This ain't a scene, it's an arms race.

Posts : 24 Join date : 2022-03-03 Age : 24

I. THIS AIN'T A SCENE, IT'S AN ARMS RACE.

Azumi Goto vs Alyssa Grace.

It sounds right when you say it out loud, it looks right when you read it on paper and most importantly, to me, it feels right.

One of the first lessons I learned when I undertook wrestling full time is that women like Azumi Goto who wind up sticking around for the long run are few and far between. Azumi is someone who just gets it and truthfully, no further elaboration is needed there. I don’t need to sit here and tell the world who Azumi Goto is, I don’t need to remind Azumi who she is because it’s common knowledge at this point, her list of accolades speaks far louder than I ever could. From the get go, I was interested in bringing my talents here to APEX but what confirmed that the decision I made was what’s best for me as a competitor was seeing names like Azumi’s pop up not too long after I did. There is nothing I want more than to be the best I possibly can be, my definition of what being the best is may be vastly different to most peoples but that’s more than okay. When it comes to my work, I pride myself on continuing to be a very simple individual who isn’t hard to please at all, I want to fight those who are widely regarded as the best and I want to beat the best. That’s why I work so damn hard at everything I do to ensure I can give one hundred and fifteen percent as often as possible.

One of the many things that I believe separates me from the rest is my ability to never stop being a student of the game. In and out of the wrestling world, I love to learn and my favourite way to learn is through experience, y’know, going out there, living life to its fullest and seeing what happens. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my career. I’ve won important matches and I’ve lost important matches, but one thing has always remained consistent. I learn from them. All of them. My few mistakes have always been what I focus on as I work to get better. This is what is best for me. I’ve always fought for what I believe in, fought to get what I wanted most, and fought for myself. So here I sit backed up against a wall by another opponent who wants to challenge whether or not I have it. Who’s begging me to prove I’m not just another waste of her time like the ones she’s faced before. I guess it’s a good thing that when I get hit, I hit back. When I get knocked down, I get back up and knock my opponent down. And when I’m backed into a corner and it looks like I have no chance of escape, I battle my way out in a flurry and I don’t stop until I win that battle. In this moment of time, no one and I mean no one is more suitable for Azumi to face than I am. It’s me. I’m the right one for her here and now. She won’t admit it but Azumi needs me. This will not be a waste of her time. It won’t be a waste of mine. In a myriad of differences, we both know what we want and we’re not willing to settle.

A lot of time has passed since my last up close and personal encounter with Miss Goto, to be exact, I haven’t had the opportunity to lock up with Azumi since the twelfth of September 2020, a night that to this day, still means a great deal to me for a variety of reasons. Back then, I was just finding my voice and growing into the woman you see before you today, being roughly five months into my first ever title reign and consistently doing everything I could to prove that I actually do belong in the big leagues was taxing in itself but then Azumi Goto came along and made a declaration that no one was expecting.

Azumi told the world that if she couldn’t beat me, someone with less than a year's experience at this point mind you, that she would retire.

Guess what happened?

She couldn’t beat me.

She gave me her absolute best and then even more but it wasn’t enough.

And true to her word, she retired.

(For a little while anyways.)

The point that I’m trying to make is that I know first hand that Azumi presents more of a challenge than just about anyone does. If she did back then, considering she has somehow become even more dangerous during her current run, she’s certainly going to do the exact same thing this time round. But I love challenges. I rise to the occasion over and over, and I will do it again in this match. Maybe people are betting the house on me solely because of our minimal but powerful history, and maybe they’re putting their chips in for the self proclaimed queen herself, it doesn’t matter, I don’t let odds and bettors decide the outcomes of my matches. That's all on me. I’ve never been one to take any match for granted. I don’t care if I’m going against someone that just signed on the dotted line, or someone who’s got a spot in some illustrious Hall of Fame, even if on paper, victory is a guarantee for me, I will always come with the same level of seriousness. I always come ready to work toward a win.

We need more Azumi’s and we need more Alyssa’s in this company. Or maybe we just need more battles between the two that do exist. That’s what we have this week. We have that match that we both deserve. The challenge of a new war isn’t something that has me scared. It’s something that has the fire within me burning bright. I’m not frightened. I’m not nervous. I’m as ready as one can be. I’ve seen what Azumi has done. I’ve heard what she is now capable of and it only makes me want to fight her more, we’ve both grown in the time we spent apart, we’ve both done incredible things, we’ve both been on top of the world at one point and we’ve both shut down any doubt that we aren’t two of the best in the world right now which is rather fantastic for the both of us when you think about it.. but I don’t do second place.

Azumi wants Liz. I want Liz. If Liz knows what’s best for her, she won’t want me, but that’s exactly what she’s going to get. I love to go to war with the best of them. And I don’t fuck around either. I’ve been brought to the brink time after time in my career, and I picked my ass up off the mat and kept right on fighting. If I had dimes for the amount of times someone has told me I was a loser and I’d never make it and I don’t deserve to shoot for the stars, well I’d have a ton of dimes. I don’t back away from challenges, I run into them head on with no regard for my own safety. But I do them prepared and I do them ready. So knowing that Azumi is currently a different breed of fighter gets me even more excited for our match. I can’t wait to meet her in that ring, give another five star classic and show Liz Karlson what she’s going to have to eventually deal with. Maybe someday Azumi and I can dwell on the past and talk about how we both got to a point where nothing felt better than hurting other people in a squared circle. For now we get to focus on doing it to each other. I intend to make sure our match turns heads and steals the show. That’s what I see happening. And, yeah, I see myself closing the show with a win, a win that won’t be easy to attain and a win that will most likely take a large toll on my body but a win nonetheless. That’s just how I operate.

I respect Azumi for what she is. It’s kind of hard not to. I respect her for the mindset she so clearly has. But I don’t believe it’s necessarily warranted which makes me determined to overcome that no matter the cost. I’m prepared to beat Azumi. This has a big fight feel and considering what we’re fighting for, I have no doubts we’ll both make it feel that way when we hit the ring. Just like I have no doubts I’ll be leaving with a win.

It’s just a shame that there’ll be no golden sunset for Azumi to ride off into afterwards this time.