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Off Camera
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Sun Tzu
says….
夫兵形象水，水之形，避高而趨下：兵之形，避實而擊虛；水因地而制流，兵因敵而制勝。故兵無常勢，水無常形；能因敵變化而取勝，謂之神。故五行無常勝，四時無常位，日有短長，月有死生。
“Military
tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from
high places and hastens downwards. So in war, the way is to avoid what is
strong and to strike at what is weak. Water shapes its course according to the
nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in
relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no
constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can
modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning,
may be called a heaven-born captain. The five elements (water, fire, wood,
metal, earth) are not always equally predominant; the four seasons make way for
each other in turn. There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of
waning and waxing.”
Warfare
takes many shapes as it goes along. To
win a war, one must be able to adapt to an ever changing environment in the
war. A warrior must be able to adapt to
the ever changing environment, to the flowing stream of warfare. Sun Tzu warned future generations that
warfare was fluid. He compared warfare
to a flowing stream of water in that it retains no constant shape. It’s always changing. In other words, according to the great
Chinese military philosopher, the best laid plans go to shit rather quickly.
For the
longest time I have proclaiming to the ends of earth, to anyone and everyone
who will listen, that there is none pure, none holy. To put it perfectly blunt, I went a step
further and declared that within everyone is the stain of a sociopath, just
like me. And those that pretend
otherwise, the heroes of the world, are but merely lying to themselves and
lying to those who look up to them and idolize them.
I found a
great deal of experimental subjects within Supreme Championship Wrestling who
proved my point. Mr. D is either corrupt
or stupid, proven when Bree Mason, a woman who while unpopular did rightfully
earn a world title shot but had to share that title shot in a triple threat
match with a “hero” in Syren and why?
Because Syren was involved in an “automobile accident”, an accident of
her friend’s devising? And Syren, the
hero, selfishly took the opportunity and the title, all the while framing
Kennedy Street.
Yeah, they
are the heroes.
I was right,
right all along, and I should be boasting right now, boasting about how I was
right about the filth and corruption within SCW. I should be gloating about how I was right
about how each and every one of the heroes are, in actuality, a sociopath just
like me. I should be happy.
Yet what was
accomplished? What have I gotten out of
this and indeed what will I get out of gloating over this perceived
victory? This is what makes it difficult
to brag. Knowledge is only half the
battle. While Sun Tzu did speak highly
of knowledge and strategy before the physical fighting itself, ultimately there
must be some form of physical fighting in order for true victory to be
obtained. And I fear that what I have
learned with my time in SCW may impact elsewhere, it may impact other parts of professional
wrestling.
It’s a
secret I must share, even with those who I never thought I would entertain a
visit with, not in my lifetime at least.
We open at a
small café on the outskirts of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The yellow sundress that I am sporting on
this day features criss cross straps, along the empire waist, smocking at the
back and a hidden side zipper. This sundress conveys fun and has a feminine
touch. My long dark hair hangs down
straight and unrestrained to just below my shoulders.
I am sitting
at a table. A cup of coffee is sitting
in front of me but it has barely been touched.
I am too anxious to drink it, too excited to touch it. The nerves and stress of the upcoming
situation are getting the best of me.
“Do you want a refill?”
“Hmm?”
Startled I turn to see the waitress standing there with a coffee cup in
hand. I smile pleasantly as proceed to
shoo her away. “No thanks, love, I’m fine.”
She nods and
walks away. I regret ordering this
coffee. I will regret even coming here
if Glory Braddock doesn’t soon show herself.
She is the one I am supposed to meet.
She reluctantly agreed to meet me here, and I suspect that it’s because
her father asked her to come. I have
made somewhat of an uneasy peace with Glenn Braddock. He was willing to forgive me because he spent
so much time and energy training me. His
daughter Glory Braddock, who competed in the End of the Year Battle Royal, were
trained together, side by side. We both
received the same lessons from her great father and yet we seem to have vastly different
outlooks on life and the sport of professional wrestling.
Glory
Braddock always held back. She never did
whatever it took to obtain ultimate victory.
Don’t get me wrong, she’s extremely good at what she does and has a
killer instinct, but she lacked the willingness to actually go that extra
distance all for the sake of victory. I
am the darkness to her light, I am the yin to her yang. I am and always have been willing to do
whatever was necessary to get what I wanted.
That just
never sat well with Glory and eventually we went out separate ways in the
sport. But perhaps it is time to bury
the hatchet?
I begin to
get more discouraged until I hear a familiar voice behind me.
“Sorry I’m late.” I turn my head in time to see Glory Braddock
approaching. “I got caught up in traffic.”
I let out a
sigh of relief, hoping mother didn’t notice.
“Ah, it’s ok, mate. I barely
noticed you weren’t here.”
“You always were a bad liar, Sophie.” She says, grinning as she sits down at the
table with me.
“Am I that obvious?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t matter.” The
self-described British Bombshell folds her arms over her chest and stares at me
with an intensity that few get to see, but I know it all too well. She’s on guard, ready for a fight. I can tell that she doesn’t trust me. She has
no reason to. “I take it we’re not here
for a friendly chat anyway, am I right Sophie?”
“Yes, you’re right. But before we get to why I called you here…” I
make a waving motion with my hand to flag down the waitress, she comes over
with a pen and notepad and I motion to Glory “…get her whatever she wants.”
“Just a water will be fine. I don’t plan to stay long.”
The waitress
nods and walks off to fill the order.
Glory turns and looks back at me intensely. “Yes, Sophie?”
“For what it’s worth, Glory, I apologize for
any grief I’ve caused you.”
“Apologize?” Glory’s eyes grow wide with
shock. “That’s what you wanted me here
for? To apologize? That just…” she chuckles “…that just doesn’t seem like the Sophie I
know.”
“The apology is part of why I wanted you
here.” I respond, watching as the waitress returns with a glass of water,
placing it in front of Glory. “We’ve been
through a great deal you and I, some good times and some bad, and it is my
belief that some troubling times for all of us may be coming up. It may behoove us if we, at the very least,
buried the hatchet.”
Glory thanks
the waitress as she walks off. Glory
then takes a sip of her water and then shakes her head in disbelief.
“Sorry, Sophie, I just find it difficult
that you’re making this sudden one hundred and eighty degree turn on me. You must have an ulterior motive.”
“Yes, and I told you what it is. I believe troubling times are on the horizon
and we should be prepared for it; and besides, I…” my voice trails off as I
simply shake my head “…just forget it.”
“What?
What is it?”
“It’s nothing.”
“It was something.” Glory smirks. “Now what was it?”
“I…miss you.”
“You miss me?” Glory snickers. “The so-called sociopath misses me?”
“Don’t gloat.” I snap back at my English
friend. “I will admit when I am wrong and
I was wrong to ruin the friendship we had.
I’d like to get it back, if possible.
I’d like to rebuild that bridge I burned.”
“Hypothetically speaking, if this is true,
when did you finally realize that your “brilliant mind” led you to making some stupid mistakes that destroyed our friendship,
Sophie?”
“The End of the Year Bash. I was there, I wasn’t competing but I was
there, watching you the entire time. You
had been through hell since we went our separate ways, enough that would’ve
broken a normal person. I thought this
entire time you’ve just been putting on a brave face and I sincerely expected
to see pain in those eyes. And yet at
End of the Year Bash, and even here tonight as I look into your eyes, I see
something that I never expected to see…”
“What’s that?” Glory asks, now genuinely
curious.
“Happiness.
You were happy and I never expected that. But then, that’s something I can never be an
expert on. I have studied the military
experts of history from Sun Tzu, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar to
William Tecumseh Sherman and Patton, I have studied philosophy and
politics. You name the academics and I
know it like the back of my hand.”
“Ever so humble, are we Sophie?” Glory says
mockingly. I ignore her.
“But you were feeling happy, happy in a way
that I will never feel because I am just not wired that way. I am not a feeling person, Glory, you know this
better than anyone else alive other than my own brother Mark. I realized at the End of the Year Special
that we went our separate ways because of my jealousy.”
“Jealousy?” Glory asks, arching her
brow.
“Yes, I envied you, Glory, because you have
something I never had and never will have.
But that’s not a reason to destroy our friendship.” A sly grin forms
upon my face. “You, Mark, and I were
quite the trio are your father’s wrestling school. You do remember what they called us, don’t
you?”
“How could I forget?” Glory says with a
laugh. “Trinity!”
“We were the best in that school and we even
dominated professional wrestling for a couple of years until my jealousy
destroyed everything. We could have it
again, Glory. We could recreate Trinity.”
“So that’s what this is all about.” Glory
chuckles lightly. “What’s the problem,
Sophie? Are you having difficulties
within SCW?”
“Whether you believe me or not is
irrelevant, trouble is brewing and there’s nothing better or stronger than the
alliance we had to prepare ourselves.”
“Yeah, you’ve said that already a few times
now. What are you babbling about?”
“It isn’t babbling. It’s fact.
It’s something I’ve observed during the entirety of my wrestling career
but has now been proven fact in Supreme Championship Wrestling. Each and every superstar we wrestle, who we
work with, in any and every company we work for, all of them has a dark side,
all of them has an inner sociopath just waiting to get out. Even the heroes.”
“Oh, the Dark Fantasy controversy you mean?”
Glory chuckles. “You know, I expected
that would get a rise out of you. A
couple of fan favorites prove to be involved in a complex automobile frame-up
all in order to get the world championship.
You can say you were right about them all along. So now what?
I know Ravyn Taylor beat your ass a few times. Are you going after her,
is that it?”
Glory shakes
her head. “Well let me stop you while you’re
ahead and just tell you that I’m not interested in helping you this time,
Sophie. Besides, if you think you’re
going to jump that far ahead of the line and face the likes of them you’re
delusional.”
“I don’t care about Dark Fantasy!” I
bang a fist on the table. This gets Glory’s attention. “What worries me is what I learned.
A theory is nothing until right or wrong. I was hoping that my theory about the inner
darkness of humanity would be proven false but I was proven right, Glory. In other words, what I’m getting at is that
if Syren would do something like that, then what could ANYONE do to either of
us, Glory?”
“So this isn’t some crazy mission of yours?”
“No, it isn’t.” I answer while shaking
my head. “Trinity was originally created
not to dominate the sport but to watch each other’s back. That’s why I want Trinity back together. I
think we should go back to its original purpose of watching each other’s back.”
I extend a
hand across the table. “So what do you
say, Glory?”
I watch
Glory as she pauses to consider my proposal.
I feel anxious as I await her response, hoping that it will be a
positive one. She takes a sip of her
water and puts the glass back down. She
sighs and, to my disappointment, she shakes her head.
“Sorry, mate, but there’s been so much done
already by you, things that I cannot just forget. I cannot just forget all of that and reform
Trinity. I don’t trust you yet. But…” much to my surprise she reaches out
and accepts the handshake “…I do believe
in second chances, even if you don’t.”
“So does this mean we’re…”
“Yeah…” she winks at me “…we’re friends again.”
It is true,
I always envied Glory Braddock due to her ability to feel whereas I was always
the thinker. While I never have been
labeled as such, I have self-diagnosed myself as a sociopath due to my seeming
inability to feel emotions. But that isn’t
entirely the case. Every so often, in
rare occasions, my emotions come out unexpectedly. Glory no doubt would have to be blind in
order to miss this one. Tears are
flowing the cheeks of this sociopath.
Who would have
imagined?
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On Camera
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Expecting another
rousing quote from “The Art of War” as
written by the great Sun Tzu? Not this
time. Helena Merriman, as your mentor
should have informed you, and as you should know if you’ve done your homework,
I am a student of military strategy and military history. Sun Tzu may be my favorite but there are
other military geniuses from history and one, in particular, who has made an
observation about you.
Julius
Caesar says, “Men in general are quick to
believe that which they wish to be true.”
I would dare
say you are on cloud nine, are you not Helena?
You have a few wins under your belt here in SCW; Scarlet Grey. Mr. Money Maker. And you even took out your own mentor, Brittany
Lohan. The once feared War Machine is
gone thanks to you.
I applaud
you for that, all of it. Even the
destruction of Brittany Lohan. I mean,
let’s face facts, I would be a hypocrite myself if I were not to applaud you
for what you’ve done up until now. As
another military genius, William Tecumseh Sherman, once said “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to
reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
If only the
rest of your SCW career could continue to be that easy, right Helena? It won’t, though, and I’m not entirely sure
you are aware of it. I believe that you are
falling into the trap that Julius Caesar alluded to. Men, or women in your case, are quick to
believe that which they wish to be true.
I call it
buying into your own hype. You so
fervently believe that you are the next War Machine, that you are carrying on
Brittany Lohan’s legacy and that you truly did her a favor by taking her
out. You believe that you are capable
now of taking anyone out, of beating anyone.
This is
where your world come crashing down around you, Helena, because I am here to
inform you that I am not a Mr. Money Maker and I am not a Scarlet Grey. No, I’m not even Brittany Lohan, and that’s
not a knock on her, because I recall how good she was in this squared circle.
I am Sophie
O’Brian. You want a fight, Helena? You’re going to get one but it will be a fight
on my terms, not yours. It will be a
fight where I dictate the pace, where I dictate the rules of engagement. After all, it is according to Sun Tzu’s
teaching “this the expert in battle moves
the enemy, and is not moved by him.”
Oops, I apologize,
I lied a teensy little bit there. I did
use a Sun Tzu quote.
You want a straight
up fight. No tricks and none of my mind
games. But you are not in any position
to dictate the terms of this battle which we are about to engage. Do you have something I want? Hardly.
You are but merely new to this game.
You may have done well in development companies but I’ve competed all
over the world winning world championships.
But my
championship accolades isn’t what brings you to me, is it Helena? You’re not stupid. You’ve heard the stories from Lohan and her
associates, many of whom I have fought in the past. They have told you about
what I am capable of. For you this presents
a unique opportunity, an opportunity to truly test yourself.
Thus you
need me and you need this fight. Thus I
dictate the terms of engagement, not you.
You knew all
along that there was nothing you had that I wanted, Helena. If you thought there was then you are truly
delusional and I’m happy to have opened your eyes. But don’t get me wrong, I do want to defeat you. I want this victory. While you have been handed softball matches
early on in your SCW career I have been from the outset facing the toughest of
the tough.
Torsten
Voigt, a former SCW Television Champion.
Angelica
Jones, two time former SCW World Tag Team Champion and the current SCW
Television Champion.
Ravyn
Taylor, her resume speaks for itself.
Those are
just a few of the names I’ve been facing off against since my arrival in
SCW. Needless to say, I never got a
softball start like you. I’ve been fighting tooth and nail since the beginning
and it’s been like a roller coaster, up and down, wins and losses left and
right.
Well it’s
time to accumulate some wins and forget all about those bloody losses and
Helena, you’re the first; the first in a series of victims. I don’t care about proving myself right any
longer about the nature of man. I
believe Dark Fantasy already did a pretty damn good job of proving me right.
The philosophical debates and experiments end.
Now I want success of my own.
You stand in
my way, Helena, and that is just not a good place to be, especially for a very
green rookie who has never been challenged and does not know what it is like to
taste defeat in SCW yet.
But that’s
where I come in.
Here’s a
spoiler alert for the upcoming edition of Breakdown, so cover your ears if you
plan to tune in…Helena Merriman, I will hand you your first defeat in Supreme
Championship Wrestling. And with that
defeat you will be brought kicking and screaming into reality. And when you get over the shock of it all,
you will realize that making a career of it all here in SCW will not be as easy
as you perhaps thought it would be.
It won’t be
as easy as it was when you took out Brittany Lohan. It sure as hell won’t be as easy for you when
you defeated Money Maker and Scarlet Grey.
You will realize that you will run into opponents like me, sometimes
tougher than me, and you will have to figure out how to deal with it.
I may have
quoted Julius Caesar but he isn’t exactly the best example of a warrior due to
the simple fact that he never lost. Few
true warriors ever are that lucky and I guarantee you won’t be as lucky as
Julius Caesar because I will defeat you on Breakdown.
A true
warrior, Helena, is determined based upon how they handle adversity, and
specifically how they handle defeat.
You call
yourself a warrior; so the world will be watching with great interest to see
how you handle defeat. We’re all about
to find out very soon, my dear.
