WFWF Supreme Gauntlet '17 Night One: The New Wave

Poppy Yates: Well?

Joe Bishop: Well what?

I knew of course, I just had no idea how to articulate any of the things going through my head.

Poppy Yates: If there's two things you don't shut up about it's the WFWF and Trace Demon. I kind of figured you'd have something to say about this one.

She chuckled to herself. Fair enough I suppose, that article had knocked me for six. I didn't have a f***ing clue how to react. What to make of it.

I suppose I should have been expecting it really. As soon as I started to get a grasp of where I stood in the political tug of war between Trace Demon and Lila Sleater, I should have been ready for Trace Demon to pull the rug out from under me.

You can always count on him to do that.

What this means for the WFWF, for professional wrestling, for me, for the Supreme Gauntlet, for Lila Sleater... I honestly have no idea.

I can only assume that Trace isn't going to step away quietly, even if that's what he'd have us believe. This has to be a carefully considered move, something that's going to have repercussions that are good for Trace Demon, and most likely bad for professional wrestling. Bad for me, by extension.

I'm just not... not really sure how yet.

I guess there's a temptation to celebrate Trace Demon not being in control of this promotion, it feels like something to be celebrated. It's just definitely too good to be true.

Basically, I was well prepared to spend a long, long time thinking this through, and so my response to Poppy was essentially a whole lot of...

Joe Bishop: …

And she was going to revel in that.

Poppy Yates: Trace Demon sells the WFWF and Joe Bishop doesn't have an opinion, where's my camera?

---

Andy Yates: What's changed?

Fair enough, he'd stumped me.

Joe Bishop: I don't know... that's kind of the point.

Andy Yates: Okay, well, does it matter what's changed?

My face conveyed 'What the f*** are you getting at?' pretty well.

Andy Yates: I mean whether Trace is owner or not, it's the same old WFWF. It's not going to be easy to change, and this doesn't really change how you go about doing it, does it?

I suppose not.

Poppy Yates: We still think it needs changing then?

She chipped in sarcastically. I'd forgotten she was in the room in all honesty, the clatter of keys – as she spent her every waking moment preparing drafts for random wrestling publications – had become so familiar I'd shut it out entirely. Indeed I'd been getting better at shutting her out entirely as she was becoming more and more vocally frustrated with my attempts to save the sport I love.

Andy Yates: Very funny.

She shot back a sardonic grin before returning to her – and I use the word hesitantly – 'work'.

Joe Bishop: You're right – no not you obviously.

I focus on Andy again and go back to trying to forget his daughter's in the room

Joe Bishop: Nothing's changed.

Probably a tad embarrassing that it took three days to reach that conclusion, and with help. But it was useful. Because ultimately, I can't get dragged into Trace Demon's schemes, I can't worry about them. I've got my own battles to fight, and if I win them, they can make his obsolete.

Andy Yates: You've got a war to win.

He smiled, I returned the favour. I sure do.

---

I can't stand here and pretend that Trace Demon selling the WFWF isn't important. I can't pretend that I haven't spent an awful long time trying to calculate the permutations, over the course of these last few days.

The future of this promotion, of professional wrestling as a whole, is going to be hugely affected by whose name is on that contract. By whoever it is who has purchased the WFWF.

I of course hope that it's someone who'll share my vision. Someone who is just as tired of the soap opera that this sport has become. I've got to hope for that.

But I can't say I'm confident, that Trace Demon would accept an offer from somebody like that. It strikes me that Trace would, almost certainly, not have done a deal with anybody who wasn't going to make things better for Trace.

Ultimately, it's the new owner of the WFWF who's going to decide how a new WFWF comes about. Whether he, or she, embraces a swift dignified transition, from the old guard who've helped tarnish it, to a new wave of professional wrestlers who are going to treat it with the respect it deserves. Or he or she, will do what they can to preserve the status quo, and the transition will be a whole lot less amicable.

Either way, it's coming.

I can only hope it's embraced, but there's just no way of knowing right now. The uncertainty that surrounds the sale of the WFWF is not just going to go away over night, and I can't afford to let it get in the way of what I can be doing, to make things better.

Right now there are two ways I can make genuine positive progress, two ways I can bring us closer to a better WFWF.

The first is obvious.

The Supreme Gauntlet is my opportunity to make a statement. To prove that these last two years have made me an infinitely better athlete than I was back then. When I was going out with a whimper.

And it's my opportunity to prove to everyone, that the WFWF I'm talking about, the WFWF I believe in, is achievable. That achieving it, is a worthwhile aim.

My goal, in 2010 when I first walked through that door, in 2012 when I made my first return, and throughout my second spell in this promotion, it never changed. It was always to win that belt. That was always the distant dream I pictured as I went to sleep, the thing I wanted more than anything out of life.

Now?

Now winning that belt, becoming the WFWF World Champion, it's not the ultimate goal. It's a means to achieving something, so, so much more important. It's a means to achieving something that will forever change this promotion and this sport.

It's a good place to be, I think. Had I somehow managed to win that belt all those years ago, it would have been about stroking my own ego. It would have been about proving to myself that I'm the best, that I'm somehow superior to everybody else.

If by some miracle – disaster I suppose – I'd won that belt then, I'd be playing the same game Trace Demon, Drakz, and co. have been playing of late. Doing anything I had to do, to hold on to that feeling, to that sense of superiority.

That's just not healthy, and it's certainly not good for this sport. Not when the 'anything' you're doing to hold onto it is just flat out cheating. Undermining the competition as a whole.

If I can do this, win this belt now, and I genuinely do think that it's in me, then it would be about so much more than that. It'd be about raising this sport, pushing it to new heights, lifting it out of the gutter it finds itself in.

And I could happily lose it to someone who's capable of besting me in that ring, without having to bend the rules.

But I'm getting off track. We're a long way from that, right now the first thing I can do, is prepare for Anna Ahriman. And believe me, I intend to do just that. The first thing, the most important thing I can be doing to help this promotion, is beating Anna Ahriman in that ring and taking a big step towards an opportunity to lead by example.

The second?

The second thing I can do, is something that I probably should have started doing the minute I returned. I've no one but myself to blame for the delay, but it's no use beating myself up about it now, I've just got to rectify it.

It's time to reach out.

It's time to try and build some bridges.

The WFWF locker room is filled, largely, with rookies. People just starting to find their feet in this promotion. Too many of them are in danger of following a course that will be detrimental to themselves, and to professional wrestling.

---

One person can't change anything, not alone. It's a pipe dream. And I'm afraid, you just can't find people who think and act exactly like you. Movements form around common goals, shared ideas, shared ideals, but you never get a web of people who share exactly the same beliefs.

If I want to change the WFWF, then winning is a good start. Doing what I can, alone, to prove that I'm worth listening to. That I can back everything I say up in that ring. That's important. But it's not enough, not by a long shot.

I have to change the way my fellow wrestlers think. Not completely, but so they start to question things they've never questioned.

You can't change everyone, of course. There are people who are just too far gone, people who are past the point of saving. You can't have a sit down talk with a Trace Demon or a Phillip Schneider or a Drakz and hope to influence them. Hope to get them to denounce a career of bad decisions and reject a way of doing things that's bad for this sport. People like that, they're institutionalised, the only way to stamp their influence out of professional wrestling, is to stamp them out of professional wrestling.

That's just what's happened to one, thankfully. And I'll be getting to another pretty damn soon.

But I digress, the point is that I've got to start reaching out. I've got to start forming bonds with my fellow wrestlers – for too long I've isolated myself, tried to change things on my own and that just isn't going to happen. It's not feasible. The WFWF needs a revolution from within. An uprising against the state of affairs that's developed. One man can't do that on their own.

Frank Lynn: What do you want?

Why was Frank Lynn the first port of call?

I'm not entirely sure. There's lots of little things that have added up. Firstly, he's one of the clearest examples of how this companies history is hurting an athlete. This is a former Mixed Martial Artist, and a very talented one at that. A guy who clearly cares about this sport. And yet I had to watch him and Mike Jette beat each other to bits with every object they could find at Black Hole Sun.

That's what the 'heroes' of this promotion have given us. That's their legacy.

But it's not too late to fix it.

Lynn's also a good option because, he's basically the only WFWF wrestler I've said more than five words to since I came back. Granted I just gave him a lecture, but it should make this a tiny bit more comfortable.

And then there's Poppy's theory as to why Frank Lynn was the first name to pop into my head, but I'm not going to waste your time with that nonsense.

Joe Bishop: Sucks, doesn't it?

I should know. If there's anybody who knows the frustration of losing to Trace Demon, it's me. Was it helpful to pile on to the frustration I know he's feeling – probably not for him. But I figure making him doubt himself, just a little, might make him a little more receptive.

What? I'm not Trace Demon but I'm not Mahatma Gandhi either.

Frank Lynn: Can you just get to the point?

Or maybe it'll just annoy him. Might have misjudged that one.

Joe Bishop: I need your help.

Frank Lynn: With what?

Joe Bishop: Changing this place.

It was instantly apparent that he was sceptical.

Frank Lynn: This is professional wrestling...

Yeah, I can't let that slide.

Joe Bishop: This isn't professional wrestling. This is a shambles, just look at Superbrawl, you can't tell me that's wrestling?

His hesitation let me know he was with me on that, thank God I'm not alone in perceiving the obvious.

Frank Lynn: Even so, there's nothing you can do about it. One man can't change the WFWF. We've got to adapt to it, not the other way round.

Joe Bishop: Why do you think I'm here?

I cut him off before the reply could come.

Joe Bishop: One man can't change it, but three, four, five of us, like-minded wrestlers, we could make this place so much better.

He remained unsure, I figured it couldn't hurt to expand, and ease up a little at the same time.

Joe Bishop: I'm not saying we need to be best buds, not even saying we need to team up. I'm just saying, don't accept everything that's happening here. Don't follow guys like Schneider and Trace down their path, you're better than that.

Frank Lynn: Well Trace Demon's just beaten me clean so...

Joe Bishop: Trust me, you're better than that. Trace Demon's the king of mind games, but he's not invincible.

Definitely not talking to myself here.

Joe Bishop: You get back in that ring with him and don't overthink it, and you'd have his number. You're a damn good wrestler. Just don't stoop to their level.

He was clearly unsure, quickly moving back to my initial point and away from the self-doubt I know all too well.

Frank Lynn: There are hundreds of guys waiting to take our place, you push too far and you're gonna be out of here.

I don't know if that's true, and I'm not sure I care all that much truth be told.

Joe Bishop: My conscience won't let me sit back and watch it happen. I'd rather be out of a job than do nothing.

Frank Lynn: Hey if you want me to put in a good word with the GFL when that day comes just let me know, you'd probably be happier in MMA.

I chuckled, both at the confidence with which he seems to think I'll soon be out of work and at the prospect of moving in to MMA. I couldn't say the thoughts never crossed my mind. But this is my sport. This is what I love, and the WFWF – whether it deserves to be or not – is the most popular sporting body of its kind. I guess I've always thought it's easier to make the most popular fighting organization in the world the best. As opposed to making the best the most popular.

Frank Lynn: Look I've got nothing against you, or what you're trying to do here. But it's a lost cause.

Joe Bishop: Please, just... just think about it.

I don't really know what I was hoping for. It's ultimately not going to come down to whether or not I can convince Frank Lynn, though he could definitely help change this place. It's going to come down to whether or not I can change the way an entire generation of wrestlers think, I've just got to hope I'm doing enough to cast some doubt. To make that locker room think critically about the 'product' they're contributing to.

Fingers crossed.

---

I suppose, if anything, this is a call to arms.

I'm not saying I want conflict, I don't. I want a peaceful transition. I want one batch of wrestlers to leave, and a new batch – with new ideas, new ways of doing things, to take their place.

The cold hard truth is, there's going to be people fighting that change. There always are people fighting that change. There are always people who will react angrily to new ideas, as positive as they may be. Maybe some people don't understand it, maybe a fairer way of doing things doesn't suit their self interest, maybe they're just angry and they find themselves taking it out on the wrong people.

The reality is, attempts to make this promotion better are most likely going to face resistance.

How stubborn that resistance is, how many people there are trying to block that change, is going to come down to how open this movement is. How much it tries to bring people together, to support this one goal, that can make this promotions so much better.

I've had my say on one or two people who won't change, and I stand by that.

But, generally, I'm not looking to exclude people. I don't want to see swathes of wrestlers treated like they're damaged goods, and I certainly won't be closing the door on people because of self interest.

I'm going into the Supreme Gauntlet, with three known opponents. And two of them, I would have no problem standing shoulder to shoulder with. Anna Ahriman, Austin Hayes, if they believe in the WFWF as strongly as I do, are welcome to stand up to the people damaging this sport, and I will stand with them.

Opponents or not.

I will stand in those trenches alongside anybody who would stand with me. As equals.

Because this cause is bigger than this tournament. It's bigger than the WFWF World Championship. It's bigger than personal disputes. It's bigger than any one individual.

Achieve this and the Supreme Gauntlet will not be an anomaly. A blip. That's what it is now, the once in a blue moon moment where everybody was given a chance. Where we all stepped into that ring as equals and just tried to prove we were the best, without the need for chairs or chambers or cages.

This is what the WFWF could be from now on. That's what the WFWF will be if a generation of athletes embrace it. Stand up and say 'we've had enough', 'things needs to change'.

The sponsors who fund it. The businessmen who've watched us sacrifice years of our lives, who've watched us throw ourselves through tables, into barbedwire, and profited from it without putting themselves in danger once. The small number of so-called fans who expect us to give more and more, to risk everything we have, for the sake of feeding their sick perversions. They are all powerless to stop us, if we unite over this one cause.

We don't need a leader. That's not what I want to be, believe me. We just need a consensus, a shared belief in a better WFWF.

I'm going to stop at nothing to convince the talented professional wrestlers that are here that this is worth fighting for. And I'll do everything in my power to convince the less talented – here because of their look, or their personality, or even their family – that it's worth fighting for. That they should spend the hard hours striving to better themselves, to get to the top of a better WFWF, as opposed to accepting a place at the top of the junk heap we have now.

These opportunities, they don't come very often. The WFWF is transitioning, and if we step up now, we can shape it.

We can make sure it leads to something better.

But if we don't, if we stand back and let it follow it's natural course. Then it'll go the same way it always goes, in the direction that a bunch of out of touch old white men think it needs to to make a profit.

I'm not going out there night after night, shortening my life, for that. I'm not giving every waking second to preparing for this clash with Anna for the sake of maintaining the status quo. I'm not throwing myself into this tournament for this WFWF.

I'm doing it for something so much better than that.

But it's something we all have to fight for.

---

This match, it's the biggest of my career. There's not even a close contender, it's the first step on the road to becoming the WFWF World Champion, perhaps the first Champion who cares more about the interests of the WFWF, than their own interests. It's the first step on the road to a WFWF that showcases the best wrestling on the planet.

Lose, to Anna Ahriman, and let's face it, that'd pretty much be it for me. Both in terms of this tournament, and in terms of anybody taking anything I have to say seriously ever again.

My credibility, my dream, depends on winning this match. My hopes of being an example to, and winning over, my colleagues depends on victory here.

So you can imagine, I've been taking it pretty damn seriously. It's easy for WFWF.com to declare this a one sided affair before it's begun. The experienced in-form professional wrestler beating the little girl who's never had a competitive match. But I can't, not knowing what's at stake.

I've been, quite predictably, putting myself through the wringer to be ready for this clash.

Martyn Howard: Damn, you really mean business.

And in Martyn Howard I had one of the best wrestlers in the UK to help me prepare.

You won't have heard of him, of course. Because he's never stepped foot in a WFWF ring.

Most of the guys at Andy's wrestling school, they've got big ambitions. And that's great to see, it really is, they all believe, deep down, that one day they're gonna 'make it'. There going to be in the WFWF, main eventing SuperBrawl and all those other banal dreams your average young wrestler has. I mean they're not very imaginative but they are ambitious.

Martyn is different. He's effectively a trainer, and a bloody good one at that. He knows it's too late for him to ever make it, that even if my attempts to change the WFWF are successful it's going to come too late for him. He doesn't look the part, and he doesn't have the sort of charisma this promotion looks for. He'll forever be a victim of an era when the major professional wrestling organizations were more concerned with an athletes look, voice and name, than their ability.

And it's a real shame, because he's an incredible talent. I mean the guys just got a ridiculous grasp of how to pick up victories, without having to cheat, or expend any excess energy. A real talent, someone it's impossible not to respect.

Joe Bishop: It's not one I can afford to lose.

Martyn Howard: Sure isn't, but I reckon you're good to go now.

He tried to assure me, slapping one of my weary arms.

Martyn Howard: How you feeling about it?

Joe Bishop: Anna?

Martyn Howard: Well yeah, I mean the tournament generally, but sure.

Joe Bishop: I don't know. There's an uncertainty about this match, about Anna. I don't like that.

He attempts to get a word in but I've got a lot to say on this one.

Joe Bishop: And in spite of all the extra training, the research, it's the first time in a long time I've gone in to a match knowing that I could be in for a surprise. That there's unknown factors that could take this match away from me. I just, I don't know, it could go wrong.

Martyn Howard: It could go wrong?

I nod.

Martyn Howard: It could always go wrong. Might as well not get out of bed if that's gonna stop you.

Joe Bishop: It's not going to stop me, it's just, it's on my mind. I'm not worried.

I assure him... and myself.

Martyn Howard: You're overthinking this.

Joe Bishop: Yeah?

Martyn Howard: Yeah!

I wish I was as convinced.

Martyn Howard: You've done everything you can do, just relax. The work you've put in, not just over the last week or so, but your entire career, it's been about this. And you're bloody good, it'll come.

I spent a good minute or so weighing up whether it'd be too cruel to say what was in my head. Got to be honest I suppose, well that's what people say.

Joe Bishop: And you spent years working to become one of the best wrestlers on the planet, and nobody knows who you are. Sorry, but we both know, it doesn't work out the way it should.

Martyn Howard: Maybe not always. But you aren't going to change it by dwelling on it, and you won't change it by just learning how to live with it – trust me I know. Fight it.

He was telling me what I already know of course, but it's good to have it reiterated from time to time. I can get lost in my head, become incredibly negative about situations when it's just not justified. I need to be doing everything in my power to be ready for the fight of my life, not letting doubt or fatigue or pessimism creep in.

Because I can't lose this.

This really is do or die.

---

I've been around Joe Bishop for a fair while now. I know that he takes this all very, very seriously. More than he should. And every week, I see him giving up most of his free time to getting better. To becoming a better wrestler. It's inspiring, in some respects.

But I've never seen him like this.

I've never seen him this fixated on it.

Poppy Yates: You are remembering to breath aren't you?

Joe Bishop: *Inaudible mutter*

Not just in terms of the hours he's putting in, but the intensity. For a week now, I've only seen Joe either training like a madman, or engrossed in one of a couple of Anna's training videos he's found on the internet. Outside of his own training the most animated he's been was the five second celebration when he found a new camera angle.

He's killing himself.

And I mean, you don't have to know him that well, to know that this isn't the one that's most important to him. No matter how many times he tells himself every match in this group is of equal importance, everybody knows that's delusional at best, or a flat out lie at worst. There's one match in this tournament that Dad, me and everybody else expected to bring this sort of obsessive behaviour. And it's not Anna Ahriman.

If this tournament, this match with Anna is doing this to him? Then I shudder to think what that Trace Demon match is going to do. What side of Joe Bishop it's going to bring out of him.

I may not be a wrestler, but I'm not an idiot (hence the not being a wrestler), overthinking it this much, that can't go well. And even if it does, short term, it can't be healthy.

And if I know Joe Bishop half as well as I think I do, this is a fraction of what that match with Trace will do to him.

The mood he's in right now, I know it's not a good idea. But somebody needs to say something, and I like to think I've got the best shot of getting through to him right now. I snatch the iPad out of his hand and await the tirade of abuse that's coming.

Poppy Yates: You need to stop this.

Joe Bishop: What?

He snaps back, failing in his attempt to grab the iPad from me.

Poppy Yates: It's not doing you any good at all, spending every second of your life fixated on this tournament.

Joe Bishop: Thanks for the advice Mum, the iPad please...

T***. I think he may have been able to tell I wasn't impressed.

Joe Bishop: Every single person in that tournament is doing what I'm doing right now. I'm a professional wrestler preparing for a wrestling match, what the f*** do you expect?

Poppy Yates: If barely sleeping, or eating, or interacting with anyone outside of your little world, is preparation, then yeah, you're doing a great job.

I give him too little credit of course, he's not just killing himself obsessing over this tournament. There's his crusade and the cattle drive too. The sudden interest in winning Frank Lynn over to his cause because apparently one loss to Trace Demon is all it takes for him to identify with someone. The refusal to admit that it's anything to do with that. The desperate attempts to recruit an army for a war that's only happening in his head.

And of course, the frequent attempts to shut out anyone who dares to bring any of this up...

Joe Bishop: F*** off.

Why am I even trying?

No really, I'm asking.

There's nothing I can say, nothing I can do to stop it. Joe Bishop has done, is doing, an awful lot for me, through gritted teeth granted. And he can be interesting. Fun even, believe it or not. But this fixation with changing the WFWF, it's not healthy. Not for him, not for Dad, not for Me, not for anyone.

Even if it gets him results, it can't be good for his career either, long term.

But there's no way of stopping it, there's areas of his thinking you can influence, but this 'revolution' is fixed in his head. Even trying to unpick the theory is a pointless exercise because he just won't listen.

Actions like this, this debilitating obsession with winning the Supreme Gauntlet, it's going to come back to bite him. This 'revolution' can't end well. I hope I'm wrong, honestly I do.

But right or wrong I can't do a thing to change it.

I offer the iPad and let him get back to exhausting his body and his brain.

Poppy Yates: Whatever.

He snatches it, but I keep a firm grasp of one side, and force eye contact.

Poppy Yates: It's not just you you're going to hurt.

But what does he care. He's got a war to win.

---

The reality is, you're here because of your father.

I don't think that's particularly controversial. It's obvious, and I highly doubt you'd be naïve enough to argue otherwise.

It's funny how far a marketable name will get you isn't it? It's the reason people like Yukio Blaze can waltz into the main event of SuperBrawl. It's the reason people like Michael Kyzer and Phillip Schneider can come and go as they please. And that name, Ahriman, is why you're here. Because they can put it on a poster and it might put one or two asses in seats.

Because they can use your father's history to make you appear relevant.

That name might feel like a blessing right now. I don't know – I'm guessing you feel good about bypassing years of hard work. But at some point, probably very soon, it's going to feel like a curse.

And I don't just mean because you're about to find out just how underprepared you are for this. I'm thinking more long term.

See, whatever you do here, whatever you achieve, you're never going to escape it.

You're never going to escape being Sam's little girl. You're always going to be compared to your father.

I find the media tedious enough as it is. I struggle to imagine just how miserable it would be if every other question was about my father. How depressing it would be, to never escape the people telling you that you'll never be as good. That you'll never achieve what they achieved.

I really don't envy you.

And I'm afraid that's not even the worst part.

Scarlett Quinn will tell you herself, if she hasn't already. But just in case, I'll save her some time. You are going to be treated like you don't belong here.

I know, the comparison is obvious, but no, I don't mean because of your father.

It's a much more traditional prejudice I'm afraid. You're going to be treated like you don't belong here because of your gender.

It doesn't seem all that long ago that you were just a little kid running around that locker room, and kids, they sometimes don't take everything in. There's probably aspects of Scarlett Quinn's tenure that you were sheltered from. Realities of life that society is just ashamed of enough to hide, but not ashamed enough to stop.

You probably don't remember the misogynistic abuse, the fans who insisted she couldn't win the WFWF World Championship. The fans who insisted she couldn't defend the WFWF World Championship. The braindead wrestlers who thought they could take that belt away from her like taking candy from a baby.

I'm sure it all seems really exciting for you now, but it's going to be f***ing depressing for you, and for the sane people who have to watch it unfold.

Now you might be starting to think I'm feeling a little bit sympathetic. That can't be right surely?

It is.

I feel sorry for you, because yes you've been given this 'job' without having to earn it. Yes you've been catapulted into a tournament that people would give everything they have to enter. But in the long run, for so many reasons, you're never going to be given a fair shot. You're going to get the same treatment I and many others have had for years. No matter what you do, you're going to be either held back, or patronised – or most likely both.

I feel sorry for you, because I wasn't lying. You're always going to be compared to your father, and the millions of Trump voting Neanderthals that American pro wrestling sadly attracts, are never going to compare you favourably. No matter what you do. No matter what you win. And all they'll say in response to your protests, is that you should be seen and not heard.

If there's one thing that could have put me off pro-wrestling, snuffed out the burning passion I have for it, It's attempts to shut people out. To stop other people enjoying this magnificent sport because they're 'not supposed to'.

It kills me that every day there are people turned away from wrestling schools because it's a man's sport. Or because they're only interested in talentless airheads with big breasts. Or, more widely, the sort of thing I got – that I'm too small, that I should come back when I've had a haircut.

The good news... is the bad news.

I'm not going to be treating you differently because you're a woman, or because I feel a tiny bit sorry for you. I'm not going to pull the old Mak Cross, chauvinistic, 'I won't hit a woman because I'm a proper man – but secretly because I'm afraid of losing and I want an excuse in advance'. You're a professional wrestler in a WFWF ring, I don't give a s*** about what is or isn't in your tights. I don't give a s*** about your inexperience. And I really don't give a s*** that you're 'just a kid'.

I might feel sorry for you, but I owe it to the thousands of talented wrestlers who never quite got there, to give you everything I've got. I've got to treat you the same way I treat everybody who has the privilege to step foot in a wrestling ring. For their sake, for mine, and for yours.

If you're capable of dealing with that, capable of giving me a challenge, then I'll be impressed. But if you're not, if you're not up to the standard I expect of a WFWF wrestler, then you won't be coming back into this ring.

And whether you are or not, you won't be walking out any closer to a shot at the World Championship.

I don't doubt for a second, that you'll be putting a lot into this. That you have worked tirelessly in preparation for your debut, and with the goal of ultimately going all the way in this tournament. I'm sure you have. And you've been surrounded, your entire life, by people who love this sport. By people who know how to win wrestling matches. Some of that's obviously got to rub off.

I'm not silly enough to write you off. To treat this like it's a free hit.

But, believe me, I'm ready for whatever you can bring. I've spent a long, long time preparing for an opportunity like this, I'm not letting you take it away from me.

I can't let you take it away from me.

I hope you give me a real fight and in the long run I genuinely hope you achieve something here. I hope you stick two fingers up at the people who tell you you can't do it, the people who tell you you'll always be in the shadow of a glorified colour commentator. I hope you make them all feel really f***ing stupid. The WFWF needs athletes who are going to stand up and prove these people wrong. But it's not going to be the perfect start Anna, it's just not.

See I don't see a little girl when I look at you. I don't see a strong woman. I don't see a female Samael Ahriman either, though a lot of people will I'm afraid.

No, when I look at you, I see somebody between me and a WFWF I can believe in.

And whether it's your first time in this ring, or your thousandth, that's not a good place to be. Ask Cam Nitta. Ask Cameron Stone. Ask The Future.

If you can find them.

OOC: Had to stray from my usual writing habits and be quite disciplined with this because I needed to get the okay on the Lynn scene (Thanks King Richius ) and because I knew I wouldn't be able to get much done this weekend for various reasons. I know there's most likely an extension now and I could have sat on it till Monday, but I've hit that point where I'm just not sure what I think of it and I'm tired of looking at it, so here you are. The title of this roleplay should be Red Flag, and the accompanying picture should be Red Flag by Judy Chicago (NSFW) but Shawn advised me not to use that. Admins *rolls eyes*.