Colleen vs. Glory Braddock

[Braddock]

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February 24th, 2023
Oklahoma City, OK
Off Camera
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One step at a time. As author Anthon St. Maarten put it, “On your darkest days do not try to see the end of the tunnel by looking far ahead. Focus only on where you are right now. Then carefully take one step at a time, by placing just one foot in front of the other. Before you know it, you will turn that corner.” Glory Braddock has certainly had her fair share for dark days in the past several months. From rumors of a hostile takeover of her company, to learning that her oldest daughter was once again dating arch rival Clyde Sutter, and then last but certainly not least, the death of her beloved mother. All of these stressors put pressure on the psyche of The British Bombshell, which caused her to descend into a downward spiral of near madness. They broke her down, bit by bit, piece by piece, until she completely lost sight of who she was and what she stood for. Braddock has lost track of what defined her as a human being.

Now those three stressors have been taken care of; Glory and her daughter, Melinda have, at least for now, come to an understanding and temporary peace regarding Clyde Sutter. Aphrodite Noel, the only other person in Glory’s life who comes close to a parental figure, not only helped The British Bombshell cope with the grief and the loss of her mother but she also assisted in putting down the potential for a hostile takeover within her corporate empire. Still, despite those pressures being off of her back and despite the fact that she can now refocus on what is important in her life and her career, Glory Braddock still feels as if she is lost. She still feels as if she is off the beaten path and needs help finding herself again.

This evening at the Paycom Center in Breakdown in Oklahoma City was a good first step towards finding herself. Glory Braddock knows that after everything she has done, earning the trust of the fans and her peers again will be difficult. And she heard the mixed reaction, there were some who were still skeptical. Yet she fought on, she promised to just wrestle and that is what she did. She wrestled Amelia Blythe for the SCW Television Championship and at the end of the night, thanks to one simple wrestling hold, The British Bombshell pinned her shoulders to the mat to win the SCW Television Championship. Glory took the next big step closer towards the status of Supreme Champion. But beyond getting closer to Supreme Status, beyond the Television Title, there is one other thing Glory achieved that night; forgiveness. The roar of the crowd, the cheers from the fans after she became champion, that was not lost on Glory Braddock. It felt good to hear the sincere cheers of the fans.

Braddock is walking through the halls of the Paycom Center shortly after her match against Blythe has come to an end. The British Bombshell is still wearing her two piece royal purple wrestling gear. Only now the blonde beauty has an extra piece of hardware with her; the SCW Television Title. An ear to ear grin is spread across her face as she walks the halls, staring at the championship belt that she now possesses. Glory recognizes that she still has a long way to go, she recognizes that her journey is still a long ways away from being complete. But tonight was a good start.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” The voice is immediately recognizable. Glory smirks as she stops and turns to come face to face with her cousin, the Boston native Angelica Jones. It has been awhile since the two cousins have worked in the same promotion together. Now here they are again; but while Glory is an active wrestler, Angelica is taking on the role of manager of her daughter, Kimberly Williams. The redhead is wearing a knee length black skirt, black high heeled pumps, a red silk blouse, and a black leather jacket.

“I was wondering when I would bump into you again, mate.” Braddock drapes her newly won championship belt over her right shoulder. “Have you been busy keeping Kimberly under control?”

“More or less?” Angelica asks with a sigh.

“Is something wrong?”

“You could say that. Kim hasn’t been acting like herself since she lost the Underground Title to Owen Cruze at Body, Heart, & Soul.”

“Forgive me for saying so, love, but Kim NEVER acts normal. There is no such thing as typical Kim behavior. Everything she does is strange and unusual.”

“This is strange even for Kim.” Jones rolls her eyes. “Look, Glory, I wouldn’t expect you to understand because you never bothered to get to know her, or really get close to any of my children. But despite how crazy she may act, deep down underneath Kim’s layers of insanity is a human being, a human being who is hurting right now.”

Glory can sense that her cousin is sincerely concerned about the status and frame of mind of Kimberly Williams. Braddock then thinks about how her children; Melinda Braddock, Dawn Logan, and her adopted child Fiona Logan. Braddock has been concerned about them lately, especially Melinda considering how the two of them are growing farther apart. Braddock may not completely understand Kimberly’s behavior at times, but she does understand Angelica’s concern. Glory is a mother herself after all.

“Sorry, Angel.” Glory sighs deeply. “So, uh, where is Kim?”

“She left early. She went straight to the hotel after we had our talk backstage. I’m worried about what she’s done.”

“You mean her Trios Cash In?” Glory asks. Angelica nods her head.

“What else? Kim is already unpredictable when she’s in a good mood. But when she’s unhinged she can be deadly. She’s beyond unhinged right now. She’s gone over the edge. And you have someone who has gone over the edge and she has the finger on the trigger of a Trios Contract.”

“What did she ask for?”

“I can’t say.” Angelica shakes her head. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

“But you do know what she asked for?”

“Yes, yes I do.” Angelica nods her head.

“Fair enough. I won’t pressure you. Just know I’m here to talk if you need me.” Glory pats Angelica on the back. “I forgot how important family is; I see that now. Understand that I’m here for you if you ever need me.”

“Thanks, Glory.” Angelica smiles. Then she pats the title belt that rests over Glory’s shoulder. “But hey, why focus on the negative when there is something positive we can talk about? Congratulations, champ.”

“Thanks, mate.” Glory chuckles softly. “I wish I could say it was easy but I would be lying. Amelia was trained in the same style I was, the tough technical based European style. She was matching me move for move and hold for hold. I got lucky with that roll-up.”

“Luck or skill, it doesn’t matter because at the end of the day you won the title and are now one step closer to being Supreme Champion. I also heard what you had to say about me, about how I doubted whether you could succeed here in SCW.”

A sly grin forms on Braddock’s face. Supreme Champion is the final goal she hopes to achieve in SCW and she had made it clear several weeks ago that she would be placing her entire focus and energy on achieving that goal. Now she has beaten Amelia Blythe for the SCW Television Title. All that remains are the SCW World Tag Team Championship. And to think, even Angelica Jones, Glory’s own cousin, had once doubted her ability to succeed in this company. Glory is smiling somewhat confidently, borderline arrogantly, as she looks at her newly won title belt. Then she looks back up at Angelica. Glory realizes how smug she must have looked. She also begins to question herself; was she unfair to her cousin? She was quite harsh on her in the promo leading up to the Television Title Match. The arrogant look quickly fades from Glory’s face.

“Yeah, I know what I said. Look…” Glory is about to explain herself when Angelica shakes her head.

“No, don’t say anything. You were right. Years ago when you signed the contract to wrestle for SCW I doubted you, I questioned if you had what it took to make it in SCW against this level of competition. Yet here you stand one championship away from Supreme Status. Already you have done more than I ever could have imagined doing in SCW. I am happy to say that you proved me wrong.”

“Hey, that’s all in the past.” Glory shakes her head. “Let’s just forget it and move on.”

“Sounds good to me.” Angelica and Glory embrace in a tight hug, a warm and friendly hug that makes it seem as if they were sisters rather than just cousins. After breaking the embrace, Angelica looks at Glory and smiles warmly. “Now this is the Glory Braddock I love. This is the Glory Bradock I remember becoming a fan of.”

“Right, well, speaking of that, there is one other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Glory motions for Angelica to follow her. She guides her to a nearby bench. Glory sits down first and motions for Angelica to sit next to her, which she does.

The last time these cousins had a conversation it led to The British Bombshell pouring her heart and soul out. It led to Glory recognizing some of the mistakes and errors she had made and what led to her being in the position she was in; hated, distrusted, and paranoid. Worst of all, the decisions Glory had made had left her in a position of not knowing who she was, forgetting what she stood for. Thankfully Angelica was there to help her, thankfully Angelica was there to guide her back on the right path. Glory still needs answers and hopes that Angelica once again can provide them.

“So what’s on your mind?” Angelica asks.

“Remember our last conversation we had? The one that was tense and awkward?”

“Yes.”

“Grieving the loss of my mother has been…” the words are caught in her throat but Glory does eventually force them out “...difficult. It has been difficult but I have managed to cope the best way I know how.”

“Good. As long as you are coping, as long as you are doing well, that’s all that matters.”

“That’s the thing.” Glory sighs deeply and then shakes her head. “I’m not sure that I’m coping as well as I should. When I think about my mother and my father, both of whom are gone now, I know I should be thinking about the good memories, the happy and pleasant moments we shared together. But I can’t help but focus only on the negatives.”

“What do you mean?” Angelica asks curiously.

“When my mother and father divorced, and my father ended up getting full custody of me in the split, I held a grudge against my mother for not fighting back harder. I held a grudge against her for not trying to regain custody of me. I held a grudge against her for just packing up and leaving England for the United States, effectively leaving me behind. It took a long time before we could ever grow close and by the time we did get close, she was gone. Then there was my father…” Braddock rolls her eyes “...the great and oh so legendary Glenn Braddock. He was a man who had only one loss in his entire amateur wrestling career. He was a man who was undefeated in the indies. He was a man who wanted to compete in the Olympics but a back injury forced him out.” Glory reaches up and wipes some tears from her eyes. Angelica senses the pain in her cousin’s voice and rubs her back to comfort her.

“It’s ok, Glory.”

“I used to idolize my father. He was my hero. But the older I grew, the more I realized that he was just keeping my childhood away from me. I realized he was trying to mold me into his image. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps and follow through and achieve the dreams he never got to accomplish due to his back injury.” Glory sighs and shakes her head. “I was essentially the son he had always wanted but never got. He never wanted a daughter, and he ended up getting two.”

Angelica sits in silence as she takes it all in. She knew that her cousin had held a grudge against her parents, she just never knew how intense it was. Jones finally sighs and begins to speak words that she hopes will comfort her.

“You’re not alone, you know? I held a grudge against my father for the longest time.”

“You don’t talk much about him.”

“There’s a reason for that.” Angelica smirks. “See, after our mother died, Kayla and I were abandoned by our father. He walked out on us. Bart Jones…my father, that is…he used to work for the FBI and had connections. His connections allowed him to find out who murdered our mother and why. Bart was so focused on getting revenge that he just abandoned us to hunt the bastard down. Because he felt hunting down his wife’s killer was more important than raising his children, I ended up in a convent and my sister Kayla ended up in an abusive foster home.” Angelica sighs deeply. “I hated him for a very long time. We eventually began speaking again, we were friendly even.”

“Did you forgive him?” Glory asks. Angelica shakes her head.

“No. And that’s my one regret. I never did forgive him and I wish I did.” Now tears form in Angelica’s eyes. It had originally been Angelica comforting her cousin. Now it is Glory’s turn to comfort Angelica as she reaches over and hugs her tightly and closely to her chest.

“It’ll be ok, mate. Let it out. Just let it all out.”

“I know, Glory.” They break the embrace and Angelica stares into her cousin’s eyes. “My point is that my father was in the wrong, he had made some terrible mistakes, just like your father and mother had made mistakes. Do I understand why my father did what he did? Yeah. I get it. His emotions got the better of him. He was wrong but I understand. Surely you understand why your father and your mother did what they did even if it did hurt you so much?”

“Yeah, I do understand.” Glory says, nodding her head. “It’s just hard to simply forgive and forget. You know?”

“I get it, I really do. I understand more than you could possibly know, because to this day I still hold that grudge with me. I wish I could let it go. I wish I could just go find my father and have it out with him, talk to him, but I can’t do that anymore because he’s dead. And I can’t forgive myself.”

“Yeah, and both of my parents are now gone.” Glory shrugs her shoulders. “So what do you expect me to do, Angel?”

“I have no idea. But I don’t want you to live the way I do with the weight of this regret and anger on your back for the rest of your life.” Angelica stands up and pats the Television Title belt one more time. “Anyway, congratulations again. You deserve this little bit of happiness.”

Glory Braddock watches as Angelica walks away. Meanwhile The British Bombshell is thinking long and hard about what her cousin had to say. Angelica is right, holding onto a grudge like this, especially a grudge against someone who has long since passed away, can be very unhealthy. Glory knows she should try to let go of this anger and hate. But can she do it? Can she really forgive and forget? More importantly, can Glory Braddock remember who she is meant to be?

The British Bombshell takes the Television Title belt and sets in her lap. She stares at it for a long time, thinking about things to come. Her first title defense, in one week’s time, will be in Glendale, Arizona against Colleen. Braddock is not unfamiliar with Colleen. They are no strangers to one another at all. Glory Braddock has had many encounters with Polly Playtime and her Playgirls. Polly was a recent Television Champion and her Playgirl Colleen was a recent challenger to the United States Title. Despite their crazy antics, they are dangerous. Braddock spoke about running a marathon in the lead up to her title match tonight, she questioned Amelia’s ability to run that marathon. Now Glory must ask herself, can she run this marathon with all that is on her mind, with the weight of the regret and guilt weighing her down?

“All I ever wanted to do was make you proud, dad.” Glory says, almost as if she is speaking to the championship belt, but really speaking openly and out loud, hoping her father’s spirit is listening to her somewhere. “I knew you wanted me to follow in your footsteps. You wanted me to be the heir to your wrestling legacy. You were my hero, my idol, and I was honored to carry on your legacy. But I surpassed it. This is my fortieth championship I have won during my professional career. But with all of the rigorous training and fighting I had to go through to earn your praise, to live up to your high standards, through all of that I forgot who you were as a person.” Glory shakes her head. “Being a Braddock is about more than just mere success. The problem is I don’t know what else there is, because I forgot who you were? All I know is what you wanted me to be.”

Glory stands up and takes her newly won title belt with her, draped over her shoulder. She wipes some new tears that have formed in her eyes. “I hope you’re proud, dad. I definitely upheld and surpassed your legacy. I became what you wanted me to be…but at what cost?”