Different Paths

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February 26th, 2022
Tokyo, Japan
Off Camera
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It is night in Tokyo, Japan. The GCW Civil War event has just concluded and history was made. “The Kensington Knockout” Julia Braddock delivered on her promise to win a second straight Civil War Match. Julia Braddock is now only the second person in the history of the Civil War Match to win two of them back to back, and the first one in the history of GCW to win two in a row. As a result, The Kensington Knockout has punched her ticket to the main event of Resurrection and a shot at the GCW Global Championship. All of the hard work and dedication has paid off. Part one of her two part plan to regain her title has come to fruition. She can now rest, at least momentarily. Civil War has ended and many of the competitors are out celebrating, taking in the Tokyo nightlife, but not Julia. The 2022 Civil War winner is heading back to her hotel room to get in some much needed and well earned rest. This will be the only chance she gets to rest because now she must train in earnest, she must work even harder than before, because Resurrection is her next stop and she knows exactly what awaits her…

…her fate, be it good or bad, her fate awaits her. Destiny awaits Julia Braddock. It will truly be all or nothing for The Kensington Knockout, she has already decided on that. Braddock makes her way down the hall towards her hotel room, carrying her gym bag in her hand. As she gets further and further down the hall she spots a familiar figure standing near where her hotel room door should be. Julia stops and sighs, releasing a hint of frustration as she does so. She shakes her head and then continues to approach the figure who stands before her hotel room. The closer she gets the more the figure comes into focus; this is Julia’s older sister, Glory Braddock.

“Evening, mate.” Glory remarks. Julia doesn’t make any eye contact. Instead she just nods her head to acknowledge her sister. Julia then takes out her key card and inserts it into the door. The door unlocks and Julia pushes it open.

“Here, let me get that for you.” Glory says, taking hold of Julia’s gym bag. The Kensington Knockout again sighs.

“Thanks…”

She pushes her way into the hotel room. She walks inside and then finds a comfortable place on the king sized bed to sit down. Glory follows her inside, dropping the gym bag on the floor, and then sits down next to her sister on the bed. Glory smiles warmly.

“You were great out there tonight.”

“So you watched?”

“Of course I watched. My sister, trying to win her second straight Civil War Match, you knew I was going to be here and support you.”

“But were you there?”

Glory shakes her head. “No, I wasn’t. I figured that you wouldn’t want me there so I stayed behind at the hotel. Convincing you to even let me come here to Tokyo to be with you was difficult enough.”

“Look, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so hard on you about that. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded you being at the arena in person to watch. It’s just…” she shakes her head “...I don’t think you have any clue how hard it is to be your sister.”

Glory chuckles softly. “True enough, mate. But I do know how hard it is to be the daughter of Glenn Braddock.”

“So do I, but I not only had him but I also had you. For so many years I have been compared to the both of you. Only recently have I finally become my own person. Between winning Civil War, being in the main event of Resurrection, winning the Global Championship, starting up a rehabilitation clinic, and now winning the Civil War Match for a second straight year, setting up my second straight Resurrection main event, finally I am establishing my own identity and my own path. I can finally be the first Julia Braddock, not just the second Glory Braddock or the third Glenn Braddock. I suppose the more you were around me, the more people would try to associate me with you again.”

“You won’t have to worry about that any longer.” Glory shakes her head. “Aurora Alan is the CEO of GCW now, I stepped down from that position.”

“You really didn’t need to do that.”

“Yes, I did. This business, Glory the corporate cutthroat had consumed so much of my life that I forgot about Glory Braddock the kind, compassionate woman who loved her family. I forgot why I became so passionate about wrestling in the first place. I needed to step away so I could remind myself who I really am. And in that short time away I have already realized that the real Glory Braddock is not someone who sits behind a desk and plays the master puppeteer like a Corleone crime boss. Glory Braddock is a woman who cares about her sister. So I’m here to support you in any way I can, even if that means stepping away from the limelight for awhile. Are we good?”

Julia pauses for a moment to consider her sister’s words. The Kensington Knockout then shakes her head. “No…no we’re not good..”

“What is it?” Glory asks, a look of concern forming on her face. “Did I do or say something wrong?”

“No, it wasn’t you.” Julia pats herself on the chest. “It was me…I did something wrong.”

“Nonsense. You’ve done nothing wrong. You…”

“Shut up and listen for a moment. You have been going above and beyond the call of duty to support me, to do what I asked of you, all because you still feel guilty about the past. And I knew it. I knew it and I used it to my advantage.” Julia reaches up and wipes some tears from her eyes. “You want to talk about the master puppeteer, you’re looking at her. I was using and abusing illegal drugs shortly after I made my professional debut, I kept that hidden from you. All of that was on me. Aphrodite Noel took me in and hooked me up with a rehabilitation clinic. I owed her a great deal for getting me clean and breaking my addiction. So to pay that debt I worked for her as her servant until the debt was paid in full. I took her last name as my own because I felt I owed her something. But you felt guilty, you felt as if you did this to me. But all of it, it was on me. It was my doing. But knowing how guilty you felt, I chose to use those feelings to manipulate you…” she holds up two fingers “...not just once but twice. Just recently I’ve tried to manipulate you into moving away from Miami, moving back to London full time so you could help me run my rehabilitation clinic. So no, Glory, we’re not good. We’re far from good and it is all my fault.”

Julia sighs and bows her head in shame. Glory pauses as she ponders what was just said. “So, where do we go from here?”

“I think we just we need to accept that we’re on different paths.” Julia looks up at her older sister and smiles uneasily. “We’ve both been going about this all wrong, Gloria. Dad wanted you to be just like him, and then you wanted me to be just like you. Later I tried to make you exactly like me. We just need to accept the fact that we are two very different people on very different paths. I need to accept you for who you are, just like you need to accept me for who I am.”

“You’re right…” Glory says with tears of her own forming in her eyes “...of course, you’re right.”

The two sisters embrace in a tight hug. After the hug is ended Glory begins speaking again. “So, speaking of different paths, what path are you on now that you won your second consecutive Civil War Match?”

“That’s an easy one. I’m going to Resurrection to challenge for the GCW Global Championship.”

“But what happens after Resurrection?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think you know what I mean.” Glory answers. “What is next…contractually.”

“Ah, yes,” Julia sighs “I figured you would find out eventually.”

“Find out? I may no longer be CEO but I am still the owner of the company. You can’t keep secrets like that from me. There is a contract extension Tabitha Silverstone drew up ready for you to sign.”

“I know.”

“Why haven’t you signed it?”

“I will…well, I might…” Julia shrugs her shoulders “...it all depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“Look, I fully intend to sign that contract. I want to work with GCW for a long time to come. I want to retire as a GCW wrestler. But the fact is that I have become complacent ever since winning the GCW Global Championship. That’s the only reason I lost the title…I became complacent and just assumed Kelsai was a decent human being.”

“So just march into Resurrection, punch her in the mouth, and take the championship back.”

“Oh I plan to, but before that I needed to rid myself of any and all complacency. That’s why I didn’t choose to exercise my rematch clause. I wanted to remind myself of what it takes to get to the top, of the hard word and dedication it takes to be the best. What better way to do that than by winning the one match that is next to impossible to win even once, let alone twice back to back? And if we’re talking complacency, let’s look at that Resurrection main event for a moment. Kelsai has her championship on the line. But me? I have nothing to lose. Nothing to lose breeds complacency. I need a reason to fight other than just kicking her immature little ass.”

“What are you talking about?!” Glory demands.

“Glory…if I do not become GCW Global Champion at Resurrection, then I will not sign that contract extension, and I will leave GCW forever.”

“Bloody hell!” Glory shakes her head. “You don’t need to do this to prove some stupid point!”

“Maybe you don’t think so, but this isn’t your decision, it’s mine. I mean, no, you wouldn’t do something like this, but then again you always played it safe. In every big match of your career you always had a backup plan, and backups for your backups. You had so many safety nets in place for in case you failed that your rise back to the top wouldn’t be so hard.” Julia grins devilishly. “But then, where’s the thrill? Where is the rush?”

“You sound just like Matty.”

“Matthew Taylor? Yeah, I do; and I suppose that’s why dad always was frustrated with me when he tried to train me. I was just as much a daredevil as Matthew was…dad kicked him out of the wrestling school for it. If I wasn’t his daughter, he would have kicked me out too.”

“I just don’t see why you have to do it this way.”

“Last year when I won the Civil War Match the first time, I thought I was just lucky. I thought I could ride that wave of luck to a GCW World Championship at Resurrection X. But then I got beat by Nadia Allen in the main event. It was then that I realized it wasn’t about luck, it’s about being good. I was GOOD enough to win the Civil War Match. So I put all of my effort into being good enough to win the Global Championship and I did it. This year I put all of my effort into winning the Civil War Match for a second year and I did it. But for all of my accomplishments in GCW, there’s still one thing I haven’t done. I haven’t won a world or global championship in the main event of Resurrection. I earned my way to the main event for a second straight year, Gloria. And each year the competition keeps getting tougher and better. How many more times will I be able to earn my way into the main event of Resurrection? Realistically, this may be my last chance. So I WILL win back my Global Championship or I will leave for good. You can support me or not. I really don’t care.”

Glory sighs and nods her head. “I support you, you know that. But I don’t have to like the decision. But I will always support you and know that I always love you.”

“And I love you too, Glory.”