Polly Playtime vs. Glory Braddock

[Braddock]

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April 16th, 2023
Birmingham, England
Off Camera
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Breakdown answered a few questions for Glory Braddock heading into Playing the Wildcard. First of all, her match against Polly Playtime would not be for the SCW Television Championship. In a hotly contested, back and forth, match, The British Bombshell came up just short against Bree Lancaster. Despite that disappointment, Braddock still had one bright spot from the night; due to the spin of Polly’s ridiculous wheel, her match against Polly at Playing the Wildcard will be a Strap Match. This means that there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide for the woman who has been a nuisance, a thorn in Braddock’s side for months now. Being tied together at the wrist means The British Bombshell will be able to put an end to this rivalry once and for all so that she can move on to an even bigger, an even more important goal in her career; winning the SCW World Tag Team Championship in order to achieve Supreme Championship status in SCW. Achieving Supreme Status has been the goal of Glory Braddock ever since she lost the United States Title to Josh Hudson at Under Attack. She knew she was two championships shy of that elite class and for Braddock, achieving that status, would mean so much to her due in large part to the doubt and criticism so many within her own inner circle had been trying to spread since signing with SCW years ago. They told The British Bombshell that she could not hang, that she could not survive in SCW, but now she is one title shy of Supreme Status. It would be the ultimate “told you so” in the mind of Glory Braddock. Still, her quest has been constantly delayed time and again by Polly Playtime, who seems to have an unhealthy obsession with The British Bombshell. Glory knows that if she wants to achieve her own career goals, then she must put an end to this rivalry with Polly one way or another. Playing the Wildcard will end this and Braddock hopes to end it on a high note with a victory in this strap match.

Dealing with her wrestling career isn’t the only thing on the mind of The British Bombshell. Glory Braddock has made her return to her native home in London, England in order to deal with her own family legacy, a legacy that has left her with mental and emotional scars that would continue to haunt her throughout her adult life. Those mental and emotional scars would drive her to the brink of madness, would cause her to burn bridges and nearly destroy so many of the relationships she had built up with her friends and family. The British Bombshell would recover to some degree but she recognizes the inherent need to deal with these scars and painful memories. She has to deal with her painful past in order to ensure that nothing like this creeps up again. Already she has dealt with the legacy of her famous father, Glenn Braddock. He may not have been a perfect father, he may not have been completely prepared to raise two daughters on his own, and he may have made his own fair share of mistakes along the way, but he did the best he could and he did love Glory and her sister Julia in his own unique way. Knowing this was enough for Glory and she was prepared to return home to Miami, Florida but her sister insisted that she stay. Julia Braddock thinks that Glory still has one other issue she needs to deal with; namely, the issue surrounding their mother, Maria Kurinsky.

Maria and her husband Glenn had a nice enough married life that ended rather abruptly with the back injury that ended Glenn Braddock’s in ring wrestling career. All of her life, Glory had been led to believe that Maria was furious that Glenn refused to leave wrestling for good, that she was upset with him for starting the Braddock Wrestling School just so that he could continue to be involved with wrestling in some way. Glory had also been led to believe that her mother Maria had just left her and Julia in full custody of Glenn Braddock without even putting up a fight. In Glory’s mind it was almost as if Maria did not want to be a mother to her two daughters and that hurt Glory. It stayed with her for so long and she held a grudge against her up until the last year of her life. This is a painful memory that Glory does not wish to revisit. She has successfully managed to move on from the grief of her mother’s death. She is worried that digging up the past will just bring back the pain and heartache that she had thought was gone. Yet Julia Braddock, Glory’s younger sister, insists that this is something that needs to be done.

Against her better judgment Glory Braddock decided to stay in England for a little while longer to help Julia dig up into their mother’s past and hopefully find some insight into why Maria Kurinsky left them, seemingly abandoning them without putting up a fight for custody. Currently they stand just outside the front door that leads into Blake O’Malley’s private gym where he trains future generations of professional wrestlers, much like their own father did once upon a time. Glory is wearing tight form fitting denim jeans, a royal purple crop top, and black high heeled boots. Her sister Julia is wearing a sky blue knee length flowing skirt, a white silk blouse, and a matching sky blue jacket. She is perched atop blue high heeled pumps.

Glory Braddock has her reservations about this; not only does she really not want to look into their mother’s death, but she isn’t sure Blake would know much anyway. Julia, on the other hand, is convinced that Blake will have some answers. Blake O’Malley was once a very close friend of Glenn Braddock. They were as close as two friends could be; they were like brothers. In fact, to this day Glory and Julia think of him as “Uncle Blake” even though they are not blood related. If anyone might have some answers, or at least a direction of where they might start looking, it would be Blake O’Malley.

“I’m not sure he’ll know anything at all.” The skepticism in the voice of Glory Braddock is not subtle at all whatsoever. In fact, she has been quite frank about her doubts regarding her sister Julia’s idea about visiting their father’s longtime friend Blake O’Malley this afternoon in hopes of getting answers. The younger Braddock sibling just shakes her head.

“Quit being a pessimist, mate. Trust me, at the very least this will put us on the right path.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Our dad and Blake were the best of friends.” Julia points out. “If anyone would have the answers to our questions, it would be him.”

“Bloody hell…” Glory sighs out of frustration “...I’m still not even sure WHAT we need to ask him.”

“We need to know why our mother abandoned us, why she left this country for the United States after the divorce from our father without even putting up a fight for custody.” Julia says as they stop right at the front door to the gym. “Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

“Yes.” Glory nods her head in agreement. “I just always assumed that she didn’t care about the responsibilities of being a parent.”

“There you go being negative again.” Julia says with a smirk. “After getting to know her a little better, do you really think she would have just abandoned her responsibilities as a mother?”

“No…”

“Right. So something must be off. There is something we don’t know and maybe dad’s old friend has the answer?”

“I don’t know, Julia.” Glory shrugs her shoulders. Doubt is creeping in. “Maybe some things are best left unanswered. You know?”

“Sometimes. But in this case.” Julia shakes her head. “I think it is best not only for you but for me as well to find some answers. Now are you ready?” The answer is no, Glory isn’t ready. But The British Bombshell realizes that she isn’t getting out of this one so easily. She sighs and nods her head.

“Very well. Let’s go.”

“Great.”

Julia wastes no time in opening the door and stepping across the threshold into Blake’s gym. There is a hesitance on Glory’s part, as she isn’t quite certain she really wants to pursue this. This is her sister’s brilliant idea, Glory is more along for the ride. Nevertheless, despite her hesitation, Glory does make her way across the threshold, following her sister into the gym. The gym is not as active as it once was and thus it is practically empty; the only sign that anyone is there is the voices coming from another room. Julia makes her way towards the direction of the voices and her sister Glory follows her. Julia and The British Bombshell cross the gym floor and into another room where they find a standardized regulation wrestling ring set up. Blake O’Malley is standing in the center of the ring talking to a younger male dressed in workout clothes; presumably a student.

“You’re doin’ better and better, kid. But you still got a lot to work on.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Main thing about you that I doubt is your heart.” He pokes the student in the chest. Glory smirks. This reminds her of her own father. “You need to be passionate about this business, whether you’re passionate about competition, passionate about entertaining the fans, but passionate about something other than just collecting a damn paycheck. Because consderin’ the amount of hospital and medical bills you’ll be paying from getting your ass kicked week in and week out, it aint gonna be worth it to you and…” Blake notices Glory and Julia out of the corner of his eyes “...tell ya what, kid, you think about what I said. Run a few miles around the building and then come back.”

“But I…”

“I SAID GO!”

“Yes, sir!” The young students shouts. He turns and quickly bolts out of the ring and then out of the room. Glory and Julia start laughing and applauding Blake, who just stands there with his arms folded over his chest, staring judgmentally down at the two siblings.

“Did I do something funny?”

“That was a great impression of our father.” Glory states with a wink.

“Very funny.” Blake exits the ring and then sits down on the ring apron. “I was just giving the kid a reality check. That’s all.”

“Yeah, but coming from the man who trained Matthew Taylor…the daredevil who never gave a damn about money, fame, or competition or any of the like…that was surprising coming from you.” Glory points out.

“Your friend Matthew would surprise you.” Blake states. “He may have been a daredevil who took a lot of risks but he never once said he didn’t respect this business. He had a deep respect for it. He just didn’t hold to the same ideals as your father. You can respect this business without having a stick shoved up your ass.” He smirks knowingly at The British Bombshell. “I do hope you’ve remembered that.”

“I have, thanks to you.”

“Good.” Blake sighs. “But I doubt you came here to talk wrestling philosophy. So what can I do for you ladies?”

“We just have a question about our father.” Julia states. Blake huffs in annoyance.

“I thought Glory here already found out whatever the hell she needed to know about her old man.”

“She did, but this is a little more complicated.”

“I don’t complicated.” Blake shakes his head. “Go talk to someone else.”

“There really isn’t anyone else.” Julia insists. “I mean, we could have asked our Uncle Peter Braddock but he passed away years ago. Me and Gloria are the oldest remaining lineage of the Braddock generation. There is no one else to ask except for you.”

“You really aren’t going to quit bugging me until I answer your damn question, are ya?” Blake asks. Julia smirks and shakes her head.

“Nope.”

“Figures.” He sighs and shrugs his shoulders. “Very well. What do ya wanna know, but I’m warning you, I doubt I’ll be able to help.”

“Thanks, Uncle Blake!” Julia turns to look at her sister. “Glory, ask him.”

“What?!” Glory is surprised that her sister threw her under the bus. “Why me?”

“Just ask him.” Julia insists. Glory sighs out of frustration.

“Fine. It’s just that…Julia and I find it odd that not only did dad get full custody of us after his divorce from mom, but also that mom never really even fight for custody. From everything we’ve been told, she did not try at all to get custody of us, even partial custody. Typically the mother has the edge in child custody cases. She probably would have got custody had she tried but she didn’t. She didn’t try. She just packed up and left England for the United States and really didn’t visit us at all until we were already grown.” Glory shakes her head as she tries to keep her composure. Reliving these memories and painful emotions is difficult for The British Bombshell. “It just doesn’t make sense. Was our dad really so damn popular that she felt getting custody of us would have been impossible so she just gave up?...” her voice starts to crack “...that she just gave up on us?”

“I see.” Blake nods his head. “I admit, your mom didn’t try very hard to win custody of you but I can tell ya this, it wasn’t her choice to give up so damn easily.”

“What do you mean?” Glory asks curiously.

“I really don’t think I should…” Blake hops up off the ring apron and starts to walk away. Julia quickly rushes over and cuts him off.

“No, not yet.” Julia insists. “What were you going to say?”

“Too damn much.” Blake remarks. “Especially when all I know is just nothing but damn assumptions.”

“Well tell us what you assume.” Glory says, joining her sister in front of Blake.

“Look, it’s just some weird shit, that’s all. But…” he sighs and shakes his head “...shortly after the divorce, your mom was talking to attorneys, she was seeking legal advice on how to proceed, but she suddenly stopped.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” Blake shrugs his shoulders. “Honestly, I don’t know. Like I said, all I have are assumptions based on some strange shit that went down.”

“What kind of strange shit?” Glory asks.

“There was this guy, some stranger who started hanging around the pub. Didn’t think much of it at first but then he started hanging around my gym…and your dad’s gym…pretty much any place associated with the Braddock name, any place your dad frequented, this guy would show up.”

“What did he want with dad?”

“He wasn’t after your old man.” Blake points out. “He was stalking your mom for some bloody reason. I ran him off whenever I could. Hell, I even told your mom to get a restraining order. But she was too frightened. She didn’t think it would stop him. I don’t know much more than that, all I know is that I think she left England in order to protect the two of you.” Blake states. “She figured if this guy was obsessed with her, if he was stalking her, then maybe he’d follow her to Massachusetts. While you two would remain safe here with your father.”

“Soooo…he disappeared after mom left?” Glory asks. Blake nods his head.

“Yeah. I never saw the bloke again anywhere after your mom left. So I suppose she was right, he was after her. She just didn’t want the two of you caught in the crossfire of whatever plans he had cooked up.”

Glory starts to feel very emotional again upon hearing this news from Blake O’Malley. She reaches up and wipes some tears from her eyes. Her sister Julia notices this, so she reaches over and pats Glory on the back. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” She nods her head. “Uh, is there a bathroom?”

“In the other room.” Blake points towards the door. Glory nods her head and turns and walks away, leaving Julia to continue speaking with Blake. The British Bombshell doesn’t really need the bathroom. She just needs to be alone for a moment in order to compose herself, to take in all of this information she just heard from Blake. Is it possible that her mother, whom she had long hated for abandoning her and Julia, had only done so in order to protect them from what she perceived as a great threat? Furthermore, what possibly could have scared their mother away from them? What kind of threat or danger possibly could have made her abandon her children like that? There are still so many unanswered questions yet even she knows that Blake does not have all of the answers. More digging will need to be done. More research will have to be…

“Glory?” The familiar voice startles The British Bombshell out of her deep trance. She looks up to see the familiar figure of her childhood best friend Matthew Taylor approaching. It has been a long time since she last saw him. In fact, the last time she saw him was when her husband Kurt Logan caught her cheating on him with Matthew. Lucky for their marriage, Kurt and Glory were able to reconcile. Braddock, for her part, wasn’t sure how her friendship with Matthew would survive. In fact, she has been trying to avoid this awkward confrontation for quite some time. But she had to know that she would run into her old friend eventually.

Now here he is standing just a few feet away from her. And he looks a lot different from the last time they met. Matthew’s typical long, shaggy hair has been cut very short and his usual clean cut face is now sporting some facial hair. Matthew is wearing gear appropriate for a hard day’s workout, which is unusual as she had thought Matthew was stepping away from the wrestling ring. The British Bombshell forces a friendly smile upon her face and waves.

“Hi, Matty. You certainly do look…”

“Incredible? Amazing? Gorgeous?”

“...different.” Glory says with a bit of a laugh. She forgot how funny her friend can be. Matthew laughs a bit himself. He rubs his facial hair.

“Yeah, I grew the beard out just a little. What do ya think? Will I have to beat the ladies off with a stick?”

“I think you look fine, Matty.”

“Fine, eh?” Matthew sighs. “I guess that’ll do. But ‘fine’ won’t get me any dates. Not that I’m after any dates. This look is for something else.”

“Oh really?” Glory asks, her curiosity is peaked. “And what pray tell is on your mind?”

“Oh nothing much. I’m just thinking about making my grand return to the ring!” Matthew strikes a pose. “The world of wrestling has grown stale without The Show Stealer to spice things up a bit!”

“So you’re gonna give the people the gift of yourself?”

“I am such a giver, aren’t I?” Matthew asks. Glory shakes her head.

“You’re full of shit, Matty. You just miss the thrill of it all.” Glory points out. Matthew nods his head.

“Yeah, you’re right. You always knew me better than anyone else. Shit, you know me better than my own damn family knows me. I do miss the thrill of getting in the ring and risking my body, my physical well being, my own damn life. The rush of throwing down with dangerous people, the thrill of leaping off the top, the roar of the fans, I miss it all. And quite frankly, I hated how my run as a wrestler came to an end. I admit that my own style doesn’t exactly equate to a long term career, but that doesn’t mean I can’t go out on my own terms.”

“You did end your career on a bit of a whimper rather than a roar.” Glory says. Matthew nods his head.

“Exactly and there’s no way in hell I’m gonna go out like that. So I’m here training with my former drill sergeant Blake. He’s gonna help me get back into ring shape.”

“Knowing Blake he will whip you back into shape, that’s for sure.” Glory points a finger at her old friend. “But the real question is are you going to be taking this seriously from now on?”

“Of course.”

“Really?” Glory says this with skepticism dripping from her voice and with her arms folded over her chest. Matthew sighs and nods his head.

“Look, I admit that in the past I didn’t care about much of anything. Hell, your father was right about me. I really was a smartass piece of crap who didn’t care about this sport. But I have changed. I still want to have fun, I still want to entertain and thrill, but I am taking this seriously and I am all in for the right reasons this time.”

“Oh yeah? Pardon me for doubting you, mate, but why did you suddenly have this change of heart?”

“You.” Matthew says suddenly. This answer surprises Glory who is taken aback.

“Me?!”

“Look, I know that I caused you a lot of problems. You and Kurt, I nearly destroyed your marriage. There’s nothing I can do to make up for that. But I do know that you are looking to become Supreme Champion in SCW. And I know that you only need the SCW World Tag Team Championship in order to achieve that goal.”

“You want to…” Glory begins to realize what he is proposing and she immediately shakes her head “...no way, Matty. No chance in hell.”

“Come on! You have made it clear that you want to challenge for the tag titles. What if SCW decides to pair you up with some random twat? Look at the last person they randomly threw you in with. Do you really wanna team with another loser the caliber of Danny Darko?”

“No…” she shakes her head “...but I can’t team with you.”

“Why not? I am a sure thing. And we have legit tag team chemistry because we have teamed before. Remember us working together as a tag team in MWA?”

“I do remember that. And we were quite successful. But I think you know damn well why I cannot team with you; his name is Kurt.”

“Bloody hell…” Matthew exclaims, shaking his head “...look, Glory, I…”

“No, no way!” She shakes her head. “We are NOT having this discussion! Kurt would be furious if we started teaming together after what happened. Besides, you’re not even in ring shape.” She shakes her head. “It just isn’t happening.”

Before Matthew or Glory can say anything else, Julia Braddock and Blake O’Malley emerge. Blake motions to the other room, the room with the ring.

“Matthew. Get your ass in the ring.”

“Yeah…” Matthew sighs as he makes his way past Glory and towards the room. Bake turns to Glory and Julia.

“Thanks for dropping by, ladies. I hope I was helpful.”

“You definitely were.” Julia says. “Thanks, Blake.”

Glory just nods her head as she turns and walks away with Julia following closely behind. The British Bombshell realizes that her life just got a lot more complicated, more complicated than it needed to be. Matthew would be the ideal tag team partner. They have incredible in ring chemistry. But this partnership would stir up a hornet’s nest between herself and her husband Kurt. She knows that this cannot happen. She is visibly shaken by this and Julia happens to notice as they make their way across the gym floor.

“Are you ok, sis?”

“Huh?”

“You look shaken. What’s wrong?”

“Oh…” Glory shakes her head “...nothing.”

“I saw you speaking with Matt.” Julia states. She says nothing else but nothing else needs to be said. Julia is one of three individuals who know about the affair Glory had with Matthew, the other two being Matthew himself and Glory’s husband Kurt Logan. Braddock shakes her head.

“Matty was just telling me about his planned in-ring return.”

“Really?” Julia seems somewhat surprised by the news. “That’s good to hear, actually. I always thought Matt was unique. He brought something special to the table that very few others had. It’s a shame he ended his career as early as he did. What is his plan?”

“He wants to be my tag team partner.”

“Your tag team partner?” Julia is confused at first. But then after thinking on it for a moment it is as if a lightbulb went off over her head. “Oh right, you need a tag team partner to become SCW World Tag Team Champions and achieve Supreme Championship status.”

“Yeah. And he wants to fill that void.”

“Well it is a good idea, come to think of it.” Julia says, nodding her head. “You two had great chemistry as a tag team once upon a time.”

“But he’s out of shape.” Glory points out. “That’s not to mention the other great big elephant in the room.”

“I know. Still, you should at least consider it. I would offer to work with you but I’m so busy with GCW that I just don’t have the time. Besides, Matt needs this more than me.”

“Kurt would go ballistic.” Glory remarks shaking his head. “Even if Matty got into shape there is no way in hell Kurt would approve.”

“Talk to him first.” Julia answers. “You should tell him about this anyway. You can’t keep secrets like this from him, not after that last time. Just tell him about what Matthew suggested and see what he says. Go from there.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Glory says as she pushes the front door open and exits the gym, Julia follows closely behind. “Now what about Blake and that information he shared. What do we do with it?”

“Nice way of changing the subject, Gloria.” Julia rolls her eyes. “You didn’t even want to do this, to talk about mom, but now suddenly when we talk about an even more difficult and painful subject you are more than happy to talk about mom.”

“Shut up and answer my question.” Glory answers abruptly and bluntly.

“Fine.” Julia sighs deeply. They stop just outside the gym. Julia turns to face her sister with her arms folded over her chest. “A lot of what he said does make sense considering what we know already from Angelica.”

Angelica Jones is the first cousin of Glory and Julia Braddock. Angelica’s mother, Kelly Kurinsky, and Glory and Julia’s mother, Maria Kurinsky, were sisters. Maria and Kelly’s parents fled the Soviet Union in fear of political persecution. After growing up their children, Maria and Kelly, went their separate ways. While Maria found herself to England and met and married Glenn Braddock, Kelly would remain in Massachusetts and make a life for herself. Kelly had two daughters of her own; Angelica and Kayla Jones. Unfortunately the bliss and happiness would not last long. Kelly would be murdered by someone they would eventually learn was from Russia, someone who had tracked the Kurinsky family to Massachusetts.

“My God…” Glory’s eyes grow wide “...you’re right. It all makes sense. Mom didn’t abandon us. She was protecting us. She left England and left us in order to protect us because that man, that guy who killed our aunt Kelly, Angelica’s mom, that man was after her too.”

“You’re jumping to conclusions.” Julia shakes her head. “You can’t possibly know that.”

“It makes sense though.” Glory insists.

“I still think you’re jumping to conclusions. Still, I do agree that talking to our cousins might be the next logical step. Blake said someone was stalking our mom. Who knows? Maybe it was the same guy who targeted our aunt Kelly? It is a leap but it is worth looking into. We should tell Angelica.”

“I agree.” Glory nods her head.

There are still many questions that remain unanswered regarding her own troubled past with her mother. Still, at least a couple of questions are close to being answered. She knows that at least she has a candidate for a potential tag team partner in Matthew Taylor. She also knows that her mother may not have just abandoned them without any rhyme or reason. And on top of it all, Glory knows for certain that at Playing the Wildcard, this rivalry with Polly Playtime will come to an end once and for all.