Glory Braddock vs. Bree Lancaster

[Braddock]

2 of 2
======

==========
April 11th, 2023
London, England
Off Camera
==========

It is a dark, starry night just within the city limits of London, England; specifically the Braddock family home. Glory Braddock and her sister Julia Braddock grew up here, they were raised here, many of their memories, both good and bad, are contained here in this formerly modest now quite large modernized English home. While The British Bombshell remembers this home the way it used to be, she has a difficult time seeing it for the way it is now. Upon his death, Glenn Braddock left this home to his two daughters. Glory, who had already moved to Miami, Florida by this time, sold her half to Julia who took it and did major renovations upon the home, adding another level, expanding this home from the small quaint place it started as and forming it, molding it into a much more luxurious place to stay. Now much of what The British Bombshell sees is quite unrecognizable to her; for instance, the balcony that she finds herself sitting on as she stares out at the starry, moonlit night in London. This balcony is brand new. Grizzled, old veteran Glenn Braddock never would have had such a thing in his home. It has become a fixture to the home ever since his youngest daughter Julia took over the place. Still, while it may seem strange and unusual, Glory is quite pleased that this balcony is here. This addition gives her the opportunity to sit and relax in the quiet of the night, alone with nothing but herself and her thoughts. And that is exactly what she is doing on this night, dressed in long pink silky pajama bottoms and a pink t-shirt, sitting in a chair overlooking the London sky.

One particular thought running through her head is the SCW Television Championship Match she has for Breakdown this week. Tomorrow she will be catching a flight out of London and right into Seattle, Washington, hopefully in time to check into her hotel room and rest up before Breakdown the next night. She will be challenging Bree Lancaster in an attempt to regain the TV Title she lost as a result of Kimberly Williams’s Trios Cash In. The championship match is imminent, and she has done all of the preparations she can. All that remains is to see if she can defeat Bree. She did it once before in what would be considered unusual circumstances, during Ace Marshall’s Trios Cash In, but now in a normal scenario, Glory must win again if she wants to regain her championship.

Another thought weighing heavy on the mind of The British Bombshell pertains to why she came back to London in the first place. Glory Braddock had returned to her birthplace in an attempt to figuratively wrestle with the legacy of her father. She wanted to grapple with what it meant to be a Braddock, what that legacy really meant, particularly to her. She admits, and has admitted publicly, that she got off track, she lost her path, and she needed to regain her focus. She needed to be reminded of who she really is and what she is all about. Braddock was convinced that she had achieved this and was prepared to return to Miami as if everything was back to normal. But then she was confronted by her sister Julia who insists that Glory has confronted all of her demons. The British Bombshell wants to think Julia is wrong. She wants to believe that everything is ok and she can just move on with her life. But the thought is nagging in the back of her head; what if Julia is right? What if Glory still has unresolved issues she needs to deal with?

Braddock’s inner thoughts and contemplation are interrupted when she hears the sliding glass door that leads from the inside of the bedroom outside onto the balcony. It slides open and Glory turns her head around just in time to see her sister Julia emerging. Julia is wearing sky blue shorts and a plain white t-shirt. A warm smile is on her face as she pulls up an empty chair and sets it down next to Glory. Julia sits down and motions to the sky.

“Enjoying the view?”

“Yeah.” Glory nods her head. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is, isn’t it? Whenever I have a problem that I’m dealing with, I like to come out here at night and think. Just relax and think. Some might call it meditation.”

“Whatever you want to call it, it works.” Glory says. Then she looks at Julia and smirks. “You gotta admit though, dad would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what you did to this place.”

“I admit that I did quite a bit of remodeling and renovations to the place ever since you signed over the home to me. I expanded it a little.”

“A little? Mate, this was a one story home and was just BARELY big enough for you, me, mom, and dad. Now it’s huge! Big enough to host an entire bloody army!”

“You’re exaggerating.” Julia insists. “Besides, I think dad would have grown to like it.”

“Dad would have hated it.” Glory scoffs. Julia chuckles softly and nods her head.

“Yeah, you’re right. He would have hated all of this. Still, despite that, this balcony is a good place to sit and think, isn’t it?”

“Of course it is.”

“So, what are you thinking about?” Julia asks. Glory sighs.

“The Television Title Match for one.”

“Yeah. Bree will be tough to beat but you can do it. You beat her once before.”

“That was a gauntlet match.”

“Still, she came out fresh as a daisy after you had quickly disposed of Asher Hayes. So she was one hundred percent, you were practically one hundred percent, and you beat her clean.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s still different.” Glory shakes her head. “Also…” her voice trails off.

“What?”

“I thought about what you said to me yesterday.”

“Look, about that…” Julia starts to talk but Glory cuts her off.

“You and I both know that dad never really wanted a daughter. That isn’t to say he didn’t love us. But he had his heart set on a son and he ended up with two daughters. Still, he loved his immensely in his own way. And we have carried on his wrestling legacy in our own way. But our mom was a different story…” Glory sighs deeply “...she ran away after the divorce. She didn’t put up much of a fight at all to gain custody of us. She practically let Glenn have us while she moved to Massachusetts to live near her sister, our aunt Kelly. And I think we can both agree that is what affected us the most. It wasn’t our father and him pressuring us to follow in his footsteps, pressuring us to be great. It was that act by our mother and us viewing it, rightly or wrongly, as a betrayal, as abandonment…those feelings gave an opening for Aphrodite Noel to get into our minds.”

“You’re right.” Julia nods her head. “But do you regret Aphrodite entering our lives?”

“Do you regret it?” Glory asks, sending the question back to Julia.

“How could I regret it? I was addicted to drugs and going on a downward spiral that would have ended my career before it even got started and eventually would have killed me. You remember how bad off I was. I allowed my then boyfriend to pimp me off for drug money. It was awful. But Aphrodite got me clean, she got me off the drugs, and she paid off the debts I owed the drug dealers. All she wanted in return was for me to become her heir, to take up her mantle as a Noel.” She sighs. “I knew what she was asking sounded crazy and I knew you and dad would think I was betraying you, but I really wasn’t. I just knew I would have been dead without her. If all she was asking was for me to change my name, then why the hell not? She did so much for me and I owed it to her. I loved her for it.”

“Remember when I purchased the rights to Global Championship Wrestling in 2012?” Glory asks. Julia nods her head. “Well, early on I nearly had lost everything. Business was definitely not my forte. Fighting someone toe to toe in a ring is one thing but fighting corporate and political battles was new to me. I was being eaten alive. Aphrodite taught me everything I needed to know about how to survive and even thrive in the world of business. She saved my company.”

“Is that why you also took her name?” Julia asks.

“I didn’t agree to let her ‘adopt’ me for the same reason you did. You played into her fantasy because you loved her. I played into her fantasy because I loved you.” Upon hearing Glory say this, Julia’s eyes grow wide in an expression of shock.

“Me?!” Julia asks. Glory nods her head.

“Yes, you. I saw how serious you were, how wrapped up you were. You were wrapped around her finger, mate. So if you were going to put yourself through that then so would I. I didn’t want to be separated from my sister.” Glory smiles warmly with tears forming in her eyes. “I love you, Julia.”

“Love you too, sis.” Julia says. Then she sighs and composes herself. “But uh, let me get this straight. You never really loved Aphrodite?”

“Not at first, but I grew to really care about her.” Glory insists. “I was in denial at first but I realized eventually that I really did want to be a part of that Noel family you and Aphrodite created for yourselves, even if it meant betraying our mother…” Glory’s voice trails off.

“You didn’t betray anyone or anything.”

“Maybe not, but I do feel as if I missed out on so much of my past. What I know about how to wrestle, how to fight, all of that comes from our dad. What I know about to thrive in the corporate world and even how to survive backstage politics comes from Aphrodite. Both of them taught me so much. But what do I get from our mother? I spent little to no time with her before she passed away.”

“I get it now.” Julia says with a glint in her eye. She wraps an arm around her shoulder. “You need to know something…”

“Anything.” Glory says, agreeing with her sister. “I just need to know something, anything, so that I can finally appreciate my entire past. I mean, I’m not just a Braddock. I am a…”

“Kurinsky.” Julia says. “Our mother was a Kurinsky and so are we. If you want to learn about that family tree, there’s only one place to go.’

“Where’s that?” Glory asks.

“Massachusetts.”

==========
April 13th, 2023
Seattle, Washington
On Camera
==========

The camera begins to roll and we open to a visual of the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington. The grandiose modern multi-purpose venue looms large out in front while the camera is at the foot of a set of stairs, several levels of stairs that ultimately lead up to the front entrance of the arena. After a few brief seconds of taking in this grand visual a figure steps out into the center of the scene; “The British Bombshell” Glory Braddock. The beautiful blonde is dressed in a knee length royal purple pencil skirt, a black silk blouse, and a matching royal purple women’s business blazer that goes over the blouse. She is perched atop patent leather black high heel pumps. Her long blonde hair hangs straight and unrestrained to past the shoulders. A look of confidence is written across her face.

“There was a lot of talk heading into that night of unrelenting chaos Kimberly Williams unleashed upon everyone with her Trios Cash In. There was also a lot of complaining after it was all said and done. I won’t go and call out anyone, because God knows I have done my own fair share of complaining during my career, but as I now enter my fifteenth years as a professional wrestler, five of which was a part of Supreme Championship Wrestling, I realize that complaining doesn’t help. Complaining isn’t worth it and really, at the end of the day, it just makes you look like a twat. Am I disappointed that I lost the SCW Television Championship in that chaotic Trios Cash In? Damn right I am. But I knew the risk going in, I knew the barbarity of Underground Rules, but let’s face it, Underground is not my forte, it is not my strength. The only person I blame for not walking out with gold is me. I did not get the job done.” Braddock points a finger at the camera. “But make no mistake about it, I haven’t forgotten about Polly Playtime and her Playbitches. I haven’t forgotten about being locked in that bloody crate. And you can call it an excuse or what, I don’t care, but I know that I might have earned another fall or three had it not been for those brassers putting me in that damn crate.” She shakes her head.

“You were just an annoying little pissant, Polly. You were just a nuisance. I never really hated you, to be perfectly frank. But after what you did, now its personal. You stepped over the line and at Playing the Wildcard I will throw all respect and honor out the window. Playing the Wildcard is about settling a score. I will end this thing between you and I by kicking your puny little ass all over the damn arena. You will regret provoking this pissed off angry wrestling machine. You played a role in me losing the Television Title, Polly, and you will pay for it in spades.” Glory Braddock smirks.

“Polly and her bitches can wait, because the chaos that went down in the Trios Cash In can be remedied tonight. I can make things right tonight by regaining the Television Championship. And just like the chaotic Trios Cash In wasn’t easy, this won’t be easy either.” Braddock waves at the camera. “Hi there, Bree. Long time no see, am I right? We have a history together, you and I. For those who don’t know, you and I were there, both friends of Sienna Swann, both allies of The Beauty Factory. I watched you rise through the ranks, becoming United States Champion, Tag Champion, World Champion, Adrenaline Champion, and now Television Champion to make you a Supreme Champion.” Glory claps her hands, and it does seem sincere. “Congratulations on that, by the way. The Supreme Club is an elite group; very few have managed to reach that mark. Hell, it’s the one last thing I wish to accomplish.” She chuckles softly.

“People don’t understand why this is so important to me, Bree. I’m not even sure you would understand. You had a slow start in SCW but once you found your footing you were like a bloody rocket ship to the top. I had previous success, enough to attract the attention of SCW management. They wanted to sign me to a contract and I wanted it too. But can you imagine having your own friends, your own family, your close knit group of supporters whispering in your ear that you can’t hang with the talent level in SCW? That’s what I had as I was negotiating my SCW contract. People told me I couldn’t do it. People told me to stay in my own lane where it was safer, easier.” Braddock shakes her head. “I ignored them and signed anyway. And it may have taken me longer than most, but I did slowly but surely prove them all wrong. Two Trios Tournament victories in a row, a Rise To Greatness main event appearance, Adrenaline Championship, World Championship, United States Championship, and most recently the Television Championship.” She smirks. “Most would think that’s enough of a record to prove my former doubters wrong. But I want the ultimate prize. I need the Supreme Championship to prove to everyone, myself included, that I belong among the elite class of athletes to have graced this roster.” She points a finger at the camera.

“Now here I am, fighting you tonight on Breakdown. I am fighting a Supreme Champion. You have just earned the status that I want. Imagine the confidence it would bring to me if I could knock you off and in the process regain the SCW Television Title?” She nods her head. “That’s right, the SCW Television Championship, when you look at a match like this, Bree versus Glory, two former world champions, a Supreme Champion versus someone who wants to be Supreme Champion so damn badly, so many storylines there that the Television Title almost becomes an afterthought.” Braddock shakes her head. “Almost but not quite. Not to me.” She pats herself on the chest.

“Idiots like Polly and her ilk, and I suspect even some people I respect like Selena Frost, believe that I’m in this just to collect trophies and titles. That’s a load of crap. I respect what the Television Title is all about. I was honored to be the Television Champion even if it was a short reign. And it pained me to lose it. It hurt for me to drop that title in that Trios mayhem. If I was just about collecting titles or just about achieving the Supreme Title then I would have been bloody thrilled to move on from the TV Title and put my entire focus on the tag titles. But that’s not who I am and that’s not what I’m about Bree, and if anyone knows it you should. And if you don’t, then allow me to educate you about what the Television Title is all about.”

“When The One was Television Champion, she called it the workhorse title and that really is a good way of putting it, because in order to be champion and remain champion you have to be ready to defend it each and every week on each and every Breakdown against any one opponent on the roster. It isn’t just some trinket for newcomers like The One or Deanna Frost. Autumn Valentine and Kennedy Street were former champions. You, the newest Supreme Champion, hold the title currently. And now I’m looking to get it back. Being the Television Title is all about running that marathon. I warned Amelia Blythe about that marathon of being Television Champion but she couldn’t make it. Colleen tried to take it from me and I beat her too.” The British Bombshell points a finger at the camera.

“Now you are champion. So I ask you that same question Bree; can you run that marathon? Can you endure constant title defenses week in and week out against hungry challengers on every single Breakdown without any breaks, without any rest? Some would argue that remains to be seen because, technically, you haven’t even made it through a proper title defense yet thanks to Kandis throwing her tantrum.” Braddock smirks. “But I know better. You and I have a history as both friends and enemies. So I know you and I know you are fully capable of running that marathon. I know you have what it takes to endure.” Glory pats herself on the chest. “But can you endure me?” She points at her eyes. “When you stand across the ring from me and look into my eyes you are looking into the eyes of the person who ended your reign as SCW World Champion. I beat you once, mate, and I know I can do it again. I WILL do it again.” A fierce intensity grows in her voice.

“Even though I am a fifteen year veteran of this sport I am still as hungry as ever. Being the Television Champion, having that opportunity to challenge myself, to see if I can be one of the longest reigning champions in that title’s history, that is the kind of challenge I crave. That is the kind of test I want for myself. It was taken from me way too quickly thanks to Kimberly’s Trios Cash In, and if anyone thinks that I’m going to be ok with it for any reason then they are wrong, they are damn wrong and they don’t know me! Bree, I hope you are prepared for a war because I am going to bring war to your front door in order to regain that Television Championship and to once again begin that marathon run. I want this, Bree, and I will do whatever it takes to get it back.” Braddock turns and begins to walk up the many steps that lead up to the Climate Pledge Arena.