Post by cordeliaclark on Aug 7, 2023 22:38:28 GMT -6
August 4, 2023
“She would’ve been 32 today…”
Cordelia Clark is looking a bit uncomfortable when her sister Morganna mentions this to her. They’re overlooking a collage of pictures of their cousin Arabella Madison fka Tina Valentine fka Bella Valentine fka Valentina Madison (yeah, she had a whole bunch of names) while they are at their aunt’s house.
Morganna: I don’t mean to be rude or anything though, but… maybe aunt Jenna should consider not doing this thing every year on her birthday.
Cordelia: Look, I know you’re not Valentina’s biggest fan or anything, especially after she sicced the thugs on you in Hybrid, but she is her daughter after all. Aunt Jenna is never going to get over the fact that she’s gone no matter how much you might think it’ll benefit her.
Morganna: The best thing that I ever did for your career as your sister was keeping her as far away from you as possible when you started training to be a wrestler and it’s a good thing too. You are dealing with much right now. I’m still pissed that you were ROBBED of that breakout award in 5BW.
Cordelia rolls her eyes, not because she agrees with Morganna’s disdain, but because it’s not a subject that she considers important.
Morganna: But let’s be honest, you are starting to deal with the same scrutiny that she did. Okay, sort of. The better you are becoming, the more you’re becoming noticed and the more you are becoming noticed, the more you are getting hatred throwing shade at you. You and I know that back in 5BW, they’ve got so many people jumping on this ‘management favorite’ thing because it’s the cool thing to do.
Cordelia: Yeah, that’s kind of Meagan’s fault, you know that right?
Morganna smirks at this, knowing where Cordelia is coming from.
Cordelia: That public Twitter declaration after last year’s awards didn’t do me any favors. I have had a very good stretch over the last year or so though.
Morganna: Yeah, but if you’ve seen the Internet lately, you’ve got a section of fans that are starting to…
Cordelia rolls her eyes again, which Morganna is able to catch this time.
Morganna: I’m just saying that the more popular you get, the more you’re going to have haters on the Internet hate you because you’re too ‘mainstream’ for them and because they don’t consider you one of them anymore.
Cordelia: Yeah, and name a successful wrestler who doesn’t have that? Look, i love my fans and all don’t get me wrong on that. But my haters? I don’t even give them an ounce of thought. Why should I? It’s not productive to do such a thing. That’s literally one of the biggest things I learned studying Valentina’s career because no matter where she was: IWC, UWA, GCW, Hybrid, she gave way too much of a crap about her haters and what they were thinking of her and when I started doing this in my own right, the first thing that I promised to myself was that I wasn’t going to make that same mistake.
Morganna: You’ve had your moments, but you haven’t for the most part.
Cordelia grows confused at the first part of the comment.
Cordelia: What do you mean ‘you’ve had your moments’?
Morganna: You were getting frustrated in Hybrid for a while after that one clusterfuck briefcase thing. You were even starting to remind me a little of…
Cordelia: WHOA! Don’t even think about finishing that sentence.
Morganna: It was almost on the nose, Cordy. Even you have admitted that you were a bit rash for a while after that. At least you turned it around.
Cordelia: I’m NOT her, okay?
Morganna: I never said you were. Listen, I am going to talk to Aunt Jenna for a bit and… pay my respects…
Morganna almost looks like she wants to throw up when she says that last part. She leaves Cordelia alone for a bit and the Hybrid Vanguard slash 5BW Freedom Champion looks at a portrait of her late cousin. She barely knew her, so as a result, even she will admit that she doesn’t have much of a reason to be sad about her passing but at the same time, she has heard the stories from other wrestlers as well as family about how the former Pinnacle Champion in the previous incarnation of Hybrid behaved everywhere she was.
“It seems like no matter what I do in this business, I’m always going to be carrying the burden of restoring dignity to my family after the way my cousin disgraced it during her wrestling career. I hate to admit that my sister is right that for a while, I was having my moments but she is. It’s also a little rough seeing some Internet comments comparing me to her and seeing things like ‘well Arabella was more entertaining’ or ‘Tina Valentine is so much better and Cordy’s just a wannabe’. Most of the ‘hater’ comments don’t even touch me. But for some reason, those that compare me to HER in a negative way do…”
Voice: So you’re the young lady that I’ve heard so many good things about…
Cordelia snaps out of her thoughts with the sudden presence of a Latina woman, about Arabella’s age, nearby. She doesn’t know how to take to this stranger.
Woman: Brianna, nice meeting you.
Brianna extends her hand to Cordelia who shakes it.
Cordelia: So are you a fan, or are you one of those Internet haters?
Brianna just laughs this off.
Brianna: Girl, if I were a hater, I wouldn’t even bother meeting you. I knew your cousin, many years ago in fact.
Cordelia: Really now?
Brianna: One of my best friends and I used to hang out with her in Harlem quite a bit during her IWC days when we were all young and stupid. It’s just crazy knowing that out of the three of us, I’m the only one that’s still alive.
Cordelia: What happened to your friend?
Brianna: Drive by… but that’s beside the point. It’s gotta be weird being here, right?
Cordelia: Plenty weird…
Cordelia sighs.
Cordelia: I’m feeling basically the same level of awkwardness that I did when Hybrid first offered me a contract. I know the history that she had there and everything. I know how she was Pinnacle Champion and how shortly after she lost it, it all went downhill for her. Losing the title isn’t what killed her though. I remember how a bunch of talent from a recently closed company… the name of it escapes me… showed up in Hybrid… your Adrien Cochranes and your Jessica Sears and those types of names, and then it’s like… from her perspective, they forgot she existed. I think that was the beginning of the end of her career… if not her life… I hate to say…
Brianna: Cordelia, with all due respect, the beginning of the end was WAY before that. I think in your heart, even you know that. You don’t actually believe that narrative of Hybrid forgetting about her, do you?
Cordelia shakes her head.
Cordelia: Valentina’s story is one of someone who could never be happy because she always felt like the world was out to get her and this was in every single wrestling company that she competed in, not just Hybrid. I have done everything in my power to make sure that I never end up like her. You just said it yourself, the beginning of the end was way before Hybrid so… what was it then?
Brianna has a sullen look on her face when she looks at a few pictures of the former Pinnacle Champion, particularly during her career before Hybrid. Cordelia is quick to understand that to some degree, she could very well feel responsible for the demise of Valentina Madison, inside the ring and otherwise.
Brianna: I’m not going to lie to you. Back then, I did treat her like crap. I did peer pressure her a lot, particularly with partying and drinking… but I also know that she was already doing the hard drugs before we ever met. I certainly didn’t help her, I know that. But, like I said, the beginning of the end wasn’t Hybrid. The beginning of the end was three years prior… in IWC…
Cordelia’s eyes widen knowing exactly what Brianna is referring to.
Cordelia: Uprising 5… and no, I’m not referring to the wrestling company by that name….
Brianna: Yeah, I know that’s what IWC called one of their shows back in 2015. You don’t have to tell me. *laughs* But that match meant the world to her. It was that undisputed championship match in August of 2015. As you know, she lost that match and she never got close to becoming a world champion again. If the loss wasn’t bad enough, all the friends of the winner were up her ass on Twitter, running up the score, celebrating… Tina didn’t take it well. She was already in a bad way before all of that happened, but she got progressively worse, and fast, from there.
Cordelia: She never got over it. I remember when I was in the early stages of my training, my cousin actually told me that story and she kept telling me that I was too soft for wrestling, that wrestling was going to chew me up and spit me out, that I wasn’t going to last and that I shouldn’t be involved because I was going to get eaten alive and all of that. I didn’t listen to her. She tried to give me some advice for my career, but honestly, it was all bad. She even wanted to be my manager once I hit mainstream… the audacity…
Brianna lets out a sigh, remembering how the story that was just told effectively ruined the remainder of the former Pinnacle Champion’s career.
Brianna: Months before she passed, I remember she called me… and she brought you up…
Cordelia’s eyes widen for a moment.
Brianna: And I HATE to say this, but I think what you should know is that when we talked about you, she straight up told me that she was hoping you’d never make it.
Cordelia doesn’t even flinch, or even show a hint of anger.
Brianna: She didn’t want you to succeed and it goes without saying that if she were alive watching you have the success that you’ve had, including the fact that you DID become a world champion yourself in Sin City Underground… doing what SHE never got to do… it would’ve driven her crazy.
Cordelia: None of this surprises me, but… why though? I never did anything to her. I was never mean to her. I wasn’t a fan of her attitude and I especially soured on her after what she did to my sister, but I never held an ounce of hate in my heart for her.
Brianna: Because…
Brianna pauses for a moment, looking around to make sure that Cordelia’s aunt Jenna is nowhere in sight.
Brianna: She was always selfish and self-absorbed. I used to be her maid once I got out of the ghetto…
Cordelia: WHAT?
Brianna: Yeeeah… I don’t want to talk about that. I’m just glad I pulled my life out of rock bottom. But hear me out, she treated everyone around her like garbage, especially me. She had no true love or heart for professional wrestling and she never cared about who she offended. She wanted you to fail. She was hoping that you would. And when she brought you up on the phone, she even told me that if ‘somehow, someway’ you became successful, she was going to come after you and try to wreck your career because in her mind, you would be… and I’m quoting her here… ‘stealing my birthright from me’. I feel like you have to know this, but at the same time, I want you to understand that you’re not at fault for how she felt about you.
Even with this reassurance, Cordelia lets out a sullen sigh of her own.
Cordelia: And all of this because of ONE match in 2015 that, honestly, has become so insignificant that nobody remembers it anymore but the people who were there?
Brianna: Trippy, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re doing well and doing better than she did but if there’s one thing for you to take from this today? Please, Cordelia, for the love of god, no matter how hard things get… and you know that things will be getting harder for you as a whole because of the increased scrutiny of being one of the young, up and coming stars of the business at the moment… never, EVER become your cousin. NEVER! I don’t want to put a burden on your shoulders… and I know it’s something you probably think about constantly. Surround yourself with good people, always. Don’t let anyone bring you down with empty words. Just keep staying true to yourself and you’re going to navigate the tougher waters ahead like a pro, you got that?
Cordelia: I understand.
Brianna: Good. Because I would hate to see you waste your career the way I saw your cousin flush hers down the Hudson River. I gotta bail, alright? It was nice meeting you though, I mean that.
Cordelia finds herself surprised once Brianna makes a beeline for another room. She soaks in everything, particularly everything that she just heard and then looks back at the collage of her cousin in a whole different light now that she’s discovered that the Hybrid headcase formerly known as Arabella Madison never wanted her to succeed. In fact, she unexpectedly finds herself feeling so angry that she inwardly loses her cool, if only for a moment.
“Fuck you…” she thinks to herself in the direction of the collage, as if she was directing it to the former Pinnacle Champion. “...I’ll never be YOU! Thank GOD I will NEVER be YOU! I’m DONE feeling like I have to clean up your mess! DONE!”
Morganna: Everything okay?
Cordelia is caught off guard by the return of her sister.
Cordelia: Did you know any of it? That Valentina was rooting for me to fail?
Morganna’s face suddenly turns as white as a ghost, all but showing Cordelia her answer.
Cordelia: …are you kidding me? You knew and you didn’t tell me?
Morganna: …I don’t know how you heard about that, but I was trying to protect you.
Suddenly, things are about to get just a little more awkward as far as Cordelia is concerned…
TBC…
“She would’ve been 32 today…”
Cordelia Clark is looking a bit uncomfortable when her sister Morganna mentions this to her. They’re overlooking a collage of pictures of their cousin Arabella Madison fka Tina Valentine fka Bella Valentine fka Valentina Madison (yeah, she had a whole bunch of names) while they are at their aunt’s house.
Morganna: I don’t mean to be rude or anything though, but… maybe aunt Jenna should consider not doing this thing every year on her birthday.
Cordelia: Look, I know you’re not Valentina’s biggest fan or anything, especially after she sicced the thugs on you in Hybrid, but she is her daughter after all. Aunt Jenna is never going to get over the fact that she’s gone no matter how much you might think it’ll benefit her.
Morganna: The best thing that I ever did for your career as your sister was keeping her as far away from you as possible when you started training to be a wrestler and it’s a good thing too. You are dealing with much right now. I’m still pissed that you were ROBBED of that breakout award in 5BW.
Cordelia rolls her eyes, not because she agrees with Morganna’s disdain, but because it’s not a subject that she considers important.
Morganna: But let’s be honest, you are starting to deal with the same scrutiny that she did. Okay, sort of. The better you are becoming, the more you’re becoming noticed and the more you are becoming noticed, the more you are getting hatred throwing shade at you. You and I know that back in 5BW, they’ve got so many people jumping on this ‘management favorite’ thing because it’s the cool thing to do.
Cordelia: Yeah, that’s kind of Meagan’s fault, you know that right?
Morganna smirks at this, knowing where Cordelia is coming from.
Cordelia: That public Twitter declaration after last year’s awards didn’t do me any favors. I have had a very good stretch over the last year or so though.
Morganna: Yeah, but if you’ve seen the Internet lately, you’ve got a section of fans that are starting to…
Cordelia rolls her eyes again, which Morganna is able to catch this time.
Morganna: I’m just saying that the more popular you get, the more you’re going to have haters on the Internet hate you because you’re too ‘mainstream’ for them and because they don’t consider you one of them anymore.
Cordelia: Yeah, and name a successful wrestler who doesn’t have that? Look, i love my fans and all don’t get me wrong on that. But my haters? I don’t even give them an ounce of thought. Why should I? It’s not productive to do such a thing. That’s literally one of the biggest things I learned studying Valentina’s career because no matter where she was: IWC, UWA, GCW, Hybrid, she gave way too much of a crap about her haters and what they were thinking of her and when I started doing this in my own right, the first thing that I promised to myself was that I wasn’t going to make that same mistake.
Morganna: You’ve had your moments, but you haven’t for the most part.
Cordelia grows confused at the first part of the comment.
Cordelia: What do you mean ‘you’ve had your moments’?
Morganna: You were getting frustrated in Hybrid for a while after that one clusterfuck briefcase thing. You were even starting to remind me a little of…
Cordelia: WHOA! Don’t even think about finishing that sentence.
Morganna: It was almost on the nose, Cordy. Even you have admitted that you were a bit rash for a while after that. At least you turned it around.
Cordelia: I’m NOT her, okay?
Morganna: I never said you were. Listen, I am going to talk to Aunt Jenna for a bit and… pay my respects…
Morganna almost looks like she wants to throw up when she says that last part. She leaves Cordelia alone for a bit and the Hybrid Vanguard slash 5BW Freedom Champion looks at a portrait of her late cousin. She barely knew her, so as a result, even she will admit that she doesn’t have much of a reason to be sad about her passing but at the same time, she has heard the stories from other wrestlers as well as family about how the former Pinnacle Champion in the previous incarnation of Hybrid behaved everywhere she was.
“It seems like no matter what I do in this business, I’m always going to be carrying the burden of restoring dignity to my family after the way my cousin disgraced it during her wrestling career. I hate to admit that my sister is right that for a while, I was having my moments but she is. It’s also a little rough seeing some Internet comments comparing me to her and seeing things like ‘well Arabella was more entertaining’ or ‘Tina Valentine is so much better and Cordy’s just a wannabe’. Most of the ‘hater’ comments don’t even touch me. But for some reason, those that compare me to HER in a negative way do…”
Voice: So you’re the young lady that I’ve heard so many good things about…
Cordelia snaps out of her thoughts with the sudden presence of a Latina woman, about Arabella’s age, nearby. She doesn’t know how to take to this stranger.
Woman: Brianna, nice meeting you.
Brianna extends her hand to Cordelia who shakes it.
Cordelia: So are you a fan, or are you one of those Internet haters?
Brianna just laughs this off.
Brianna: Girl, if I were a hater, I wouldn’t even bother meeting you. I knew your cousin, many years ago in fact.
Cordelia: Really now?
Brianna: One of my best friends and I used to hang out with her in Harlem quite a bit during her IWC days when we were all young and stupid. It’s just crazy knowing that out of the three of us, I’m the only one that’s still alive.
Cordelia: What happened to your friend?
Brianna: Drive by… but that’s beside the point. It’s gotta be weird being here, right?
Cordelia: Plenty weird…
Cordelia sighs.
Cordelia: I’m feeling basically the same level of awkwardness that I did when Hybrid first offered me a contract. I know the history that she had there and everything. I know how she was Pinnacle Champion and how shortly after she lost it, it all went downhill for her. Losing the title isn’t what killed her though. I remember how a bunch of talent from a recently closed company… the name of it escapes me… showed up in Hybrid… your Adrien Cochranes and your Jessica Sears and those types of names, and then it’s like… from her perspective, they forgot she existed. I think that was the beginning of the end of her career… if not her life… I hate to say…
Brianna: Cordelia, with all due respect, the beginning of the end was WAY before that. I think in your heart, even you know that. You don’t actually believe that narrative of Hybrid forgetting about her, do you?
Cordelia shakes her head.
Cordelia: Valentina’s story is one of someone who could never be happy because she always felt like the world was out to get her and this was in every single wrestling company that she competed in, not just Hybrid. I have done everything in my power to make sure that I never end up like her. You just said it yourself, the beginning of the end was way before Hybrid so… what was it then?
Brianna has a sullen look on her face when she looks at a few pictures of the former Pinnacle Champion, particularly during her career before Hybrid. Cordelia is quick to understand that to some degree, she could very well feel responsible for the demise of Valentina Madison, inside the ring and otherwise.
Brianna: I’m not going to lie to you. Back then, I did treat her like crap. I did peer pressure her a lot, particularly with partying and drinking… but I also know that she was already doing the hard drugs before we ever met. I certainly didn’t help her, I know that. But, like I said, the beginning of the end wasn’t Hybrid. The beginning of the end was three years prior… in IWC…
Cordelia’s eyes widen knowing exactly what Brianna is referring to.
Cordelia: Uprising 5… and no, I’m not referring to the wrestling company by that name….
Brianna: Yeah, I know that’s what IWC called one of their shows back in 2015. You don’t have to tell me. *laughs* But that match meant the world to her. It was that undisputed championship match in August of 2015. As you know, she lost that match and she never got close to becoming a world champion again. If the loss wasn’t bad enough, all the friends of the winner were up her ass on Twitter, running up the score, celebrating… Tina didn’t take it well. She was already in a bad way before all of that happened, but she got progressively worse, and fast, from there.
Cordelia: She never got over it. I remember when I was in the early stages of my training, my cousin actually told me that story and she kept telling me that I was too soft for wrestling, that wrestling was going to chew me up and spit me out, that I wasn’t going to last and that I shouldn’t be involved because I was going to get eaten alive and all of that. I didn’t listen to her. She tried to give me some advice for my career, but honestly, it was all bad. She even wanted to be my manager once I hit mainstream… the audacity…
Brianna lets out a sigh, remembering how the story that was just told effectively ruined the remainder of the former Pinnacle Champion’s career.
Brianna: Months before she passed, I remember she called me… and she brought you up…
Cordelia’s eyes widen for a moment.
Brianna: And I HATE to say this, but I think what you should know is that when we talked about you, she straight up told me that she was hoping you’d never make it.
Cordelia doesn’t even flinch, or even show a hint of anger.
Brianna: She didn’t want you to succeed and it goes without saying that if she were alive watching you have the success that you’ve had, including the fact that you DID become a world champion yourself in Sin City Underground… doing what SHE never got to do… it would’ve driven her crazy.
Cordelia: None of this surprises me, but… why though? I never did anything to her. I was never mean to her. I wasn’t a fan of her attitude and I especially soured on her after what she did to my sister, but I never held an ounce of hate in my heart for her.
Brianna: Because…
Brianna pauses for a moment, looking around to make sure that Cordelia’s aunt Jenna is nowhere in sight.
Brianna: She was always selfish and self-absorbed. I used to be her maid once I got out of the ghetto…
Cordelia: WHAT?
Brianna: Yeeeah… I don’t want to talk about that. I’m just glad I pulled my life out of rock bottom. But hear me out, she treated everyone around her like garbage, especially me. She had no true love or heart for professional wrestling and she never cared about who she offended. She wanted you to fail. She was hoping that you would. And when she brought you up on the phone, she even told me that if ‘somehow, someway’ you became successful, she was going to come after you and try to wreck your career because in her mind, you would be… and I’m quoting her here… ‘stealing my birthright from me’. I feel like you have to know this, but at the same time, I want you to understand that you’re not at fault for how she felt about you.
Even with this reassurance, Cordelia lets out a sullen sigh of her own.
Cordelia: And all of this because of ONE match in 2015 that, honestly, has become so insignificant that nobody remembers it anymore but the people who were there?
Brianna: Trippy, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re doing well and doing better than she did but if there’s one thing for you to take from this today? Please, Cordelia, for the love of god, no matter how hard things get… and you know that things will be getting harder for you as a whole because of the increased scrutiny of being one of the young, up and coming stars of the business at the moment… never, EVER become your cousin. NEVER! I don’t want to put a burden on your shoulders… and I know it’s something you probably think about constantly. Surround yourself with good people, always. Don’t let anyone bring you down with empty words. Just keep staying true to yourself and you’re going to navigate the tougher waters ahead like a pro, you got that?
Cordelia: I understand.
Brianna: Good. Because I would hate to see you waste your career the way I saw your cousin flush hers down the Hudson River. I gotta bail, alright? It was nice meeting you though, I mean that.
Cordelia finds herself surprised once Brianna makes a beeline for another room. She soaks in everything, particularly everything that she just heard and then looks back at the collage of her cousin in a whole different light now that she’s discovered that the Hybrid headcase formerly known as Arabella Madison never wanted her to succeed. In fact, she unexpectedly finds herself feeling so angry that she inwardly loses her cool, if only for a moment.
“Fuck you…” she thinks to herself in the direction of the collage, as if she was directing it to the former Pinnacle Champion. “...I’ll never be YOU! Thank GOD I will NEVER be YOU! I’m DONE feeling like I have to clean up your mess! DONE!”
Morganna: Everything okay?
Cordelia is caught off guard by the return of her sister.
Cordelia: Did you know any of it? That Valentina was rooting for me to fail?
Morganna’s face suddenly turns as white as a ghost, all but showing Cordelia her answer.
Cordelia: …are you kidding me? You knew and you didn’t tell me?
Morganna: …I don’t know how you heard about that, but I was trying to protect you.
Suddenly, things are about to get just a little more awkward as far as Cordelia is concerned…
TBC…
