Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2020 4:20:46 GMT -6
December 31, 2019
Victoria Salinas can feel a growing confidence within her as she leaves Tina Valentine further in the dust in the minutes and hours after she defeated her. She’s able to catch up with Mr. Holliday, her trainer and he’s noticing a confidence in her that he hasn’t seen from her in quite some time.
Mr. Holliday: I bet it feels great to get that dead weight off of your shoulders, huh?
Victoria: Yeah. I had no idea that cutting HER off for good would have that kind of effect on me. I guess a lot of my confidence issues from before really did have so much to do with her. I did everything that I could for Tina Valentine and she’d have her moments of brilliance when I got through to her but every single time, she’d revert back to what she was and it hurt me to see that. For so long, I felt like I failed her. But, I reached a point where I realized that nothing I did for her was ever going to matter and that she was never going to get it. I realized that I didn’t fail her… she failed herself. I’m so glad that Casey snapped out of her SCW-caused neurosis because she was on track to be just like her. And for Hayley’s sake, I hope she doesn’t cross that line herself. But I had no idea how relieved I’d be once Tina was out of my life for good.
Mr. Holliday: Good! You don’t deserve to carry her burden any longer.
Victoria: Casey was right. I should have left her behind after I defeated her in GCW four years ago. I learned from my mistake. It was a good night for all of us… well… except for Shawn…
Victoria slightly cringes when she remembers Mr. Riley being taken out at Casey’s hands. Who the hell is going to train me now?
Mr. Holliday: There’s plenty of opportunities in Japan, I’ll tell you that. You’ll be fine… and so will he… so long as he doesn’t try to hurt my daughter again. By the way…
Mr. Holliday points behind Victoria which causes her to turn around and look at her husband who is carrying quite a few bags. The sight of the love of her life causes her to smile as she walks up to him.
Victoria: What’s all this?
Gavin: We’re going to Cancun, remember?
Victoria: Oh right… *laughs*
Gavin: Hey, at least you’ll be spending time with someone that you actually love right? Unlike… well… let’s just say that my love for you expands far beyond this bizarre sexual attraction of a certain someone…
Victoria: Gavin?
Gavin: Yeah?
Victoria: Let’s never bring that up… or Tina Valentine in general… ever again!
Gavin: Done! We better get going. Flight leaves in two hours!
Victoria smiles as she and Gavin leave together.
Mr. Holliday: Have a safe trip!
The couple leave the building, leaving a proud Mr. Holliday behind.
Mr. Holliday: She’s done a hell of a lot of growing up lately.
January 3, 2020
During the night, Victoria has a reflective time all to herself as she wades in the shores of the Cancun beach. She’s had a relaxing vacation with her husband up to this point and it’s certainly done her well. Feelings of a warm confidence flow through her which has long replaced the jittery, unnerving feelings of her career being in some sort of impending doom that she had going into her match against Bethany Driver a few months back.
Victoria (thinking): I went into 2019 thinking I had it all. I thought I had mastered this business. I thought there was nothing left for me to do. I figured that I had nothing else to improve on. I got trapped in that mindset because of the waning months of my GCW run. Toward the end, after my Hall of Fame induction there, it really felt like I had nothing else to prove, nothing else to do. My confidence wasn’t the only thing that waned. My motivation went before it. That’s why I was so mediocre in Hybrid… I was too lax on myself… I was going through the motions figuring that everything I knew was enough to succeed anywhere.
I’m not going to be like she-who-shall-not-be-named and blame that company for every bit of my problems.
It was never the right fit for me, that much is true. But I blame myself for how that went… for being unmotivated, for going through the motions. So I left. The company I worked for changed… but not my attitude. It took that whole Bethany Driver saga and all that heartbreak for me to finally get it…
I had to grow up, and I had to do it fast. I couldn’t stay stuck in my GCW mindset anymore. I was basing my worth in this business on winning and championships… and this was happening LONG before GCW by the way… not on the journey to get there… not on my growth. MWE has humbled me in so many ways. It’s a new year and a new decade with new challenges now. When I first hit my thirties, I was in denial of my age. I wanted to stay stuck in the twenties when everything seemed so easy and that was because I was scared. I didn’t want to grow up. I didn’t have the confidence to do that.
Now?
It’s growing. The near future will tell me where my progress is and how much more work needs to be done. I’ve removed both the most toxic person and the most toxic event to ever negatively influence my career from my shoulders and it feels amazing to have that weight off of me. I’ve got the best support system I can ask for and the man that in my heart, I’ve always wanted.
When I get back to MWE… I’ll be tested and challenged, no question about that.
But I don’t doubt that I can overcome them because I’m not afraid of growing up anymore…”
January 5, 2020
The day of her flight to Japan is drawing near and Victoria is in her Cancun hotel room feeling some dread, though this has little to do with her career and more of the fact that she knows she’s leaving her husband behind again. Gavin of course, is privy to this as Victoria stands on a balcony overlooking the beach below. He approaches her with a calming confidence.
Gavin: Something bothering you?
Victoria: Yeah. I wish this could last forever but… in a few days, I have to get back to work.
Gavin: I thought things were going better for you in MWE.
Victoria: They are but… I finally got to spend time with you again after our wedding and now we’re going to be separated again. I don’t like it. I know I sound like SUCH a dramatic romantic but if it were up to me, I’d spend every remaining second of my life with you, you know that. But, that’s wrestling. It comes with the territory. Plus, I’m a little anxious about getting back at it. Yeah, I know… I ended 2019 on a nice win streak… there’s just a little piece of me that fears that this is another mirage…
Gavin: Don’t think like that…
Victoria: I just found out my next opponent too… pretty awkward when my opponent and my husband share the same name. Big deal… this guy. Recently retired Carmine Reaper and all. This is a bit of a bigger match… but of course, you know with those… at least in MWE…
Gavin: Is this the part where you bring up Kelsey Spencer, Duke Andrews, Melissa Reeves and Bethany Driver because if it is, you’re better off bringing that train of thought to a screeching halt.
Victoria gives a bit of a nervous chuckle in response.
Gavin: It’s going to be alright, I promise. Besides, you know as well as I do that you’re at your absolute best when you’re the underdog facing uphill battles. I saw it first hand. And yes, you still are a big match winner. Tina was a big match, was she not?
Victoria: Let’s not give her that much credit…
Gavin: I’m going to… because taking that credit from her takes it away from you. You had to win that match so you could move on from someone so toxic that she has put a damper on your career multiple times. Your career has never done well when she’s involved and had she won against you, she’d be reminding the world about it over and over and you’d regress back to where you were prior to your match with Bethany. I don’t want that for you. You fought for your dignity and your confidence and you pulled through. That’s as big as it gets when a championship isn’t involved.
Victoria: Then again, if you want to be technical, a title WAS involved in that…
Gavin: See? That’s how much you’ve grown.
Victoria: Huh?
Gavin: You were focused so much more about your confidence and not about that title Tina had. Look, I’m no wrestling genius… but I know two things: you want to be a champion again and that in order to do so, wrestlers like Grimes are those that you have to beat. To make a long monologue short… keep doing what you’ve been doing since Homecoming and you’ll be just fine. So the opponent is tougher? So what? Facing bigger challenges is all a part of growing up and being confident, you know?
Victoria: Right. You’re absolutely right. I’ve grown enough to come to terms with that. I’m not going to be scared. I’m not going to run away from this fight. I’m going to face it and whatever happens, I’m going to grow from it because I know that I can! All this time, I branded myself as this wrestler that was defined by winning big match after big match. I had the attitude of “brightest lights, biggest stage, nobody better than me”. In hindsight, it was a really shitty attitude… that was arrogance, not confidence. My best isn’t in a big match situation… my best is when I have an uphill battle ahead of me and I have to fight from behind. If that’s going to be the case on Wednesday, so be it.
I’m a different wrestler now! I’m a different woman! Hell, I’m a grown woman and I’m so ecstatic that I’m confident enough to say it and mean it.
Gavin: Good. Here, I want you to have this…
Gavin pulls out a small jewelry box from his pocket and hands it to Victoria who curiously takes it. She opens it up and is shocked, in a good way, to find a golden locket that’s decorated with some emeralds in the outline of the heart. She opens it up and finds a picture of her and Gavin exchanging their kiss when they officially got married.
Victoria: Oh my god…
Gavin: Now? When you’re on the road? We’re never apart because there’s a piece of me that’s always travelling with you.
Tears of joy fill up in her eyes.
Victoria: Wow! You’re so thoughtful! God, I’m the luckiest woman in the world…
They exchange a quick hug.
Victoria: Not only will we never be apart… I will never be alone! I know that I’ll always have you right here with me. I know that I’ll never have anything to fear and that I’ll never have to fear failure again!
They begin to exchange a few kisses on the balcony with Victoria feeling touched by this whole experience. The confidence in her grows some more and any minor anxiety she may have had about the challenge that she faces in a couple of days from this point begins to melt away. Knowing that the love of her life will always be by her side and that she’ll never be alone definitely helps keep her grounded and helps prevent her from relapsing back into the downward spiral she was in a few months ago.
“I have nothing to be afraid of… I’ve proven this to myself so many times…”
January 7, 2020
In the night prior to her match against Gavin Grimes, Victoria lies back on her bed in her hotel room in Japan soaking in her growing confidence and bravery. She looks inside the locket that Gavin had given her feeling his presence even though he’s an entire ocean away. This introspection is interrupted by a sudden text message alert causing her to sigh some before she looks at her phone and sees a message from her old protege, Casey Holliday. Victoria doesn’t hesitate to read aloud the text to herself.
“1.4.2010
You’ve got this.
Casey”
Victoria raises her eyebrows as she sees there’s a link accompanying this. Clicking the link on her phone, she’s directed to a YouTube video… to a match that she was part of 10 years ago… her seventh match on the mainstream…
Victoria: Oh this is perfect…
Victoria beams with pride as she watches the match Casey linked her to… a match that Victoria has nothing but good memories about…
“I wasn’t scared then… I wasn’t scared now…”
She reminds herself of this as she watches this old match knowing it’s her key to victory tomorrow night…
Victoria Salinas can feel a growing confidence within her as she leaves Tina Valentine further in the dust in the minutes and hours after she defeated her. She’s able to catch up with Mr. Holliday, her trainer and he’s noticing a confidence in her that he hasn’t seen from her in quite some time.
Mr. Holliday: I bet it feels great to get that dead weight off of your shoulders, huh?
Victoria: Yeah. I had no idea that cutting HER off for good would have that kind of effect on me. I guess a lot of my confidence issues from before really did have so much to do with her. I did everything that I could for Tina Valentine and she’d have her moments of brilliance when I got through to her but every single time, she’d revert back to what she was and it hurt me to see that. For so long, I felt like I failed her. But, I reached a point where I realized that nothing I did for her was ever going to matter and that she was never going to get it. I realized that I didn’t fail her… she failed herself. I’m so glad that Casey snapped out of her SCW-caused neurosis because she was on track to be just like her. And for Hayley’s sake, I hope she doesn’t cross that line herself. But I had no idea how relieved I’d be once Tina was out of my life for good.
Mr. Holliday: Good! You don’t deserve to carry her burden any longer.
Victoria: Casey was right. I should have left her behind after I defeated her in GCW four years ago. I learned from my mistake. It was a good night for all of us… well… except for Shawn…
Victoria slightly cringes when she remembers Mr. Riley being taken out at Casey’s hands. Who the hell is going to train me now?
Mr. Holliday: There’s plenty of opportunities in Japan, I’ll tell you that. You’ll be fine… and so will he… so long as he doesn’t try to hurt my daughter again. By the way…
Mr. Holliday points behind Victoria which causes her to turn around and look at her husband who is carrying quite a few bags. The sight of the love of her life causes her to smile as she walks up to him.
Victoria: What’s all this?
Gavin: We’re going to Cancun, remember?
Victoria: Oh right… *laughs*
Gavin: Hey, at least you’ll be spending time with someone that you actually love right? Unlike… well… let’s just say that my love for you expands far beyond this bizarre sexual attraction of a certain someone…
Victoria: Gavin?
Gavin: Yeah?
Victoria: Let’s never bring that up… or Tina Valentine in general… ever again!
Gavin: Done! We better get going. Flight leaves in two hours!
Victoria smiles as she and Gavin leave together.
Mr. Holliday: Have a safe trip!
The couple leave the building, leaving a proud Mr. Holliday behind.
Mr. Holliday: She’s done a hell of a lot of growing up lately.
January 3, 2020
During the night, Victoria has a reflective time all to herself as she wades in the shores of the Cancun beach. She’s had a relaxing vacation with her husband up to this point and it’s certainly done her well. Feelings of a warm confidence flow through her which has long replaced the jittery, unnerving feelings of her career being in some sort of impending doom that she had going into her match against Bethany Driver a few months back.
Victoria (thinking): I went into 2019 thinking I had it all. I thought I had mastered this business. I thought there was nothing left for me to do. I figured that I had nothing else to improve on. I got trapped in that mindset because of the waning months of my GCW run. Toward the end, after my Hall of Fame induction there, it really felt like I had nothing else to prove, nothing else to do. My confidence wasn’t the only thing that waned. My motivation went before it. That’s why I was so mediocre in Hybrid… I was too lax on myself… I was going through the motions figuring that everything I knew was enough to succeed anywhere.
I’m not going to be like she-who-shall-not-be-named and blame that company for every bit of my problems.
It was never the right fit for me, that much is true. But I blame myself for how that went… for being unmotivated, for going through the motions. So I left. The company I worked for changed… but not my attitude. It took that whole Bethany Driver saga and all that heartbreak for me to finally get it…
I had to grow up, and I had to do it fast. I couldn’t stay stuck in my GCW mindset anymore. I was basing my worth in this business on winning and championships… and this was happening LONG before GCW by the way… not on the journey to get there… not on my growth. MWE has humbled me in so many ways. It’s a new year and a new decade with new challenges now. When I first hit my thirties, I was in denial of my age. I wanted to stay stuck in the twenties when everything seemed so easy and that was because I was scared. I didn’t want to grow up. I didn’t have the confidence to do that.
Now?
It’s growing. The near future will tell me where my progress is and how much more work needs to be done. I’ve removed both the most toxic person and the most toxic event to ever negatively influence my career from my shoulders and it feels amazing to have that weight off of me. I’ve got the best support system I can ask for and the man that in my heart, I’ve always wanted.
When I get back to MWE… I’ll be tested and challenged, no question about that.
But I don’t doubt that I can overcome them because I’m not afraid of growing up anymore…”
January 5, 2020
The day of her flight to Japan is drawing near and Victoria is in her Cancun hotel room feeling some dread, though this has little to do with her career and more of the fact that she knows she’s leaving her husband behind again. Gavin of course, is privy to this as Victoria stands on a balcony overlooking the beach below. He approaches her with a calming confidence.
Gavin: Something bothering you?
Victoria: Yeah. I wish this could last forever but… in a few days, I have to get back to work.
Gavin: I thought things were going better for you in MWE.
Victoria: They are but… I finally got to spend time with you again after our wedding and now we’re going to be separated again. I don’t like it. I know I sound like SUCH a dramatic romantic but if it were up to me, I’d spend every remaining second of my life with you, you know that. But, that’s wrestling. It comes with the territory. Plus, I’m a little anxious about getting back at it. Yeah, I know… I ended 2019 on a nice win streak… there’s just a little piece of me that fears that this is another mirage…
Gavin: Don’t think like that…
Victoria: I just found out my next opponent too… pretty awkward when my opponent and my husband share the same name. Big deal… this guy. Recently retired Carmine Reaper and all. This is a bit of a bigger match… but of course, you know with those… at least in MWE…
Gavin: Is this the part where you bring up Kelsey Spencer, Duke Andrews, Melissa Reeves and Bethany Driver because if it is, you’re better off bringing that train of thought to a screeching halt.
Victoria gives a bit of a nervous chuckle in response.
Gavin: It’s going to be alright, I promise. Besides, you know as well as I do that you’re at your absolute best when you’re the underdog facing uphill battles. I saw it first hand. And yes, you still are a big match winner. Tina was a big match, was she not?
Victoria: Let’s not give her that much credit…
Gavin: I’m going to… because taking that credit from her takes it away from you. You had to win that match so you could move on from someone so toxic that she has put a damper on your career multiple times. Your career has never done well when she’s involved and had she won against you, she’d be reminding the world about it over and over and you’d regress back to where you were prior to your match with Bethany. I don’t want that for you. You fought for your dignity and your confidence and you pulled through. That’s as big as it gets when a championship isn’t involved.
Victoria: Then again, if you want to be technical, a title WAS involved in that…
Gavin: See? That’s how much you’ve grown.
Victoria: Huh?
Gavin: You were focused so much more about your confidence and not about that title Tina had. Look, I’m no wrestling genius… but I know two things: you want to be a champion again and that in order to do so, wrestlers like Grimes are those that you have to beat. To make a long monologue short… keep doing what you’ve been doing since Homecoming and you’ll be just fine. So the opponent is tougher? So what? Facing bigger challenges is all a part of growing up and being confident, you know?
Victoria: Right. You’re absolutely right. I’ve grown enough to come to terms with that. I’m not going to be scared. I’m not going to run away from this fight. I’m going to face it and whatever happens, I’m going to grow from it because I know that I can! All this time, I branded myself as this wrestler that was defined by winning big match after big match. I had the attitude of “brightest lights, biggest stage, nobody better than me”. In hindsight, it was a really shitty attitude… that was arrogance, not confidence. My best isn’t in a big match situation… my best is when I have an uphill battle ahead of me and I have to fight from behind. If that’s going to be the case on Wednesday, so be it.
I’m a different wrestler now! I’m a different woman! Hell, I’m a grown woman and I’m so ecstatic that I’m confident enough to say it and mean it.
Gavin: Good. Here, I want you to have this…
Gavin pulls out a small jewelry box from his pocket and hands it to Victoria who curiously takes it. She opens it up and is shocked, in a good way, to find a golden locket that’s decorated with some emeralds in the outline of the heart. She opens it up and finds a picture of her and Gavin exchanging their kiss when they officially got married.
Victoria: Oh my god…
Gavin: Now? When you’re on the road? We’re never apart because there’s a piece of me that’s always travelling with you.
Tears of joy fill up in her eyes.
Victoria: Wow! You’re so thoughtful! God, I’m the luckiest woman in the world…
They exchange a quick hug.
Victoria: Not only will we never be apart… I will never be alone! I know that I’ll always have you right here with me. I know that I’ll never have anything to fear and that I’ll never have to fear failure again!
They begin to exchange a few kisses on the balcony with Victoria feeling touched by this whole experience. The confidence in her grows some more and any minor anxiety she may have had about the challenge that she faces in a couple of days from this point begins to melt away. Knowing that the love of her life will always be by her side and that she’ll never be alone definitely helps keep her grounded and helps prevent her from relapsing back into the downward spiral she was in a few months ago.
“I have nothing to be afraid of… I’ve proven this to myself so many times…”
January 7, 2020
In the night prior to her match against Gavin Grimes, Victoria lies back on her bed in her hotel room in Japan soaking in her growing confidence and bravery. She looks inside the locket that Gavin had given her feeling his presence even though he’s an entire ocean away. This introspection is interrupted by a sudden text message alert causing her to sigh some before she looks at her phone and sees a message from her old protege, Casey Holliday. Victoria doesn’t hesitate to read aloud the text to herself.
“1.4.2010
You’ve got this.
Casey”
Victoria raises her eyebrows as she sees there’s a link accompanying this. Clicking the link on her phone, she’s directed to a YouTube video… to a match that she was part of 10 years ago… her seventh match on the mainstream…
Victoria: Oh this is perfect…
Victoria beams with pride as she watches the match Casey linked her to… a match that Victoria has nothing but good memories about…
“I wasn’t scared then… I wasn’t scared now…”
She reminds herself of this as she watches this old match knowing it’s her key to victory tomorrow night…