Post by Moira Arches on Jun 4, 2021 5:29:13 GMT
'Brick by Brick'
***
A video begins to play, but the screen stays black. A faint sound, unintelligible, can be heard in the background. The sound slowly grows into something more recognizable. It is the familiar sounds of a professional wrestling match; a hot crowd, announcers with immense excitement oozing from their voices, and the painful sounds of action in the ring. A broken, static distorted black and white image fades into view now. It is a still shot of a man holding up a championship belt, while standing over the body of another. Few people may recognize any of the action, the wrestlers, or anything else but that does not matter.
***
A video begins to play, but the screen stays black. A faint sound, unintelligible, can be heard in the background. The sound slowly grows into something more recognizable. It is the familiar sounds of a professional wrestling match; a hot crowd, announcers with immense excitement oozing from their voices, and the painful sounds of action in the ring. A broken, static distorted black and white image fades into view now. It is a still shot of a man holding up a championship belt, while standing over the body of another. Few people may recognize any of the action, the wrestlers, or anything else but that does not matter.
Unnamed Color Commentator: “HE'S GOING UP TO THE TOP ROPE... zzztt DOESN'T USUALLY GET AIR...BUT TONIGHT...HE MAY!! HE'S WAITING FOR zzztt TO GET UP...zzztt PULLS HIMSELF UP...zzztt COMES OFF...FLYING CLOTHESLINE...BUT zzztt MOVES AND NICK HITS THE MAT!!! WITH A THUD!”
Unnamed Play by Play: “zzzttt goes over to zzztt...and pulls him up...kick to the stomach....he hits the ropes...ROCKER DROPPER! zzztt turns him over and covers him...ONE...TWO...KICKOUT!”
Color Commentator: “NO!! NOT YET! zzztt pulls him up and sends him into the ropes...zzztt CATCHES HIM IN A SLEEPERHOLD!! SLEEPER!! SLEEPER!!”
Play by Play: “zzztt MOVES TOWARDS THE CORNER...DROPS DOWN AND zzztt HEAD HITS THE TURNBUCKLE...BUT HE SNAPS BACK AND THIER HEADS COLLIDE!! zzztt REGAINS HIS COMPOSURE THOUGH...HE SPINS zzztt AROUND...HE GOES FOR THE HART ATTACK!”
Color Commentator: “zzztt COUNTERS....BUT zzztt RE-COUNTERS!! HE GOES FOR A BELLY TO BACK SUPLEX...zzztt FLIPS OVER...SPINS zzztt AROUND AND EXECUTES AND NAILS HIM WITH THE FUCKING HIGHROAD!!”
Play by Play: “NO!! NO!! NO!! zzztt covers....HOOKING THE LEG...ONE...TWO....THREE!! NO!! NO!! NO!!”
Unnamed Ring Announcer: “Here is your winner...and NEW zzztt WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION..."The Epitome…”
The voice trails off as the image and the sounds of the past fade back into the darkness. Another picture comes into view, this time of the same two men from the first photo holding each other’s arms in the air while simultaneously holding a pair of titles up.
Color Commentator: “zzztt misses a clothesline...and zzztt hits the HIGHROAD! DANG! He goes over...is crawling over...to try to make the tag....to...zzztt...zzztt...and...he...DOES!”
Play by Play: “zzztt comes in like a house of fire! He nails zzztt! He nails zzztt! zzztt makes the tag to zzztt! zzztt comes in and zzztt just kicked him...and EXECUTED THE HART ATTACK! The ref counts...one...zzztt slides into the ring...Two...HE JUST BRAINED THE REF WITH THE TV TITLE BELT!”
Color Commentator: “zzztt comes in...and zzztt NAILS HIM! zzztt is up...and zzztt grabs ahold of him. zzztt lines up...SUPERKICK...BUT zzztt DUCKS AND THE KICK LANDED INTO zzztt FACE! Zzztt picks zzztt up...sideslam! He turns his attention to zzztt...HART ATTACK! Cover...one...two...THREE!”
Ring Announcer: “Here are your winners and STILL zzztt World Tag Team Champions...The Canadian Elite!”
That image too fades away, as the sound of the roaring crowd follows it into shadows of the past once more. A final picture slowly replaces the last. This time, it is the same man as before standing with his forehead pressed against that of a woman, as the two of them look down upon the newborn child she is holding in her arms.
Unnamed Man: “I know this isn’t the kind of thing I usually ask you here to come film, but zzztt and I would like to make an official announcement to the entire zzztt wrestling community. We are now the proud parents of a beautiful little lady!”
Unnamed Woman: “Though you haven’t seen me around much, I want to thank each and every one of our fans who wrote me letters and emails, and I just want to say how proud I am of my husband and how much we appreciate all that the zzztt has done for us both.”
Man: “I may not have always been your favorite, but I know that a lot of you can appreciate what I do in the ring and the kind of dedication I’ve put into this company. I have given it my blood, energy, sweat, and tears and would do so again. I’m going to make sure this baby girl gets all of that and more!”
The final image fades away, just like all the others. A distant memory of a long forget past. It once again becomes part of a world that seems to almost to have never existed at all. A hollow hall of faded glory and pain and legacy and companionship. But memories are forever lasting if there is someone left to…remember.
The scene fades back into focus once again, this time on an actual video rather than a photo. It is of a young woman with light brown hair, wearing your standard yoga-style workout clothes, sitting on the edge of the apron of a wrestling ring with one leg pulled up and her arms resting on that knee. The room, a small gym, is lit up by only a small number of hanging bulbs and seems to only be occupied by the woman in view. She slightly tilts her head and eyes upwards, so that she is looking into the phone camera.
Moira Arches: “They say it’s often hard for someone to let go of the past. But what is a person to do who went so far out of their way to avoid it? My name is Moira Arches. You don’t know me, but you will. My father was a wrestler, my mother was his manager. Her brother was a wrestler. I was born into wrestling. It was all around me and I couldn’t escape it. I was never just Little Mo, the girl who loved collecting bugs and rolling around in tumbling class. No, I was always Moira Arches, daughter of RWF Grand Slam Champion Mike Angelo, or you might know him as Michael Arches the famous “Down and About” actor from the soaps. Or I was known as Moira Arches, the niece of the biggest young star in the RWF, The New Prodigy Riley Andrews. I was never anything but a part…albeit a small one, of wrestling.”
She turns her body more towards the camera, putting her leg down and pushing back her hair with one hand. She takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh before continuing.
Moira Arches: “I ran away from that for a long time. I didn’t want to just be remembered for things my family had done. I wanted to make a name for myself, even at a young age. I thought I could do that by focusing all the frustration and sadness of missing out of so much time with my parents on becoming a great gymnast. But I allowed those dark thoughts to get in the way of so much. I could never truly be myself while at the same time running away from so much.”
She takes a moment to pause, as the emotions begin to course through her body. Her eyes drift away from the camera and to someplace out of frame. But she centers herself with another deep breath.
Moira Arches: “Look, we all have things we regret. Either things that we did or didn’t do. I have a lot of both. But I made a choice a couple of years ago to right those wrongs. I embraced the blood that flows through my veins. I made amends with the demons that haunted my childhood. I made a bond with my family and with myself. I was born to be a part of this business, of this passion project we know and love. Wrestling was always a part of me, no matter how I tried to run from it. And now, it’s the only part of me that matters.”
Moira slides down off the apron and lands on her feet, before taking a couple of small steps towards the camera.
Moira Arches: “There is a path, a legacy, that was paved before I embarked on this journey of my own. I will walk that path, through whatever hardship that comes before me, and come out on the other side having lain down my own contributions in the name of the legacy I was born into. I’m not asking for any special favors, and I don’t expect any. I will do this the right way. My time in the IIW may just be beginning, but my journey here, my road to the top, will be carved out soon enough. Perhaps its my destiny. Or perhaps a dynasty in the making.”
With those final words, she hits the stop record button and the scene fades into darkness for the last time.
***