Thursday
May 10, 2018
Maguire’s Gym
Las Vegas, Nevada
The camera opens with a TMZ logo in the bottom right hand corner to find Seleana Zdunich walking towards a a warehouse set up to be a gym in Las Vegas, dressed in black leggings and a plain white t-shirt and battered white sneakers, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Seeing the camera crew, she pauses by the door and nods as she comes walking over.
TMZ: Miss Zdunich? Hey, Seleana?
Seleana stops walking, letting the pink Crystal Hilton embossed duffel bag she was carrying sit down on the ground next to her.
Seleana Zdunich: Heya, how’s it?
She smiles as the camera takes a second to focus properly on her.
TMZ: So you’re preparing for a match for the number one contendership to the Roulette Championship, how do you feel about the fact that your future step-daughter, Brittany Williams, is gonna be in this match with you, Nyla Dupre and Lucy Seraphina?
Seleana sighs and then shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: I’ve had a few people talk to me about that and as of right now, there’s no one can tell me this is going to be fun. Nyla Dupre and Lucy Seraphina are one thing since they are competitors that I have never met. I know them by reputation and film…
She pauses, shaking her head sadly.
Seleana Zdunich: But Brittany, I know and I know this will not be pleasant at all. I…
She shakes her head again and then glances almost mournfully at the door fo the gym.
Seleana Zdunich: I must prepare, I’m sorry…
She turns and walks off leaving the camera crew standing there almost dumbfounded.
TMZ: Seleana? Seleana wait!
She opens the door, steps inside the building and lets the door close on the camera crew without another word even as she stands in the front atrium that separates the outside door from the rest of the interior of the building.
Seleana Zdunich: Get yourself together, Chickie…
She nods to herself and walks up to the inner door, opening and hauling her bag in with her.
Once inside, Seleana sets her bag down by the wall and checks her phone for messages. She nods at the first message waiting for her from one of the gym’s proprietors, a woman and fellow professional wrestler, Aerynn Donnelly.
“Davis and Donnie set everything up for you. Ash will be there soon. She can lock-up when you’re done.”
Seleana nods, pleased to see this news. She glances around the room to see the ring is set up exactly as Aerynn had said it would be. Glancing back down to her phone, she sees other messages, one from her sister, Zenna, and one from the aforementioned Ashley Kenyon. She nods and clicks on the one from her sister first.
“Lycka till i din kamp! Behandla Brittany som att hon är någon annan kämpe. Jag älskar dig!”
Seleana can’t help but smile at her sister wishing her luck and love. As she reads the message again however, she can’t force herself to smile at the middle part. How could she treat Brittany like any other fighter when Brittany was NOT any other fighter? Nyla Dupre and Lucy Seraphina could be treated as such simply because of her lack of familiarity with them but Brittany? Her very own soon-to-be step-daughter?
Seleana Zdunich: Seleana, din jävla idiot…
Before she can complete the thought, the door opens and Ashley Kenyon comes striding into the building, a plain black duffel bag under her heavily tattooed right arm, her equally tattooed left arm carrying a bottle of water. She nods, her white sleeveless t-shirt showing off her throat and chest tattoo just as much as bare arms. She sets the bag down and grins, her long black hair pulled back into a matching ponytail while her jeans and sandals set her apart from the much more appropriately attired Seleana.
Ashley Kenyon: You have to deal with that TMZ bullshit everywhere now?
Seleana nods slowly and Ashley just shakes her head before tossing her the bottle of water.
Ashley Kenyon: Fuck me, I’d wanna kill somebody…
Ashley reaches down to her bag and opens it to retrieve a second bottle. She unscrews the cap, takes a swig and then sits it down as she sits down to strip off her sandals and jeans.
Ashley Kenyon: Hope you don’t mind…
Seleana shakes her head as she opens the bottle in her own hands.
Seleana Zdunich: No…
Ashley nods gratefully as she pulls a pair of workout shorts from the bag and slips them on. Taking in the look on Seleana’s face, Ashley can’t help but notice that the Swedish woman does not seem ready to have this workout.
Ashley Kenyon: Brittany?
Seleana nods sadly and Ashley sighs as she pulls out her practice wrestling shoes for this session.
Ashley Kenyon: Z, Stace and all still tellin’ you to treat her like any other fighter?
Seleana nods and then sits down to switch her shoes as well.
Seleana Zdunich: I can’t do it, Ash. No matter how I think about this, no matter how much I want to think about it differently, I can’t do it.
She pulls on her wrestling shoes and then looks over at Ashley.
Seleana Zdunich: Brittany is NOT just another fighter and i know she will not treat me as such either. She’s told me so. Lucy and Nyla, we can both look at objectively and talk about but when it comes to each other…
Ashley nods.
Ashley Kenyon: You’re right to think that way, Sel.
Seleana stares at the former World Champion in shocked disbelief.
Seleana Zdunich: I’m not?
Ashley shakes her head.
Ashley Kenyon: Hell no! I had a match once against my best friends and my sister for the World Championship in UWA. It was Aerynn, me, Jezzy Gautier and Bethy. Aerynn was the defending champion and we all tried to treat it as a regular match with just anyone else going in and then, people got drunk before their promos and we all said things that hit way too close to home and almost destroyed our little family. It stopped being a match and turned into the kind of venting session you really don’t wanna have. Then later on me and Bethy had another match against each and it was in no way a regular match. In her words, she took my ass out behind the woodshed and we had us a regular ol’ come to jesus meeting in that ring the way only sisters can fight.
Seleana nods slowly. She’d heard these stories before, even seen the footage in question while training to be a wrestler.
Seleana Zdunich: So, you are saying that I need to go in knowing that there is no way this can be just a regular match?
Ashley nods grimly and Seleana exhales heavily.
Seleana Zdunich: I don’t want to put the idea into Brittany’s head that I will raise my hand to her…
Ashley grins in amusement.
Ashley Kenyon: Sel, God bless you, but pull your head out of your ass on this one!
Seleana frowns.
Seleana Zdunich: What?
Ashley nods knowingly, still grinning with amusement.
Ashley Kenyon: You’re talking about a grown-ass woman, Sel. brittany ain’t no five-year-old child here. She’s a seventeen year-old woman with adult ambitions. You gotta believe she’s looking at her family’s companies, her wrestling career and damn near everything else and thinking she ain’t gonna be content being the fucking heiress princess forever. Someday she’s gonna wanna wear the crown and I know when i was seventeen, i didn’t wanna wait…
She nods pointedly as she stands up.
Ashley Kenyon: Neither is Brittany.
Seleana nods slowly as she starts to stand up as well.
Seleana Zdunich: So I should be waiting for that Brittany to show her face?
Ashley nods as she screws the cap back on her water bottle and then sets that bottle down next to her bag. Seleana stares at Ashley, seemingly almost losing herself in the void as she absently screws the cap back onto her own bottle. She nods and then sets the bottle down.
Seleana Zdunich: And if I allow myself to dwell on…
She shakes her head and turns, starting for the ring.
Seleana Zdunich: För fan i helvete!
Ashley nods as she follows her to the ring.
Ashley Kenyon: For the devil in hell, indeed!
The two step into the ring and start they practice match, quickly establishing a baseline for where work needs to be done. Ashley grins and they start discussing kicks, spending the rest of the day working on improving Seleana’s game.
The next day…
Seleana walks out of the gym and almost directly into the waiting arms of the TMZ crew all over again. Had they really been waiting here all night and all day just to talk to her? Was this really how things went when you dated a big shot from Hollywood? She steels herself and walks over, smiling despite her feelings of misgiving for the people she was about to talk to.
Seleana Zdunich: Heya, how’s it?
The TMZ crew walks up to her almost giddy.
TMZ: Hey, did you hear what Brittany Williams had to say to you?
Seleana shakes her head and immediately, a phone is produced with the promo video already cued up to the proper spot. The video plays and Seleana stares at it in shock.
Seleana Zdunich: I…
She shakes her head, looking as if she might panic.
Seleana Zdunich: Jag har ingen kommentar.
She starts to walk away even as the crew tries to continue.
TMZ: Seleana? Seleana, wait, what do you have to say about Brittany? Seleana…
Seleana just shakes her head.
Seleana Zdunich: I said… no comment…
She continues on to her car and steps inside, thanking every deity she can think of for the tinted windows involved in the rented conveyance, Crystal had told her they would be a necessity long ago and today she had been proven right. Seleana bows her head and takes hold of the steering wheel of the rented Lincoln and squeezes.
Seleana Zdunich: Jag älskar dig, Brittany…
Nodding, she opens the door and sees the TMZ crew starting to pack-up.
Seleana Zdunich: Hey, you still want comment?
The crew can’t come back to life fast enough. They set all of their stuff back the way they wanted it and then turn the camera on. With the red light blinking, they nod to Seleana.
Seleana Zdunich: You asked me if I have comment on what has been said for this match. Roulette Rules that will determine the number one contender for the Roulette Championship for Sin City Wrestling on Climax Control 205. It is said to be the go home show for the first SCW supercard of the year and that makes this a very important match. Nyla Dupre, Lucy Seraphina, Brittany Williams and I will battle for the honor of challenging Sam Marlowe for this prestigious championship…
She pauses to take a deep breath, exhaling just as deeply, slowly, keeping herself in the proper frame of mind.
Seleana Zdunich: Now, I must admit a few things up front, as you say.
She nods, holding court for the cameras as if she does this all the time.
Seleana Zdunich: I am both a foreigner and a relative newcomer to this sport. I cannot say I understand everything the way everyone else does. I look at this match and I see three exquisite talents that will stand in the ring with me.
Her index finger extends from her right hand to count them off.
Seleana Zdunich: Nyla Dupre is a physically gifted woman. She is the tallest woman in this match, which considering that Lucy is five foot nine and I am five foot ten, that is saying something. She also has forty pounds of muscle on the rest of us. She is able to do things the rest of us would all considering improbable but for the fact that we have seen her perform these acts. In this match she has the size and strength advantage on us all and that is her major edge. If she wins it will be because she was able to physically dominate us and impose her will on the rest of us in this match. She has resources some of us do not and a willingness to use them that rivals the most notorious of businessmen and she has won championships in many other places. She is a force to be reckoned with and we must all refrain from taking her lightly.
The middle finger joins the index finger in counting these participants off.
Seleana Zdunich: Lucy Seraphina has a reputation that precedes her. She is also a multiple-tiem champion and has dominated places in the past. She is a tall woman, just a shade under my own height and has a similar build to my own. Some would say she has some kind of divine presence behind her and resources in the Angel Clan that she could exploit if she so chose. The fact that she is experienced in matches such as this, where multiple other combatants are involved, gives her an edge that the rest of us do not possess. If she wins it will be because of that knowledge and wisdom she possesses guiding her to victory, allowing her to overcome the physicality of Nyla, the speed of myself and the cunning of Brittany. She is very much a force to be reckoned with as well and also not to be taken lightly.
The ring finger joins its brethren.
Seleana Zdunich: And that brings me to the one you all clearly really want to hear me speak of, the one person in this match I can say I know well, the woman who in two months’ time will call me step-mother, Brittany Williams.
She nods,a small smile coming to her face.
Seleana Zdunich: Heya, Prinsessa, how’s it?
The smile remains as she nods again, speaking to the camera as if brittany is standing in it’s palace.
Seleana Zdunich: As you say, I love you. You have grown to be as my own as our little family has spent time with each other and I did not wish to fight you. When your mother asked me to train to become a fighter, this would not be a problem as, at the time, the company I was to join was not one that also included most of the time. You were there, but you were there as a seeming hostage of Maria Salvatore, not a competitor or even a broadcaster, as you have been in other companies. You said things there to please Maria before she and I clashed, things you apologized for before you were returned to us…
She nods, the smile slowly fading away.
Seleana Zdunich: And I cannot say you did not warn upon this occasion that you would say nasty, spiteful things to me. You warned me that you were a spoiled child and that you would show such.
She pauses, shrugging in acknowledgement.
Seleana Zdunich: Now I see…
The smile returns, this time pride beaming through.
Seleana Zdunich: You are a cunning woman, Brittany. I had a friend who told me before that you would be ruthless and seek to take what you see as yours and she was exactly on the money with that assessment. You went in on me knowing that I was the one you held the biggest hammer over and you hit me as hard as you could because you know, if you can destroy me emotionally, then you only have to find ways to use Lucy and Nyla against each other to gain victory because I will simply be a body to use as a weapon and not a true threat.
She nods, clapping for the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: You are right, I know only what your mother taught me much of the time because it has worked for me for the most part, but is it NOT all I know when it comes to wrestling, Prinsessa. My cousin, Alexi, was a wrestler for many companies in the past and she married a man who is a five-time world champion. I have trained with both of them as well as my sister, Zenna, her partner, Li Lacroix, and Li’s fellow New Orleans wrestlers, Ashley and Bethany Kenyon, both of whom are also former world champions. I come from a wrestling family too, Brittany, and I have taken bits from all of them just as you have taken from your mother, your father and your grandfather, along with probably everyone you have ever been in the ring with. You are a gifted woman who has managed to overcome your age, and lack of physical stature to make a name for yourself and for that, I could not be prouder of you.
Her hands fold as she nods happily to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: But, you see, it is that pride above all else that will prove to be your downfall because you pointed out, if I win, it will be because I was better than all of you ever believed I could be and you all allowed your own pride to cloud your judgement. I am not some silly little girl that allowed myself to fall in with bad people, Brittany. I gave some chances that others would not give and was rewarded with love both times.
Nodding sincerely, Seleana can’t help but smile even broader.
Seleana Zdunich: I love you, Prinsessa, and it is because of that love that I must show you the error of your ways. They say pride goeth before a fall, and right now, you, Lucy and Nyla are all in possession of more pride than I care to properly count. All of you should bring everything you have, your physical gifts, your strength, your abilities, your experience and your pride and I will show you what the Cat can really do!
The smile fades away as she nods one last time.
Seleana Zdunich: Pride goeth… now spin that wheel and may the odds be forever in your favor because that is the kind of luck you are going to need!
She nods gratefully to the camera crew and steps back to the car.
Seleana Zdunich: Tack…
The crew are all smiles.
TMZ: No, no, thank you!
