From Classroom and Boardroom...to the Ring

Karli Rae and her new protege, Rylie Stone, were ready to tag team for the first time. Rylie’s debut didn’t go the way it should have, and Karli’s return, absolutely did. She got the win. Karli Rae would take the lead in this interview.

“So here we are in Christchurch, New Zealand. A rather uninspiring city, even by New Zealand standards. But enough talk of scenery. Unfortunately for us, facts are rather subjective, but let’s begin.”

Rylie sported a pink power suit, a pair of cat eye glasses and braces that peeked out when she talked. The nineteen year old didn’t care for having them, but they’d only be part of her for another few months. As she spoke, she projected confidently.

“We’ve taken the time to review everything you’ve had to say. After careful consideration, our determination is simple. You’re nothing more than overpaid and overhyped simpletons from the trash heap that is Louisiana.”

Karli would then take over, standing in front of a blackboard. She was one of those old-school teachers who still preferred a blackboard and overhead projector. She wanted this to feel as old-school as possible.

“But as a legitimate professor, I’m trained in distinguishing presentation from substance. And all you are is a presentation. Nothing you say even remotely worries or offends us. You sit here and act like people like us, not that we care. This business isn’t about popularity. Its about skill, and while you may be the champions, that shall not last long.”

Here, Rylie cut in again, poised and confident. The Brit had confidence for miles, and it showed her speech. She could command a board room, a classroom, when with Karli, or a ring. She could draw people in to listen to what she had to say.

“The fact is that you say you’re the best team in AWS. Sure. Whatever you have to say to sleep at night, when the fact is that you haven’t beaten a single worthy team since winning those belts and it will not start with us. Sure, you’re the best, and I’m the bloody queen of England.”

Adjusting her glasses, Karli stood in her trademark orange skirt, white button-up top, and black blazer—the colors of the University of Texas. Then, with the confidence of a professor about to begin a particularly important lecture, she spoke.

“Hottest team in AWS? No. Your entire argument is based on a false premise. You repeat this over and over like repeating it will make it true. That is not how life works. Just because you say something does not automatically make it true. There are teams better and that have more momentum than you two.”

Rylie soon began to yawn, casually doom-scrolling through her phone as Karli continued. Karli nudged her, reminding her that it was her turn to speak. Rylie jolted back to attention, slipping her phone away before projecting her words with her usual arrogance. She then tilted her glasses downward, looking over the frames as she spoke. 

“I stopped listening when they started repeating themselves. I swear, you people repeat things more than ITV Quiz, back in Britain, airs the same episodes of Beat the Chasers. You’re more repetitive than the “comedy” in Little Britain. SNL UK has more value than you. Mind you, that’s not saying bloody much.”

Once again it was Karli’s turn. As she turns to the blackboard, she writes the word “FACTS” on it in cursive. A small smirk crosses her face as she removes her normal glasses for her reading glasses, to admire her own penmanship.

“You claim to be the most valuable team in this company. But you have not once explained WHY. So you know what? I feel that you have self worth issues and have to tell yourselves and others that you have value.  That brings me to a more interesting question. Who are you to determine value? You see, value is determined by win percentage. And yours isn’t as high as you seem to think, and it is not about to change.”

Rylie had one last thing to add to this. She would do this now, while removing her glasses, so the camera could see the seriousness in her face. It was notable that she had a chain around her glasses, to keep her from losing them. Despite being nineteen, the chain and thick rimmed glasses gave her a rather grandmotherly appearance, if that grandma happened to wear braces.

“You know, considering it again, you’re ACTUALLY more repetitive than repeats of Tipping Point, on ITV Quiz, ITV2 and wherever else that boring excuse of a tele program airs. But back to business. The numbers don’t lie, gentlemen, Those numbers tell us you have about as much chance of winning as this poor excuse for an England side has of winning a World Cup. Even Australia doesn’t claim you.

And Britain certainly doesn’t.”

Karli had a few more things left to add. She wanted to drive the evidence angle home and this was how she was going to do it. It was time to prove just how big of frauds these guys were. In her mind, the fact that they could not provide any evidence to their claims, made them frauds.

“Ultimately, gentlemen, this comes down to a very simple concept: evidence.You can call yourselves valuable. You can call yourselves champions. You can repeat those claims as often as you like. But repetition does not make an argument true.”

There was, however, another side to Karli Rae that made her partnership with Rylie Stone far more formidable than it appeared on the surface.

Karli wasn't merely a professor. She wasn't merely Rylie's mentor inside the wrestling world. She was a lawyer—and she had begun personally training Rylie to follow in her footsteps.

“Your record is the evidence. Your performances are the evidence. And when the evidence contradicts your claims, the claims become irrelevant. So by all means, continue telling everyone how valuable you are.We’ll simply continue watching you prove otherwise. When this is over, perhaps you’ll finally understand the difference between believing you have value......and actually having it. 

Karli’s teachings were far beyond the ring. Karli was also teaching Rylie in the courtroom. Neither were defeated in the courtroom, and that was soon to scale over to the ring.

Rylie was becoming more than Karli's protégé. She was becoming her apprentice.

“But for now, class dismissed.”

If their opponents thought they were simply dealing with two arrogant women standing in front of a camera, they were about to discover just how badly they had miscalculated. The scene fades to black as the camera is turned off.