Friday, September 12, 2014

Whitecloud Memorial



“What are you doing here?”

His voice is a low menacing growl, not unlike anything else young Destiny had heard from him before.  The legendary father of MCW Hall of Famer Glory Braddock had always been a very strict and very tough trainer in the same mold as an R. Lee Emory drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.  But this time is different.  While the voice is still the same, his demeanor seems off.  This doesn’t appear to be the same Glenn Braddock she knew from when she was in training.  It is for this reason that Destiny approaches the rugged veteran ever so cautiously.

“I need your help.”

“No one needs my bloody help.”  He turns around in his swivel chair, so that his back is turned to her. “Not anymore.”

“That’s not true.” Destiny remarks. “You have helped so many people.  So many world champions and hall of famers have come out of your school.”

“Lot of good that did.”

“It DID a lot of good,” she begins again, attempting to console her former trainer “Sophie and Mark are in IWC right now and they already won the tag titles there.  That’s not to mention Sophie’s past accomplishments as a four time world champion.”

Destiny pats herself on the chest. “I am a former SWC Heavyweight Champion, I won it so early in my career and I was proud of my title reign and I owe it all to you.”

“What about Glory?”

Destiny hesitates to answer.  Glory’s career is golden with pure undefiled perfection.  Glory Braddock, the daughter of Glenn Braddock, is arguably his most successful student having become a thirteen time world champion, not to mention being inducted into the GDW and MCW Halls of Fame.  It is hard to discount or discredit her accomplishments and it is hard to argue with her when she calls herself The Best in the World.  Glory even, at one time, wanted to enter the Olympics and compete for her country.

Unfortunately that dream has been put on hold and Destiny knows it.  Glory lost her freedom to Aphrodite Noel as a result of losing a match in GCW.  There were lots of shenanigans involved, it was a controversial ending, but by hook or by crook Noel won and now Glory has to serve her.  Glenn Braddock has been on a depression ever since.

“Glory is…” Destiny pauses as she attempts to find the right words “…she is the best in the world.”

“Best in the World, and serving Aphrodite Noel hand and foot.” Glenn sneers angrily. “What good my training did her, eh?  The Braddock legacy is dead.”

“The Braddock legacy is not dead.”

He spins around in his swivel chair to face Destiny.  His eyes are flaring up with an intensity Destiny remembers oh so well during her years of training with this man.

“It is dead!  My niece Julia has been brainwashed by Noel and now the same is being perpetrated to my own daughter!  All that’s left is me!  What the hell can I do?!”

“Plenty!”

Destiny never felt quite right about standing up to her former mentor, she would even feel frightened in situations like this, but a strange urge has come over her right now, an urge to help this man, to help him fight back and reclaim his legacy.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Braddock, but your daughter is NOT the end all be all to your legacy.  Anyone and everyone you helped train is a part of your legacy…Sophie and Mark, Matthew Bowden, even me…we all share in the Braddock legacy because it was the Braddock family that made us who we are today as pro-wrestlers.”

Glenn frowns, looking unconvinced by her strong motivational speech. “What are you getting at?”

“I want you to help me…I just signed with Motor City Wrestling, a place where your daughter has forever etched her name, a place that knows the Braddock legacy very well…what better place to start reclaiming that legacy from the likes of Aphrodite Noel than in a place that respects and admires the Braddock name?”

There is a long tense pause as Destiny stares down her former trainer.  As he stands up, she braces herself, not quite knowing what he has in mind now.  She breathes a sigh of relief as Glenn, the grizzled veteran, smiles, nodding his head.

“You know, you have a good idea…” he pats her on the shoulder “…and you have a lot of guts.  I like that.”

“I was taught by the best.”

“Maybe you’re right, maybe I can continue my work without my daughter.  I have other students after all.”

Destiny nods her head. “That’s right and hopefully Glory will see what we do together and it will inspire her to fight back.”

A smirk crosses Destiny’s lips. “We can make magic together, Glenn.  I guarantee it.”

==========
Glenn Braddock
On Camera
==========

When you look into my eyes I hope that each and every one of you realize that you are looking into the eyes of Britain’s Best Wrestler.  I beat people going through the amateur circuits, I even trained others on how to wrestle, both in amateur and professionally, and I was well on my way towards winning a gold medal in the Olympics for my country until an injury ended my active wrestling career.

But that was not the end for the Braddock legacy.  The Braddock legacy lived on through my students at the Braddock Wrestling School.  It was there that I whipped young pieces of shit into shape.  It was there that I worked my real magic.  I took worthless piles of garbage and turned them into killing machines, killing machines that I would then set loose upon the sport of professional wrestling.

A legacy, you see, isn’t just built up by one man.  A legacy also continues on through that man’s protégés.  I have built up quite a legacy for the Braddock name over the years and two names should spark a strong memory for you people in Motor City Wrestling.

Sophie O’Brian is a former MCW World Heavyweight Champion but what makes her unique in your company is that she won it in her MCW debut.  She went on to defend that title against some of the best the company had to offer, including Kirsta Lewis.

Then there’s Glory Braddock.  Glory Braddock is not just a hall of famer in MCW and she isn’t just a former multiple time MCW World Heavyweight Champion.  Glory Braddock is my daughter.  You ought to remember her as the woman who ran roughshod over this company for years.

The Braddock name is already indelibly etched into the hearts and minds of MCW history forever but now another chapter in the Braddock story here in MCW is about to be written by another student of mine.  Her name is Destiny Skye.

She’s young and new to this business but if you think she’s naïve you have another thing coming.  Destiny is street smart, which is a valuable asset in a cutthroat industry like this.  And she knows how to get the job done inside the ring, as evidenced by her recent reign as Heavyweight Champion of the Southeastern Wrestling Conference.

I’m not here to steal her thunder, I’m just here to serve as a subtle but ever so intense reminder of what The Braddock Legacy has done once before in MCW and what it can do once again.

So basically…run…

==========
Destiny Skye
On Camera
==========

I did not come from a famous wrestling family like the Braddock family but I do respect the industry and what it stands for.  I respect everything about this sport and especially those who bust their asses each and every time they climb into this squared circle.  I respect those who have come before me and have given back something to this industry to make it better.  That’s what I aim to do.  Wrestling has done a lot for me and I hope to leave it better than I found it.

Glenn Braddock left this sport too soon due to an injury but he was not going to let that stop him from trying to improve it the best he knew how and the best way he knew how contribute to the betterment of the sport was to introduce new blood and new faces to this sport, people like Sophie and Mark O’Brian and his daughter Glory Braddock.

And now there’s me, Destiny Skye.

There have been others who contributed in their own way.  One of those men was Whitecloud.

He contributed through not only the sharing of his great talents in the ring but also in the creation of Motor City Wrestling itself.  People like me weren’t around at that time…heck, even Glory and Sophie weren’t around during hi s time…but he left his mark, he left his own footprint in the history of professional wrestling, because without him there wouldn’t have been an MCW, and without an MCW Glory Braddock would not have won her first world title and Sophie would not have won her first world title.

I intend to enter the Whitecloud Memorial and I intend to contribute in the only way I know how…busting my ass for the fans, for MCW, and for the memory of the man who gave us this great place.  Will I win?  Maybe, maybe not, but I guarantee you one thing, if I lose, I’m damn sure taking a few of you with me.

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