Post by Madwoman Szalinski on Sept 14, 2019 10:40:52 GMT -5
FREE FALLING
Have you ever fallen so hard that you feel the air escape your chest and the burning sensation of pain throughout your body?
Falling. I remember falling. The gate was so high and I was so small, not yet the Madwoman I would become. I could see Ross standing right outside of the gate, calling to me. That fifteen foot gate was my first true rival. No matter how hard I tried to climb the gate, I always fell backwards. The pain would surge through my back, the air would leave my lungs in one powerful burst. Eventually I would give up and Ross would have to jump the fence and carry me over. It was like that every time he came to take me away from the boarding school.
I quickly developed a strong fear of heights. I didn’t want to have the air knocked out of me anymore. It was a big problem during my training with Nathan Gust. The top rope quickly replaced that fourteen foot gate as my greatest rival. I would ascend and my knees would go weak. I remember fainting a few times and Ross, again, having to catch me. Eventually I gave up ideas of using high risk moves and began jumping from the middle rope, real old-school Memphis type stuff. You know, fist drops and headbutts. That seemed more my speed, more my style. Nathan Gust was more than willing to help me with this, but he was always a little bit disappointed in my fear of the top rope.
I never did conquer my fear of the top rope and now, with Ross having left professional wrestling to pick up MMA, I’m alone. Eventually, I’m going to have no choice but to kill my fears by facing them head on. As I ready myself for the biggest challenge of my career, I know that I must defeat my personal demons. Every step I take has been leading me to this moment. I must become a champion the people can believe in.
A champion must be fearless. They can’t lock up when it’s game time. I think back to people like John Pariah and my teacher, Nathan Gust. I think back to their many title matches and defenses. Real champions from a bygone age, legends. I want to be on their level. The fear of the top rope is just one of my many fears and one by one I have to knock down those walls of fear.
I have to be the physical embodiment of a wrecking ball. I have to be a sledgehammer that destroys trauma. It’s time for me to grow and to become something far greater than I am today. My dream is to earn, not be handed nor be awarded, but EARN a championship. For that to happen I must be free of worry, fear, trauma, and despair.
For that I will take up the name Madwoman Szalinski. For that I will break down walls, one by one. They will all fall, the walls that keep me from attaining greatness, and you will see a legend rise. You will see a Madwoman standing tall, laughing as a championship reign begins.
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“Like Link in iron boots, I shall not be moved! Beetham Tower! Tallest building in Manchester, England! Madwoman has arrived!”
A clear blue sky covers Manchester this morning. We find ourselves 659 feet in the air atop the tallest structure in Manchester, Beetham Tower. This high the wind can be a real issue but today the world seems eerily calm with no wind to speak of and no clouds or birds to ruin the scene. The camera pans down to reveal the streets below, the people and cars that look like ants. The city streets that look like they were drawn with grey crayon. Panning back up we see Madwoman, dressed in her best red and blues, with a parachute upon her back.
“Before you can accomplish any goal of great significance you must first conquer your fears. Before you can be a champion you must first come to terms with the fact that, should you win, you will not be champion forever. One day a challenger will take your championship, as it has been since the very beginning of the professional wrestling experiment. That brings me to Beetham Tower, where I will soon jump in hopes that this parachute works, in hopes that I do not go splat and am left as little more than a footnote in the pages of history. I come here to conquer fears on the eve of my greatest challenge to date, a chance to become a champion in Trinity Wrestling.”
Off camera someone throws a burlap bag to Madwoman. Our resident punk rocker reaches into the bag to reveal a set of goggles and a helmet which has been painted blue and adorned with the image of a red phoenix. The former Princess, now turned full on Madwoman, places the goggles over her eyes and the helmet over her head.
“Oh yeah, I’m ready. My question is… Is Persephone ready? Is she ready to defend her championship against a woman who is about to conquer her fears by jumping off of one of the tallest buildings in the world? I’m sure your fears revolve around losing the championship you just won, but I hold no such fears. For me a loss is just as important as a victory, and all we truly have to fear is death. But for you? For you, a loss could break your mind. But don’t worry, once you let madness in the world becomes far clearer. You start to see everything for what it really is. You’ll understand, just as I do, that reality is simply a mold and what happens inside of the mold is all up to you. It’s malleable like putty.”
“You’re coming off of winning the Television Championship and I’m coming off of knocking out world class talent in one of the most important matches in the entirety of my career. By all rights I should already be a champion in Trinity Wrestling due to how well I performed in that battle royal. By all rights I’m am the uncrowned queen of television. I’m the violently queer, completely insane, totally bonkers, uncrowned queen of television. When I show up on screen people watch, they change the channel from the competition to see just what I’m willing to do to keep their attention. Can you say the same? Can you?”
Madwoman turns and points down to the people below. The camera takes a few moments to show the viewing audience what she’s doing before zooming in on her determined face. Her eyes are wild again, lost in the images below.
“For them I would bleed to be the champion that’s plastered all over their television sets. For them I would ride a wave of untold violence just to make sure they tuned in every single week. This is the era of streaming entertainment and they have so many options. Netflix. Disney. DC. Crunchyroll. Funimation. If I’m going to be THEIR champion, I have to make damn sure they watch HULU. Those other guys, they don’t offer our product. So to be the Television Champion you have to be willing to go to lengths not even Lex Collins is willing to reach for to keep their attention.”
“That’s what you’re facing, Persephone. You’re not facing a Princess, not anymore. I’m a grown ass woman and this isn’t a promo, it’s a grenade aimed at your face. Madwoman Szalinski, the carrier of a legacy that will soon be on posters worldwide. Uncrowned, but that changes soon.”
The punk rock ballerina balances herself upon the very edge of the building and turns to face the camera. She’s biting her bottom lip again, that same nervous tick we’ve seen in her previous promo. Deep breaths, shaky knees. Still, there’s a fire in her eyes. For a brief moment our heroine feels like a champion. We can see it written all over her face, the determination that one must have to write history.
“I want to be the most in your face champion in the history of Trinity Wrestling. My goal is to set a standard that every Television champion after me must follow. Give the chance Persephone might be a decent champion but decent isn’t enough. Trinity needs someone who will go to unheard of lengths to get our name and product out to the masses. This federation, it’s wrestlers, it’s staff, and it’s fans need that belt around the waist of a Madwoman. It’s simple, and it’s effective.”
Madwoman takes a deep breath. Our heroine, the mousy magical girl, pulls one last item from the burlap bag before tossing said bag to the side. A pink android cell phone. The camera watches as Madwoman steps back about ten feet and then begins a running start before jumping from the roof of the tallest building in Manchester. Over the edge we see Madwoman falling towards the ground. The image we see shifts to the camera of her phone, pointed directly at her face.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! This was a terrible idea!”
Then, a few moments later, the image shifts back to the roof of the building just in time to see Madwoman pull open her parachute. Printed upon the top of her parachute are the words ‘Watch Trinity Wrestling on Hulu’ along with Trinity’s emblem. Then, back to Madwoman’s phone camera where we can see our heroine overcoming her fear in real time. She’s not freaking out anymore. No, she looks to be enjoying herself quite a bit.
“Okay, okay, okay. I can do this, I can do this. I’m Madwoman! I’m MADWOMAN! LUCHA JESUS, KEEP ME SAFE!!!”
Slowly she descends before landing upon the street to a roar of cheers from a gathered crowd of Manchester natives, most of whom are fully aware of who Madwoman is thanks to her daily work at Omnes, the club owner by wrestling legend Laurel Anne Hardy. Rising to her feet after removing the parachute and tossing her helmet to the side, Madwoman takes a few deep breaths and then bows for the crowd that has gathered.
“Consider that fear conquered! Talk about an adrenaline rush! I can do anything!”
Madwoman turns to meet another camera, one positioned at ground floor of Beetham Tower.
“Did you see that, Persephone? Did you see me kill my fears? There’s nothing in this life left for me to fear, not even death! I see it now, I see everything! I see my own future, a future with the Television Championship around my waist!”
After a few more deep breaths Madwoman begins to calm herself. By now the crowd is taking pictures. Believe it or not, folks, we have a permit for this. It was ridiculously difficult to attain. Fans can be heard commenting that they’ll be watching Trinity Wrestling on Hulu this week, proof that actually did gain Trinity more viewers. Ain’t that something? Madwoman then flashes a smile to the camera before taking Sailor Moon’s classic ‘V Sign’ pose as the scene slowly fades to black.