Unconventional Tactics - Méi Li Interview Series (Episode 1)

[Ichi]

     Bright studio lights illuminated a neon green backdrop—a green screen. The backdrop, which consisted of a floor and two perpendicular walls, was situated in the corner of a large studio room, akin to a movie set. On the floor of the backdrop were two chairs, both facing each other. In the chair on the left was a woman wearing a revealing red dress that draped over the edges of the chair. The woman had long, lustrous black hair that shined underneath the lights of the studio and her visage suggested an East Asian lineage, probably Chinese.

The black-haired woman's appearance

     For the black-haired woman, setting all of this up had taken some time as the logistics required to rent a studio for a day and acquire a film crew were not trivial. Thankfully, much of the task could be delegated to her various helpers. That allowed the black-haired woman to focus on more... interesting tasks.
     The black-haired woman looked up at one of the cameras that was pointed at the green screen backdrop. Then, her gaze shifted to the left, and fell upon a tall box on a dolly, placed a few feet behind the camera and off to the side. The woman examined the box for a moment, smirking as she did so, and then looked back down at the tablet that she was holding in her hands. On the tablet's screen were notes pertaining to a LAW wrestler named Nancy Donnerschlag, the subject of today's interview.
     Miss Donnerschlag had a rather interesting background. Prior to LAW, she had competed in MMA, which is admittedly not an uncommon background. However, the promotion that she competed in did not follow the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts—instead, its ruleset was a lot less restrictive, even going so far as to allow kicks to the head of downed opponents. In a way, Miss Donnerschlag's former promotion was similar to the late Prideful Fighting Championships¹. Unlike Prideful FC though, Nancy's promotion did not make use of formal rings. Instead, the "rings" were often little more than rough areas delineated by barricades. If the fighters were lucky, there would be mats, but that was far from guaranteed.
     "Méi, she's here."
     The black-haired woman—Méi—looked up to see a well-built man flanked on both sides by two similarly-built men. The men were dressed casually, wearing generic blue jeans and plain white t-shirts, with black blazers covering their t-shirts. Méi gave a reserved smile: these three men were ubiquitous fixtures in her life. The three were part of a group of eleven men who served as loyal bodyguards and helpers to Méi.
     "Excellent. Have the others send Miss Donnerschlag in," said Méi. The center bodyguard nodded, and Méi returned to studying her notes.



  ¹This name is a parody of Pride Fighting Championships, which existed from 1997 to 2007. While Pride is notable for many reasons, one thing to note here is that Pride allowed for kicks to the head of a grounded opponent.

[Knocked]

Outside the studio room, one Nancy Donnerschlag was waiting, haven taken a seat as if to queue for something, crossing her arms and a leg as she was growing a little restless. An interview? After the little stunt she pulled? To say that the German was excited to say the least was an understatement in the highest sense.

Draped in a blue, white and red vintage tracksuit that wouldn't look out of place in the 90s, it seemed pretty obvious on what kind of aesthetic she was going for, in imitating the fighters of yesteryear. Brushing her hair a little, her head then turned afterwards to a trio of bodyguards walking outside to call her in.

Appearance

"Ja, I'm coming over!"

She would say as she stood up from her seat, trailing behind the personal personnel with her hands in the pockets of her jacket, flashing a cheeky grin whilst heading on over to inside of the studio, taking a hand out of her partly flashy attire to raise her hand at her interviewer, as a greeting. After all, opportunities like this come not so often, so might as well come in all professional-like.

"Hallo, Méi was it? I got your call."

For now, the woman placed herself deliberately out of frame till she was motioned over. She took the time to look around the place, eyes glazing over the various cameras, the green screen, and the filming crew working around the clock, noting the setup that Méi had set up and thinking to herself that it isn't too shabby.

[Ichi]

     Méi looked up from her notes as Nancy entered the room. Upon seeing Nancy raise her hand in greeting, Méi waved back with a faint smile on her face. Then, as Nancy approached, Méi's gaze fell back to her notes.
     "Hallo, Méi was it? I got your call."
     "Yes—and you are Miss Donnerschlag, I presume?" replied Méi as she looked up from her notes. "Please, take a seat." Méi pointed at the empty chair across from her. "We will start as soon as you get situated."
     Méi waited for Nancy to get seated. Once Nancy was seated, Méi motioned for the camera crew to start recording.
     "Hi everyone! This is Méi with LAW Magazine. Today we're joined by Nancy Donnerschlag, who recently made a splash during Lexington Dolph's open challenge. Nancy is a mixed martial artist, but the promotion she competed in was quite unorthodox—the sort of promotion that old, uptight senators would label as 'human cockfighting'!¹
     "In Nancy's old promotion, fights did not occur in proper rings. Instead, the 'rings' were often just patches of bare concrete surrounded by a crude barricade! Moreover, Nancy became somewhat famous for kicking her opponents' heads while they were on the ground—a brutal tactic that is banned in many modern MMA promotions, but was perfectly legal in her old promotion!"
     Méi turned towards Nancy. "So tell us, how did you get into this? And what made you choose this raw, visceral form of combat over more mainstream MMA competition?"



  ¹In the early days of MMA, a United States senator once famously referred the sport as "human cockfighting".

[Knocked]

A nod from Nancy confirms her question, as she is directed over to the seat adjacent to Méi, heading over to the chair and settling down on it, leaning back a little as the fledging MMA convert made herself comfortable.

As she listened away to the current commentary from her interviewer, she stiffened subtly and quirking a frown at the mention of Lex's name, showing a bit of a sore spot at the events that transpired over that open challenged that was hosted so briefly on short notice. Her expression went back to one of a more positive one once Méi detailed about her promotion and some details about her, till she brought up her first question of the interview as Méi turned her head towards the direction of the German to ask.

"So tell us, how did you get into this? And what made you choose this raw, visceral form of combat over more mainstream MMA competition?"

Nancy pondered for a moment's notice, leaning back on her seat with her hands in the thinking position, before she leaned back forward, giving forth her answer to the question, and as such tilted over to her direction.

"Well, there's a few events that happened that transpired with me coming over here first off. One, I have attempted to jump into the largest MMA promotions in the world, only to be turned down repeatedly. Two, the Eisenmann Käfigkampf Verband*, my former promotion entertained me with the idea of Professional Wrestling, despite the lack of a budget to afford a proper ring, and three, the realm is more to my liking, an environment mostly free of rules and full of danger, a chance to truly thrive as a fighter myself!"

*Ironman Cage Fighting Coalition

[Ichi]

     Méi observed Nancy intently as she gave her answer. As Nancy mentioned that her former promotion "entertained [her] with the idea of professional wrestling", Méi's head slightly cocked to the side. Then, once Nancy was done speaking, Méi turned towards the camera.
     "For you viewers at home, 'Eisenmann Käfigkampf Verband' translates to 'Ironman Cage Fighting Coalition'," stated Méi before turning back towards Nancy. "So how did you go from MMA to professional wrestling? You seemed to imply earlier that something happened during your time at your old promotion that led you to professional wrestling."

[Knocked]

With the second question underway, Nancy once more placed a hand on her chin as if to be deep in thought, remembering a past event of her life before she gave a nod to Méi, starting to respond to her prompt, arms resting on her knees alongside being slightly tilted forward due to her leaning to her front.

"So how did you go from MMA to professional wrestling? You seemed to imply earlier that something happened during your time at your old promotion that led you to professional wrestling."

"That's quite simple actually. So for starters, a local wrestling fed filed for bankruptcy, so the fed I was in was then populated by some of these... Professional Wrestlers that decided they wanted to try another branch of combat. To say that my bouts with them weren't as captivating as entertaining is an understatement, to say the least! Skeptics like to rag on the factoid that Pro Wrestlers are Entertainers First, before Fighters as a Majority, but they in all honesty have no idea that is a good thing. I mean, look at me now, currently employed to this giant of a promotion known as LAW."

[Ichi]

     A glint appeared in Méi's eyes as Nancy mentioned the idea that most pro-wrestlers were entertainers first and fighters second. The corners of her lips curled upwards nearly imperceptibly as she leaned forwards slightly. Once Nancy was done speaking, Méi would speak.
     "Interesting! Méi would exclaim. "It is definitely no secret that professional wrestling has a large performance component. Critics of professional wrestling will say that wrestlers often focus on performance, to the detriment of fighting. Even more excoriatingly, critics of LAW sometimes accuse the promotion of frequently selecting its wrestlers based on looks and personality rather than fighting skills—an assertion that is quite difficult to refute, seeing as LAW has signed the likes of Rise Kujikawa, Danielle Degardin, Mami Okabe, Niko Tomiji, and Harmonia Edelstein, among many others."
     "Although putting untrained wrestlers in the ring is hardly the most unethical thing that LAW does," muttered Méi quietly, her head pointed slightly downwards—thankfully, that comment could be cut out as the interview was not live. Méi reoriented herself to face Nancy once again. "So, what are your thoughts on the performer-fighter dichotomy?"