Blog: Almighty Firesemana del 19 al 25 de febrero de 2023 You ever get that feeling when no matter what you do, nothing seems to go right? It starts small, a series of unfortunate events. A razor-thin loss here, coming up short in a title match there. A second off from saving a match before the bell in a multiwoman match. Having a bad day can happen from time to time, but when those days turn into weeks or months or years? When life keeps piling it on? Sometimes the annoyances and frustrations build up that it’s hard to stay motivated when you’re stuck in neutral.
I wear many hats, but I live my life in the wrestling ring, more than I care to admit. I also travel. At some point, I’m going to be tired living life out of a suitcase. Maybe I already have. I wake up, work, go to bed, and repeat. 14 years. 10 of those years in Sin City Wrestling.
I’ve seen it all, I’ve done it all. I’m at a place in life where I’m most happy and I could go without winning another championship and still be more relevant that I am now. People come and go, give excuses, criticize the company. But while the names and faces may change, one thing is always constant: Everything, everything, is a competition. Whoever said winning isn’t everything, never knew what it is to start with. It’s not even about the will to win…everybody has that. Why do you think we show up every night in the six-sided ring? It’s certainly not to parade around the ring like pandering show ponies.
No matter how much I’ve won in my career, no matter how many matches I’ve been in, no matter how many championships, no matter how many records set, tied, or broken, the Hall of Fame inductions, I’m not winning now, so this is where I’m at. I’ve been to the mountaintop many times before, but maybe this is what it feels like to hit rock bottom.
The critics are always right. The only way to keep them quiet is by winning. I’m a pretty good winner, I’m also a sore loser. And I rub it in pretty good when I win. Proud of it, not afraid to say it. At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, while it's important to pause after a defeat, or in my case a series of defeats, I shouldn't stop. So I can’t, and I won’t. I need to climb out of this hole and get back on track.
I’m not always in tag matches, but when I am, it’s usually set up against opponents I really don’t like. Facing a member of the “prestigious” Warren clan is bad enough, but adding Seleana Zdunich makes it worse. Dawn means well - that she honestly thinks her career will be greater than her brother or cousin is comical at best and downright sad at worse - but you have to think that her little win streak she’s been on has been to luck. That ends this weekend, she just doesn’t know it yet. As far as Seleana goes, luck won’t even save her this weekend. She’s fucked.
Besides the fact she is married to Crystal - and yet even that is questionable these days with how her wife changed her name for the millionth time - Seleana made her way to the top of Kim Pain’s hit list, through no fault of her own but was likely to happen due to something Crystal did or said or by simply existing. That’s just life when you’re married to Crystal. Too bad talent isn’t sexually transmitted. If that was the case, Seleana would be a lot further in her career than she is now.
They say that familiarity breeds contempt. True words were never spoken. Now do I hate Seleana? Hate is a strong word. Every fiber of my being hates everything about her, but that’s besides the point. That we’re standing from each other in a match in SCW for the fifth year in a row makes me sick. Was I really that evil in my past life?
Some might say I should feel a little insulted with this match, that I probably should angled for a better opponent, but to be honest with you, I'm perfectly fine with it. I'm not going to lose sleep this weekend because of The Cat. No, I don't think I will, and why? Because no matter what Seleana’s last name is, she is, was, and always will be just another marginal talent on the roster who had it too good for too long and only got by because she had enough skill to avoid sitting backstage at catering every week. That she’s still reeling from that loss to Kim Page two weeks ago, and believe me, it was tough seeing her staring up at the arena lights since her last win but in October, but maybe her better days are behind her? As a matter of fact, I wonder if she could offer me a few tips ahead of our match, but I would love to see her fall flat on her face again. And when that happens? They'll be no pity party here because I'll be too busy laughing when she gets her ass handed to her in this tag match.
My partner in Kim Pain knows her way around the ring, so I’m not complaining. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t be more happier. She and I seem to share a kindred spirit almost. We like competition, we’ve been successful practically everywhere in our respective careers, and we can mix it up with just about anyone inside the ring. But in order to make this partnership work, I need to hold down my end.
Dawn Warren is off to a hot start while Seleana, like myself, is still seeking her first win of 2023. I like to keep Kim undefeated in SCW, so I’m going to try my damndest to walk out with our heads held high and our hands raised.
If I was Dawn and Seleana, I wouldn’t want to show up to Reno, Nevada this weekend. It will be the last thing they will ever do.
~~~
[Mercedes Vargas sits leisurely on her living room couch in her Los Angeles residence. On an otherwise clear seventy-degree afternoon, the Argentine and SCW Hall of Famer kept her brunette hair firmly hidden under a fedora while sporting a t-shirt and skinny jeans. The somber mood is just as dark as the watercolor impression she stares at from afar. Irma stands back to gaze at her handiwork, a work in progress, her palette and brush at the ready.]
MERCEDES: Guess what?
IRMA: What?
MERCEDES: My washer is out again….
IRMA: Are you concerned?
MERCEDES: Yes. This is a matter of life and death. And laundry.
IRMA: Would you like to talk about it?
MERCEDES: I just did.
[Irma paints a whole forest with just a few strokes of her hand.]
IRMA: They say the average person says about 16,000 words each day. It is not yet 9 a.m. and you haven’t exceeded your limit for the day.
MERCEDES: Brevity is key.
[Irma unwraps a Twix bar and takes a bite.]
IRMA: You seem crabby.
MERCEDES: Sorry. I just had a bad couple of weeks.
IRMA: What’s really going on?
MERCEDES: I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, a lot of soul searching, and I think maybe it’s time to walk away.
IRMA: What? You already told everyone you would never walk away unless -
MERCEDES: People change their mind all the time about things. The doubters, critics and naysayers made their choice. Does that make me a loser? Does that make me just another face on the roster seemingly looking to return to their former glory? Does that mean my career burned twice as bright before lasting half as long?
IRMA: Have you heard about Napoleon?
MERCEDES: The emperor who lost France? Yeah, what about him?
IRMA: La gloria es efímera, pero laoscuridad es para siempre. Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. People remember your fame, Mercedes, but once it's gone, it's forever.
MERCEDES: That's why there's the record books. I’ll never be forgotten.
IRMA: Maybe that’s why you will never walk away. You miss the crowds and the energy that comes back from them, it's hard to get that anywhere else. It’s not like you can’t go back to acting and modeling.
[She begins adding more detailing on the canvas.]
Mercedes: Is there really a difference between left and right Twix? Maybe I am all messed up since I can’t tell.
[Irma uses a script liner brush to sign her latest work, a foggy scene.]
Irma: Whichever side of a Twix you eat first, either is a good choice.
Mercedes: That…that was really deep.
~~~
Present Day ♦ S A N T A M O N I C A, C A L I F O R N I A[REC•]"So my last match in SCW didn’t exactly work out as I thought it would, considering what happened two weeks ago."
[Our scene opens where the last one left off as Mercedes is back again lying back in a hammock and enjoying the weather. For a moment, she sits up and positions herself to address the camera.]
"And, yes, while those poor fans will be seeing Roxi Johnson challenging Amber Ryan for the Bombshell Championship at Blaze of Glory again this year, this is my fault and I take full responsibility for that. I don’t want Roxi to tie the record for most Bombshell Championship reigns, and I’m sure Amber doesn’t want to see that happen either, let alone having to relive losing the Bombshell Championship this early in her reign.
“That being said, I have my own match to worry about this weekend. I still don't know what I did to deserve a match at Blaze of Glory much less the go-home show this weekend before the supercard, but at this point I’ll take any match I can get if only to get my first win of the new year. I just didn’t think it would be in a tag match.”
[Clicking her tongue partly out of dismay and partly out of the sheer wonder of it all, Mercedes' smile faded as she briefly shakes her head, a look of disappointment is there too.]
"Anyway, maybe this weekend will be better. I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd been on the card but here I am. Don't get me wrong, the competition won't make it easy and they're going to try their damndest to make that a reality. Despite the losses and the putdowns and all the criticism regarding my career, that's just giving me more motivation to succeed. For far too long, I've survived and thrived in Sin City Wrestling even when talent has come and gone from this company more times than I care to remember, and why? Because I haven't accepted the conventional wisdom that my competition is better than me.”
[Mercedes was always told to err on the side of caution, but such advice meant little to her. Murphy's Law has a funny way of ruining plans - even the best laid plans - but there's just no way she could mess this up, right?]
"Speaking of, this is my first time facing someone new for a change in SCW and while Dawn Warren has picked up a few notable wins, if you can call it that, I haven't exactly been catching up. She calls herself *checks notes* The Pink Puppy.”
[She musters a deadpan expression, then gives an innocent shrug.]
“You can’t make this stuff up. Among a list of grating nicknames names, imagine what Dawn’s career would be like if she took herself seriously instead of going with something that sounds like a newest addition to The Littlest Petshop. At least Seleana had the right idea. A cat would be tough to take in a fight. Sharks, bulldogs and snakes are vicious, tough and dominate their territory. A puppy is not an intimidating or cool nickname at all. How hard must it have been for Belinda and Jason calling the action or Justin saying “the pink puppy” whenever there’s a match? They are plenty of other animal names that would have worked better.
“When you’re just starting out in wrestling and trying to make a name for yourself, you don’t have the luxury of taking a day off. Thing is, Dawn is going to have to, how you say "level up", if she's going to have any chance of walking out of this match with a victory. She didn't do too bad against Luna and somehow got past Krystal last week, but she's in way over head this time around and I think she knows this too. She's not gonna stumble across a couple of newcomers in wrestling school. She's coming up against champions, people who are used to the pressure, people who know how to pick apart people not on their game and she's so far off her game it’s not even finny. To be honest, I almost feel sorry for Dawn, and I’m being kind when I say that.”
[Mercedes shrugs her shoulders, offering a sincere look of an apology, or as close to one as she could muster.]
“We’ve seen this movie before about the plucky underdog overcoming the odds and riding off into the sunset. Life doesn't work like that. And come Sunday, Dawn and her mentor are going to find that out the hard way so I hope she enjoyes the selfies she took, the tears she cried, the hugs she got, the night of free games at the arcade because it won't be long before it's over."
[Mercedes angles her head to one side as her arrogance shines through. A small smile turns into a satisfying grin.]
“Seleana is known as one of the most underrated women on the Bombshell roster, which is puzzling because for someone with her looks, personality and pedigree as a second-generation wrestler she would be a far bigger star in SCW than she is. She will never become as big as her wife, but she still is commended for her hard work and strong effort to improve. She got a few championships to her name so it has to count for something.
“It's almost cute the way Seleana is desperately trying to get me to crumble at her badassery, like I'm supposed to be intimidated, like I'm supposed to be scared of her. Trust me, nobody is scared of Seleana Zdunich. People don’t shell out tickets to see Seleana Zdunich. Seleana and I have a storied history in SCW so she knows there's no limit to the lengths and depths I will go to bring the fight to her.“
[Mercedes points to herself. She speaks slowly, and clearly articulates her next words.]
"This here...this is what success looks like. This is what it looks like when you’ve made it. This is what it looks like when you've proven your worth in this industry. Some say age comes before beauty. I say age comes with experience and experience comes from a lot of good judgement. And I'm a good judge of character. I like to think so anyway. For all her skill, determination and will, there's nothing Seleana can ever do to get on my level. Sunday isn't going to be an audition, it's a reminder.”
[Mercedes pauses for emphasis, taking time to gesture at her checklist, complete with the names of Seleana and Dawn already added in cursive in felt-tip red Sharpie.]
"Prepare for the worst, hope for the best….”
[Mercedes stares menacing into the camera. She lowers her voice, barely a whisper.]
“And may the odds be ever in your favor."
[With that, the scene fades on Mercedes' confident smirk before she offers a heart gesture with her hands before breaking it in two.]
***Fade***
