HWA Message Board: Big Mistake

The HWA Academy
24 hours after Havoc

The Academy had closed to students for the evening. Only several skeletal cleaning staff had remained. Even the Parkers had decided to call it a night.

Alexis Rose stands in one of the training rings, her weight leaning on the top rope. She’s not in her ring gear, instead attired in dark pink yoga pants, a light blue Nike crop top, her hair tied up into a high ponytail. The camera cuts in, focusing on Alexis’ face for a close-up as she begins to speak.

Alexis: So, I think it’s safe to say my HWA career hasn’t exactly panned out as I’d hoped when I left ACW. I had such high hopes, y’know. I was destined for huge things. Or so I thought. HWA was meant to be a step up into the big leagues. A chance to follow in the stops of the likes of Hall of Famers like ICE, Blush, Scarlett and Clarissa, to hard-hitting, take-no-shit legends like Callisto and of course, Wisdom herself. I was promised a roster with a flourishing women’s division and the chance to tangle with the men. I know I wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea when I arrived. But I moved past that. I mended fences with those I’d wronged and I finally thought I’d found my place. Then I had to contend with discrimination and homophobia from those god-awful Blackthorne twins just to show what I was capable of and what happened? I was involved in the first-ever HWA Women’s match to be given a five-star rating. And then I got injured. Just when I thought that the wave of momentum I was riding was going to carry me somewhere special. Bang! On the shelf for almost a year.

Alexis steals a brief, derisory glance at the scar on her surgically-repaired shoulder, as if her words triggered a phantom pain. She rolls her shoulder lightly before continuing.

Alexis: I will be forever grateful to the Parkers and to Sensei Kiriyama, because thanks to them, not only do I have job security but I’ve been given the chance to share my knowledge. Not every wrestling promotion in the world can allow an injured competitor to help shape the future of tomorrow and not every promotion has the resources HWA has, I mean look around us…

Alexis steps back, holding her arms out, her gaze sweeping across the Academy and the camera swoops around, capturing the several training rings, the sparring equipment, the weight-lifting apparatus, the hydration suite, amongst many other amenities.

Alexis: .. We have, arguably, the best facilities in the world. I should be happy. Happy to have an incredible job, to have incredible friends and colleagues….and someone incredible to come home to…. And now, I have to put up with the sick, deluded, psychotic barbs from you, Professor Hoff. And for what? Because Brooke, or should I say, for the unfamiliar, Detective Snow, is doing her job. That’s right, my beautiful partner, the love of my life, Brooke Snow, one of LA’s finest, has been the one investigating Hoff’s mad science experiments and the abhorrent things he’s been concocting for the last year! At Havoc, regardless of whatever fate awaits you when the breadcrumbs of your insanity lead their way to your front door, it will suffer in comparison to what I’m going to do to you at Art of War. See, you can threaten me all you want, I won’t bat an eyelid. I’ve taken worse shit than people like you my whole life. Whether it’s my sexuality, my gender, showing up the guys because I could run faster and hit harder, I’ve heard it all…

Alexis’ eyes narrow, her forehead furrowing as she focuses on the camera lens.

Alexis: …But when you threaten my family, you’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life. See, when you threatened Brooke, you grabbed the rose and this rose has thorns and she’s going to make sure that, come Art of War, you’re going to experience just how sharp they really are. I’m not coming to Art of War for a wrestling match, Hoff, no. I’m coming to rip your head off and spit into the wound. So, for your sake, I really hope you’re prepared for what’s coming, because you’ve never come across anyone like the Black Rose. And once I’m done with you, Brooke can take whatever’s left and cart your ass off to where it belongs; behind bars! See you in Virginia, asshole!

And with that, Alexis turns around and walks away from the camera as the scene fades to black.