Subject

[Kathleen Conway]

I suppose deep down in my heart, I always knew that one day it would have to come down to this.

Fiona McFly vs Kathleen Conway.

One on one in a professional wrestling ring, looking to finally break through the stigma that has overshadowed both of our wrestling careers for far too long now - the stigma of being little more than the significant other. As women we fell in love with men who lived for this business before we ever fell in love with the business itself, and that fact alone has never sat well with the rest of our peers. 

Some of the other Diamonds look down on us Fiona, they always have and they always will because in our own way we've demonstrated the courage to accept that whilst professional wrestling is a part of our lives, it is not the only thing in our lives. We will not be reduced to simply wrestlers and we will not be defined simply by what we achieve in between a set of wrestling ropes.

We made a choice to have other priorities in life.

We do not eat, sleep and breathe professional wrestling, and that fact alone is enough to upset those in the Diamonds locker-room for whom this isn't just a job they fell into, but rather a way of life. For some of the girls in the back, being a professional wrestler is all this is all they've ever dreamed about doing. This is all they've spent their entire adult lives working towards, they have nothing else and they want nothing else than to be here in the Imperial Wrestling Federation.

They want nothing more than to be considered the best women's wrestler in the sport today.

An admirable ambition certainly, and one that drives them forward in each day of their lives towards the pinnacle of female professional wrestling - the Diamonds Championship - and in a truly just world, that kind of tenacity and that kind of focus should be rewarded.

In a truly just world, that dream should be realised, but the simple fact of the matter is that the world isn't just. Life and especially this business just doesn't work that way. Life and especially this business just isn't fair, and whilst most who enter this line of work simply refuse to accept that and choose instead to whine and complain and turn up to every arena every week with a chip on their shoulder and a head full of conspiracies about being held down by those in power, there are a precious few who grow, evolve and mature beyond such petty grievances eventually. A few like you, Fiona, who in time matured beyond such nonsense.

And in my tenure as Head of the Diamonds Division, I've often gone out of my way to not only recognise such maturation, but also to reward it, and history shows that there has been no greater sole beneficiary of this than you Fiona McFly, because whilst you've spent an entire career on the cusp of greatness as an athlete, as a woman and as a person I've watched you slowly and steadily mature.

In just a few short years, I've seen you come a long way from being just some whip obsessed sideshow attraction who blamed me for all her failings simply because of my position in the company. Now you have taken some responsibility for your own choices and career direction, and I have rewarded that remarkable progress with one opportunity after another after another at each of the prizes in my Division. Every time though,every single time you have come up short, so I think its safe to say that if there is any one Diamond in MY Division who never had any right to criticise my lack of in ring success, it would be you Fiona McFly.

I may have never been a singles Champion in my wrestling career, but I am your single greatest Champion Fiona, because unlike our peers I didn't hold your life outside this business against you. I gave you every opportunity to succeed in spite of that because I never believed that having other priorities in life should deny you any opportunity in this business, and this week is no different.

If I wanted it, I could have relegated you to absolute obscurity a long time ago like Mercedes Vargas, Louise McDowell and Mirsada Tanovic, but I didn't, because I saw not only potential in you, but also value. I saw your value as the definitive workhorse competitor, one whom I built the very foundation of MY Division around. In a position where I was encouraged to accentuate the positives and hide the negatives of all those under my responsibility, I used your single greatest asset to salvage an otherwise floundering career.

I used your dependability to keep you employed Fiona.

I knew I could rely on you to work any match I needed you to work, I knew you'd go out there night after night if you had to, and I knew that every time you stepped into that ring you would give it your tall, and that is why unlike so many of our peers I will never write you off completely Fiona.

Your commitment and work ethic has been of immeasurable value these last few years, Fi, and for that reason alone I will go into our match on Monday knowing full well that I will be stepping into the ring with a woman who is more like me than even I care to admit. A woman who doesn't always win, but always, and I mean always gives it her very best. I have to admire that fact, even if it has been demonstrated time and time again, even throughout this tournament so far that often your very best isn't good enough to win when it really counts. Now I know people could say the same about me after last week but there is a difference. An important difference.

You see whilst I may not have won last week, I also didn't lose - and that subtle distinction is one that I hope festers in the back of your mind for a while, because if this business has taught me anything, it is that little things like that tend to make all the difference.

Little things like that separate the Queen from even her most loyal subjects.

Little things like that separate the workhorses from those who ride them.

I've built an entire corporate career riding on the backs of women like you, Fiona, so I suppose its rather poetic that I am building a resurgence of my in ring career off your back too. After everything I've done to save your career Fiona, now you will save mine in my final bid to prove myself as a worthy Heiress to a Throne you've never been able to occupy.

This is as much your last opportunity as it is mine, Fiona - only one of us will make the most of it, and last week I saw with my own eyes that whilst you can be a damned reliable hand, you're seldom the winning bet. Last week you promised to push me to my limits, and now here we are again. I've given you yet another chance to live up to each of your lofty promises.

For a long time now, I've relied on you as a workhorse Fiona, and now I'm relying on you once more, only not on your value as MY loyal workhorse but rather your value as MY former Iron Maiden. 

I already have a victory over the current Diamonds Champion, a victory over a former Iron Maiden will go a long way in showing Rowan MacDonnough why it is me - the Queen of Diamonds - and not her loyal subject Fiona McFly who is next in line for the crown.

---

Kathleen Conway had been in this business long enough to appreciate the fact that any journey worth taking was never easy, and so it was with a resolute determination that she was here in the gym, earlier than usual this morning. Her determination carried her on the treadmill along which she ran at an almost uncomfortable pace.

She couldn't afford the luxury of comfort anymore, knowing that comfort often fostered complacency and at this stage in the Heiress to the Throne tournament, she simply could not afford to be complacent - not even against someone like Fiona McFly.

This match was her last and best chance to qualify for the finals, a loss here and she was almost definitely out of the running for the Heiress to the Throne this year, and given that she was already forty she doubted if there would be a next - especially as Jake was contemplating retirement.

She knew he felt he had nothing left to prove to anyone after that last match with Andrew Jacobsen, and it was the tremendous sense of pride and dignity with with Jake had carried himself even in that loss that inspired her to give the Heiress tournament her last best shot - just like her husband had at Lineage.

So she ran, ever onward, relentless, persistent - unbreakable.

She smiled as she dwelt upon the irony of that for a moment.