(Video uploaded to YouTube 28.10.2022)
It begins with a simple, solitary looped video featuring the SGW logo glinting in the California sunlight. All of it is superimposed over a bird’s eye view of Los Angeles. After several agonizingly empty seconds one wonders if this is just some graphic test an over-stressed employee accidentally uploaded. What in the hell is the point of it? Suddenly the backing track begins to distort and fade out. The logo freezes in place and a circle of dots spins feebly in the center of the screen as if the video is buffering. But when the intrepid eagle eyed viewer at home happens to check the video itself they find it is playing just fine. This is how it’s meant to be. A computerized voice suddenly speaks.
“iS tHiS tHe EnD of SGW?”
While the graphic test appears to still be buffering, the words ‘THE END’ appear in the middle of the screen. Suddenly sound re-emerges - the crashing of waves against rocks. Slowly the stock image of Los Angeles fades and leaves the stationary SGW logo on screen just below the new text. Slowly the logo’s image quality decreases and then distorts as if an old video recording is being interrupted. The font of ‘THE END’ morphs into a new font and a new phrase: ‘NEVER END’. All of the words and sound fade as a woman’s face in profile appears. Her semi-short hair is dyed silver, and her face familiar to anyone who watched either WLCW or SGW Game of Squids. She turns her head so that her face is fully visible and flashes a jaunty smile. As she speaks, English subtitles appear in white at the bottom of the screen.
Konami: <”EBWF fans, good morning. I am the best butler.. no, best bodyguard.. Actually no. I am the superb submission sniper, cool technician and fighting princess, Konami. Take your pick, I’m many things. In a few weeks, I will make my return to the ring not as part of a unit but on my own terms. Look forward to it. And never forget: everyone is different, everyone is good. The truth of those words will Never End.”>
What does a veteran technician do when she’s got time to herself? Especially when she’s had a roller coaster ride the last three years of her career. First the liberation of being drafted to a band of misfits where she finally came into her own and started to feel valued. Traumatic loss took away the woman who’d seen something deeper in her than simply a 100% winning percentage with a very specific hold. Unable to tolerate being in a sad shell of that unit anymore, she’d turned her back on her closest ally and given in to her darker sensibilities. Success kept coming and she still felt just as valued as before. But there was always the pull of something else. Nagging injuries built up until she had to leave them too, and then she’d allowed herself to be seduced by other darkness in a moment of self doubt. Strangely this led once again to a shift as she was cast out of that fancy party of a unit and fell into the orbit of someone who truly needed her help. Now even that most recent unit has disbanded, leaving one Konami perplexed as to what comes next in her story.
That’s the thing most on her mind as she lazes the day away on a beach chair, staring out at the Pacific Ocean without much other purpose. What is it that Konami needs now? All of the units she’s been in run through her mind in rapid succession. Queen’s Quest, Tokyo Cyber Squad, Oedo Tai, Nouveau Biishiki Gun, Regal Rampage. Every single one a different stage in her growth as a competitor. Unit after unit added something to her, piece by piece, but all the same she felt an empty longing despite all of that. Fighting Princess, Cool Technician, Submission Sniper? All part of her but none of them making up the whole. She sips a Sapporo beer as she contemplates the nature of her present.
Units have defined her entire career. Certainly they did add to her repertoire but what had been the throughline for it all? She was a bit quieter and less used to talking than all of the leaders she’d followed, that was undeniable. It meant that rather than being at the forefront of any of them, she was always the woman standing over the leader’s shoulder waiting for the match itself. When the bell rang and the fight was on she could take down anyone with her technical prowess no matter how accomplished they were. Yet never had she really broken through beyond the occasional tag team glory. So that was it - Konami was the eternal role player on units full of memorable personalities. Always the subordinate, never the star. A very familiar voice speaks in her thoughts.
The Voice: <”Is that really who you are, Ko-tan? Are you happy with how things are?”>
For the first time in months she recognizes the voice’s identity at last. Perhaps just the familiarity of Hana’s voice speaking Konami’s inner thoughts, but there was no doubt that was Hana. Konami’s face screwed up something fierce as she wrestled with the question once again. For most of her career she’s been quite content to sit in the back and just follow the lead of others. She’s always kind of struggled to figure out who she is, so better to just follow those who have that confidence in themselves. Yet there are moments she can think of in which she’s felt much more clarity about herself. When she let off steam by cursing out Queen’s Quest after being drafted away from them. Cracking wise about whether people might want to see the gravure photos of an evil chain smoking clown from outer space. That sort of thing. Somewhere within the fairly quiet, cool looking technical expert beat the heart of a witty, funny woman who could be even more than she’s been. Getting to show that off over the last two years has been quite the fun ride for Konami, but still she was a supporting member of the cast. So was she happy with who she was? Konami lowers her sunglasses and shakes her head.
Konami: <”Actually, not anymore. It’s one thing to support your allies, but it’s another thing to be your own woman. Darkness doesn’t suit me, that’s for sure.. But I don’t just want to be that woman whose last claim to fame is getting roundhouse kicked by Jushin Liger in North Korea.”>
What a hell of a sentence that is! Despite herself Konami laughs at the details of how her 2022 has gone. Sarcastic butler? Check. Reliable friend to the biggest surprise star of the year? Check. Getting kicked in the face in a rogue nation by a legendary cruiserweight wrestler? Check. This really is a bafflingly weird sport. Her thoughts follow up with another question, again given life by Hana’s voice in her thoughts.
Hana's voice/Konami's conscience: <”So what’s that mean for you, Ko-tan?”>
Hard as it’s been to come to the realization, Konami’s initial answer is vague.ague.
Konami: <”I have no idea.">
Bold. For a moment that's all she can come up with. Another sip of her beer and suddenly the train of thought begins rolling another. Just like TCS at one time gave her the chance to break out and be more than the plain girl in the back, she needs the chance to break out of the supporting role she’s always played. This time there’s no neon clad hand to help her up, though. Heck, a hand up from someone else isn’t what Konami needs now. No one’s here to guide her toward any particular direction. If anyone’s going to break through that typecasting, it will have to be Konami herself. As the shocking realization comes to her Konami stands up and laughs at the absurdity of the answer to her question.
Konami: <”What’s going to make me happy? Stepping into the spotlight myself and seeing just who it is that gets illuminated by it. I’ve spent the better part of a decade backing up everyone else I’ve shared a ring with and winning big for my unit. When people think about any of them, they’re always going to think of other people first. If they do remember me being there it’s just an ‘oh yeah, Konami was kind of neat there’. Plain girl indeed.”>
As she puts voice to her thoughts, Konami walks slowly toward the ocean waters before her. Right now they’re pretty calm and only small waves wash up against the southern California sands. Wavelets. It’s as if the ocean itself is trying to tell her something that deep in her heart she’s known for quite a while. Such wavelets may not seem like much when taken individually. They might not even register in the attention of beach goers all things considered. Yet each wavelet digs away at the surface it meets and works away at it one at a time. All together wavelets inevitably wear away that surface and create something new in its place. Each of her experiences has worn away at the rough surface of that shy technician who let everyone else speak for her. Those wavelets have eroded enough of her roughness that Konami is something entirely new.
Konami: <”That's fair, that's who I was. But it's time for a change! No more being the supporting character. I’m still figuring out who I want to be, but I do know that I’m a lot more than that. So with that in mind there are a few things I want to say. It’s a shock that I want to say anything, I know, but let me have a shot.”>
A breeze blows in from the ocean, blowing her silver hair into her face just as she’s about to make her bold proclamations. Rather than posing confidently and looking super cool Konami is instead frantically batting strands of hair out of her eyes and mouth. She violently spits a few errant hairs out of her mouth, then a few seconds later frees herself entirely. It’s at this moment she realizes how awesome it is to not struggle with dramatically long hair. Easy maintenance for the win! Wait, what had she just been about to say? Something cool?
At a loss for words, Konami begin to laugh at just how absurd this whole situation has become. A big moment in her life turned into unexpected comedy by nature. She doubles over as she begins to realize how ridiculous she must have just looked. Some kind of heroine in a TV show making a promise to herself and the world, only to get derailed by her own hair. For a long while she just lets herself laugh as her concerns began to flow out with them. Being just a backup to the real stars? Not fit for the starring role in the ring? Uncertainty over where she should even go? All gone in a most bemused manner, or at least eased therein. Maybe they’ll come back to her thoughts from time to time, but she isn’t getting anywhere by drowning herself in them. So what is there to say? Konami stands up and looks out to the ocean again.
Koami: <”The first thing I want to say is that the winning percentage of my Triangle Lancer is 100%.”>
Konami points confidently at the waters before her, as if reminding the sea life therein how effective her submission finisher is. That’s a good start. What else?
Konami: <”Also, there sure are a hell of a lot of women in the sport who think they’re so much better than everyone else that they shouldn’t even have to be within 100 kilometers of them. Everyone’s a diva who has to have everything and everyone bow to them, and it’s excruciating. Even though they think everyone is garbage, I know for a fact that’s not true. Everyone’s different. It just takes the opportunity and space to grow for them to show how good they are.”>
Okay, that sounded cool even! Konami feels more confident having gotten that off of her chest. What else? By instinct she holds her arm out dramatically as if to summon the power of the ocean into her hand.
Konami: <”Someone special helped me do that once. Now I want to do it for myself. I’m going to do things my way and show everyone just how different and good I can be. If the other girls in the locker room wanna keep their heads stuck up their butts like some self important queens, let them. I’ve got a lot of experience taking queens out back and breaking them down until I’ve made their pride itself tap out.”>
Waves come crashing in, picking up intensity as if she herself summoned them. Konami’s lips widen and reveal her toothy smile.
Konami: <”Hell I’m gonna do more than that. I’m gonna enter my Konami code into SGW and cause all kinds of unexpected things to happen. Whatever comes to mind. Maybe I’ll turn up in some cosplay that’s only kind of related to the show’s theme, just because it sounds fun. Maybe I’ll wear someone else’s old gear and imitate them just to get under their skin! Maybe I’ll use some of those tricks I’ve learned from the masters of raising hell. And since everyone seems to have hired muscle, maybe I’ll give someone else a chance to grow and shine like I got to. Everything’s changed, everything's uncertain, and I want in on the chaos that results from it. And to help me figure out who the new Konami is, I'm going on a quest! A long, arduous journey that's gonna lead me to a new - er, me! But not a Queen's Quest, that just sounds horrible.”>
Konami taps her chin as she ponders that last bit. Not a bad idea, but who the crap does she invite to join her in the madness that Is about to befall SGW? Suddenly a name comes to mind, and the Submission Sniper feels like an evil genius. Sure that woman had gotten complacent, but given a change of scenery who knows what’s going to happen? Simply inviting her along feels both likely to be ineffective and generally boring. That just means that Konami's going to have to get creative. Roll the dice, make some calls and see what happens. Brilliant. Her first call is to an old friend who’s both a ring veteran and a graphic designer.
Konami: <”Hey there! So remember that offer you made? Yeah, for a video. Is that still up for grabs?”>
