Post by Fiona McFly on Jun 3, 2019 18:44:57 GMT
A month ago, I wrote my last report in regards to the status of Fiona McFly, the IWF superstar who quietly took a leave of absence after 2018’s Diamonds Are Forever had ended. At the time, I had no idea about whether or not she would ever make a return to the ring, given her recent struggles in her personal life behind-the-scenes.
Now, it appears as if I have some pleasant news to share with the wrestling community.
Things started oddly enough for me several weeks ago, when a diehard IWF fan shared this image of him and his daughter playing IWF 2K19 to my Twitter feed. The image, featuring a match between Shea O’Hara and the aforementioned Ms. McFly, had a caption on it that read something like this:
”This could be a main event match anywhere in the world! I don’t know if she realizes this, but my daughter and I miss Fiona very much...”
Immediately, I got curious. Ms. McFly hadn’t posted anything on Twitter ever since her hasty LoA request was granted, but I retweeted the image in question to her feed, hoping and praying that I got a response in some form.
Well just as I was about to make my coffee this morning, my phone began to ring, and to my great surprise the voice on the other end of the line was none other than Ms. McFly herself! So I busted out my notebook and prepared myself to take notes, and I asked her some questions regarding her absence, culling back to the video game picture as a reference point. It was then, at that moment, when the normally stoic wrestler began sobbing uncontrollably.
After a little while, she calmed down and told me just how much she’s missed being in professional wrestling, how much she’s missed hugging the fans and singing songs for them on request. Yet she told me, "at the time I left, I was dangerously close to hitting a breaking point and needed to get away and get help as soon as I could." Aside from her depression issues in regards to her husband Jack Gaither’s 2017 passing and her parents’ murder-suicide, she confided to me that she had been wrestling all of 2018 with a pinched nerve in her neck; IWF doctors gave her all sorts of things to try out, but as she puts it “none of them worked.”
After the Luchadora title match with Charity Crowne, at around the beginning of January, Fiona traveled back to the United States to undergo a medical procedure to correct the problem with Dr. Samantha Waters, a specialist in neck and spinal therapy based out of Corpus Christi, Texas. While she had been temporary staying at a small apartment during her recovery, she had asked her friend and colleague James Gilmore to help tend to her Fredericksburg ranch until such time when she would be medically cleared to wrestle again.
“I understand that the IWF doctors tried their best to help me,” Fiona told me over the phone. “But at the end of the day, it’s the wrestler’s job to take care of themselves both inside and outside the ring--and I didn’t do both. I put my work over my own well-being, I hid everything from the supporters, and please pardon my word choice...but that was a major fuck-up on my part.”
She later added, “Due to the depression and injuries I was going through, I reached a point when I thought of suicide, but James (Gilmore), Rob (Diamond), and the head media person (Ed Donahue) suggested I go see Dr. Prater (for the depression) and Dr. Waters (for her neck)--both were based, funny enough, in the same building, Christus Spohn Memorial. It warms my heart to know that people like James, Rob, and Ed are there to help me understand that I will never, ever be alone, and frankly...I owe them everything. My life, my career, everything.”
We spoke for a solid 90 minutes regarding her career and whether or not she would return to the ring. That was when, with a hint of joy in her voice, she wanted me to let the wrestling community know that, as of this past Friday, Dr. Waters has given her full medical clearance to resume her normal workout routine, but in-ring competition is still out of the question pending further review. However, Ms. McFly tells me that the best-case scenario is that, if she continues to show progress with her next follow-up on June 19, she could potentially be looking to make a return to the ring by the end of July.
On a side note, she did tell me that she was working with Mr. Donahue on a completely overhauled image, complete with a new entrance and theme to boot. I did address to her how rumors were flying that Ms. McFly’s new entrance theme was going to be a song from heavy metal group Halestorm, but she giggled and said “you never know about my choice of music. It could be some sappy Country-Western song, or Wham!, or Queen...you’ll have to wait and find out! Hehehe…”
As we said good-bye and hung up the phone, a smile came across my face. The very fact that Ms.McFly sounded happy and--most importantly--healthy was a welcome sight to behold. The very notion that her likeness and image are still being used in video games, not to mention fans are playing as her in their dream matches, serves as a testament to how much this wonderful personality has been missed by the fanbase and, just maybe, might serve as the catalyst for her in-ring return. Given how unpredictable the women’s division has become with Eternity winning the World title for a fourth time, I firmly believe that things will get a little wilder with Fiona back into the picture, and perhaps, she could potentially be primed for her best run as a professional wrestler, even better than her 2016 Iron Maiden run.
But as Ms. McFly stated earlier on, we’ll have to wait and see.
I will be continuing to follow her every move from now until July, and I will provide updates as warranted.
NORMAN ASNER
Senior Editor, The Wrestling Insider
June 3, 2019
Now, it appears as if I have some pleasant news to share with the wrestling community.
Things started oddly enough for me several weeks ago, when a diehard IWF fan shared this image of him and his daughter playing IWF 2K19 to my Twitter feed. The image, featuring a match between Shea O’Hara and the aforementioned Ms. McFly, had a caption on it that read something like this:
”This could be a main event match anywhere in the world! I don’t know if she realizes this, but my daughter and I miss Fiona very much...”
Immediately, I got curious. Ms. McFly hadn’t posted anything on Twitter ever since her hasty LoA request was granted, but I retweeted the image in question to her feed, hoping and praying that I got a response in some form.
Well just as I was about to make my coffee this morning, my phone began to ring, and to my great surprise the voice on the other end of the line was none other than Ms. McFly herself! So I busted out my notebook and prepared myself to take notes, and I asked her some questions regarding her absence, culling back to the video game picture as a reference point. It was then, at that moment, when the normally stoic wrestler began sobbing uncontrollably.
After a little while, she calmed down and told me just how much she’s missed being in professional wrestling, how much she’s missed hugging the fans and singing songs for them on request. Yet she told me, "at the time I left, I was dangerously close to hitting a breaking point and needed to get away and get help as soon as I could." Aside from her depression issues in regards to her husband Jack Gaither’s 2017 passing and her parents’ murder-suicide, she confided to me that she had been wrestling all of 2018 with a pinched nerve in her neck; IWF doctors gave her all sorts of things to try out, but as she puts it “none of them worked.”
After the Luchadora title match with Charity Crowne, at around the beginning of January, Fiona traveled back to the United States to undergo a medical procedure to correct the problem with Dr. Samantha Waters, a specialist in neck and spinal therapy based out of Corpus Christi, Texas. While she had been temporary staying at a small apartment during her recovery, she had asked her friend and colleague James Gilmore to help tend to her Fredericksburg ranch until such time when she would be medically cleared to wrestle again.
“I understand that the IWF doctors tried their best to help me,” Fiona told me over the phone. “But at the end of the day, it’s the wrestler’s job to take care of themselves both inside and outside the ring--and I didn’t do both. I put my work over my own well-being, I hid everything from the supporters, and please pardon my word choice...but that was a major fuck-up on my part.”
She later added, “Due to the depression and injuries I was going through, I reached a point when I thought of suicide, but James (Gilmore), Rob (Diamond), and the head media person (Ed Donahue) suggested I go see Dr. Prater (for the depression) and Dr. Waters (for her neck)--both were based, funny enough, in the same building, Christus Spohn Memorial. It warms my heart to know that people like James, Rob, and Ed are there to help me understand that I will never, ever be alone, and frankly...I owe them everything. My life, my career, everything.”
We spoke for a solid 90 minutes regarding her career and whether or not she would return to the ring. That was when, with a hint of joy in her voice, she wanted me to let the wrestling community know that, as of this past Friday, Dr. Waters has given her full medical clearance to resume her normal workout routine, but in-ring competition is still out of the question pending further review. However, Ms. McFly tells me that the best-case scenario is that, if she continues to show progress with her next follow-up on June 19, she could potentially be looking to make a return to the ring by the end of July.
On a side note, she did tell me that she was working with Mr. Donahue on a completely overhauled image, complete with a new entrance and theme to boot. I did address to her how rumors were flying that Ms. McFly’s new entrance theme was going to be a song from heavy metal group Halestorm, but she giggled and said “you never know about my choice of music. It could be some sappy Country-Western song, or Wham!, or Queen...you’ll have to wait and find out! Hehehe…”
As we said good-bye and hung up the phone, a smile came across my face. The very fact that Ms.McFly sounded happy and--most importantly--healthy was a welcome sight to behold. The very notion that her likeness and image are still being used in video games, not to mention fans are playing as her in their dream matches, serves as a testament to how much this wonderful personality has been missed by the fanbase and, just maybe, might serve as the catalyst for her in-ring return. Given how unpredictable the women’s division has become with Eternity winning the World title for a fourth time, I firmly believe that things will get a little wilder with Fiona back into the picture, and perhaps, she could potentially be primed for her best run as a professional wrestler, even better than her 2016 Iron Maiden run.
But as Ms. McFly stated earlier on, we’ll have to wait and see.
I will be continuing to follow her every move from now until July, and I will provide updates as warranted.
NORMAN ASNER
Senior Editor, The Wrestling Insider
June 3, 2019
Well howdy there pardner.