A Matter Of Time

[Shea O’Hara]

SheaOHara.com

Let’s Rock & Roll…Again!

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January 10th, 2024

An Uncertain Future…

I’ll be honest, getting back into a wrestling ring after so long, I’d almost forgotten how much taking bumps truly takes out of you. Last night was yet another painful reminder that my mind is willing, but my body is still readjusting. It’s bad enough taking a regular fall, but taking one from a fifteen foot ladder is a whole other level of pain.

And if the physical bruises weren’t painful enough, Serenity Holmes bruised my professional pride by matching my tenacity, relentlessness and absolute will to win every step of the damned way, both on the way up and down the ladder.

I didn’t secure my shot at professional redemption, and now the future is still uncertain. Right now my only solace is knowing that Brooklyn didn’t secure her win as definitively as she would have liked either.

Maybe The Murder really aren’t as in control of our division as I feared.

🎸🎸🎸

January 17th, 2024

Best Laid Plans

There is an old adage my dear ol’ Da regularly reminds me of - if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans, and really when you think about it, is there any more succinct way of summarising how my return to the ring has panned out so far? I don’t friggin’ well think so.

See, I thought I had it all figured out, even after the inconvenience of being knocked out of last year’s Heiress, I was going to rebound with the Queen’s Gambit briefcase and receive a heroine’s welcome to the state I’ve made my home away from home for the past several years now - but fickle fortune and Serenity had other plans.

Still, as badly as my plans have been scuppered over the last few weeks, I suppose I can take some solace that even Rowan MacDonnough’s best laid plans for The Murder seem to have gone dreadfully awry, and my only regret is that I had nothing to do with it.

Maybe instead of getting cutesy T-shirts made, they will now regroup under their self-proclaimed ‘real’ leader Brooklyn and if they do, I will be ready to do exactly what is necessary.

🎸🎸🎸

January 24th, 2024

Underestimated

You know, I wish I could say I was even remotely surprised that The Murder finally recruited the one person down in Developmental who lives and breathes their whole aesthetic - honestly I expected The Crow Mommy to be in the flock from the start, but better late than never I guess.

Apparently, I can add Mai Everstone to my list of pretty friends with dreadfully poor professional judgment. I guess I underestimated just how silver-tongued The Devil’s lover really was.

Speaking of poor judgment and being underestimated, Serenity Holmes thought she had the lay of the land all figured out here in IWF and you know I’m so glad that it hasn’t taken all that long for her monumental ego to start to bite her in the arse. It is said that you should keep your words soft and sweet in case you have to eat them, and Charlie made her choke on them, right in front of me.

It was a beautiful thing to watch live and in person, it really was.

And since I know my baby sister is an avid supporter of my blogs, I just want to give her a personal shout out and say that I totally get it now, Moira. I get why you’re such a big fan of not only the Japanese Indy scene but also why you’ve been singing the praises of Charlotte Shimizu in particular for over five years now.

I totally see how and why she has been such a significant inspiration to you whilst you’ve been training to hopefully do this one day alongside me in an IWF ring, because watching her work up close and personal most certainly left an indelible impression, but also it inspired me to embrace her greatest virtue in my opinion.

Charlotte Shimizu not only has no damned brakes in between those ropes, she also has no damned quit in her heart, and now I want to follow her example almost as diligently as you do and always have.

Charlotte is undoubtedly the kind of spectacular in-ring performer that reminds me of why we fell in love with this business as little girls watching every Saturday and never looked back.

🎸🎸🎸

~~~

Shea O’Hara stood in front of a large monitor, currently streaming a muted highlight reel of Charlotte Clearwater in Neo Honshu. The acrobatics and agility that were so natural to the younger star were intimidating to an older Shea who had been out of the game for almost as long as Charlotte’s entire professional wrestling career.

Right now, it was impossible for Shea to determine what intimidated her more - facing the much younger and much faster rising star so early in her inconsistent IWF return run or facing the woman with no damned brakes against a damned clock this week.

Shea let out a long drawn out breath as she turned to address the camera, giving us a better look at her black and white ‘God Save The Queen’ Elizabeth II portrait Sex Pistols t-shirt and blue denim jean jacket combination.

The highlight clips continued to play behind her as Shea O’Hara put on her brightest smile and pushed aside her anxiety as best she could to do her job this week, even if she didn’t really want to, for a myriad of personal reasons.

Charlotte was not an ordinary opponent. Even putting aside Shea’s personal liking and respect for her, there was the fact that she was also her baby sister Moira’s greatest personal hero.

Shea hoped that when it was all said and done, both Charlotte and Moira understood that it was nothing personal, just business. It was a frequent but unfortunate reality of the wrestling business that you had to regain your own momentum by temporarily stifling somebody else’s.

A fact of their profession that was so much easier to deal with when you didn’t like or respect the person across the ring from you. Unfortunately, the chips had once again fallen out of Shea’s favour this week and she once again had no such luck or choice in the matter.

I’m sorry Lottie, genuinely.

No matter what, some people will look at your impressive victory last week over the current co-holder of the Queen’s Gambit briefcase, Serenity Holmes, as some hugely unexpected upset. Heck, a few will inevitably insist that it was a victory I facilitated.

I hope you don’t let such trivial technicalities come between us this week, like.

Especially, considering that no matter what the end result of our first one-on-one encounter happens to be on Tuesday night, I have every intention of getting up off the mat, shaking your hand and most importantly walking out of Odyssey with your autograph for my baby sister Moira, and if you ain’t too pressed or pissed after our match, I may even ask you to meet her at the PC for a photo op.

It would really make her whole gosh darn year, like.

There is no bigger fan of The Priestess, certainly on this side of the world than my dear sweet baby sister, Moira. She grew up a fan of our business like, but it was only by following your career on the international independent scene that she dedicated herself to our craft, physically, mentally and spiritually.

You are so much more than an inspiration to her, you shaped her drive and determination even more than watching me did.

And that is why I feel like I owe you my very best this week, Lottie.

I owe you the best match since my return to an IWF ring, and God willing, that is exactly what I intend to deliver. Now I know there’s a very good chance that I will have to keep my head on a swivel as one bitter bitch in Serenity Holmes will likely be looking to get even with us both for what went down last week, but still I hope and pray that we truly can have the kind of show-stopping match I know we’re both more than capable of.

Even up against a clock.

I may not be quite as fast or agile as the day I first debuted in this company almost nine years ago, nor as youthful and unstoppable as I believed myself to be when I became the youngest Women’s World Champion of the time in this company, but the one thing even something as relentless and foreboding as a ticking clock has never and will never take from me is my desire to do what I love.

And what I love is professional wrestling.

I love this business so much and always have, so much so in fact that it has even become a joke between my dear old folks back home in Cork that the reason I’m still single is ‘cause my heart belongs to this industry and no guy can ever compete for it.

Given my well documented and abysmal taste in men, they may well have a point. As much as I may want to argue their point, I really can’t at this stage of my career. In between a set of ring ropes, flying around the canvas is not only where I feel most at home but also where I feel most gosh darn alive.

And to be honest with you Lottie, I’m just not ready to give this all up just yet.

I’m not ready to admit that when I look at you I not only see a reflection of everything I used to be when I was cutting my teeth in this company, but also somebody who has more than enough independent experience to embarrass me at my own game if I ain’t careful.

The bitter reality of our situation is that you have every advantage going into this match, not just physically but also experientially. I am a homegrown IWF talent, and as such I’ve only experienced a thin slice of the knowledge you have garnered over the last seven years.

It would be extremely foolish of me to think a handful of Japanese tours could adequately prepare me for the kind of bullet you are, Lottie, so I’m not even going to bother trying to BS you here. Not when there’s every chance that you will show the world the difference between my serviceable American artistry and your refined Japanese mastery.

I only occasionally lease my airtime, you own the sky, like.

It’s pretty gosh darn obvious to me then that my only hope of beating you fast enough to secure a clear advantage over Serenity next week heading into Metamorphosis is to ground your jet before it even has a chance to leave the runway.

And that means trapping you, restraining you and locking you down in any number of my well-honed submission locks and holds. You better hope that I really don’t catch you in the nick of time, Lottie, ‘cause if you slow down for even a few seconds to catch your breath like, I will be on you with a surprising quickness all of my own.

And then I will have no choice but to lock you up, shut you down and tap you out.

Serenity Holmes just has to beat the clock this week.

I have to reset it.

I have to prove that I’m still capable of overcoming devils and slaying dragons in this industry as I once was. I recognise you are neither, Charlotte, but my grander ambitions demand more of me. I can’t just coast anymore, I need to reach down deep and find the soul that once tempered Rowan’s fire and stopped Eternity dead.

To embrace my past, I have to stall your future.

It’s only temporary, I promise.