Post by Jazmyn Rain on Jan 7, 2018 11:47:32 GMT -5
“Unheralded”
January 6, 2018
Jazmyn Rain is in a reflective mood as she sits inside of an empty wrestling arena. The arena is quite small, consisting of maybe a thousand seats at most. The ring is showing signs of wear and tear having been around for a long time. Jazmyn looks at the ring from a distance somewhere in the middle rows of the building, taking it all in, reflecting on perhaps the earliest memories of her wrestling career when she decided that it was something that she wanted to do for the rest of her life. The cameras are facing her as she has three square 10 by 10 cardboards on her lap. The lights are dim and Jazmyn is super focused on what’s to come. Taking a deep breath, the number one contender to the NGW Five Lakes Championship begins to speak.
Jazmyn Rain: I really didn’t want to acknowledge this, but at this point, it’s just so noticeable that I almost have to. I am in no way saying that my NGW career has been a failure. It’s been far from that. I’d say it’s gone pretty well, having overcome quite a few things. I had to bounce back from a debut loss in my hometown, for starters. I had to endure a beating from matt Shields. I had to climb my way back up the ladder after what took place at the C2 Con, which I am going to get to at some point during my promotional videos leading up to Homecoming and there is a piece of me that wishes that was more noticed by the roster. It’s human nature, obviously. I’ve got no shame admitting that because every wrestler in this business wants to be noticed and appreciated. And I admit, some words have gotten to me too. But at the end of the day, I reflect back on where it all started and I realized that being so unheralded and underrated is nothing new to me. “Underrated” is essentially one of the words that essentially describe my entire career in a nutshell. Is it any wonder why I’m only starting to experience the outskirts of stardom in this business now? Granted, I don’t do this for the stardom, but still. Going back to day one… “underrated” has been the story of my career. Of course, I’m not going back to day one YET, I’ll go back to what I’d like to call… “day zero”
Jazmyn pauses as she pulls up the top cardboard 10 by 10. It’s a collage of pictures of Jazmyn from before her wrestling career: more specifically, her college days. The pictures aren’t so flattering as they range from her being drunk at a sorority party during her college years, partying at nightclubs, surrounding herself with a bunch of guys at a bar who were all pouring beer on her chest and even an an unemployment check.
Jazmyn Rain: This was me, ages 21 through 25. This was about 2005 to 2009. As you can see, I really wasn’t doing much with my life. I was quite the party girl during my college years and even after, when I started my working career doing a regular nine to five. I wasn’t responsible in the slightest, in fact, my mother… my birth mother that is… thought that I was just a waste of space and some could argue that I was. Really, all I ever was, was a groupie. I didn’t take life seriously at all. I took everything for granted. I honestly, during this part of my life, didn’t have a purpose and could never think that I had a purpose. I wasn’t necessarily drinking my life away, but obviously, I can’t be proud of what I was at the time. So, when I lost my regular 9 to 5, I was just happy collecting unemployment and just being a freeloader off of other people. I make no excuses for that time in my life. Even though my self-esteem was through the floor, I wasn’t in a good place. But then one day, it all hit me. I didn’t want to be that person anymore. I didn’t want to be a follower, a groupie, someone that was just satisfied slumming it with people richer than me… I had to change. I WANTED to change. My father took me to a wrestling show one day. I had always been a fan of the sport, so it seemed routine. But for reasons I can’t explain, I got this inspiration to do something with my life. Wrestling gave me that purpose and with my dad’s blessing, and help in the early going, I managed to get into a wrestling school. It wasn’t a dojo or a dungeon, but it was SOMETHING and I had to scrape all the way from the bottom to work my way up…
Jazmyn pauses to lift up the second of the 10 by ten cardboard cards. This one consists of a picture of herself on the very first day she began her wrestling journey. Her hair is unkempt and her wrestling gear at this point in her career consisted of a worn down top and a pair of torn sweatpants. Jazmyn isn’t smiling much in the picture, indicating a lack of self-confidence at this point.
Jazmyn Rain: So, in 2010, I began my journey. My trainer was EXTREMELY hard on me and the first time he ever saw me, he told me, and I quote: “you’ll probably make a good piece of eye candy, but I can’t see you as a wrestler”.
Jazmyn pauses and shakes her head, reflecting on that comment.
Jazmyn Rain: Yet, there he was, up the ass of his favorites. He was certainly far more lenient with the “favorites” than he ever was of me. My peers even thought I was the worst student in the class, if not in the school’s history. And sure, it took me a while to get better, but one by one, the “favorites” dropped out being unable to handle the grind and I was able to endure the torture I had to deal with. So, I got picked up by an Indy promotion in Virginia, in a building quite similar to this with a thousand people or less, I had my first match ever and gosh, I stunk up the joint… and I was immediately fired and told that I’d never amount to anything in this business. But… that didn’t stop me. I kept pushing hard. I got better in the Indies, better at my training and suddenly, in 2011, I was wrestling around the world as a tag team champion and even THEN, my partner was far more notable than I was. I was stuck in her shadow. Those that think the Guardians, particularly Adrien, are overshadowing me know NOTHING because that bitch soaked it all in and even felt like she WAS the team. Then she got injured and I became a solo wrestler. People thought I was a JOKE… then I won my first singles championship.
Jazmyn smiles as she puts down the two cardboard 10 by 10’s that she has shown so far.
Jazmyn Rain: Of course, the weight of the world was too much for me for a while and I fell into bad habits, including drugs worse than alcohol but when I got myself clean… NOBODY wanted to take a chance on me. “Thirty year old wrestler with prior drug issues who hasn’t been active in two years” they said. “We’re going to pass her up and not give her a chance” they said. “Her window has come and gone” they said. But I kept trying and I eventually wound up in GCW in march of 2015 and even THERE, nobody ever saw me as a Global Championship contender and losing matches to people in that division constantly didn’t help. But I pulled through and I WON that title and it was the greatest feeling in the world. Then came ALL of that familiar criticism that came with it while I was champion, shortly after the title got robbed from me and as I was chasing the title again. After the way I lost the title, I doubt many thought I’d be able to win it again. And yet…
Jazmyn pulls up all three 10 by 10’s, revealing an image of her with the Global Championship on December 30, 2017, at GCW’s End of the Year Bash event.
Jazmyn Rain: There I was again, proving everyone that ever doubted me wrong. So, sure… maybe I AM unheralded in NGW. Maybe I AM underrated. But so what? In my heart, I KNOW what I am: a personification and living proof of perseverance and endurance, a spirit lifter to inspire the people just like me that were told they could never be this, or amount to that, that they’re a waste of space, that they’re worthless and so on and so forth. In my spirit, I KNOW that I am a testament to what happens when you embrace your “unheralded” nature and use that to fuel you and motivate you to prove so many people wrong and to prove to yourself that you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. I may not have trained in a dojo, I may not have honed my craft in Japan, or done anything that Jack Tillman has done. I may not be someone that is known as a ‘gifted technical wrestler” like Jack is, but in my heart, I know that doesn’t matter because on any given night, I KNOW I can step into the ring with someone of Jack’s caliber and I can BEAT HIM!
Jazmyn pauses to place the 10 by 10’s face down on her lap.
Jazmyn Rain: Seeing the way he’s talked down to people, particularly Joshua Goldstein, I KNOW what he’s going to say. Not word for word, but I can already see him labelling me as one of those “model types” his manager has denigrated in the past. I can see him thinking that I am no challenge just because of the way I look. I can see him thinking that I am not a “true wrestler” just because I didn’t go the route he did to find success in this business. That’s all fine and good, he can go ahead and say that. He can take my words that I am speaking right now, he can take my words from the Mercedes Cares interview that I did recently, and he can spin them in any way I want. Jack Tillman and Chris Constantine are going to be some very HARSH critics, I know this for a fact. But throughout my life, throughout my career, I have dealt with so much worse and overcame them too! So whatever he has to say, I am going to let him say it. I can’t guarantee that his words won’t get to me. I’m admittedly a sensitive spirit all in all, but I can guarantee that I WILL overcome everything he throws at me this weekend at Homecoming to become the NGW Five Lakes Champion…
So Jack… give me EVERYTHING! Torture me, try to bring me down with your words, do to me what you desire… but the one thing you’re never going to do is BREAK ME! Because when it’s all said and done, at Homecoming?
The “unheralded” once again becomes a champion!
Jazmyn takes a few breaths to calm down from the emotional high that she was just on when speaking her words to the camera. She soaks in the scene, turns over the 10 by 10’s on her lap to get a glance at each of them, and reflects on her entire journey as a professional wrestler before she shuts off the camera for the time being.
January 6, 2018
Jazmyn Rain is in a reflective mood as she sits inside of an empty wrestling arena. The arena is quite small, consisting of maybe a thousand seats at most. The ring is showing signs of wear and tear having been around for a long time. Jazmyn looks at the ring from a distance somewhere in the middle rows of the building, taking it all in, reflecting on perhaps the earliest memories of her wrestling career when she decided that it was something that she wanted to do for the rest of her life. The cameras are facing her as she has three square 10 by 10 cardboards on her lap. The lights are dim and Jazmyn is super focused on what’s to come. Taking a deep breath, the number one contender to the NGW Five Lakes Championship begins to speak.
Jazmyn Rain: I really didn’t want to acknowledge this, but at this point, it’s just so noticeable that I almost have to. I am in no way saying that my NGW career has been a failure. It’s been far from that. I’d say it’s gone pretty well, having overcome quite a few things. I had to bounce back from a debut loss in my hometown, for starters. I had to endure a beating from matt Shields. I had to climb my way back up the ladder after what took place at the C2 Con, which I am going to get to at some point during my promotional videos leading up to Homecoming and there is a piece of me that wishes that was more noticed by the roster. It’s human nature, obviously. I’ve got no shame admitting that because every wrestler in this business wants to be noticed and appreciated. And I admit, some words have gotten to me too. But at the end of the day, I reflect back on where it all started and I realized that being so unheralded and underrated is nothing new to me. “Underrated” is essentially one of the words that essentially describe my entire career in a nutshell. Is it any wonder why I’m only starting to experience the outskirts of stardom in this business now? Granted, I don’t do this for the stardom, but still. Going back to day one… “underrated” has been the story of my career. Of course, I’m not going back to day one YET, I’ll go back to what I’d like to call… “day zero”
Jazmyn pauses as she pulls up the top cardboard 10 by 10. It’s a collage of pictures of Jazmyn from before her wrestling career: more specifically, her college days. The pictures aren’t so flattering as they range from her being drunk at a sorority party during her college years, partying at nightclubs, surrounding herself with a bunch of guys at a bar who were all pouring beer on her chest and even an an unemployment check.
Jazmyn Rain: This was me, ages 21 through 25. This was about 2005 to 2009. As you can see, I really wasn’t doing much with my life. I was quite the party girl during my college years and even after, when I started my working career doing a regular nine to five. I wasn’t responsible in the slightest, in fact, my mother… my birth mother that is… thought that I was just a waste of space and some could argue that I was. Really, all I ever was, was a groupie. I didn’t take life seriously at all. I took everything for granted. I honestly, during this part of my life, didn’t have a purpose and could never think that I had a purpose. I wasn’t necessarily drinking my life away, but obviously, I can’t be proud of what I was at the time. So, when I lost my regular 9 to 5, I was just happy collecting unemployment and just being a freeloader off of other people. I make no excuses for that time in my life. Even though my self-esteem was through the floor, I wasn’t in a good place. But then one day, it all hit me. I didn’t want to be that person anymore. I didn’t want to be a follower, a groupie, someone that was just satisfied slumming it with people richer than me… I had to change. I WANTED to change. My father took me to a wrestling show one day. I had always been a fan of the sport, so it seemed routine. But for reasons I can’t explain, I got this inspiration to do something with my life. Wrestling gave me that purpose and with my dad’s blessing, and help in the early going, I managed to get into a wrestling school. It wasn’t a dojo or a dungeon, but it was SOMETHING and I had to scrape all the way from the bottom to work my way up…
Jazmyn pauses to lift up the second of the 10 by ten cardboard cards. This one consists of a picture of herself on the very first day she began her wrestling journey. Her hair is unkempt and her wrestling gear at this point in her career consisted of a worn down top and a pair of torn sweatpants. Jazmyn isn’t smiling much in the picture, indicating a lack of self-confidence at this point.
Jazmyn Rain: So, in 2010, I began my journey. My trainer was EXTREMELY hard on me and the first time he ever saw me, he told me, and I quote: “you’ll probably make a good piece of eye candy, but I can’t see you as a wrestler”.
Jazmyn pauses and shakes her head, reflecting on that comment.
Jazmyn Rain: Yet, there he was, up the ass of his favorites. He was certainly far more lenient with the “favorites” than he ever was of me. My peers even thought I was the worst student in the class, if not in the school’s history. And sure, it took me a while to get better, but one by one, the “favorites” dropped out being unable to handle the grind and I was able to endure the torture I had to deal with. So, I got picked up by an Indy promotion in Virginia, in a building quite similar to this with a thousand people or less, I had my first match ever and gosh, I stunk up the joint… and I was immediately fired and told that I’d never amount to anything in this business. But… that didn’t stop me. I kept pushing hard. I got better in the Indies, better at my training and suddenly, in 2011, I was wrestling around the world as a tag team champion and even THEN, my partner was far more notable than I was. I was stuck in her shadow. Those that think the Guardians, particularly Adrien, are overshadowing me know NOTHING because that bitch soaked it all in and even felt like she WAS the team. Then she got injured and I became a solo wrestler. People thought I was a JOKE… then I won my first singles championship.
Jazmyn smiles as she puts down the two cardboard 10 by 10’s that she has shown so far.
Jazmyn Rain: Of course, the weight of the world was too much for me for a while and I fell into bad habits, including drugs worse than alcohol but when I got myself clean… NOBODY wanted to take a chance on me. “Thirty year old wrestler with prior drug issues who hasn’t been active in two years” they said. “We’re going to pass her up and not give her a chance” they said. “Her window has come and gone” they said. But I kept trying and I eventually wound up in GCW in march of 2015 and even THERE, nobody ever saw me as a Global Championship contender and losing matches to people in that division constantly didn’t help. But I pulled through and I WON that title and it was the greatest feeling in the world. Then came ALL of that familiar criticism that came with it while I was champion, shortly after the title got robbed from me and as I was chasing the title again. After the way I lost the title, I doubt many thought I’d be able to win it again. And yet…
Jazmyn pulls up all three 10 by 10’s, revealing an image of her with the Global Championship on December 30, 2017, at GCW’s End of the Year Bash event.
Jazmyn Rain: There I was again, proving everyone that ever doubted me wrong. So, sure… maybe I AM unheralded in NGW. Maybe I AM underrated. But so what? In my heart, I KNOW what I am: a personification and living proof of perseverance and endurance, a spirit lifter to inspire the people just like me that were told they could never be this, or amount to that, that they’re a waste of space, that they’re worthless and so on and so forth. In my spirit, I KNOW that I am a testament to what happens when you embrace your “unheralded” nature and use that to fuel you and motivate you to prove so many people wrong and to prove to yourself that you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. I may not have trained in a dojo, I may not have honed my craft in Japan, or done anything that Jack Tillman has done. I may not be someone that is known as a ‘gifted technical wrestler” like Jack is, but in my heart, I know that doesn’t matter because on any given night, I KNOW I can step into the ring with someone of Jack’s caliber and I can BEAT HIM!
Jazmyn pauses to place the 10 by 10’s face down on her lap.
Jazmyn Rain: Seeing the way he’s talked down to people, particularly Joshua Goldstein, I KNOW what he’s going to say. Not word for word, but I can already see him labelling me as one of those “model types” his manager has denigrated in the past. I can see him thinking that I am no challenge just because of the way I look. I can see him thinking that I am not a “true wrestler” just because I didn’t go the route he did to find success in this business. That’s all fine and good, he can go ahead and say that. He can take my words that I am speaking right now, he can take my words from the Mercedes Cares interview that I did recently, and he can spin them in any way I want. Jack Tillman and Chris Constantine are going to be some very HARSH critics, I know this for a fact. But throughout my life, throughout my career, I have dealt with so much worse and overcame them too! So whatever he has to say, I am going to let him say it. I can’t guarantee that his words won’t get to me. I’m admittedly a sensitive spirit all in all, but I can guarantee that I WILL overcome everything he throws at me this weekend at Homecoming to become the NGW Five Lakes Champion…
So Jack… give me EVERYTHING! Torture me, try to bring me down with your words, do to me what you desire… but the one thing you’re never going to do is BREAK ME! Because when it’s all said and done, at Homecoming?
The “unheralded” once again becomes a champion!
Jazmyn takes a few breaths to calm down from the emotional high that she was just on when speaking her words to the camera. She soaks in the scene, turns over the 10 by 10’s on her lap to get a glance at each of them, and reflects on her entire journey as a professional wrestler before she shuts off the camera for the time being.
