NEW - NOIR EXTREME WRESTLING

Familiar music erupts through the arena, melodic and soft then vibrant and percussive. But it's the magenta hues washes through the Hammerstein that as ever sets the tone and conjures a ripple of noise and expectation through the waiting fans. As a Halo light starts to flicker, a silhouette appears underneath it, as if she just pulsed from the ethereal to the physical. I've got that little trick of the lighting down a tee now. It never ceases to delight and just being here surely surprises. I'm not on the card tonight, but here I am, waltzing toward the ring. As the light catches my form, another surprise. Instead of bright pinks and shiny lycra I'm heading to the ring in casual dress. A hoodie and a pair of inky black leather pants with a microphone in my hand.

 

 It's routine now, strutting the canvas with hipsway that captivates, visiting each turnbuckle in turn to pump my fist and hype the crowd like I'm conducting my very own, feral and impassioned orchestra. But I know they want to know why I'm out here, like this. So when 

 "Thank you, thank you all. Your support always lifts me and you all know, it's not always been easy here. You've all seen me fight and bleed and even... cry right in this very ring". I let that sink in for a moment. "And I wouldn't have it any other way. It's been a privilege to compete for you all. To celebrate with you all and yes.. Even to suffer before you.. For you". I take a deep breath as I pace circles around the canvas and feel nervous energy rising within me. "I've left everything I have in this ring and that's why I'm here, right now".

Perplexed faces stare back at me, some of them sporting Lioness tee shirts and home made signs. "Because I have been keeping something from you. There was alot of talk a while ago. What happened to Sara Leon. Who attacked her.". The noise swirling around me in waves eases and fills with tension. "It was me... I did it." A girl wearing Angel wings in the front row is shaking her head but big screen shows I'm not lying.

 "What she did to me on my debut, at the end? you remember all that, right?" I point at replays from that devasting match, of Sara frying me with a tazer, binding and gagging me, landing a mind breaking chair shot onto my waiting face. "THAT WAS TORTURE!!!". I cry out like a vengeful banshee!". The atmospheres uncomfortable. Some of the fans that night were cheering for you just month later. "And what I did... It was Karma.. It was... Judgement!"

"I gave her that, and I gave her a mirror to see what she really is. A scared Bully, hiding behind a belt she's not strong enough to wear!". I pause and plant my feet, looking out in the crowd. They look back. I'm not sure I've ever felt a silence quite like this, crawling over my skin and reaching deeper. There's a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat, but I've said what I came to say.. almost".

"And I gave her something else that night. I gave her a choice and a chance... She can be the noble Lioness, but she wont beat me like that. She won't make me quit and she wont leave with that belt cause I wont hold anything back". Now there's noise.. a rumble lifting toward the rafters again. "Or she can be that monster you all saw. That's what it will take to make me say "I quit". Right on queue, as I turn to the Screen it flickers back to life. "Next week you'll all see if she choose gold or if she chooses... REDEMPTON!"