Post by Aidan Carlisle on Jun 26, 2016 1:36:30 GMT
June 23rd
Bally's Hotel and Casino
Full Tilt
Bally's Hotel and Casino
Full Tilt
Aidan sat on the bench she had shoved back against the lockers in her dressing room, leaning against the laminate doors. Her fist wraps were providing a makeshift ACE bandage of sorts, holding an ice pack on one shoulder so that she didn't have to do it herself. With her eyes closed and the room still, she could make out the sounds coming from the auditorium where the Main Event was taking place; a five way elimination match that would determine who walked away the Atlantic City Champion.
She wasn't in that match. She didn't want to be in that match. Her place was elsewhere and her time for the night had come and gone. The fingers of her un-iced arm shifted to trace across the embossed lines on the face plate of the Internet Championship. Still hers. After ten weeks and now five title defenses, it was still in her hands. To some it surely seemed like she had possessed it long enough. To her... her title reign was still in its infancy.
It hardly seemed like it had been two and a half months since Anarchy in the UK. The UK... there was a certain amount of serendipity about the place. It was there that she had gotten her first real shot in the professional wrestling world eight years ago. And it was there that she had won arguably the most prestigious championship of her career on a month-long tour with Boardwalk. For everything that lurked in its historical shadows, England had been good to her.
In its way, so had Atlantic City. Dirty, corrupted, sleazy, vandalized, reeking Atlantic City. The place had marked the beginning of a new chapter for her. A little frightening when that was a step up from where you had been, wasn't it? Yet she had forged on ahead because it was what she had to do, and she hadn't once looked back. There were few decisions in her life that she hadn't second-guessed or perhaps regretted in at least some small way, but that had been one of them.
“...has been eliminated!!!”
Aidan drew in a breath as she opened her eyes. She had missed the name, but if her count was correct, that was two down, two to go until the Atlantic City Champion was decided. With a little wince she sat up, leaning forward away from the locker that had been a back rest and propping her good elbow on her knee. A few droplets of water ran down her arm from the condensation on her ice pack.
There was still a light sheen of sweat on her skin and her ring gear was sticking to her. She needed to shower, to change. The show would be over soon and it would be time to make the hour and a half drive back to Wilmington and her new house. So much had changed in the last month, since she had been in the ring with Kang Mina. Brown eyes looked down at the white leather resting across her knees, just as it had been when backstage interviewer Kimberly Smith had come to get her thoughts before her match. A lot had changed... but a few things had not.
She was still a cut above the rest, and she had the championship to prove it. A little chuckle escaped her lips as the thought led immediately to lyrics from Meatloaf, “You've been through the fires of hell // and I know you've got the ashes to prove it.” Cheesy, maybe ancient, but it had a ring of truth to it. She'd been singed a time or two, but she always managed to come out the other side.
With a deep breath and a hiss, she pushed up from the bench. It was all worth it; every ache, every pain, the bruises that would show tomorrow, and the twinges in her shoulder now. She was right where she wanted to be, where she needed to be. “World” level Championships would come down the line. So would anything resembling rest and relaxation. Right now it was time to focus on the more immediate goal, and that was a tournament in need of a winner.
As the video feed began it was clear that it was being recorded from, of all things, the passenger seat of a vehicle. It jostled slightly as Aidan Carlisle came into frame, setting the camera or phone down in a bracket so that she didn't have to continue to hold it. With a little smile, she got right down to business.
“The Falcon Cup Tournament. Though only the first round has passed so far, it's certainly been a wild ride, hasn't it? And y'know I think that's fitting, given that the Falcon Cup and this tournament were created in honor of the late Hyabusa and he was always one to put on a show. Now, I'm not about to sit here and claim that I am anywhere near his level, but I feel like it is also fitting that my opponent Avery Miles III's and my styles fall, perhaps roughly, into the same category as Hyabusa's.
“Maybe not everyone gives much thought to that kind of thing. Maybe not everyone looks at how titles and awards and cups came about, but I find it interesting. It's a weighty thing, to me, to be fighting for something and know that you have to rise to the level of what it is you are after. For the Falcon Cup, the bar was set very, very high. Why? Well, because Falcons fly.”
Her smile widened a bit. It was an interesting and apt metaphor, all things considered. Her eyes shifted to glance out the window before flicking back to the camera. With a deep breath, she went on.
“It wasn't long ago that I was expecting to step into the ring with two opponents for the second round here. It was going to be a challenge, for sure, but I was looking forward to it. It was, and still will be, a complete one-eighty from my first round match with Kang Mina. After the withdrawal of Amis Shelton, however, things have changed, and dramatically at that. With it now being down to myself and Avery Miles, the entire landscape of the match as shifted.
“Not only can the two of us focus solely on each other, but the clash of styles that would have been present with Shelton's technical skill is gone. Of course at-odds abilities can always make for an interesting match, but I think that having a pair of fast, light aerial wonders like myself and Avery is going to make for a match that is a shining example of what Guerreros of Lucha is all about.”
Adjusting the seatbelt on her shoulder, Aidan shifted slightly in her seat to angle herself just a bit more toward the camera. She bit the inside of her lip while she thought, absently drumming her fingers on her leg. It took a few more moments while she considered her words carefully.
“The Labyrinth may not be my 'home,' so to speak, but I have certainly enjoyed my short time here. Maybe it's small, maybe it's not a name that is as widely heard as some others, but everyone should be damn proud of what has been accomplished so far. There's an energy about the place and in the locker room that can't be denied. Whatever tensions there may be between all these people, it's obvious just how much they love what they do and how much the company means to them.”
There was a far away look in her eyes for a second or two as she thought about places that had meant as much to her. Everyone had one or two, the sort that you didn't forget because of all the good that had happened. The ones you never forgot because of the bad didn't make you smile.
“Now, Avery said something about feeling like he was a small fish in a big pond, that facing me is going to help him learn how much talent he has. I'm incredibly flattered, and I appreciate the compliment. However, I might argue the opposite. The Guerreros of Lucha Twitter ran a poll for the fans to see just who they thought would win when there were still three of us billed, and Avery was far and away in the lead, with just under fifty percent of the votes.
“I think you're selling yourself short, Mr. Miles. You're not the plucky underdog you think you are in this. You are the odds on favorite to win here. That's got to feel pretty damn good, doesn't it? Take a few moments and let that sink in. Enjoy it, let it boost your confidence. I'll tell you what people have to tell me now and again; it's okay to take some pride in what you've accomplished.”
She reached down and picked up a canned energy drink from the cup holder for a slow sip, Salted Caramel flavored Java Monster for viewers who looked closely. When she set it back down, she was pensive again. She held the charm on her necklace between her thumb and forefinger, sliding it back and forth absently as she spoke her thoughts aloud.
“For me, last night was a big night. It wasn't just because it was a pay-per-view in my home company. It wasn't just because my Internet Championship was on the line. All those things are factors, naturally, but the real reason that last night was important to me is because it was my fiftieth professional win here in the United States.
“Up until a few days before the match I didn't even know that milestone was coming. I dug up my numbers to make a point, and there they were. I was at 49-9-3. There was nothing I was going to let stop me even before I saw that, but once I did... if there's something greater than a hundred percent, that is the determination I felt to come away with the victory.
“Just two days after that you and I will be stepping into the ring together. I'll have had a short rest and a long flight, along with plenty of time to think. Our match is no less important to me than my last. The number isn't as impressive, it's true, and it's not for a championship, but I go into every match with the mindset that it is a big match. I've never been one to try to skate by, and I don't think you have either.”
Finally, Aidan looked back to the camera. She was smiling again. There was a fierce determination in her eyes, but she was truly looking forward to this match. No grudges, no anger, no hate. It was just going to be two people who wanted to show the world what they could do. Matches like that were few and far between, unfortunately, but they were the memorable ones.
“The fact is, when things are said and done between us. The numbers will have changed. The question is, Avery, what will you be? I honestly can't say.
“Are you 51? Will it be me who walks away the winner and moves on to the final round? You can bet everything you have that it is my goal. I didn't enter the tournament with the intention of not seeing it all the way through. I know myself, I know that I have what it takes to beat everyone who stands between me and that cup.
“Are you 10? I don't deny your talent. The fans see it, and you are standing across from me. Clearly you've done something to deserve it. Your abilities are clear. The possibility that you might be the better wrestler for the night is there.
“Or... Are you 4? It's a shot in the dark, truly, but so was it coming to a draw between myself and Kang Mina in the last round. I didn't expect it, and I know that she didn't either. In fact, she and I may very well see one another again in the finals so we can settle just who is the better woman.”
Straightening back up, she never looked away from the camera.
“But first comes you, Avery. You and I have a proverbial date. We're going to clash. We're going to fight. Hell we might just spend more time in the air than we do on the canvas. I'm just fine with that. We're going to go until neither of us can go any more. The fans are going to get what they paid to see, and a whole lot more. We don't need to be the Main Event to be the match of the show. When that final bell rings, though, I plan on it being me having my hand raised, my name announced as moving on to the final round. Either way, I'll shake your hand.”
Giving a nod toward the camera, Aidan reached out and ended the recording.