==========
November
2007
Southampton,
UK
Off
Camera
==========
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.”
==========
January
13th, 2019
Miami,
Florida
Off
Camera
==========
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…”
==========
On
Camera
==========
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.
