Glory Braddock vs. Kandis

[Braddock]

1 of 2

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June 16th, 2023
Charlotte, NC
Off Camera
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Taking Hold of the Flame is the starting point for Rise To Greatness season. Victory in the popular Taking Hold of the Flame battle royal would earn you an opportunity at the SCW World Championship in the main event of Rise To Greatness, the single biggest event of the SCW calendar year. Braddock had been aiming for a tag team championship match, seeing as she needs those belts in order to complete her Supreme Championship status. Unfortunately her search for a tag team partner had come up short, it came up empty, and she had no one to support her in her quest for the tag team titles. But Rise To Greatness was near and Braddock refused to rest on her laurels. She decided to enter the battle royal and punch her ticket to Rise To Greatness. She decided to take her fate into her own hands. But despite her best efforts, The British Bombshell once again came up short. Coming up just short has become all too familiar lately for Glory Braddock. And this setback put her right back where she started; still without a tag team partner for the tag team title chase, and still without a path to Rise To Greatness. Still, she had planned to once again take matters into her own hands. She had fully intended on challenging Adam Allocco, who also came up short at Taking Hold of the Flame. At least, that was the plan until Brittany Lohan showed up.

Lohan has been a staple in SCW for years. Her return to the company as it heads into the twentieth Rise To Greatness is not a surprise. But Lohan also has a deep history with The British Bombshell. They started out as enemies and quickly turned into friends and a very successful tag team. Regardless of whether they were enemies or allies, they always brought out the best of each other inside the ring. And with Lohan now seemingly volunteering her services, volunteering herself to be Braddock’s tag tam partner, it would appear that the stage is set for a reunion of the former tag team championship duo known as Twisted & Sadistic. It seems almost too good to be true. And perhaps that is why Glory Braddock is a little indecisive about accepting this proposal from her friend.

For the better part of the past couple of months, Glory has been accused of either being a glory hound (no pun intended) seeking to simply add to her trophy case or of constantly changing her minds and not knowing what she really wants. Braddock just wants competition. She wants to put herself against the toughest of tests, against the best of the best, to prove her worth. That’s all she wants. The Supreme Championship status is just one of those tests. Achieving that is the ultimate prize. Returning to the tag team ranks, a division she has not been in regularly for years, is also a challenge that she feels is worthy of her attention. Brittany Lohan would be a great tag team partner, they have chemistry, they know one another quite well. But what if they fail to get the job done? What then? Again Glory will have to deal with coming up just short. If she fails and then gets a new partner, she will again be accused of changing her mind and being indecisive. But that’s just what other people might think about her. Glory Braddock had for so long prided herself on not caring what other people thought about her. And still, to this day, she puts up a strong front, she pretends very strongly that she doesn’t care. Deep down inside, where no one can tell, in a part of her soul that she keeps hidden, she does care. She worries about how this will impact her own image if she fails again. Fear is strong. Fear can make anyone, even the great Glory Braddock, become hesitant to make a move. This is why she has yet to answer Brittany’s challenge. She is afraid to go all in on a Twisted & Sadistic reunion.

A potential Twisted & Sadistic reunion must be put in the back of her mind, for now. Glory Braddock has business to take care of in Charlotte, NC. Lucky for her, with Breakdown having taken place in Raleigh, she did not have to travel long or far for this meeting with her corporate president Francis Taylor. The purpose of this meeting still eludes The British Bombshell. She just received a call from Francis during Breakdown and asked her to meet her at her Charlotte headquarters while she was there. Honestly, Braddock would have preferred to either go back home to Miami or go straight to Memphis, the site of the next Breakdown where she faces Kandis. Kandis is on a roll, having just won Taking Hold of the Flame, and will not be easy to defeat. But a victory over the current number one contender could give The British Bombshell all the momentum she needs heading into Rise To Greatness. She would rather be preparing for a showdown with Kandis. But instead she has stayed behind in North Carolina for what she hopes will be a very brief visit with Francis Taylor.

The corporate offices of her company, Glorious Golden Enterprise, is nearly empty as she walks through the halls. Braddock is wearing an elegant sweetheart neckline bodycon mini dress, colored pink, with cap sleeves and a pencil hemline that stops just above the knee. She is perched atop open toed pink high heel pumps. Her long blonde hair is left to flow straight and unrestrained to past the shoulders. She does not make a visit to the corporate offices that much. She knows all too well what the corporate world does to her; it turns her into someone she does not recognize. It brings out the worst in Glory Braddock. This is why she has allowed people like her adoptive ‘mother’ Aphrodite Noel and corporate president Francis Taylor run the company on her behalf, so that she doesn’t have to get her hands dirty in the corporate politics. Yet today Francis insists that Glory get involved. She insists that this is something that Braddock will want to know about.

Braddock finds the office of Francis Taylor already standing wide open. Taylor’s secretary isn’t even here today. She finds that odd but nevertheless walks right on inside the office as if she owns the place, which technically is true. She does own the place. Once inside the office she finds Francis seated at her oak desk wearing a long sleeve black dress with a hemline that stops right at the knee, sheer stockings, and black patent leather high heeled pumps. Francis beams with what is obviously fake joy as she stands up to greet Glory with open arms.

“Gloria! How wonderful it is that you stopped by!” She tries to embrace Glory in a tight hug but Braddock gently pushes her back.

“Not now, Francis.” Glory says coldly. “I have no idea what this is about but I want to get this over with quickly. I have more important things to deal with.”

“Oh right, SCW.” Francis says with a low chuckle. She walks over and sits back down. Glory nods her head as she sits down across from her.

“Yes, I am facing the current number one contender to the world title on Breakdown. Do you know what a win like that could do for me right now?”

“Honestly, Gloria, I think ANY win over ANYONE would do you a world of good right about now.”

“Are you being serious right now?!” Glory asks incredulously, surprised that Francis would confront her over her wrestling career. “Francis, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You are a businesswoman but you know nothing about wrestling.”

“I may not be a wrestler but even someone with as limited wrestling knowledge as me can tell that you are spinning your wheels. You couldn’t find a tag team partner. Then when one volunteers herself you seem unwilling to accept the help.”

“I have my reasons.”

“Look, I don’t care what your reasons are, but you DO need to start becoming more decisive in your decision making process, Gloria. If you can’t be decisive enough to know whether or not you want to tag team with your best friend, then what makes you think you will be decisive enough to win against this Kandis girl? Or decisive enough to run a company?”

“I am decisive.” Glory insists, her anger starting to boil over. “That’s not my problem.”

“Then what is your problem, Gloria?” Francis asks. “And I don’t really care about SCW or your wrestling, because as you astutely pointed out, I am not a wrestler. You and my brother love the stuff, but not me. I enjoy making money off of wrestling but I am not a wrestler. What I care about is this company. You lost control of this company in 2014. You still owned it but you were stripped of your decision making power. You didn’t get control back until 2019 and you fought ruthlessly to get it back. Yet ever since you got the company back under your control, you have refused to exercise that kind of power over the company. Instead you choose to let your ‘mother’ and minority shareholder Aphrodite Noel run it, you choose to let your corporate president ME run it, you choose to let your general manager Tabitha Silverstone run it. I don’t get it, Gloria.”

“Does it matter?” Glory asks. “You’re getting paid quite nicely. So what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that I want to know what I am dealing with and if I can count on you if I need your help.” There is a pause as Francis stares a hole through Glory Braddock, right into her soul. Finally Braddock sighs and shakes her head.

“Look…I don’t trust my judgment.” She sighs again. “That’s all.”

“You don’t trust your own judgment?” Francis asks curiously. Glory nods her head in confirmation. “If you didn’t trust your judgment then why did you fight so hard to get control of the company back? You could have just left things alone. You wouldn’t have to make the decisions.”

“I didn’t trust the people that was put in place to run the company. And when those people stepped down, I didn’t trust the Board of Directors to run this company the way I wanted it to be run.”

“You didn’t trust them to follow your vision for this company?” Francis asks. Glory nods her head.

“That’s right.”

“So it appears as if you DO trust your judgment, at least to some degree. You know what you want, you’re just not comfortable enough in your ability to obtain it. Or maybe you’re just afraid that you can’t make your vision come true so instead of making a decision yourself you let others make those decisions, that way if it works out, you can take credit, if it doesn’t work out, it isn’t your fault.” Francis smirks knowingly. Glory rolls her eyes as she gets more and more annoyed.

“Do you have a point to all of this, Francis? If this was just your way to psychoanalyze me, I could have gone to my therapist for that.”

“I apologize, Gloria.” Francis holds her up hands as if in surrender. “I didn’t mean to offend you. Really, I just want to know what I’m dealing with here, because the reason I called you in today is because I have the potential to make a huge deal for the company…” her voice trails off. Glory arches her brow out of curiosity.

“What exactly do you mean by huge?”

“I mean the promise of a big investment deal. I have a…” she pauses as she thinks of the right word, then she smiles “...a friend. I have a friend that wishes to invest in the company.”

“I won’t turn away cash, but I think the company is doing well enough as it is.”

“The wrestling promotion is doing well, your wrestling school is doing well, but the modeling agency needs help. And our investor, my friend, wants to pump tons of money into the modeling wing of our business.”

Braddock’s interest is now thoroughly piqued. She had only recently gotten into the modeling business last year. Her cousin’s modeling agency was having financial difficulties due to internal sabotage. Glory bought the agency out in order to save it for her cousin. She knows that the agency could always use some financial help, especially as it has not gotten anywhere near the kind of attention as her corporate interests have received. This could be the perfect way to keep her cousin’s modeling agency propped up.

“That actually sounds like a great idea, Francis. Who is the investor? Is it anyone I’ve heard of?”

“That’s the other reason I needed you to come in.” Francis says as she smiles sheepishly, almost with a hint of guilt on her face. Glory notices this and immediately is concerned. Francis presses a button on her desk that apparently signals someone, for Glory hears footsteps approaching. She turns in time to see the door opening and a gorgeous brown haired woman walking in wearing a cream colored short sleeve blouse and a black pencil skirt. Glory’s eyes grow wide in shock. She definitely recognizes this woman.

“Gloria, our new investor is Melody Murphy. She…”

“Yes, I know her.” Glory says as she stands right up. Melody is smiling ear to ear but Glory is scowling. “I know her all too well.”

“Oh come on, Maria, all three of us were the best of friends once upon a time.” Melody says sweetly.

“I remember you. You were what Americans like to call the mean girls. And you were the tops in that mean girl clique.”

“In Melody’s defense,” Francis says as she leaps to her feet and quickly gets in between Glory and Melody, hoping to diffuse the situation “you were one of us. You were one of those so-called ‘mean girls’ as you put it.”

“So what if I was?” Glory shrugs her shoulders. “I have changed since then. But you? You tried to deceive me and manipulate me by bringing her in?”

“I’m not deceiving you, I’m not manipulating you.” Francis insists. “If I were to deceive you then I would have just made this deal without your knowledge or approval. You yourself gave me a blank check to run this company as I see fit. But I knew that you might have a problem with this deal so I brought you in out of respect for you.” Francis shakes her head. “There’s nothing sinister here, Gloria. Melody just wants to do business.”

“Melody wants to do business? My former friend, the friend who betrayed me, stabbed me in the back and treated me like shit after I got pregnant as a teenager, now suddenly wants to do business?” Glory turns her angry glare back towards Melody. “Why should I deal with you?”

“Maria, please…”

“What did you call me?”

“Maria. Your middle name. You used to like that name.”

“I prefer Glory now.” Braddock insists, folding her arms over her chest. Melody nods her head.

“Fair enough, Glory…I understand why you would be mad. And I admit that I was an awful person back then. Honestly, all three of us were awful back then, but especially me. You were going through so much when that scoundrel Thomas got you pregnant and ran away, leaving you to deal with motherhood on your own. If I were a true friend I would have helped you instead of mock you.”

“Damn right.” Glory snaps back angrily.

“But Maria…sorry, Glory…” Melody sighs “...please, understand that we were kids back then. Both of us have matured. Both of us have changed, hopefully for the better. You have become not only a successful wrestler, following in your late father’s famous footsteps, but you have also become a successful businesswoman. I myself am a successful businesswoman. I do wish we could someday be friends again…”

“Not going to happen, mate.” Glory says sharply.

“...fair. But we don’t have to be friends in order to do business. And you, Glory, have been very successful at business. And I want to invest in your business.”

“You want to do business? And that’s it?”

“That’s it.” She makes a cross sign over her chest. “Cross my heart.”

“Maybe you’re right…” Glory sighs and shakes her head “...unfortunately, I cannot bring myself to trust you.” Glory says, staring Melody right in the face. Melody sighs with a hint of disappointment.

“Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea after all, Francis?” She says, looking at the corporate president. Francis shakes her head.

“Don’t worry, Melody. Just give me and Gloria some time to talk. Alone.”

“Fair enough.” Melody nods her head. “I will be outside.” Melody turns and walks out of the door. She shuts it behind her. Once she is gone Glory turns to face Francis and shakes her head.

“Nothing you can say will get me to change my mind.”

“You’re being ridiculous, Gloria.”

“You complained about me not being decisive? Well I’m being decisive here. No deal.”

“She’s changed.”

“Maybe she has? But I’m not sure I can forgive her for what she’s done.”

“You did some of the same things, we all did. All three of us were part of that clique, Gloria. But it’s like Melody said, we were kids back then. All three of us have grown, all three of us have changed and matured since then. Melody is a successful businesswoman like you and like you she has connections to tons of resources and tons of money. She wants to put those resources and wealth to OUR disposal, to help OUR modeling agency.”

“That isn’t our modeling agency, Francis.” Glory snaps back. “That’s my cousin Kayla’s modeling agency. I only bought it and brought it into our umbrella in order to sustain it, to keep it from going belly up. My cousin loves that agency and would do anything to protect it.” She points to the door. “I’m not gonna let some weasel like Melody get her grubby paws on it.”

“Right, that agency is your cousin’s. And you would do anything to help your family right?”

“Precisely.”

“Well that’s all Melody is proposing. She doesn’t want to control the modeling agency. She just wants to pump some extra revenue into it to help it out financially. She wants to give it some cash reserves, no questions asked, no strings attached.”

“No strings attached?” Glory asks curiously. Francis nods her head in confirmation.

“That’s right, no strings attached.” Francis places a hand on Glory’s shoulder. “Look, I apologize if it seems like I was hiding something from you, but honestly this deal is on the up and up. This will only benefit your cousin and her modeling agency. I’m not asking you to take a major risk here.”

“Trusting that woman is a risk.” Glory insists. “But I would do anything for my family.”

“So is that a yes?” Francis asks hopefully. Glory sighs and nods her head.

“Yeah, it’s a yes.”

“Wonderful!” Francis exclaims. “Let’s go tell Melody the good news!”

Is this good news? Glory isn’t exactly sure. Then again, she hasn’t been certain of much of anything lately. She doesn’t trust Melody but she does know that her cousin’s modeling agency needs financial help and she is willing to take a risk such as this for her family. This also makes her think about Brittany Lohan. Glory certainly trusts Lohan to do her job and carry her weight. She always has and always will. But Glory hasn’t been able to trust herself lately. But she does want to become a tag team champion and thus Supreme Champion. Brittany Lohan might be the ticket to that goal. More and more Glory thinks about it, the more this seems like a good idea. But before making any decisive move on the tag team scene, she must focus on Kandis. Braddock needs to regain some momentum as Rise To Greatness creeps ever closer.