Chapter 64: Past Self
This was freedom.
The last few months had been strange. We had moved away from New York. Bought a house together in Colorado. A huge step for any couple. This was not out of necessity, but was also done because we wanted to take that step. The steps that were taken afterward were not something that I enjoyed. We had friends who moved out here. Kallie and Aiden followed us out here mainly because Kallie was a native. She loved Colorado and was just coming home.
There was always a fear in the back of my mind that I was being followed or watched. So whenever I went anywhere, shopping, or to the gym I would have someone there. One of my sisters, who routinely came to visit. Or. Kallie herself. But this was different. This morning, I woke up, and I didn’t want to go through all of that again. I didn’t want to send a message and wait for someone to be there. I wanted to live my life independently, you get back to being who I was. So I decided I was going to the gym by myself. Alone. I grabbed my bag, I left the house, and I walked two blocks to the little gym that I liked to do cardio in.
And here I was. Running on the treadmill after doing some light weights. Listening to music as I was monitoring my heart. Training in Colorado came with a lot of advantages. Being this high up in elevation guaranteed me having better cardio than anyone else that I was going to get in with. If I could run 4 miles up here while keeping my heart rate normal, I could run circles around anyone in the ring and be basically like a fucking superhero.
But something felt wrong. My entire time here while working out, I had felt like I was being watched. I tried to ignore it. I told myself time and time again that it was just in my head. A side-effect of not going out by myself for so long. Is that something any of you have ever felt? The feeling of eyes being on you and watching your every move? Because that’s what I was feeling right now. I turned, getting off the treadmill and grabbing my bottle of water, as I took a large drink, I felt Somebody burning a look into my back. I whipped around, staring down the hallway, but I saw nothing. My skin was crawling; the sweat that had been pooling down my back from my neck and forehead started to freeze.
I was warm, in the process of cooling down, inside a gym that had heaters on because of the cold air outside. Even as we started getting closer to summer, Colorado was naturally cold. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, taking another sip of water, I put it into my gym bag and started moving towards the lockers. My towel over my shoulders as I was trying to get rid of that cooling down but sweaty sensation.
There was no one else there; it was early morning, and most wouldn’t start coming in until around 9 am. I like to get my workout in before everyone else. To be leaving as the gym regular started turning up. I moved toward my locker, opening it up and taking out my spare clothes, putting them down on the bench. I heard something from around the corner, turning to see there was nothing and nobody there, but I could feel it. I could feel their eyes on me.
Walking down the hallway, I took a deep breath and turned to the corner, expecting to see someone. But there was nothing there. Was I going insane? Was I paranoid? I rolled my eyes and pushed out a deep breath, turning around. I walked right into someone. My eyes were focusing, I thought I was seeing things. That was until I heard his deep booming voice with his Romani accent ”Aye Princess…”
My blood froze. It was Jace. His long hair was tied back in a bun, he was wearing a tight-fitting black shirt that was tucked into a black leather stud belt that was wrapped around a pair of tight jeans. A pair of black boots on his feet as he slid his hands into his pockets. He smiled, trying to act charming. All this did was turn my cold blood that was ice in my veins from fear into a boiling mess of anger. ”What the fuck are you doing here?” he towered over me, stepping forward and putting his hand on one of the lockers above my head, backing me into the cold steel behind.
He leans down, taking a deep breath. Taking in my scent like a predatory animal with its prey. ”Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve been waiting to get your loan so we could have a conversation. But for the last few months, you’ve always had someone around you. And I let you believe that we had stopped looking.” Jace leans in closer with a small Smile.
”So? You’ve been stalking me this entire time? We’ve left New York. You won. Finn wanted me to get out of harm's way, and we just want to live our lives. Go take New York go after Dickie and his crew. I’m not a part of this anymore.
Jace couldn’t help but laugh, getting closer to me, so close that I could feel his breath on my cheek and my neck. ”Look at you. Playing Little Miss housewife. Is that really what you want? To be the good little woman for a weak man like Finn? That isn’t you, Kayla. That’s not the woman that you are. You seem to forget, I know who you are. I know exactly what you are capable of, and I just have to ask the question. Does Finn? Remember, you were one of us.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. His words echoed in my head. He was right. Once upon a time, I was one of them. I remembered what it was like. We were a family, a fucked up family. I remembered walking into a local bar. The place that was under the protection of the Ramani. But protection isn’t what you believe it to be. Protection, paying for protection from a group like that, is all about paying them not to wreck your establishment. ”What do you need me to do?”
I remember the words spilling out of my mouth. Standing at the front of the bar. Jase, a much younger version than we see today, stood with his arms pulled over his chest. Wearing a leather biker jacket and camouflage pants, he gave me a small hat on the back before reaching forward and stroking my cheek with his thumb. ”You know our rules when it comes to collecting money. It’s his wife in there. She’s not part of us. She is not someone who will be punished by a male. So I need you to do it. I need you to be the point on this. We’ll be behind you.”
I smiled, I was proud. As stupid as it sounds, I was happy at that moment. I was being trusted. Trusted to take care of business. We walked into the bar. The woman behind was in her mid-40s, with wire-framed glasses on her face. She stepped back, instantly recognising Jason and the others. She started getting upset right away. ”Hey..shhh calm down. You give us what your husband agreed, and there’s not going to be any trouble.”
”No..please. We have tried, but we just don’t have it. We will have it in a week.”
I took a deep breath and shook my head. It was exactly what I didn’t want to hear. It would’ve been so much easier if she had just given us the money. ”See, that’s a problem. You need to give us the money. Now.” I reached around the bar, grabbing hold of her wrist and sliding her forward before grabbing her glasses, ripping them from her face. I slammed them down onto the bar before grabbing her hand and slamming them into the glasses, causing them to break and cut her hand. She screamed. The rest was a blur, but she found the money, handing it to Jase.
We walked out, and Jace was smiling. The others were proud. And I felt like I had accomplished something. But that isn’t me. That isn’t me now, and that wasn’t me then. My eyes spring open, I look over at Jace and shoved him back before shaking my head in anger and frustration. ”Enough. You don’t know me. As much as you believe you do, you just don’t. The Kayla you knew back then was a complete fabrication. I’m happy. I’m happy and you can’t stand it. Stay away from us. Stay away from me.”
Jase just smiled at me. I grabbed my clothes and walked off into the shower. I knew he wouldn’t follow. The doors had opened more people were flooding in. I stood under the hot water. Trying to calm myself down. But I was angry, frustrated, and for the first time in a long time, I was afraid.
True Rivalry
The Angelina Cafe in Paris is beautiful. A wonderful place with some of the best coffee and cakes that anyone could ever want, as well as having some amazing lunch options. In the crowd of native Parisians and obnoxious tourists is a woman sitting alone. Her long black hair flows down as she wears a red and black dress, showing off her figure but also her tattoos. This is, of course, the current SCW world bombshell champion, Kayla Richards.
”The Viking tour ends in Paris. I couldn’t care less about the whole Viking thing. I mean, I come from England, I was born in East Anglia. My family had lived in and around that area for hundreds upon hundreds of years and different generations. Chances are there is some Viking DNA in my ancestry. But I couldn’t care less. Even if I tried. I have been able to come to Paris and what should have been a grand moment where I can walk through that curtain at into the void and defend my championship with my man by my side after having a wonderful week or two in Paris. The romance that could’ve happened.”
“But, because of Alex Jones and that bitch Aaron Asphyxia I don’t get to have that moment. I don’t get to spend two weeks in Paris with the man I love, celebrating being champions, going toward into the void. Do you have any idea how pissed off that has made me? Do you have any idea how angry that has made me?”
“Completely furious.”
“And I took some of that anger out on Harper Mason. Because I could. I got put in the ring with her, and I warned her what was going to happen. Same situation as walking into the elimination chamber, where I warned everyone there what was going to happen. Harper didn’t listen. So I beat the hell out of her and walked out with my hand held high as the winner. Because that’s what I do. Against all of these women who are beneath me, I don’t show them the proper respect, and I do everything I can to destroy them, and Harper is definitely is not on my level.”
“I’m sure that some of you view me as a bully. A monster.”
“The truth is that I can see where that misconception comes from. But I’m a realist. And what is more disrespectful? Going out there and doing everything I can to beat someone and not holding back or patting them on the head and giving them a participation trophy and only going at half speed?? Is that what I should do? Should I go out there against women like Harper Mason and validate their existence by acting like they are on a level that is anywhere near me? That’s not how I work. That’s not how anyone should work. That isn’t how you get better, that isn’t how you become a real champion. That is how you become weak.”
Kayla chuckles and takes a sip of her latte before putting it down and leaning back against the beautifully designed chair that she is sitting on. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before looking around the streets of Paris.
”Weakness is a disease. Losing is not. Letting that loss get inside you and make you doubt yourself is a weakness. The difference between myself and every single other woman on this roster is that when they lose, they decide to completely ignore it, and it festers and eats away at who they are. They don’t acknowledge the loss, and they don’t acknowledge that they need to get better. I do. I already went over it before I faced Harper, but I told everyone that I was coming for heads. I told everyone that I was coming for that championship, but not one of them was going to be able to step in front of me and stop me.”
“Losses make me stronger. Because when I lose, I come back better. It has happened every single time I have suffered a loss. I come back, I do everything I can to be better, and I end up overcoming those obstacles. I end up avenging those losses. And the first thing you need to do when you lose is acknowledge it. Women like Harper, women like Mercedes Vargas, women like Samantha Marlowe and.Mikah and Jessie Salco, they don’t acknowledge their losses, instead they bury them down deep and they try and move on and ignore them and all that does is belittle themselves and belittle this company and this business.”
“When you get beaten, and you get shoved down, you stand up, you dust yourself off, and you punch that person right in the face.”
Kayla’s expression changes. Her nostrils flare as her eyes burn. There is a certain amount of anger and frustration behind those eyes, mixed with determination as well as a healthy amount of chaos. She takes a deep breath and sits back, returning to her calmer demeanour.
”Now, that brings me to Andrea Hernandez. What is there at this point? It’s funny because I heard what Andrea had to say about her match against Crystal. Some people referred to Andrea and Crystal as a rivalry, and Andrea’s answer was to point out how one-sided it was, and it was never rivalry. And she has a point. Andrea and Crystal don’t have a rivalry because Andrea has done nothing but beat Crystal down and showed that she is a superior professional wrestler. No one can take that away from her. Andrea Hernandez is one of the best women in this company. I’m not going to take that away from her. I’m not going to disagree with that, and I’m not going to sit here and tell you all that I am on another level than Andrea.”
“Truth is, while I never really believe anyone is on my level. Andrea is probably the closest. Andrew is the kind of woman who is always striving to be the best. I respect that. And trust me on this, Andrea, I do respect you. No matter what I say or how you perceive my actions, I do respect you as a professional wrestler. Because you are one of the few people on this planet who can push me. You can consistently push me, and you force me to be a better version of myself. So, no, Crystal is not your rival. But I am.”
“You and I do have a rivalry. But all of your talk in the past about how you don’t agree with how I carry myself and how I conduct myself. That is something I can’t abide when you pull some of the shady shit I’ve ever seen. But unlike me or I will freely admit what I’m about to do, you try and hide it behind a mask of change. You try to tell people that you’ve changed. But you haven’t. Right after I won the elimination chamber, you went out on SCW television and you said that you were sure I would always accept a rematch with you. That I wouldn’t run away.”
“Obviously, you were right, but it was also a sneaky little trick on your part. See if I had had other plans if I wanted to just destroy Aaron asphyxia, you made it impossible for that to happen. Because if I didn’t accept a rematch with you and take that rematch, then you’d be able to go out on television and spew some kind of bullshit that I was afraid of you. So you locked me into having to defend the championship against you.”
“Clever.. underhanded but clever”
Kayla chuckles to herself and finishes her coffee before standing up. She walks out of the cafe, looking back at all the people sitting there who are staring at her, some admiring her tattoos, others turning their noses up.
”But hey, you can be as judgmental as you want about my attitude, but I’m sure you’ll have some kind of witty retort for this talking about how you’ve changed and going through your thought processes. But the other part of it that really annoys me is your complete disregard for the ending of that elimination chamber. You and I in singles matches are one and one. This will be the third singles match that we’re facing each other in, but you have just completely ignored the fact that it came down to you and me at the end of that chamber.”
“I have two wins over you in high-stakes matches, and you have one over me. That is one more than a lot of other people have, and I have given you the respect for that, but don’t think for one second that I’m going to sit here and let you be little what I accomplished at blaze of glory. I got into that ring, and I was the last woman standing in. I became the champion for a second time. I had an amazing championship run, and you ended up failing. I want you to think about that. For all of your talk about being an amazing professional wrestler, you still failed to do it when it counted.”
“I lost to you one-on-one. You became the champion. And instead of waiting for you to come out of that chamber with the title or to lose that title against someone else, I decided I wanted to enter that cage. Instead of waiting for a one-on-one rematch, which I was owed, I put it all on the line in a match that I had no guarantees of winning. So tell me, Andrea, which one of us is the real champion? Which one of us is the better champion?”
“As much as I respect you for what you’ve been able to accomplish in the ring and as much as I know that you and I are great rivals and when all is set and done you will be looked at as one of the only ones who could hold a candle to Me your attitude and your self-righteous nature and the fact you’re a hypocrite annoys the shit out of me. So I’m gonna do everything I can to walk out of our match as the champion. I’m going to prove to everyone that I am the better woman. You can come at me with anything that you want, you can complain about me behind-the-scenes, and you can criticise me in public, but at the end of the day, I have proved myself to be a better champion than you. And it’s on you to prove me wrong now.”
Chapter 65: Lie of Omission
I rushed home after the confrontation at the gym. I didn’t let Jason know that it rattled me. But in hindsight, it would be hard for anyone to believe that it didn’t. I held my gym bag as I stepped inside my home. My sanctuary. A place that I felt safe not only because it was my home but also because Finn was there. I felt protected when I was around him. It was something that I’ve never felt before. I never needed to feel before.
For years, I had been so independent in everything. No matter who I was in a relationship with, my own protection was on me. In this business, you will always have people coming for you. But not even the ones that you are facing in the ring. Sometimes people come for you, and they are simply fans. But it’s always been on me. Always been my responsibility to protect myself and those around me. I’ve never had to rely on anyone else. And because of that, I’ve always felt like I had everything in control.
But this entire thing, when it came to the Romani, everything from my past that had become such a burden weighing down on my shoulders, I was not in control. I didn’t know where they were or when they were watching me. The only time I knew that they were there was because they wanted me to know. They wanted me to see them. They wanted me to be scared.
So I needed Finn. I needed his reassuring words, I needed to know he was going to protect me. To love me. That’s something that not many people see in our relationship because we aren’t so public about it. Other couples in this business like people to know that they are together, but they are loving, that they are Affectionate. That isn’t something that Finn and I have ever subscribed to. We aren’t like Carter and Miles, we aren’t like Kris Ryan’s and Mikah.
At least, not in public.
But in private, that is a completely different matter. I stood in My Home, staring across the living room at him. He was sitting on the couch, flicking through a paper with a coffee in front of him. And instantly, I felt protected. Not that he was going to get up and run across the room and fight off hundreds of people who were trying to get to me. But he was there. Ever present. Everyone else that I had ever been with was a question mark when it came to whether they were going to protect me or feel the need to. Finn knew he didn’t need to, but was always ready to.
I felt loved.
I felt cared for.
It was a feeling that I’d never known that I needed. And truth be told, I never had before. But with him it was different. With him, I wanted to know that he was going to protect me. But it was an unspoken bond. I loved him. Unconditionally. It didn’t matter what Finn did or what he said. I loved him with all my heart. And a slow smile came across my face as I looked at him. I couldn’t help myself. Other relationships that I had been in had never been like this. But with him it was different. Whenever he touched me, whenever his hand moved across my wrist or his fingertips danced along my back, I felt complete.
As sappy as this sounds, I never knew what true love was until I met Finn Whelan.
And that’s what was making this so hard. As I stared at him, as he looked up from his paper and tilted his head, knowing that there was something wrong, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what had happened. Not because I was scared of the repercussions, not because I was scared that he couldn’t handle it. But he had been through so much. He lost his championship to a man whom he had always despised yet somehow grown to trust. He lost it because of a woman who had ripped his heart from his chest and made him look like a fool.
Neil, I was about to tell him that a problem we had run from had caught up to us. That my ex-boyfriend, who was leading a crew of men who were trying to destroy everything that Finn and his brother stood for, had found us and had always known where we were. The pile of bullshit that Finn had in front of him was about to multiply exponentially. And it was going to be because of me. So you can imagine my trepidation in telling him. It wasn’t me being dishonest. I wanted to protect him.
I wanted to protect Finn just like he had protected me.
Not that my protection had ever done much. His arm was still in a shoulder brace, he was still without a world championship, and he still had to watch as his ex-wife walked away having one up on him with Alex. But I could still tell that he knew something was up. As much as I tried to hide it, he knew me so well that a simple glance could tell him more than my words ever could. He put the paper down, pushing up off the couch and stepping toward me with his arm hugged against his stomach. His shoulder is still in the brace.
I tried to hide all the fear that was starting to well up inside me and simply tilted my head and smiled. I stepped toward him and reached out my fingertips, touching his face as I kissed him. Trying to distract him from what he thought he saw. If there was one thing I knew how to do, it was to use my sexuality to distract someone. And as much as I knew Finn wanted me, as much as I knew he found me attractive, he isn’t an idiot.
I pulled back, Finn slowly smiled and shook his head before opening his mouth and asking me the one question. I really didn’t want to answer. ”What happened?”
”Nothing”
I shook my head and smiled, putting on my best mask. I knew it wasn’t gonna stop him from asking more questions, but it was the best I could do. I stepped closer and put my head on his good shoulder, wrapping an arm around him and just taking a deep breath. ”Are you sure? You just seem a little off.” his arm instinctively wrapped around my hip. His good arm, of course. The other one was still tucked between us.
I simply nodded slowly as my head leaned against his chest. I let out a deep breath and melted into his arms. ”I just needed this. I don’t know, maybe I’m feeling a little insecure. It doesn’t happen often, so don’t get used to it. But right now I just want you to hold me.”
I wasn’t wrong. I’ve never been someone who falls into the realm of being insecure. In fact of something that I actively avoid because it is simply not me. I’m a confident human being. Anyone who has known me for longer than about two minutes can see, hear, and feel that. But occasionally, insecurity does creep in. My moment with Jase had made me insecure. But that wasn’t the reason why I wanted to hold Me. I just needed him. I needed to hear his heartbeat and feel his arm around me. ”Well, I’m not going to say no. You know I love you, Kayla.” Those words made me smile. Whenever he said it, I smiled. And he knew that.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and looking up at him from my position nuzzled against his chest ”I know. And I love you. We don’t say it very often, but I know it. Just like you know how I feel about you. This is just one of those moments, Finn.”
”Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”
He was giving me another chance to tell him. Another chance to open up. I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him everything. About being scared, about Jase cornering me and trying to make me believe I wasn’t the person that I really was. But I also knew that it would be a bad time. He had just lost the championship, he was in pain, part of his career had been taken away from him, as well as everything else that had happened. I couldn’t tell him. I didn’t want to tell him. Because, as I said, it was my turn to do right by him.
It was my turn to protect him.
Identity Crisis
After cutting a promo in the middle of Paris last week, Kayla is now sitting in a more traditional setting. Her long hair flows down a black leather jacket as she sighs heavily, ready to begin.
”What do you want this division to be? Do you want this to be a division full of people who are whining and crying? A division of people who don’t know how to get what they want? That is the kind of thing you’ll be getting if you sit back and let mediocrity become great. When it comes to holding this championship, mediocrity should never be the starting point. And it never has been with me. It has never been with Andrea. But the division under me, with me as its champion, you will have every single woman on this roster aiming at my back. Every single one of them is going to be coming for me, regardless of who they are and what they are about. I don’t really have any friends in this company anymore. Everyone should be coming for me, and everyone should hate me.”
“Same with Andrea. After all, she and I are two peas in a pod. We both talk about rivalries, and we both talk about where this division is going, but only one of us has the power to change anything. As good as Andrea believes herself to be and as much as she has become someone who can at least get to the same level as me, her ceiling is a lot shorter than mine. I can take this division to heights that he has never achieved. I can make this division mean something again. I started doing it before when I was champion. And in losing to Andrea, I heard all the gaps and I heard everyone be shocked. Andrea needs to realise that. Her win over me, while it was something that I could see coming, was something that no one else could.”
“I was the only one who believed in her enough that I knew she could beat me. The fans didn’t believe it, and everyone else in this company didn’t believe it. And when she walked out as the champion, there was an audible gasp in the crowd and silence. Silence from everyone on social media and silence of the crowd.”
“That is the worst thing anyone can hear. And that’s what Andrea heard. So, if I sit back and let her become the future of the division, then what does that mean for this division? This division is the strongest one. It has a champion at the front, who is the strongest. And that would be me. I am someone who can be instantly recognisable. I can go on Twitter....or rather X... and I can destroy people verbally, or I can go in the ring and do it for SCW. I’m a fucking star and Andrea just isn’t on that kind of level. When it comes to what she can do in the ring, I’m not gonna lie and say that she’s hopeless because she simply isn’t. She is good enough to step up to me in the ring, and she is good enough to be the champion as far as physical attributes go. But as a professional wrestler this woman doesn’t even know who the fuck she is.”
Kayla scoffs and shakes her head before continuing.
”You know, you and I have blown a lot of smoke up each other‘s arses Andrea. Talking about how good we both are in the ring and how we love to fight each other, and how equal we are. But the more I think about it the more I realise that you don’t even know what the fuck you’re doing. When you should be focusing on me, when you should be thinking about what you can say about Me and how you’re going to promote this match and get all the eyes of the wrestling world on what you and I are about to do to each other you go on Twitter and decide to talk about Crystal instead of Me. and while I thought it was hilarious that you said Crystal was like the Antonio Brown of professional wrestling, I still question why you’re focusing on someone that is irrelevant to this.”
“But, then again, you don’t seem to know where you’re going or what you’re doing. Every single time we hear you open your mouth, every single time you are getting ready to cut a promo on an opponent or talk about a match, you talk about how you have learned who you are. Constantly. How often can somebody learn who she is, and how often can you draw back on the wisdom of your father to win a match? Same shit different day. Time and time again, this is all you do, Andrea. You come out you talk about your father, you talk about learning more about who you are and then you try and justify that to get fake sympathy and fake bullshit because you don’t know who you are and you are constantly wearing a mask to cover it up.”
“You’d think after world championship wins and being in this business for so long that you would know who you are by now. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. Or maybe you’re nobody.”
“Who knows? All I know is that you keep on playing the victim. You keep on whining and crying and talking about how people don’t understand you and how you’re learning more about yourself, and the person you were isn’t who you are now. You need to play the victim, Andrea. You need to act like you are the one who is being wrong because if you aren’t, then who are you? Who are you? If you face someone who is better than you, that is your default go-to mindset.”
Kayla shakes her head and throws her arms across her body, folding them over themselves. A look of anger in her bright green eyes as she steps forward.
”A weak mindset and one that is beneath you. But it also seems to be the one that you automatically go to every single time. I told you over and over again that when I lose, I come back better. I have never changed who I am. I’m a bitch. I know I am. I have the entire wrestling world hating me and wanting me to lose, yet somehow and someway. I seem to be more honest and genuine than you are. Because I tell the world what I'm prepared to do. You seem to be more than happy telling everyone these long winded bullshit stories about your father and how you’ve changed and how you want to grow as a human being. When in reality you don’t know how to grow because you don’t know who you are.”
“It’s pathetic.”
“You are pathetic. And I expected better.”
“I have proven time and time again that I will come back better than I was before. All you have been able to prove is that you have no idea who you are. No idea what you want to do. You are a fake, vapid human being, and you are just as bad as all those other women whom you claim to want to be better than. All those women who talk shit about you and hold you down are exactly exactly like you. But you can’t see it. You can’t see who you are, you can’t see your shortcomings, and you refuse to acknowledge them and try and overcome them. You are just as bad as everyone else. In fact….”
“You are just as bad as Crystal…”
“You have a chance to rise above that, but I have no faith that you’ll be able to. I went back and I re-watched every single one of your promos for the last six months, and it’s the same thing time and time again. And the worst part is that after I beat you the first time, you had a chance to grow, and you failed. You were able to beat me, and you didn’t even use that as an excuse to get better. You just shrugged it off like a win over Me didn’t mean anything, and you went right into the elimination chamber. A match that you could have won by showing how great you are, but in the end, you lost and you decided to play the victim. You wind and complained about it.”
Kayla throws her arms in the air and shakes her head before pacing back and forth.
”I want everyone to sit back and think about that reaction. Your reaction to being put in the elimination chamber and losing was to wind and cry about it. To talk about how beating Me was such horrible timing because you had to defend that championship against so many others. But you’re forgetting something. I didn’t have to be in that match, Andrea. I didn’t.”
“I could have waited. I could have waited and watched whoever was going to come out of that match as the champion. Whether it was you or whether it was one of the other women, I could have simply waited. You, on the other hand, are complaining about having to defend the championship in that match and completely disregarding my win. That is a huge difference between us. You complain about these opportunities and these big matches and having to defend a championship against more than one person.”
“I owned it.”
“I needed and wanted that match. I wanted to go in as champion and defend the title in the elimination chamber of Instead, I chose to enter as a challenger because I had no choice. And that’s just it, sometimes as a champion, you need to do things that you don’t choose to do. I run toward them gladly. I will defend the championship against anyone, any time, any place in any kind of match, and I will do it with a certain amount of confidence that no one else has. You won’t. You’ll just bitch and moan and complain and going these long rambling diatribes about shit that nobody cares about while trying to play the victim and act like you are no longer the woman that you used to be.”
“All the while having no idea who you actually are.”
“So, I am going to step into the ring it into the void and I’m going to keep this championship. I’m going to make sure that you are unable to grab it and you are unable to drag it down to the mediocrity that you have surrounded yourself with because you don’t have the balls to be the champion that we all know you could have been. We have had a great rivalry. That’s true, Andrea. But as we get to the end of it, as I start to get that little bit ahead of you and I start to win other matches that you simply didn’t want to be in then our rivalry goes from something beautiful to something disappointing. and that’s just it, I’m disappointed in you Andrea. I expected more than you whining and crying behind the scenes and then throwing a tantrum on TV. I expected a real challenge.”
“I expected… an equal. And I didn’t get it.”