It's Cold In Tokyo - Avalanche 2014 Presser

Covering most of the wall at the back of the stage was an enormous banner that featured Friction World Champion Angel, dramatically lit, looking cocky and focused, facing off with pigtailed punk Taylor Parker, who looked entirely unintimidated. In the bottom corners of the banner were smaller pictures of Akashi Tanikaze, Rebecca Tomko, Adrian Kytes, and Kelly Conway. Giant, icy letters across the top spelled out "AVALANCHE 2014".

Below the banner, looking comparatively small, was a rectangular table that seated a panel of three of the Avalanche competitors. On one side sat Taylor Parker, casually leaning back in her chair. On the other, Brittany Luvve, looking just as angry and unpleasant as always. In the middle sat former, and possibly future, Hentai champion Marisa Evans, looking just a bit out of place sandwiched between the two killers.

Around the stage, microphones hovered on long booms and camera operators lurked. Seating for several press and bloggers faced the stage, and in the front row, the first one in line, was AFW correspondent Madison Heights, green haired and dressed in her loud, yellow pop-star-meets-police-officer-themed-stripper outfit, with shorts and stockings and a short cropped jacket and matching hat.

"Hey, what's up?" Taylor nudged Marisa on her left as she settled in, and as the press and production crew finished preparations. "I'm Taylor. How's it goin'? Sorry you gotta sit next to this thing over here..." She nodded past Marisa at Brittany with a smirk. "Don't worry, she's totally harmless."

Primarily an erotic wrestler, Marisa looked, and indeed felt a bit out of place being put between Taylor Parker and Brittany Luvve. Still though, in the end, they were all AFW, she reminded herself. Just....very different parts of it.  

Whenever the model was invited to appear in one of the AFW's press events, she always dressed more conservatively than she did for her type of action in the ring. Clad in a pair of tanned slacks that flared into bell bottoms, as well as a stylish black leather jacket with a white shirt visible beneath it's unzipped front, the American looked like she could have stepped off of the cover of a catalog for fashionable women's clothing. She smiled and nodded at some of the photographers she recognized. Looking back over her shoulder at the banner, she gave a slight scowl at the sight of Kelly Conway's face on the banner.

Feeling a nudge at her side, she looked at the almost reclining Taylor as she spoke.
"Well, I wouldn't call her totally harmless." she said. "I'm Marisa, by the way." she added by way of introduction. "Before this thing gets started, I just wanted to say that the match you and Adrian Kytes put on at Summer Splash was amazing. It made me fans of both of you, that's how good it was."

Brittany was wearing her usual wrestling attire as she sat on the other side of Marissa with a permanent scowl on her face as she was being forced to play nice with Taylor yet again. Brittany was not to happy to be sitting at the table as she glared at Taylor as she spoke to Marissa but Brittany kept her mouth shut for the moment as Brittany just wanted to get this over with.

Brittany was actually kind of glad Marissa was sitting in between her and Taylor as if Taylor was right next to Brittany, Brittany might just try to strangle Taylor on the spot.

"Oh, thanks, man," Taylor smiled. "Yeah, it was a really cool experience. Like, I've never pushed myself that far in a match before, and Adrian really earned my respect. And I never want to do it again!" She laughed, and glanced at Brittany.

The girl was still quiet. It probably wouldn't last. Whatever. The AFW interviewer chick grabbed a mic and started to introduce the event. Taylor wondered why such a small group? Were they doing the whole card in threes? Maybe they didn't want a 20-girl brawl to break out. Or maybe they were the only people worth interviewing.

"Hello, hello, hello! I am AFW correspondent Madison Heights!" The green-haired, yellow clad girl gave a showy little move with a pop of her hips. "And here we've got the spunky Taylor Parker, the sultry Marisa Evans, and the sssssour Brittany Luvve. All three will be competing at AFW Avalanche 2014, but not against each other! So don't worry, no riot police will be necessary today."

Taylor leaned over to Marisa. "You're one of the pornstar-types, right?" She asked, wondering if Marisa was as angry with her as Natasha had been for the last two or three years. "Don't kill me."

She lifted a small pad of paper and flung open the cover. "Okay girls, relax and let down your hair and let's chat. First question is for Marisa... Marisa, at Summer Splash this year, you lost your Hentai title to Azami Tsukimori, who has since been stripped of it. At Avalanche, you're competing for the title again, but against Natasha Loclear. Are you disappointed that you don't have a chance to redeem yourself against Azami?"

The model nodded as Taylor briefly recounted her feelings about the match. She had been watching from the back, and the two of them had looked bad. How they actually felt must've been worse. And it probably took a long time to recover from a war like that.

When Taylor leaned in and spoke during Madison's introductions, Marisa laughed softly and shook her head. She had been around the AFW long enough to be called worse names for participating in the type of matches she liked to wrestle in. By now, she simply mentally filed most of the complaints about that under the 'haters gonna hate' column and disregarded them. As far as Taylor's comment went, the former Hentai Champion had dealt with worse.
"Well, I'd prefer to be called an erotic wrestler. Although, I probably put on a better show than most of the porn stars out there." she replied with a wry, easygoing grin back at Taylor after she leaned towards her. "And after your Summer Splash match, I halfway think you can't be killed."

Madison called out that the first question was for Marisa, so the model sat up straight again to field it.

"I am, actually. Azami was a great opponent, and that night was definitely hers. But the margin I lost by was thinner that the swimsuits we wore to that match. If I'm going to win that belt back, I would want to win it back from the woman that took it from me." she replied. "Now, that doesn't take anything away from Natasha. She's talented, and deserves a shot at the Hentai belt."
She paused for a second.
"Just the shot though. That belt's mine." Marisa added.

Journalists took notes. Some cameras flashed. Madison Heights nodded eagerly with a smile that looked as if it was applied to her face along with her makeup.

"We'd all love to see it, but either match will be amazing, I'm sure. Thanks so much, Marisa. This next question is for Brittany..."

"Dude, like, I didn't even say anything bad!" Taylor whispered to Marisa. "Do what you want, but don't tell me that being good at that makes youbetter than me at what I do. That's what's had Natasha's panties in a giant fucking knot for years."

"Brittany, you've held the Entropy title and the hardcore title. You've fought some of the best in the company, like Kelly Conway, Adrian Kytes, and of course... Taylor Parker." Madison gave Taylor a quick, cute courtesy. "But now, you're not fighting for a belt. Not even for a shot at one. Do you feel like your match at Avalanche is at all a step down from what you're used to, in terms of both the competition and significance? Are you disappointed at all that your opponent is, apparently, an AFW road manager and former police officer who has barely made her pro wrestling debut?"

Taylor leaned forward slightly to look over at Brittany.

Brittany shot Taylor a looked filled with venom as she began to answer her question. "Of course i feel like it is a step down. This match is an insult. I deserve to be the main event and they put me against some washed up bitch who isn't even a wrestler." Brittany looked at Madison with anger in her eyes.

Brittany was absolutely fuming as Madison asked her her questions. "This whole Avalanche is a joke. Taylor gets a shot at the belt even though she has only held gold once and i am forced to beat the crap out of someone who shouldn't even be stepping into a ring. I was a two time champ and i deserve better treatment than this." Brittany would then punctuate her statement by slamming her fist into the table.

Madison jumped in exaggerated freight as Brittany bashed the table, causing her microphone to wobble and tip over. "Oh! You're so scary in person!" She exclaimed, with a little giggle.

She turned to Taylor for her next question. "Okay, Taylor. This year's Avalanche has got to be pretty exciting for you."

"Yeah, man."

"But I have to ask, what-"

"Hold on a sec," Taylor held up her finger and leaned forward on the table to look over at Brittany. "Wait, you're mad? Dude, your last match you got beat in like, three minutes or something. You'd be lucky if they let you park cars at Avalanche!" She wagged a finger at her and added, with a sly grin. "And who was it that beat you before? I don't remember. Who's that chick that kicked your ass so fast?"

Marisa blinked at Taylor's defensive tone as she whispered to her. She didn't know how her words had set off such a reaction in a woman she had a lot of respect for.

"Huh? No, no, I'm not mad or something." she whispered back diplomatically. "You and I wrestle in different ways. Very different ways. You're really good at what you do, and I'm pretty freaking amazing at what I do, if I say so myself. But what we do are two different things. As for Natasha, well maybe she's just not as friendly as I am."

She watched as Taylor studied Brittany. She knew that the two of them had some vicious battles before, and the fact that the journalist saw fit to mention it before asking her question made her wonder about Madison's wisdom. When Brittany responded with her fist hitting the table, Marisa leaned away from Taylor to speak into her microphone.

"Whoa...ok, lets just take a breath here...." she advised soothingly.

However, Taylor's reply seemed to fly right in the face of that. After she spoke, Marisa looked to Brittany.
"Wait, no. You're pretty tough, right? There's no way somebody beat you that quick..."

Brittany finished her rant and calmed down a little but wehn Taylor opened her mouth Brittany clenched her fists tight. "You got lucky." Brittany screamed as she would stand up and turn towards Taylor. "You got lucky in one match. Let us not forget who broke your ribs and made you retire. That was me. I broke you once bitch give me another chance with you in the ring and i will do it again." Brittany said as she would glare down at Taylor.

"I don't even see why they are giving you another shot at the belt. I am prety sure Angel kick your ass hard enough last time. Or did you forget about that after Kelly Conway humiliated you." Brittany would say as she would spit at Taylor in contempt.