Post by Samantha Tolson on Feb 19, 2018 0:50:28 GMT -5
Samantha Tolson sits inside a locker room in Portland, Oregon, just a few moments away from defending the Rose City Wrestling World Championship, also known as the Queen of Roses Championship. She's in gear befitting the particular company, red, with blue and white trim, and a black #TeamSuplex sweatshirt on over top. She notices a camera man standing in her locker room, and looks a bit upset.
"And who the fuck just let you in here? I asked for no visitors with a very few exceptions, and not a fucking one of them included some doofus with a fucking camera."
A voice comes from behind the camera, shaky at best. "I umm...well, Miss Tolson...umm...LAW sent me...asked me to capture any comments you might have for Miss Camacho."
Samantha sighed heavily. "You do realize that in mere moments, I'm about to step out into the ring and defend my current championship right? That I have, at this moment, a bigger fish to fry than Gabby Camacho?"
"I'm...umm...I'm sorry Miss. I'm just...you know...doing my job."
"Is it your job to break the concentration of someone about to step in the ring with four of the most dangerous women in all of wrestling?"
"I uhh...no...I mean...umm...yeah...umm...no....hell, I dunno, Miss Tolson. All I know is Lucas Dupree called me earlier today and asked me to meet with you here at this arena and get your thoughts."
Samantha studied the man with the camera. He wasn't large, by any stretch. A bit of a bean pole, if the truth were told, a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses on his sweating face, all topped by a ragged mop of black hair. Samantha stood, and in reaction, the camera man took a step backward. "Relax, kid. If I'd have wanted to bust you in the face, it would have been done by now. So lemme sit back down, and I'll give you some footage."
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It had been a beautiful day in Portland, Oregon, as Samantha had woken up in a hotel room, her body intertwined with her fiancee's. Katie stroked Samantha's face softly, grinning as she watched Samantha sleep. A few strokes later, Samantha groggily opened her eyes, grinning back at the love of her life. "Morning beautiful."
Katie beamed as Samantha's eyes opened. "Morning, love."
Samantha pulled Katie even closer, kissing her softly. "Mmm...this is a heck of a way to start the day, isn't it?"
"It is at that." Katie nestled her own body even closer as well, kissing her fiancee back. "Think we could just stay here all day long, until it's time to go to the show?"
Samantha grinned, pushing some hair away from Katie's face. "I wish we could. But, we probably should eat, and then we have the fan event we agreed to hold at the arena later this afternoon."
Katie sighed heavily. "I love moments like this, though."
Samantha kissed her again, softly, but at length. "I do too. These moments are how we stay connected, and I treasure them highly. We don't always get to do this with our schedules. But, if you're OK with it...I think we could probably at least cuddle the morning away."
Katie smiled softly, her lips curling up at the corners in that way that made Samantha's heart skip a beat. "We do need some food, and also, we need to do that event....but I do like your idea for the rest of the morning."
Samantha smiled, then laid her forehead against Katie's. "I am so ready to marry you. I love you so very much, Katie, and I can't wait to be your wife."
Katie nuzzled her nose against Samantha's. "And I can't wait to be yours. You are my rock, Sam, and I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone."
Samantha blushed a deep, deep shade of crimson, kissing Katie once quickly on the lips. "Then let me just lie here like a rock for a little longer, and you can hold onto me, and I onto you, and we can let the outside world face away for the rest of the morning."
Katie giggled softly. "OK then...as you wish." Katie slowly kissed Samantha, both women closing their eyes and enjoying the simplicity of being able to simply be as they kissed and cuddled the rest of the Portland morning away.
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Samantha looked at the camera man. "That thing recording?"
The young man stammered once again. "I...umm..." He took the camera off his shoulder, looking for the red light that would tell him he was in fact, recording, and it was on. "...yeah. Whenever you're ready."
Samantha took a deep breath, looking down for a moment, then up into the camera.
"Pay close attention Gabby. Pay real close attention to everything I'm about to tell you, because every last word of it is true."
"Nearly thirteen months ago, you and I faced off for the first time in the ring, and while I pushed you, and I pushed you hard, you won that match. On that night, you were the better woman. No excuses, no bullshit."
"Now, let's fast forward to LAW 75, shall we?"
"I didn't beat you....but something very, very important happened that night, didn't it?"
"I showed you exactly how far I've come in that year or so. Because you couldn't beat me, either."
"A week ago, at LAW 76, you threw down the gauntlet once again, thinking that I couldn't stand toe to toe with you one more time, yet one more time, I stepped into the ring and proved you wrong once again."
"Notice a pattern here, Gabby?"
"I'm getting better by the moment, by the match. Regardless of where it is, I'm getting better, and I'm changing."
"I saw your blog. I saw all your cute little predictable comments. You know, those very same comments everyone else likes to throw around? The ones that, by this point, have become more of an albatross around the necks of my opponents than my own. The comments like 'Oh! Sam doesn't take responsibility for her losses!' or 'Oh! Sam is so salty and miserable!' or, my own personal favorite, 'Oh! Look at Sam trying to run with the big dogs!'"
Samantha visibly bristled at that last one, a comment taken directly from the LAW Champion herself.
"See, this is the Gabriella Camacho we've all come to know, isn't it? The one who feigns such respect for her opponents, the one who thinks she's such a role model and a spokesperson for the sport of wrestling, yet when the cards are all laid on the table and the pressure's on, she resorts to type, belittling her opponent's each and every accomplishment because she, herself, never did it."
"Mock the fact that, unlike you, I held three championships at once. Mock the fact that, unlike you, I have the guts and the courage to travel the world and fight anyone anywhere, male or female. Mock the fact that while you were barely able to concentrate on the precious few wrestling matches you had in LAW, a company that willingly and mind-bogglingly coddles you, caters to you, and answers to your every whim, I went out over those thirteen months since our first meeting and captured not one..."
"...not two..."
"...but THREE, Gabby....THREE World Championships. Or, to put it in terms you can understand...what it took you a full career to do here in LAW, I did in the course of a year."
"And girl, let me tell you, I didn't do it in a company that coddled me, that allowed me to hold their championships as a part-timer. No, I did it the hard way. I defended one championship four times in the space of six weeks on a weakened knee joint that would have laid you up. I defended another in a place that was so poorly mismanaged that when contract negotiation time came back up, they lowballed the only person who had ever won any title twice in the company."
"I begged, Gabby...BEGGED...for more chances to defend the LAW Chaos Championship. I was denied. Angelica Vaughan, you know, the supposed future of this sport that just ran from LAW like a scalded dog because she couldn't take it here, REFUSED a shot at the Chaos Championship."
"Ask yourself why, Gabby. Why would she turn down a title shot?"
"Because of the woman holding the title. She knew. She knew that in that environment, she was overmatched and outgunned, something I proved to her here in Portland about five weeks ago when I nearly ended her career."
"In that time, I've lost a fair few matches, this thirteen months between us. And when I've been beaten by someone who, on that night, was just simply better, they've gotten their just due and the courtesy from me they've earned. But when I've been cheated out of wins by people who knew they had no other alternative, yes, I've called them on it."
"That's not a lack of responsibility, Army brat. That's called honesty. That's called truth. That's called making sure those types of people don't forget that they needed those shortcuts to beat me, because the world knows they couldn't do it on their own."
Samantha stands up, grinning.
"Which brings me to you."
"Three weeks ago, you spouted off at the mouth the way you usually do, puffing out your own chest on your precious little blog while trying to do as much damage to my name as you could, and it got you NOWHERE."
"Pissed that you couldn't get the job done, last week you challenged me to come to the ring. Told me if all I did was survive you, I'd get a shot at your title. And not only did I survive you, kid, but I would have beaten you as well had security and Megan Helms-King not intervened."
"All the pressure here, Gabby, is on you. Not me. You."
"You're the one holding the LAW Championship."
"You're the one who, after she couldn't beat me, called me out, trying to restore some of your own shine, and then promptly failed again."
"And now you're the one who will walk into Rising Stars the favorite, the one expected to win our match."
"But you see, Gabriella, things are far different now. You've learned this firsthand."
"Maybe at one point, I was that girl you accuse me of being, the one with her head in the clouds, needing knocked down a peg or two, brought back to earth."
"That's not me anymore. No, I'm fully aware of exactly what I am capable of inside the ring. I also know that when it came right down to it, you've had two chances in the last three weeks to get me out of your way. And you have failed to do so spectacularly."
"Come Rising Stars, Gabby, I'm going to show you the hard way that the Samantha you once thought you knew is dead, and the Samantha you've faced, the one you've called out and failed to beat, is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg."
"You don't think I can even beat you once, let alone twice in the same night?"
"Remember, Gabby....when the lights are hot, and the pressure is on....you can't beat me once anymore."
"But believe me when I tell you that there's so far more in store for you than what you've seen these last few weeks. Far more than your mind can comprehend."
"Rising Stars 2018. I can think of no better event on the LAW calendar to make a definitive statement. One that will be made by me beating you not just once, but twice."
"After next Sunday, Gabby, there will be no more doubt for you. You'll know who the better woman is."
"Because she's going to be standing over top of you, holding the LAW Championship high in the air."
"Now...camera guy...get out of here before I throw you out. I have a match to re-focus on now thanks to you."
The camera guy quickly turns off the camera and scurries out of the locker room, while Samantha sits back down, puts on her headphones, and closes her eyes to prepare for the task at hand.
"And who the fuck just let you in here? I asked for no visitors with a very few exceptions, and not a fucking one of them included some doofus with a fucking camera."
A voice comes from behind the camera, shaky at best. "I umm...well, Miss Tolson...umm...LAW sent me...asked me to capture any comments you might have for Miss Camacho."
Samantha sighed heavily. "You do realize that in mere moments, I'm about to step out into the ring and defend my current championship right? That I have, at this moment, a bigger fish to fry than Gabby Camacho?"
"I'm...umm...I'm sorry Miss. I'm just...you know...doing my job."
"Is it your job to break the concentration of someone about to step in the ring with four of the most dangerous women in all of wrestling?"
"I uhh...no...I mean...umm...yeah...umm...no....hell, I dunno, Miss Tolson. All I know is Lucas Dupree called me earlier today and asked me to meet with you here at this arena and get your thoughts."
Samantha studied the man with the camera. He wasn't large, by any stretch. A bit of a bean pole, if the truth were told, a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses on his sweating face, all topped by a ragged mop of black hair. Samantha stood, and in reaction, the camera man took a step backward. "Relax, kid. If I'd have wanted to bust you in the face, it would have been done by now. So lemme sit back down, and I'll give you some footage."
-------------------------------
It had been a beautiful day in Portland, Oregon, as Samantha had woken up in a hotel room, her body intertwined with her fiancee's. Katie stroked Samantha's face softly, grinning as she watched Samantha sleep. A few strokes later, Samantha groggily opened her eyes, grinning back at the love of her life. "Morning beautiful."
Katie beamed as Samantha's eyes opened. "Morning, love."
Samantha pulled Katie even closer, kissing her softly. "Mmm...this is a heck of a way to start the day, isn't it?"
"It is at that." Katie nestled her own body even closer as well, kissing her fiancee back. "Think we could just stay here all day long, until it's time to go to the show?"
Samantha grinned, pushing some hair away from Katie's face. "I wish we could. But, we probably should eat, and then we have the fan event we agreed to hold at the arena later this afternoon."
Katie sighed heavily. "I love moments like this, though."
Samantha kissed her again, softly, but at length. "I do too. These moments are how we stay connected, and I treasure them highly. We don't always get to do this with our schedules. But, if you're OK with it...I think we could probably at least cuddle the morning away."
Katie smiled softly, her lips curling up at the corners in that way that made Samantha's heart skip a beat. "We do need some food, and also, we need to do that event....but I do like your idea for the rest of the morning."
Samantha smiled, then laid her forehead against Katie's. "I am so ready to marry you. I love you so very much, Katie, and I can't wait to be your wife."
Katie nuzzled her nose against Samantha's. "And I can't wait to be yours. You are my rock, Sam, and I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone."
Samantha blushed a deep, deep shade of crimson, kissing Katie once quickly on the lips. "Then let me just lie here like a rock for a little longer, and you can hold onto me, and I onto you, and we can let the outside world face away for the rest of the morning."
Katie giggled softly. "OK then...as you wish." Katie slowly kissed Samantha, both women closing their eyes and enjoying the simplicity of being able to simply be as they kissed and cuddled the rest of the Portland morning away.
------------------------------
Samantha looked at the camera man. "That thing recording?"
The young man stammered once again. "I...umm..." He took the camera off his shoulder, looking for the red light that would tell him he was in fact, recording, and it was on. "...yeah. Whenever you're ready."
Samantha took a deep breath, looking down for a moment, then up into the camera.
"Pay close attention Gabby. Pay real close attention to everything I'm about to tell you, because every last word of it is true."
"Nearly thirteen months ago, you and I faced off for the first time in the ring, and while I pushed you, and I pushed you hard, you won that match. On that night, you were the better woman. No excuses, no bullshit."
"Now, let's fast forward to LAW 75, shall we?"
"I didn't beat you....but something very, very important happened that night, didn't it?"
"I showed you exactly how far I've come in that year or so. Because you couldn't beat me, either."
"A week ago, at LAW 76, you threw down the gauntlet once again, thinking that I couldn't stand toe to toe with you one more time, yet one more time, I stepped into the ring and proved you wrong once again."
"Notice a pattern here, Gabby?"
"I'm getting better by the moment, by the match. Regardless of where it is, I'm getting better, and I'm changing."
"I saw your blog. I saw all your cute little predictable comments. You know, those very same comments everyone else likes to throw around? The ones that, by this point, have become more of an albatross around the necks of my opponents than my own. The comments like 'Oh! Sam doesn't take responsibility for her losses!' or 'Oh! Sam is so salty and miserable!' or, my own personal favorite, 'Oh! Look at Sam trying to run with the big dogs!'"
Samantha visibly bristled at that last one, a comment taken directly from the LAW Champion herself.
"See, this is the Gabriella Camacho we've all come to know, isn't it? The one who feigns such respect for her opponents, the one who thinks she's such a role model and a spokesperson for the sport of wrestling, yet when the cards are all laid on the table and the pressure's on, she resorts to type, belittling her opponent's each and every accomplishment because she, herself, never did it."
"Mock the fact that, unlike you, I held three championships at once. Mock the fact that, unlike you, I have the guts and the courage to travel the world and fight anyone anywhere, male or female. Mock the fact that while you were barely able to concentrate on the precious few wrestling matches you had in LAW, a company that willingly and mind-bogglingly coddles you, caters to you, and answers to your every whim, I went out over those thirteen months since our first meeting and captured not one..."
"...not two..."
"...but THREE, Gabby....THREE World Championships. Or, to put it in terms you can understand...what it took you a full career to do here in LAW, I did in the course of a year."
"And girl, let me tell you, I didn't do it in a company that coddled me, that allowed me to hold their championships as a part-timer. No, I did it the hard way. I defended one championship four times in the space of six weeks on a weakened knee joint that would have laid you up. I defended another in a place that was so poorly mismanaged that when contract negotiation time came back up, they lowballed the only person who had ever won any title twice in the company."
"I begged, Gabby...BEGGED...for more chances to defend the LAW Chaos Championship. I was denied. Angelica Vaughan, you know, the supposed future of this sport that just ran from LAW like a scalded dog because she couldn't take it here, REFUSED a shot at the Chaos Championship."
"Ask yourself why, Gabby. Why would she turn down a title shot?"
"Because of the woman holding the title. She knew. She knew that in that environment, she was overmatched and outgunned, something I proved to her here in Portland about five weeks ago when I nearly ended her career."
"In that time, I've lost a fair few matches, this thirteen months between us. And when I've been beaten by someone who, on that night, was just simply better, they've gotten their just due and the courtesy from me they've earned. But when I've been cheated out of wins by people who knew they had no other alternative, yes, I've called them on it."
"That's not a lack of responsibility, Army brat. That's called honesty. That's called truth. That's called making sure those types of people don't forget that they needed those shortcuts to beat me, because the world knows they couldn't do it on their own."
Samantha stands up, grinning.
"Which brings me to you."
"Three weeks ago, you spouted off at the mouth the way you usually do, puffing out your own chest on your precious little blog while trying to do as much damage to my name as you could, and it got you NOWHERE."
"Pissed that you couldn't get the job done, last week you challenged me to come to the ring. Told me if all I did was survive you, I'd get a shot at your title. And not only did I survive you, kid, but I would have beaten you as well had security and Megan Helms-King not intervened."
"All the pressure here, Gabby, is on you. Not me. You."
"You're the one holding the LAW Championship."
"You're the one who, after she couldn't beat me, called me out, trying to restore some of your own shine, and then promptly failed again."
"And now you're the one who will walk into Rising Stars the favorite, the one expected to win our match."
"But you see, Gabriella, things are far different now. You've learned this firsthand."
"Maybe at one point, I was that girl you accuse me of being, the one with her head in the clouds, needing knocked down a peg or two, brought back to earth."
"That's not me anymore. No, I'm fully aware of exactly what I am capable of inside the ring. I also know that when it came right down to it, you've had two chances in the last three weeks to get me out of your way. And you have failed to do so spectacularly."
"Come Rising Stars, Gabby, I'm going to show you the hard way that the Samantha you once thought you knew is dead, and the Samantha you've faced, the one you've called out and failed to beat, is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg."
"You don't think I can even beat you once, let alone twice in the same night?"
"Remember, Gabby....when the lights are hot, and the pressure is on....you can't beat me once anymore."
"But believe me when I tell you that there's so far more in store for you than what you've seen these last few weeks. Far more than your mind can comprehend."
"Rising Stars 2018. I can think of no better event on the LAW calendar to make a definitive statement. One that will be made by me beating you not just once, but twice."
"After next Sunday, Gabby, there will be no more doubt for you. You'll know who the better woman is."
"Because she's going to be standing over top of you, holding the LAW Championship high in the air."
"Now...camera guy...get out of here before I throw you out. I have a match to re-focus on now thanks to you."
The camera guy quickly turns off the camera and scurries out of the locker room, while Samantha sits back down, puts on her headphones, and closes her eyes to prepare for the task at hand.