Taking Hold of the Family Legacy

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May 23rd, 2020

Charlotte, NC

Off Camera

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Aubrianna Powers has a massive competitive streak running through her body.  Wrestling and the desire to win is in her blood.  It’s all she has known for as long as she has been alive.  She is a very confident, brash, bold individual.  Some interpret that as arrogance but she just truly believes in herself and in her ability to get the job done inside the ring when the chips are down.  Since her debut in 2017, Powers has been on a strong run, winning tag team championships in MCW, the International, World, and Global Championships in GCW, the Tapout Championship in HKW, and now she has set her sights upon the next challenge on the horizon; Supreme Championship Wrestling and specifically, Taking Hold of the Flame.

It will not only be her first Taking Hold of the Flame but her first rumble match of any type.  Some would be intimidated at the odds she faces but Powers relishes in the task she has before her.  She relishes in the opportunity to overcome these seemingly overwhelming odds that include facing down thirty nine other superstars.  Many enter this rumble just to make an impact, just to make a name for themselves.  For Powers, as competitive as she is, making an impact isn’t good enough.  She has her eyes on the top prize; victory.  If she wins it all, she will get to main event Rise To Greatness and compete for the SCW World Championship.

What makes someone like Powers so competitive?  The same reason why her older brothers, Derek and Steve, were super-competitive.  In fact, the oldest of the three Powers siblings, Steve Powers, was probably the most competitive of the trio.  He made everyone believe he was a fun loving entertainer when the entire time he was manipulating everyone around him, working and weaseling his way to the top of professional wrestling.  Did Aubrianna get her ruthless, cutthroat competitive streak from Steve?   Mostly.  But a lot of the competitiveness comes naturally.

It is a little known fact that the Powers siblings are all second generation wrestlers.  Their father, Gregory Powers, had a dream of being a professional wrestler but never could get noticed by any of the major promotions of his time.  So he ended up wrestling wherever he could for any small time independent promotion that was willing to pay him.  And he would work for practically nothing, but it was always just enough to pay the bills.  It was just enough to barely survive and keep food on the table.  When it was just him, his wife, and their son Steve, the life was decent.  Not ideal, but decent.  Derek came along a couple years later and things got noticeably tougher for them to manager but still, Gregory Powers worked hard, pulling double duty at times, to fulfill his dream as a wrestler and to also keep his family fed.

Then Aubrianna was born.

Aubrianna put an almost impossible burden for the Powers family to bear.  His wife begged Gregory to stop wrestling and get a “real job” but he refused.  Their relationship became strained over the wrestling and the budget which was becoming slimmer by the second.  Then, when Aubrianna was still very young, Gregory Powers had an accident in the ring and passed away as a result of his injuries.  The perfect storm of having to feed three children on her own and her husband dying in the ring before they could reconcile broke the matriarch of the Powers family, who committed suicide.  It was then up to Steve Powers to grow up in a hurry and raise his siblings by himself, which was another reason he became a wrestler.

For Aubrianna Powers the competitive streak is about pride.  She is a second generation wrestler and growing up around the sport, traveling with her brother to arenas all over the world, she knows what it means to be a second generation wrestler.  It was something you could be proud of.  You could proudly carry on the mantle of your father or mother as you followed in their footsteps.  But for Aubrianna and her siblings, being a second generation wrestler wasn’t something to be proud of.  Their father never succeeded at anything when it came to professional wrestling.

He was a failure.  But Steve Powers managed to not only raise the family but to also become a world champion in the process.  Steve Powers created the Powers dynasty and as much of a fool as he can be at times, it is him who Powers looks to for inspiration.  He is the one whose footsteps she is following.

She’ll never tell him that.  She will tell him and everyone else that will listen that she refuses to be a failure.  Her debut in Supreme Championship Wrestling will be in Taking Hold of the Flame.  Her new agent, Aurora Alan, is insisting that she go in the battle royal looking to make an impact but Powers doesn’t want to simply make an impact.  She wants SCW to remember her forever.  She wants to win, because she is a winner, not a failure.

This is what brings her to the PowersHouse Academy at eleven at night.  The large area is empty and silent.  The lights are on but, as they say, no one is home.  Every students has gone to back to their own homes to sleep and rest for the next day of training.  The equipment stands ready to be used but no one is here to use it.  There is a wrestling ring set up but yet again, no one is here to use it so it sets empty.

Loud thuds can be heard, like the smacking of fists and feet.  In this case, it isn’t far from the truth.  Not far from the ring is a large red heavy bag.  The pink tipped blonde haired beauty, Aubrianna Powers, is standing by the heavy bag and lacing into it with vicious rapid fire punches and martial arts kicks.  She is a striker and thus she is honing her skills, her primary weapon, in preparation for the upcoming Taking Hold of the Flame battle royal she intends to enter…

...no, the one she intends to win.

The Most Valuable Powers is focused and intense on knocking the ever loving crap out of that heavy bag, so much so that she doesn’t even notice when the doors to the PowersHouse Academy open up.  The visitor, wearing denim jeans and a black t-shirt, is none other than her oldest brother, “The Very Best”...

...insert a big toothy grin here…

...Steve Powers!  A low chuckle escapes his lips.  He can’t help but be proud of his sister working her ass off for this rumble match, a match that most would say she has no chance of winning.  Yet Aubrianna is hell bent on proving them all wrong.  It’s a winning attitude.  It’s the attitude Steve himself had when he decided to make his own debut.  No one believed he could make it in wrestling, everyone thought he was crazy for trying to succeed where his father failed AND to raise his siblings at the same time.  Yet he pulled it off.  He enjoyed making everyone eat their words and he hopes his sister can do the same at Taking Hold of the Flame.

The MVP grunts with each punch and kick she throws at the heavy bag.  Steve furrows his brow as she seemingly takes no notice of his presence, it’s almost as if she is so focused that she doesn’t even realize he is there.  And then that’s when Steve figures it out…

...she really doesn’t know that he has arrived!

Steve smirks as he decides to play a mean trick on his baby sister.  He slowly approaches her from behind while she’s throwing those vicious punches and kicks at the heavy bag.  The Very Best…

...yeah, you know the drill, big toothy grin…

...Steve Powers approaches her from behind, reaches out with a hand, and clasps her shoulder.

“Hey, Aubrey!”

“The fuck!” Aubrianna spins around and with reflexes unlike none other she throws a roundhouse kick.  Steve manages to jump out of the way just in time, otherwise his head would have been taken off by a violent MVK...also known as The Most Valuable Kick, one half of Aubrey’s finishing sequence called The Powers That Be.  As soon as she realizes it was her brother who scared her, Aubrianna begins fuming mad.  Her face grows red hot with anger.  Steve, by contrast, starts laughing his ass off.

“You shoulda seen your face, Aubrey!” Steve says in between laughs.  Aubrey does not find this funny.  Not at all.

“You think this is funny?!”

“Well...yeah…”

“It wasn’t funny!” Aubrey stomps her foot on the floor almost like an immature child. “You damn near gave me a heart attack you jerk!”

“Oh did I?  Boo-hoo.  Y’know, you shouldn’t be here this late at night anyways, Aubrey.” A smug smirk forms upon Steve’s face.  He is still loving this and he loves to get under his sister’s skin.  He knows nothing gets under her skin more than to call her Aubrey.  Few have the right (in her mind) to call her Aubrey.  Her husband, Dexter Russell, is one of the few.  She prefers her full name, Aubrianna, and she will lash out when someone tries to use the shortened version around her.

“It’s Aubrianna, jackass!”

“Aubrianna Jackass?  I thought we were the Powers family?”

“You know damn well that’s not what I meant!” Aubrianna pauses for a few moments before her anger starts to die down.  A smirk forms upon her lovely face. “Then again, you ARE a jackass.  Derek can be quite a jackass too when he wants to be.”

“And admit it, you can be a jackass.  Can women be jackasses, though?” Steve asks.  Aubrey shrugs her shoulders.

“Fuck if I know.  I haven’t heard women called jackasses before but shit, with this damn women’s liberation stuff and equality movement being thrown around then maybe we should be jackasses too.”

“It’s agreed then.” Steve nods his head. “We’re all a bunch of jackasses.”

Steve and Aubrianna share a hearty laugh.  They approach one another and embrace in a tight hug now that the tension has lifted. As soon as they break the hug Steve motions to the heavy bag. “I saw you giving it hell.  Training for Taking Hold of the Flame?”

“Of course.” Aubrey nods her head. “This is a rumble match and my first rumble match ever.  I know what to expect only from what I’ve seen on tape.  So get used to seeing more of me, Steve.  I’m going to be here at all hours of the day busting my ass so that I’m ready.”

“Losing isn’t an option, I take it?”

“Damn right it isn’t.”

Steve stares deep into his sister’s eyes.  There is an intensity there that he has seen only once before.  Those are the eyes of a person who truly believes that she can and will win this battle royal, despite the overwhelming odds against her.  A warm smile forms upon his face.

“You know, of the three of us you are the most like him…”

“Like who?”

“Like dad.”

“You know I don’t like you bringing him up.”

Aubrianna immediately turns and storms away from her older brother.  Steve follows her over to the ring where she hops up on the ring apron and buries her face in her hands.  Steve can hear his sister slowly and quietly sobbing.  Steve pats her gently on the back.

“You can’t just pretend he doesn’t exist.  And you can’t go around pretending that these feelings do not exist.  You have to face them sometime, sis.”

“Like hell I can’t.” Powers says defiantly, looking up at her brother with tear-filled red eyes. “I’ve hidden it this long.  I can do so for a little while longer.”

“I know and I don’t like it.  What is it you told Dexter about dad?”

“I told him mom and dad split up because of me and they want nothing to do with us.”

Steve can’t help but let out a low chuckle.  Aubrianna frowns. “What’s so damn funny?!”

“That’s the worst lie I’ve ever heard and trust me, sis, I’ve heard them all.  I came up with a few of them myself, come to think of it.” 

“Yeah?  Well this lie is working just fine because Dexter wasn’t around our family until after both mom and dad were dead so it’s all good.”

“And you think you’re gonna succeed in this business?” Steve shakes his head. “Oh no, no, no, baby sis.  Remember rule number one, if anything bad can happen it will happen.  Dexter Russell is a journalist, he is trained to spot lies like that, so I bet he already suspects that there is more to your little story than that.”

“Yeah?  Well I’ll cross that bridge when it comes.  Until then…”

“Until then you’ll just keep burying your head in the sand?” Steve asks.  Aubrianna doesn’t answer but the death stare she gives her older brother is the only answer he needs.  He sighs and nods his head.

“That’s another way you’re like dad.  You both were hell bent on doing things your way.  You would not give up or quit or even consider changing strategy.”

“And you’re any better?” The MVP counters.  Steve sighs and shakes his head.

“At first, no.  At first I was just like him.  But you know who helped me out?  Matthew Alan.  He didn’t just give me an opportunity at the grand stage, the kind of opportunity dad never got, but he also helped me personally.  He told me that there was a difference between being stubborn and having a never say die attitude.  Dad could often be too stubborn.  Too stubborn to accept change.  It’s ok to never give up, to never quit.  That’s a great attitude to have; but you need to be willing to adapt and change depending upon the circumstances.”

He motions to the wrestling ring behind them. “You’re about to enter this ring...well maybe not THIS specific ring, but a ring...against thirty nine other wrestlers.  You’re about to enter Taking Hold of the Flame.  Now you said you’ve never been in a rumble match before.  I have.  I’ve never won one but I’ve entered many.  I know how it works and you constantly have to adapt and change because the scenario will be constantly changing and evolving as each new wrestler enters the match.”

He places a comforting hand on his sister’s shoulder. “I know you can win this, Aubrey.  But you need to prepare for it, and you need to prepare not just physically but mentally and emotionally for this challenge.  Are you up for that?”

“You know damn well I’m up for it, bro.” She smirks knowingly.

“Then you’ll do just fine.” Steve says smiling warmly at his sister.  Aubrianna gazes at her older brother curiously, with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Where did this come from?”

“Where did what come from?”

“This!  You!  You sound all mature and shit!  You don’t sound like the bumbling idiot I hear on tv or read about on social media!”

“Oh that…” Steve smirks “...well, I do have a reputation to maintain.  Remember, no matter how old I may get I am and forever will be THE VERY BEST…”

Steve flashes his signature big toothy grin, which causes Aubrianna to roll her eyes.

“...Steve Powers!”

“Oh please...that’s so damn corny…”

“Coming from The Most Valuable Powers?”

“Hey!  That’s original, damn it!”

“Nothing is original, sis.  Everyone borrows something from somewhere.  They may tweak it a little to make it their own but everything is borrowed.  There are no more totally new ideas.  That’s another lesson you should learn, along with your stubborn attitude.”

“Yeah right.  And maybe you’re right, maybe I do need to work on my stubborn attitude, but that can come later.  Right now I do need to work on some of the physical aspects of what I can expect in Taking Hold of the Flame.  So how about you stop running your damn mouth, get your ass in that ring, and let me kick your ass for a few rounds?”

“Well who am I to say no to my baby sister?”

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On Camera

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We open up to classical piano music playing in the background and gold confetti falling from seemingly out of nowhere (probably CGI confetti, but who cares).  It isn’t long into the classical music introduction that we hear a female voice…

“The following is paid for by The Most Valuable Friendship, reminding you that there is no force more powerful than Friendship!”

The confetti scene fades away and we fade into a new scene.  The camera seems to be showing the concrete floor and someone’s black and hot pink colored wrestling boots.  The camera slowly starts to raise up, getting a shot of the female wrestler’s sexy legs, then her beautiful backside covered in black and hot pink wrestling trunks.  She shakes her ass a little and a giggle can be heard.

“Up a little higher, pervert!  Although who can blame you?  I do have a nice ass.”  The camera starts to raise up a little higher.  The female, who turns out to be none other than “The MVP” Aubrianna Powers, turns around.  We get a sight of her top, wearing a black and hot pink wrestling top, and then finally up to her face, with pink tipped blonde hair cascading down to below the shoulders.  A confident smirk is etched across her face.  She pauses to frame her face with her hands, almost as if creating a picture frame.

The sound of drums can be heard playing in the darkness.  Slowly the camera begins to pan around to get a wider shot of the room, which is still in darkness as we open in a dimly lit room packed full of tables and chairs all of which surround a medium sized staging area.  Upon the stage is a microphone with, yes, a microphone.  Sitting on the floor playing a set of bongo drums is a long blonde haired individual; he is well built and has dark sunglasses covering his eyes.

“Hey!  Turn back around!” The cameraman, realizing the mistake he made of not keeping the camera on the somewhat vain and egotistical Aubrianna Powers, quickly corrects his error, placing the camera’s focus squarely on the pink tipped blonde haired beauty herself. “That’s better.”

“For those of you who know me, then you know to expect Simply The Best…” The MVP strikes a pose for a brief moment “...athletic performance that Supreme Championship Wrestling has ever seen.  You know that I am a former MCW World Tag Team Champion, longest reigning HKW Tapout Champion in history, former GCW International Champion, former GCW Global Champion, and former GCW World Champion.  That’s not The Very Best...that’s not The Absolute Best...that is just Simply The Best.” The blonde haired beauty smirks condescendingly at the camera.

“For those of you who do not know me, you will quickly learn that I am everything that I say I am and then some.  I am Aubrianna Powers and I am a second generation wrestler; myself my two brothers all come from a wrestling family.  I am The MVP, The Most Valuable Powers, because I have exceeded the expectations of my family, I have achieved more than anyone else in my family.  But what’s most important for you to know is that every single promotion I have ever joined I made immediate and historic impacts.  And all of you, from those who do know me to those who are brand new to experience that is The MVP, all of you have been anxiously anticipating my arrival.  The rumors have been swirling for almost a year and I have heard the whispers and the talk...when will she join?  When will she make the move?” The MVP smirks knowingly and shrugs her shoulders.

“Timing is everything, folks.  I have been a world champion twice now and I made my professional debut in April of 2017.  How is that for a fast rising star?  I have achieved this kind of success because I am very careful with my timing.  I choose my strategy very carefully as well.  I had no intention on rushing into anything.  The MVP would become The MVP of Supreme Championship Wrestling when the time was right and baby, the time is right here and right now at the beginning of Rise To Greatness season; but it goes by another name, am I right?  Taking Hold of the Flame.”

“Taking Hold of the Flame is the perfect time to make your introduction to the SCW universe.  At least, it would be if you were anyone else.  But me?  I am different from everyone else.  I am The Most Valuable Powers and I have to have The Most Valuable Debut in SCW history.  What’s more, I do not look to half-ass anything.  I am not one to just be content with an impressive showing.  That may be good enough for some of you losers entering this rumble but not me.  Anything I set my mind to, whether its a match, tournament, promotion, or a rumble like this, the goal is the same...victory or nothing at all.  So do you want a debut that overshadows any and all debuts that have ever come to SCW?  Do you want The Very Best Debut, The Absolute Best Debut, and quite Simply The Best Debut in SCW history? Then look no further than The MVP making her SCW debut by entering her very first Taking Hold of the Flame.”

“Now I know what everyone is thinking...what’s the point?  Do you really think you can overcome the odds of having to beat thirty nine other SCW wrestlers in one night?  Do you really think you can win Taking Hold of the Flame in your SCW debut and then go on to main event Rise To Greatness?  I admit, it is a monumental task but you are looking at the only bitch who is capable of achieving such a monumental task.  That’s another thing about The MVP.  I have a reputation for changing the narrative.  The narrative is that one of your favorites like Asher Hayes, one of your heroes like Selena Frost, or even one of the villains who you can’t deny has talent...Sienna Swann or Syren...you think people like them are going to win this thing?  But why is that the narrative?” The Most Valuable Powers shrugs her shoulders.

“Who knows?  My suspicion is it’s just because you people haven’t had a chance to observe me in action.  So of course you think I’m full of hot air.  Of course you think I’m just blowing steam outta my ass.  The truth is, I’m going to take this narrative and shove it down your throats and on that same night I will write a new narrative, a new creed that you will eat, sleep, and worship.  And that creed is that Aubrianna Powers is The MVP of Taking Hold of the Flame.”

Powers winks at the camera. “Learn to love it, bitches.”

The man plays on the bongos as The MVP turns and walks off of the stage.  The feminine voice returns shortly after Powers is gone…

“The proceeding was paid for by The Most Valuable Friendship reminding you that Aubrianna Powers is better than you!”