▶It's Time to Reintroduce... Mia Rayne
Immediately following the events of Wrestlefest - Stardate: Pick a number between 1-infinity (and beyond)
Does anyone ever really stop to think about the after effects of brutal matches, that, put true, barbaric hostility right on display, with spotlights and all the trimmings for the masses?
Mia Rayne staggers to the side, catching herself on a wall, and using it to support herself. She tries to gulp, and winces in pain as the barbed wire that Silas had wrapped around her neck still hung like a demonic noose. She snaps her fingers and the barbed wire twitches slightly before laying back down against her still bleeding skin. She grunts in frustration and startles a few no name stage hands that scamper by, too busy cleaning up after CWF’s “biggest show of the year.” Mia scoffs to herself, her breathing ragged as she stumbles to her feet and quietly drags her body, as best she can, to the assigned locker room she was given. She had never felt like she belonged in any of the public locker rooms with the other women of the roster, it was enough to be on the outside looking in from a distance. Being up front and in full view with others?
A conga line featuring the greats: Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Bigfoot, strolling by and inviting Mia to join was more likely. Looking up, almost with a silly kind of child-like hope that such a conga line materialized in front of her, Mia has to stifle a disappointed sigh as one of the building’s janitors was the only one to happen to be present as she dragged herself along. Mia stops and looks at the man quizzically, his name badge said “Fred,” but he was giving off a different kind of vibe.
“‘Scuse me sir, but do you happen to have any Grey Poupon?”
“Fred” doesn’t stop what he’s doing as Mia continues to wait for an answer, before of course noticing the ear buds placed firmly in the janitor’s ears. Mia shakes her head, spraying the hallway around her with her blood, still dripping from her wounds. She looks around her, realizing what she just did, and is grateful for the fact that Fred has yet to notice. Quickly looking for some Mary Poppins level gear bag that only existed in her imagination, she lets out a frustrated sigh and shrugs, only just realizing that the door to her locker room has graciously appeared beside her. Wondering if she should let Fred know, Mia reaches out to poke his shoulder, his back turned before she thinks better of it and disappears into her locker room instead. The door clicks shut behind her as “Fred” turns around.
He shakes his head but jumps slightly as he hears a loud THUD from behind the door Mia Rayne had just disappeared behind. Reaching out, his hand grasps the handle, but he doesn’t turn it, instead realizing that there was a trail of blood left behind by the “Forsaken Psychotic.” He sighs and mutters to himself.
“Fuckin’ wrestlers…”
With that, he grabs his cleaning supplies while whistling a tune to himself cleaning up the bloody trail.
Inside the locker room, Mia lies face down on the cool, concrete floor. She smiles, enjoying the decision to take up any mats that were laid down in the guise of “comfort.” Nothing felt better on her tired body than just being able to lie in one place and let the concrete soothe her. She looks up, her head tilts to one side as she considers the random locker that has appeared before her. Nothing crazy, just ye ol’ standard locker, the only thing suspicious was the fact that it wasn’t there before the show…
Mia gets to her hands and knees, crawling slowly, painfully, over to the locker. She sits back, looking up at it.
“No way I’m fitting in there. You got anything that comes in a size me?”
The locker door flies open, narrowly missing the tip of Mia’s nose as it grows to allow Mia to crawl into it. The door slams shut behind her, the lock twists, and with a sudden POP it vanishes.
Have you ever seen a room that is completely, blindingly, just white? Nothing on the walls, if there are any walls because everything in all directions is one hundred percent white. It doesn’t take long however, before a loud POP is heard and a familiar looking locker appears. At least, we think it’s familiar, kind of like the one that Mia disappeared into after Wrestlefest, but the corners of this particular locker were all, small and sharp, giving the appearance of an upside down triangle, straight out of Afterlife, or the Neitherworld for all of you Tim Burton enthusiasts. The upside down triangle locker slowly expands and creaks open. Yes, it creaks… The locker may be made of metal, but it sounds like old wood and metal groaning because it has to put in effort to move against its will.
No time to speculate though as the one and only Mia Rayne steps out of the locker. Freshly clean, standing up straight, and smiling devilishly at the mandatory camera for the even more mandatory promo. When she speaks, her voice is almost a sadistic, yet… Alluring coo.
“Ooooo Lexi, you SO sexay!”
She shakes her head and wobbles a little on her feet, steadying herself against the locker before standing back up and continuing.
“Wait, no… That was Rex. YOU Lex, are just annoying. I’m sure you were expecting more of a poisonous dagger, dipped in poison to be hurled at you instead of that… Zinger, but to be quite honest, I had to think about it. I sat down, pontificated hard about whether or not you were worth the time and effort in putting together an amazing string of words, and after what felt like several hours… I decided that you just aren’t worth the time for the entire song and dance.”
Mia shakes her head, almost like a disappointed parent, before she refocuses her gaze, locking in directly with whatever Lex passes as a soul.
“Let me be absolutely clear Lexi-poo. I was pretty excited to get back into the ring after a short hiatus before Wrestlefest. The match against Silas was among my best, and then to hear that on the following Infernalia, I get to test myself against one half of the brand new, tag team champions? Ooooo, to say I was excited was an understatement. Picture that gif of Shaq doing the shoulder shimmy while making direct eye contact. Yeah, that was me.
But…
Then I had to call you out and was met with extreme disappointment. First, you had to take a step back for whatever reason and allow your Temu, Brokeback Mountain cowboy extra of a tag team partner to fight your battle for you. He has the audacity to question MY accomplishments in CWF, and I thought that you would have the decency to get involved again, slow it down, and put some respect on my name.
Obviously that didn’t happen and you both just left the conversation, with your tails between your legs and hoping that I’d just let it all slide. Allow me to put you both out of your misery: No, I won’t be allowing your willful ignorance to slide. You might be new on this roster, but I’ve been a part of the CWF for… All together, a solid decade.
It’s time for your education boys, so sit down and shut up while I teach you some manners. Ring that bell, because school is in session. And… I know what some might be thinking, ‘But Mia, why mention Adam, no better than a stereotypical cowboy, Hanson, in your promo when Lex is your opponent?”
Mia begins to pace, a mic appears in her hand and the locker behind her fades to white. Scenery begins to take shape around Mia, a wrestling ring, the Colosseum, empty minus Mia. She leans up against the ropes and continues.
“The answer, Watson, is quite simple. Guilt by association. You could have taught some respect to your cowboy, but now, I’m going to have to do it, the hard way.”
A vision of Adam Hanson being beaten to a pulp by a CWF tome wielding Mia appears in the middle of the ring. Thick skulls being what they were, there was no blood… Yet. Mia smiles as the image dissolves.
“Don’t you fret, it’s called imagination. Might not be a ‘supernatural’ power, but dang if it isn’t fun to introduce into reality. But no, Lex, remained silent, ignorant, and complicit in your partner’s audacity. So BOTH of you need to learn, QUICKLY, just who the fuck Mia Rayne is. To start us off, allow me to finally answer your question, Cowboy Adam, with a question of my own: ‘What the fuck haven’t I done in the CWF?’ Let’s start with those CWF Tag Team Championships that you two so proudly wear, and let’s not forget, defend in places outside of the CWF umbrella. Nevermind the idiocy of that booking decision, but years before you were even a twinkle in your creator’s eye, I held one of those belts alongside one of the greatest men to ever grace a CWF ring, The Shadow. Long retired and out of the game, he was once feared in this very ring I’m standing in. He doesn’t look like much, but there’s a reason he’s called 'The Shadow.’ Anyways, the two of us reigned over the tag division for a lot longer than either of you can even dream of holding the belts.”
A montage of Mia and Shadow, in various battles for the tag team championship throughout CWF’s history appears before Mia. Her eyes get misty as she watches the moments. It almost felt that they had defended those belts on every show against the likes of The Andersons, The Lost Boys, The Smokin’ Aces… Mia’s voice cracks and she clears her throat before trying again.
“The Smokin’ Aces, Freddie Styles and Duce Jones, two of the greatest, and more of a tag team than you two could ever hope to be. Duce, rest in peace brother!”
The matches continue before finally ending, dissolving once again to open air. Mia sighs.
“You think I look down on you for being tag champ, Lex? Nah dawg, congrats on finding yourself a partner in this day and age that can carry you to gold. Maintain it for more than a month, and then maybe we’ll talk about what your legacy is shaping up to be. Moving onward, shall we talk about the Golden Intentions rumble? Once upon a time in 2018, on the same night that I beat my future husband, Ataxia, to a bloody pulp, I beat 29 other people and won the night. No one expected me to be able to survive for as long as I did, but that’s what you have to do in an all or nothing battle, Lex. You survive. It didn’t matter that I had beaten Ataxia earlier in the night. It didn’t matter that I was running on fumes, and it didn’t matter that I arrived at a pretty early number, I went in expecting an uphill climb, but I WANTED it. I was hungry for the fight, the blood… I wanted to see how far I could be pushed, where that boundary was between life and death for me. Turns out, with some effort, a lot can be achieved in just one night.”
The Golden Intentions event queues up from out of nowhere and visions of Mia and Ataxia going to all out war against each other show. Ataxia drew blood first, Mia responded in kind. The falls counted everywhere and the ring was left alone. Their scuffle never made it to the ring and instead ended right beside the stage, through a table. The dust settles and Mia staggers to her feet, her face a bloody mask, yet her eyes focused on what her victory meant… A chance to win the rumble. Fast forward to the rumble itself and a beaten Mia makes it to the ring, the blood, mostly, cleaned from her face, but her fatigue evident. Everything becomes a blur of movement as Mia takes it all in again, her eyes center on the blur of the GI rumble. The picture slows and Mia is alone in the ring, her expression one of complete shock and disbelief as she is announced as the winner of the Golden Intentions rumble.
“Do you know what the winner gets when they have their arms raised at the end of the GI rumble, Lex? A shot at immortality at the biggest show of the year, a world heavyweight title match at Wrestlefest. Now, unfortunately, CWF closed shortly after that and I never was able to claim that shot. However… That’s not to say that I never went on to win the CWF World Heavyweight title. No, no… Care to guess who I won it from?”
Mia smiles, the memory catching up to her.
“Mariella. Jade. Flair. That girl, man… She is the product of a wrestler father and singer, songwriter mother, and god damn does she do them proud every time she steps into the ring. But…. That didn’t stop me from turning her into a human lawn dart, throwing her out of the ring, and then beating her for that world title she so proudly hung onto. She is among the best that CWF will ever have the honor of saying she was a roster member and I came up with a win against her. Did you see the MJ vs Caledonia match Lex, or were you and Temu backup cowboy too busy celebrating your tag championship win? That match will forever be a classic and easily in the top three of all time ‘best’ matches that CWF has ever had a hand in putting on. Oh yeah… Let’s give Caledonia her roses as well. The definition of a CWF original and if there was anyone that could take the number one spot away from MJ, it would be her. But…”
A wicked smile crosses Mia’s lips.
“I beat her too. Not only did I beat her, but there was once an all star, all female card put out, the main event pitting Caledonia against MJ, and of course, yours truly. To the victor goes the spoils and on that particular night, it was I that had my hand once again raised in victory.”
Mia’s gaze snaps straight ahead and once again, wherever Lex was watching from, it was evident that if he was present, a hole would be bored through him by Mia’s intense glare.
“That’s my pedigree cowboy. That’s my history Lex. There’s so much more I could get into, but again, I’m forced to ask, what exactly haven’t I done in this company? Lex, YOU have the opportunity to do all the things that I just mentioned, but I have to wonder, as the self appointed protector of the CWF, can this roster really trust you or your partner? You’re both in, what, three different companies, including this one, if we were invaded by an outside force, where would our tag champions be? See… I hated Silas Artoria, with a bloody passion, and I’m SO glad I sent him packing… However…”
Mia’s gaze never wavers but she smiles as the 2326 Eng Games match appears in front of her, the big moments, the small ones, and even at one point, Mia and Silas fighting side by side. The vision pauses on the two of them, back to back, fighting against AnHELLica’s forces.
“We’ve fought side by side for the sake of this company. I’d trust him to have my back over either of you two asswipes. Consider that a souvenir to chew on as I bash your head in at Infernailia, Lex. I don’t trust you. I don’t trust the cowboy. How can I, when you dance between three different places, carrying championship belts, and DEFENDING them in places that aren’t CWF? How do I know that you two won’t be part of the invasion force from one of those two places? How can CWF count on you two when you’re not even full time roster members here? As a protector of this place, as a CWF loyalist, THAT is why I don’t like you Lex. So bring all of your willful ignorance. Bring your plus one, Cowboy Adam. I’ll be ready for whatever you got, but at the end of the day? The end result is going to be the same. When the dust settles, it will be me standing tall, over you, my arm raised in victory, and leaving you behind. Take care of those tag belts boys, you’ll need all the help you can get when the ACTUAL CWF tag teams come for you, your blood, your belts, and your hide.”
With that Mia snaps her fingers, and like all good things, this too comes to an end.
But not before Mia peeks her head out from the inky blackness with one, last line...
"Oh yeah, I'm now a member of the CWF Hall of Fame, class of 2026. Suck on doz nutz gents!"