Scooaloo hit the mat hard.
If there was one thing she hated most about wrestling, it was taking bumps; the wrestling ring was not some soft, cushiony mattress like she had used back in her childhood to play wrestling, it was just as hard as a layer of boards. In fact, underneath the mat, and thin foam padding WAS a layer of wood. Perhaps not necessarily boards, but wood nonetheless.
Bumps hurt; like, a lot. Selling a slam-type move or even just a clothesline meant having to throw her whole body as hard as she could into the mat to make as loud a noise as possible. The trainers said it was to enhance the image of the move's impact. When they'd say this, she'd just mumble something about people not doing flipping backflips after getting punched in real-life.
Digressing, she let out a loud "umph" as she slammed herself into the mat, selling her opponent's wind-up uppercut as best she could. It was a bit of a challenge to make her smaller frame make as loud a noise as it could without giving herself whiplash or smacking her head on the mat. One of her former fellow trainees had done that, and had given herself a nasty concussion and had to be sent off. Still, she made a satisfactory showing from what the faces of the trainers were showing.
Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat was the head trainer's name; he was a retired WWE Hall of Famer and a great martial artist as well. She knew it was an honor to be trained by someone with as much prestige as him, but having not been born yet when he was on the active roster, she couldn't really appreciate his presence as much as she felt she should. Now if she had been trained by someone like Stone Cold or even Lita, she would've probably died of a fangasm. But again, she was respectful enough the "the Dragon", and he was a good trainer anyway.
Scootaloo's opponent began to taunt to the invisible crowd in the performance center as the other trainees clapped and continued watching the match. The purple-haired drop-out from Canterlot High searched her memory for what the next spot was.
"Right." she breathed to herself as her brain locked it down.
She groggily got up and bent her knees down, spreading her legs apart, kind of like The Rock used to do when he'd set up for the Rock Bottom finisher. As soon as her opponent turned around, Scootaloo made a quick knee-strike motion to the gut and pressed her body against her opponent's, putting her head behind the victim's right arm, and using her own right arm to grab across her chest and hold her opponent's left shoulder.
She slapped her opponent's back to signify she was ready, and the seller jumped as Scootaloo hit the move she had been hoping to imitate for some time now: The Rock Bottom.
The slam was loud and echoed throughout the performance center as the other trainees cheered, knowing the move and who it came from. Scootaloo hooked her opponent's leg and Steamboat taped the ring apron three times before ringing the bell, signifying the end of the match. Scootaloo stood up and made a mock celebration as her opponent sold the match by acting near-unconscious in the center of the ring.
After a few moments, Steamboat got into the squared circle himself, and both females stood before him, sweating and panting, awaiting the review of the match.
"Very well done, girls. You're improving quite a bit, and it shows." Steamboat said, nodding approvingly to the two of them as they smiled. "But I do have a few critiques on the way you carry yourselves through matches."
Scootaloo and her fellow trainee focused on their mentor as he continued.
"Cherry Bomb," He said, addressing the young woman who had been Scootaloo's opponent. "You're quickness is good, but sometimes, you're too quick. You need to slow down so that one, you can connect moves more realistically, an two, so you don't accidently harm your opponent if you try to do a spot to fast and they can't sell it in time."
The red-head nodded and nervously rubbed her palms together as she listened on.
"It's good to get the crowd going, but if you injure your partner, what will you do then? You must keep the safety of your working partner in mind at all times and try to communicate better from now on. I saw you almost took out poor Scootaloo's knee with that running dropkick you did at what seemed like eighty miles an hour."
Cherry Bomb looked apologetically at Scootaloo and nodded. Scoots just waved it off as a "no big deal" type thing, but subconsciously rubbed her left knee here Cherry Bomb had kicked it; the pain coming back now that she was thinking about it.
"Don't let that make you change your whole style though," Steamboat pressed on. "The Ultimate Warrior was the same way as you when he was young; always going way too fast for his opponents and often botching many spots."
He chuckled as he remembered a funny memory.
"In fact, he did it in the ring with Andre the Giant once, and he wouldn't listen to Andre say slow down, so the Giant just let the Warrior run right into his massive fist, hahaha."
Cherry Bomb gulped a little and cracked a nervous smile.
Steamboat saw that was not helping and cleared his throat. "Ahem, but the point I is that Warrior still retained his energy and speed, just on a more controlled scale after that. So keep your energetic style, but have a bit of restraint when it comes to certain things, ok?"
"Yes, sir." She said, nodding rapidly.
"The Dragon" turned his attention to Scootaloo next. The high school drop-out tensed a little under his gaze; it wasn't hard, but there was something akin to...disappointment in them. That made Scootaloo very nervous.
"Scootaloo," He said. "You have great technical skills and are even an adequate high-flyer, but you always seem to go for a more brawler type style, which I don't really think suits you. What's more than that, I have also noticed you tend to mimic moves from superstars of the past. I've seen you do a Stone Cold Stunner, a Pedigree, and today, a Rock Bottom. But...I haven't really seen much originality in your moveset yet."
Scootaloo shifted her weight awkwardly. "Yeah, well, you see...I grew up watching those guys like Rock and Austin and I really like how they did things and--"
"That's all fine and dandy, young lady." Steamboat interjected. "But I'm afraid that if you keep sticking to the way you carry matches now, people will see you as nothing more than a copy-cat and not worth their time."
Scootaloo frowned at that; she figured this might come up sooner or later, but had hoped it would be later rather than sooner. She knew everymove and every movement of every superstar from the 90's on up, but she herself never thought of what she would be doing in the ring if she got there. She had once thought of putting her own little spin on things, but when she tried to think of how, she always convinced herself it was disrespectful to change an already existing move into something that was probably less awesome.
She didn't want to be a copy-cat, but she had no idea how else to wrestle except for what she had been imitating all her life.
"Here in WWE, to make it big you have to stand out from the crowd." Steamboat continued. "Whether it be flashy clothes, facepaint, a cool theme, or whatever. But none of that will matter much if how you carry yourself in the ring isn't unique as well. You have to find yourself in the squared circle, so to speak. Identify your identity and run with it."
She nodded solemnly.
Steamboat sighed. "Listen, Scootaloo; why don't you take the next couple of days off from in-ring training and try to think on what you might be in here."
She shot her head up in shock. "Wait, you're not gonna let me compete?"
"Don't think of it like that." He said. "Think of it as an opportunity to mold your in-ring persona a little more. Give it some time, and come back to me next week, ok?"
"But--"
"It's not optional, Scootaloo." He said firmly, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Go rest for a few days and think on who you want to be here."
She was about to protest further, but something in Ricky's eyes told her it was pointless. She hung her head slightly, and nodded, making her way out of the ring and towards the performance center door. As she opened the heavy metal frame, sunlight hit her instantly, nearly blinding her with it's radiance.
"If only that was a light bulb above my head." She muttered as she began walking down the street. "I have no idea how I'm gonna come up with an entire moveset over a few days...ah, I knew it was a bad idea to just keep copying the old legends..."
As she continued her slow journey, she realized she had left her leather jacket inside the performance center and smacked her forehead. How could she have forgotten her favorite jacket? Cursing herself mentally she hurried back to the door and jaunted briskly back inside to find her coat.
A few trainees turned to see her, curious, but nodded in understanding as she grabbed her black leather jacket off of one of the chairs around the various rings. As she turned to leave, she saw Steamboat having a chat with someone. Her curiosity piqued, she tried to get a glimpse of who it was as she walked by his office, peeking her head in just a little.
As her vision cleared the door frame, she gasped and tripped over herself as she tried to back-up, falling right into the office like a cluts. Steamboat and his guest both looked down at the sprawled young woman on the carpet with surprise.
She blushd hard and started to say something to defend herself, but just decided to wave and run out the door quickly. Once she was a good distance away, she let out a high-pitched squeal that caught the attention of a few passersby.
"OHMYGOSHOHMYGISHOHMYGOSH!" She squeaked as she skipped down the sidewalk in an uncharacteristically girly way. "That was X-Pac! The X-Pac! OHMYGOSH!"
Was he teaching at the center now? Was it possible he might be her new instructor even? She toyed with the thought, but then sighed and dropped it quickly. More likely it was just a social visit between co-workers, or even just a check-up for something. She hadn't heard any of the conversation, so she had no idea. Still, Ricky might have been old, but he wasn't out of shape yet, and she doubted he would step down any time soon from developmental trainer.
"Well, it was cool for the few seconds it was there." She mused, returning to her somber mood. "Now I have to go back to doing this 'homework' thinking..."
***
X-Pac stared at the door Scootaloo had just left and chuckled.
"Was that her?" He asked Steamboat, pointing a thumb towards the now vacant doorway outside the office.
Steamboat nodded andshook his head. "Yes, that was indeed Miss Scootaloo. I sent her off for a few days to kind of get herself into her own, yknow? Develop her in-ring character a bit."
"Yeah, you were saying she was a big fan of the Attitude Era."
"Too big of one." He confirmed. "Since she started training here, she's only been able to mimic the 90's stars like yourself."
"She's imitated me?" He asked, laughing at the thought of a young woman like that doing a crotch chop whilst jumping up and down.
"I've seen her do an X-Factor or two in the ring." Steamboat confirmed. "But mostly, she just imitates guys like Rock or Austin."
X-Pac looked back at the empty doorway before speaking. "So she needs to find her own unique character, eh? You know she isn't gonna be able to do that in such a short time...yknow how long it took me to become X-Pac?"
"Yes, I remember you as the 123 Kid." Steamboat laughed, remembering. "Yes, know how hard it is to create yourself in a world of colorful characters, but that's the thing."
"What is?"
"I may have to let her go."
X-Pac's eyes bulged a bit. "Really? But you were telling me she was a great performer in the ring."
"She is. She is a great worker, but if she can't be original, she'll just be overlooked and wasting her time when she'll never be truly in the spotlight. And I don't want Vince McMahon giving her some corny gimmick like "The Chicken" or something..." Steamboat explained. "No, I'd say if she doesn't have at least a solid idea by next week, I'm afraid she's gotta go."
X-Pac nodded, but his facial expression of concern did not change. He looked back over at the doorway, picturing the young woman in his mind from the quick look he'd had at her. Such a fresh, young face was needed in the industry, especially in the Diva's division, and it would be a waste if she was let go just because of unoriginality.
X-Pac turned back to Ricky, who was just packing up a few file folders for the day.
"HEy, Steamboat," he said. "you got any of the young lad's training tapes I can look at?"
