Who or what am I?

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone!

It’s a cute line from a cute song but it rings with truth right here and right now in Supreme Championship Wrestling, because I hope everyone can see clearly what is happening.  I hope everyone, especially those who doubted me, who doubted The Sisterhood, I hope they can all see clearly what is going on; because I am in the process of proving each and every one of you wrong.  I am in the process of revitalizing my legacy, as I make a push for one more big run in this great sport.

Among those doubters is yours truly.

Yes, it’s true, these last several months, especially since Rise To Greatness, I’ve been down on myself and The Sisterhood.  I’ve been questioning whether or not we still had enough left in the tank to keep going and to make it here in SCW. But with victories over Konrad Raab and Bill Barnhart I have now proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to any of my critics, and to myself, that The Dragon is back and she isn’t taking any prisoners.

Torsten Voigt needs to just shut his damn mouth and listen.  He needs to listen very carefully to the clock on the wall; tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…the countdown to the end of his SCW Television Championship reign is on, because he now has a date with a Dragon.

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Off Camera

Scene 1

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The Frank Irwin Center’s massive round shape stands out like a sore thumb in the Austin, Texas skyline.  It is because of this round shape that this arena gets its nickname of “The Drum” or “The Superdrum” in Austin, Texas.   The Frank Irwin Center is located on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin and has a seating capacity of a little over sixteen thousand.  This evening it will play host to a House Show as presented by Supreme Championship Wrestling. Two of the participants, two of the wrestlers that these Texans will get to see, are making their way towards the front entrance as we speak; Angelica Jones and her sister, Kayla Jones. The younger Jones sibling is wearing an off the shoulder floral print crop-top silhouette and a matching maxi-silhouette button front floral print skirt.  Her feet are encased in a pair of simple sandals.

Angelica Jones, the woman known in many circles as The Dragon, is dressed much simpler than her younger sibling, wearing a pair of denim jeans, flip flops, an “SCW” t-shirt, and her signature black leather jacket.  Both redheads are carrying their gym bags with them, for they know that tonight they will be competing for the fans.

“So, Angel, are you ready?”

The question from Kayla brings about a slight scoffing noise from the elder Jones. Angelica has been competing nearly as long as Kayla.  Angelica has been around the blocks of professional wrestling many times and has seen everything there is to see, she has done everything there is to do.  Of course she is ready for this, a mere house show.

“It’s a House Show, Kay.” Angelica answers rather sarcastically. “Of course I’m ready.”

“Yeah, I know you’re ready for this afternoon.  I mean, if nothing else, you got me to back you up and that’s all you really need, right?”

Kayla winks knowingly at her older sister who just responds with a big eye roll.

“Humility is not your strong suit today, Kay.”

“That’s rich, especially coming from ‘The Golden Goddess ‘…”

“Touché.” Angelica nods her head in acknowledgement.

“Still, you don’t quite get it.  I’m not talking about here today, because I know you and I golden tonight, pardon the pun.  We are The Sisterhood, we know how good we are, and we can get it done.  So no, I’m not talking about today’s house show.”

Angelica rolls her eyes yet again.  If her eye rolls were vocal they’d probably be quite obscene right about now.  Jones stops walking as she and Kayla get right up to the steps that lead up to the front entrance of the Frank Irwin Center.  She sets her gym bag down on the ground.  Kayla stops walking as well and turns to face her sister, placing her gym bag next to Angelica’s.  Angelica folds her arms over her chest and glares at Kayla judgmentally.

“What is it then, sis?”

“I’m talking about next Breakdown, the one from Washington DC.  I am talking about your Television Championship opportunity.  Are you ready for that?”

“Seriously?” Angelica chuckles lightly. “I’ve been competing for nearly as long as you, which puts me at fifteen years, Kayla.  In SCW alone I am a two time SCW World Tag Team Champion, and that isn’t to mention accomplishments outside of SCW.  I’ve done enough that I could call it a career and retire now and be happy knowing that people would remember me for how great I was.” Angelica shakes her head. “But I don’t, I keep going because I love the thrill of competition, I keep going because I want to keep accomplishing more and more.”

Angelica points a finger at Kayla. “But you ask if I’m ready for Torsten Voigt?  Kay, honestly, I may or may not beat him.  I’ve been in this business long enough to know that the outcome is never guaranteed.  But I CAN guarantee you this, I’ll be ready for Torsten Voigt and if nothing else, I can guarantee that I will give him a fight that he won’t soon forget.  But…” Angelica tilts her head to one side and studies her younger sibling intensely “…this isn’t about whether I am actually READY for the title match and for Torsten Voigt, is it?”

“No, it isn’t just that.” Kayla admits with a sigh. “I mean, I know that you at the top of your game can beat anyone, especially Torsten Voigt.  You at the top of your game should easily become SCW Television Champion.  But I know you, I know how you let certain things get to you…” Kayla’s voice trails off and Angelica takes immediate note of it with an arch of her brow.

“What do you mean?  What things?”

“Well, I mean, I know you told me about your visit with Dr. Jennifer Warren…”

“Oh, that.” Angelica says with a frustrated sigh.  The elder Jones clearly doesn’t want to deal with this topic of conversation and starts to ascend the stairs.

“Angel!  Wait!” Kayla goes after her sister, bolting up the stairs.  Finally she catches up to Angelica at the top of the stairs, in front of the Frank Irwin Center door.  Kayla sighs as she shakes her head. “Look, Angel, I’m sorry, but this isn’t something you can just forget about.  It’s…”

“It’s what?” Angelica demands. “It’s driving me crazy?  Is that what you’re worried about?”

“No, of course not, I just want to make sure your head is in the game.  How can you, or me for that matter, how can either of us be in the right mental or emotional frame of mind after what we learned in Europe?”

“You can because you are stronger than me, Kay.” Angelica remarks, pointing a finger at Kayla. “You always have been.”

“That’s not true…”

“Of course it is.  You always were the strongest between the two of us, you were always able to deal with this kind of crap better than me.  I overreact.  I lose my mind.  I did lose my mind once but I found my way back.  But I’m still not sure…” she shakes her head as her voice trails off.

“You’re not sure of what?”

“I’m not sure who I am, or what I am, and it’s driving me crazy.  That may not be something that bothers you, or hell, maybe you HAVE figured out who you are but I haven’t.  I haven’t dealt with this yet.  And I’m worried about what will happen to me, what I will become, if I don’t deal with it soon.”

“Then maybe you need to see Dr. Warren just one more time?”

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Off Camera

Scene 2

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Those close to my family believe that my mother’s maiden name is Ford; Kelly Ford.  Her sister is Mary Ford, my aunt.  She was brutally raped and murdered when I was only twelve years old and I was forced to watch.  No child should have to watch that happen to their parent, or any loved one.  Ever.  But that used to be my reality.  That was all I ever knew and that made me what I am today.

You can imagine what happened when I learned about the Kurensky family.  Who are they, you ask?  Well they are Russian, for one, but most importantly it’s my mother’s family; my mother’s true family.  Kelly Kurensky and Maria Kurensky, the surviving children of the Kurensky family, who worked closely with the Soviet KGB government during the cold war and fled to America in order to escape the tyrannical communist rule.  But why the name change?  Why Ford instead of Kurensky?

My grandfather knew all too well that you don’t just walk away from the KGB.  They are everywhere and during the Cold War they were everywhere within the United States.  And it wasn’t just the Russians, the Americans would have killed to have a Soviet defector on their team, but my grandfather didn’t want anything else to do with it anymore.  He was through with fighting the Cold War and didn’t want to fight for either side, Russian or American.  He felt changing the family name was the only way to stay under the radar.

Ever since that revelation…and don’t get me wrong, there were many more revelations after that…but ever since that one revelation, I have had the same strange dreams.  I would almost call them visions.  The dreams, or visions, would be of conflicting images; a Russian bear fighting an American bald eagle, or a parade of Russian soldiers down the streets of Red Square followed by a parade of American soldiers in Times Square of New York City.  I’ve seen visions in my head of the Russian flag flying side by side next to the American flag.

“Funny, I never told anyone else about these dreams before.” Angelica chuckles lightly as she turns to face Jennifer Warren, the psychologist who has been unofficially seeing Angelica for the past couple of weeks, helping the Boston native with her stress as well as her perceived mental and emotional breakdown associated with the secrets she just learned about her family.

Angelica and Jennifer find themselves sitting in an outside patio area of a café.  The café is located on the outskirts of Washington DC, the city that will host the next edition of Breakdown.  And it is on that Breakdown where Angelica receives a shot at the SCW Television Championship against reigning champion Torsten Voigt.

Jones has done well thus far, defeating Konrad Raab and Bill Barnhart on her way to receiving this Television Championship opportunity, and it is quite an important opportunity for Jones.  It is an opportunity to prove that she still has what it takes to get the job done and that she still has what it takes to win championship gold.  But she still has her doubts, doubts that have crept into her mind since Rise To Greatness, doubts that were exacerbated by the secrets that were dumped upon Jones during the SCW European Tour.

During their initial conversation, Jennifer Warren had suggested that Jones just channel her anger and angst over this whole situation into a more constructive manner; most specifically, inside of the wrestling ring against her opponents.  But this is a championship match, this is different.  Besides, she isn’t satisfied with just simply channeling her angst.  Angelica Jones is having a legitimate identity crisis and she wants it over.

“Well getting things like that off of your chest and off of your mind is the first step to recovery.”

“Maybe so, but I don’t want just a step.  I want answers.  Who am I, Dr. Warren?”

“Please, you can call me Jennifer or Jenny.  We’re not on an official doctor patient relationship.”

“Whatever…”

The two ladies are interrupted when a waitress approaches their table.  She places a cup of plain black coffee in front of Angelica, and the redhead wastes no time in taking a sip of her coffee while the waitress places a French roast in front of Jennifer Warren.  The two ladies nod their heads in appreciation before the waitress walks away.   Angelica sets her cup of plain black coffee down in front of her as Dr. Warren chuckles lightly.

“You want the strong stuff, I see.”

“Lately I’ve needed the strong stuff in order to keep me going.”

“Too much of that is NOT healthy, Angelica,” Dr. Warren says with a wink “and I can tell you that for a fact.”

“You are a head doctor, Jennifer, besides,” Angelica, almost in a show of protest, takes another sip of her coffee “anything in moderation is fine.  Not that I care what you think anyway.”

“You’re right about that, anything in moderation is good.” Dr. Warren says with a chuckle. “But you’re lying about not caring what I think.  If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have asked to meet me again.”

“Oh it’s nothing…”

“Nothing?  Nothing that you paid for my trip to the nation’s capitol when my office headquarters is in Boston?  Nothing that you gave me a backstage pass to the SCW Breakdown event in case you needed me after your Television Championship match against Torsten Voigt?”

“Alright, fine!” Angelica exclaims before sighing and nodding her head. “Maybe I do care, but only because…because…”

Angelica drops her gaze, looking away almost in shame “…because you’re the only one I trust to help me.”

“I’m honored to hear that, Angelica, but…”

“No, I mean it!” Angelica insists as she interrupts Dr. Warren. “I love my sister Kayla and she is mentally and emotionally the strongest Jones in the family, but she doesn’t have the academic learning that you do.  You know all about this crap that’s going on inside of my head right now, doc, and you’re the only one who can make things right.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say.” Dr. Warren takes a sip of her French roast and then sets it down on the table.  She sighs and shakes her head. “What you say makes me feel great, Angelica, but I think you give me too much credit.  I’m sure there are others who could help you.”

“No, you’re the best.” Angelica says, shaking her head. “And trust me, I’ve dealt with many.  I was locked up in the mental institution for years, and in that time I dealt with so many doctors, most of whom didn’t give a damn about me or any of their patients, for that matter.  It was just a job for them.  It was little more than a prison for the criminally insane.”

Angelica smiles warmly as real tears form in her eyes. “But you always seemed like you cared, doc.  Your work with my children, with my sister, with me…I’ll never forget any of it.  But most importantly, even more important than all of that, I know you are trustworthy.”

Dr. Warren shakes her head.  She knows from her last meeting that Angelica’s greatest fear is being committed to a sanitarium for a second time.  The first time Angelica was committed was after she killed her ex-boyfriend, the father of her twin daughters Marie and Kimberly.  Angelica agreed to an insanity plea to get out of prison.  Little did she know that the mental asylum would be just as bad, if not worse, for her.  Angelica does not want to risk going back and therein lies the real fear, the real problem with this mental and emotional breakdown.  If she does not get a handle on this breakdown, this identity crisis, then she fears that the next step would be the asylum.

Her entire family have told her that she is overreacting, that there is no chance of her going back to that situation.  But it’s hard to get her to believe that.  Perhaps Dr. Warren can get her to believe that?  Or better yet, perhaps Dr. Warren can get to the bottom of her identity crisis and fix that.

“Angelica, you have no need to fear going back to the mental hospital.” Warren says in a soothing voice. “I am around people, real patients with real problems in MY mental hospital, and I can see why they are there.  They need to be there.”

Dr. Warren places a comforting hand on Angelica’s shoulder. “But you are not like that, you are nowhere near that level of crisis, Angelica.  You are just a woman who is having a difficult time coping after learning a rather shocking secret and, to be perfectly honest, I would be more worried about you if you did not seem bothered by this at all.  Your mother turned out to be alive and well, hiding in Russia for God’s sake!  It is normal to be upset!”

“And I’ll never forgive her for that.” Angelica says with that anger and angst returning to her eyes, eyes that are flaring with rage.

“And that’s fine, Angelica, it really is, but channel it in constructive ways.  Be careful not to lose it.  If you keep things bottled up it can prove to be dangerous.  Unleash that anger inside of the ring, like I said.”

“Yeah, I remember you told me to do that.” Angelica says, nodding her head before taking another sip of her coffee. “And it worked, I defeated Bill Barnhart.  I’m getting my Television Title Match.  But as good as that advice is, it isn’t what I wanted to know.  It isn’t what I NEED to know.”

“What do you need to know?” Dr. Warren asks, tilting her head to one side.

“Who am I?” Angelica asks simply. “Am I Angelica Jones or Angelica Kurensky?”

“Oh is that all?” Jennifer Warren grins warmly. “Angelica, the answer is simple, and as cheesy as it may sound, the answer lies within here…” she reaches out and touches Angelica’s chest “…your heart.”

“My heart?” Angelica frowns skeptically. “Seriously?”

“It’s true, Angelica.  Names are just labels.  You can look at me and know I’m Dr. Jennifer Warren.  That’s all names are.  The real person is your personality and no ethnicity, no nationality, whether it be Russian or American or otherwise, can change that.  Nothing can change your soul.”

Tears once more form in Angelica’s eyes as she takes in the good doctor’s words. “So what does my soul tell you, doc?”

“It tells me that you are a beautiful person.”

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On Camera

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Do you hear it?  Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…it’s the clock… tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock …the countdown is on, Torsten. The countdown is on and I hope you’re ready, because when the time runs out, when the countdown is over, so too will be your reign as SCW Television Champion.

I’ll give you credit.  You’ve had a nice run.  And I’ll be the first to thank you for ending the pathetic run Derek Adonis had with the Television Championship.  But seriously, Torsten, you had to beat Derek Adonis of all people to become Television Champion.  Then Max Kane, a rookie here in SCW, tried his hand and gave you a run for your money.  Oh and let’s not forget about Madison Steward, who is still clearly lost without Katie, tried and failed to capture your title.

Now I don’t mean to diminish your reign as SCW Television Champion.  You’ve definitely had your run and what a run it was.  What I am saying is that you are no longer facing the comic relief, a rookie, or a sidekick.

You are facing The Dragon.

I imagine you have no idea what that means, Torsten, but let me go ahead and get one thing out of your mind right here and right now before we go any further.  The Dragon is more than just a nickname for me.  It is my fighting style, it is an attitude, it is very much who I am.  So if you want to have any idea as to what you’re up against, you need to understand The Dragon.

The Chinese dragon is the highest-ranking animal in the Chinese animal hierarchy, strongly associated at one time with the emperor and hence power and majesty.  To Vietnamese people, the dragon brings rain, essential for agriculture. It represents the emperor, the prosperity and power of the nation. Like the Chinese dragon, the Vietnamese dragon is the symbol of yang, representing the universe, life, existence, and growth.

Long before you ever set foot inside of a wrestling ring, Torsten, and long before anyone in SCW ever knew me, I was an athlete who dominated this sport anywhere and everywhere I went.  You want to talk about power; I exuded power because anyone who challenged me got put down.  And if you want to talk majesty, look no further than yours truly, because championship gold always was around my waist.

I came to SCW willing to settle for being a part of Silas World, a part of that mighty machinery that once dominated professional wrestling. When that was done and over with I wanted to team with my sister, something I had never done, and in the process we won two SCW World Tag Team Championships together.  But the problem is that during that time period people forgot about who the REAL Angelica Jones is; people forgot about The Dragon.

Thus I came to the realization that I needed to remind the SCW Universe about The Dragon.  I needed to remind everyone about the majesty that I represent and the power that I am capable of when pushed to my limits.

Konrad Raab learned the hard way how serious I was when I planted his head into the canvas.  Bill Barnhart thought he could overpower me but I proved to me far smarter and thus superior to him in every way.

Now that brings me to you, Torsten Voigt.  You are the one remaining obstacle in my path to making each and every SCW superstar and fan sit up and take notice of who the hell I am.  You are also in possession of the one thing I want, the very symbol of the majesty that I exude…

…the SCW Television Championship.

I need that SCW Television Championship so I can fulfill my destiny and revive my legacy as a Golden Goddess of professional wrestling.  I need that SCW Television Championship to revive my legacy of being The Dragon, one of the most vicious competitors in this sport.

And it’s only appropriate that I accomplish my goal, that I achieve my destiny, by defeating you.  It’s only appropriate that I defeat another monster, a powerhouse like you, Torsten Voigt.  Because this is exactly how I made my career.  My career was built upon being the underdog.  I made a living off of destroying the bigger, stronger, more powerful athletes and bringing the arrogant, egotistical back down to reality.

But then, the Germans have always been a rather egotistical bunch, haven’t they?  Twice they thought they could conquer the world and twice they got beat back. You think you can conquer me, Torsten?  You think you have the firepower to keep The Dragon down for a three count?

You are wrong.  You are dead wrong.  And you will come to that sad realization a little too late.  You will come to the realization that you are doomed only after the bell rings and you are staring across the ring at me, staring into my eyes, because you won’t be staring into the eyes of a Dragon at that point…

…at that point you will be staring into the eyes of a woman who refuses to lose, even if it means sacrificing herself, and her soul, to The Dragon in order to become SCW Television Champion.

Tick-tock, Torsten.  Tick-tock.  The countdown, and your reign as SCW Television Champion, is over.  It ended the moment I defeated Bill Barnhart in the TV Title Eliminator to become number one contender to the SCW Television Championship.