"A Night At the Bar"

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June 26, 2022

Corduroy.

Las Vegas Strip.

Adrianna and I, on this Sunday night, went inside this Vegas bar just shy of 10 PM. Double Down was a couple of nights away and I wasn’t thinking TOO much about that. We both sat at our reserved seats and one of the cashiers gave us both a courtesy glass of water. After greeting us, the cashier heads back to his register leaving my sister and I talking to each other.

“It’s nice to have a night out, huh?” I asked Adrianna. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes, expressing some skepticism.

“It is, when you’re actually doing this for a night out.”

“What are you saying?”

“Myra, I’m not dumb. You have a bar room brawl match for the Roulette title in two days against Jack Danielson. A little bit ago, I saw your tweet about ‘uphill battle’ blah blah blah. Are you SURE you’re not here for some match prep of some sort?”

“Okay, you got me… partially.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured. All these years in wrestling and this is the first time you’ve ever participated in one. I know I shouldn’t worry because you’re you and you’ve overcome so much and you’ve done all these amazing things but when a match is right up Jackoff Danielson’s ass… alley… whatever, I can’t help it. The fans couldn’t have voted for the ladder match at least?”

Adrianna lets out a sigh, expressing her displeasure with the stipulation that the fans picked. However, I was taking things in stride.

“I know my big breakthrough came in a ladder match in Vegas 14 years ago, but that doesn’t automatically make me this big ladder match expert or anything. Look, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not going in there with these big expectations to make it look easy. I know when the element is out of my comfort zone and that’s exactly what we’re dealing with here. But, life’s about expanding your comfort zone and doing whatever you can to adapt to the situation at hand, you know?”

We would be interrupted by the bartender at this point.

“What can I get you ladies?”

“A Tequila Sunrise for both of us if you don’t mind…” I responded.

“Fine choice but… um…” the bartender clears his threat, looking right at Adrianna. “...I think you’re more of a Harvey Wallbanger kind of girl ya know… because… honestly? My name’s Harvey… and I’ve LOVE to BANG YOU against that wall over there…”

Adrianna angrily splashes her water right into his face.

“I’m getting married in October, DUMBASS!”

“Two Tequila Sunrises… coming up…” the bartender weakly states as he goes back to get those drinks ready.

“I bet he’s related to Jack Danielson…” Adrianna says with anger. “...he’s lucky we didn’t come here five years ago or else you would’ve jumped the bar and beat the shit out of him. Hell, let me at him right now!”

“Adri, no!”

Adrianna sighs.

“FINE! Anyway, where were we?”

Before I can answer the question, we are both interrupted by the sound of a brawl that was taking place on the other side of the building. Adrianna has a head shake moment while I observe two men completely beat the crap out of each other. A few patrons gather around to see someone getting beaten by a pool cue, someone else getting thrown through a glass display and that same person having a bunch of beer spilled all over him while the idiot that knocked him out busts his own head open by jamming at least five beer cans into his forehead.

“...how BARBARIC…” Adrianna exclaims with both bewilderment and disgust.

I don’t say a word as the idiot that jammed the beer cans into his forehead collapses on the floor, possibly due to a self-inflicted concussion. Security and a couple of police officers walk by us to get to the bar brawlers, arresting them and dragging them both out of the bar.

“This is NOT my environment whatsoever…” I say with a sigh.

“Get these fuckfaces out of here…” I hear one of the police officers say as the brawling idiots get dragged out for good. I didn’t think anything of it whatsoever.

“...is that how these bar room brawls work? Am I really going to have to get THAT down and dirty? Because when I came up in training, Scott Lockley showed me nothing about how to handle a bar room brawl. He always hated those types of stipulation matches thinking that they were utter filth.”

“That’s funny coming from the person that would party so much in her teens and early twenties…” Adrianna reminded me.

“Yeah, I know. If I was fighting this type of match back in the NSWA 14 years ago, I could probably see myself partaking in something like that.”

“Did you say NSWA?” the officer said as he turned toward me. I couldn’t quite see his face considering he was wearing sunglasses indoors at 10:15 PM for some reason. “I wrestled there many years ago, around 2008 when… wait… no fucking way…”

I was confused as the officer lowered his sunglasses.

“Miranda??!?!”

I was taken aback when I realized he recognized me.

“...I’m sorry, you are?!?!”

When he removed his sunglasses, I was further taken aback realizing this familiar face.

“...wait… PETER?” Adrianna exclaimed. “Peter freaking Davis? What the hell?”

Peter Davis was an old friend of mine from back in that era of my career when I was finding my way in the mainstream so many years ago. He hadn’t wrestled in years, but nonetheless, I was excited to see him. The bartender brought us our Tequila Sunrises but I couldn’t care less about that.

“Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in FOREVER!” I exclaimed as we exchanged an embrace.

“10 years?” Peter asked.

“Sounds right. Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you became a cop!”

“Eh, life turned out alright for me but it pales in comparison to you obviously, being a living legend in your own right and all.”

“Peter, thanks but I don’t see myself as that…” I say with a laugh.

“You’re the most successful wrestler NSWA ever had and those dumbasses didn’t even know it at the time. Idiots. But, I don’t think you want to talk about the past because that’s ancient history. Do I even need to ask what you’ve been up to?”

“Oh please! You’ve been keeping up all these years!” I said with a laugh.

“Of course! You were one of my best friends back in those days.”

“What’s this I hear about you expressing discomfort about your bar room brawl, though?”

“That’s what I’VE been wondering…” Adrianna says as she takes a sip of her drink. “She’s a little worried because she’s never been in a bar room brawl before.”

“Listen, don’t worry so much about that. Who the hell cares about the odds, you know? I was in that ladder match with you. I know first hand that Miran… Myra… sorry, gotta get used to that… but anyway… I know first hand that Myra Rivers is capable of anything she sets her damn mind to. When you fought in that ladder match, how many ladder matches had you experienced in the Indies prior to that?”

“One? Two? I’d say two at most.”

“Did that stop you from winning that ladder match?”

“Fuck no it didn’t…” I admitted.

“Besides, you JUST beat the damn son of a bitch…” Peter reminded me. “Don’t forget about that. You’ve been through a lot lately. I heard all about how you left SCW and you signed with High Roller and all of that.”

I winced a bit when Peter brought up SCW. Adrianna saw this and was quick to grab my hand to comfort me.

“Hey, I know things didn't end the way you wanted in that company and I know it hurt like hell for you to leave but you did the right thing. Had you stayed, it was going to affect you in a negative way because as we talked about, you were going down a path that was dangerous. You would’ve hurt yourself, but worst of all, you would’ve hurt Kimberly as well.”

“Yeah, I know what the consequences would’ve been. It doesn’t make it any easier. Peter, I know you mean well but I don’t want to talk about… you know…”

“Sorry…” Peter said, feeling guilty.

“I think what Peter was trying to get at was that you had been through quite a bit when you went through that transition and you got thrown right into the fire in HRW. HRW could’ve had you facing some regular Mary Jane off the street in the dark match, but they put you right against Danielson fresh off of winning that Roulette title. You fought to a draw, and then you beat him to get the title shot that you have. Most wrestlers collapse being thrown into the fire like that…”

I could at least smile a bit realizing this perspective.

“...but you’re not most wrestlers, damn it…” Peter reminded me. “You handled the challenge incredibly well. In fact, I’d say that was even harder than going through a bar room brawl would be, wouldn’t you?”

“You both make some excellent points and thanks for that.”

“Hey, you’re learning not to get inside of your own head anymore, remember?” Adrianna reminds me.

“Of course…” I acknowledged. “I just BEAT the bastard too. I suppose the poll threw me off for a moment there, but I’m not going to let that happen. I’m going to make the most of it. I know that I’m going through an adjustment period right now and that things aren’t the easiest, but I also know my history of making the absolute BEST out of the hand that I am dealt and that’s what I am going to have to do…”

“That’s what you ARE going to do…” Peter adds. “Because the way I see it, I’m looking at the next HRW Roulette Champion. I’m not doubting you for a second.”

“Thanks for that.” I said with a smile. “Things are going to be a bit tough as I go through this adjustment I’ve been going through, but I know that a stronger version of me as a wrestler is going to come out of it in the end. I’m in a good place, I know that in my heart. So, with that being said, I’m not going to stress or worry. I’m not going to make mountains out of molehills. I WILL find a way to win on Tuesday…”

“I’ll drink to that! You should join us, Peter!”

Peter is about to respond when some drunken idiot with no pants stumbles into the bar.

“...I gotta get that…” he said as he goes over to the drunken idiot. Adrianna is a bit amused at this as we focus on our drinks.

“Hey, you’re going to be MORE than fine…” Adrianna reminds me. “The journey as it stands is seeing a few bumps in the road right now, but the best part of your career is just getting started in my book.”

“Thanks for having so much faith in me…” I tell my sister as we tip our glasses and have a chill night out at the bar from here.

I obviously didn’t know every single puzzle piece, but I knew in my heart that Adrianna was a hundred percent right.

The best part of my wrestling journey was only about to begin.

And I knew that no matter what happened at Double Down, that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.