Post by Kenzi Grey on Aug 24, 2017 22:56:42 GMT -5
“To be the Queen of the Ring means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Most only see the prestige of winning a major tournament in our sport. Others see the opportunity to go on and challenge for the Ladies All-Star Wrestling Championship. Both of those things are certainly important…certainly worth aspiring to. Proving that you are the BEST bar none in the company is a massive accomplishment! Likewise, having a chance to go on and face the champion for the top prize in the company is something that very few get a chance at…”
“…neither of these things are what fuel me as I prepare to head into what is the biggest series of matches in my entire career…”
“I have a lot to prove to myself and to LAW! I started my career here and for two long years I fought my heart out and I bled in that ring. Most nights, I lost…but I always fought hard and I always showed up to give 110% more than the next person. In all that time I have had a few successes, but nothing that anyone has ever pointed to and said; ‘Look at what she accomplished…she really belongs here.’ The truth of the matter is that I have never felt like I was part of LAW…I have always felt like enhancement talent, even when I was winning matches and I was fighting to finally get my hands on a title. Even in achieving that goal, I was an afterthought…not even worthy of being shown in the montage of champions in the opening of the show…”
“…that is what I want…recognition for my efforts…I want people to see that I have worth…”
“Fighting through the field in the QOTR is an accomplishment that NO ONE can ever take away from me. No…they don’t have to respect me…they don’t have to say that I stand a chance in hell against the LAW Champion…but they will have to admit that I accomplished SOMETHING and that for ONE FUCKING NIGHT…I did what very few have ever done…only three in fact!”
“I have no illusions about how hard these matches will be. I have no illusions about the fact that I have some of the longest odds in the entire tournament, just to get to the finals! My very first match is against a woman that ruled tag team wresting with an iron fist and held gold for 274 days! You don’t hold gold for that long by being a scrub! After I get pass Kat…and I will get pass her…I will find myself up against one of two multiple time World Champions! Maybe it will be Abby Addiction…maybe it will be Gabby Camacho, but either way, it will be the ultimate test for me!”
“…as for the other side of the equation…”
“No disrespect to anyone in the other bracket, but the only person with a rich championship pedigree there is Kate Steele. She should be the person to beat, but if you ask me, she doesn’t even have the heart to move past the next round. I don’t know how I feel about that…I don’t know if I am partly or solely to blame. I didn’t ask for her to fall in ‘love’ with me…I asked her to fight at my side and attempt to win a championship…but I guess her focus was on lesser goals. Regardless, it’s really just a three person race over there and my money is on the woman who will be my wife by the time QOTR starts. I am looking forward to challenging an actual Queen for the right to become one myself!”
“Should the stars align and I find myself standing across the ring from Sarah…the question then becomes if I am willing to take on the woman who saved my life? No, not literally, but in a figurative sense. Sarah came to me at a time when I was ready to stop chasing my dream of being anything in this sport. She lifted me up off the canvas and she took me by the hand and she dragged me across the world with her as she lit a fire back inside me for this business. Suddenly I could see other possibilities…like me finally achieving something in this company that no one would ever be able to take away from me. However, should things actually go the way I hope they go…I’ll be in a position to do one of two things…achieve my dream and finally earn something real and lasting by destroying Sarah’s dream…or I’ll fall short in my quest, like I always do…like I always have…like the world expects.”
“To fight…not to fight…that is the question, isn’t it?”
LACKLANLAND
Maine
August 21, 2017
Sweat literally poured down Kenzi’s face as she finished her workout; muscles pushed to their absolute limit…to the point of actual failure. This was what she needed to do in order to outlast the field that was laid out before her…ex-champions, Hall of Famers, bitches making up fake vendettas to try to trigger her, and a future wife who wanted nothing more than to marry her on Saturday and beat her ass on Sunday. Life was certainly going to be interesting in Las Vegas on Sunday night.
Kenzi had focused on stamina, toughness, and endurance. That was the key to victory in the Queen of the Ring…that was what history had taught her. As she made her way back to the ice bath that would shock her body into chasing off the inflammation that worked counter to any of the gains she hoped to achieve, she flipped on the video monitor and settled into the tub.
“FUCK! HOLY FUCKING FUCKETY FUCK!”
The freezing water had assaulted her body more viciously than any opponent had inside the ring. She wanted to jump out of the bath and run screaming into the nearest hot shower…but that was the coward’s way of doing things when it came to being prepared. There was no way to avoid this, there was no way to take half measures and hope to achieve total victory.
Sidney Grey’s Journal
August 21, 2017: I have to admit it Kenzi, watching you prepare for the Queen of the Ring tournament has been eye opening for me. You have shown me more passion in these last few weeks than I have ever seen from you before. Of course, that being said, that doesn’t change the fact that I still don’t think that wrestling is for you. You’re beautiful and bright, you have a huge future in acting; why would you want to jeopardize it by rolling around in a filthy ring where you could end up scarred or maimed for next to nothing? It boggles my mind!
I know that Sarah is behind this wrestling obsession…among other things! This ridiculous fighting the world across the world concept was fun at first, but just look at her Kenzi! She’s bruised, broken, battered, and burnt! Is that what you want? Is that how you think you’ll make your mark in this business? YOU WON’T! I refuse to allow it!
I don’t know how this QOTR will shake out. Honestly, I fully expect Sarah to win out and then go on to face Amy Jo Smyth at the next PPV; but on the off chance that you somehow find a way to win…wouldn’t it be something if you ran into Sarah in the finals? I mean…I wonder what you’d think of your little red Firestarter after she punched you in the mouth?
I mean, hell…maybe that would be the thing to wake your ass up, huh?
Sidney Grey watched as her daughter put herself through a feverish pace in the gym, working harder than she’d ever seen her work at anything before. She hit the circuit like a madwoman, long black braids flying as she ran, squatted, and jumped to up her endurance. It wasn’t the way she trained back in the day, but there was no QOTR back then…it was one on one or tag team…maybe a triple threat. With the possibility of three tough matches in a single night against the best the company had to offer, maybe she was right to train for stamina.
As she finished and headed into the spa room, Sid followed her, curious to see what she did next. She arched her brow as she saw Kenzi submerged in a vat of ice, her eyes fixed on a video monitor that was replaying the 2014 Queen of the Ring finals. Looked at the monitor and then back to Kenzi. “You know, that was my first big LAW pay-per-view where I beat the holy hell out of Crystal Hilton!”
Kenzi shivered as she glanced up at her mother, trying to stave all off the cold. “W-Well…I kicked her a-ass twice…so…no b-big whoop there!”
Sid rolled her eyes as she leaned against the door and folded her arms. “So…why you watching this old shit? You’re not facing Evie Taylor? You should be focusing on the people you are going to run into, don’t you think?”
Kenzi’s teeth chattered, but she forced back the stutter she felt coming, “M-Mother, I know w-who I’m…f-f-facing! This i-i-is different!” Kenzi climbed out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself, shivering as she did. “F-FUCK! HOLY S-SHIT THAT WAS A T-TERRIBLE IDEA!”
Sid laughed at her daughter’s battle with hypothermia. “Is that something you learned from your little girlfriend?”
Kenzi corrected her, “M-My fiancé, an-and MAYBE! This h-helps heal the inflammation as it f-forces the blood to…”
Sid held up her hand, “Yeah, I don’t think I care about why you think freezing your tits off is ever a good idea. However, I am still wondering why watching this old ass match is going to help you.”
Kenzi managed to gather herself, rubbing her arms to warm herself as quickly as she could. She silently thanked the Lord that her teeth finally stopped chattering. She made a mental note to punch Sarah extra hard for adding this little trick to her training regimen. “QOTR is a lot more than just going from match to match…it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon! It’s not Rock em’ Sock em’ Robots, it’s a chess game! You have to think 3 or 4 moves ahead if you want to win this thing and get to the pay window!” She nodded to the monitor, “This tournament for instance. Evie Taylor arguably had the easiest ride of anyone since her final opponent was unable to continue.” She paused, pointing to her mother, “But that isn’t the lesson! This was really about the reason she had that free ride to begin with! The woman that should have blown through the competition was so consumed by the competition that she lost her head and she took Jenni Drew out on the way to the finals…got herself disqualified.
Sid stared at her, still not comprehending the lesson. She shrugged her shoulders. “Okay? What in the hell does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”
Kenzi sighed, as she thought to herself that someone as long in the tooth as her mother should see the correlation. “If you watched the rumble on the last show, you already know that Gabby Camacho is completely unhinged! After I eliminated her, fair and square, she came back into that match looking to injure me and take me out of the tournament!” Kenzi glanced back and the monitor as Evie Taylor was declared the winner by default in a very anti-climactic end to the first QOTR. “I see the danger that Gabby poses very clearly. She’s desperate and she’ll do anything…not just to win, but to stop me from winning, even after I defeat her and move on. I have to be ready for her to come at me again…I can’t be blind to the fact that should I face her, winning the match is one thing…but putting her ass down for good like the rabid dog she is will be the order of the day!” Kenzi took a deep breath, “I won’t let history repeat itself…I won’t get caught flatfooted by her again…and I won’t be allowing her to let the other bracket get a free ride to the crown!”
Sid had to admit, Kenzi had really done her homework. She had been at that event and she had seen how that rouge element in the tournament had disrupted everything. Perhaps, Jenni Drew would have been the first QOTR had she not fallen victim to a madwoman with bloodlust on her mind. Sid smiled, giving Kenzi her full attention now, her interest peaked, “What else have you learned from watching these old matches?”
Kenzi was up to the challenge as she cited last year’s QOTR. “In the 2016 tournament, the winner was a woman who had been fighting to win several times, looking for that win that would take that stigma of failure after failure off of them. That reminds of Abby Addiction.” Kenzi shrugged, “No disrespect to her, but Abby came in and was set to take place by storm, but she never quite made it over the hump…just like Crystal until that QOTR tournament. Crystal learned from her mistakes and used her past experience in the tournament to win the whole thing.”
Sid expanded, “So…if I follow, Crystal was more dangerous because she was looking to reverse her fortunes?”
Kenzi nodded, “Yes, and not only that, she had competed in the tournament before, so she knew what to expect. Abby has competed before, and she knows what it’s like to fail. Crystal competed and failed before she got her shit together and blew through the field to win the whole thing. I’d be a fool to think that Abby isn’t thinking that.” Kenzi narrowed her eyes as she pointed to them, “I see what she’s thinking and I know that if she gets past Gabby, she’s already one step closer than she was the year before and she’ll have that much more confidence. I have to be ready for that…I have be on my toes and make sure that I put her down before she builds up a head of steam that will make her unstoppable!”
Sid nodded her head, seeing that her daughter was actually using her head. She didn’t think that anyone could learn anything from those past tournaments, but she certainly was all over. “How about that Star woman…the one that’s your friend?” Sid chuckled as she asked, “What, nuggets of wisdom did you get from watching old matches that will help you with her?”
Kenzi grinned, quite tickled with herself over her knowledge of past tournaments. “In 2015, the winner of the QOTR was someone that no one expected and everyone overlooked. Jennifer Williams came in and shocked the world because up until then, she was just flying under the radar.” She shrugged, “Kat has been flying under the radar since losing the LAW Tag Team Titles. She got into the tournament, and then when it came time for the rumble where we could all get acquainted, up close and personal, she was the odd one out.”
Sid interjected, “Not her fault…she doesn’t do the booking.”
Kenzi nodded, conceding the point of interest. “True enough, but that doesn’t make it any less true that when we were tearing each other apart, Kat was the only want not there. No one had her in their sights…no one got the chance to feel what she was capable of.” Kenzi let loose a huge sigh, “Imagine having that kind of advantage? No one knows what you are thinking or what you might do. Hell, if you’re focused on your own shit, you don’t even know that she might be coming for you! But I know that she’s coming…and I know from what direction to expect her. I am DAMN sure going to be ready!”
Sid laughed, as she folded her arms. She arched one of her botoxed eyebrows, as much as she could at least. “Okay…so I suppose the point is that you are expecting her. So…what happens now? I mean, I have seen the two of you swapping spit over Twitter…cozy little friends. Are you going to be able to turn all of that off and fight…really fight?”
Kenzi was silent for a while, and then she shrugged, “I’ll be ready to take her on once the bell rings. I know she’s good, but I am going to find a way to win and then when it’s over, we are going to go right back to being frie…"
Sid poked Kenzi hard in the chest, forcing her to take a step back. The woman’s eyes blazed with fury as she closed the distance between them. “Do you think that just because YOU see her coming that you’ll win? She’s been preparing for you since the tournament started…I promise you that! She’s a sly one…I can see it…she’s been working you, twisting you, getting you ready for the KILL!” Sid poked her again, and Kenzi fell back against the tub. Sid looked down at her, “Knowing she’s coming aint the same as being ready for her! Yeah, I hear you talking all this ‘friend’ nonsense, but believe me…there aren’t in friends when that bell rings! There’s you and there’s the win; she will run through you like shit through a goose to get that victory!”
Kenzi tried to look confident, but her mother was right and it rattled her that she was caught unaware. “I…I can beat her…I won’t let my feelings ge…”
“YOU BETTER HOPE NOT!” Sid screamed in her face. “You think that everyone you fight in the ring will be a savage like Gabby Camacho? Someone who’s obviously coming after you? Someone who’s hungry like Abby Addiction?” Sid shook her head, disgust coloring her cheeks. “You’re soft Kenzi! You’re too soft to fight your so-called ‘friend’ and you’re definitely too soft to be fighting your so-called ‘fiancé’ if you were to somehow end up facing each other! You have NO BUSINESS IN THIS TOURNAMENT!”
This brought out a fire in her as she stood up, pushing her mother back. “I EARNED MY WAY IN THIS TOURNAMENT! Yeah…I fought a good clean match, but I couldn’t enjoy the win because I had to listen to people complain about this and complain about that!” She pointed at Sid, “Even you! You complained that the person I beat wasn’t in her prime and that is why I got in. Well, maybe that IS why I got in and maybe at the next QOTR someone will be in my shoes looking back at this and taking notes on what I did to get in! Maybe that person will be talking to someone like you…someone who doubts them and doesn’t want them to succeed! They will be talking about how Kenzi Grey lucked her way into the tournament and then she ran through a crafty veteran and then she advanced to the next round and she beat the try-hard that was thinking they were going to walk all over her because she ‘sucks!’” Kenzi could only shake her head as she pushed past her mother. “I’m going to the finals…watch me…don’t watch me…it won’t change a damn thing!”
Sid admired the fire, but she wondered who that fire was really for. “You know…you have mentioned beating Gabby, beating Abby, and beating Kat…but I haven’t heard a word about beating Sarah. Why is that Kenzi? Don’t you think you can…or is it that you hope she won’t be there?”
Kenzi walked back to her mother, her eyes flashing anger. "You think that Kate Steele will stop Sarah? Kate hasn't had her head in the game in months! Sarah will eat her alive!" She poked Sid in her chest, returning the earlier favor. "If you think La Estrella or Stacy Jones will beat the woman YOU advocate for, then you're a bigger fool than I thought you were!" Kenzi cornered her mother, jaw tense. "I'm ready for anyone, friend or foe! You might not believe in me, but I believe in me!"
Kenzi backed away from her mother as her chest heaved as glared in anger. "WHEN I meet Sarah in the finals on Sunday, that will be between the two of us! When it's over...you and everyone else can apologize to me...then kiss my ass!"
With that, Kenzi gave her mother the finger and stormed out filled with righteous indignation. Sid watched her go, and as soon as she was out of sight, a long slow smile crested her lips. "Good girl..."
Sidney Grey’s Journal
August 24, 2017: Kenzi…I wish you wouldn’t fight on Sunday, but you’re determined to risk everything I have given you for a stupid pipedream. I suppose I earned that, so…if I can’t stop you, I wish you all the best. Studying the history of the Queen of the Ring matches, looking for an edge…looking to the past in order to prepare yourself mentally to take advantage where your body may not, well…I admire that. You’ve seen what has made winners and what has made losers. It is madness to think that training alone would be enough or that individual ‘research’ on opponents would gain you a critical advantage that would push you through to the end…it is the long game that counts. The woman that can think and act three and four steps ahead would have the edge.
…maybe I’m wrong and that actually is you…
Good luck Kenzi…I hope that you go to Las Vegas and you do something special…especially since this marriage to Sarah is not going to go down like you think it will. I am apologizing in advance for what is going to happen. I don’t want to spoil your happy day…I really don’t want to, but I know that Sarah is all wrong for you. Yes, because she’s a woman, but mostly because you are my daughter and I know what is best for you! She is fighting for her father's legacy...not even her own! She will destroy herself and you will be a casualty of that self-destruction. I would save you that pain...even I couldn't save you from the pain I caused.
You know, it is fitting that the Queen of the Ring is in Las Vegas…seeing as how you have such an affinity for the place and all of the things that they offer. Maybe you’ll see some familiar faces there…you never know!
They say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas; we will see just how true that actually is...
“Those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it! I have learned a lot about history over the last three weeks…I have learned from the history of LAW, and more importantly, I have learned from my own history in this company. I have a colorful past here, a place that I have made my home for the past two years. I have bled out, been booed out, been cussed out, and been knocked out in every way imaginable. I have endured loss and I have endured humiliation the likes of which no one else has. Though it all, I have come through it stronger and more determined to finally realize the potential that only I have seen inside myself since the day I joined I signed my contract then promptly lost my first professional match in seven seconds flat.”
“I want to say that I have come a long way. I feel like I have. With three separate hardcore title reigns to my name, I should be a force to be reckoned with, yet to everyone in LAW…and most importantly to the owner, I am a worthless competitor that has never done anything of note for his company.”
“…I was angry when Lucas Dupree said those things to me…because that hurt like hell…”
“I gave so much to this company and in the end, it was reduced to me being shit…me not counting. So, I redoubled my efforts…not to prove him and the rest of LAW wrong, but to prove myself right! I endeavored to make 2017 a banner year for me, and while I didn’t get all that I wanted, I got the notice of more than enough people to earn my way into the Queen of the Ring when everyone thought I wouldn’t even qualify. Now that I am in…I am in a position to do something that only three other women have done in LAW…fight through a field of the BEST and emerge as the top of the heap! This one is even more special because it was open to the world!”
“To be the best, you have to face down and beat the best! For me, my very first match is up against a woman who is the embodiment of the best! Kit Kat…Mama Kat…I love you and I hate to have to lay hands on you, but it’s time for this Baby Bird to finally leave the nest. My mother brought up the fact that because you and I are ‘friends’ I will hesitate when it comes to fighting you…I will seize up at a critical moment because I am so blinded by the kindness you have shown me. Maybe she’s right…”
“You have been kind to me, despite your association with people who hated my guts simply because someone told them to do so. You never towed that line and you judged the quality of my character on the real me instead of lies that were told to have people chasing after me like I was Frankenstein’s Monster! For that, I do love you…I love you. Yeah, maybe that will make me a sap when we finally face each other on Sunday. Maybe I won’t hit you as hard…maybe I won’t choke you until the blood vessels inside your eyes pop…but…I will beat you Kat…when the bell rings and the winner is announced, it will be me.”
“I am not downplaying your abilities, but I am measuring the strength of your desire against my own. You have been to the top in the tag ranks and maybe you are thinking about doing the same in singles, but it will not happen here…it will not happen at my expense! I want to be recognized the same way you have been recognized in LAW…I want to have my name written into the history books as something other than ‘that girl who feuded with the General Managers’ or ‘the LAW Heel of the Year.’ I want an accolade that I can be proud of and that no one can take away from me…I want to win this match and move on to the next level and show everyone that I have worth…I have value…and I am an important part of this company!”
“When it’s over…I will not shake your hand…I will hug you and I will kiss you on your cheek and I’ll wish you well as you seek out your fortune after QOTR is over. I hope that you will hug and kiss me back. I hope that you will wish me well…but even if you don’t, I will still move on in your place and I will dominate whomever is unlucky enough to make it to the next round.”
“Will that be you Abby Addiction? I already told you, you’re not my pick…but that won’t stop me from taking you apart if you find a way to drop Gabby. I have no illusions about you or what you can do. Maybe in LAW you haven’t lived up to your potential, but your pedigree speaks volumes. Hell! I remember it like it was yesterday, you dropped some of the sickest teasers that I have ever seen! I thought that whomever was coming was going to run this place with an iron fist and leave no one standing in her way. Well…that didn’t pan out because of personal reasons, and I get that, but just like I told Kat…the 2017 QOTR isn’t where you make your mark…it’s where I make mines!”
“Maybe you heard all the rumors about me…how terrible I am or how crazy I might be. Well, I hope that you take them to heart and I hope that they give you pause if you are the one that meets me in the finals for our bracket. I got a small taste of what you can do in the rumble…and quite frankly, I will take any edge that I can get! I know you have the will and the determination to be one of the best in LAW…but Sunday night is my night to be the best…Sunday night is my night to cut yours short and send you back to the locker room to watch me win it all!”
“…it will be awkward for you standing back there beside Gabby…unless she’s the one to end your night early instead…
“Gabby Camacho…the chick who has never had a kind word to say about me, even when I fought her tooth and nail and never once tried anything underhanded. I thought that maybe even in a losing effort, I would at least not still be complete shit in your eyes, but hey…why would I be anything to you, since...as you say...you are LAW?”
“I want this Gabby…and I couldn’t have scripted it any better if I tried! I want to advance to the finals of the Queen of the Ring and I want to do it by beating the fucking dog shit out of you! It’s not because I hate you…which I do…but that’s not why I want to advance against you. You represent the aloof nature of LAW. I see in you the indifference of this company to everything that I bring to the table. Lucas made it perfectly clear to me that he doesn’t value me or what I do for LAW, he sees me through your eyes as nothing but a roster space that he must begrudgingly hand over to fill a hole in the card. Well…that is not the way that I see myself! I am not a ‘hole filler’ I am a woman with a name that has value! I am a woman with a future in this business because I bust my ass harder than anyone else on the roster…ESPECIALLY YOU!”
“This bracket belongs to me…I OWN IT! The fact that you are in it only makes my eventual victory taste that much sweeter! But don’t go getting a bloated head, because like I said, I am in the toughest bracket that there has ever been in the history of the QOTR! There is not a single person that I might face who is not of some epic championship caliber. I am in the Murderer’s Row of this tournament…and you know what? I would not have it any other way! What could be sweeter than fighting two times harder than anyone on the B Side…then getting to the finals and going toe to toe with someone who just isn’t ready for someone who had fought through the flames of war and come out forged harder than they can ever imagine?”
“Bring on the masked hero from Mexico, La Estrella and her disrespect dipped in honey and served up to the masses as the truth. I told her before the rumble that I wasn’t buying her crap and I still ain’t! I don’t need her ‘made up’ respect, all I need is for her to do what she did before, fight her best and come up short! I will give her respect when she actual does something to earn it…but she won’t earn it in the finals…she will never earn it against me! I know her true face, and not just the one she hides behind a mask! She represents the new breed that pretends to be one thing when they are really another! Well, I am the same person you see on your television every week or on the movie screen from time to time. I don’t need to put on a fake persona and hand out fake respect! I know what I want and that is to be the Queen of the Ring…not the Queen of Lies!”
“…but that is enough about you because if your journey doesn’t end at the hands of Stacy Jones, it will surely end at the hands of a woman who was born a Princess and became a Queen…”
“As for Stacy Jones, the woman who claims to be unbreakable, yet apparently is not unshakable…I can say this sincerely; congratulations on winning the Battle Royal since you won’t be winning the war! It was great that you ran into LAW with a made up chip on your shoulder to get you a few cheap pops as you made me out to the Big Bad Wolf behind some horseshit that was made up to begin with. You got your 15 minutes of fame and that’s a hell of a lot more than you deserved in my opinion.”
“I guess that I am supposed to care about your relationship with Jamilyn, but I really don’t. I have an okay relationship with her…but that is business that is between the two of us; and A and B conversation at best, so you can C your way out of it! Focus on the present and not a history that doesn’t concern you! Try and try your best to get past the Queen of Lies…then you can get put down by the woman who will be my wife by then. After the Queen of the Ring is over…if you are still feeling froggy, you can jump in my direction…I hide from no one…believe that!”
“Speaking of hiding, where in the hell is Kate Steele?! Did she run off again like she ran off on me after we had a free run at the LAW Tag Team Titles? All she could say is how she desperately wanted that Triple Crown…she wanted to be the first and it was her destiny. The next thing I know, I’m her destiny and she isn’t concerned with winning anymore. Well Kate…stay unconcerned because after what you did…the first round of the QOTR might not only be your exit from the tournament…it might be your exit from the sport!”
“Yes…I am putting my money on the woman that I am going to marry the night before the show; Sarah Selena Lacklan. Because I am bias? Of course I am bias, but I am also an eyewitness to her grit and determination. I have seen her fight the world and I have seen her fire and passion. I have not felt it for myself…but nothing would give me more pleasure than to be the one standing across the ring from her at the end of the night as the finals loom large.”
“She asked me if I would fight her with all my heart…all my strength…all my courage. She asked that I not dishonor her by giving anything less than 100% when we finally meet. I cannot lie to you…I have struggled with the thought of what will happen on Sunday night when and if we come to blows. Can I attack the woman with vicious intent who lifted me up when I was at my lowest? Can I stomp the body of the woman I love when she is down and struggling to continue a fight that she wants to win just as badly as I do?”
“Time will have to tell on Sunday night in Las Vegas when all of the shit talking is done and then it’s time to put up or shut up! My vision is clear…and it has never been clearer! Kit Kat…you have to go down, that is just the way that it goes. Abby…Gabby, one of you will be in my path, and I cannot abide that if I want the opportunity to face my wife and take the thing that will finally make me whole!”
“August 27 is just around the bend…and once I turn that corner, anyone in my path is going to be shoved aside, beat up, or run over! I didn’t come all this way to go home early…I didn’t come all this way to prove you right! I didn’t come here just to challenge to be a Queen…I came here to become one!”