Post by Valora on Nov 29, 2023 23:35:48 GMT -6
Post Ignite, whatever the hell Jesse called it:
Valora laid in her locker room. Every part of her body hurt, screamed in agony. And yet, as Abbigail and Samantha walked in, Valora was laughing. Finally she punches the wall. “Fuck I missed this!”
Valora immediately winces and holds her head. “ Ugh..jesus christo.. I forgot how fuckin’ much that Valentyme hurts..” Abbigail clears her throat. “So umm.. Why are you laughing?” Valora laughs. “Because, hermana. I won. I got me the Holy fuckin’ grail of the wrestling world. A title shot any time, anywhere I want. See, Johnny might seem to be the big winner tonight and he is, he’s the champ. But he also bought himself a big ass case of paranoia. That shadow moved.. Is that Valora with a ref planning an ambush?” Valora looks at her protege and shrugs. “Paranoia, properly wielded, is a powerful weapon.” Abbigail nods. “So is that kendo stick.” Valora grins. “Hey coulda been worse, coulda reached for my fave weapon the little lead pipe.. But I didn’t think Jesse would appreciate me ending careers in his first show back so I decided to use the kendo stick instead. Now, I’m going to shower, then we’re going to head back to the hotel. Fighting’s done now comes a important and yet often overlooked part of the life of a fighter. The recovery phase.”
A surprise visit
The next day, Valora is in her hotel room when Samantha comes in. “Umm you have a visitor. Claims she’s with Blair Buchannan’s social media team. Show her the door?” Valora raises an eyebrow. “Oh, this should be good. Show her in.” Valora takes a seat, taking a drink from her tequila as a young woman comes in, obviously nervous. Valora smirks. “Relax, chica. Contrary to what you might have heard, I don’t attack people outside the ring, well, not without reason at any rate.” The young woman nods and sits, not relaxing much as she clears her throat. “Umm thank you, Ms. Salinas. I’m a new addition to Ms. Buchanan’s social media team and she wants a new direction so I’m hoping..” Valora nods. “You’re hoping to stand out.” She nods. “I umm, guess so? I found this.” She says handing Valora a picture. The picture shows the members of La Dolce Vita. Valora can’t help but smile. “This almost counts as a historical artifact at this point.” The woman laughs a bit. “I was umm wondering if I could do an interview. I’m going to be honest, my purpose here is to help Ms. Buchanan with her new image so I’m hoping you might have something positive to say?” Valora thinks for a moment and looks back at the picture and shrugs. ‘Fuck it, why not? I won’t lie. I won’t kiss her ass, but I will answer questions you have honestly.” The woman nods. And gets her iphone out and readies the camera and video feature ready.
“Recording Valora interview, take 1. Please don’t get me fired..” She clears her throat. “Hello NEW Fans! We have a special surprise today, as on behalf of our very own favorite NEW talent, Blair Buchanan, we have an interview with fellow NEW legend, former stablemate and friend, The Hardcore Icon herself, Valora Salinas!” The camera moves to show Valora who waves once. The interviewer clears her throat as she tries to figure out how best to begin.
Interviewer: “You were in a stable with Blair Buchanan, yes? La Dolce Vita?”
Valora smirks and nods. “I was. If memory serves it was Scarlet Styles, Blair, Me, Natalia and Apathy. You will not find a more talented group of women fighters anywhere on the planet. If you added up all the titles and honors we’ve all won, we’d have our own wing in the NEW Hall of Fame.”
Interviewer: “How did you join the stable?”
Valora laughs a bit. “Blair Buchanan. She made the initial approach. I was a still a rookie at the time but I’ll give Blair credit, she’s got a great eye for talent. She approached me, said I wasn’t being used correctly and that Jesse Styles didn’t realize what he had in me. She brought to meet the others. I got along with them. Scarlet, Natalia, Liz, we all hit it off and I started running with them and true to Blair’s promise. It helped my career get going. Scarlet and I both had boxing training, we enjoyed working out together. Blair.. Blair recognized my charisma and helped apply it to the world of social media and such. In return, her and I were the LA girls of the group so we had fun on that front too. I was born and raised in LA, Blair had come there to pursue her other career goals. Result was the same, we still knew the area and had fun, a couple of times, when NEW went through Cali,” Valora pauses and laughs. “She wanted to see where I hung out. We got to one bar and she decided it wasn’t her scene, so she grabbed me and took me through some of the areas she was a regular at. It was a good time, I’m glad to see Blair showing that side of her a little more.” Liz and I.. well Liz and I enjoyed seeing who could put away more alcohol and still remain functional. Natalia and I were the newer members so we helped each other out there too.”
Interviewer: “Did you bring anything to the group?”
Valora nods. “Well Liz and I liked to joke that we were the enforcers. The problem solvers.. When someone got on the nerves of the others, they dealt with us. So more than one person who annoyed Blair found themselves being ‘helped’ out with my assistance. I also tried to help Blair out from a combat standpoint. She’s always had amazing potential, sadly at times NEW has had trouble recognizing that.”
Interviewer: “Why do you think that is?”
Valora shrugs. “At the time of La Dolce Vita, Blair seemed more of the mind that pro wrestling was a stepping stone to other things she wanted to do. She’s had a hard time shaking that part of her past. But people underestimate this chica at their peril. Like me, she’s a Hall of Famer. I believe we both went in in the same class. We’re both former World Champs. We’re both multi time Trans Atlantic Champs, you get the point.. Anyone who thinks I’m a badass has to consider Blair one too.”
Interviewer: “At the battle royal, as soon as she entered you two fought. Did La Dolce Vita end badly or is there some kind of issue between you?”
Valora smiles. “All stables run into problems. If I remember correctly, there were minor issues and Jesse Styles saw this and some of our enemies hit the right spot at the right time and the stable all went our own ways. I don’t really have any issue with Blair and in this business, you have to be able to separate in the ring from out of the ring. Sooner or later you’re going to fight your friend. Every member of La Dolce Vita has been in the ring against every other member of that stable. It’s just business. Blair and I both wanted the goal at the end of the Battle Royal. As luck would have it, the Battle Royal 2023 was my night. On another night, it could easily have been Blair.”
The woman nods. “So, do you think the stable had a positive impact on NEW? And do you have a more in depth explanation of how and why things ended?” Valora takes a drink from her tequila and shrugs. “Blair might have a better memory of the end than I do. My recollection is like I said. There were some minor issues. I could get into them, but they were as I said, they were minor issues that any group of people are going to run into. The end, as I remember, came mostly from some of the men in NEW. other factions and stables, saw an opportunity and hit the right spots at the right time. As for impact? Chica look at how many female wrestlers there are in NEW right now. I’d say we did pretty good in that I would like to think we did help NEW get to a point where they are more willing to consider female talent. Think about it, out of the entire stable of La Dolce Vita, I am pretty sure all or most of us are Hall of Famers.”
The girl nods and stops her recording. “Thank you so much! That should be enough to help get the ball rolling. So umm if I’m not fired but need to get more info…” Valora nods “You can set up another interview yeah and I don’t think Blair will fire you. She asked for a different strategy, you’re trying to match her desired new direction, I’m pretty sure she’ll reward your initiative. And..” Valora takes out a card and writes down her number, handing it to the young woman. “You tell Blair if she needs help, that’s how to get ahold of me. I had her back once. I’ve got her back again. You tell her that.”
The girl looks at the card wide eyed. “Ohmygosh thank you so much! I’ll be sure she gets this!” The young woman says her goodbyes and half dashes, half floats on a cloud out of the room, psyched about how well things went. As the door closes, Samantha looks at Valora. “Are you that’s smart?” Valora looks at her. “She’s trying to turn over a new leaf. I know how hard that can be. Besides, this is NEW. Jesse already screwed over Roger Wright. If he’s willing to screw over Roger Wright to help Johnny, he’s damn sure willing to screw me over too. So Blair can help me as much as I can help her.” Abbigail chimes in here. “How is it hard to go from bad guy to good guy?” Valora shrugs. “For starters, you have to start caring what the crowd thinks. As the bad guy you just do what you want, when you want, fuck the crowd. That’s what makes it easy to be the bad guy. The crowd is fickle. What they might cheer me for, they might boo you for. It can be very frustrating and especially in a fed like NEW there can be a lot of appeal in being the bad guy. I’ll punch this guy with brass knuckles. I’ll have my buddies beat the shit out of this guy.”
Abbigail nods. “Uh huh.. So what triggered your alignment switch?” Valora shrugs. “The crowd. They started cheering for me. They loved watching me outsmart and beat the so called bad guys at their own games. The culmination.. the culmination came in Mexico City. I beat Matt Slater for the World Title.. Hermana.. you would have thought Mexico won the World Cup. I couldn't understand why they cared so much. It literally blew my mind. That started me on my journey. See, in this business we have babyfaces, that’s you hermana, people who won’t cheat, won’t swear, won’t do anything wrong, the lawful stupid types, basically. Then you have the so called face with an edge. That’s people like me. Now, you’re seeing less babyfaces because the crowd, especially NEW crowds, don’t see them in a positive light. Sometimes they come off as boring, sometimes it comes off as unbelievable that they can win with the deck stacked against them. Now, if you want to go that path, does that mean you can’t find success? Of course not. But it’s going to be hard. But like my upcoming match.. When I beat Hunter Valentyne like he owes me money, the crowd will love it. Speaking of Valentyne..” Valora says looking at Samantha.
Samantha adjusts her glasses. “Well not surprisingly, there are some discrepancies. For one, the State of Illinois absolutely does not allow work release of any sort for murderers, rapists and other extremely violent criminals. Even if they did, there is no way that his actions in the royal rumble would not have immediately invalidated work release and negatively impacted any hopes for parole. This has led me to believe one of a few things as likely.”
Valora nods and waves for Samantha to continue. “Option 1. Hunter is lying about being a murderer in an attempt to make himself less the pathetic, inept parasite he has spent most of his life being. Always an option, from the data you gave me on him, he does seem to be a pathological liar. Option 2. Jesse Styles pulled strings to get him released. Possible, I suppose, but I would classify it as unlikely as Jesse would very literally be risking his own freedom and his company to free a man he really can’t stand, and who does not stand to make him any real money. Option 3. Hunter has completely lost touch with reality and is beginning to believe his own hype. He might even have convinced himself he actually is a murderer and somehow got out of jail. Option 4. He escaped jail, also unlikely because as soon as he shows his face on NEW broadcasting, the authorities know where he is.”
Valora takes a drink from tequila and considers the options. “Well, he is definitely not all there in the head. But then again you could say the same about me so.. I try not to hold people being crazy against them necessarily.” Samantha interjects. “You can control your crazy though.” Valora shrugs. “To an extent. I think we should try to find out which one of the options it is. I also want us to try and find out why Jesse screwed over Roger Wright. I know they’re related, but Jesse and Johnny have tried to kill each other. If they’re on the same page now, we should be worried.” Samantha nods. “Speaking of being worried.. You do realize Blair has a non title match against Johnny right. And you offered to have her back.”
Valora pretends to be surprised. “Oh that’s right! I totally forgot that having my friend’s back also puts me in a spot to cash in my title shot! Huh.. what a coincidence huh?” Valora smiles and winks at Abbigail. “See? This is why I’m a good guy, the rewards are better..” Samantha shakes her head. “I’m glad for your turn too, and I know people from your past would also be glad to see it.. If they were still with us. But be careful, being the heroine often pulls you into fights that we don’t need.”
Flashback, Mexico City, Valora’s Estate:
Valora heads out into the back of her estate, making her way a bit and to a staircase leading underground to a mausoleum. She unlocks the door and walks inside
Inside, she makes her way to one of the rooms inside and looks at the metal container which holds the coffin of the person this room is dedicated to. On the wall, is a gravestone like panel. Valora takes a knee before the container and pauses a moment as if reflecting. She sighs. “I have to go away again. I’m so sorry. I really am a horrible person. I have nothing to prove. I can’t add anything to my legacy. I’m 8 years past my prime.. At least. The only thing I can do is damage my legacy. Why am I doing this again?”
“Because it’s who you are. You’ve always been a fighter. And horrible person? How much of your wealth have you spent to help strangers and the poor? How much time have you spent in free clinics in the U.S. providing medical help to those who need it? I’m proud of you, my love. I always have been. Go, Go be the heroine I always knew you were. I’ll be here when you get back.”
Valora snaps back to reality to see Abbigail standing there. “Uh you okay, boss? You kinda zoned out a bit there.” She says as she glances to the gravestone and nods. “Oh. Uh sorry. I’ll let you have a moment.” She says, before standing and adding in. “Oh, Samantha says we’re ready to go when you are.” She says before heading out. Valora turns back to the grave. “Yeah I get it.” Valora takes a look around to make sure she’s alone and sighs. “Maybe after I’m done she will finally let me die. I miss you.” She says as she turns and gives a look at the panel on the wall and nods. “See you later, love. Don’t worry, I made arrangements.” She says as she locks up the mausoleum and makes her way up, happening to run across the head of her security detail who nods. “There you are. I just wanted to let you know we have the perimeter secured.” Valora nods. “All women, I notice. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given Hecate sent you.” The woman smiled. “We’re all hand picked and trained by her ourselves. Trust us.. No one who isn’t supposed to be here will live long enough to regret the mistake of trying to break into your place.” Valora nods. “I’ll hold you and Hecate to that vow. I want to be informed at once of any problems or incidents.” The woman nods. “Yes Ma’am. You can count on us.” Valora nods.
End Flashback
Valora looks at Samantha and nods. “We’ll cross that bridge if and when it comes up. Before we get back to the man who fits in with the other morons who think they can just make up their own reality, has NEW done anything with Abbigail?”
Samantha nods. “Abbigail was left out of the battle royal because NEW didn’t have a copy of her work permit. We have that now as we provided the U.S. government proof that Abbigail is a citizen of the United Kingdom who has completed secondary school and is a professional athlete under contract to the Swansea Ladies football team and 2 American companies, Conquest Wrestling Federation and New Edge Wrestling. Further, since training is technically voluntarily and thus does not count as ‘work’ being a professional wrestler can be viewed as part time employment.”
Valora nods. “Coulda just said we got her a work permit.” Abbigail looks at you. “ How come you don’t need permits?” Val smirks. “Born in Los Angeles, chica.. Just before I live outside the U.S. doesn’t mean I’m not an American.” She says before looking at Samantha. “So do we need to get her training soon?” Samantha shrugs. “ Unknown. I would assume that sooner or later, Jesse will want to see what she can do.” Valora nodded, that was definitely a safe bet Valora had her attention brought back to Abbigail as she asked. “Okay stupid question here but you have made mention about generating interest and hype in a match. So two things.. How do you do that and isn’t that the fed’s job?”
Valora looks at Abbigail for a second before patting her on the head. “Oh, you are adorable. Okay, Pro Wrestling 101, hermana, listen up. If you can survive working your way through all the lawyer speak in your contract, you will notice that both you and NEW assume some responsibility for promotion. Yes, NEW will book you in a match, put out the card, shit like that. But you have to do your part too. Now, can you decide not to? Yeah.. but if your matches aren’t generating ratings.. You’re gonna find yourself backstage or in the crowd come pay per view time and pay per view is where you can make lots of money. Now, as for how you do this, it all depends on how you want to approach things. Heels are going to run their mouths like fuckin’ stone hands who no one has ever heard of claiming to be the best female fighter that ever lived.” Valora gives Abbigail a deadpan look as she makes the jerk off motion. “Faces like me get on the mic and point out how fuckin’ full of shit the heels are. Babyfaces.. Well think Captain America for what a babyface does. As for how to do that.. Come along padawan, it’s time to earn my paycheck.”
The next time we see Valora, she is wearing a Bears Jersey, standing field level. Her jersey has the number 51 on it. Dick Butkus’ number and Valora goes into her promo. “It’s a rough time to be a sports fan in Chicago. The Bears really should change their name to the Bad News Bears, they’re run by a fuckin’ idiot who thinks he can be head coach and defensive coordinator at the same time and manages to suck at 2 jobs at once and somehow isn’t fired for being the worst coach in franchise history, only managing a single fucking divisional win in 2 years and that was because the Vikings took fuckin’ pity on us and gave chance after chance to beat them. I mean seriously, they almost literally just handed us the ball and said. “Try again.”
Cubs fan? Sorry, your team is owned by rich white ring wing douchebags more interested in real estate turning Wrigley Field into a fuckin’ casino and gentrifying Wrigleyville to keep all the poor peasants out to run a team effectively and when they do pay attention to the team, it is to hire a fan favorite as coach, then you give that fan favorite a team full of minor leaguers and then you give him a good team when Cubs fan begin not buying tickets. Then, after he narrowly misses the playoffs, you drop the fan favorite for an asshole and crybaby from Milwaukee who gets into the playoffs only to be knocked right out of them.” Valora slow claps.
“White Sox fan? I’m so sorry, I don’t even think they know what they’re doing at the moment, it’s almost like they’ve got a contest on who can fuck the team up more.”
“The Bulls and Blackhawks both have players who think they don’t need coaches, so they kick the coaches out for a ‘players only meeting’ and both teams went into epic losing streaks right after that so well done there.”
Valora pauses to take a drink of her tequila and nods. “I would mention the Fire, but no one cares about the MLS anyways. Still, take heart Chi-town because.. I’m back. I’m back and I actually win more than I lose.” Valora pauses a few moments before she continues. “Now, I know. ‘Val you’re fighting Hunter Valentyne. He hit you with his finisher twice.. What the fuck does this have to do with our sports teams?”
Val winks. “Two things. Firstly, yeah he hit me with his finisher and if the match we were in was for a pinfall, that might have meant something, but true to Hunter being Hunter, he does his own thing and fuck the reality of the situation. He probably thinks he deserves something for hitting his finisher. I checked, Jesse ain’t payin’ us per finisher landed so next time, Hunter you might want to pay attention to what actual fuckin’ match you’re in.
This brings me to my rant and Hunter. Hunter embodies all the troubles of Chicago sports teams. He has the blatant disregard for authority that the players on the Bulls and Blackhawks do, but without any results to back up that display of defiance. Like the White Sox, he is trapped in an alternate reality where he is not the dog sitting in the burning tavern going on about how things are fine, he’s actually building a brand. Think about this.. This delusional retard wants us to believe that he is a murderer who is somehow so fucking cool that Illinois somehow just lets a self admitted violent psychopath out to fight other people. Think about that for a second.”
Valora walks along the sideline as she thinks and smirks. “That’s almost right up with the Ricketts seeming to think that they aren’t sports team owners, they’re actually real estate developers with a sports team as a centerpiece or some shit. Followed up by the belief that a man that has never been to the World Series before will somehow make the team a contender and that a fan favorite coach and player can be fired with no consequences.
Then Hunter has the performance record of the Bears. He’ll run his mouth about how he’s awesome. Everything’s under control. He’ll be ready on game day and he’ll totally prove he’s the best this time.” And when the match comes, he’ll do just what Eberfluss does, find a way to lose. So now, this unmitigated moron and jackass drew the short straw and got put up against me.”
Valora cracks her neck and nods. “Now, out of all the stadiums I could have stood in, I chose the NFL. Partly because I can’t stand Eberfluss, but see.. Our fight happens in St. Louis. A city fucked over by the NFL. I know how they feel. When I was born, L.A. had 2 teams, the Raiders and the Rams. I was a Raiders fan. And yeah I knew they technically started off in Oakland, but they had been in L.A. since I was born so that’s what I knew them as. Then they left. Fucked off back to Oakland. The Rams fucked off to St. Louis. I wasn’t a Raiders fan after that. The Raiders leaving Oakland for Vegas only cemented that. The Chargers and Rams coming to L.A.doesn’t impress me either. So, I’m going to do the good people of St. Louis a favor. I’m going to take a crazy old man that is firmly in the hasbeen category and I’m going to beat him from one end of the city to the other. Oh wait. I guess.. Because if he were actually a convict and actually in prison and actually on some type of work release he definitely wouldn’t be allowed to leave the state, would he?”
Valora smiles. “Pretending is fun, Hunter.. But we all know what you really are. A pathetic piece of shit whose entire life is defined by failure and failure. A man who bounces around like a parasite. A man whose problems are almost all entirely of his own making and who tells himself and the world stories so that he doesn’t seem like such a monumental failure. They say death comes for us all sooner or later. The sad thing for you Hunter.. Is that when the universe finally puts you out of it’s misery… I doubt anyone will even notice. And now, you’re once more in a trap of your own making. You’re booked against me in St. Louis. You have two choices. You can show up, proving you are in fact full of shit about this. “I’m so hardcore.. I a killer!” line you’ve taken to try to convince people you’re not just some washed up joke. Oh and if you show up, I will make sure you wish you were dead by the time I’m done with you.
Or you can not show up. Give me an easy night, risk throwing your former tag partner to the sharks, and use your lie as a cover for the fact that among everything else.. You are also the world’s biggest coward. I don’t care either way. I get paid the same. Show up and I kick your ass and prove once more you’re a fuckin’ liar or run and hide and I can kick back and relax in St. Louis."
She then ends the promo and turns to Abbigail. "And that is how you generate interest in a fight. Come on hermana. Lunch time, then we get to some more training."
Valora laid in her locker room. Every part of her body hurt, screamed in agony. And yet, as Abbigail and Samantha walked in, Valora was laughing. Finally she punches the wall. “Fuck I missed this!”
Valora immediately winces and holds her head. “ Ugh..jesus christo.. I forgot how fuckin’ much that Valentyme hurts..” Abbigail clears her throat. “So umm.. Why are you laughing?” Valora laughs. “Because, hermana. I won. I got me the Holy fuckin’ grail of the wrestling world. A title shot any time, anywhere I want. See, Johnny might seem to be the big winner tonight and he is, he’s the champ. But he also bought himself a big ass case of paranoia. That shadow moved.. Is that Valora with a ref planning an ambush?” Valora looks at her protege and shrugs. “Paranoia, properly wielded, is a powerful weapon.” Abbigail nods. “So is that kendo stick.” Valora grins. “Hey coulda been worse, coulda reached for my fave weapon the little lead pipe.. But I didn’t think Jesse would appreciate me ending careers in his first show back so I decided to use the kendo stick instead. Now, I’m going to shower, then we’re going to head back to the hotel. Fighting’s done now comes a important and yet often overlooked part of the life of a fighter. The recovery phase.”
A surprise visit
The next day, Valora is in her hotel room when Samantha comes in. “Umm you have a visitor. Claims she’s with Blair Buchannan’s social media team. Show her the door?” Valora raises an eyebrow. “Oh, this should be good. Show her in.” Valora takes a seat, taking a drink from her tequila as a young woman comes in, obviously nervous. Valora smirks. “Relax, chica. Contrary to what you might have heard, I don’t attack people outside the ring, well, not without reason at any rate.” The young woman nods and sits, not relaxing much as she clears her throat. “Umm thank you, Ms. Salinas. I’m a new addition to Ms. Buchanan’s social media team and she wants a new direction so I’m hoping..” Valora nods. “You’re hoping to stand out.” She nods. “I umm, guess so? I found this.” She says handing Valora a picture. The picture shows the members of La Dolce Vita. Valora can’t help but smile. “This almost counts as a historical artifact at this point.” The woman laughs a bit. “I was umm wondering if I could do an interview. I’m going to be honest, my purpose here is to help Ms. Buchanan with her new image so I’m hoping you might have something positive to say?” Valora thinks for a moment and looks back at the picture and shrugs. ‘Fuck it, why not? I won’t lie. I won’t kiss her ass, but I will answer questions you have honestly.” The woman nods. And gets her iphone out and readies the camera and video feature ready.
“Recording Valora interview, take 1. Please don’t get me fired..” She clears her throat. “Hello NEW Fans! We have a special surprise today, as on behalf of our very own favorite NEW talent, Blair Buchanan, we have an interview with fellow NEW legend, former stablemate and friend, The Hardcore Icon herself, Valora Salinas!” The camera moves to show Valora who waves once. The interviewer clears her throat as she tries to figure out how best to begin.
Interviewer: “You were in a stable with Blair Buchanan, yes? La Dolce Vita?”
Valora smirks and nods. “I was. If memory serves it was Scarlet Styles, Blair, Me, Natalia and Apathy. You will not find a more talented group of women fighters anywhere on the planet. If you added up all the titles and honors we’ve all won, we’d have our own wing in the NEW Hall of Fame.”
Interviewer: “How did you join the stable?”
Valora laughs a bit. “Blair Buchanan. She made the initial approach. I was a still a rookie at the time but I’ll give Blair credit, she’s got a great eye for talent. She approached me, said I wasn’t being used correctly and that Jesse Styles didn’t realize what he had in me. She brought to meet the others. I got along with them. Scarlet, Natalia, Liz, we all hit it off and I started running with them and true to Blair’s promise. It helped my career get going. Scarlet and I both had boxing training, we enjoyed working out together. Blair.. Blair recognized my charisma and helped apply it to the world of social media and such. In return, her and I were the LA girls of the group so we had fun on that front too. I was born and raised in LA, Blair had come there to pursue her other career goals. Result was the same, we still knew the area and had fun, a couple of times, when NEW went through Cali,” Valora pauses and laughs. “She wanted to see where I hung out. We got to one bar and she decided it wasn’t her scene, so she grabbed me and took me through some of the areas she was a regular at. It was a good time, I’m glad to see Blair showing that side of her a little more.” Liz and I.. well Liz and I enjoyed seeing who could put away more alcohol and still remain functional. Natalia and I were the newer members so we helped each other out there too.”
Interviewer: “Did you bring anything to the group?”
Valora nods. “Well Liz and I liked to joke that we were the enforcers. The problem solvers.. When someone got on the nerves of the others, they dealt with us. So more than one person who annoyed Blair found themselves being ‘helped’ out with my assistance. I also tried to help Blair out from a combat standpoint. She’s always had amazing potential, sadly at times NEW has had trouble recognizing that.”
Interviewer: “Why do you think that is?”
Valora shrugs. “At the time of La Dolce Vita, Blair seemed more of the mind that pro wrestling was a stepping stone to other things she wanted to do. She’s had a hard time shaking that part of her past. But people underestimate this chica at their peril. Like me, she’s a Hall of Famer. I believe we both went in in the same class. We’re both former World Champs. We’re both multi time Trans Atlantic Champs, you get the point.. Anyone who thinks I’m a badass has to consider Blair one too.”
Interviewer: “At the battle royal, as soon as she entered you two fought. Did La Dolce Vita end badly or is there some kind of issue between you?”
Valora smiles. “All stables run into problems. If I remember correctly, there were minor issues and Jesse Styles saw this and some of our enemies hit the right spot at the right time and the stable all went our own ways. I don’t really have any issue with Blair and in this business, you have to be able to separate in the ring from out of the ring. Sooner or later you’re going to fight your friend. Every member of La Dolce Vita has been in the ring against every other member of that stable. It’s just business. Blair and I both wanted the goal at the end of the Battle Royal. As luck would have it, the Battle Royal 2023 was my night. On another night, it could easily have been Blair.”
The woman nods. “So, do you think the stable had a positive impact on NEW? And do you have a more in depth explanation of how and why things ended?” Valora takes a drink from her tequila and shrugs. “Blair might have a better memory of the end than I do. My recollection is like I said. There were some minor issues. I could get into them, but they were as I said, they were minor issues that any group of people are going to run into. The end, as I remember, came mostly from some of the men in NEW. other factions and stables, saw an opportunity and hit the right spots at the right time. As for impact? Chica look at how many female wrestlers there are in NEW right now. I’d say we did pretty good in that I would like to think we did help NEW get to a point where they are more willing to consider female talent. Think about it, out of the entire stable of La Dolce Vita, I am pretty sure all or most of us are Hall of Famers.”
The girl nods and stops her recording. “Thank you so much! That should be enough to help get the ball rolling. So umm if I’m not fired but need to get more info…” Valora nods “You can set up another interview yeah and I don’t think Blair will fire you. She asked for a different strategy, you’re trying to match her desired new direction, I’m pretty sure she’ll reward your initiative. And..” Valora takes out a card and writes down her number, handing it to the young woman. “You tell Blair if she needs help, that’s how to get ahold of me. I had her back once. I’ve got her back again. You tell her that.”
The girl looks at the card wide eyed. “Ohmygosh thank you so much! I’ll be sure she gets this!” The young woman says her goodbyes and half dashes, half floats on a cloud out of the room, psyched about how well things went. As the door closes, Samantha looks at Valora. “Are you that’s smart?” Valora looks at her. “She’s trying to turn over a new leaf. I know how hard that can be. Besides, this is NEW. Jesse already screwed over Roger Wright. If he’s willing to screw over Roger Wright to help Johnny, he’s damn sure willing to screw me over too. So Blair can help me as much as I can help her.” Abbigail chimes in here. “How is it hard to go from bad guy to good guy?” Valora shrugs. “For starters, you have to start caring what the crowd thinks. As the bad guy you just do what you want, when you want, fuck the crowd. That’s what makes it easy to be the bad guy. The crowd is fickle. What they might cheer me for, they might boo you for. It can be very frustrating and especially in a fed like NEW there can be a lot of appeal in being the bad guy. I’ll punch this guy with brass knuckles. I’ll have my buddies beat the shit out of this guy.”
Abbigail nods. “Uh huh.. So what triggered your alignment switch?” Valora shrugs. “The crowd. They started cheering for me. They loved watching me outsmart and beat the so called bad guys at their own games. The culmination.. the culmination came in Mexico City. I beat Matt Slater for the World Title.. Hermana.. you would have thought Mexico won the World Cup. I couldn't understand why they cared so much. It literally blew my mind. That started me on my journey. See, in this business we have babyfaces, that’s you hermana, people who won’t cheat, won’t swear, won’t do anything wrong, the lawful stupid types, basically. Then you have the so called face with an edge. That’s people like me. Now, you’re seeing less babyfaces because the crowd, especially NEW crowds, don’t see them in a positive light. Sometimes they come off as boring, sometimes it comes off as unbelievable that they can win with the deck stacked against them. Now, if you want to go that path, does that mean you can’t find success? Of course not. But it’s going to be hard. But like my upcoming match.. When I beat Hunter Valentyne like he owes me money, the crowd will love it. Speaking of Valentyne..” Valora says looking at Samantha.
Samantha adjusts her glasses. “Well not surprisingly, there are some discrepancies. For one, the State of Illinois absolutely does not allow work release of any sort for murderers, rapists and other extremely violent criminals. Even if they did, there is no way that his actions in the royal rumble would not have immediately invalidated work release and negatively impacted any hopes for parole. This has led me to believe one of a few things as likely.”
Valora nods and waves for Samantha to continue. “Option 1. Hunter is lying about being a murderer in an attempt to make himself less the pathetic, inept parasite he has spent most of his life being. Always an option, from the data you gave me on him, he does seem to be a pathological liar. Option 2. Jesse Styles pulled strings to get him released. Possible, I suppose, but I would classify it as unlikely as Jesse would very literally be risking his own freedom and his company to free a man he really can’t stand, and who does not stand to make him any real money. Option 3. Hunter has completely lost touch with reality and is beginning to believe his own hype. He might even have convinced himself he actually is a murderer and somehow got out of jail. Option 4. He escaped jail, also unlikely because as soon as he shows his face on NEW broadcasting, the authorities know where he is.”
Valora takes a drink from tequila and considers the options. “Well, he is definitely not all there in the head. But then again you could say the same about me so.. I try not to hold people being crazy against them necessarily.” Samantha interjects. “You can control your crazy though.” Valora shrugs. “To an extent. I think we should try to find out which one of the options it is. I also want us to try and find out why Jesse screwed over Roger Wright. I know they’re related, but Jesse and Johnny have tried to kill each other. If they’re on the same page now, we should be worried.” Samantha nods. “Speaking of being worried.. You do realize Blair has a non title match against Johnny right. And you offered to have her back.”
Valora pretends to be surprised. “Oh that’s right! I totally forgot that having my friend’s back also puts me in a spot to cash in my title shot! Huh.. what a coincidence huh?” Valora smiles and winks at Abbigail. “See? This is why I’m a good guy, the rewards are better..” Samantha shakes her head. “I’m glad for your turn too, and I know people from your past would also be glad to see it.. If they were still with us. But be careful, being the heroine often pulls you into fights that we don’t need.”
Flashback, Mexico City, Valora’s Estate:
Valora heads out into the back of her estate, making her way a bit and to a staircase leading underground to a mausoleum. She unlocks the door and walks inside
Inside, she makes her way to one of the rooms inside and looks at the metal container which holds the coffin of the person this room is dedicated to. On the wall, is a gravestone like panel. Valora takes a knee before the container and pauses a moment as if reflecting. She sighs. “I have to go away again. I’m so sorry. I really am a horrible person. I have nothing to prove. I can’t add anything to my legacy. I’m 8 years past my prime.. At least. The only thing I can do is damage my legacy. Why am I doing this again?”
“Because it’s who you are. You’ve always been a fighter. And horrible person? How much of your wealth have you spent to help strangers and the poor? How much time have you spent in free clinics in the U.S. providing medical help to those who need it? I’m proud of you, my love. I always have been. Go, Go be the heroine I always knew you were. I’ll be here when you get back.”
Valora snaps back to reality to see Abbigail standing there. “Uh you okay, boss? You kinda zoned out a bit there.” She says as she glances to the gravestone and nods. “Oh. Uh sorry. I’ll let you have a moment.” She says, before standing and adding in. “Oh, Samantha says we’re ready to go when you are.” She says before heading out. Valora turns back to the grave. “Yeah I get it.” Valora takes a look around to make sure she’s alone and sighs. “Maybe after I’m done she will finally let me die. I miss you.” She says as she turns and gives a look at the panel on the wall and nods. “See you later, love. Don’t worry, I made arrangements.” She says as she locks up the mausoleum and makes her way up, happening to run across the head of her security detail who nods. “There you are. I just wanted to let you know we have the perimeter secured.” Valora nods. “All women, I notice. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given Hecate sent you.” The woman smiled. “We’re all hand picked and trained by her ourselves. Trust us.. No one who isn’t supposed to be here will live long enough to regret the mistake of trying to break into your place.” Valora nods. “I’ll hold you and Hecate to that vow. I want to be informed at once of any problems or incidents.” The woman nods. “Yes Ma’am. You can count on us.” Valora nods.
End Flashback
Valora looks at Samantha and nods. “We’ll cross that bridge if and when it comes up. Before we get back to the man who fits in with the other morons who think they can just make up their own reality, has NEW done anything with Abbigail?”
Samantha nods. “Abbigail was left out of the battle royal because NEW didn’t have a copy of her work permit. We have that now as we provided the U.S. government proof that Abbigail is a citizen of the United Kingdom who has completed secondary school and is a professional athlete under contract to the Swansea Ladies football team and 2 American companies, Conquest Wrestling Federation and New Edge Wrestling. Further, since training is technically voluntarily and thus does not count as ‘work’ being a professional wrestler can be viewed as part time employment.”
Valora nods. “Coulda just said we got her a work permit.” Abbigail looks at you. “ How come you don’t need permits?” Val smirks. “Born in Los Angeles, chica.. Just before I live outside the U.S. doesn’t mean I’m not an American.” She says before looking at Samantha. “So do we need to get her training soon?” Samantha shrugs. “ Unknown. I would assume that sooner or later, Jesse will want to see what she can do.” Valora nodded, that was definitely a safe bet Valora had her attention brought back to Abbigail as she asked. “Okay stupid question here but you have made mention about generating interest and hype in a match. So two things.. How do you do that and isn’t that the fed’s job?”
Valora looks at Abbigail for a second before patting her on the head. “Oh, you are adorable. Okay, Pro Wrestling 101, hermana, listen up. If you can survive working your way through all the lawyer speak in your contract, you will notice that both you and NEW assume some responsibility for promotion. Yes, NEW will book you in a match, put out the card, shit like that. But you have to do your part too. Now, can you decide not to? Yeah.. but if your matches aren’t generating ratings.. You’re gonna find yourself backstage or in the crowd come pay per view time and pay per view is where you can make lots of money. Now, as for how you do this, it all depends on how you want to approach things. Heels are going to run their mouths like fuckin’ stone hands who no one has ever heard of claiming to be the best female fighter that ever lived.” Valora gives Abbigail a deadpan look as she makes the jerk off motion. “Faces like me get on the mic and point out how fuckin’ full of shit the heels are. Babyfaces.. Well think Captain America for what a babyface does. As for how to do that.. Come along padawan, it’s time to earn my paycheck.”
The next time we see Valora, she is wearing a Bears Jersey, standing field level. Her jersey has the number 51 on it. Dick Butkus’ number and Valora goes into her promo. “It’s a rough time to be a sports fan in Chicago. The Bears really should change their name to the Bad News Bears, they’re run by a fuckin’ idiot who thinks he can be head coach and defensive coordinator at the same time and manages to suck at 2 jobs at once and somehow isn’t fired for being the worst coach in franchise history, only managing a single fucking divisional win in 2 years and that was because the Vikings took fuckin’ pity on us and gave chance after chance to beat them. I mean seriously, they almost literally just handed us the ball and said. “Try again.”
Cubs fan? Sorry, your team is owned by rich white ring wing douchebags more interested in real estate turning Wrigley Field into a fuckin’ casino and gentrifying Wrigleyville to keep all the poor peasants out to run a team effectively and when they do pay attention to the team, it is to hire a fan favorite as coach, then you give that fan favorite a team full of minor leaguers and then you give him a good team when Cubs fan begin not buying tickets. Then, after he narrowly misses the playoffs, you drop the fan favorite for an asshole and crybaby from Milwaukee who gets into the playoffs only to be knocked right out of them.” Valora slow claps.
“White Sox fan? I’m so sorry, I don’t even think they know what they’re doing at the moment, it’s almost like they’ve got a contest on who can fuck the team up more.”
“The Bulls and Blackhawks both have players who think they don’t need coaches, so they kick the coaches out for a ‘players only meeting’ and both teams went into epic losing streaks right after that so well done there.”
Valora pauses to take a drink of her tequila and nods. “I would mention the Fire, but no one cares about the MLS anyways. Still, take heart Chi-town because.. I’m back. I’m back and I actually win more than I lose.” Valora pauses a few moments before she continues. “Now, I know. ‘Val you’re fighting Hunter Valentyne. He hit you with his finisher twice.. What the fuck does this have to do with our sports teams?”
Val winks. “Two things. Firstly, yeah he hit me with his finisher and if the match we were in was for a pinfall, that might have meant something, but true to Hunter being Hunter, he does his own thing and fuck the reality of the situation. He probably thinks he deserves something for hitting his finisher. I checked, Jesse ain’t payin’ us per finisher landed so next time, Hunter you might want to pay attention to what actual fuckin’ match you’re in.
This brings me to my rant and Hunter. Hunter embodies all the troubles of Chicago sports teams. He has the blatant disregard for authority that the players on the Bulls and Blackhawks do, but without any results to back up that display of defiance. Like the White Sox, he is trapped in an alternate reality where he is not the dog sitting in the burning tavern going on about how things are fine, he’s actually building a brand. Think about this.. This delusional retard wants us to believe that he is a murderer who is somehow so fucking cool that Illinois somehow just lets a self admitted violent psychopath out to fight other people. Think about that for a second.”
Valora walks along the sideline as she thinks and smirks. “That’s almost right up with the Ricketts seeming to think that they aren’t sports team owners, they’re actually real estate developers with a sports team as a centerpiece or some shit. Followed up by the belief that a man that has never been to the World Series before will somehow make the team a contender and that a fan favorite coach and player can be fired with no consequences.
Then Hunter has the performance record of the Bears. He’ll run his mouth about how he’s awesome. Everything’s under control. He’ll be ready on game day and he’ll totally prove he’s the best this time.” And when the match comes, he’ll do just what Eberfluss does, find a way to lose. So now, this unmitigated moron and jackass drew the short straw and got put up against me.”
Valora cracks her neck and nods. “Now, out of all the stadiums I could have stood in, I chose the NFL. Partly because I can’t stand Eberfluss, but see.. Our fight happens in St. Louis. A city fucked over by the NFL. I know how they feel. When I was born, L.A. had 2 teams, the Raiders and the Rams. I was a Raiders fan. And yeah I knew they technically started off in Oakland, but they had been in L.A. since I was born so that’s what I knew them as. Then they left. Fucked off back to Oakland. The Rams fucked off to St. Louis. I wasn’t a Raiders fan after that. The Raiders leaving Oakland for Vegas only cemented that. The Chargers and Rams coming to L.A.doesn’t impress me either. So, I’m going to do the good people of St. Louis a favor. I’m going to take a crazy old man that is firmly in the hasbeen category and I’m going to beat him from one end of the city to the other. Oh wait. I guess.. Because if he were actually a convict and actually in prison and actually on some type of work release he definitely wouldn’t be allowed to leave the state, would he?”
Valora smiles. “Pretending is fun, Hunter.. But we all know what you really are. A pathetic piece of shit whose entire life is defined by failure and failure. A man who bounces around like a parasite. A man whose problems are almost all entirely of his own making and who tells himself and the world stories so that he doesn’t seem like such a monumental failure. They say death comes for us all sooner or later. The sad thing for you Hunter.. Is that when the universe finally puts you out of it’s misery… I doubt anyone will even notice. And now, you’re once more in a trap of your own making. You’re booked against me in St. Louis. You have two choices. You can show up, proving you are in fact full of shit about this. “I’m so hardcore.. I a killer!” line you’ve taken to try to convince people you’re not just some washed up joke. Oh and if you show up, I will make sure you wish you were dead by the time I’m done with you.
Or you can not show up. Give me an easy night, risk throwing your former tag partner to the sharks, and use your lie as a cover for the fact that among everything else.. You are also the world’s biggest coward. I don’t care either way. I get paid the same. Show up and I kick your ass and prove once more you’re a fuckin’ liar or run and hide and I can kick back and relax in St. Louis."
She then ends the promo and turns to Abbigail. "And that is how you generate interest in a fight. Come on hermana. Lunch time, then we get to some more training."