[Kayla]

OK, here’s another repost of a stirring story by Marie, which I hope you’ll enjoy! Comments will be great!

After my 3rd fight and defeat of Marie, described by Marie in:
http://www.freecatfights.com/forums/index.php/topic,4643.0.html

Marie gradually transforms into a formidable fighter in this OPW series, and in this story fights for the title.

Hugs
Kayla

***

JESSIKA VS MARIE … for the OPW Championship
By Howard Cossell
  
 JESSIKA: Finally, I get to fight Marie. Or, should I say, Marie gets to fight me. I believe she’s in for a rude awakening, and here’s the reason why: she is a two-time OPW champion who has yet to win a title match. She won her first title by using a steel pipe on me, and had the second title handed to her after it was stripped from Glory.
  
 My physical advantages over her are so pronounced that it makes the match-up seem ludicrous….I am a foot taller and 75 pounds heavier. Plus, without displaying false modesty, everyone knows that I am a legend in the sport. I’ve wrestled in the OPW numerous times, while Marie is a newcomer. I have the experience to overcome anything she can bring. Yet, don’t think me overconfident. Unlike many wrestlers, I respect every opponent who faces me, recognizing the one aspect of fighting that applies in every match: you never know what might happen. In the past, I’ve overwhelmed opponents whom I expected to have trouble with, and, conversely, I’ve sometimes had a hard time with fighters whom I expected to squash.  
  
 Marie would seem to fit into the “squash” category because of the factors I listed earlier. In the ring, I intend to take my time and pick my spots rather than turning the match into a track meet, with me in pursuit. There is no reason to force the action; I don’t believe Marie can hurt me but, sooner or later, I’ll catch her and administer the punishment necessary to win the match.
  
 What is Marie’s strategy? It seems obvious enough; she will try to stay out of my reach and be cagey enough to not match strength with me. If she’s not smart enough to do that, she will have a very short evening. She has been quoted as saying that she will wear me down and finish me off. While I believe that she is underestimating my stamina, I still recognize the fact that she is almost 30 years younger than me and well-conditioned to the point that she can go longer than I can. The longer the fight goes, the more advantage she gains…..so I’ll have to insure that it doesn’t go too long.
  
 And, face it….there are a set of circumstances inherent in fighting Marie that don’t exist when tangling with anyone else; she is so small that it is considered a disgrace to lose to her. Marie’s three catfights with Kayla are a good example. Although she utterly brutalized Marie in the first and last matches, she was very upset at having lost the second fight. It was akin to being beaten up by your kid sister….no one ever wants that to happen and it makes fighting that person a pressure-packed situation. While Marie is the smallest and youngest fighter in the OPW, she is also the quickest.
  
 This is what I’m faced with tonight.
  
 ***********************************************
  
  
 As we enter the ring, I note that Marie looks even smaller than I remembered. We are both clad in one piece bathing suits and she is so thin that you can see her ribs under her suit. Yet, as I’ve said, she is not to be underestimated….although inexperienced, she is on a rapid learning curve and has made great strides in fighting larger girls.
  
 Incidentally, Kayla was originally scheduled to referee this match, but due to her personal relationship with Marie and me, the three of us felt that it would be improper for her to officiate. Instead, she will be conducting the post-match interviews. At any rate, the only reason we need a referee in this match is to count to three at the end. Marie and I have agreed to concentrate only on fighting….. there will be no entrance music, no fanfare, and no “handlers” in the corner.
  
 As the match begins, Marie jumps forward as if intending to lock up with me, then darts away. She glides from side-to-side, staying just outside my range. She taunts me by dropping to her knees directly in front of me and spreading her arms in invitation, daring me to lunge toward her. I have to admit that her temerity startles me, and then annoys me, but I realize that this is the reaction she wants to evoke, so I smile at her and keep my distance. A moment later, she does the same thing, and when I remain in position, Marie makes a lightning-quick leap forward and punches me in the mouth. There’s no denying it; Marie fooled me. Although I definitely felt the punch, I show no reaction. Before I can respond, Marie dances out of range again  
  
 From there, she backpedals around the ring with me in pursuit. We jockey for position, looking for an opening. Marie kicks me in the stomach and moves in when I hesitate, only to be caught by my forearm to her head that sends her tumbling to the mat. She cushions the fall with her elbow and gets to her feet before I can capitalize on my advantage. I try to capture her in a headlock but she spins away quickly, smacking me in the kidney with a sweeping kick. It stings, but I respond with a swinging backhand that catches her on the neck and sends her stumbling across the ring. Marie starts moving again, rubbing her neck and eyeing me worriedly. She knows that I can hurt her with just about any blow I land and you can see her mind working as she plots strategy. I swear I can read her thoughts…. “Let Jessika chase me until she’s so tired that her tongue is hanging out of her mouth.” I see a big smile break out on the runt’s face and it affects me in a way that I wouldn’t have expected…… what right does this little bitch have to smile at me during a match? Instead of thinking she is in control, Marie should realize she’s in mortal danger. She isn’t going to get tired, I know that, so I’m going to go after her, I’m going to show her my power. Never mind looking cool! I’m going to show her what happens to those who disrespect me.
  
 For the next fifteen minutes, the fight followed the same pattern; I pursued and she ran. For sure, I nailed her with some good shots. The problem was, she never stood still and traded with me, she moved constantly and gave me only small pieces of her to hit. This caused many of my shots to glance off her, land lightly, or not land at all. And Marie wasn’t simply running away from me; she was getting in shots of her own, making me pay for punches that I missed by hitting me while I was following through. I hated to admit it, but I was getting frustrated. Still, I have faced adversity in the ring before and resolved to stay calm and collected. However, that attitude disappeared and the match changed after what happened next.
  
 Marie danced into my range and stopped. In a reversal of her previous match strategy, she stood directly in front of me. I couldn’t believe her nerve (or stupidity) and I decided to punish her by knocking her head off. I threw a right-hand punch that was so hard in it’s force and intensity that it caused me to go off-balance for a moment. Marie easily ducked under the punch and went to her hands and knees. From there, she grabbed the back of my ankles and pulled with all her strength, yanking my legs from under me and dumping me on my butt. I was shocked by the tactic but quickly raised one foot and booted her away. Going with the impetus, Marie glided back to the ropes where she stood in a pose that infuriated me; her arms draped casually backward on the ropes, her right foot poised on her left knee, a gentle smile on her face. It was the smile that aggravated me most of all…. It clearly said that she didn’t consider me a threat to her any longer.
  
 I was mad; mad that she was treating me like an ineffectual rookie, mad that she had maneuvered me into being fooled by that embarrassing pratfall, mad at the blatant disrespect being shown me. I knew that I had to establish control of this fight…..and the time was now.
  
 Getting to my feet, I rushed at Marie, who didn’t move a muscle as she watched me come toward her. At the last second, I dove at her…. And she casually stepped to the side and used her hands to lift the middle rope. I flew through the opening she had created and found myself hurtling headfirst toward the hard floor outside the ring. I had no control and it was happening so fast that I couldn’t get my arms raised to cushion the fall. My head and right shoulder hit the floor and I felt my shoulder break. The second I landed, I knew that it was dislocated, and the pain was enormous. As I writhed on the concrete, all I thought of was getting back to the dressing room so my shoulder could be fixed. I wasn’t thinking about the match, the championship or Marie. Obviously, I couldn’t fight with a busted wing, could I?
  
 Then, I looked up and saw her. Marie was standing on the second rope, bouncing up and down and smiling radiantly at me. She said:
  
 “Come on back in the ring, Grandma. I’ll break your other arm for you.”
  
 As before, the look on her face told me that she no longer regarded me as a threat. Feeling the throb of growing anger, I decided that I would get back in that ring and wipe the grin off her face, shoulder or no shoulder. I reached around with my left arm and snapped the shoulder back in place. As soon as I did, a dull, pulsating pain settled in. It was monstrous, but I painfully got to my feet and tested the arm. It didn’t work; moving it even slightly brought waves of agony that radiated through my entire body.
  
 I struggled back into the ring with great difficulty, and Marie immediately went to work on me. Seeing that I couldn’t move my right arm, she kept gliding to my right and throwing punches over the non-functioning arm. I couldn’t prevent her from landing smashing shots to my face, punches that were devastating  because I couldn’t raise my arm to block them. I tried throwing my left hand at her but doing that sent searing pain to my bad shoulder, and the punches had no power behind them. She didn’t throw single shots; instead, she was launching combinations, all of which were landing. Since she had no worries about getting hit back, Marie was free to place all of her power into each punch. To her, this was now target practice. Marie landed about twenty unanswered punches to my head. She was destroying me, but I stayed on my feet. Then, she started alternating shots to my face with ones directly to the damaged shoulder. I had never experienced pain like this before; it felt as if my shoulder was being banged with a hammer. Then, just as I was thinking that she couldn’t knock me down, Marie smashed me with a left to the cheekbone and a right to the jaw and down I went, thudding to the canvas with an impact to my shoulder that nearly caused me to pass out.
  
 Losing no time, Marie began stomping my face and shoulder with her bare foot, grinding the pain in with each shot. She was hollering at me to surrender, but that’s something I will do for no one. No matter what she did to me, she would not get the satisfaction of hearing me quit.
  
 My eyes were tightly shut against the agony in my arm and I didn’t see Marie sit down with her body perpendicular to mine. She pulled on the wrist of my broken arm while pushing with her feet against the side of my body. The pain from the arm-stretcher hold was so excruciating that I thought that the world had turned into a sheet of fire. Marie was screaming;
  
 “Quit, you bitch! I want you to say ‘uncle,” I want you to say that you’ve lost to me!”

[Kayla]

But I wouldn’t do it. In fact, I refused to even yell out loud. Then, through my agony, I heard someone yelling…… and with great surprise, I realized that it was me. I was shrieking in pain, but I would not give up. The torture went on and on.
 
 Suddenly, the pain that Marie was inflicting on me was gone. I opened my eyes and saw the referee dragging her off me. She was struggling to get free of him and rush back to me, but she finally stopped.
 
 When I saw the ref raise her hand and give her the championship belt, I painfully rose to a sitting position and started protesting;
 
 “No! I didn’t give up. I can still beat her….let us keep fighting!”
 
 The ref came over and put his arms around me, saying;
 
 “No, Jessika. You’re fighting with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder. I’m stopping this one so you’ll be able to fight another day. It’s obvious that you were never going to quit, so I’m doing it for you.”
 
 I hated it, but I stopped struggling because the decision had already been made. And, I admit that in addition to extreme disappointment, I felt relief, too.
 
 I looked at Marie, who had climbed to the top rope and was standing there raising the championship belt and drinking in the accolades from the fans. She stopped and turned to look directly at me. Did I see admiration in her eyes? Yes, I did. Respect, too. She nodded at me and I nodded back.
 
 I was helped back to the dressing room by the ringside physician.
 
 *****************************************
 
OFFICIAL DECISION: Referee stops contest after 27:35……the winner and still OPW champion: Marie
 
 *****************************************
 
 
 
 
 KAYLA: We are with Marie, who has retained her OPW championship. Marie, do you now have respect for Jessika?
 
 MARIE: I had respect for her all along. Don’t let all the pre-fight trash talking fool you. I never expected her to come back into the ring with a dislocated shoulder, but she did. Her fighting heart is bigger than anyone’s, and she proved it tonight. But who’s the champion? Me!
 
 KAYLA: You are, but don’t you feel that you were too brutal in attacking her like that when you knew that her shoulder was broken?
 
 MARIE: I can’t believe that you, of all people, would ask me that, Kayla. You know better. Jessika is one of the most dangerous competitors in OPW history and can turn any match around in a second if you let up on her. I couldn’t afford to let that happen. When you have the advantage, you keep it.
 
 KAYLA: Next up for you is a title match with me. How do you feel about that?
 
 MARIE: As you know, Kayla, you’re my idol and my friend. That just means that I’m going to have to beat up my idol and friend! You’re going down, big girl.
 
 **********************************
 
 
 KAYLA: Jessika, your arm is in a sling and you’re going to the hospital. But can we have a quick word with you?
 
 JESSIKA: Sure.
 
 KAYLA: What is the extent of your injury?
 
 JESSIKA: I have a dislocated shoulder, a fractured humerus, and torn ligaments.
 
 KAYLA:  Do you feel you were treated unfairly tonight?
 
 JESSIKA: What do you mean? 
 
 KAYLA: Don’t you feel that Marie won an undeserved victory because of your injury?
 
 JESSIKA: Not at all. She won fair and square. Injuries are a part of fighting. In the OPW, the only thing that matters is whose hand is raised at the end of the match. Tonight, it was Marie’s.
 
 KAYLA: But don’t you resent that Marie went exclusively after the body part that was injured?
 
 JESSIKA: She did exactly what I would have done if she had been injured. I have no complaints.
 
 KAYLA: Aren’t you humiliated at losing to tiny Marie? Especially with your extreme advantage in size?
 
 JESSIKA: You really are looking to stir up trouble, aren’t you, Kayla? But to answer your question….no, I’m not troubled by it at all. As you ought to know, size and strength aren’t everything. I had those advantages over Marie, but her game plan and strategy were superior to mine, and tonight that was enough to beat me. Of course, a busted shoulder helped, but as I said, injuries are a part of the game and a fighter has to be able to overcome them in order to win. I didn’t.
 
 KAYLA: (smiling) How do you see the impending title match between Marie and me?
 
 JESSIKA: Before tonight, I would have said that you would win easily. Now, I’m not so sure. Still, since you’re asking for a prediction, I say that you will beat Marie. But don’t get too cocky, Kayla……Hey, that sounds like a good name for you!….Cocky Kayla. 
 
 KAYLA: You don’t seriously think that Marie will beat me, do you? You must be hurt worse than I thought.
 
 JESSIKA: I’ve been listening to what other fighters have been saying, and there have been too many disparaging remarks made about her lack of size and her worthiness to tangle with the big girls. I must admit that I’ve been guilty of this, too. You watched tonight’s match, Kayla. If you've learned nothing from it, don’t come crying to me later.

NEXT: Marie defends her OPW title against me ...

[peccavi]

Its great to see some of the old stories back; now if only Marie and Howard would start writing again.

[Kayla]

Yes, and Janet, Mikey, and Abby too ... 

[howardcosell]

what a pleasant surprise this was. Every once in a while, I do drop in and see how things are going. Hope everyone is doing alright. I will say this though; Marie wrote this match, not me. This was kind of when I knew the two of us would be working together for a while. I thought that Marie didn't want to do any more matches, so I was going to do this match myself.

The original plan was for Jessika to beat Marie, advance to the finals and beat Kayla, setting up a feud between the two of them with Kayla eventually getting the belt and losing it to Glory. But Marie insisted that she do the match and she made herself the winner, which was fine for me because I always preferred a stronger Marie to the version who always lost to everyone. We both knew that Kayla was going to be champion because of the feud she was having with Glory, but we didn't want to give it to her too soon. I also wanted to reward Jessika for being so nice to me on the board, so once it became Marie vs Kayla 4 instead of Jessika vs Kayla, I decided to do a tribute show for Jessika.

Anyway, take care, be safe.