Rediscovery Pt.II Rusted From The Rain (RP#2 vs DD at BGH)
May 27, 2022 7:31:32 GMT -5
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Post by Veronica Strader on May 27, 2022 7:31:32 GMT -5
“Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along.” - Rae Smith.
What did she know about him? Just that he and Crazy Chris had tried to stop the Cowgirls From Hell way back in the PWA and that they got a monkey off their back winning the OCW Tag Team titles at ACCESS DENIED. Veronica has had a more successful run in OCW than any before her, but she was a different person than she was during that run. She had been a woman with two other voices sharing space in one head. The adjustment was getting to her; it had been quite evident as bad things happen, but getting hit by her own championship and giving up her streak to Cypher was more than an adjustment.
She went looking for Christian Cain, better known as Outcast, and while she didn’t end up physically finding the man himself, she did start her own journey to find herself instead. Wherever he was, it was where Outcast belongs right now, where he needs to be even stronger than he was before, all so he could survive and make his triumphant return. She came home to London, Ontario and stood outside of her, or rather, Victoria’s childhood home in the city's East End. The residents lovingly call this city area exactly that or East of Adelaide for the true Londoner. She remembers watching Victoria play as a little girl and wrestle in the backyard with her adoptive dad and her best friend Cara, and unknown to Victoria, her fraternal twin. She looks at the one-floor home with the carport to the right, Bay-Windows near the red front door just to its right, and she realizes she hasn’t been back since December 2021, six months ago when she took control.
“We were in similar yet very different places, Daniel. In December, that is. I was finally truly in control of my body, Victoria packed away, but I can’t lie and say it was all me. The Affliction was influencing my decisions. Now I wouldn’t have thrown Cara off the OCW Arena, but I definitely would’ve superkicked The A-Lister himself, Dylan Thomas, off the Packard building in Detroit. That’s just one of the things I have started to figure out as I begin to look at my future in this company because as long as OCW is open, I’ll never work for another. Figuring out who I am, Daniel, well, it is something you’ll wish I did after facing you.”
Veronica pivots in her snakeskin boots, the ones Atara had tried to burn multiple times and tilts her head ever so slightly to her right. She purses her lips for us before continuing, as her glasz-eyes appear to have the flicker of fire they had before.
“If we had faced off last week or the week before, good chance my record falls to fourteen and two and kissing my TransAtlantic title goodbye. Especially with how both you and your jackassy brother Christopher decided to involve yourselves in something that had no concern to you. But I know why you both did it, and it’s so much more than trying to get under my skin, which congratu-fucking-lations you succeeded at wonderfully.”
The scene changes, and we are on the same street where Veronica shot her promo against Dylan Thomas, where they ended up fighting as well, but the snow is gone, and spring is in full bloom. She walks toward us as her strawberry blonde hair shines in the sun. She looks over to the porch that hasn't been rebuilt that Dylan brought down on top of her.
“I am a wrestler who takes what I do beyond seriously. I live and breathe this sport, and winning is something I have really enjoyed. I also enjoy being the longest reigning OCW TransAtlantic Champion this company has ever seen, and while some like to think this is a mud show promotion, putting us down because we have found success in a place that didn’t want them, we are far from it. It’s said so much that it might be a big fuckin’ cliche now, but anyone can win or lose any night. That in itself should tell people something. It should also tell them something I have put five OCW competitors to the mat in the name of my family and the name of MY championship.”
“I came into OCW looking to prove something, and I have done precisely that. You, Daniel, set out to do something similar, and that was to be the best tag team OCW has ever seen. You both talked a very big game, but you created a new history when Technical Difficulties came along: you helped make Mike Zybala and the Stranger become the new tag team champions. In watching the promotional videos you put together for your title matches, the Danger Boiz claimed only one goal, and what do you do when you hit a stumbling block? Do you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try to get them back? You say ‘screw it’ and decide you want to take a run at my title.”
“Is it because I am a Strader? Go ahead, be honest. I know it is. The brothers still have a burnt ass from the sisters, denying them a taste of the PWA Tag Team gold. If they hadn’t been denied their rightful shot, those same sisters would’ve been the ones to dethrone you and your brother. You know it, and in some way, you think that beating me and taking my championship is gonna make up for your failure in the past and your most recent failure. It’s not.”
“Because I’m not about to let you take what I have put everything into, Daniel.”
With a shake of her head, we find ourselves at the same campfire that Veronica and Victoria sat at while speaking to, at the time, The Lost Stranger. It feels empty without Victoria and her ponytail. She stands in between where they had sat, looking into the fire.
“I have legit lost pints of blood in defending my championship. Same in sweat, equal in tears. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who took their reign with the same regard and care that I have and will continue to do. You actually did something for me when you cleaned my clock with my own belt, allowing that hacker to defeat me. I would’ve been lying if I said that stupid undefeated tag line wasn't always in the back of my head. Since then, I realized how that pressure was terrible for me. It’s not the same as defending a title, but I was treating it like that, letting my arrogance lead me astray… showing me to be like the man (and I use that term very loosely) that helped create me. I won’t say I am not like him in other ways, I am, but I am more my own person with the flare of the great Strader wrestlers that came before and the ones now that ride along with me in this journey that is working for the greatest company in the industry today.”
“Part of my journey was remembering where I came from, and I was losing sight of that, but then you took that burden of losing the next away. Sometimes people can forget what it’s like to feel a certain way. The beginning of my career was rough, I tasted the bitterness that is losing, and when Victoria came to OCW, well, we were barely batting five hundred. I took control and raised the name V. Strader to an entirely new level. Thank you, Daniel, for helping bring me back to who I am: the OCW TransAtlantic Champion, Veronica Strader. The woman who fears absolutely no one and absolutely nothing. I don’t have that fear of losing the next one anymore. You gave me that freedom. Now… I want to thank you by defeating you this Sunday at Big Game Hunting.”
Her left hand raises up, and she snaps her fingers, so loud it sounds like a clap motion, and we are whisked off to DJIBOUTI! She couldn’t risk the Portal Potty again, so she skips returning there for the home of the PPV. Veronica sits atop a turnbuckle in her ring gear, TransAtlantic title around her waist, a smirk on her face whilst nibbling on a piece of watermelon.
“I found you at Massacre because I didn’t want to go into our match receipts owed. The way to beat a veteran of the ring like you is to remain calm and believe in my ability to beat anyone, veteran or not. I have the skill I have from what I have been humbled with and what I have enlightened my opponents with. I started professionally in December of 2020 when I met my dad. Only in wrestling would that happen, right? It's a backwards incestuous, creepy industry that I love with all my heart because it is so much more than that.”
“I know you love this industry too, although after viewing your promos the last six months, I think it’s for a few other reasons that don’t appeal to me unless Christian Cain is standing at my side as my King. When he comes back, we will show the OCW Faithful why we are the true King and Queen of this amazing company. Strong. Proud.”
She walks to the ropes, grabs onto the top with both her hands, leans and squats to create the momentum to hop over the top to the apron. She skips down the steps, reaching into the back of her waistband to grab her Marlboro Reds. She can’t help but miss the cancer sticks from an alternate reality she spent time in, but the Reds were pretty close. The blue smoke fills the air of the outside landscape where Big Game Hunting was setting up. She kicks at a rock every so often as she walks the makeshift entranceway.
“This is me. Alright? I’m not some fly-by-night talent. This is how I win. By taking everything from my last match and using the information from it. All the hard work I put in. All the ass I have kicked. I have paid my dues here in OCW. Just because you and your brother lost the tag team titles to two stronger and prouder guys doesn’t mean I will let you take away from me what I have worked so hard for. There is one thing you probably remember about the Strader family, but if you have forgotten, I’ll remind you.”
She stops, the sound of gravel skidding under her wrestling boots, as she pivots to the side to extend her right arm out, pointing to the ring.
“Inside that very ring, I will do what I have done since December 5th and walk out of Big Game Hunting, doing what I do better than every other champion in the whole company, retaining my championship and making history. But I did say I would remind you….”
The Strader Sneer creeps her face as he brings the cigarette to her purple lips taking a drag and exhaling with her final words.
“God forgives, Dangerous Dan.”
“I don’t.”
Veronica flicks her cigarette to the ground and extinguishes it with her boot. We fade to the Big Game Hunting promo.
