“You have the speed, I’ve seen it. With your size you need to work on using that to your advantage. Leverage works wonders in the ring, you get a guy in a hammerlock and drop real low... he’ll start screaming like a little baby.”
“First round I’m up against another woman, so I’m not worried about the size difference this time, but she's highly technically trained.”
“Oh, that’s why you’re worried about the whole technical thing. You know, you’ve come this far as a wrestler without really needing that. Why start now anyway? You have more than enough talent and guts to take her down anyway.”
“I know I’ve done pretty well for myself I guess. With this… it’s just… Maybe it’s because I representing Boardwalk, you know? It's not just me for me, I'm representing home.”
He shoved the bag at her unexpectedly. It drove her back an few inches but she locked it in a clinch and began driving her knee into it over and over again. The mild burn of other drills flared in her abdominal muscles. The pain she expected to feel the next morning would be its own reward.
“Haven’t let that stop you yet, don’t know why you should be worrying about that now. Just do you.”
“I'm going to. I just want to make sure that I’m the best me that I can be when I step into the Labyrinth.”
Even Earlier That Day
The sound of barely stifled giggles echoed through the Piatto Suite of the Atlantic City Borgata in the post-breakfast hours of the morning. Upon returning from the hotel's fitness center—one of those highly unusual days when she wanted to get some intense cardio out of the way first thing—Aidan had showered and pulled on an old t-shirt and shorts to lounge in. With a half-empty Blender Bottle of salted caramel coffee flavored protein shake, she was perched on one of the chairs at the table with her lap top in front of her, struggling to contain her laughter.
Liam emerged groggily out of the bedroom. A rare day indeed, she was even awake before he was. Spiky red hair all askew, he arched a brow at her as he stood in the doorway of the bedroom in a pair of athletic shorts and nothing else. When she finally got herself under control, she smiled at him.
“What are ye on about now?”
“You know that tournament that I'm repping Boardwalk in? Well I just figured out who my opponent is, and... she's like... a crazy North Korean woman. She tweeted some fake youtube video about North Korean firing missiles at the United States at me.”
Another fit of giggling rose. She tried to hide her mouth behind her fingers, then she tried having a drink of her protein shake. Nothing would make them stop until they had run their course.
“Like... I didn't even know that North Korea had some program dedicated to training professional wrestlers! Is it somewhere in between the missile silos and the mass grave for people that don't cheer at parades? ...Better yet, how did she ever get out of North Korea to come wrestle in the first place? Doesn't the US kind of frown on visitors from over there?
“OH! Does she have Kim Jong Un approved wrestling boots?! Is there standard required gear from the dictator himself for everyone training at their super secret wrestling academy? If they bring shame to their country by losing a match, do they get executed?”
That last bit was actually kind of sad.
“Are ye coming out with me today?”
“No. I think I'm going to see if I can find out a little bit more about this poor misguided girl.”
Aidan collapsed on the mat as she let go of the triangle choke. The lights overhead were too bright, making her shut her eyes. She could have fallen asleep right there to the smell of sweat and vinyl and iron.
“So who are you facing in the first round?”
“...Don't laugh.”
She didn't open her eyes, but she could practically see the skeptical expression on his face.
“She’s a North Korean and I don’t know if she’s been sent by Kim Jong Un or not.”
Bryan laughed, not taking the news seriously at all. Once he saw that Aidan was serious, he quickly cut off his chuckling. He dropped a towel onto her chest, which she promptly used to wipe her face.
“You’re not joking. Usually when you say 'Don’t laugh,' you immediately follow it with a joke.”
“I know, I know. But legit… She might be, I don’t know. Remember when I had those crazy tweets directed at me a few weeks ago that I thought was some kind of spambot? Turns out… that was her.”
“Oh wow, that’s uh… that’s certainly something…”
“Yeah, she's all communist brainwashed and shit, but she's good, Bryan. She's very good. She's determined, she's got conviction. She wants this, a lot. I know that I can beat her, but I am going to be at my best when I do. I don't want to hear anything about luck, just that I was the better woman. So, I want to do this again tomorrow.”
When she finally pulled the towel off of her face and opened her eyes, he was smiling. Naturally it had that same goofy quality that it always did, but she was pretty sure she could see something else. Was it pride? If it was, was it for her or himself? When he extended his hand she let him pull her up to her feet.
“Okay then. Take a hot shower, ice what you need to, and get some sleep instead of pulling your usual night owl shit. Be back here tomorrow night at the same time. We'll see if you remember anything I just taught you.”
Dawn
Where had the time gone? As she stared up at the ceiling Aidan realized that it was closing in on the end of the month. Soon she would be heading out to Los Angeles for the first Round of the Falcon Cup tournament. It seemed like she had barely blinked since Michael Pettis had asked her if she wanted to be the one to represent Boardwalk, but somehow a month or more had slipped by.
When the offer had been made to her, she had felt a little swell of pride. She hadn't been with Boardwalk as long as many others. At that point she wasn't even the Internet Champion, but he had seen something in her that he decided should be the face of his company in this competition. When was the last time she'd even had a boss whose opinion she even cared to have, let alone valued?
Now the time was drawing near, and right next to that pride she still felt was a growing pressure. She was the one that Pettis had come to because he expected great things from her. She had accepted and now she was the face of Boardwalk Wrestling in the tournament. The challenge would be spectacular, the knowledge she would walk away with would be invaluable, and a victory would be something worth a little boasting about.
But it was about more than just Aidan herself. This wasn't just another match. It wasn't merely another tick in her win column or another digit in her growing undefeated Boardwalk singles streak. It was about showing how the talent at Boardwalk, and subsequently Boardwalk itself, stacked up against other companies from all around the world. It was about showing that they were on the cutting edge of professional wrestling, and that onus was squarely on her shoulders.
She had looked at the other names that had entered. Many she didn't know, but several she did. There was a lot of talent there. Each and every one of them were going to have to fight hard to earn their victories, herself included. It didn't matter which one of them she ended up against. Personal opinions of their attitudes aside, they had all earned a measure of respect for what they had accomplished in her careers.
Was she expecting to have that respect returned to her? No, not really. Nine years in the business had taught her better than that. No matter how much you had achieved, there would always be those that looked down at everyone around them.
That was fine.
“When people are looking down it's easier to kick them in the face.”