Respect for Tradition

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November 2007

Southampton, UK

Off Camera

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It may not look like much, but this small, run down looking gym on the outskirts of Southampton is quite a well known venue.  This is the gym that hosts the Glenn Braddock Wrestling School.  Glenn Braddock is a popular figure in the European wrestling scene.  The legendary grappler went undefeated as an amateur, beating anyone and everyone who stepped up to the plate.  He garnered the nickname “Britain’s Best” indicating his skill level when it came to the so-called “sport of kings”.  The legendary Braddock was in training to be an Olympian before an injury forced him to retire from active competition early.  Even then, Glenn Braddock refused to let injury keep him away from the sport he loved.  Like a stubborn bull, or more aptly like an enraged fire breathing Japanese monster dead set on destroying Tokyo, Glenn rampaged into the next stage of his career: a trainer for the next generation of wrestling greats.

His personality and methodology is legendary.  Some say he is akin to the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.  Others liken him to an angry and very hungry lion.  However you describe him, Glenn Braddock does not take shit from anyone and he is one of the hardest, most challenging trainers to work under.  But those who want to break into the wrestling business always seek out him and his guidance.  He is, after all, Britain’s Best.

Not everyone wants to stick to the amateur scene and not everyone wants to seek out the same Olympic dreams that Glenn Braddock had before his untimely injury.  There are those who seek to break out into the professional wrestling circuit.  Thus Glenn hired athletes familiar with the art of professional wrestling to assist him with his school.    Everything was perfect and many future champions would eventually pass through his school’s doors.

The student he takes the most pride in, however, is his oldest child, his twenty-four year old daughter, Glory Braddock.

Glory Braddock understands the pressure that weighs heavily upon her shoulders.  She is the daughter of “Britain’s Best” and, as a student at his school, her peers expect great things from her.  She understands that Glenn himself expects great things from her and she does not want to let her father down.

It’s that motivation that drives Glory to compete at her best each and every day in her father’s wrestling school.  Glory currently finds herself on the mat chain wrestling with one of her good friends from the school, a young woman from Belfast and fellow student, Sophie O’Brian.  Sophie currently has Glory locked in a rear naked choke and Braddock is turned where she is gazing deep into the eyes of her father, watching on from a stool a few feet away from the mat.

The pressure to please her father has always been great.  Glenn has been her whole life.  Glory’s mother, Mary Ford Braddock, left England shortly after the divorce from Glenn Braddock.  Mary now lives in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States with her sister, Glory’s aunt Kelly Ford Jones.  There’s an entire family there that Glory knows very little about because she’s lived with Glenn her entire life and has never got the chance to bond with her mother.  Thus she feels a great pressure to make her father happy, to give him what he wants.

Glenn wanted to compete in the Olympics to become recognized as one of the best wrestlers in the world, not just Britain, but the injury took that from him.  Glenn always wanted a son to follow in his footsteps and become one of the best wrestlers in the world, to fulfill the dream that Glenn never could.  Glory knows this and wants so badly to give Glenn exactly what he wanted.

She just wants to make him happy.

The sight her father’s eyes inspire Glory to fight.  Sophie has the rear naked choke locked in tightly but Braddock fights up to her knees.  Sophie attempts to get piggy back but Glory muscles herself up to her feet and then falls backward, crushing Sophie underneath and forcing the break of the rear naked choke.  Glory scrambles her way back to her feet; she knows that Sophie has incredible endurance.  Sophie rushes in but Glory is able to catch her with a deep arm drag into an arm bar.

“Excellent!  Outstanding!” Those are the encouraging words of Glenn Braddock, applauding the efforts of his daughter. “That was a damn near perfect counter!”

Glory finds it difficult to hide the smirk of pride from her face.  She enjoys pleasing her father.  But she can’t soak up the moment for too long.  Sophie quickly fights up to her knees.  Glory tries to wrench in the arm bar but Sophie manages to not only get back to her feet but to reverse the arm bar into a hammerlock.  Glory wastes no time at all as she reverses Sophie’s hammerlock into a hammerlock of her own.  Braddock doesn’t stop there.  She quickly takes Sophie down with a belly to back suplex.

“Terrific!  Bloody amazing!”

Braddock snatches one of Sophie’s legs and attempts to lock in a figure four leg lock but Sophie counters into a small package but Braddock is able to wriggle free almost immediately.  Both Glory and Sophie snap back up to their feet in combat position at almost the exact same time.  Both women are evenly matched.  They know each other so well.  They started the school at about the same time and quickly bonded.  There is very little difference between the two with the slightly notable exception of Sophie being more aggressive than Glory.

“Alright, stop.” Glenn Braddock hops up off of his stool and walks towards the mat. “That’s enough for now.”

The grizzled veterans turns and looks first at Sophie. “You kept up with her, that’s good.  But she kept getting the best of you at every turn.  Can’t let that shit happen.  Everything you wanted to do, Glory had a fucking counter for.  You need to do better at countering her.  Understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Sophie said, nodding her head.

“Now as for you,” Glenn looks into his daughter’s eyes “step into my office.  I want to speak to you privately.”

“Will do.”

With that, Glenn turned away from his two students and made his way towards his office.  Once he is safely out of ear shot, Glory turns towards her friend Sophie.

“I wonder what he wants?”

“He probably wants to heap on the praise.” Sophie remarked.

“Why couldn’t he just do that out here?”

“Seriously, Glory?” Sophie winked at her good friend. “You are his daughter.  Anything positive he does or says towards you could be construed as favoritism.  He knows better than to praise you in public for all the world to see.  Glenn Braddock has to maintain the illusion of fair and balance.”

“I don’t know about all of that, mate.” Glory sighed. “But you are right about one thing, my father does care an awful lot about what people think of him.”

“That’s my point.  And I’m not faulting him.  The man is more than my trainer; your father is my idol.  I would never criticize him.  I’m just saying what he’s doing is typical human nature.  We care about image, perhaps a little too much.  Don’t you think?”

“I agree.” Glory answered, nodding her head.

She cannot help but find herself in agreement with everything Sophie said.  Glory, like Sophie, looks up to her father.  Glory more than Sophie because Glory is his daughter.  She wants to please him.  But Glory realizes that her father cares about image.  He cares too much in some cases.  He is old school and still views wrestling as “the sport of kings”.  In Glenn Braddock’s mind, there was no room for a queen in the sport of kings.  His view changed when his daughter, Glory Braddock, decided to follow in his footsteps.

Though Glory never was your typical girl.  She always was a tomboy growing up.  So in a way, Glenn Braddock did get the son he wanted.  Some argued her tomboy-ish ways came due to her mother never being around, that it came about due to her being raised by her father alone.  But there was a tiny part of her subconscious that wanted to give her father what he wanted.  A son to follow in his footsteps.

“Well, I better go see what dad wants.”

“Yeah, no need to keep your old man waiting.” Sophie answered.  “Besides, I need to find my brother.  Knowing him he may be flirting with that ditzy chick.  Destiny, I think her name was?”

“Yeah,” Glory chuckles “sounds about right for Mark.”

Glory and Sophie shared an embrace. “See you later, Sophie.”

With that Glory turned and walked away from Sophie.  The daughter of Glenn Braddock approached the door that led away from the main gym area and into her father’s office.  She opened the door and stepped inside.  She found her father, Glenn, at his desk.  He was leaning back in his brown rolling chair.  His arms were folded over his chest as he stared a hole through Glory.  Most would think he was pissed off about something but Glory knows that “pissed off” is just his normal look.

“Did you need to see me, dad?”

“Sit down.” He said plainly, pointing to a chair in front of the desk.  Glory sat down in one of the chairs and crossed her legs.  She smiled pleasantly at her father, trying to look nonchalant as possible, trying to look friendly, but still wondering what this was all about.  Glenn Braddock then passed a document, several pages long, across the desk.

“Here.  Read it.” He instructed in a stoic tone.

“Ok…” her voice trailed off as she took the document and started to read it.  The more she read the larger her eyes grew.  The excitement started to build.  After a few moments of skimming through the document she put it down and looked back up at her father.

“Global Division of Wrestling…” Glory stated, a grin forming on her face “are you serious?”

“Deadly serious.  GDW is a relatively young company operating in its fifth year now but it has a great deal of promise.  Initially I was going to just send you down for a one shot appearance, to give you a taste of what the grander stage is really like, but I know how badly you have been wanting this…”

“I wanted this really bad.” Glory nodded her head enthusiastically.

“Right, as I said, I knew how bad you wanted this, and with GDW needing a spot to fill in a championship tournament coming up in early January, I decided to negotiate a full time deal for you instead of the one off appearance I had initially planned for you.”

“A tournament?  Full time?  This is great!” Glory exclaims. “You’re the best dad!”

“Don’t shower me with that crap yet.  Remember, as good as you are, these people in the tournament have a lot more experience than you.  And remember, you will be on your own.  I still have a school to run over here.  I mean, you can jet set or whatever the kids these days call it and fly back and forth all you want to see me, but that’ll get real boring and exhausting for you real quick.  Your best bet is to find your mother’s family and get to know them.  Stay with them until you get a place of your own over there.”

“Mom…” Glory’s voice trails off.  She doesn’t have fond memories of her mother due to her leaving them when she was still very young.

“That’s another reason I chose GDW.  Your mother’s nieces...your cousins...they wrestle for GDW.  Having family to watch your back is an advantage.  Get to know them.”

“That’s bloody great, dad.” Glory says with a light bit of laughter. “I don’t even know mum’s side of the family because she left us.”

“Well now you get to know them.  Think of it as a bonding experience.”

“Braddock the grizzled veteran suggesting a bonding experience?  Perish the thought.”

“Just get to know them.” Glenn growls, getting slightly agitated with his smart mouthed daughter.

“Sure thing, dad.  Angelica and Kayla, right?  That’s their names.”

“Right.  Angelica and Kayla are your cousins.”

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January 13th, 2019

Miami, Florida

Off Camera

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Taking on new and more difficult challenges has always been the Braddock way.  She was never content with just being an amateur great like her father.  She wanted to try her hand in the professional circuits.  After making her impact as a wrestler, and being recognized among many as among the best, she decided to take a step away from wrestling in order to try her hand at running her own wrestling company; Global Championship Wrestling.  Glory has wrestled, trained, and booked.  She has done it all, in the eyes of many, but she is always setting her eyes higher onto new challenges to test herself.  Thus when she got the itch to compete again it should come as to no surprise that she would set her sights upon Supreme Championship Wrestling due to its reputation for having a very competitive roster.

Immediately upon arrival she made an enemy out of Alistaire Allocco.  He wanted a challenge as well; or at least he seemed to want one.  Glory gave him a challenge and would have beaten him had he not run off.

Making Things Right is coming up and Glory will get a chance to make things right regarding her match against Alistaire.  The two will go one on one yet again, and this time hopefully a clear winner will be decided.

Challenges that Glory finds herself faced with do not always come in the form of professional wrestling.  Currently we find Glory Braddock dealing with a challenge of a more personal nature.  She sits poolside at her home in Miami, Florida.  Glory is wearing a tight hot pink dress with sunglasses over her eyes.  A glass of an alcoholic beverage is in the cupholder of the arm rest.  Sitting next to her wearing a floral print sundress is her cousin, Angelica Jones.

“Thanks for having me, Glory.” Angelica states pleasantly. “You really have a nice place here.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”

“No, you haven’t.” Glory answered, shaking her head. “I never invited you.”

“Fair point.” Angelica said.

Despite the seemingly congenial attitude the two cousins are sharing right now and seemingly amiable atmosphere, things have not always been as pleasant regarding the two of them.  In fact, only until just recently the two were at war.  Jealousy had driven the two apart and it took an actual wrestling match to settle things.  Glory, however, isn’t certain that everything is settled.  Thus to clear the air with her cousin, she invited her to her residence in Miami to have a face to face.

“Are you sure I can’t get you a drink or anything?”

“No, I really shouldn’t have anything to drink.” Angelica shakes her head. “Neither should you, either.”

“Why not?” Glory asked, arching a brow out of curiosity.

“We’re training together, remember?  I have Samantha Raine one on one on Breakdown and I defend the tag titles with James against Scarlet and Kandis a week from today at Making Things Right.  You fight Alistaire Allocco at Making Things Right.  And you need to be ready for him, Glory.  Alistaire may be a little wacky but he’s talented.  He is a former world champion.”

“I know, I know,” almost as if to spite her cousin, Glory tips her glass up and takes a sip “but trust me, I’ve thrown down with many world champions during my time and I’ve survived.  I don’t think one little drink today will hurt me, mate.”

“And there it is…” Angelica chuckles lightly.

“There what is?”

“That Braddock confidence, that swagger.”

“Doubt it’s a Braddock swagger.  My father never swaggered.  He doesn’t even know the meaning of the word.  It’s probably a Jones swagger from your side of the family because you have it too, love.”

“In other words, the pot shouldn’t call the kettle black?”

“Precisely.” Glory said, nodding her head.

“Still glad that you invited me, Glory.” Angelica remarked. “Florida is a beautiful place, especially Miami.  I haven’t been down here since I teamed with Meagan Collins.”

“That bloody nutcase?” Glory asked.  “She still live around here?”

“I assume so.” Angelica nodded her head.

“Bloody hell,” Glory sighed and shook her head “that lady is an absolute loon.”

“We’ve all had our crazy moments, you have to admit.” Angelica began. “I have the paperwork to prove it.  I spent time in an actual mental hospital.  And I’m sure there are those who still question your sanity.”

Glory nodded her head.  That’s another touchy subject for Glory Braddock.  She lost control of the wrestling company she once managed, Global Championship Wrestling, because the board of directors called her sanity into question.  Few knew the truth.  A rival at the time, Aphrodite Noel, forced her to change her last name to Noel and recognize herself as Aphrodite’s daughter.  Many questioned her sanity, because even after Aphrodite released her she never changed back.

“I thought I explained this before, mate.” Glory answered quietly.

“You did, and I remember it well.  Your mother...my Aunt Mary…”

“She abandoned us.” Glory remarked coldly. “My biological mother divorced my dad and ran off.  She left me to be raised alone by dad.”

“I thought she and your father were trying to work things out?”

“They are.  And honestly, for their sake, I do hope it works out.  They’re my parents and I do want what’s best for them.  But it doesn’t change what mum did to us by leaving me the way she did, and to leave me alone with dad.  And don’t get me wrong, I love dad, but you don’t have any idea how hard it is to be the daughter of Glenn Braddock, especially when he never wanted a daughter to begin with.”

Glory reached out and placed a hand on Angelica’s hand. Glory gazed deep into the redhead’s eyes.

“You’re first generation, Angelica.  You wouldn’t know my plight.  I am second generation.  So take it from someone who knows, take it from my experience, it is damn hard to be the second generation following in the footsteps of the first.”

Angelica sat there and took the words of Glory in.  Finally a look of realization crossed across her face and Angelica nodded her head.

“You mean Marie…”

“Yeah.” Glory nodded her head. “Try and go easy on Marie.  I know she’s going down the wrong path right now.  But be easy on her.  She’s in the same situation I have been in all my life.  We’re both trying to live up to the lofty standards of our legendary parents.”

“I’ll take that under advice regarding Marie.” Angelica sighed. “But Glory, pretending Mary isn’t your mother isn’t going to solve your problems.”

“I’m not pretending she’s not my mum. She gave birth to me, I’ll admit that, but that doesn’t make her my mother.  A real mother cares for her children.  For all her faults, Aphrodite cared for me a hell of a lot more than Mary ever did.” Glory took a sip of her drink.  Angelica just shook her head.

“Glory, I know you and Aphrodite are close.  And I’m not asking you to dump that close relationship.  I just know from my time spent with James that holding onto a grudge can lead to major problems.”

“James Evans teach you all that?” Glory winked.

“Shut up.” Angelica snapped. “All I’m asking is that you talk to Mary.”

“Fair enough.” Glory took another sip of her drink. “I suppose it is the least I can do, considering…”

“Considering what?” Angelica asked with a brow arched out of curiosity.

“I remember the last time I set foot into an SCW wrestling ring.  It was the end of the year open invitational.  And I remember what you said leading up to it.”

“Glory, no,” Angelica shook her head “I was jealous and…”

“Don’t apologize.” Glory shook her head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to relive the past.  You were wrong, and hell, I was wrong in some aspects.  I just want to make sure that you’re ok with me being here in SCW full time now.”

“Why would you even ask that?”

“Because I remember what happened the last time I came.  It led to us having that brutal feud that bled over into the wrestling ring.  It was bitter and we both said things we shouldn’t.  I thought I had lost not only a family member but a good friend.  I don’t want that to happen again.  So if you’re going to have any problems with this, I’ll talk to Mr. D and I’ll leave.”

Angelica’s eyes grow wide with surprise. “You’d do that?”

“Yes, I would do that if it meant keeping this family unit here straight.”

“That’s very touching.” Angelica smirked. “But there’s no need for you to leave.  I think there’s plenty of room in SCW for both Glory Braddock and Angelica Jones.”

“That’s good to hear, mate.” Glory finished off her drink and sighed pleasantly. “Great to hear…”

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On Camera

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The camera feed begins to roll and the first scene is the bright blue sky of a gorgeous day in Southampton.  As the camera pans out we see that we are in front of a somewhat run down looking gym.  There is a sign in front that reads “Braddock Wrestling School” that is probably the cleanest part of this gym.  Then the feminine figure of Glory Braddock steps into view from stage right.  She is wearing a sheath column scoop neck short mini dress with purple sparkly sequins. Her feet are encased in black open toe high heel pumps.  Her long blonde hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length.  A confident grin is etched across her lovely face.

“Welcome to The Braddock Wrestling School.” The pride that Glory feels about this place exudes from her every pore. “It may not look like much, but this place has produced four world champions.  This place produced a former SCW Television Champion.  You may remember her as Sophie O’Brian.  This place is more than just a gym, it is a place where boys and girls, men and women, go to become warriors, to become fighters, to become wrestlers.”

“My father had a goal in life and that goal was to be recognized as the best wrestler in the world.  He busted his ass to learn the finer arts of grappling and he used his skills and knowledge to defeat the best all over Europe.  After amassing a damn impressive undefeated record he would begin a training regimen unlike any other to try and qualify for the Olympic games.  But an untimely injury ended that goal for my father.”

She sighed and shook her head. “But he didn’t let that stop him.  Glenn Braddock would construct this gym and he took it upon himself to train the next generation.  Among the many students to cross over the threshold of Braddock Wrestling School would be his very own daughter.”

“That facility behind me is where I had respect for the tradition of professional wrestling drilled into me.  Every single day I crossed over the threshold of The Braddock Wrestling School I was subject to one of the most grueling training sessions from one of the toughest bastards in this sport, my father.  And he didn’t take anything easy on me because I was his child.  Hell, he was harder on me than the rest BECAUSE I was his daughter.  And you want to know why Glenn Braddock was like that?  Glenn Braddock wanted to make damn sure that any graduate of his school would leave, at the very least, with a respect for this sport.  That went double for his daughter.”

“See, Alistaire, you may think that I do not care for real wrestling, for the rules, or for tradition, but I cared.  Hell, I care a hell of a lot more than you.  I cared enough to train under one of the best wrestlers England ever produced.  I listened to everything he had to say about what’s right and what’s wrong.  I listened to him about the holds and counters and every trick in the book, those that are legal and even those that are illegal that I need to be on the lookout for.  Daddy didn’t raise an idiot and he knew to warn me about people, people who might get their feathers ruffled when daddy’s little girl kicked the ass of an egomaniac meat head.”

Braddock points a slender finger at the camera. “Kind of like you, Alistaire.  You complain about how I don’t have any respect for the rules but you, in fact, are the problem.  People like you are the problem with professional wrestling today, Alistaire.  When you win everything is fine and nothing is wrong but the moment you lose you make all of the excuses under the damn sun.  You come up with some reason to put an asterisk in the record book showing your loss.”

“Oh that one doesn’t count because Glory was using an illegal triangle choke…” Braddock rolled her eyes “...that one doesn’t count because I wasn’t ready…”

“...put your big boy pants on, sunshine, and act like the man that I thought you were...or at least I assumed you were.  Far be it for me to assume anything, these days.  Do you identify as a whiny little bitch?  I do respect that if so, mate.”

“See?  That’s the problem with wrestling today.  It isn’t people breaking the rules as you so ridiculously claim.  That’s been going on since the Greeks invented the damn sport.  We’re human!  We always look for a shortcut.  And when we can’t find that shortcut or if we wrestle legitimately but fail to win, then we just end up whining and making excuses.”

“That’s the real problem with wrestling today.  People like you making excuses.  People like you, can’t hang when the pressure is on so you run away from a fight and make an excuse.  I don’t make excuses, Alistaire.  I always bring the fight and if I lose, if I get my ass beat then so be it.  The better wrestler won.  But I am not going to stand by while some whiny ass nerd like you makes a joke of the sport I love.”

The British Bombshell chuckled. “You want actual wrestling?  I’ll gladly give you wrestling.  I was raised in wrestling.  My expertise is Greco-Roman because that’s what my father taught but I can chain wrestle and submit with the best of them.  You want to fight?  I’ll fight you.  You want to take to the air, it isn’t my forte but I can do that too if you want.  Whatever you want from me at Making Things Right, I’ll give it to you, but I want only one teeny tiny little thing from you in return, mate.”

She held up one finger. “Just one favor, mate...don’t whine after I’ve beaten your bloody ass.  I may just drop you on your head with a nasty case of Beautiful Insanity.  That will give you a headache.  Or maybe I will lock in Shekhinah Glory and trust me on this one, Alistaire.  Once that hold is locked in you have no choice but to tap out or pass out.  So either I pin you, I tap you out, or I knock you the hell out, one way or the other I will beat you and I want there to be no more excuses from you.”

Braddock shook her head. “And I’m not going to do this because you pissed me off.  You’re not worth getting upset over, mate.  I’m not doing this for material glory...pun intended.  I’m not even doing this for myself, to feed my own ego.  I’m doing this, I’m going to shut you up once and for all, all in the name of professional wrestling.”

“So you want a challenge, Alistaire?  Be careful what you wish for, because you just got yourself a damn challenge in the form of The Best in the World.”

The scene fades to black.