Picture Perfect

[Shea O’Hara]

SheaOHara.com

Undisputed Rock & Roll Queen!

SheaOHara.com/Blogs/Latest

February 5th, 2024

A Second Chance

Metamorphosis X is in the books and personally speaking it seems things are finally turning around for me. I had less than an ideal return a couple months ago, when I lost to Jennie Fenix, a woman who is now where I want to be in the near future - a reigning, defending two time Women’s World Champion.

Jennie showed absolutely no quit out there in probably the most barbaric type of match there is in IWF - the Dragon’s Den and she left her mark in history on that match against one of the most dominant World Champions ever in Brooklyn Madrox.

Indeed, there have only been a handful of Dens headlined by women in this company’s history, and for my money it is exactly matches of the calibre Jennie had last night that set her apart from her more famous sister Tara’s looming shadow.

Jennie showed remarkable tenacity by digging down as deep as she did, going to places I’m not sure I ever could myself, just to pull out a win at any cost. Clearly, she’s not the kind of Champion I can just rush into, at least not if I don’t want to be embarrassed again.

No, I need to be smarter about this, more prepared. I need to come up with a strategy, and I need to pick my spot. I didn’t come all this way just to blow it all prematurely now. I didn’t humble Serenity Holmes and earn my golden opportunity at professional redemption for it all to amount to nothing, simply because I underestimated Jennie Fenix or worse - because I overestimated my readiness to meet the challenge she represents.

The Queen’s Gambit briefcase is my second chance and I will make the most of it.

Speaking of making the most of it, whatever I may think of Serenity personally, I can’t deny her natural gifts and talents in the ring. She is one of the toughest women I’ve ever been in the ring with, and though we may never be on each other’s Christmas card lists, I hope that coming out of our match last night, I’ve earned at least a modicum more of Serenity’s respect as a competitor than I had going in.

Hopefully, her knee isn’t too banged up, and I’ll see her down the road again soon.

🎸🎸🎸

February 11th, 2024

New Limited Edition Merch!

I’m thrilled to announce that both IWFShop.com & my personal store right here have just received stock of possibly the coolest piece of wrestling memorabilia that I’ve ever had the pleasure of being personally affiliated with.

A special limited edition “Undisputed Rock & Roll Queen 2024” officially licensed Fender electric guitar case reproduction of the traditional red and gold Queen’s Gambit briefcase! This is the first in a new line of specific Queen’s Gambit merch for me, and unlike the personalised lunch boxes launching early next month, these exclusive guitar cases are limited to 6000 individually numbered units worldwide!

Each case is hand signed by yours truly and comes with a genuine certificate of authenticity. Furthermore, if you order one through my site before midnight on the 15th February, you can take advantage of the 25% site wide Valentine’s sale discount, compared to the regular price on IWFShop.com - just enter promo code: LOVE2024 at checkout!

Own an iconic piece of professional wrestling history, today!

~~~

Another year, another Valentine’s Day alone. On some level, Shea O’Hara was dreadfully aware that her single status was her own fault. Rather than risk being hurt all over again by giving anybody a fair chance after Will Fenell, she had chosen instead to rededicate herself to her craft and her first and only true love in this world - professional wrestling.

She’d worked too hard and too long to have some temporary distraction toy with her heart again. Charlotte Shimizu understood that, the first real friend she’d made since her return to IWF. Lottie, as she had affectionately come to know her, reminded Shea a lot of her other friend who didn’t go here anymore and whom she missed terribly - Emma Danielson.

Both were so utterly devoted to the art and pageantry of professional wrestling that any and all meaningful personal liaisons were quickly forsaken in favour of training for the next match. In that at least, Shea derived a great deal of personal comfort, just knowing she was not alone and that there were others just like her in this company.

Lottie was no substitute for somebody like Vivienne of course, but Shea had started to come to the stark realisation that between V pitching in with The Murder and not trusting her enough to divulge any of the personal horrors of V’s childhood abuse before it became public knowledge, maybe Shea didn’t know her supposed bestie as well as she thought she did.

Shea had been on autopilot for most of this morning. Finding herself any and every excuse she could to distract herself from the cruel reality that her other bestie, Warren was still not fully recovered after his brutal and deeply personal match against Dean Harper. Part of her wanted desperately to stay with him, to tend to him, but she was terrified that seeing him so fragile and alone would force her to confront her complicated feelings for him.

She couldn’t handle that, not right now. So when Lottie had called her two days ago to set up today’s meeting with Charlie Clearwater superfan, Moira, Shea had leapt on the chance to prioritise her baby sister’s happiness over her own. It was the perfect excuse to get away from the very real temptation of fucking up yet another friendship by admitting deeper feelings.

So as to not give the game away, Shea had told Moira to meet her for a coffee at some quiet little cafe, given her a time and arrived a full fifteen fashionable minutes late quite deliberately.

It was so worth seeing Moira’s jaw hit the floor when Shea walked in, alongside Lottie. Moira remained amusingly slack-jawed and delightfully starry eyed in the face of her wrestling hero for several moments, something that caught even Lottie off guard.

Charlotte blinked in disbelief that anybody could be such a fan of the part of her career that Lottie herself didn’t much care for. A fact she’d sworn Shea to secrecy about on the way over. Lottie had no wish to spoil the meeting with her personal anxieties and hang ups about being pigeon-holed for such an arbitrary part of her self-identity.

It was a struggle that Shea not only understood, but sympathised with. She herself felt just as foreign in American wrestling as Lottie did, and so they had agreed that it would not be a topic of conversation at this impromptu meet and greet.

“Oh my gosh, it’s you! It’s really feckin’ you!”

Definitely not the most eloquent of starts and probably not at all what Moira would have said if she’d had time to prepare herself for being sat across a table from one of her greatest loves on Valentine’s Day, no less, but it is what Charlotte was greeted with. Unsure how exactly to respond, Charlotte adopted a neutral smile and nodded.

“Can I get an autograph? Maybe a photo, please?”

“That’s why we’re here, like,” Shea replied.

“Right, right. Sorry. God. Why didn’t you tell me?” Moira fished out her phone, almost dropped it in her nerve-ridden excitement. “Given me a heads up, y’know? Let me prepare, like.”

“‘Cause this is much more fun,” Shea teased. “Right, Lottie?”

“Yes,” Charlotte nodded, setting into her smile more. Acclimating herself to being somebody’s favourite as best she could. It still felt surreal to her, but it was probably even more so to Moira O’Hara, the fresh faced twenty something she’d made feel like a giddy teenager again.

“How’s my hair? Make up? Do I look okay?” Moira flipped her red hair to the side, handed Shea her phone. “Would ya do the honours, sis?”

“You look nice.” Charlotte’s assurance flushed Moira’s cheeks pink. A hue that got even brighter when Lottie moved to settle next to her, pressed cheek to cheek, wide, uncompromised smiles across both faces.

Shea snapped a few shots before she handed the phone back to Moira. She took it, but lamented her sudden realisation that she had nothing for Charlotte to sign. Whilst Moira cursed herself under her breath, Lottie’s sister and self-appointed manager, Hannah entered the coffee shop.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s okay, Hanners, we’re almost done here. She just needs something for me to sign.”

Hannah nodded, opened her purse and slid an ‘East Wind’ 8 x 10” snapshot across the table. “Hot off the press, Verona hopes you approve how they turned out.”

“What do you think, Shea?” Charlotte asked, personalising her signature.

“I’ve never had more picture perfect partners,” Shea smiled. “We’re gonna kick so much ass together.”