Off-Camera
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Sun Princess Cruise Ship
State Room
11:04 AM PDT
Shipboard activities were beckoning, but there was one thing Seleana Zdunich needed to do first. In the last two hours, the logistics of the week for her, her sister, her wife, her stepdaughter and daughter-in-law had all changed rather drastically. Gone was the need to leave the ship while at sea for a booking the day before SummerXXXtreme 7. The often-maligned Melinda Rhodes had seen all of her roster’s common travel problems for the original dates of these scheduled bookings and had moved them back forty-eight hours to allow everyone the chance to get there naturally.
There was no longer a need to attempt to charter a helicopter to make what amounted to a daring rescue at sea for the Zdunich Household.
Now relieved to be able to enjoy the trip, Seleana tests her phone to make sure it still gets reception. Happy to see an affirmative response, she dials the number for her sister, Zenna. The answer comes back quickly quite obviously on a speaker function.
Zenna Zdunich: Hej?
Seleana smiles at her sister’s voice.
Seleana Zdunich: Heya, Shenzi, how’s it?
Zenna’s voice brightens, removing the concern and confusion that had dripped from her greeting.
Zenna Zdunich: You’ve caught me at practice and now Lis is giving me an evil eye for it!
Laughter can be heard behind her. Seleana shrugs apologetically.
Seleana Zdunich: Sorry, Lis!
The laughter grows as the voice of the aforementioned Alissa Lacroix joins in.
Alissa Lacroix: Dammit, Sel, you gave Lucy the chance to make herself comfy in Kels’ bass drum now!
Laughing right along with the others, Seleana shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: Does she not do that often?
Alissa sighs happily.
Alissa Lacroix: It’s her favorite place when we’re not playing. She practically lives in there unless somebody like Maki comes over to play with her.
The memory of seeing the English bulldog flopped out happily in the bottom of the drum in the band room of their house in New Orleans makes Seleana smile. It had been the first thing she’d seen upon arriving in the States from New Zealand.
Seleana Zdunich: Enjoy your lie-in, Lucy!
Zenna audibly moves over closer to the drum and the Enghlish accented voice of Alissa’s girlfriend, the drummer of the band, Kelly Taylor, adds to the cacophony.
Kelly Taylor: Are you comfortable down there, then, Love?
She pauses and then laughs.
Kelly Taylor: Bloody adorable that one…
More laughter as Zenna audibly continues to move around the room.
Zenna Zdunich: How’s the ship then?
Seleana smiles as she looks around the state room and nods to herself.
Seleana Zdunich: Our room is quite nice. It is bigger Than I expected it to be. I did not think Christian and Mark would have us in more than, what is it called?
Zenna snickers.
Zenna Zdunich: Steerage?
Seleana nods even as she frowns slightly.
Seleana Zdunich: I do not think cruise ships still use such things but if they did, I could see Christian wishing to put Christina there on principle just to have a laugh.
Alissa’s voice returns.
Alissa Lacroix: Poor woman ain’t the most popular, is she?
Seleana shakes her head. This was an understatement at times.
Seleana Zdunich: Sometimes, no.
Going quiet, Seleana moves over to the bed and sits down on it as she glances out the window of the stateroom.
Seleana Zdunich: She has gotten better lately but there are some…
She trails off and sighs sadly.
Seleana Zdunich: Eavan…
The other end of the line goes silent for a second as that name permeates the room. Finally, Zenna’s voice returns.
Zenna Zdunich: Still?
Seleana nods.
Seleana Zdunich: It is like most when they take a disliking to Christina, it only gets worse until they fight. Alicia Lukas despised her until they finally had their match for the Bombshell Championship. Maria Salvatore hated her and I have heard with some justification…
Losing her place in mid sentence, Seleana looks over at her free hand as if there should be a long list waiting to be read there.
Seleana Zdunich: Kate Steele…
She nods as if clicking off said list.
Seleana Zdunich: The woman I’m fighting on Sunday is not a fan either, Amy Santino…
Zenna snorts in disgust.
Zenna Zdunich: I saw, she really needs to get her facts straight.
Seleana nods at the window.
Seleana Zdunich: She does.
Pausing again, Seleana grimaces at the thought of the woman in question and then manages a smile.
Seleana Zdunich: Happy anniversary to all of you lot!
Zenna’s voice brightens noticeably.
Zenna Zdunich: Tack, Sarabi! It definitely does not feel like it has been eight years for Li and me.
Alissa’s voice returns.
Alissa Lacroix: Or six for Kels and me.
Seleana’s smile turns genuine and bright.
Seleana Zdunich: It is good to hear you all so happy. Especially now that we do not need a helicopter this weekend anymore.
Zenna comes back quickly, sounding almost disappointed.
Zenna Zdunich: Aw, that would have been the greatest entrance in thirty years! You guys being picked up on a cruise ship and flying to Georgia, being dropped off by a helicopter and then leaving the same way after and going back!
Seleana smiles knowingly.
Seleana Zdunich: Do not say that where Christina or Brittany can hear you or they may just try that anyway!
They all share a laugh as Seleana stares out the window at the ocean watching the waves.
Seleana Zdunich: Enjoy your extra few days off, Shenzi. I love you.
Zenna’s voice returns, audibly touched.
Zenna Zdunich: Jag älskar dig, Sarabi!
The call ends and Seleana sits back on the bed, setting her phone down next to her. Before she can get properly comfortable, the door opens, the SCU Underground Champion, her daughter-in-law, Haylie Jo “Halo Williams” Annis walking into the room.
Halo Williams: Hey, y’all, Mama Sel!
Seleana smiles, nodding approvingly at her daughter-in-law.
Seleana Zdunich: HayJo, how’s it?
Halo nods excitedly to the door.
Halo Williams: I found out somebody done set up a cornhole tournament in one of the ballrooms! B-Brat says she’ll come play, what about you and Mama Crys?
Seleana frowns.
Seleana Zdunich: What is… cornhole?
Halo’s eyes light up.
Halo Williams: It’s a game you play at parties and when ya go tailgatin’ at ballgames. There’s a board with a hole in it, right? And you throw bean bags at it, tryin’ to put the bag in the hole. If you do, you get three points. If you manage to keep the bag on the board, it’s worth one point. Other side throws different color bags and you count how many points each side got. The team with more gets to keep the difference. First side to twenty one wins. Usually play two on two, with two boards and each team has a player standin’ next to each board so that when the first one is done, the second one just picks up their bags and tosses them back over at the second board.
Seleana nods slowly.
Seleana Zdunich: You throw like…
Halo nods and mimics the underhand motion.
Halo Williams: Sorts in between bowlin’ and like softball pitchin’. Mama Crys should really enjoy it since she was a pitcher!
Seleana can’t help but smile at the young woman’s enthusiasm.
Seleana Zdunich: Well, we are here to enjoy ourselves and mingle for SCW and SCU before SummerXXXtreme and it would be a nice way to get mind off Amy Santino, Keira Johnson and Angel of Filth, ja?
Halo nods excitedly.
Halo Williams: Damn right it would!!! Please, can we all play? Please? Please? Please? Please, Mama Sel?
Seleana nods, grinning from ear to ear.
Seleana Zdunich: Let’s go find Christina and Brittany and make this happen.
Halo pumps her fist and then hugs Seleana.
Halo Williams: YES!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mama Sel!!!
Seleana hugs her back and then follows her out in search of their respective partners and then fun that awaits them all.
On-Camera
Friday, August 23, 2019
Sun Princess Cruise Ship
State Room
9:14 AM PDT
The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich on the deck, she stares out at the ocean over the rail allowing the shot to take in the sight of her in a red blouse with Daisy Duke-style cutoff jeans.
Seleana Zdunich: It really is beautiful out here…
She smiles out at the rolling waves, enjoying the smell of the salt air.
Seleana Zdunich: It is funny, it still feels strange to me to look at the Pacific Ocean from this side, to see it going west instead of east.
Her right hand reaches out almost as if to grab at the distant water, her hand slowly closing her she waves it at the horizon.
Seleana Zdunich: In New Zealand, it always feels like looking off the edge of the world to stare at the ocean like this…
She pauses and smiles as she looks at the rail for a second.
Seleana Zdunich: Letting yourself daydream about what it might be like on the other side. At the time, I had only seen pictures from my sister. She came to the States just as I was coming to New Zealand. At the time, we had joked with each other about how we might have holidays together because she was supposed to be working in Japan on one of those ghost hunter type television shows and I was to work at Orana Park. We thought we’d have many times together because it would be such a short trip between Tokyo and Christchurch.
Swallowing sadly, she nods to the rail and looks back to the water.
Seleana Zdunich: We never thought it would take the best part of a decade’s time for that to happen. Between earthquakes, and her show’s crew assaulting her, it just became an impossible task. She traveled to the States to get away from all of that and trained to be a fighter while I stayed in Orana Park with the animals. I often wonder which of them was more stressed then, the animals dealing the shocks of all the earthquakes that seemed to come almost daily at times or Zenna trying to come to terms with her crew’s betrayal and realization that her boyfriend had set it all up to try to get into her pants.
She swallows to put aside the memories of such things and then nods to the water again.
Seleana Zdunich: Now, here we are, I’m on a cruise ship waiting for a match to happen in two days’ time and Zenna’s in New Orleans waiting for a match we will have together in three days’ time against B-Brat and Halo. We were fortunate that this match was moved or we would be trying to figure out how to have a helicopter pick four people up off of this ship and carry us back to the mainland so we could go to Georgia, have the match with each other and then come back to the ship to fight against on Sunday.
She turns to face the cameras, her hair blowing in the breeze.
Seleana Zdunich: Now, we simply get to focus on what is important.
She nods over across the deck to where Crystal Zdunich stands with Brittany ahd Halo Williams as they chat with some fans.
Seleana Zdunich: I get to spend time with my wife and our daughters as we wait for Summer XXXtreme 7 to arrive and I get to focus on you, Amy Santino.
Seleana nods pointedly to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: This will be the second time we have faced off at a pay-per-view this year with a championship opportunity as the prize for winning the match. In May in London, you and Jessie Salco faced me and my wife and we won…
She crosses her arms in annoyance.
Seleana Zdunich: Which is why you should know that Christina getting that title shot you spoke of had nothing to do with her being more proactive or talkative than I have been, it simply means she finally got the opportunity she won in May when we beat you and Jessie for it! The fact that I got mine first had nothing to do with me being proactive or passive or reactive or much of anything else, it was just how the chips fell and you would know that if you bothered to pay attention for more than a cursory glance up and down the card sometimes.
Her arms drop as she turns away, shaking her head in disgust.
Seleana Zdunich: I listened to everything you said and I do not understand where you get these thoughts from?
Looking back to the camera, Seleana’s eyes narrow.
Seleana Zdunich: Are you one of those punk fans that follows Sid Vicious’s example and thus are so inebriated that you have no thought based in reality anymore?
Her right hand moves up to point at herself, going so far as to poke herself in the chest.
Seleana Zdunich: I have always said I wished to earn my way back up the ladder. I have never once asked for anything, never once complained about anything aside from the way Christian Underwood was speaking of my wife and if you think I have been overly quiet, I apologize for attempting to allow my actions to speak for me instead of being what seems like everyone else who cannot seem to allow Christian and Mark a moment’s peace even on what should be their infrequent days off!
Taking a step forward, Seleana’s glare intensifies.
Seleana Zdunich: What did you wish me to do to be more proactive, as you say?
She nods demandingly, expectantly.
Seleana Zdunich: Did you want me to go on Twitter and throw a tantrum because Alciia Lukas was able to successfully defeat me in our last encounter? Did you want me to threaten to quit if I did not get what I wanted, whatever unreasonable demand that may or may not be?
She shrugs, glaring angrily into the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: Did you want me to go to Christian and Mark and badger them until they were so annoyed with even hearing my name that they started throwing the entire roster of both SCW and SCU at me just to be rid of me?
Her head cocks to the right.
Seleana Zdunich: What would you have me do when they already give me plenty of opportunities to prove I am willing to put in the work and worthy of the chance I am working for?
Nodding slightly, her head moves to kant to the left instead.
Seleana Zdunich: What? Should I got and make sure I make Alicia feel like an idiot for ever having any respect for me by tap dancing and urinating all over it and trying to pick a fight with her I did not earn after she already defeated me?
Seleana shakes her head angrily.
Seleana Zdunich: Noise like that is what should be eradicated from this sport because that is all it is and it takes away from things that should be getting that attention. If that is your idea of working for things and earning it, I both feel sorry for you and cannot wait to beat that thought process from your apparently addled mind! I am not that person and I never will be that person! If I am given a championship opportunity, I want it to mean something! I want it to be because the champion and I are considered two of the best in the world, if not the two best in the world at the time! So take your “I started the bandwagon” bullshit and put it back where it came from because apparently you liked the taste too much while your head resided there and you need to allow yourself to breathe the cleansing are out here again to allow your brain to regain its former function! You started nothing and I definitely did not follow your lead! On Sunday, we meet for a chance to dance with either Alicia or Roxi and I want that to speak for itself because I didn’t need to do any of those others things to get here!
She points across the deck in the direction of the venue they will be wrestling in.
Seleana Zdunich: I will walk to that ring on this ship and do exactly what I have always done and if that is not good enough for your sensibilities, then I will simply make it so your sensibilities no longer need worry about such things!
The camera zooms in as Seleana looks at her hand.
Seleana Zdunich: See you Sunday, Amy. Time to get the claws.