Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2021 12:09:48 GMT -5
Stardust(up) Memories
Footage bearing the chyron “Courtesy of ‘Pre-teen Beauty Queens: Lifetime Network” shows on screen. It’s second unit camera work, panning across a clutch of girls in danskins and their mothers; a reaction shot to whatever the main recording rig is filming. There’s a loud banging noise from out of the frame, and the camera quickly pans left to catch the source of the racket.
A coltish young lady is confronting one of the parents. She’s screaming, her face flushed, eyes shining with tears. The adult’s look of confusion hardens to anger. After a curt response that is censored for broadcast, the woman tries to push past her.
“LEAVE HER ALONE!” the girl demands as she grabs the woman’s arm.
A production assistant enters the shot to try and calm things down.
The mother fails to yank herself free from her accuser’s grip, so she snatches at the girl’s strawberry blonde plait and pulls.
The girl punches her attacker square in the face to the horror of the hovering PA.
The camera’s operator lets loose an exhortation that also gets edited for television, but does not stop filming. He records the duo brawling, overwhelming the much smaller authority figure on the spot until the cavalry arrives. One parent tries to calm the enraged child while the remaining adults pry the pair apart. There’s incoherent cross-talk among the participants. Finally, they are able to force them to separate, but not before the girl has ripped off a handful of the older woman’s hair.
The footage freezes on this image of the girl; clutching at her trophy a tangle of peroxide treated locks; her face bruised, blood gushing from her nose, bearing an expression of savage triumph you wouldn’t expect to see from someone in the running of the ‘Little Miss Congeniality’ title.
“Yep, that’s me.”
Transition. The not-quite-as-young woman sits cross-legged in a director’s chair addressing the audience. She’s grown into her gangly frame, and no longer has the countenance of a gore soaked Fury revelling in her work.
Now Minka Starr just looks embarrassed.
She shrugs, “If you’ve heard of me at all before joining UPRISING it’s because of this. My brawl made the rounds of the social media circuit back when it first happened, and then went more mainstream when the reason behind it came to light: my sparring partner there was the mother to my ‘rival’ on the show, and she was not a good parent at the time.”
Starr does not elaborate.
“That revelation turned a ‘chick fight’ into a cause célèbre, and me a celebrity outright. Me and my mom made the rounds with the usual suspects; Jimmy Fallon, the View, etcetera. I got to present the ‘Best Choreography’ Moon Man at the VMAs. It even led to me getting my own spin-off show on Lifetime; which chronicled my efforts of making it in show business.”
Minka smirks.
“Much Ado About Minka may have only lasted one season, but my search went on looooonnnngggg after that.”
“See, I learned the wrong lesson during my Fifteen Minutes. I used my good intentions as a springboard to fame when I should have been questioning how the star system works. It was selfish and grasping of me and I only got worse as the years went on and I remained in the spotlight for my increasingly cringey attempts at staying relevant.”
“I became a punchline. Those same outlets that praised me for my agency dragged me for my thirst. You’ve seen some of those clips too. It would be scab-picking to go through them all, but I again want to apologize for the ‘Teens for Trump’ stuff. That was equal parts me trying to raise my stock in the pageant subculture and giving my Dad the Bolshevist agita.”
“It would be a couple years after the election before I finally got my mind right; when I realized infamy was no substitute for fame and that fame itself was a result of what I should be striving for-”
“Accomplishment.”
“Success without significance is shallow. And my attempts to make a splash were being performed strictly in the kiddie pool. I needed to find a venue to perform in that would be the greatest challenge so when I did succeed it would mean so much more.”
“I chose wrestling for a couple of reasons. It was well out of my usual comfort zone. If you couldn’t tell by my form in that clip before that day I had never bowed up with anyone. I did not follow the sport as a kid. Those were features though; not bugs, in my plan. They gave me no real connections to exploit, so the responsibility of making it fell squarely on me.”
“It took me four years of training and seasoning to get to the point that I could finally be taken seriously as a wrestler, and deserved a chance. It was a hard journey without shortcuts, and I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed every second of it; but it’s gotten me here, and it’s gotten me my partner, so no complaints.”
“Wish I could say the same about wrestling itself.”
“See, as time went on, and I learned more about how the industry operated, another reason to join the Sorority became clear: pro wrestling is a sport in need of reform.”
“There’s so much wrong with this business. Stuff that would not be tolerated in other professions; malfeasance a lot of us let slide because of a love for all the good things. I want to work and change that; bring light that illuminates the negative and heat that immolates it.”
“I want to TRULY be a Star.”
“I tried elsewhere, and failed. There’s no one to blame but myself for that. Even with Bea backing me up I could not surmount the challenges I’ve assumed . It’s why we’ve come here. UPRISING is the perfect venue for our schtick- it’s right there in the name.”
She winks at the camera archly before again turning serious.
“‘ ‘Course, that’s not all UPRISING provides us in terms of motivation. Those same problems that afflict other promotions are here as well. A little over a week ago our tag champs interfered in a match in One Wrestle Movement, a company Uprising just entered a partnership with. That’s not cool. And if either fed had prior knowledge of Swine Flew’s plan and didn’t try to stop it, as some sources online indicate; that’s not cool either. I’m all for a little flair for the dramatic but when your actions infringe on the right of others to conduct business you’re going too far.”
“Starr/Power doesn’t operate that way. We’re not here to take others’ shine. We just work hard to burn brighter than the competition. This weekend Brick and I get another chance at that when we face Cloud 9. I predict a great, fun match; Ace and Donovan Carter seem like good guys. They got hops and as brothers you got to think they’re going to work well together. But Starr/Power showed we have the skill and drive to beat a sibling tag team before. Brick and I defeated the Crowes handily, and while I expect Cloud 9 to be a tougher out, the end result stays the same.”
“Starr/Power’s winning Saturday. We will keep on winning, and keep on rising, to the end of this season of Revolution and beyond, until we reach the point where our prize is in our grasp.”
“Kalinda. Regan. Be patient. You won’t have to be sticking your noses into other company’s affairs to find trouble.”
“You got trouble right here.”
“Watch.”