Post by Kathleen Conway on Aug 13, 2017 17:57:12 GMT
Opportunity.
If there's one thing outside of my husband that I have become synonymous with in all my time in the professional wrestling business, it is the word opportunity. Throughout my career I have given every opportunity and I have taken every opportunity, and during my tenure as Head of the Diamonds Division, I have given every female competitor who was determined enough to lace up a pair of boots and tenacious enough to sign a wrestling contract with the best promotion in the world today their opportunity.
I have given them their spotlight, I have given them their moments, I have given them their chances, and even though I have done all this, I will be the first to admit that it's never been easy. It's never been easy juggling everybody else's sense of ego and entitlement whilst at the same time trying to do what was best for business, trying to make the Diamonds Division synonymous with the absolute best female athletes and competition in the world today.
Almost every decision I've made I've made in the best interests of not only my contracted talent pool but also in the best interests of the Imperial Wrestling Federation as a whole. Over the last four years I have personally overseen some of the brightest innovations in women's professional wrestling, and I have done my very best to make certain that we not only kept up with the men, but sometimes even exceeded them altogether.
For nearly half a decade now I have been instrumental in changing the course of not only individual careers but also in redefining the standards and limits of what women could and should be able to achieve in this business through innovations such as the Shieldmaiden Championship and the historic first ever Diamond Dragon's Den in professional wrestling history at Metamorphosis earlier this year - and through all of this, one thing has become abundantly clear to me over the last few years, and that is that you cannot create opportunities and you cannot innovate ideas without drawing the ire of some disgruntled employee or misinformed critic.
Somebody, somewhere, always has an axe to grind over how you are doing business or how you should be doing your job, so I wasn't surprised at all that it upset some of the women who have only ever seen me as some corporate figurehead or stooge when I threw my name into this year's Heiress To The Throne. I'm not surprised that some of these women seem to have forgotten that I started out in this business as a competitor too.
I have kept myself in reasonable shape, which at forty and after two kids, isn't easy, and I have been training just as hard if not harder than every single one of my fellow competitors in this business, and as far as I'm concerned that entitles me to avail myself of every opportunity that has presented itself in this year's open season style of Heiress To The Throne tournament, whether anybody likes it or not.
Kathleen Conway decided that she had earned a break from studying some of the best matches in the respective careers of both Fiona McFly and Sara Garcia via the convenience of the IWF Network archive on her tablet and so caught a rerun of her husband's exclusive interview from last week.
He was perhaps her greatest source of inspiration and best source of advice in situations like this. Situations where he was more than a husband, he was a mentor, and a veteran of the physical side of the business, a side she had mostly avoided rather successfully until absolutely necessary, because of the fear of suffering another serious injury.
She had been incredibly lucky to recover after what Spike Kane did to her almost a decade ago, and she had never lost sight of that fact. Even now, every time she set foot in the ring she did it with more than a slight twinge of apprehension, a doubt she often struggled to keep hidden behind a carefully constructed of corporate professionalism for the benefit of those directly under her supervision.
Nobody would respect her authority if they knew just how uncomfortable she always felt in the ring.
Last week, Kate Steele made a point to criticise her age - an argument that she knew herself was not without merit, so it had become even more important and even more necessary for her to win, to salvage her place in this roster wide free for all tournament, a place that had been put in jeopardy after a few missteps against the deranged Helena Sawyer.
Beating Kate Steele was a good recovery, but it was nowhere near as definitive a statement as she needed it to be if she was really going to go through with this and become the Heiress to the Throne, and so when the opportunity to test herself against a former finalist and a former Iron Maiden presented itself, naturally she had seized it.
Kathy hit pause as Jake turned and winked at her, she felt a pleasant quiver and her heart skipped a beat in that moment.
A moment she treasured from a man she loved absolutely and without question.
The one certainty in all of this that kept her in the race to professional validation still.
She wasn't just doing this for herself anymore, after Lineage, she was more determined than ever to win the big one for both of them now.
And I know you don't like it, Sara.
I know you think that I've just inserted myself into this match and that I am just pushing my weight around, going out of my way to make this all about me - a stance I find particularly amusing in its rampant hypocrisy coming from you, given the Garcia Brand motto. You've made an entire career out of inserting yourself into other people's affairs Sara, so if there's one person in MY Division who has no right to question why I placed myself in the middle of your issues with Fiona, it is the one person who has spent so much of her professional career handling her sister's business for her.
As great a Diamonds Champion as history has recorded your sister to be, I know that she would be nothing special in this business without you, Sara. Without all of your love, all of your devotion and all of your sacrifices, Paige Garcia wouldn't be considered one of the top names not only here in the Imperial Wrestling Federation but also in the world of professional wrestling as a whole.
Sara. Your core drive, your defining motivation and your utter selflessness are all things I not only understand but also admire on some level. These things make me feel like of all my Diamonds, I know you best and I understand you the best, because if there's one thing I know intimately it is the feeling of jealousy and resentment from those around you for simply being in the corner of somebody you love, for simply standing with your family.
It is why I never made it my business to involve myself in much of the Garcia business until now, because whilst you and Fiona might consider me to be many things, the one thing I will never allow anybody to think of me as is a hypocrite. So, if you still don't get it Sara, what I'm telling you is that if all this was about for me was about abusing my authority to involve myself in your affairs, I would have done it long before last week on Twitter.
I've had plenty of opportunities before now to show Sara Garcia who is the boss around here if that was my only concern, but as foreign as a concept as it might be to someone of Garcia blood, this is about something more, something greater than you, Sara.
This is all about me and my opportunity.
This is about reclaiming one, just one, for myself after the many I have given not only Sara Garcia and Fiona McFly but also the rest of MY Division.
My one opportunity, my last opportunity in this business to leave as much, if not even more of an impact on this business as a wrestler as I have as a successful corporate businesswoman. I may not be remembered as the greatest female professional wrestler to ever set foot inside the squared circle, but so help me God I will be remembered as more than just the wife of a man who to this day has never gotten the proper respect he deserves from his peers.
Something I hope you of all people not only understand but appreciate, Fiona.
Like me, you fell in love with a professional wrestler and a man who is held in contempt by most of his peers because he isn't afraid to speak his mind or tell the world exactly how he sees things, and for that you are ridiculed, you are mocked and you are underestimated by most people around here. Now I'll be the first to admit that in the past I too was one of those people Fiona, but now I see you differently.
I see you as more than just the wife of Jack "The Golden Eagle" Gaither, and whilst I've never asked for much from you before Fiona, I stand here now asking you to extend me the same courtesy when we step between those ropes on Monday Night.
I'm asking you and Sara both to see me as more than the wife of Jake "The Ace" Conway.
If you can both do that, then maybe between the three of us we can show the world that we are all so much more than the names we carry in each of our hearts. Maybe then each of us will be finally accepted on our own terms rather than ostracised because of who we choose to call family.
I know you can both be so much more than most people will ever give you credit for.
You wouldn't be a former Heiress to the Throne finalist otherwise, Sara.
You wouldn't be a former Iron Maiden otherwise, Fiona.
In my tenure as the Head of the Diamonds, I've seen the flashes of unrealised potential in both Fiona McFly and Sara Garcia, but that's the problem ladies, flashes is all I've ever seen. Brief, fleeting glimmers of brilliance, and that is all that separates the stars in the sky from the candles in the wind, the Diamonds from the dust.
Consistency.
A quality neither of you have been proven to possess, but the next Heiress should possess in spades.
History has shown Sara Garcia and Fiona McFly to be temporary, but the future will show Kathleen Conway to be forever.
Just as any worthy Diamond before her.
The time for the head to receive her crown is almost at hand.
And then you will know me not only as your boss, but as your undisputed Queen off Diamonds.
If there's one thing outside of my husband that I have become synonymous with in all my time in the professional wrestling business, it is the word opportunity. Throughout my career I have given every opportunity and I have taken every opportunity, and during my tenure as Head of the Diamonds Division, I have given every female competitor who was determined enough to lace up a pair of boots and tenacious enough to sign a wrestling contract with the best promotion in the world today their opportunity.
I have given them their spotlight, I have given them their moments, I have given them their chances, and even though I have done all this, I will be the first to admit that it's never been easy. It's never been easy juggling everybody else's sense of ego and entitlement whilst at the same time trying to do what was best for business, trying to make the Diamonds Division synonymous with the absolute best female athletes and competition in the world today.
Almost every decision I've made I've made in the best interests of not only my contracted talent pool but also in the best interests of the Imperial Wrestling Federation as a whole. Over the last four years I have personally overseen some of the brightest innovations in women's professional wrestling, and I have done my very best to make certain that we not only kept up with the men, but sometimes even exceeded them altogether.
For nearly half a decade now I have been instrumental in changing the course of not only individual careers but also in redefining the standards and limits of what women could and should be able to achieve in this business through innovations such as the Shieldmaiden Championship and the historic first ever Diamond Dragon's Den in professional wrestling history at Metamorphosis earlier this year - and through all of this, one thing has become abundantly clear to me over the last few years, and that is that you cannot create opportunities and you cannot innovate ideas without drawing the ire of some disgruntled employee or misinformed critic.
Somebody, somewhere, always has an axe to grind over how you are doing business or how you should be doing your job, so I wasn't surprised at all that it upset some of the women who have only ever seen me as some corporate figurehead or stooge when I threw my name into this year's Heiress To The Throne. I'm not surprised that some of these women seem to have forgotten that I started out in this business as a competitor too.
I have kept myself in reasonable shape, which at forty and after two kids, isn't easy, and I have been training just as hard if not harder than every single one of my fellow competitors in this business, and as far as I'm concerned that entitles me to avail myself of every opportunity that has presented itself in this year's open season style of Heiress To The Throne tournament, whether anybody likes it or not.
Kathleen Conway decided that she had earned a break from studying some of the best matches in the respective careers of both Fiona McFly and Sara Garcia via the convenience of the IWF Network archive on her tablet and so caught a rerun of her husband's exclusive interview from last week.
He was perhaps her greatest source of inspiration and best source of advice in situations like this. Situations where he was more than a husband, he was a mentor, and a veteran of the physical side of the business, a side she had mostly avoided rather successfully until absolutely necessary, because of the fear of suffering another serious injury.
She had been incredibly lucky to recover after what Spike Kane did to her almost a decade ago, and she had never lost sight of that fact. Even now, every time she set foot in the ring she did it with more than a slight twinge of apprehension, a doubt she often struggled to keep hidden behind a carefully constructed of corporate professionalism for the benefit of those directly under her supervision.
Nobody would respect her authority if they knew just how uncomfortable she always felt in the ring.
Last week, Kate Steele made a point to criticise her age - an argument that she knew herself was not without merit, so it had become even more important and even more necessary for her to win, to salvage her place in this roster wide free for all tournament, a place that had been put in jeopardy after a few missteps against the deranged Helena Sawyer.
Beating Kate Steele was a good recovery, but it was nowhere near as definitive a statement as she needed it to be if she was really going to go through with this and become the Heiress to the Throne, and so when the opportunity to test herself against a former finalist and a former Iron Maiden presented itself, naturally she had seized it.
Kathy hit pause as Jake turned and winked at her, she felt a pleasant quiver and her heart skipped a beat in that moment.
A moment she treasured from a man she loved absolutely and without question.
The one certainty in all of this that kept her in the race to professional validation still.
She wasn't just doing this for herself anymore, after Lineage, she was more determined than ever to win the big one for both of them now.
And I know you don't like it, Sara.
I know you think that I've just inserted myself into this match and that I am just pushing my weight around, going out of my way to make this all about me - a stance I find particularly amusing in its rampant hypocrisy coming from you, given the Garcia Brand motto. You've made an entire career out of inserting yourself into other people's affairs Sara, so if there's one person in MY Division who has no right to question why I placed myself in the middle of your issues with Fiona, it is the one person who has spent so much of her professional career handling her sister's business for her.
As great a Diamonds Champion as history has recorded your sister to be, I know that she would be nothing special in this business without you, Sara. Without all of your love, all of your devotion and all of your sacrifices, Paige Garcia wouldn't be considered one of the top names not only here in the Imperial Wrestling Federation but also in the world of professional wrestling as a whole.
Sara. Your core drive, your defining motivation and your utter selflessness are all things I not only understand but also admire on some level. These things make me feel like of all my Diamonds, I know you best and I understand you the best, because if there's one thing I know intimately it is the feeling of jealousy and resentment from those around you for simply being in the corner of somebody you love, for simply standing with your family.
It is why I never made it my business to involve myself in much of the Garcia business until now, because whilst you and Fiona might consider me to be many things, the one thing I will never allow anybody to think of me as is a hypocrite. So, if you still don't get it Sara, what I'm telling you is that if all this was about for me was about abusing my authority to involve myself in your affairs, I would have done it long before last week on Twitter.
I've had plenty of opportunities before now to show Sara Garcia who is the boss around here if that was my only concern, but as foreign as a concept as it might be to someone of Garcia blood, this is about something more, something greater than you, Sara.
This is all about me and my opportunity.
This is about reclaiming one, just one, for myself after the many I have given not only Sara Garcia and Fiona McFly but also the rest of MY Division.
My one opportunity, my last opportunity in this business to leave as much, if not even more of an impact on this business as a wrestler as I have as a successful corporate businesswoman. I may not be remembered as the greatest female professional wrestler to ever set foot inside the squared circle, but so help me God I will be remembered as more than just the wife of a man who to this day has never gotten the proper respect he deserves from his peers.
Something I hope you of all people not only understand but appreciate, Fiona.
Like me, you fell in love with a professional wrestler and a man who is held in contempt by most of his peers because he isn't afraid to speak his mind or tell the world exactly how he sees things, and for that you are ridiculed, you are mocked and you are underestimated by most people around here. Now I'll be the first to admit that in the past I too was one of those people Fiona, but now I see you differently.
I see you as more than just the wife of Jack "The Golden Eagle" Gaither, and whilst I've never asked for much from you before Fiona, I stand here now asking you to extend me the same courtesy when we step between those ropes on Monday Night.
I'm asking you and Sara both to see me as more than the wife of Jake "The Ace" Conway.
If you can both do that, then maybe between the three of us we can show the world that we are all so much more than the names we carry in each of our hearts. Maybe then each of us will be finally accepted on our own terms rather than ostracised because of who we choose to call family.
I know you can both be so much more than most people will ever give you credit for.
You wouldn't be a former Heiress to the Throne finalist otherwise, Sara.
You wouldn't be a former Iron Maiden otherwise, Fiona.
In my tenure as the Head of the Diamonds, I've seen the flashes of unrealised potential in both Fiona McFly and Sara Garcia, but that's the problem ladies, flashes is all I've ever seen. Brief, fleeting glimmers of brilliance, and that is all that separates the stars in the sky from the candles in the wind, the Diamonds from the dust.
Consistency.
A quality neither of you have been proven to possess, but the next Heiress should possess in spades.
History has shown Sara Garcia and Fiona McFly to be temporary, but the future will show Kathleen Conway to be forever.
Just as any worthy Diamond before her.
The time for the head to receive her crown is almost at hand.
And then you will know me not only as your boss, but as your undisputed Queen off Diamonds.
Well howdy there pardner.