Episode #2.03: Old legacies and new

[SalTal]

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Episode #2.03: Old legacies and new

Recorded the 8th - 22nd of August, 2015. Happy Endings TV continues with a new episode. We get an insight into Sally's thinking and preparation for what may well be the biggest match since APW's return: Sally Talfourd up against the up-and-coming Rachel Ellsworth. Very personal and introspective, we get inside the mind of a former APW champion who is looking to become one again!!

"Sally Talfourd presents ..."

"In association with Action Packed Wrestling …”

"Happy Endings T.V.”

[ Act 1 - Recovery Session - Palms Motel, Portland, Oregon - 8 August, 2015 ]

BANG-BANG-BANG!

“Sally, wake up,” Matt’s voice, while still muffled, comes through the door, “Please … still be alive …”

There’s the stray beam of light coming through the patchy window curtains - the closest Sally could get to pitch-black. There’s some stumbling, some grunts, and door locks unlocking, and then, slowly, the door creaks open.

“What?”

Sally’s hair is a mess, he tank-top and boy-shorts a makeshift set of pyjamas. Her eyes are blurry and she has to shade them to figure out what’s going on. Matt looks past her to the most run-down hotel room he’s ever seen Sally emerge from. Stains on the carpet … peeling wallpaper … a bed that’s seen, well, best not describe that.

“Can we leave? I think I caught 6 diseases just walking here,” Matt scratch his arm. Then his face. Then the back of his neck.

Sally frowns, “What are you talking about?”

She stumbles back into her room and see that glorious bed that she escaped to after yet another difficult match. Walking through the test that was CJ Gates, Crusher Crenshaw, and Buckson Gooch … anywhere soft was going to be a welcome sight for her. And, indeed, driving back to the airport and the exhaustion kicking in … the Palms Motel seemed like an oasis in the desert.

[ Act 2 - No Rest For The Wicked - The Olivian Apartments, Seattle, Washington - 11 August, 2015 ]

“Yeah, been keeping busy,” With a sizzle and a crack and a pop, Sally flips her fried egg in the pan, “Going to the gym, hitting up the local rings to stay on my game. The usual routine these days, different from before but more important.”

Matt furiously chews over his food, a bit of egg white spitting out his mouth when he begins talking, “You finding the return hard now?”

Sally’s head pokes round the kitchen corner, glaring at her manager, “No,” She returns her attention to her cooking, “It’s just these new kids coming through, bringing their excitement and their keenness to APW … I’m not young anymore, you know? I was this new crop when I first came to APW.”

Sally brings her plate out to the table, sitting across from Matt. The eggs look well done. Not to the point of being tasteless and bland, but the cooking is definitely showing. Sally pokes at it with her chopsticks, a little unsatisfied with what she sees. But, still, an egg is an egg, and when you’re chewing it up, it all tastes the same.

“Well,” Matt wipes the corner of his mouth, “You’ll need to be on our game this week.”

“Mmmm,” Sally nods her approval - maybe at the egg, maybe at what Matt said, “You’re not wrong there.”

Ok, it was for what he said.

“Rachel Ellsworth …” Matt returns to his food, stopping before his first mouthful, “She’s the newcomer who’s made the most of all this.”

“Yes, it seems to be a bit of an all-women affair here in APW now,” Sally chews her mouthful over to finish, “I mean, Arkia Fisk was maybe the biggest outsider to come in. Rachel Ellsworth is now tearing everything up. I guess I’m doing my thing as well …”

“Just like everything else,” Matt stares down at his food, “Women taking over everything … ow!”

A flying fork flies through the space separating manager and wrestler. Matt rubs his forehead, looking up with a pained expression.

There’s some silence between the two before Sally finishes and rests back in her seat - the universal sign of a meal well had, “You know Rachel might well be the best new talent we have. I’ve seen both her matches, and she really puts on a show.”

“Yeah, the crowds seem to dig her, though not for the same reasons they cheer for you.”

“Do they even cheer her? She’s so all over the shop …” Sally frowns, trying to solve the questions of the universe, “I wonder if they just cheer her unpredictability. Like, are they cheering her for what she stands for or are they cheering her because she’s bound to do something crazy?”

“Probably the latter,” Matt begins to get the plates and cutlery together in a neater pile, “But they cheer for you more. If she were fighting the good cause, I guess she’d be the next …”

Sally interrupts her manager, which brings him to a complete stop, “No! Don’t say it!”

“Say what?”

“Do not say she’s the next Sally Talfourd. Or the heir to my ‘legacy’ or whatever,” Sally rubs her face, her eyes and her cheeks, “It’s not fair to her and it’s no fair to me. She’s her own person, and so am I . Even if were were all that more similar, neither of us would want that onus on our shoulders.”

Matt nods, taking the washing up to be, well, washed up. Sally pushes out from the table and heads over to the balcony window-doors, looking out over Seattle. Somewhere further down the coast is San Diego - home to her next bout. Yes, she and Rachel will step into the ring together , but they go in as very different individuals. One is a fan favourite, a representative of APW, and the face of everything that’s good in and about this business. The other? The other seems to be the banner-bearer of chaos and of lunacy. Yes, the fans might appreciate both - but they will be forced to choose a side this coming show. Who do they really want to see as the ‘leader’ of APW? Who do they want to see as the person standing up for APW’s reputation? The person setting the tone for this new stage of a great wrestling business?

Based on history, Sally knows the fans will rally around her. She provides them with everything they want and need. She delivers to them a safety and security and an entertainment that they crave for. Champions have struggled to get the kind of respect that she has had her time here in APW. From working hard at the bottom of the card up, Sally has put in the effort to rise up to the main event. Not wanting to ride of history alone, now that APW has reopened, she’s more than willing to do it all again.

And what is it?

beat the best that APW has to offer. And, right now, Rachel Ellsworth is one of the best that APW can offer her. Determined, driven and eager of success - both women will be looking to come out of this match with their hand raised in the air.

It will set the tone for the course of APW. It will establish a reputation for this company to follow.

The question is: Which course will APW run?

“What are you thinking?” Matt wanders over, standing alongside his client. He looks at Sally, who looks out at her hometown.

“Oh, nothing much,” Sally smiles, “Just … the next show.”

[ Act 3 - Showtime! - Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, California - 22 August, 2015 ]

Yu’d think winning a couple of matches on the trot would get a little more attention than most, right? I mean, especially if you’ve knocked off the likes of CJ Gates and Buckson Gooch in amongst those wins.

But such is the competition around here, the competitiveness and just how big things are getting here in APW, it’s going to take more … waaay more to get ahead. To get noticed. To get known (or re-known) around here. That means taking on the best that APW has now.

And boy, have those faces changed.

When it used to be enough to beat CJ Gates to become someone to look out for. Now? Well, it takes a lot more.

So, in saying that, could you all welcome to the stage: Rachel Ellsworth.

You, among everyone who has come to APW since its re-opening, have stood out as someone to watch out for. As someone to measure one’s self against. As someone I knew I would savour the opportunity to get into the ring with. I say that with all the honesty and sincerity that I can.

You’ve stood out form the crowd since you came here and you managed to do something that is absolutely, positively, without a doubt the hardest thing to do in APW when you’re a woman.

Is it beat the men here? HA! Of course not.

Is it to break through the glass ceiling? No, that’s been done already.

What is it you ask?

The hardest thing for a woman in APW is to avoid comparisons with me.

What do I mean? I mean that any woman who steps into the ring and shows and shows any sign of success immediately gets compared to me. Just ask Aubrey J. Parker. She came into APW, wrestled rings around just about everyone and could never shake the shackles of “Is this the next Sally Talfourd!?”

So, hats off to you: You’re carving out your own niche here in APW, and power to you! It’s a great sign of strength and ability for you to rise through the ranks of APW as your very own person. And it’s exactly this kind of thing I want to help build and come to be expected in APW.

I’ve made it no secret that APW this time around (for me, at least) is to build up the untouchable legacy that APW has always deserved. Known for putting on the greatest matches. Known for having the best shows. And known for having the greatest megastars of any roster.

That’s you, Rachel. You have all those qualities and more. So far, you’ve put on show-stealing matches in your time here. You’ve amazed the crowd is many, many different ways. They’re intrigued because no one has a good measure of you yet; whether you’re good or bad or something else. And you’re going to give anyone a run for their money when they get in the ring because whether it’s a reflection on you, on APW, or something else, it’s important enough to put your all into.

While we may not be on the same page in this regards, I know that when we get in the ring you are going to do everything to win and so am I. I guess we have different motives, but that stands to figure.

You are going to want to win to do your best to put to death the risk of being compared to me. I get the vibe that you’re that kind of person who would be annoyed at having your achievements tainted by someone else’s history. I respect that - wanting to do you own thing. It’s that which I know will drive you in this match. That’s what I want: A driven opponent. Someone who is going to push me so that we’re both firing on all cylinders.

Because that’s what we both want: A hard match with a chance to show to the world that we both deserve what we want.

So then it comes to the question of whose wants will prevail? Which one of us will walk out the victor? Which one of us will want it more to go to that level that APW demands?

I guess when it comes down to winning, it comes down to consistency. And the only thing that’s consistent with you so far is that you’ve won two matches. Anything else? I don’t know, is it fair to call you random? However you want to describe yourself, it all boils down to unpredictability. And yet, somehow that has managed to get you some success.

Well, against the person who may well be the most consistent wrestler in APW I have a feeling that it’s not going to work out so well for you. Maybe that will be the start of some next level stuff for you into the future. But unless you can be consistent, that great level of success is going to elude you for some time. Or at least for tonight.

You see, I like a match where you have to do what you’re capable of doing … just a whole lot better. The fans like that in me: They watch a Sally Talfourd match and they know that they are going to get some great wrestling, some high-point moments, and absolutely everything I can throw at the opponent including the kitchen sink. Expectations are met, they appreciate it, and I love it too.

But with you … who knows what they’re going to get. You’re unbalanced, some have said. And I’m not too far away from agreeing with them. If you’re going to be consistent, you need to be in control … of everything. You need to be in control of your match. You need to be in control of your opponent. But, above all, you need to be in control of yourself. You need to have a clear focus and a sane outlook. You need to know what you’re capable of and what you’re not. You need to be able to ride the emotions of your match and of yourself.

Have we seen that from you? Of course not! Where’s the control over your emotions? Over your focus? Over your temperment? You’ve faced off against two opponents who don’t know how to exploit this. Maybe they didn’t even notice this. But I have. I’ve seen that your biggest weakness is your lack of control. I know that the best way to combat this is to be the wrestler I’ve been all this time: Consistent.

With you and your focus on pain and agony and taking any path there … most wouldn’t know how to deal with that. And when you don’t know what you’re going to do with your opponent, you’re already half-way to losing. On the other hand, I know what I need to do to combat you.

You like submissions? So do I.

You like wrestling? So do I.

You like randomness? Well, I can’t say I do.

I’ll match you with submission and wrestling and speed, but I won’t match you with the random thoughts that come across your mind. I’ll face you with the steadiness and the consistency and the focus that will upset everything you do in the ring. I know that my game plan works. It’s beaten some of the greatest men and women that have every stepped into the APW ring. It’s taken me to the highest of highs.

Now, in this new era of APW, I know it’s going to help me build up a legacy that is memorable and known across the business. I know it started two shows ago, and I know it’s going to continue tonight when you and I step into the ring.

I respect you,and I thank you for giving me this opportunity. You’ve trained hard, fought well, and established the credibility that I need to build up this reputation for APW. You’ve done your part.

Now tonight, I will do my part.