The knocks sounded like someone was pounding on a steel door in a large room. It seemed to echo for miles. I almost turned around and left, but I didn't. Damnit, I was going to see this through. The door opened and a familiar face answered it. I noticed because of the sunglasses. The same blank expression. The evil that surrounded his very being.
He didn't say anything, but I could feel him staring at me. Staring through me. I wanted to say something, anything, so I could put this hunting knife right through his adams apple. But he didn't. He stepped aside so I could see into the room. The same as I remembered it, though my memory was a bit foggy. The smoke, the music, the men sitting in a circle, a few girls on the bed.
He stepped aside further, as if to let me in. I couldn't see his eyes behind the dark shades. I couldn't tell if he was surprised to see me, or if he had a look of knowing that I would be there. Like he had been expecting me. I noticed a tan line around his finger, where a ring should be. Oh my god, was the ring in the bathroom of the old motel his ring? Was he the one who did it?!
Everything in me told me not to enter that room. I looked at the wall beside the door, and the fresh floral wall paper that seemed to be common in these small motels. Cheap, always new-looking. Smelled new. Illusion. These motels were cess pools of the worst kind.
There were no rules here. The Indian man at the counter was the only "employee" I saw, and these were dangerous men. There was no way that he stood a chance if things popped off. I kept my hands behind my back, clenching the handle tightly until my knuckles were white, when I heard the familiar voice.
Sugartits. It was him. Only he called me that. That same unwavering, uncaring voice. The television was on, but was on mute. I could see the captions at the bottom on the screen, the black bar with bold black writing. The Joker by Steve Miller was on the radio, through a crackly FM station way out here on the edge of Reno. He told me to come in. I still hadn't seen him, but she knew damn well he saw me. The curtains were drawn, letting in minimal light. A cream colored light poking through the cheap blinds, and a fresh cigar burning in the ash tray, made vision limited in the room. The room, however, wasn't that big. It was a motel room with a queen bed, nothing special. He had to be somewhere.
I looked up at the ceiling. It was a drop ceiling. I knew it was a matter of moments before they pulled me into the room and shut the door, as to not raise suspicion. I took a deep breath and entered the room, always keeping a wall to my back so they didn't see what I hid behind me. I took a few steps into the room and noticed a light was on in the bathroom, I could see it from under the door.
The door flew open and three men stepped out, one of them being the man with the voice. They had baseball bats, and I didn't even take a second to see if they were wood or metal. I jumped and swung, hitting the man with the sunglasses. The blade slid easily across his face, and he emitted the first noise I heard him make. It was a yell. I kicked behind me and connected with one of the men. I wasn't a fighter. I was a stripper from Vegas who had only been in scuffles in the parking lot with other dancers and unruly customers. I hadn't been in real conflict, and these were trained men. But I was fighting for my life, and fighting for something I truly believed in. I was fighting for my own honor.
I was a ninja at this point, I was out of my mind. Slicing at everything I saw in front of me. Maybe it wasn't a well thought out plan, but it was the only one I had. One of the girls grabbed my wrist, trying to take the blade from me. I flipped her over my shoulder, and she fell through the table. The men were surrounding me. I was outnumbered almost 10 to 1, but I expected that. I felt, in that moment, like I could do anything and everything.
The world seemed to stand still, time seemed to pass at a snails pace. I felt like I was the heroine in an action movie. Until.....
I felt my wind leave my body. I felt a crushing blow that made me gasp. I felt as though my soul left my body and the next thing I knew I was on the carpeted motel room floor, gasping and holding my midsection. My eyes were blurred with a mix of tears and dizziness. I could barely inhale without dagger like pains shooting through me. I saw the men, and a couple of the girls moving in on me. The sharp pain came through my stomach again, and I heard an "oooaffff" from myself. I felt spit dribble out of my mouth.
When I woke up I was in a garage somewhere. I assumed it was a garage, maybe an abandoned warehouse type thing. I don't know, but it was massive, empty save a few boxes, and weirdly cold.
When I awoke, groggy, I noticed I was tied to a chair. My hands were down below, behind the chair, and my arms were pulled tight. My feet were bare and felt cold against the cement floor. Other than my shoes I still had my clothes on, so I guess that was good, right?
A door opened from the other side of wherever the hell I was. It was louder than it should have been in the empty room and made my hair stand up on end. It literally gave me goosebumps. My eyes were focused on the man approaching me from the other side of the giant room. But, while I focused on him, I felt my hair pulled back. A cloth was stuffed in my mouth. A bucket was shoved under my feet.
No.
This is why my shoes were off.
A man approached from the side. I turned my head and saw he had a pair of cables in his hand. There was a battery sitting on the table along with various other tools. The man, who I now saw was the sunglasses man, didn't say I word. The man behind laughed as he whispered, "run". He knew I couldn't run. Blood from my lip ran down my shirt. I yelled through the rag gag, shaking my head as I saw him put the cables onto the battery.................
"Sometimes I wonder what I have done to have to face people like Mandii Rider. You are such a delusional bitch. You continue to make excuses about mailing it in, defending it, and then blaming me for calling you out on it. I know you expected me to hang on it, but goddamn it was a major party foul. It is just something you don't do. Yes, I have known people who haven't given their all, and let me tell you, they didn't last very long. Their careers were short. Yours Mandii, is about to be cut short. You are making a mistake, see. The same mistake that all of the miserable cunts before you made. You are selling me short. You are underestimating me. You are writing me off. You are sleeping on me like a Craftmatic. I understand that I haven't been in the ring a long time, not nearly as long as you, and my win loss record isn't as "perfect" as I walk around claiming. I understand it took me three tries to win the belt the first time, but what is the end result? I win. I get what I want. Sure, I AM spoiled, but I have spoiled myself. I have worked hard, and now I reap the benefits. I was a nothing here, Mandii, as I have explained time and time again. The only person here who has WORKED for this title is ME. What do I mean? Well, Abigail pinned Ezariaha because she couldn't pin ME. Michelle pinned Abigail because she couldn't pin ME. When Michelle and I got our match, it ended in a draw because she couldn't pin me. Michelle pinned Kim Anderson because she couldn't pin ME. Then, I won the match over her the next time I faced her. Now, you are going to pin Jessalyn, or at least try to. Why? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T PIN ME. I am tougher than I look. I look like a Diva, but I fight like a tiger. I undertand, I am brash. I am not everyone's flavor. That is fine. I rub some people the wrong way, I get it. But Mandii, never ONCE have I given up. I have been in plenty of situations where I have been on a team of one. I have still given it all. I won some, I lost some. The fact is, I TRIED. Tell me what you want about my ego, my attitude, my overbearing nature. You can't tell me for ONE SECOND that I don't have heart. Sometimes, heart is all it takes Mandii. Heart is why you get out of bed in the morning and keep pushing through your day, even when your body wants to quit. I have proven time and time again I am a cockroach, I can survive even the most brutal of situations. You have proven you don't have heart. I am offended, personally, at the fact that you mailed it in which is why I hang on it. I am offended as a competitor, I am offended because of everything I have poured into this business. All the sweat, the tears, the heart break. I am offended because this title, this division, means more to me than anything else. I take PRIDE in being the top dog, even if I am the only one in it, because it just goes to prove that nobody can reach the mountain top with me. Hell if I had your take on it, I would be a lazy champion. Mandii, your viewpoint is "well, they are below me, so why bother?" This is a division that has been built from the ground up, and I have been the spearhead. Do you think I enjoy kicking the shit out of the Ezariaha's, the Ravenwolf's, the Jessalyn's, the Mercy's, the Kim Anderson's and so on? No. I get tired of it fast but I treat every match like it is my last because one day it will be and I want to have something to look back on. I want to leave this business knowing that I didn't leave an ounce of effort behind. You, hell, you're entitled. You don't feel like you should have to fight in a match unless they are "up to your caliber". Take the fucking match you are given and shit the fuck up already. I'm the spoiled one, suuuuuure."
The screen cuts to a highlight clip of Jenny's tag team match with Shelby Cobra on September 2nd.
Grabbing her by the hair she walks her out into the middle of the ring where she scoop slams Shelby and tags in Jaslene. Jaslene then does the smart thing and whips Shelby into their corner. The sisters are going to go to work on her now.
Jaslene reins down chops and punches to Shelby, the tags in Tala who hits her with knees and power fists, then tags back in Jaslene. They are rapid fired tagging, playing mind games. Jaslene walks Shelby out to the middle of the ring and with a smile and wave before getting Shelby up in Bitch, Bye!
Connects!
She hooks the leg
1
2!
Jenny breaks up the count!
Tala is in the ring now and goes after Jenny. Those two fight in the corner as Jaslene gets Shelby back up. Shelby is out on her feet. Jaslene whips Shelby into the corner just as Tala moves and Shelby collides with Jenny!
Both women stumble out of the corner and the sisters lock them into Double Real Naked Chokehold's, simultaneously! Jenny tries to fight out of it, but Shelby goes limp nearly immediately. Tala holds Jenny as the ref checks Shelby's arm.
Jim Ross: Look at this! Cobra is out on her feet and Jenny can't do a damn thing about it! Double chokeholds locked in!
The ref lifts her arm.
Limp.
1
Again.
Limp.
2
Third time..............Jenny is able to kick Jaslene in the wrist to break the hold just as Cobra's arm drops.
Huey D. Louie: That's the reason Jenny is the best! She is locked in a choke hold and she is still able to save her team!
But Tala keeps the pressure applied and Jenny is beginning to fade as Jaslene DDT's cobra in the center of the ring.
The ref needs to resestablish some order and get Jenny and Tala out of the ring so he can keep order. Cobra is able to get a thumb to the eye of Jaslene and roll out of the ring. Tala has broken the rear naked choke and whips Jenny back first into the steps. Tala gets on the apron as Jaslene tags her in. Both Myst and Cobra are down.
Jim Ross: The Sugay Sisters are a step ahead of Myst and Cobra here. They have had the upper hand the entire match.
Huey D. Louie: Well they have the team work. Myst amd Cobra are getting along but don't seem to be on the same page!
Back in the ring, Cobra is trading punches with Tala as Jenny goes up top!
450 splash!
Tala is down! Jaselene is in the ring and rolling around exhanging blows with Jenny. Tala and Cobra are both down.
Jaselene looks over at her sister and at Corba, a fatal mistake as the momentary distraction allows Jenny Myst to deliver the killing blow, Pink Perfection.
Myst climbs ontop of Jaselene and hooks both legs for the pin.
1
2
3!!!
The scene cuts back to Jenny.
"You wanna talk about a useless partner? Shelby Cobra was a lot like you. She felt entitled, like she didn't have to be there, like she was better than everyone else in the match. She was a tatted up trailer whore like you too. A real bimbo. What happened? She got her shit pushed in. Now, I could have just let her lose the match and then make excuses about how I didn't actually lose the match and how she is about as useful as a carton of milk in the summer heat, but I didn't. I hustled my ass off, and I won that match...........I was as by myself as you were with Robbie, and Shelby isn't half the man Robbie is, literally. I still busted my ass to make sure I did the right thing for my team. THAT is what makes a champion. Do you think I was even considered to be in the first ever Bombshell Match because I came out and told Roxy I was going to be? No, that is something that bratty tramps like you do. I came out and told her it was my belt, but she considered me ONLY because of the work I had shown recently. They MADE the belt because they knew I was revolutionizig women's wrestling, I was bringing it to the forefront, I was making being in the ring and having a vagina popular again. They made the belt to reward me, but they made me earn it. The same management that "fucked you over" by putting you in a match teamed with a Hall-of-Famer in your first match back is the same management that made me what I am today..........a queen. Did you ever think that Chris and I together are just that much better than you and Robbie? Did it ever cross your mind that maybe after a 2 year hiatus that the talent isn't the same as when you left? No, it didn't. God, there has to be a ball of gaseous shit between your ears because there certainly isn't a brain. Maybe it was all the opioids."
The screen cuts again to highlights, this time on November 11th, as Jenny was teamed with Miss Fortune vs. Grande Recardo and Finn Kuhn.
Finn smiles, making the inch sign with his fingers to Jenny, signaling that he was "that close". She rolls her eyes from the outside.
Finn lifts Fortune back up as Jenny gets on the apron. He whips her into the ropes. Jenny slaps Fortune on the back, tagging herself in. As Fortune bounces back, Finn hits a Huge Spinebuster on Fortune!
Jenny comes out of nowhere with a PINK PERFECTION on Finn.......but Grande kicks her in the side of the head. She rolls out of the ring and he bounces off the ropes with a massive leg drop.
RICARDO IS STILL THE LEGAL MAN
That's BS! There HAS to be a replay. Review! Overturn this!
Ricardo hooks the leg.
1
2
3!
Ricardo just pinned Miss Fortune!!! I don't believe it! Princess Myst is livid on the outside!
Finn points and smiles, saying she is next.
Tig O Bitties: Here are you winners, the team of Finn Kuhn and Grande Ricardo!
In this situation, Mandii. I was teamed with a partner that wasn't on my level. Miss Fortune was a one and done, she wasn't Robbie Bourbon. She cost me the match, and sure, maybe I should have done more in that one to seal the win, or at least prevent a loss. I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO DID ANYTHING. Miss Fortune was a warm body, that is it. She was pin bait. BUT, the realest words perhaps ever spoken on Savage were said directly after that match by Huey D. Louie and Audrey Dinklage. Audrey, who we still have the pleasure of having to listen fumble through a broadcast each week, by the way. Here is what they said: "
Jenny clears her throat.
Huey: Has anyone here noticed that Jenny has yet to be pinned in any of these matches? She needs to find better partners and ASAP! The Queen can't keep having these losses on her record when she isn't the one losing!
Audrey: Then she needs to do more to make sure she wins.
"Watching this playback, it spoke to me. You see, when Audrey said those words they resonated with me. Sure, I hadn't taken a pin in any of the bad matches or losses I suffered where someone else was involved, but I didn't do enough to make sure that didn't happen. When it is all said and done, Mandii, all we have is this. You chose the wrestling business just like I did, and it is a results driven business. In the end, all we have is what we put out in the ring. If you are okay with picking and choosing which matches to give a shit about, then when the smoke clears you will be just another memory. Forget a legacy, you'll be just another name. You are goddamn right I am taking this match seriously, because, hey, look at my life......I have nothing else. Sure, I wouldn't be here without Chris and his influence, I understand that. If I didn't become his manager and valet back in the day, if I had chosen someone else or tried to do it on my own as just a little girl in a big world, I would have fallen on my face. I'd still be stripping at some sleeze pot in Vegas right now. I have been given the tools for success, now I just have to use them. So yes, I am going to hang on that match, that travesty, and I am going to call you out for walking through practice because when it comes down to game time you simply won't be ready."
Jenny is choking up a bit, becoming emotional.
"I have been doubted my entire career here, Mandii. I have been the underdog. Hell, even when I was Bombshell Champion there were betting threads out against me. Nobody thought I was anything but a plaster mold of a Chaos bowel movement and my moment in the spotlight would fade. I have fought all those haters off. When Madison used Taylor and Finn to take my pride and joy, it hurt me deep down. That title, and being the best, validates me. I have never been the best at anything in my life--hell I haven't even been good at very much. Now, I have found something I can actually do and I will be damned if I will let some vampiric druggie come in and push me around. You talk tough, and you make valid points, but in the end your bullshit catches up to you. It is so generic. You fed off the promo's of all of those before you. Jenny is spoiled, Jenny is a brat, Jenny is annoying, Jenny is delusional. Blah, blah blah. Who is riding whose coattails now? You have literally used four promos to tell us the exact same thing that everyone else before you has. Boring.
I am glad you brought up your accomplishments yet again. I am glad you did because this furthers my point. You seem to be pretty proud of those championships, don't you? You seem pretty proud to be internationally known and acclaimed, don't you? Do you think YOU got those accolades by throwing in the towel when times got hard? No, you did it by kicking ass and taking names. Maybe you've gone soft. Or maybe, just maybe, you realize that this "new generation" that you so aptly mentioned has so far surpassed you that you are having a hard time keeping up. Maybe, just maybe, Mandii, YOU are Ric Flair. You're washed up, you're old news. Maybe you see this, and maybe that is why you hide behind excuses and a Netflix worthy back story and not behind your fists. Maybe, just maybe, Mandii, you aren't as good anymore as you say you are.
You have the name, the clout, the accomplishments. I have a winning record and a title to my name. Sure, you're the James Raven of women's wrestling, but what have you really done? You've gotten your ass beat time and time again, you've lost your child, you were into drugs. Nobody is denying that you've been around the block in the pain department, but what you have never felt is broken. You have never been in pieces on the ground like shattered glass and left wondering if you were ever going to be put back together. This is a cold, cold world and an even colder business we live in. Do you really want to know I chose to be in wrestling? I chose to be in this business because I saw it as an avenue to better myself. Where I was, ANYTHING would be better than what I was doing. I had a goal in mind--be a better person. I think I have accomplished that.
TheHotTopicCashier Said:Do you know what it's like to have a man telling you your his and if you leave he will hunt you down? Do you know what it is like to live day to day in a house with your number one enemy? How about having your life threatened every day?
"You didn't do much research on me, did you? All you have been able to throw back in my face is what I have said in our back and forth promos. You haven't spit back at me a single thing about my past. Why? Because you don't care enough to put effort into that either? Yes, Mandii, I DO know what it is like. I DO know what it is like to be nothing but an object, a warm hole, from a young age. I DO know what it is like to be used by men, to be hunted by men like gazelle's on the plains, to be tortured, to live in a house where I wasn't wanted, loved, respected or even acknowledged. I had a roof over my head for the sole purpose of being sold to the mob for a sum of money not even big enough to buy a car at sticker price. YES, Mandii, I DO know. But if you put in an ounce of effort into learning that you would have material against me for DAYS. But guess what, you just don't care. Seems to be a trend. Is the horse beaten enough yet? Can I move on? I think we all realize that you are no smarter than the ink that defines your skin."
"I find it humorous, just so funny, that you underestimate me so dearly. You see, Mandii, I am not just a "barbie with a big mouth." I pack a lot of punch. I know I have flaws, but what human doesn't. This week, I am going to expose your biggest flaw, which very well be the same one that you accuse me of having. You're too fucking cocky. I am blessed and beyond grateful to even be here. You are treating it like another chore in order to get your allowance. There isn't anything I won't do to solidify myself here. There is no reason for you to think that I won't come at you like a freight-train. I've always had more guts than brains. I am going to come full force, with reckless abandon, because my life depends on it. I have my motives, as do you. If I want to be the Queen of an empty division, I am going to be because I will set the bar for what women's wrestling should be. If you want to be a Bombshell, you need to go through me. I think that I have done is a compliment. Step your game up or get the fuck out of the way. So far, all these other cock sleeves have chosen the latter. You may be the bear, Mandii, but you have just run smack dab into the poacher. This week, I am coming for my trophy kill."