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((snippet from Chapter 1 of Ariane's Wrestling Origins Story))

I marched over to her, pulling her up before slamming her face into the turnbuckle multiple times to the crowd’s growing raucousness. After like what I felt was enough, I grabbed her head and pulled back, pulling in my knees and let her back fall against them harshly.

I was tired, I was bleeding, but, I could feel the energy flowing through my veins. I gave a massive yeehaw for the crowd, one that they returned, as I grabbed the villain by her hair and yanked her back to woozy feet.

She was about to say something, but a few shots to her gut by my fist silenced whatever she was about to say, before I tossed her back into the corner. Grabbing her to growing cheers, I placed her into a powerbomb position over my shoulders as I climbed up the ropes to the top of the turnbuckle.

“...n…no…please…don’t.”

“You’re begging me now?” I shouted. “You’re too late for that!”

With a loud cry, I powerbombed her down onto the remains of the table she had sent me through earlier. As I watched her bounce off the debris with a scream, I leapt from the top, sending my elbow straight into her gut.

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Ariane Jones - A Wrestling Origin Story Chapter 1A screen flickers to life, revealing a smiling redhead looking into the camera from about a foot away. “Is this on? Ah, okay, good!”She leaned back into her seat, smiling for the camera before awkwardly waving.“Uh, hey there. I know y’all probably know me, but, I’m Ariane Sophie Jones and, well, I’ve been asked by a lot of y’all to put together a history of, well…me! So…because I’m totally not doing this because I’ve been bribed by my friends for a massive amount of cookies and pizza.” Ariane’s eyes trail off to the side where there was a snicker of laughter, before she refocused onto the screen. “Here’s my history of how I became “I wasn’t always a wrestler…”“The rodeo circuit was the place which I enjoyed beyond anything else. Racing barrels, hogtying cows, riding bulls…the rush was incredible. The crowds cheering ya on as the seconds ticked on while on the back of a bull that wanted to gore ya as much as you didn’t want ‘em to. That feeling of breaking a record racing the barrels, of feeling one with your horse as you felt that adrenaline rush again and again.”“I enjoyed it immensely, and never dreamed of leaving it.”“So…why do you ask, that I stopped living my dreams in favor of scrapping with ladies dresses in cosplay or various attires of limited dress in the middle of a ring in front of thousands of cheering, wild fans?”“Well, it all began almost a decade ago…”…Several Years Earlier…2016…“You totally should join us, Ariane!”“Come onnnnn! You never come out with us!”“Seriously, girl! You need to have fun in your life and meet a boy or something.”My three best friends at the time. Sam, a blonde go-getter, Ellie a fairly ditzy but adorkable brunette, and Sarah, a kind, quiet dark haired brunette who really liked boys. Sweet girls, various backgrounds, high school besties. We’d ended up going to the same college together, Black Hills State University for various degrees.Mine was for veterinary science, so I could better look after my family’s ranch. The others, well….…you could say Sarah was in for her MRS degree while Ellie was in for…something? I never was quite sure. Sam was all in for a mathematics degree. I’m pretty sure she probably works for NASA by now, or Elon Musk. She’s that smart.Anyways…BHSU was just a few miles outside of Sturgis, and with the event happening at the beginning of our junior year, my friends had wanted to go. I had wanted to prepare for the semester to start, but, you know how friends are. So we piled into my old Chevy and made our way down to Sturgis to see what all the fuss was about.It’s funny, looking back, that even growing up in Rapid City I had never once gone to the rally. First time for everything, you know?We were really not prepared.It was a wild and crazy time in town, even though we had to park almost a mile outside to even find a parking spot. Ended up near the high school on the edge of town. Still a mile walk isn’t much, but we never did make it into town. No, we were stopped almost immediately by the massive crowd making its way towards the high school.“What’s going on over there?” Ellie asked.Sam cocked her head, before spotting a banner across the school’s side, then gave me that creepy sidways grin.You know the one.The one where you know your best friend is planning something stupid and wants you to join in.“Looks like its an all invited wrestling event, Ariane…”My other two friends slowly turned their gaze on me, those same creepy smiles on their faces.I guess it is as good as time as any to say that, yes, I wrestled in high school. Yes, I was pretty decent, making my way to state and beating every girl in my path. No, I never placed at state and it had to do with wrestling Franky Monroe…*shudders*I’m just going to get back to the story.“What…it’s a wrestling event, so what?”Their creepy smiles didn’t cease.“Of fer crying out loud. I ain’t gonna go join some random wrestling event just because I was good at it before.”Sam looked appalled. “Good? You were the best, Ari. You leveled every girl this side of Topeka and did it without breaking a sweat!”Ellie nodded. “For real, Ari. I mean, reading that sign, it even says that there are monetary rewards for placing in it. I mean, we’re in college. We got to afford it somehow, right?”Sarah just nodded. “There might be some cute guys there as well?”I rolled my eyes at the lot of ‘em.“That don’t matter. I ain’t gonna go join as we came here to see what’s going on here at-“Oh my gosh…is that you Ariane?!?!”The redhead halted mid sentence, turning quickly to spot the approaching voice. Her scowl turned into a marvelous grin as she rushed towards the blonde heading towards her. The two woman crashed together in a massive hug, laughing as she swung back and forth.“It is so good to see you again, Angel? How have y’all been?”The blonde smiled as she took in her friend. “It’s been fantastic! Though where have you been? I haven’t seen you since you went off to do all your rodeo circuits and 4H stuff your sophomore year? What have you been up to?”Angelica, Angel as we all called her as she simply was one, was a friend from a nearby high school in the Rapid City area. We’d first met across from each other in a wrestling meet, and things hadn’t gone well for her as I’d quickly pinned her and tossed her about like a rag doll. She wasn’t mad at all, but came over after and to my surprise, gave me a big hug and thanked me, going on about how she didn’t realize the moves I had done were possible, and she’d grow stronger to make sure she could give me a challenge the next time we met.I’m sad to say, she never gave me a big challenge, but, we stayed friends until I……anyways.That’s the past, and now, I had a friend in front of me again. We took quite a few minutes recollecting our past few years. Apparently she had continued on in her wrestling career, placing in state her final year and deciding to go on and make it a professional career. I was a bit shocked by that, as I had remembered she’d wanted to work at a vet clinic back in school. She went with the gimmick of an angel. Leading us to her car, she showed off her wrestling attire, a stark white leotard, with cross stitching, bits of lace around the bottom and a showy robe to go along with it.I whistled how impressed I was.“Dang girl…I bet you rock this attire! What’s your current record if I may so ask?”Angel beamed. “Ten and two! I’ve gotten a lot better, and really wanted to face you again one day before, you disappeared from the sport. But maybe we could today if you entered! I’m sure that you could still make it to the finals if you tried!”I laughed, shaking my head. “Sorry, Angel, but this girl has hung up those boots. And as y’all can tell…” I waved my hand up and down my current summer wear of short jean shorts and a tied off black and red flannel top… “I ain’t dressed for the occasion either.”I have to say, Angel gave me the most adorable pout ever at that reply.“Well…then…if you don’t want to wrestle, then…maybe you can watch me perform? There will be folks from several companies here today watching for new signee’s to take on, so I’m sure with your support I can accomplish my dream!”She struck a pose that was half adorable and half heart melting. Who was I to say no?“Alright, we’ll come and watch you put on a show and kick some butt.” And that’s what we did. It seemed like it was a tournament style wrestling event, with whoever won their match would move on, getting about an hours rest between bouts. Angelica breezed through her first two matches, with us cheering her on loudly, while building up the crowd in her favor. She seemed to appreciate it, as she grew more bold as the matches went on. By the fourth match, the crowd was behind her 100%, loudly cheering for the Angel of the Black Hills. Little did we all know who she was facing next…Angelica showed up for her fifth match, one away from the finals and a $10,000 cash prize, working up the crowd, hopping onto the turnbuckle like a literal angel, showering the fans with waves and blown kisses. Her opponent to come out, made my blood boil and had me gripping my hat in my hands so tight to this day it still has wrinkles in the fabric. Sandra “The Rowdy Rustler” Lariat.Otherwise known to me as, Sandra Kneelsworth from Sioux City. A girl back in my last year of wrestling known for her cruelty in the ring. She lost many matches to being disqualified after going for illegal holds, and trying to neuter her male opponents. Even in high school she must have been training to become a heel, as that is what she looked like when she came out from behind the curtain in her black wrestling pants filled with tears and rips, chains hanging off her loose belt and a too tight red and black tank top that she was busting out of. She strutted to the ring, flipping fans off before rolling into the ring, licking her lips and mussing back her black hair, partially dyed red, when she saw Angelica.The literal devil to her angel.Before the match began, and thanks to being in the front row behind the barricade, I caught Angel’s attention. “Angelica, be careful. She will do anything and everything nasty to win. Keep your distance, keep her flustered, and only go for submissions!”She nodded, hopefully noticing the worry in my voice. I had faced Sandra twice before in competitions, and each time beaten her after she had tried to use my burgeoning girls as chew toys without the ref noticing. Sandra must have noticed me giving Angel pointers, as she glared directly at me, licked her lips before pointing to her chest, then to mine.Yeah…safe to say, I hated her guts. The bell rang, the match began, and Angelica did the best she could, but the devil had improved since high school. Angel managed to play defense, tripping her up and almost getting a quick pin on her, before disaster struck. A loose backwards step folded Angel’s left ankle like an origami sheet of paper. Nobody in the room didn’t hear the cry of pain from her as she fell backwards. The referee checked on her, and the stubborn girl said she could continue.I wish she hadn’t…oh how I wish she hadn’t.As the devil tore into our beautiful angel like a wolf pack into a sheep.Every hold…Every powerbomb…Every type of pain Sandra could inflict upon Angelica, she did, until the hall was filled with pain filled cries, and the boos and jeers of the audience. It only worsened when, after letting Angelica go just as she was raising her hand to tap out a submission to a reverse boston crab, the Rowdy Rustler rolled out of the ring, looked under the mat, and pulled out a table. Now, there had been no rules against using weapons in these matches. This was Sturgis, after all. But, nobody had wanted to use them, at least until the final match as any earlier and they could break themselves just as easily as their opponents with them. Angel was not so lucky. “Who wants to see an Angel fall into hell?” the sadistic devil shouted to the doubled downing of boo’s. She didn’t care, and it took every ounce of my being to not jump in there and just drag Angelica out of this situation. I watched as Sandra set the table up in the middle of the ring, then dragged our Angel by her twisted ankle to the corner, to the sounds of her screams. Sandra then looked directly at me.“Hey Ariane!”It felt like all eyes in the gymnasium moved onto me. Sandra grinned, a disgusting look on her menacing face. “If you care at all about your friend here, you’d be a real woman and come in and take this power bomb for her! Or else she’ll get a powerbomb and I’ll make sure she can’t ever wrestle again!”The crowd broke into a near riot, the boos becoming deafening as Sandra twisted harder on Angelica’s ankle, the poor woman slapping the mat frantically. The referee called the match, but when he tried to get Sandra to let go, the vicious woman snapped her foot in a wicked kick between his legs, leveling the poor sap. “I’m waaaaaaiting you prick! Get up here or your little Angel gets broken!”Sarah was already on the phone trying to call the police. Ellie and Sam were holding me down. All I could see was red. “You’re scum, ya hear!” I shouted, finally breaking free and shaking my fist at the demon in the ring. “You have no reason to do this, now let her go!”The devil laughed. “Awwwww, is the ass-poor cowlicker begging me? Too precious…too late.”She grabbed both of Angelica’s legs and body, and readied herself to lift the broken woman off the mat. She glared at me one more time. “I’ll make sure her head hits first! Just so you know what happens when somebody thinks they can beat me!”She raised her up.I bolted forward. Still to this day I’m not sure how I got in front of that table like I did. When she started dropping Angelica……I was there to catch her. The relief was short lived. I managed to shuffle Angel into a bridal carry before a set of boots found their way into my face. My back found the table, and I went through it, still holding Angelica, like it was paper mache. All I knew was I was groaning in pain as my hair was yanked back and my body tossed across the ring. I barely caught a glimpse of Angelica being pulled from the ring by Ellie and Sam. The referee was still down as Sandra stomped towards me. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this beat down for you getting me disqualified from state!”She aimed a soccer kick towards my core in an easily telegraphed move. Something within me just…snapped.I rolled back, the Rowdy Rustler being thrown off balance by the missed kick. I was up in a flash, grabbing a poorly thrown punch before judo tossing the demon over my shoulder to a raucous cheer from the crowd. Without missing a beat, I grabbed her around her waist, hefted her up into a german suplex, releasing her at full speed, with a mighty roar. She landed harshly on her back, arching in pain only to have me back on her, sending stomps into her chest and stomach. The formerly proud, arrogant, devil of the ring was now desperately trying to claw her way away from me. I may have had ring rust, but I wasn’t going to let her go just yet. Grabbing her by her top, I flung her against the ropes, following after her with a lariat as soon as I could. I was pleased when it connected, sending her in a full 360 with a cry of pain. But I wasn’t wanting to be done just yet. She had hurt my friend because she had tried to cheat and got caught years earlier. No…Sandra was going to pay for what she had done.Yanking her up by her hair, I tossed her again into the corner, happy to see how ragged she looked. I grabbed her cheeks, squeezing hard as I got in her face. “You hurt my friend because of your stupid grudge. You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life-ahhhh!”My face twisted in pain as the dumb broad low blowed me with her knee. She pushed me away with a cackle, before running forward, grabbing my head and doing a reverse bulldog. I landed straight on the table debris again, while she rolled back to her feet and spit in my face.“You’re gonna pay now you redheaded freak!”While I was still woozy, she grabbed my hair, yanked up, then repeatedly smashed her boot into my face, sending the back of my head into the remains of the table. I wasn’t sure which ended up bloody first after the tenth stomp, my nose or the back of my head, but I finally collected my wits enough grab her boot and twist harshly. She fell with a scream. No crack…unfortunately…but it gave me enough time to get up, grab her boots and give her a big swing into the turnbuckle.Am I ashamed that I smiled when she impacted head first with a mighty thud? I probably should be…But I wasn’t.I felt alive!I marched over to her, pulling her up before slamming her face into the turnbuckle multiple times to the crowd’s growing raucousness. After like what I felt was enough, I grabbed her head and pulled back, pulling in my knees and let her back fall against them harshly. I was tired, I was bleeding, but, I could feel the energy flowing through my veins. I gave a massive yeehaw for the crowd, one that they returned, as I grabbed the villain by her hair and yanked her back to woozy feet.She was about to say something, but a few shots to her gut by my fist silenced whatever she was about to say, before I tossed her back into the corner. Grabbing her to growing cheers, I placed her into a powerbomb position over my shoulders as I climbed up the ropes to the top of the turnbuckle. “...n…no…please…don’t.”“You’re begging me now?” I shouted. “You’re too late for that!”With a loud cry, I powerbombed her down onto the remains of the table she had sent me through earlier. As I watched her bounce off the debris with a scream, I leapt from the top, sending my elbow straight into her gut. The crowd roared their approval as I stood above the broken demon, kicking her side once for good measure to know she was out for good. Someone had begun a chant of my name, but to be honest, all I was concerned for at that point was my friend. I had put down the demon, so now was time to check on our Angel. The next hour or so was chaotic. Sandra was kicked out of the tournament, I got a berating from the man in charge of the event, then given a five hundred dollar reward for the show I put on. Angel was watched over by all of us. Her ankle was sprained, but she was going to be okay. A few weeks to months and she would be back to full health. The biggest happening though…the biggest change, at least for me, was when a young man about my age walked into the infirmary looking for me.“Uh…Miss, Jones?”I turned from a joke that Angelica had just said, finding myself looking at a rather tall, clean looking fellow in a suit coat that clashed awfully with the polo underneath. “Yes?”I shushed my four friends behind when they began whispering conspiratorially.“Ah, well, uh, I was wondering if I could maybe have a word with you…privately?”Their whispering grew in volume and I was growing irritated at what they were saying. “Sure, make it quick though, alright?”I’d followed him just out of earshot of my conspiring girlfriends, where he introduced himself as Cimar, a representative of a wrestling company called ANDW. He said he saw what I had done in the ring against Sandra, and what I did to save Angelica, and was thoroughly impressed.He asked if I had any plans that night to talk about a career in wrestling. I was about to blow him off, but…for some reason, I reached out and grabbed the card he offered and said yes to the dinner discussion. We traded numbers, he said he needed to call up his company to let him know the situation, and looked forward to seeing me later.He clumsily bowed, which was both awkward and adorable, before sending me an equally awkward, yet honest smile. “I look forward to speaking with you soon, Ms Jones.”It was that moment, that smile, that sold me on the idea that maybe, just maybe……I could give wrestling one more try....

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Artwork by the absolutely incredible oldandjinxed . They recently opened commissions and are an amazing friend so go check them out.

Description

((snippet from Chapter 1 of Ariane's Wrestling Origins Story))

I marched over to her, pulling her up before slamming her face into the turnbuckle multiple times to the crowd’s growing raucousness. After like what I felt was enough, I grabbed her head and pulled back, pulling in my knees and let her back fall against them harshly.

I was tired, I was bleeding, but, I could feel the energy flowing through my veins. I gave a massive yeehaw for the crowd, one that they returned, as I grabbed the villain by her hair and yanked her back to woozy feet.

She was about to say something, but a few shots to her gut by my fist silenced whatever she was about to say, before I tossed her back into the corner. Grabbing her to growing cheers, I placed her into a powerbomb position over my shoulders as I climbed up the ropes to the top of the turnbuckle.

“...n…no…please…don’t.”

“You’re begging me now?” I shouted. “You’re too late for that!”

With a loud cry, I powerbombed her down onto the remains of the table she had sent me through earlier. As I watched her bounce off the debris with a scream, I leapt from the top, sending my elbow straight into her gut.

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To read the rest, check out...
Ariane Jones - A Wrestling Origin Story Chapter 1A screen flickers to life, revealing a smiling redhead looking into the camera from about a foot away. “Is this on? Ah, okay, good!”She leaned back into her seat, smiling for the camera before awkwardly waving.“Uh, hey there. I know y’all probably know me, but, I’m Ariane Sophie Jones and, well, I’ve been asked by a lot of y’all to put together a history of, well…me! So…because I’m totally not doing this because I’ve been bribed by my friends for a massive amount of cookies and pizza.” Ariane’s eyes trail off to the side where there was a snicker of laughter, before she refocused onto the screen. “Here’s my history of how I became “I wasn’t always a wrestler…”“The rodeo circuit was the place which I enjoyed beyond anything else. Racing barrels, hogtying cows, riding bulls…the rush was incredible. The crowds cheering ya on as the seconds ticked on while on the back of a bull that wanted to gore ya as much as you didn’t want ‘em to. That feeling of breaking a record racing the barrels, of feeling one with your horse as you felt that adrenaline rush again and again.”“I enjoyed it immensely, and never dreamed of leaving it.”“So…why do you ask, that I stopped living my dreams in favor of scrapping with ladies dresses in cosplay or various attires of limited dress in the middle of a ring in front of thousands of cheering, wild fans?”“Well, it all began almost a decade ago…”…Several Years Earlier…2016…“You totally should join us, Ariane!”“Come onnnnn! You never come out with us!”“Seriously, girl! You need to have fun in your life and meet a boy or something.”My three best friends at the time. Sam, a blonde go-getter, Ellie a fairly ditzy but adorkable brunette, and Sarah, a kind, quiet dark haired brunette who really liked boys. Sweet girls, various backgrounds, high school besties. We’d ended up going to the same college together, Black Hills State University for various degrees.Mine was for veterinary science, so I could better look after my family’s ranch. The others, well….…you could say Sarah was in for her MRS degree while Ellie was in for…something? I never was quite sure. Sam was all in for a mathematics degree. I’m pretty sure she probably works for NASA by now, or Elon Musk. She’s that smart.Anyways…BHSU was just a few miles outside of Sturgis, and with the event happening at the beginning of our junior year, my friends had wanted to go. I had wanted to prepare for the semester to start, but, you know how friends are. So we piled into my old Chevy and made our way down to Sturgis to see what all the fuss was about.It’s funny, looking back, that even growing up in Rapid City I had never once gone to the rally. First time for everything, you know?We were really not prepared.It was a wild and crazy time in town, even though we had to park almost a mile outside to even find a parking spot. Ended up near the high school on the edge of town. Still a mile walk isn’t much, but we never did make it into town. No, we were stopped almost immediately by the massive crowd making its way towards the high school.“What’s going on over there?” Ellie asked.Sam cocked her head, before spotting a banner across the school’s side, then gave me that creepy sidways grin.You know the one.The one where you know your best friend is planning something stupid and wants you to join in.“Looks like its an all invited wrestling event, Ariane…”My other two friends slowly turned their gaze on me, those same creepy smiles on their faces.I guess it is as good as time as any to say that, yes, I wrestled in high school. Yes, I was pretty decent, making my way to state and beating every girl in my path. No, I never placed at state and it had to do with wrestling Franky Monroe…*shudders*I’m just going to get back to the story.“What…it’s a wrestling event, so what?”Their creepy smiles didn’t cease.“Of fer crying out loud. I ain’t gonna go join some random wrestling event just because I was good at it before.”Sam looked appalled. “Good? You were the best, Ari. You leveled every girl this side of Topeka and did it without breaking a sweat!”Ellie nodded. “For real, Ari. I mean, reading that sign, it even says that there are monetary rewards for placing in it. I mean, we’re in college. We got to afford it somehow, right?”Sarah just nodded. “There might be some cute guys there as well?”I rolled my eyes at the lot of ‘em.“That don’t matter. I ain’t gonna go join as we came here to see what’s going on here at-“Oh my gosh…is that you Ariane?!?!”The redhead halted mid sentence, turning quickly to spot the approaching voice. Her scowl turned into a marvelous grin as she rushed towards the blonde heading towards her. The two woman crashed together in a massive hug, laughing as she swung back and forth.“It is so good to see you again, Angel? How have y’all been?”The blonde smiled as she took in her friend. “It’s been fantastic! Though where have you been? I haven’t seen you since you went off to do all your rodeo circuits and 4H stuff your sophomore year? What have you been up to?”Angelica, Angel as we all called her as she simply was one, was a friend from a nearby high school in the Rapid City area. We’d first met across from each other in a wrestling meet, and things hadn’t gone well for her as I’d quickly pinned her and tossed her about like a rag doll. She wasn’t mad at all, but came over after and to my surprise, gave me a big hug and thanked me, going on about how she didn’t realize the moves I had done were possible, and she’d grow stronger to make sure she could give me a challenge the next time we met.I’m sad to say, she never gave me a big challenge, but, we stayed friends until I……anyways.That’s the past, and now, I had a friend in front of me again. We took quite a few minutes recollecting our past few years. Apparently she had continued on in her wrestling career, placing in state her final year and deciding to go on and make it a professional career. I was a bit shocked by that, as I had remembered she’d wanted to work at a vet clinic back in school. She went with the gimmick of an angel. Leading us to her car, she showed off her wrestling attire, a stark white leotard, with cross stitching, bits of lace around the bottom and a showy robe to go along with it.I whistled how impressed I was.“Dang girl…I bet you rock this attire! What’s your current record if I may so ask?”Angel beamed. “Ten and two! I’ve gotten a lot better, and really wanted to face you again one day before, you disappeared from the sport. But maybe we could today if you entered! I’m sure that you could still make it to the finals if you tried!”I laughed, shaking my head. “Sorry, Angel, but this girl has hung up those boots. And as y’all can tell…” I waved my hand up and down my current summer wear of short jean shorts and a tied off black and red flannel top… “I ain’t dressed for the occasion either.”I have to say, Angel gave me the most adorable pout ever at that reply.“Well…then…if you don’t want to wrestle, then…maybe you can watch me perform? There will be folks from several companies here today watching for new signee’s to take on, so I’m sure with your support I can accomplish my dream!”She struck a pose that was half adorable and half heart melting. Who was I to say no?“Alright, we’ll come and watch you put on a show and kick some butt.” And that’s what we did. It seemed like it was a tournament style wrestling event, with whoever won their match would move on, getting about an hours rest between bouts. Angelica breezed through her first two matches, with us cheering her on loudly, while building up the crowd in her favor. She seemed to appreciate it, as she grew more bold as the matches went on. By the fourth match, the crowd was behind her 100%, loudly cheering for the Angel of the Black Hills. Little did we all know who she was facing next…Angelica showed up for her fifth match, one away from the finals and a $10,000 cash prize, working up the crowd, hopping onto the turnbuckle like a literal angel, showering the fans with waves and blown kisses. Her opponent to come out, made my blood boil and had me gripping my hat in my hands so tight to this day it still has wrinkles in the fabric. Sandra “The Rowdy Rustler” Lariat.Otherwise known to me as, Sandra Kneelsworth from Sioux City. A girl back in my last year of wrestling known for her cruelty in the ring. She lost many matches to being disqualified after going for illegal holds, and trying to neuter her male opponents. Even in high school she must have been training to become a heel, as that is what she looked like when she came out from behind the curtain in her black wrestling pants filled with tears and rips, chains hanging off her loose belt and a too tight red and black tank top that she was busting out of. She strutted to the ring, flipping fans off before rolling into the ring, licking her lips and mussing back her black hair, partially dyed red, when she saw Angelica.The literal devil to her angel.Before the match began, and thanks to being in the front row behind the barricade, I caught Angel’s attention. “Angelica, be careful. She will do anything and everything nasty to win. Keep your distance, keep her flustered, and only go for submissions!”She nodded, hopefully noticing the worry in my voice. I had faced Sandra twice before in competitions, and each time beaten her after she had tried to use my burgeoning girls as chew toys without the ref noticing. Sandra must have noticed me giving Angel pointers, as she glared directly at me, licked her lips before pointing to her chest, then to mine.Yeah…safe to say, I hated her guts. The bell rang, the match began, and Angelica did the best she could, but the devil had improved since high school. Angel managed to play defense, tripping her up and almost getting a quick pin on her, before disaster struck. A loose backwards step folded Angel’s left ankle like an origami sheet of paper. Nobody in the room didn’t hear the cry of pain from her as she fell backwards. The referee checked on her, and the stubborn girl said she could continue.I wish she hadn’t…oh how I wish she hadn’t.As the devil tore into our beautiful angel like a wolf pack into a sheep.Every hold…Every powerbomb…Every type of pain Sandra could inflict upon Angelica, she did, until the hall was filled with pain filled cries, and the boos and jeers of the audience. It only worsened when, after letting Angelica go just as she was raising her hand to tap out a submission to a reverse boston crab, the Rowdy Rustler rolled out of the ring, looked under the mat, and pulled out a table. Now, there had been no rules against using weapons in these matches. This was Sturgis, after all. But, nobody had wanted to use them, at least until the final match as any earlier and they could break themselves just as easily as their opponents with them. Angel was not so lucky. “Who wants to see an Angel fall into hell?” the sadistic devil shouted to the doubled downing of boo’s. She didn’t care, and it took every ounce of my being to not jump in there and just drag Angelica out of this situation. I watched as Sandra set the table up in the middle of the ring, then dragged our Angel by her twisted ankle to the corner, to the sounds of her screams. Sandra then looked directly at me.“Hey Ariane!”It felt like all eyes in the gymnasium moved onto me. Sandra grinned, a disgusting look on her menacing face. “If you care at all about your friend here, you’d be a real woman and come in and take this power bomb for her! Or else she’ll get a powerbomb and I’ll make sure she can’t ever wrestle again!”The crowd broke into a near riot, the boos becoming deafening as Sandra twisted harder on Angelica’s ankle, the poor woman slapping the mat frantically. The referee called the match, but when he tried to get Sandra to let go, the vicious woman snapped her foot in a wicked kick between his legs, leveling the poor sap. “I’m waaaaaaiting you prick! Get up here or your little Angel gets broken!”Sarah was already on the phone trying to call the police. Ellie and Sam were holding me down. All I could see was red. “You’re scum, ya hear!” I shouted, finally breaking free and shaking my fist at the demon in the ring. “You have no reason to do this, now let her go!”The devil laughed. “Awwwww, is the ass-poor cowlicker begging me? Too precious…too late.”She grabbed both of Angelica’s legs and body, and readied herself to lift the broken woman off the mat. She glared at me one more time. “I’ll make sure her head hits first! Just so you know what happens when somebody thinks they can beat me!”She raised her up.I bolted forward. Still to this day I’m not sure how I got in front of that table like I did. When she started dropping Angelica……I was there to catch her. The relief was short lived. I managed to shuffle Angel into a bridal carry before a set of boots found their way into my face. My back found the table, and I went through it, still holding Angelica, like it was paper mache. All I knew was I was groaning in pain as my hair was yanked back and my body tossed across the ring. I barely caught a glimpse of Angelica being pulled from the ring by Ellie and Sam. The referee was still down as Sandra stomped towards me. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this beat down for you getting me disqualified from state!”She aimed a soccer kick towards my core in an easily telegraphed move. Something within me just…snapped.I rolled back, the Rowdy Rustler being thrown off balance by the missed kick. I was up in a flash, grabbing a poorly thrown punch before judo tossing the demon over my shoulder to a raucous cheer from the crowd. Without missing a beat, I grabbed her around her waist, hefted her up into a german suplex, releasing her at full speed, with a mighty roar. She landed harshly on her back, arching in pain only to have me back on her, sending stomps into her chest and stomach. The formerly proud, arrogant, devil of the ring was now desperately trying to claw her way away from me. I may have had ring rust, but I wasn’t going to let her go just yet. Grabbing her by her top, I flung her against the ropes, following after her with a lariat as soon as I could. I was pleased when it connected, sending her in a full 360 with a cry of pain. But I wasn’t wanting to be done just yet. She had hurt my friend because she had tried to cheat and got caught years earlier. No…Sandra was going to pay for what she had done.Yanking her up by her hair, I tossed her again into the corner, happy to see how ragged she looked. I grabbed her cheeks, squeezing hard as I got in her face. “You hurt my friend because of your stupid grudge. You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life-ahhhh!”My face twisted in pain as the dumb broad low blowed me with her knee. She pushed me away with a cackle, before running forward, grabbing my head and doing a reverse bulldog. I landed straight on the table debris again, while she rolled back to her feet and spit in my face.“You’re gonna pay now you redheaded freak!”While I was still woozy, she grabbed my hair, yanked up, then repeatedly smashed her boot into my face, sending the back of my head into the remains of the table. I wasn’t sure which ended up bloody first after the tenth stomp, my nose or the back of my head, but I finally collected my wits enough grab her boot and twist harshly. She fell with a scream. No crack…unfortunately…but it gave me enough time to get up, grab her boots and give her a big swing into the turnbuckle.Am I ashamed that I smiled when she impacted head first with a mighty thud? I probably should be…But I wasn’t.I felt alive!I marched over to her, pulling her up before slamming her face into the turnbuckle multiple times to the crowd’s growing raucousness. After like what I felt was enough, I grabbed her head and pulled back, pulling in my knees and let her back fall against them harshly. I was tired, I was bleeding, but, I could feel the energy flowing through my veins. I gave a massive yeehaw for the crowd, one that they returned, as I grabbed the villain by her hair and yanked her back to woozy feet.She was about to say something, but a few shots to her gut by my fist silenced whatever she was about to say, before I tossed her back into the corner. Grabbing her to growing cheers, I placed her into a powerbomb position over my shoulders as I climbed up the ropes to the top of the turnbuckle. “...n…no…please…don’t.”“You’re begging me now?” I shouted. “You’re too late for that!”With a loud cry, I powerbombed her down onto the remains of the table she had sent me through earlier. As I watched her bounce off the debris with a scream, I leapt from the top, sending my elbow straight into her gut. The crowd roared their approval as I stood above the broken demon, kicking her side once for good measure to know she was out for good. Someone had begun a chant of my name, but to be honest, all I was concerned for at that point was my friend. I had put down the demon, so now was time to check on our Angel. The next hour or so was chaotic. Sandra was kicked out of the tournament, I got a berating from the man in charge of the event, then given a five hundred dollar reward for the show I put on. Angel was watched over by all of us. Her ankle was sprained, but she was going to be okay. A few weeks to months and she would be back to full health. The biggest happening though…the biggest change, at least for me, was when a young man about my age walked into the infirmary looking for me.“Uh…Miss, Jones?”I turned from a joke that Angelica had just said, finding myself looking at a rather tall, clean looking fellow in a suit coat that clashed awfully with the polo underneath. “Yes?”I shushed my four friends behind when they began whispering conspiratorially.“Ah, well, uh, I was wondering if I could maybe have a word with you…privately?”Their whispering grew in volume and I was growing irritated at what they were saying. “Sure, make it quick though, alright?”I’d followed him just out of earshot of my conspiring girlfriends, where he introduced himself as Cimar, a representative of a wrestling company called ANDW. He said he saw what I had done in the ring against Sandra, and what I did to save Angelica, and was thoroughly impressed.He asked if I had any plans that night to talk about a career in wrestling. I was about to blow him off, but…for some reason, I reached out and grabbed the card he offered and said yes to the dinner discussion. We traded numbers, he said he needed to call up his company to let him know the situation, and looked forward to seeing me later.He clumsily bowed, which was both awkward and adorable, before sending me an equally awkward, yet honest smile. “I look forward to speaking with you soon, Ms Jones.”It was that moment, that smile, that sold me on the idea that maybe, just maybe……I could give wrestling one more try....

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Artwork by the absolutely incredible oldandjinxed . They recently opened commissions and are an amazing friend so go check them out.