Post by gvb on Jan 2, 2023 6:14:09 GMT -6
“What’s better than some wrestling to start the new year?”
She thought her uncle was joking, she hoped he was. Maybe he just got one too many glasses of wine at dinner, maybe he was teasing her. But Robb Hardy was not known for his sense of humor, less so when it comes to wrestling.
He really dragged her out of bed at five-thirty in the morning of the first day of 2023 and took her to Nightfall. And of course, he decided they had to jog their way to the gym. “Consider it your warm-up.” He said as they entered the park because, that goes without saying, he had to take the long way to get there.
Even at this ungodly hour the streets of Vegas were bustling with people staggering their way home after a night of celebrations and revelry. One year ago, she was one of them, returning home when the sun already rose after ringing in the new year with her Phoenix friends. To say that she missed it would be incorrect, but the little sleep she had, the early start of what promised to be a long day, the fatigue accumulated in these few days of training and the understandable struggles she met when she tried to do what only one year ago came natural to her, made her question if she was doing the right thing.
She was excited, at first. That Empire Pro show and the tales her cousin told her about his experience in the UK rekindled the passion for this sport she thought she buried forever one year and half ago. But shaking off that ring rust was harder than she thought it would be, physically and mentally draining. For someone who was basically born into a gym, who started training at a very young age and learned how to correctly apply a headlock before she learned the multiplication tables, for someone who at the age of sixteen wrestled like an experienced veteran, nothing was more frustrating than not being able to perform like she used to.
And with the struggles came doubts, slithering like a snake through the folds of her mind and poisoning her confidence and self esteem. Was wrestling truly her destiny, like her uncle kept saying? Was she making a mistake? Did she really want this?
She had a good thing going with music, her band was starting to make a name for themselves. And while these two passions weren’t mutually exclusive, while she could easily juggle between training in Vegas and playing with Severed Wings in Phoenix on the weekends (although not ideal, Zoom call rehearsals proved to be feasible during Lockdown), maybe she should focus entirely on that, giving up her childhood dream, her family business once and for all.
They had been going back and forth for almost an hour now, and God only knew how long her uncle would keep going. They had Nightfall completely for them today, because even though the Grind never stops in the gym owned and founded by Chris Night, it can still take half a day off on the morning of the first day of the year.
That obviously didn’t apply for Alice, stuck in a ring with her uncle. It wasn’t a match, more like long sequences with short breaks in between every time one of them put the opponent down for a pinfall or a submission. Needless to say, the young girl had been on the back foot for most of it. Robb Hardy may have not been an active competitor in a few years, but surely he showed today that he could still go. And that bridging German suplex he surprised his niece with was perfectly executed.
“Damnit!” Alice blurted out, slamming her hand on the canvas. She was growing more and more frustrated with every passing minute, unable to wrap her head around it. Her uncle was always one step ahead of her, and that was likely her own fault. Her offense was too basic and predictable, and the few times when she dared try something different, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was like she was experiencing a communication breakdown between her mind and body. She could see the openings in Robb’s guard, she could sense what his next attack would be, but somehow there was a gap between then and the moment her muscles set in motion to actually perform that action. A slight hesitation that, nine out of ten times, resulted in a striking failure of her intentions.
She welcomed this break, although it came after she succumbed to another fall and left her with that bitter aftertaste of failure and defeat in her mouth. Sitting on the canvas, she looked up at her uncle, almost begging him to call the training session off. Her breathing was labored, her muscles sore and burning, especially the leg ones. She used the back of her hand to move the green and blue locks glued to her forehead, wiping away some of the sweat that was dripping down her face.
“You’re almost there, kiddo. We awakened your wrestling brain, now you need to get your body to follow it.” He said, offering her his hand to bring her back to her feet for another round.
Alice sighed, looking at Robb’s strong hand. “Yeah, I don’t see that happening right now, uncle . I need a break.” She confessed, shaking her head. Alice loved him, she really did. He was the reason why she was even here in the first place, he was the one who lit up this spark in her. And she definitely appreciated him pushing her to her limits and beyond, well aware that his tough training was coming from a place of love. But she couldn’t take it anymore.
“We will rest when you’ll get one over on me.” He bluntly said as he reached down and yanked her to her feet. Alice rolled her eyes, forcing herself to yet another round. She circled around Robb, testing the waters with a couple of kicks to the thigh. She lured him in with a third one, stopping before connecting with her foot against his muscular leg. That feint kick was enough to make Robb move in an attempt to catch her leg, thus leaving his right side exposed. Alice swung her left leg aiming at his head, but once again her execution was too slow and Hardy managed to duck the kick, watching his niece spin around and going out of balance. He wrapped his arms around her waist but this time she was able to put her weight down, blocking the suplex attempt. She managed to loosen the grasp with a couple of back elbows to the face and sprinted forward toward the ropes, finally getting away from the waist lock. Instinctively, Hardy followed her, trying to catch her once again and retake control but his niece was too fast. She stepped on the middle rope and ricocheted backward, spreading her legs as she leaped over Robb’s head. Before he could realize what happened and turned around, she had already landed on the canvas and jumped right back off, catching him with a backstabber. The angle of the impact caused Robb to fall forward rather than bounce off her knees, and she quickly put him in a dragon sleeper. Hardy quickly tapped out, but he had a smile on his face when she let go. “Well done, Alice.” He said proudly, looking at his niece.
“That was impressive indeed.” A second male voice came, one she didn’t recognize. Turning around, she saw a good-looking man stepping out of the semi-darkness, dressed in an elegant suit. He looked slightly familiar, but Alice couldn’t figure out where she already saw him.
“Alice, you already met Gianluigi, right? He’s the principal of MWE’s Academy, you probably remember him from when he came here two years ago to scout Faith and Chris’ nephew, JJ.” That was it, all of a sudden she remembered. Despite her rivalry with Faith, stemming mostly from the young Savell’s reluctance to accept to share the spotlights and the moniker of Nightfall’s Hottest Prospect with the younger Alice, she was legitimately happy to see her join the Academy, and secretly hopes she could make the cut and follow in her footsteps.
“What you may not know, Alice, is that I wanted to recruit you too.” The Italian man added as he walked closer to the ring. Hearing those words, Alice’s heart sank a little bit. It’s impossible today to tell how her life would have changed if she went to Chicago that day of September, if she would have reacted the same way to what happened a few months later to her father, or if being in that environment would have helped her cope better with the fallout.
“T-then why…?” She asked with a trembling voice. Why didn't he offer her a spot? Wasn’t she good enough? Was Faith that much better than her? And JJ? That little confidence she had just rebuilt by finally getting one over her uncle was already crumbling.
Gianluigi had always been good at reading people, and he could see the change in the young woman’s demeanor. His voice assumed a soft and soothing tone, the warm smile he flashed did the rest to reassure Alice. “You were too young, it's as simple as that. I was shocked when I asked Chris and Robb why your name didn’t pop up in any of our conversations about who they suggested for The Academy, and their answer was that you didn’t meet the age requirements. As selfish as I may sound, I was disappointed too.”
“Your talent shone so bright, I dare say you were even more impressive than Faith was that day. But unfortunately the rules of The Academy were clear, you had to be at least seventeen in order to join.” Gianluigi continued. “I promised myself I would bring you here with the next class, but when I called Robb, he told me you quit wrestling. I thought it was a shame, but I can surely understand why you did. Luckily, we now have a chance to finally make it happen.”
He said those final words nonchalantly, but the implications in them didn’t get lost on Alice. He was offering her that spot she wanted so badly two years ago, but he was offering it when she didn’t feel up to the task. And it was also clear to her that the only reason why he was here on a day when Nightfall was closed to the public was because her uncle invited him. “I thought you were going to train me, uncle Robb… I thought we were going to do this together, you and I… Shit, that’s why I even agreed in the first place. If I knew you were going to drop me at the first chance you got I…”
“Calm down, Alice.” Robb cut his niece off, resting his strong hand on her shoulder. “I have a company to run now, hell, I’m barely here at the gym anymore. And Chris is still wrestling, he has enough shit on his plate already. Granted, we have a lot of excellent trainers here, and guys like Donnie and Jay who are always willing to help, and they would love to help you, you know that. But I feel like the Academy is the right next step for you.”
“We have a state-of-the-art gym, highly qualified trainers, a Team Leader excited to see what you can bring to the table and talented students to measure yourself against, once you feel ready to step in the ring.”
Everything sounded just about perfect, almost too good to be true. Especially the last thing Gianluigi said, once you feel ready. Her greatest fear, fueled by the last few days spent training with her uncle, was to not live up to the high expectations everyone seemed to have about her, to be average at best at the one thing she used to excel in. Having time to restore her dented confidence was everything she could have hoped for, although the fear remained, lurking in her heart.
And besides, there was still one last issue, one obstacle that was preventing her from accepting the offer. “But I… I can’t afford the tuition fee…”
“I can.” Came a third male voice, and this was one Alice would recognize among a million.
Will Hardy.
Her father.
She thought her uncle was joking, she hoped he was. Maybe he just got one too many glasses of wine at dinner, maybe he was teasing her. But Robb Hardy was not known for his sense of humor, less so when it comes to wrestling.
He really dragged her out of bed at five-thirty in the morning of the first day of 2023 and took her to Nightfall. And of course, he decided they had to jog their way to the gym. “Consider it your warm-up.” He said as they entered the park because, that goes without saying, he had to take the long way to get there.
Even at this ungodly hour the streets of Vegas were bustling with people staggering their way home after a night of celebrations and revelry. One year ago, she was one of them, returning home when the sun already rose after ringing in the new year with her Phoenix friends. To say that she missed it would be incorrect, but the little sleep she had, the early start of what promised to be a long day, the fatigue accumulated in these few days of training and the understandable struggles she met when she tried to do what only one year ago came natural to her, made her question if she was doing the right thing.
She was excited, at first. That Empire Pro show and the tales her cousin told her about his experience in the UK rekindled the passion for this sport she thought she buried forever one year and half ago. But shaking off that ring rust was harder than she thought it would be, physically and mentally draining. For someone who was basically born into a gym, who started training at a very young age and learned how to correctly apply a headlock before she learned the multiplication tables, for someone who at the age of sixteen wrestled like an experienced veteran, nothing was more frustrating than not being able to perform like she used to.
And with the struggles came doubts, slithering like a snake through the folds of her mind and poisoning her confidence and self esteem. Was wrestling truly her destiny, like her uncle kept saying? Was she making a mistake? Did she really want this?
She had a good thing going with music, her band was starting to make a name for themselves. And while these two passions weren’t mutually exclusive, while she could easily juggle between training in Vegas and playing with Severed Wings in Phoenix on the weekends (although not ideal, Zoom call rehearsals proved to be feasible during Lockdown), maybe she should focus entirely on that, giving up her childhood dream, her family business once and for all.
They had been going back and forth for almost an hour now, and God only knew how long her uncle would keep going. They had Nightfall completely for them today, because even though the Grind never stops in the gym owned and founded by Chris Night, it can still take half a day off on the morning of the first day of the year.
That obviously didn’t apply for Alice, stuck in a ring with her uncle. It wasn’t a match, more like long sequences with short breaks in between every time one of them put the opponent down for a pinfall or a submission. Needless to say, the young girl had been on the back foot for most of it. Robb Hardy may have not been an active competitor in a few years, but surely he showed today that he could still go. And that bridging German suplex he surprised his niece with was perfectly executed.
“Damnit!” Alice blurted out, slamming her hand on the canvas. She was growing more and more frustrated with every passing minute, unable to wrap her head around it. Her uncle was always one step ahead of her, and that was likely her own fault. Her offense was too basic and predictable, and the few times when she dared try something different, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was like she was experiencing a communication breakdown between her mind and body. She could see the openings in Robb’s guard, she could sense what his next attack would be, but somehow there was a gap between then and the moment her muscles set in motion to actually perform that action. A slight hesitation that, nine out of ten times, resulted in a striking failure of her intentions.
She welcomed this break, although it came after she succumbed to another fall and left her with that bitter aftertaste of failure and defeat in her mouth. Sitting on the canvas, she looked up at her uncle, almost begging him to call the training session off. Her breathing was labored, her muscles sore and burning, especially the leg ones. She used the back of her hand to move the green and blue locks glued to her forehead, wiping away some of the sweat that was dripping down her face.
“You’re almost there, kiddo. We awakened your wrestling brain, now you need to get your body to follow it.” He said, offering her his hand to bring her back to her feet for another round.
Alice sighed, looking at Robb’s strong hand. “Yeah, I don’t see that happening right now, uncle . I need a break.” She confessed, shaking her head. Alice loved him, she really did. He was the reason why she was even here in the first place, he was the one who lit up this spark in her. And she definitely appreciated him pushing her to her limits and beyond, well aware that his tough training was coming from a place of love. But she couldn’t take it anymore.
“We will rest when you’ll get one over on me.” He bluntly said as he reached down and yanked her to her feet. Alice rolled her eyes, forcing herself to yet another round. She circled around Robb, testing the waters with a couple of kicks to the thigh. She lured him in with a third one, stopping before connecting with her foot against his muscular leg. That feint kick was enough to make Robb move in an attempt to catch her leg, thus leaving his right side exposed. Alice swung her left leg aiming at his head, but once again her execution was too slow and Hardy managed to duck the kick, watching his niece spin around and going out of balance. He wrapped his arms around her waist but this time she was able to put her weight down, blocking the suplex attempt. She managed to loosen the grasp with a couple of back elbows to the face and sprinted forward toward the ropes, finally getting away from the waist lock. Instinctively, Hardy followed her, trying to catch her once again and retake control but his niece was too fast. She stepped on the middle rope and ricocheted backward, spreading her legs as she leaped over Robb’s head. Before he could realize what happened and turned around, she had already landed on the canvas and jumped right back off, catching him with a backstabber. The angle of the impact caused Robb to fall forward rather than bounce off her knees, and she quickly put him in a dragon sleeper. Hardy quickly tapped out, but he had a smile on his face when she let go. “Well done, Alice.” He said proudly, looking at his niece.
“That was impressive indeed.” A second male voice came, one she didn’t recognize. Turning around, she saw a good-looking man stepping out of the semi-darkness, dressed in an elegant suit. He looked slightly familiar, but Alice couldn’t figure out where she already saw him.
“Alice, you already met Gianluigi, right? He’s the principal of MWE’s Academy, you probably remember him from when he came here two years ago to scout Faith and Chris’ nephew, JJ.” That was it, all of a sudden she remembered. Despite her rivalry with Faith, stemming mostly from the young Savell’s reluctance to accept to share the spotlights and the moniker of Nightfall’s Hottest Prospect with the younger Alice, she was legitimately happy to see her join the Academy, and secretly hopes she could make the cut and follow in her footsteps.
“What you may not know, Alice, is that I wanted to recruit you too.” The Italian man added as he walked closer to the ring. Hearing those words, Alice’s heart sank a little bit. It’s impossible today to tell how her life would have changed if she went to Chicago that day of September, if she would have reacted the same way to what happened a few months later to her father, or if being in that environment would have helped her cope better with the fallout.
“T-then why…?” She asked with a trembling voice. Why didn't he offer her a spot? Wasn’t she good enough? Was Faith that much better than her? And JJ? That little confidence she had just rebuilt by finally getting one over her uncle was already crumbling.
Gianluigi had always been good at reading people, and he could see the change in the young woman’s demeanor. His voice assumed a soft and soothing tone, the warm smile he flashed did the rest to reassure Alice. “You were too young, it's as simple as that. I was shocked when I asked Chris and Robb why your name didn’t pop up in any of our conversations about who they suggested for The Academy, and their answer was that you didn’t meet the age requirements. As selfish as I may sound, I was disappointed too.”
“Your talent shone so bright, I dare say you were even more impressive than Faith was that day. But unfortunately the rules of The Academy were clear, you had to be at least seventeen in order to join.” Gianluigi continued. “I promised myself I would bring you here with the next class, but when I called Robb, he told me you quit wrestling. I thought it was a shame, but I can surely understand why you did. Luckily, we now have a chance to finally make it happen.”
He said those final words nonchalantly, but the implications in them didn’t get lost on Alice. He was offering her that spot she wanted so badly two years ago, but he was offering it when she didn’t feel up to the task. And it was also clear to her that the only reason why he was here on a day when Nightfall was closed to the public was because her uncle invited him. “I thought you were going to train me, uncle Robb… I thought we were going to do this together, you and I… Shit, that’s why I even agreed in the first place. If I knew you were going to drop me at the first chance you got I…”
“Calm down, Alice.” Robb cut his niece off, resting his strong hand on her shoulder. “I have a company to run now, hell, I’m barely here at the gym anymore. And Chris is still wrestling, he has enough shit on his plate already. Granted, we have a lot of excellent trainers here, and guys like Donnie and Jay who are always willing to help, and they would love to help you, you know that. But I feel like the Academy is the right next step for you.”
“We have a state-of-the-art gym, highly qualified trainers, a Team Leader excited to see what you can bring to the table and talented students to measure yourself against, once you feel ready to step in the ring.”
Everything sounded just about perfect, almost too good to be true. Especially the last thing Gianluigi said, once you feel ready. Her greatest fear, fueled by the last few days spent training with her uncle, was to not live up to the high expectations everyone seemed to have about her, to be average at best at the one thing she used to excel in. Having time to restore her dented confidence was everything she could have hoped for, although the fear remained, lurking in her heart.
And besides, there was still one last issue, one obstacle that was preventing her from accepting the offer. “But I… I can’t afford the tuition fee…”
“I can.” Came a third male voice, and this was one Alice would recognize among a million.
Will Hardy.
Her father.