Post by Tamika Strader on Mar 11, 2022 1:32:43 GMT -5
Clayton Hotel
Limerick, Ireland
March 8th, 2022
(off-camera)
Meghan Strader couldn’t find her firstborn after Monday Night Massacre, which had her worried about her. She knew the TransAtlantic title being stolen out from under Victoria’s grasp was going to bring Veronica back out, and it scared her. Every time Veronica takes control over Victoria’s body and mind, it apparently becomes harder to overcome the Affliction.
The Matriarch and her baby sister, one of the Craze title number one contenders, had ridden to Limerick on the bikes they had at Massacre being only sixty miles (hundred kilometres) it wasn’t considered a long ride by any stretch of the imagination, but it gave time for her to think about things; ranging from their deceased father, The Bitchwood Party tucking tails and running away and of course, the well-being of her baby girl.
They had checked into the Clayton Limerick Hotel, which overlooks the River Shannon. Still, unfortunately, due to higher than normal booking, they were given separate rooms. However, that might be best because Meghan was still not quite sure how she felt about Tamika taking the singles title shot over their own possible shared glory.
“She has always been by your side, always chosen us over herself; she’s earned this,” she says to her reflection in the bathroom mirror. The black granite countertop was covered in water droplets after splashing her face multiple times. She reaches and grabs the white towel from the small rack that keeps multiple sizes folded up neatly.
“Spent the last year, Rocky Mountain Way *guitar riff*.”
She reaches into the back pocket of her hip-hugging blue Wranglers, reaching for her ringing phone. She opens her eyes and sees her husband, Dustin “Thunderwolf” Kelser. She turns around, leaning against the counter; she accepts the call. Her smiling face turns to one of excitement seeing her dark-haired and fare holding their little girl, Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Kelser. Future wrestler? Probably, this fuckin’ family will never die.
“Why are my two favourites calling me at this time of night? I guess it is morning for you.”
“That it is, babe. This little one is up before her brother; just like her momma, she is ready to start the day before the rest of us. How ya feeling? Saw your win.”
Meghan scoffs and shakes her head. Her icy blue eyes looked like they were twirling, readying to fire like a Gatling Gun.
“Oh, those two cowards. I didn’t think Welsh was a ‘participation trophy kinda’ General Manager.”
Dustin looks at their daughter and then at his hot wife, who always seemed to make every hair on him feel like it was standing on edge.
“Why not pull rank? If it weren’t for you and your sister, they wouldn’t even have taken my wife away from me all the way across the pond,” he says with an almost impish charm that was utterly handsome and gave her butterflies.
“No, I won’t do that. It has me closer to my Victoria, and Tamika has an opportunity,” she says, stopping to look at her baby girl, who is leaning in watching her mama, mesmerized.
“I saw Meeka decided to take the Craze title shot instead of a chance to win tag team titles one month short of twelve years. In Dublin to boot. How do you feel about that?”
Meghan makes a funny face at her daughter while answering Dustin.
“What? How do I feel about my sister possibly becoming a singles champion before me when it was what I desperately sought after for half a decade, always falling short?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it like that…”
She sighs softly and looks up at her husband through the wonders of technology.
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it? I have no one to be upset with other than myself, and I really want her to achieve this, ya know? No matter what I have asked, she’s always been there for me, no questions, just like joining OCW to help my baby,” she replies, making a kissy-face at Lizzie.
“Have you told her you know about her disc surgery?”
“She says she hasn’t told me about mine either. I know why she didn’t tell me, and it’s the same reason I didn’t tell her about my procedure. It wasn’t to keep going in this industry; it was to live pain-free, something most of us don’t get the luxury of in retirement. How’s your shoulder doing, babe?”
Meghan talked to her husband for a few more minutes before saying goodnight and kissing the screen for her baby girl. She looks into the mirror again and makes a hard decision.
River Shannon
Limerick, Ireland
March 10th, 2022
(On Camera)
The OCW logo flashes across the screen, followed by the Route 66 inspired CFH logo. We transition to a narrow part of the River Shannon, just on the city limits of Limerick. The sun is an hour from setting, and the coolness in the air sends a chill down the Strader Family Matriarch’s spine, but she doesn’t show it. Solid as a rock, always. She sits on a rock, denim-clad legs outstretched and snakeskin boots crossed over one another. The sound of leather from her riding jacket fills the air as she leans back on her palms, aviators concealing the icy blue eyes of her father and her crimson red lips only slightly open.
“I first started in this business at the tender of sixteen. Some girls my age were getting cars, having extravagant sweet sixteen parties, kissing their boyfriends (or girlfriends) but for me? I was dealing with asshole promoters getting Scott Nash Strader employment, title shots, booking his gigs outside of his MC business.”
“I started training in the ring around the edge of seventeen, but it wasn’t until Meeks was eligible to step between the ropes as a competitor did our time come. On April 24th, 2010, not far from Dublin, the Cowgirls From Hell entered the ring against the asswipes known as Hell and High Water and the PWA Tag Team Champions, the Down South Georgia Boys. Those Georgia Boys were the true competition between those teams. How Lucious Starr and Joshua Danielson got into that match is beyond me. Almost 12 years ago. Such a coincidence, isn't it?”
Meghan sits up and dusts off her hands with the debris of the grass. She folds her hands on her knees, leaning forward slightly once she lifts them, planting the soles of her boots onto the ground.
“When we signed the OCW contracts and opened our bank accounts to finance the company, it was so I could connect with Veronica. Nothing more, nothing less,” she says with a sigh. “Then that competitive itch that drives everyone in this godforsaken family started up again, and I needed to buy a crate of Goldbond.”
“We come in, utterly destroy the Tornado Twins or whatever those Sonic-looking-pricks call themselves in dominant Cowgirl fashion. Then Marcus Welsh asks if CFH will compete in The Great Illuminatus as my kid decided she wasn’t stepping foot inside of the pyramid in hopes that she could get The Lost Stranger. Seems to have worked, although I am sure having her strap stolen is driving her absolutely mad.”
“When Tamika and I entered that death trap we helped pay for; I honestly didn’t know what to expect. The Lost Stranger was able to get one over on me, and I won’t sully it by being a bitch like that idiot Page, or “Chronic Arthritis,” as Ronnie refers to him as, and take away that win from him. He deserved it. My sister also deserves the shot at the OCW Craze Championship, and I would never ask her to give that up if she really wants it. She does. Speaking of deserving…”
She looks up, moving her aviators to do their best impression of a hairband.
“Maxine, Maxine, Maxine… I am so disappointed in you, darlin’. When I found you tagging my Road King outside the Joe Louis in 2016, you had so much potential. You had me, Meeks, my husband, the legendary Thunderwolf, all take you under our wings. You had the whole world ahead of you. You are over six feet tall, a buck seventy and change, stronger than a Canadian Caribou, and have the talent to ride a wave to the top.”
She stands up; a look of disappointment can’t be hidden from her face as she shakes her head.
“What you did with old man, hurting Victoria… we don’t need to rehash past events that we have all come to terms with. I am pissed off at you for an entirely pissing away to better than bloody enhancement talent in Thunder Pro and OCW,” she makes sure to add on which companies to remind her that greats surround her, but she is phoning it in. She crosses her arms, lowering her eyes and head slightly. She lifts her head and stares back up level with us, and her raven hair looks like it flipped up from a fancy shampoo commercial.
“Well, if you are gonna waste your abilities not giving a shit if you win or not, the Master is gonna put you down. Monday, I will put you down like my kid did a few weeks back when we should’ve been a marquee match. Student versus the Master. Epic proportions. Instead, I help get butts in the seats for you to give a lacklustre effort. Even if you try to win, I think you have forgotten how to win.”
“Complacency is a dangerous place to find yourself in this business, ya know because it’ll turn into melodramatic self-seeking words of encouragement and other down on yourself cliché attention grabbers. Some do work, and it pulls you out of the hole… but not always. While my sister prepares for her Craze title shot, I sadly get to add another loss to your right column.”
She laughs out loud before beginning her walk back to her lodging.
“It’s a damn shame someone who had a future as bright as yours and now you don’t even deserve to hear a catchphrase.”
She barely sneers as she slides her sunglasses back down and starts her walk back to her hotel. Maybe Tamika is up for a whiskey.
