Off-Camera

Monday, May 25, 2020
Zdunich Room
Saxon Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
7:15 AM  PDT



Seleana Zdunich looks around the room and sighs to herself. Her wife, fellow SCW competitor and soon to be pay-per-view opponent, Christina Zdunich, was off on a trip to New York to deal with some family business that had lingered for far too long. On the one hand, Seleana was proud that Christina was finally taking these steps with her ex-husband and father of her children, Todd Williams, as well as her estranged son, Brayden, and taking them all on her own volition. While much had been said by Seleana, Todd, Brayden, daughter Brittany Williams, daughter-in-law Haylie Jo “Halo” Annis, and even Christina’s own biological mother, Mary Hilton, the decision had been Christina’s.

On the other hand, Seleana would be lying if she said she wasn’t just a little worried about the whole trip. Recent events were making things increasingly dangerous for people who looked like Christina and Todd, especially those with the kind of connections Todd allegedly maintained. Given the historic events that flooded her mind every time Christina had to go somewhere like that and knowing that many who saw her saw only the color of her skin, unease set in until Christina safely returned.

That didn’t even start to factor in Seleana’s typical feelings when it came to Todd Williams himself. Regardless of his connections, Seleana’s few interactions with him had not left a positive mark on her where he was concerned and considering he was at the bottom of everything that had happened to them not six months into their marriage. Christina had been having a mental and emotional hard time then and things had started happening, first with an on-going argument with Christian Underwood that had led to Seleana confronting him and punching him in the face. Christian had fired Seleana for this act of violence upon him even before registering that Seleana had done actual damage to him. While Mark Ward had hired her back the next week, things did not get any better in their personal life as Christina attacked Seleana for a title shot and a video was shown that guaranteed Seleana would live outside the home for a few months. In the end that all came back to “Crystal” and the man who had created her, Todd.

That also did not factor the Brayden part into the equation at all.    

Brayden was a complete wild card. No one really knew what his intentions were, what connections he may or may not have and no one really knew what all he was capable of. Considering he had already threatened to try and blackmail his own mother, it was enough to make a thousand thoughts and worries converge at once, none of them particularly appealing.  

As she continues to mull this over in her head and get ready to go for a workout, a knock comes at the door. Seleana walks over and peers through the peephole. Standing in front of the door is the small Korean woman known as Loti Nguyen, a nurse, originally from San Diego but that had spent the better part of the last decade living in New York City while working at the big hospital in Newark, New Jersey just across the river. Loti had ended up there because her sister, a professional wrestler known as Misty Lyn, had moved to the New York area to wrestle in a company called New Era Wrestling and married a fellow competitor named Michael “Dice” Serrano. Dice called Brooklyn home and Misty had made her way there. After graduating from college, Loti had followed into the New York area both to get a job and to be close to her sister. Coincidentally, Seleana’s middle sister, Zenna Zdunich, had also made her professional debut for New Era Wrestling and had even had the penthouse apartment in the same building that Loti had lived in in Manhattan. The family connection had even added to the people who lived across the hallway from Loti in that the drummer in Zenna’s band, Kelly Taylor, had first moved in there with her sister, another wrestler who worked for New Era Wrestling then, Jenni Taylor. Kelly had eventually moved upstairs to Zenna’s place when she had started dating the sister, Alissa Lacroix, of Zenna’s then-girlfriend and now fiancée, Linnéa Lacroix.

Seleana Zdunich: Loti?

Seleana opens the door, frowning slightly. Loti was supposed to be next door watching over Christina’s biological mother, Mary Hilton, as she recovered from her debilitating drug habit.

Loti Nguyen: Mary’s still asleep. She probably will not wake for another forty minutes or so if she holds to her usual schedule.

Seleana nods and motions the Korean woman to enter the room. Loti does so, walking through the entryway as Seleana waits to close the door behind her.

Seleana Zdunich: Have a seat if you’re keen, Chickie.        

Loti smiles and gratefully accepts a chair by the table. Seleana walks over and sits in the chair opposite her at the table.

Seleana Zdunich: Does something trouble you?

Loti shrugs slightly, the look on her face telling Seleana all she needs to know about the answer to her question.

Loti Nguyen: Mary is doing well, better than I would expect. Your family’s work as her support group has been amazing! Misty even got Rory to call in as an added voice a few days ago.

Rory was Misty’s brother-in-law, the younger brother and usual tag team partner of her husband, Dice, Rory “Riot” Serrano. At the sound of this, Seleana’s eyes light up, a smile coming to her face.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja?

Loti nods with both approval and gratitude finding their way through her eyes.

Loti Nguyen: He added something to the discussion that none of the others could. Li, Lis, Z, Kels and Halo can all talk about usage but Riot could talk about dealing as well and the hurt that caused him since he turned on his cousins and lost his girlfriend to drugs too.

Seleana nods grimly. Kayla Jade had been a frequent topic amongst their families, not just because the ones who had worked for New Era Wrestling had all known her but also because her death directly following a pay-per-view match with Misty and the subsequent death of the man many in their family, especially Riot, had blamed for her return to drugs in the months leading up to her death by overdose, Marc “Outkast” Maron. Outkast had died during a live pay-per-view show not quite a year later from injuries suffered during his last match. That death had hit Zenna particularly hard and helped start her own personal spiral into the abyss of addiction.

Seleana Zdunich: He was a dealer?

Loti nods quickly, sadly.

Loti Nguyen: Apparently, he’s the one who turned on his cousins to cocaine and you know how that ended for poor Roxy…

Seleana nods knowingly. Roxy Pellegrini had been a drummer in several bands in the Brooklyn area before tasting her own luck in the professional wrestling world alongside her then-boyfriend, Terry “Bam Bam” Williams. The two had met as musical colleagues, Bam Bam also played the drums, and had quickly discovered a mutual attraction to each other and to their favorite poison.

Seleana Zdunich: Maxine and Lexa both are doing better, ja?

Loti nods, a rather large smile crossing her face, obvious pride swelling up within the smaller Korean woman.

Loti Nguyen: Lexa has not touched anything since giving her birth to her son, J. He’s nine, will turn ten in December. I think she actually stopped cold when she found out she was pregnant so it would be ten years for her. I know she kept that up while she lived with me in Manhattan, Max…

She pauses and nods almost apologetically at the mention of the remaining Pellegrini Twin and elder sister.

Loti Nguyen: Max has been an ongoing struggle. I think Mary would relate to her quite well but I don’t know if Max is up to that yet. It might help them both but it also might trigger Max and send her back down that rabbit hole.

Seleana nods understandingly. She knew how it was to worry about things like that with her own sister, given that all four members of Zenna’s household had well-documented addictions that they were all in recovery for. She also had to keep up that worry for both her own wife and her daughter-in-law when it came to such things given Christina’s alcohol history and Halo’s admitted usage habits learned from her late mother. Loretta Annis had taught her own twin daughters how to do drugs in an attempt to make her own drug buddies. This had only served to drive both Halo and her twin sister, Amy “Rain” Annis, to seek activities outside of the house. In Rain’s case, it had led her to her best friend, Kendra “GoGo” Goganious. In Halo’s, it had led her to becoming somewhat of a Loretta, Jr. in the same way that Christina had found herself as an alcoholic version of Mary and how everyone involved constantly worried Brittany would become if given the chance.

Seleana Zdunich: So, what is… trouble?

Loti sighs, looking down momentarily to allow herself the chance to collect her thoughts properly. Finally she looks back up to Seleana.

Loti Nguyen: I’m worried about what this match you and Christina have coming up could do to Mary.

She pauses and then nods acknowledgement.

Loti Nguyen: Well, both of them. The six-person where you’re a team and then the ladder where you fight each other. I know this has happened before and I know…

Sitting back in her seat, Loti, exhales heavily again.

Loti Nguyen: Mary is not taking the idea of you two coming to blows well. She’s trying to hide it but she’s worried about what that will mean for you two.

Seleana nods slowly, thoughtfully. It was true they had been in matches against each other before and it was true there had been prizes on the line that made them go all out on each other for the sake of winning said prizes but it had never been as close together as the six-woman tag would be for the other company. They had never really teamed and then fought each other in almost back to back moments before.

Seleana Zdunich: I know Christina wants to have a match with me. I do not know why it is so important to her, she has not really spoken of it with me in private. I know she will want to win this Queen For A Day match if only so she can maintain her claim at being The Queen. Brittany would have jumped at this opportunity if she were allowed given that it means she would progress from being the Princess to the Queen and she would be able to muck about and Lord it above her mother. Zenna and I look forward to the six-woman match because we love being able to team together given that we work in separate companies as our main ones. She works in a team with Li and our cousin, Maja, while I work here in SCW.

Loti nods, pursing her lips tightly.

Loti Nguyen: What do you think Christina’s end game is with asking you for a match?

Seleana sits back in her own chair and contemplates the question. What did her wife want by constantly asking for a match between them this close to their anniversary?

Seleana Zdunich: Jag…          

She sighs heavily, sounding not unlike how Loti had sounded not a minute or two before. As she continues to contemplate the answer, Seleana looks away to the door. Loti nods knowingly.

Loti Nguyen: It worries you as well, doesn’t it?

Seleana stares at Loti, trying to come up with an answer that isn’t a simply one word answer. Desperately trying to think of something other than just a straight “yes,” Seleana’s right hand squeezes into a fist.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, it does. I do not know what she is doing today in New York and I do not really know what she wants to accomplish with this match. Is it a test to prove something to herself? Is it a test to prove something to me? Is it just a friendly contest to showcase us for the world for our second anniversary?

She shrugs sadly.

Seleana Zdunich: I do not know and I wish I did. I wish I knew many things when it comes to what she is doing and…

Seleana shakes her head and sighs heavily, a small smile coming to her face.

Seleana Zdunich: It is funny to mention our anniversary like that. There were many who publicly bet that we would never see that day. There were many who would have laid money that we would not make it that far as a married couple and we have endured.

Loti nods slowly, thoughtfully.

Loti Nguyen: And this still leaves you with worries?

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: It does…

Loti leans forward and touches Seleana’s hand.

Loti Nguyen: You should talk to them…

Seleana looks at the hand and then nods with a smile.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, I should.

She smiles wanly as Loti retracts her hand.

Seleana Zdunich: And just hope there is no cow on the ice and this will not be the time we shit in the blue cupboard.    

Loti shrugs.

Loti Nguyen: Maybe one of you will come out queen after this…

Seleana nods slowly in return.

Seleana Zdunich: Maybe.

Loti glances at her watch and stands up.

Loti Nguyen: I need to get back to Mary…

Seleana nods and watches as Loti takes her leave. As soon as the door closes, Seleana sits back in her chair again.

Seleana Zdunich: Det finns ingen ko på isen … Det finns ingen ko på isen …  Det finns ingen ko på isen … Det finns ingen ko på isen …










 

 Off-Camera

Friday, May 1, 2020
Zdunich Room
Saxon Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
8:15 AM  PDT



Detox was not usually something that went on in a hotel room but in the case of Mary Hilton, it had been going on for the last sixteen days, it had been going on next door to the room occupied by Seleana and Christina Zdunich.

Mary was Christina’s biological mother and up until April fourteenth had been a heroin-addicted prostitute in Detroit, Michigan. Upon arrival back here at the Saxon Hotel in Las Vegas, first there had been anger and some screaming involved. Then quarantine had been set up along with treatment protocols to help with the detoxification process.

Luckily, Mary had tested negative for most things including COVID and done so repeatedly. The testing had been extra rigorous for her considering her occupation and drug activity.

Now, she would be allowed to do more than eat and drink through tubes that were fashioned for her by her nurse, Loti Nguyen.

Now as Mary sits on the bed, contemplating what to do in her third week of isolation when the door to her room opens. Three women, her daughter, Christina Zdunich, her daughter-in-law, Seleana Zdunich, and her granddaughter-in-law, Haylie Jo “Halo” Annis, walk into the room carrying pieces of computer equipment. Loti nods from the doorway approvingly as they move quickly to set everything up for Mary.

Mary Hilton: What’s all this?

Seleana and Halo both turn and grin to the woman as Christina walks over to hand her biological mother a remote control.

Christina Zdunich: It was Sel’s idea. Loti told us you needed something like this now that the withdrawal was allowing you to be lucid.

Seleana walks over and extends a hand.

Seleana Zdunich: Heya, how’s it?

Mary accepts the hand and nods back to her.

Mary Hilton: Hi…

Seleana nods, still smiling broadly.

Seleana Zdunich: This is to allow you stimulation and to help with your rehab process. If you’ll notice, there are several options on the remote. When you’re keen, we set you up with all of Christina and Brittany’s events on channel one, Disney Plus on Channel two, and Rose Productions’ Library on Channel 3. Channel 4 will be for your counseling sessions that you will be able to do remotely from here. The schedule will be worked out with you on Monday. Channel 5 is for your groups sessions and we have found some people to help take part in that for you.

Seleana points to the remote.

Seleana Zdunich: If I may?

Mary nods and hands it to her daughter-in-law. Seleana turns the monitor on and selects Channel 5. Suddenly, the screen comes up with a different shot in each of four quadrants. Seleana’s sister, Zenna Zdunich, sits down in front of the camera for quadrant 2.

Zenna Zdunich: Hej!

Zenna’s fiancée, Linnéa Lacroix sits down in front of the camera for quadrant one.

Linnéa Lacroix: Hi!

Linnéa’s sister, Alissa Lacroix, sits down in front of the camera for quadrant 3, seemingly rushing to make it there.  

Alissa Lacroix: I’m here, y’all, I’m here.  

Alissa’s fiancée, Kelly Taylor, sits down in front of the camera in quadrant 4.

Kelly Taylor: Greetings, Love!

Seleana waves to them.

Seleana Zdunich: Meet your support group…

Halo nods knowingly and Seleana shrugs back.

Seleana Zdunich: Four or five…

Halo nods back in response.

Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: I’m number five, y’all.

Zenna, Linnéa, Alissa and Kelly all wave back as Mary can’t stop the tears streaming down her face.

Seleana Zdunich: You can tell them anything. They’ve all been through things as well.

Seleana hands the remote back.

Seleana Zdunich: They’ve all had this channel thrown to their phones as well. You’ll have your regular session, of course, but you will also be able to gain any of their attention any time you need to talk. It goes to Halo’s phone as well so she can come to you in person if that is what you need.

She turns to face the screen.  

Seleana Zdunich: Tack, min familj!

Zenna, Linnéa, Alissa and Kelly all nod.

Zenna Zdunich: Självklart!

Linnéa Lacroix: Family, y’all!

Alissa can’t help but snicker.

Alissa Lacroix: God I love it when Li’s southern self comes rampaging out like that!  

Kelly snickers right along with Alissa.

Kelly Taylor: That’s me as well!

The screen goes back to black and Seleana nods to Christina.

Christina Zdunich: We’re gonna have sessions together too, right here! We both need it and it will help both of us if we have a schedule for it!

Mary nods, tears still streaming down her face.

Mary Hilton: Ok.

Seleana nods to the remote.

Seleana Zdunich: Show her the last one, Stjärna!

Christina nods and Mary pushes the button for Channel 6. Within seconds, a familiar face is staring back at her.

Mary Hilton: Coo….Cookie?

Her sister’s smiling face nods back.

Cookie Hilton: Hi!

Seleana and Halo both turn and nod to the screen.

Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Hi, Miss Cookie… I’m HayJo…

Cookie giggles.

Cookie Hilton: You really did it…

She shakes her head in shocked amazement, her own eyes starting to glisten.

Cookie Hilton: This is the greatest gift I’ve gotten in years!

Seleana can’t help but smile, Christina and Mary both crying solidly now. They both nod and Cookie does as well before the screen goes dark again.

Mary Hilton: I… can never…

Christina shakes her head, moving quickly to hug her mother.

Christina Zdunich: I told you, we were doing this together…

Seleana nods, moving in to join in on the family hug as well.

Seleana Zdunich: I told you the same, Stjärna. Family helps each other!

Halo nods.

Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: I’m in agreement on that one and we can work on Brit that way too!

She walks over and extends her hand to Mary.

Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Haylie Jo Annis…  call me HayJo, everybody does.

Trembling, Mary reaches out a hand to shake the Halo’s proffered hand.

Mary Hilton: Nice… nice to meet you, HayJo.

Halo smiles.

Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Do y’all mind if I call you Mama Mary or is that a bridge too far?

Looking like she’s been kicked in the gut, Mary sputters for a second, searching for the words to answer. Christina hugs her mother.

Christina Zdunich: We’re here, Mom.

Mary nods and loses herself in her tears.

Seleana Zdunich: That is, how you say, a “yes.”

Halo nods, almost laughing.

Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Looks like, Mama Sel, looks like it.



On-Camera

Friday, May 1, 2020

Saxon Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
5:11 PM  PDT



The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich

Seleana Zdunich: För fan i helvete!

She shakes her head, crossing her arms in angry annoyance as she does so.

Seleana Zdunich: So, we are still at this, are we?

She looks away momentarily and then throws her hands up.

Seleana Zdunich: You would think Mercedes Vargas would have learned by now.

Glaring harshly, she turns back to face the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: The last four matches we have been in together, she has won none and she’s eaten the pin twice!

Nodding angrily, Seleana sweeps her right hand across the shot in front of her.

Seleana Zdunich: So for her to call me losing to somebody to be both a foregone conclusion and a spoiler for everyone else when she has not only not done any better but has, in fact, done very much so worse means she should shut up until she decides to show the Mercedes Vargas that she brags about being. The one who won all those championships and racked up accolade after accolade while being insulted by my very existence in this sport!

Pausing, Seleana’s glare turns even harsher as she points accusingly into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Right now, you are everything you have said my wife is.

The finger jabs the air violently.

Seleana Zdunich: You walk around with a mask of who you used to be and who you want everyone to think you are when you haven’t backed that up in a year’s time, possibly more! The only difference is you have a greater cache of respect from which to draw from and thus people are willing to cut you more slack but the truth is, they should not!  

She shakes her head slowly.

Seleana Zdunich: Not until you get off ass and show you are still what you say you are! Is that not what you all say to me?

She nods and then holds her arms out wide, hands with palms up.

Seleana Zdunich: Shut up until I am more than just a name on a page opposite another name that deserves to be there way more than I ever have?

Her arms lower, her right hand moving to allow her to point accusingly to the camera again.

Seleana Zdunich: My win over you was meaningless?

Seleana shrugs, still glaring into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: It would appear it meant more to you than it did to me…

She turns and walks a few steps before turning and seemingly walking in a complete circle just to end up exactly where she started from.

Seleana Zdunich: So now I get the foregone conclusion of a match with Evie Jordan, a woman that was a champion relatively recently and has beaten me in the past.

She pauses and nods to herself.

Seleana Zdunich: It’s a spoiler to say Evie will beat me again because…

Again, she pauses and then shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: Skit också, det är sanningen, ja?

She nods in obvious mock agreement, anger seething in her eyes.

Seleana Zdunich: Jag ska bara skitta i det blå skåpet igen ändå, ja?

Again, she nods in mock agreement.

Seleana Zdunich: Fan i jävla helvetes, din jävla idioter! Jag kommer att bevisa att du är jävla rövhål!
Ni säger alla att jag tar vatten över huvudet men ni har fel! Ingen ko på isen, du kommer att fånga ditt skägg i brevlådan! Jag lovar dig att detta kommer att vara sant!

Pausing to get control of herself, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. After a few more, she nods to herself and opens her eyes to glare directly into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Evie Jordan, say whatever you wish to say.

She shrugs angrily.

Seleana Zdunich: You will say it anyway so what is the difference?

She nods as she points to herself.

Seleana Zdunich: I am not the same competitor I was when we fought before.

The hand pulls back just enough to not be jabbing herself anymore while still remaining in position to point and indicate she is talking of herself.

Seleana Zdunich: I have had the time to learn, to grow, to become better and I have always been keen to do that even more as well!

The hand moves to sweep across the shot again.

Seleana Zdunich: No one thought I could main event when I came here and at that time, they were right!

Now the hand moves to point emphatically to the ground.

Seleana Zdunich: The thought was laughable after my dismal showing as a rookie in LAW. What had I accomplished? What business would I have in the main event of anything, much less for the World Bombshells Championship against a champion like Alicia Lukas or hall of famers like my wife or Roxi Johnson?

She nods knowingly, her hand moving back to her side.

Seleana Zdunich: I admit, I was nothing when we fought before. My whole first year here, I had no business being in any matches like that. That I was given multiple opportunities anyway, I am eternally grateful for because those opportunities did not slip through my fingers as many like to say.

She shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: I learned something in every one of those matches. I took something away from them all whether I lost or even in the few times I did manage to win. I have taken something from every match whether it was the time Mercedes Vargas could not put me away or the time I put her down! Whether it was the time people like Jessie Salco and Amy Santino had their way with me or the times I was able to come out on top of them!

She takes a step forward.

Seleana Zdunich: Every match is meaningful and every match got me to where I am today! I let nothing slip through my fingers because while you and everyone else were busy making fun of me or talking down to me because I had lost again or because of who I chose to marry…

She pauses, turns away and nods pointedly.

Seleana Zdunich: And, ja, I did make that choice with no hesitation or regret!

Her jaw clenched as she almost wants to spit.

Seleana Zdunich: While you were all doing that and having your good laugh at my expense, I was taking it all in, learning how things work. Learning what I could do and what I could not do and at the end, I realized that what you all spew forward means nothing and yet everything at once!

Turning back to the camera properly, Seleana stares lasers through it.

Seleana Zdunich: It means nothing because all that shit talking is empty rhetoric even if you believe every word of it when you say it. Most of it is what you are supposed to say when you are in that position or it is something you say to “promote” the match…

She shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: Whatever, all it really meant was I needed to work and work and work until I had made you all those words over and over and over again!

She pauses to nod in acknowledgement.

Seleana Zdunich: So, yes, before, the idea was crazy...

Her hands come together and start rubbing over and against each other, seemingly ready to ball into fists at any second.

Seleana Zdunich: But now I have done it more than once and I earned my way there every time I was able to do it!

The right hand separates, opens and the  index finger extends to point all over again.

Seleana Zdunich: You said I couldn’t do it, but I did!

The finger jabs the air again, a little more forcefully.

Seleana Zdunich: You said  I didn’t belong, but I showed I did!

Again it jabs, more forcefully still.  

Seleana Zdunich: You said I’d never have respect and yet, the last time I checked, I did have it from certain people who matter!

The finger jabs out one last time, almost stabbing the camera in the process.

Seleana Zdunich: You said I’d never be anything and yet here I stand!

The hand sweeps away and points to the ceiling.

Seleana Zdunich: I’ve been to the mountaintop and I have been knocked down and climbed back up!

She looks from the ceiling to the floor and then back to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: So say whatever you want to say because I will climb that mountain again!

Her hand lowers as she glares once more into the breach.

Seleana Zdunich: Jag kommer inte gå som katten runt den heta gröt! Ni gör alla en höna av en fjäder och eftersom smaken är som rumpan, uppdelad, jag kommer att få dig att kväva det!


     

 Off-Camera

Friday, April 3, 2020
Zdunich Room
Saxon Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
8:15 PM  PDT



Having spent the early part of the day on a plane in order to wrestle a match in San Diego, Seleana Zdunich was already not going to be in the greatest of moods. All of the lockdown rules were forcing her to get creative about finding ways to travel to and from several jobs, although having been fired for the second time by a wrestling promotion for some sort of insubordination had made that slightly easier since she no longer had to travel to Hybrid Wrestling as a manger for her wife due to the incident there. Southern Rebellion Wrestling and WWA Wrestling were both in similar situations to SCW/SCU, although they were not housing their wrestlers since most who worked for those companies either already lived nearby the building that had been chosen for simplicity’s sake or were not exclusive and had chosen not to even temporarily move closer.

Both companies had been quite supportive of Seleana taking SCW’s memo to heart and making sure she more or less isolated herself inside the Saxon Hotel in between the respective companies’ shows.

The trip to San Diego had been for a trios match with her wife, SCW World Bombshell Champion Christina Zdunich, and her sister, Zenna Zdunich, where they entered the match as the defending WWA Trios Champions. Now they were coming out to go to different places. Seleana had returned to Las Vegas while Zenna had gone on to Sacramento for the Hybrid Wrestling Ascension Brand show there.

As Seleana sits down, her tablet lights up with a signal for a video call. Smiling as she checks it, she nods and presses the button to take the call. Instantly, a video shot of her middle sister, Zenna, along with Zenna’s fiancée Linnéa Lacroix, Linnéa’s sister Alissa Lacroix, Alissa’s fiancée Kelly Taylor, and Zdunich Family cousin Maja Lindström all sitting together in a hotel room greets her.

Seleana Zdunich: Heya, how’s it?      

All five women grin.

Zenna Zdunich: We thought we’d let you know we arrived here in Sacramento. Matthias is here with us as well, he’s just seeing to food at the moment.

Seleana can’t help but snicker slightly at the sight of her family gathered together.

Seleana Zdunich: You almost break the law just by living together.

The five women all shrug together, each smirking back in kind.

Kelly Taylor: Good job Maja and Matty don’t live with us then, yeah?

Nodding, Seleana is forced to agree with the British drummer.

Seleana Zdunich: Does she still pop over then?

Maja shrugs.

Maja Lindström: Lis makes good food!

Alissa pats Maja on the back.

Alissa Lacroix: We’ve heard rumblings from the neighbors. Maja here creeps over like she’s trying not to be seen so much that they wondered if we’d all fallen off the wagon and she was buying off us!

Kelly smirks.

Kelly Taylor: To be fair, the police are driving by to check up on us. Bit shit that, but nothing to be done at the moment.  

Seleana frowns in confusion.

Seleana Zdunich: Why are the police driving by to check up on you? Are they worried about quarantine that much then?

Linnéa shrugs.

Linnéa Lacroix: She means they’re patrolling around in general, not that they’re paying particular attention to us. We haven’t actually had much to do in a while since we got suspended for that Kingdom “incident.” We’re supposed to be off this show but, we’ll see if that happens or if Gavin’s gonna keep us on resistriction like we’re rowdy teenagers he caught sneaking out to meet boys.

Alissa shrugs quickly.

Alissa Lacroix: Some of us resemble that remark just a bit there, Li!

Linnéa turns to face her sister.  

Linnéa Lacroix: Yeah, but you know what I mean, Lis. It’s not like they really think we’re running a drug den in here or that we’re doing anything else illegal…

Alissa snickers playfully.

Alissa Lacroix: You mean besides leaving town for work where we’ll congregate with more than ten other people and then fight where blood might be spilled?

Rolling her eyes, Linnéa turns back to the camera.

Linnéa Lacroix: We really haven’t killed anyone yet somehow despite having nothing to do but practice band stuff for six weeks.

Seleana smirks.

Seleana Zdunich: I should have had you broadcast it for me. We’ve already had noise complaints here. Christina joked that they just weren’t keen to hear us show each other God, especially Dani Weston. Though she did get so bored this week she started filming a new series, calls it Beautiful Girls of Fighting. She’s keen to make it look like it’s from the 1980’s…

Zenna laughs.

Zenna Zdunich: GLOW?

Linnéa Lacroix: WOW?

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: Exactly like those, ja.

Alissa Lacroix: What’d she make you for it?

Seleana starts to protect but all five just give her a look that tells her not to try and bullshit them on this.  

Seleana Zdunich: Amanda the Aussie Zookeeper…

She shakes her head as the other five just stare at her in stunned silence.

Seleana Zdunich: I’ll catch hell for it from those in Christchurch. They’re not fond of being asked if they’re Aussies and I know Aussies aren’t fond of it either.

The five girls start laughing.

Kelly Taylor: Alright, let’s have it then!

Seleana frowns but Alissa nods her agreement.

Alissa Lacroix: Christina has to have you doing an accent for this, so come on…

Seleana grits her teeth, visibly hesitant to continue with this line of thinking.

Zenna Zdunich: Come on, Sarabi…

Seleana’s head droops and she exhales heavily.

Seleana Zdunich: Jag skit i det blå skåpet nu…

Zenna and the others all smile as Seleana stands up, clears her throat and then grins stupidly into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Blimey, I’m Amanda the Aussie Zookeeper!

The other five desperately try not to laugh but fail and start laughing hysterically.

Maja Lindström: Herregud...

Zenna Zdunich: Oj!

Linnéa Lacroix: Wow…

Kelly Taylor: That was bloody awful!

Alissa Lacroix: Tell me that’s intentional and you’re gonna sound like that the whole fuckin’ time!  Please…

Seleana nods ashamedly and the five cheer.

Alissa Lacroix: Hell fuckin’ yes!

Seleana shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: She had to find something to do while we kill time for the pay-per-view.  She’s got a three-way with Roxi Johnson and Andrea Hernandez and I have a four-way with Keira Johnson, Mercedes Vargas and new girl called Tallyn. Since we can’t really leave the building, Christina decided to try and entertain some of us while we all get ready to rumble because most of us know our opponents well. I’ve had multiple matches with Keira and Mercedes already, Keira and I are friends, Mercedes and I are…

She pauses before nodding knowingly.

Seleana Zdunich: Not…

She pauses, taking a deep breath.

Seleana Zdunich: Roxi and Christina are friends and have fought for the championship before. Andrea has had matches with many of us and has shown she’s right on the edge of the championship but I think it would drive us all crazy if all we did was sit around focusing on the fights and nothing else. I know Christina has video games but even those have their limits. I have Chavy I can conference with as well but all that does is remind me how much I miss the animals and the zoo, how much I miss Sarabi in particular.

Zenna nods to her sister knowingly.

Zenna Zdunich: Everything will be alright. You will be reunited soon.

Seleana nods hopefully.

Seleana Zdunich: How long are you in Sacramento?  

Zenna Zdunich: The show is tomorrow, then we get to go home.

Seleana sits down.  

Seleana Zdunich: Do you guys have to basically sneak in and out as well?

Zenna nods, the others following suit around her.

Zenna Zdunich: Ja, though Nikki and Bandit from the Shieldmaidens seem to find us ways more often than we should be able to.

Seleana nods in complete understanding.

Seleana Zdunich: We do as well. I’m never keen on how that goes but it has to be done in order to make the shows I am booked on.

She looks down unhappily.

Seleana Zdunich: I’m sorry your suspensions have been as they are.

Zenna shakes her head.

Zenna Zdunich: They are worth getting back a piece of the Kingdom. It was necessary. We are sorry it cost you more harshly than it cost us. We did not think you would be fired.

Seleana shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: It is not the first time.

Zenna Zdunich: No, but that is not a reputation you need to be growing.

Alissa chuckles.

Alissa Lacroix: Who knew Seleana would be the one to get capped twice when Z is supposed to be the short-tempered sister?

Zenna shrugs.

Zenna Zdunich: I am, but no one speaks of my wife the way they do Seleana’s.

Seleana smiles gratefully.

Seleana Zdunich: And you did not need to open the door to violate company policy regarding cross-brand attacks, nor did you refuse to make a public apology when requested. I did both of those things just as I punched my boss in SCW. Sadly, there is no Mark Ward to be my savior this time. Brianna Summers has no good cop to her bad, even if her boss is a family friend. I do not think Eric Donavan would undercut his general manager like that even if Robbie asked him to.

Linnéa smiles.

Linnéa Lacroix: Nor would you ask Robbie to do that in the first place. You’re too nice and honorable to put him in that kind of position to ask for something like that of the man he named his son after.

She pauses and then nods in acknowledgement.

Linnéa Lacroix: Even if he did name the same son after Declan Black as well.

Everyone laughs.

SL: Considering he is more or less family too…

Zenna shrugs.

Zenna Zdunich: He is, bless Rain and GoGo and their taste!

Just then a door can be heard opening behind them.

Zenna Zdunich: Matthias is here with food.

Seleana nods, smiling from ear to ear.

Seleana Zdunich: Go enjoy it. I love you.

The others all answer back in knd before the call ends.

Seleana Zdunich: Okej…

Seleana stands up and turns, looking for her workout clothes so she can go get in a p[ractice session ahead of her match at Blaze of Glory.



 
 

 Off-Camera

Friday, February 28, 2020
Zdunich Apartment
Las Vegas, Nevada
11:17 AM  PST



What a difference two weeks can make! Valentine’s Day had seen Seleana Zdunich at Busch Gardens in Tampa, enjoying herself as she readied for an SCW pay-per-view match with a championship on the line. The fact that she hadn’t managed to win the match or championship, while not ideal, had also not been soul crushing.

February 18th had seen her baby sister get inadvertently kicked in the face by a wrestler called Morgan Payne on a show in Japan. Payne had been involved with an argument involving Eavan Maloney and Eavan had brought both of her wives, Adriana and Katra Zdunich, with her intending to take her leave of that company with a bit of grace to her exit.

The kick to Katra’s face had ended that pipe dream.

On the 23rd, Seleana had been working a pay-per-view show for Hybrid Wrestling’s Unleashed Brand as a manager for her wife, Christina Zdunich. During a match for the tag team championships between a friend of Seleana’s named Bethany Kenyon and Bethany’s partner Josh Goldstein, and a team called Bloody Fairytale, four other women, one of them being Morgan Payne, had attacked Goldstein and forced Bethany to defend the championships two on one. Having already decided they had animosity towards Payne and this stable because of the kick and an earlier incident wherein the leader of the group, Jasmine Matthews, attempted to force Katra to actually wrestle a match against Eavan’s professional fight ex-boyfriend, Seleana opened the back door to her sister, Zenna Zdunich, Zenna’s fiancée Linnéa Lacroix and the Zdunich Sisters’ cousin, Maja Lindström.

Zenna, Linnéa and Maja worked for the other Hybrid Wrestling show, the Ascension Brand, and were not supposed to be there on the show. There was actually a company policy against such things happening because of a now-defunct stable that had made a habit of defying company officials and showed up wherever they felt like, generally making a nuisance of themselves and creating havoc wherever they went.

The ensuing attack on Matthews and Payne’s group had resulted in Seleana, Zenna, Linnéa and Maja all being arrested and was now probably going to lead to further company discipline. The question was only how severe the discipline would end up being for them.

Christina Zdunich: So, were you going to tell me?

Seleana looks up from her laptop as she sits at the kitchen table of their apartment in Las vegas and frowns.

Seleana Zdunich: Tell you what, Chickie?

Christina frowns, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Christina Zdunich: The stunt you pulled on Sunday, were you going to tell me?

Seleana shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: What is to tell? It happened, it’s over. We’ll probably get suspended for it.

Christina is unmoved.

Christina Zdunich: You planned it…

Seleana nods slowly, pointedly.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, we did.

Christina grinds her teeth in annoyance.

Christina Zdunich: I didn’t!

Seleana nods again.

Seleana Zdunich: No, you did not.

Christina stares at Seleana in stunned disbelief.

Christina Zdunich: Why not? I could have helped! I’m part of this family too!

Seleana looks to the table, her head bowed in guilt.

Seleana Zdunich: I know, but we could not tell you. You could not be part of that…

Christina’s eyes narrow, her hurt and anger still plainly visible.

Christina Zdunich: Why not?

Her arms fly down demonstrably.

Christina Zdunich: I could have helped! You know I would have!

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: That’s why we could not tell you. It came together quickly and we knew you would want in if you knew. We all knew we would get in trouble but we also knew we would not catch any extra flack for it. Kattunge is our sister…

Christina’s eyes flash her anger even as she cocks her head slightly in confusion.

Christina Zdunich: Linnéa and Maja are not her sisters!

Seleana shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: No, Maja is her cousin and Linnéa is to marry Zenna. They both have the connection and the proper reputation…

Christina’s eyes flash wildly.

Christina Zdunich: Reputation? You’re saying you kept this secret from me and didn’t ask me to help because of my fucking reputation? Seleana, I am your WIFE!!!  There is nothing I would not do for you!

Seleana springs up and nods.

Seleana Zdunich: I know that, you know that. They know that but the outside world would not! They would look at you doing that and think to say you were only doing it because you are a notice starved attention whore who only did it because it would get you in the news cycle! That you were actually hoping to get suspended because it would somehow make you a bigger star, give you street credibility you did not have before and remind everybody that you are not to be fucked with! That maybe, just maybe, it would make every company you work for currently start giving you the respect you think you deserve that many of are currently keeping from you!

Christina just stares, obviously caught off-guard and hurt by her wife’s words.

Christina Zdunich: I…

Seleana raises her hands up to try and calm her wife.

Seleana Zdunich: I am not saying I believe that to be the truth, Estrellita. I am saying if we told you what we were going to do and you took part in it, the story would not be that four members of a non-wrestlers’ family tried to exact revenge on the villains that hurt her, it would be that Crystal Hilton had to be the center of the world and went looking for a way to give herself a shortcut to that again and we did not want that for you!  

Christina glares and then points accusingly.

Christina Zdunich: Maybe that wasn’t your decision to make!

Seleana’s hands spread out wide.

Seleana Zdunich: It was the decision we made. I am sorry it hurt you, but it is what happened. We did not tell you because we knew how the world would take it and we didn’t want you…

Christina nods knowingly.

Christina Zdunich: Exactly, you didn’t want me!  

She turns and storms off, making her way to the door and slamming it behind her dramatically.

Seleana steps back and slumps into her chair.

Seleana Zdunich: Du har skitit i det blå skåpet nu! Din jävla idiot!

Shaking her head, Seleana looks over to the door and sighs heavily.

Seleana Zdunich: Du har skitit i det blå skåpet nu!

Shaking her head, she pounds her right fist onto the table so hard the laptop almost jumps.

Seleana Zdunich: Din jävla idiot! Varför sa du det?

Clenching her jaw tightly, Seleana looks away, exhaling heavily.  

Seleana Zdunich: Din jävla idiot, Seleana, du vet bättre!  

Seleana stands up and starts walking to the back of the apartment, contemplating what to do next.

Seleana Zdunich: Du har skitit i det blå skåpet nu. Frågan är...

She picks up her car keys and stares at them.

Seleana Zdunich: Vad gör du för att rengöra skiten?

Nodding to herself, Seleana turns and heads for the door, knowing she’s got a big job ahead of her now.




On-Camera

Friday, February 14, 2020
Busch Gardens
Tampa, Florida
1:36 PM  EST



The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich standing on a sidewalk on the edge of the Las Vegas Strip just past the Mandalay Bay. Wearing a pair of tight blue jeans, a loose blue sleeveless top and a beat-up Nikes,  

Seleana Zdunich: I…

She turns away from the camera, motioning at the ground with both hands palms down as she tries to calm herself.

Seleana Zdunich: Tagga ner… tagga ner…

She takes a deep breath and looks to the sky.

Seleana Zdunich: För fan i helvete!

Turning back to face the camera, Seleana waves a hand in front of her almost seemingly begging for a proper answer.

Seleana Zdunich: You cannot be… this…

She waves again, stunned into near silence.

Seleana Zdunich: I did not want to believe people when they spoke of you be it in private or public. I did not want to think… I…

Both of her hands curl into loose fists as she stares forward waiting for a punchline she knows is never coming.

Seleana Zdunich: I am at a loss, it is as if you only bothered to read a company bio and did not actually pay attention to much of anything else at all. Please tell me you would not have looked at Mercedes Vargas or Alicia Lukas and acted as if neither one had any kind of track record at all…

Her head kants slightly to the left in an interrogative manner.

Seleana Zdunich: You would, wouldn’t you?

She nods, her head moving to a more straight up posture.

Seleana Zdunich: You, Bea Barnhart, would honestly look at two of the more decorated champions this company has ever seen and act like they were nothing but unknown, untested rookies because you decided to sort of skim their company bios and…

A realization seemingly washes over Seleana.

Seleana Zdunich: Du skulle verkligen skitta i det blå skåpet...

Disbelief is replaced with disgust.

Seleana Zdunich: Din jävla idiot!

She glares into the camera, her right hand bouncing on her chest.

Seleana Zdunich: I know my track record is not like theirs, but I do have one and you would do well to start noticing that some of us have been here for longer than a few minutes and have actually wrestled a march or two before you. I have main evented pay-per-views and been World Bombshell Champion. I have worked to overcome devastating losses and limbed back to the top of the mountain again and again and all you can do is stand there and act like it is a foregone conclusion that you will win and I will be nothing after because you have literally nothing else to say…

Both hands ball into fists and fire down stopping just short of hitting Seleana’s own thighs.

Seleana Zdunich: You slack, jävla lata! I will teach you manners that you should have been taught long ago. I will show you that shitting in the blue cupboard gets you nothing but a kick in places you did not want to remember you have during a fight!    

She takes a step forward, glaring harshly into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: My name is Seleana Zdunich and I will make sure you remember that and you remember to pay more attention to those you will fight here and anywhere else you go! People used to say it was disrespectful of me to be in this sport because I had not trained my entire life to achieve my place but you are ten times more disrespectful than I could ever hope to be to this sport! I am going to walk to that ring and I am going to smack you until my hand starts to ache from within and then i will hit you more for causing my hand to gain its ache in the first place!

Looking down at her hand, she nods pointedly.

Seleana Zdunich: It is time to show you what happens when you do not pay the proper attention…

Her head snaps up and the glare turns hateful.

Seleana Zdunich: Välkommen till djungeln! Katten är hungrig och det är mattid!
   









         

 Off-Camera

Friday, February 7, 2020
Jonesy’s Bar
Manhattan
New York, New York
11:17 PM  EST


Celebrations seldom get better than this. After a WWA show in Brooklyn, Seleana Zdunich was coming back to her sister’s penthouse apartment in Manhattan along with many members of her family, four of them draped in gold. Her sister-in-law, Eavan Zdunich, went into the show s the reigning world champion and had retained in a submission match. Being that the show was in Brooklyn, it meant Seleana’s youngest sister, Katra, and their other wife, Adriana, were present for the show.

If that had been all that had happened, it would have been enough to be a great night and a reason to celebrate at Jonesy’s Bar afterward.  

But added to that was the fact that Seleana, younger sister Zenna, and wife Christina, had won the company’s trios championships as well. It was only Seleana and Zenna’s second match in the company, their first as a trio team with Christina, who was a company mainstay. Zenna’s fiancée, Linnéa Lacroix, along with the rest of their band with Katra, Linnéa’s younger sister, Alissa, and Alissa’s fiancée, Kelly Taylor, had also made the trip. Given that the penthouse they would all be staying at was in the same building as the apartment Kelly’s elder sister, Jenni Taylor, lived in, Jenni had come to the show as well.

Now that the show was over and with a full day before Seleana would accompany Zenna, Katra, Linnéa, Alissa and Kelly to Puerto Rico for Ladies Night for SCU, the whole familial group was congregating at Jonesy’s Bar, a place that had served as a natural hangout and jam palace for the band during its formative years and for Katra even after the rest starting living in New Orleans more often. With Zenna, Katra, Linnéa, Alissa and Kelly on stage jamming out to a cover of UFO’s “Rock Bottom,” Seleana glances back at the bar and nods as she watches her wife retrieving drinks for the rest of them.

Seleana Zdunich: Tonight was a fucking awesome night!

The others at the table with her, Eavan, Adriana and Jenni, nod in unison, all three grinning at Seleana’s enthusiasm and exuberance.  

Eavan Zdunich: It was, even if I’m tired and beat-up now.

Jenni, a former wrestler herself, snickers.

Jenni Taylor: Bloody hell, you had a right banger. You should be a little worse for wear after that, Love!

Adriana can’t help but nod in agreement.

Adriana Zdunich: Jenni’s right, Eav. You really were my Feisty Firecracker in there tonight!

Eavan nods and then motions back at Christina.

Eavan Zdunich: How long is she gonna be like that?

Seleana glances back at her wife and shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: A day or two, probably. She’s always down on herself after she does not win a match, even if it was the second one of the night and we did win the other one.

Adriana shakes her head.

Adriana Zdunich: So, she’s been promising you to work as a team with you for like...two years, finally does it, you win championships in your first match as a team which was a dream of yours and she’s going to pout because she didn’t win her other match?

Trying not to explode too much, Adriana just sits back in her chair.

Adriana Zdunich: That match the three of you won was a ladder match for goodness sakes! Zenna crashed herself through a table to take out one of your opponents and all she can think of is that she didn’t manage to win a second gimmick match in the same night and…

She trails off and shakes her head.

Adriana Zdunich: I can’t wait to get onstage so I don’t have to sit next to her! If she’s going to be that selfish, I’m sorry, but I want no part of… that!      

Eavan sighs heavily.

Eavan Zdunich: Can’t say we haven't seen this before. Crystalina strikes again…

Jenni glances from them back to Christina and then looks back to the others.

Jenni Taylor: I don’t know, it doesn’t seem that bad to me but I am admittedly unfamiliar with her behavior and so unfit to make judgments on the matter as much as you lot are able.

Eavan shrugs almost apologetically.

Eavan Zdunich: I’m probably the wrong one to cast aspersions on her but she does this a lot. It almost always comes back to bite her in the ass too. It really does almost seem like a self-fulfilling cycle of prophecy and self-flagellation of some kind.

Seleana nods in acknowledgement, looking almost apologetic as she does so.

Seleana Zdunich: That is something you know some of, ja?

Eavan nods.

Eavan Zdunich: It is, which is why I say I might not be the right one to throw stones at her at the moment. I’m trying to be better about things…

Adriana shakes her head.

Adriana Zdunich: Not trying, you ARE being better about things! You’ve looked at yourself, you’ve seen things and you’ve admitted they’re there. That’s not easy to do!

Jenni can’t nod her agreement enough.

Jenni Taylor: I did that when I was inside as well. Had to admit to myself that I deserved better than what I had allowed and that it was not all my fault the way I was going on about with myself.

Eavan nods.

Eavan Zdunich: Me too.

Adriana stands up, ready to join their family onstage.

Adriana Zdunich: Well I hope she learns for herself or she’s going to end up…

Trailing off again, Adriana shakes her head and walks up to join American Murder Log for a few of her songs.

Jenni Taylor: She’s right, if I’m honest. If Christina is as naff as is being said she’ll end up in an unhappy way if she doesn’t stop going on about whatever it is she’s on about.

Eavan shrugs.

Eavan Zdunich: The same has been said about me many times.

Jenni nods quickly.

Jenni Taylor: Yes, but you appear to be working on yourself. You’ve recognized what needed to be done. You’re to be commended for that, Love.

Eavan blushes, looking down at her feet.

Eavan Zdunich: Thanks.  

Seleana sighs heavily. She’d heard this before both in public and in private.

Seleana Zdunich: It’s reflected on me as well. Mercedes Vargas, Jessie Salco, Alicia Lukas, a great many have told me that I should move on from her and stop letting her make me look like a great idiot for staying with her when she does things like this.

Jenni’s mouth falls open.

Jenni Taylor: What bollocks! You’d have to be bloody mad and stop being you to do that!

Eavan nods sadly.

Eavan Zdunich: I see both sides of that argument.

Raising her right hand palm up, Eavan nods to it, her left also sitting palm up albeit a good foot lower than her right.

On the one hand, Christina does a lot of silly, stupid and overly dramatic things that draws attention to herself and sometimes it’s not the kind of attentiopn she wants but it’s attention so, hey, right?

Her hands switch positions, her left rising while her right falls.

Eavan Zdunich: On the other hand, she is also attacked a lot more often than others because of much of an easy target she has become and leaving her is not something Zdunich Women do. My sitting here right now is ample proof of that since none of you ever abandoned me no matter what I did and I can’t thank you enough for that!

Seleana shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: Is that not what family does?

Jenni nods as quickly as she had before.

Jenni Taylor: I agree with this assessment, Love. Family does not leave, especially not this lot!

Eavan smiles knowingly.

Eavan Zdunich: This is true.

The three of them watch as the band kicks into a duet version of “Lost In YOur Eyes.” Linnéa  and Adriana belt it out, Adriana staring at Katra for part of the song and then turns to face Eavan for other parts, Linnéa looking at Zenna for most of it. Jenni and Seleana smile as the band plays their original, written by Linnéa and Katra based on something Katra had written very early in her original courtship with Eavan. As the song ends, Jenni and Seleana both smile, Eavan appears to be moved to tears.

Seleana Zdunich: Still gets you then?

Eavan nods.

Eavan Zdunich: Every time…

Jenni leans over and hugs her.

Jenni Taylor: Good on you for finding your way back.

Eavan smiles gratefully.

Eavan Zdunich: Thanks.

Jenni nods at the stage.

Jenni Taylor: Will you be playing as well then?

Eavan shrugs.

Eavan Zdunich: If they decide to go acoustic for a bit. I don’t know that I could handle trying to really rock out tonight.

At that moment, Adriana and Katra come down, grab her by the hands and lead Eavan onto the stage. The acoustic guitars are brought out and the band starts playing a few with Eavan. Just then, Christina comes back to the table.

Christina Zdunich: Did I get what everybody wanted?

Jenni and Seleana scan the selection and nod.

Jenni Taylor: You did, good on you, Love!

Christina sits down as Eavan sings Alice In Chains’ “Nutshell,” sighing sadly to herself.

Christina Zdunich: I’m sorry if I rained on your parade. You’re all so happy and I…

Seleana shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: Estrellita…

Jenni shakes her head as well.

Jenni Taylor: What are you on about, Love?

Christina sighs again.

Christina Zdunich: I just… I should have…

Jenni shakes her head.

Jenni Taylor: You did bloody brilliantly! You’ve kept your promise to your wife and you’ve won a championship with her as well as your sister-in-law. It was a fucking ladder match that beat you up and you still nearly took the last one as well! That’s a smashing success it is and you should be proud of yourself for a performance like that!

Christina shakes her head.

Christina Zdunich: I should have been better! I’m a four-time hall of famer! Fifteen-time world champion…

She balls her hand into a fiost and almost smashes her own thigh with it.

Christina Zdunich: I should have been able to do both!  

Jenni shrugs, Seleana following suit.

Seleana Zdunich: I agree with Jenni, Stjärna, you were awesome tonight!

Eavan starts singing a Johnny Cash song and Seleana smiles.

Seleana Zdunich: You should sing one too!

Christina shakes her head.

Christina Zdunich: No…

Jenni frowns.

Jenni Taylor: Why not?

Christina shakes her head.

Christina Zdunich: Why would I be any good at that tonight when I couldn’t even…

Jenni cuts her off.

Jenni Taylor: Bollocks!

Seleana nods in agreement with Jenni.

Seleana Zdunich: Estrellita, you’ve done this all before. Surely you could sing one song with them?

Christina  

Christina Zdunich: I don’t wanna ruin your night any more than I already have.

Seleana and Jenni shake their heads and enjoy listening as Eavan finishes the Johnny Cash song and goes into “Maybe It’s Time” from A Star Is Born.

Jenni Taylor: She’s doing brilliantly, yeah?

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: Too right she is!

Christina shrugs.

Christina Zdunich: See, she’s having a much better night than me. I’m supposed to eb the star who can wrestle, act, sing and…

Jenni cuts her off again.

Jenni Taylor: Then get off your fucking ass and prove it, Darling!

Christina looks up at Jenni in shock.

Christina Zdunich: What?

Jenni does not flinch or look away.

Jenni Taylor: You bloody heard me, get off your fucking ass and prove it!

Christina shakes her head as the band starts to play another Alice In Chains song, this time with three-pronged vocals between Linnéa, Eavan and Adriana. Linnéa and Eavan sing the straight vocals with Adriana singing the high harmonies on “Brother.” The crowd in the bar cheers wildly as the song finishes, Eavan and Adriana standing and taking a bow before walking down to the floor.  Linnéa steps off the stage as well and starts almost pulling on Christina. Zenna and Alissa step down and lean on her until Christina comes onstage with them. A few minutes later,  Linnéa is sitting at a piano, the rest of the band ready to play with electric instruments again and Christina starts singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”

Seleana Zdunich: They got her to do it! I didn’t think she’d be keen, this is awesome!

Eavan smiles as Jenni and Adriana look on as well.  

Jenni Taylor: Right, let’s see this then!

Eavan nods while Adriana sits quietly. Christina belts the song out, singing as if her life depends on it and brings the crowd to their feet again. The band steps up to her and hugs her before she steps to the floor and comes to the table. Seleana meets her and hugs her, kissing her passionately.

Seleana Zdunich: Jag älskar dig, Stjärna!

Christina kisses back and makes a smile.

Christina Zdunich: Jag älskar dig ockå!

Christina takes her seat near Seleana and on the opposite side of the table from Adriana, Jenni and Eavan sitting between them as well, the four women taking in the rest of the show as American Murder Log enjoys themselves into the wee hours of the morning, the bar rocking out until fifteen minutes before closing time.




On-Camera

Saturday, February 8, 2020
Madison Square Garden
Manhattan
New York, New York
7:21 PM  EST




The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich standing in front of Madison Square Garden on the steps wearing a black jeans and a denim jacket. With her hair pulled back into a ponytail, her smile beams out for the world to see.

Seleana Zdunich: Last night was an awesome night! I got to spend it with family, wrestle, come out victorious and then celebrate in style with my sisters’ band. They even got Christina to sing one with them which was just awesome!

Clasping her hands together, Seleana leans in with a giant, almost chilike grin on her face, the memories of the previous evening flooding over her in a rush.

Seleana Zdunich: I have to admit, I think that was one of my favorite moments of the whole evening, right up there with winning the trios championships with Christina and Zenna and with hearing Li, Addy and Eav sing a three-part vocal together. Hearing Eav hold her own with Li and Addy was awesome and I couldn’t have asked for a better capper for the evening than hearing my entire family just rocking out onstage like that!

She nods to herself, glancing at her shoes for a second.

Seleana Zdunich: Christina had never really done that before….

Nodding to herself again, Seleana looks back up to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Now we get ready to go to Puerto Rico tomorrow for Sin City Underground and their Ladies Night show. The band were announced and I know Eavan and Adriana are going to support Katra and because they’ll be heading to Japan after for a match Eavan is involved in next week. It will be awesome to see HayJo in all her glory. She’s done so well for herself there and I could not be more proud of her.

She claps quickly and nods just as quickly.

Seleana Zdunich: We might even have Kelly’s sister Jenni come with us just as an added flavor. One more color for the palette if you will…

A tinge of knowing playfulness causes her smile to beam even more brightly than before.

Seleana Zdunich: It’s going to be an awesome night, so much family and I wish we could all be there but Brittany and Christina both have previous engagements they have to attend to and thus will not be there but we will have plenty of our family there to make sure this is the best Ladies Night ever! Puerto Rico will be awesome!

She rubs her hand together again in anticipation.

Seleana Zdunich: And once we’ve enjoyed ourselves on Ladies Night, it will be time to prepare for the SCW Pay-Per-View extravaganza, My Bloody Valentine 3, where I will take part in a ladder match with five other competitors to claim the reactivated SCW Bombshell Internet Championship!  

Her hands stop moving, almost coming together like she’s going to pray right there on the steps of this hallowed hall.

Seleana Zdunich: This field is stacked with talent and former champions! Samantha Marlowe, Jessie Salco, Kate Steele, Mercedes Vargas and Sierra Williams and I admit, I cannot wait to see what we can all do with this prestigious prize hanging above, tantalizing us like the forbidden fruit, just begging to be plucked from its tree!  

She looks up, reaching for the sky with her right hand.

Seleana Zdunich: It will be right there, daring us, begging us, “Please, pick me!”

Her hand closes and then grabs at the sky.

Seleana Zdunich: “Come grab me and I will take you to the promised land of milk, honey, money, fame, power and glory!”

She retracts her hand and takes a deep breath, her gaze remaining skyward.

Seleana Zdunich: For there six of us, it will hang there, taunting us with its ripe juiciness, knowing it is just there and all we have to do is get our hands on it, pull it from the sky and hold it up for the world to see for it to come home! We will all go into this match believing it will be us…

With her hands both by her sides, Seleana nods to the sky.

Seleana Zdunich: Samantha, Jessie, Kate, Mercedes, Sierra, this will all tell everyone who can hear them that it will be them and they all have every right to believe it will be there. We have all won championships before here in SCW. Some of us have been to multiple suigary mountaintops while some have only had the one taste...  

Her gaze back down to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: And we all want to get there again very much badly!

Her right hand raises up and slowly closes into a fist just in front of her mouth.

Seleana Zdunich: That sweet taste of vindication and the glory that comes with it. The ability to tell everyone else that it was you who went to the top and you who now come back down with the fruits in your hands.

Her fist opens and she stares at her hand as if it's holding a golden piece of fruit in it.  

Seleana Zdunich: Five of us will have that sweet taste of vindication turn to ashes in our mouths while one stands atop that ladder…

Looking to the sky again, her hand reaches up just the same.

Seleana Zdunich: That one will stand tall and be able to look to the heavens and point, “I am the God of Olympus and I now take my place amongst your exalted in the sacred halls! I am Jason holding your Golden Fleece! I am Heracles and I have completed your Twelve Labours!  I am Perseus holding the Head of Medusa and I will be held down no longer!”

She lowers her hand and nods to the sky.

Seleana Zdunich: So the question is, which one of us will it be….?

Seleana moves her gaze back to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Will it be Kate Steele, still trying to reinvent herself as a Diamond in the rough?

Her left hand extends forward, her right pointing to it like its a list.

Seleana Zdunich: Will it be Jessie Salco, still trying to make up for allowing me to time and again reach for the sky by going through her?

Her index finger taps the list again.

Seleana Zdunich: Will it be Mercedes Vargas who has honestly sounded like she was done lately?

And again.

Seleana Zdunich: Will it be Samantha Marlowe who has looked almost as unbeatable as Alicia Lukas did for so long?

And again.

Seleana Zdunich: Will it be Sierra Williams finally proving that she can stand on her own?

One last time.

Seleana Zdunich: Or will it be me, finally proving that I can climb to the top again whether anyone else is keen for it or not?

Her right hand moves up to wag the still-extended index finger at the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: We will find out at My Bloody Valentine 3 and I can tell you one thing right now…

The camera zooms in as Seleana nods happily.

Seleana Zdunich: This will be a spectacle no one will ever forget!

 Off-Camera

Monday, January 6, 2020
Board Room
Rose Productions Movie Studio
Los Angeles, California
9:11 AM  PST


It was a relatively small boardroom since lately it had not been put to much usage. In truth, it had not been put to much usage at all no matter who was in charge. Original owner and CEO Christina “Crystal Hilton” Zdunich maintained a schedule that made meetings a sporadic occurrence and thus left COO Chloe Martin to run things most of the time.  This had continued until a takeover had occurred in January 2019 and Teddy Warren had managed to scoop up the shares to put himself in charge instead of Christina. Her title remained intact albeit largely ceremonial while Teddy was allowed to basically run things as he saw fit. Chloe had gone along with this because she could see which way the wind was blowing and decided to hoist her sails with it instead of against it.

This meant Christina had spent most of the last year on the outside looking in when it came to her own company. No longer did she enjoy the wonders of a top income nor did she enjoy any type of control over her own name and likeness when it came to appearing in film, television or promotional materials regarding studio output.

Teddy had never bothered to abuse this control aside from deciding not to use it at all. He was far too busy enjoying using the company’s money to try and make his own and his wife’s careers take off in different directions.

This is how Diamond Steele had come to pass  

Today, Teddy had decided it was time for a meeting because the next phase of his master plan would involve the studio making several films and television series to make the Steeles even bigger mainstream stars thus giving them more negotiating power when it came to the wrestling companies they worked for, especially SCW. Teddy and his Diamond were taking over the world and all he had to do was call a meeting to put it into motion.

Looking around the room, he notices that of the nine members of the Board, only two aside from himself and Chloe had arrived, an older caucsian gentleman with salt-white hair and thick glasses named John Pittman that most thought did not pay attention and was only on the Board to take the paycheck, and a young African-American woman named Chiney Okoye, a first-generation American daughter of Nigerian immigrants that was technically still an active professional basketball player.

Both had been selected for the Board because they would look good to investors and add diversity to the membership. Pittman was a man that had previously been known as “The Stealth Bomber” in his previous jobs because he was known to work quietly behind the scenes to remove those he felt were substandard or underqualified for their positions but now in his seventies, his active days of being a feared corporate raider were thought to be over. Okoye had been selected to add a young woman of color to the mix so that no matter what decision was made by the company in general, they would always have someone to point to as an example of taking all voices and points of view into consideration.

It was a bullshit story and everyone in the company knew it, a design meant to cover those in powers’ asses should any decision go south enough to require this kind of public shield from scrutiny.

Teddy Warren: Are they always this late?

Chloe Martin shrugs, frowning. Considering that neither of the people who had been in control of this room in the years it had existed had made a habit of using it, even he could not say whether this was normal or not.

Teddy Warren: Did we get everyone we wanted?

Nodding, Chloe pulls a sheet from the bottom of the stack with the list of names, noting that blank space still existed for one of the seats.

Chloe Martin: The CFO spot is still open because we’ve never given that title out, even when Crystalina was here “running” things.

Teddy can’t help but laugh at the thought of Christina Zdunich running any business.

Teddy Warren: I love that you called her that and that she hates that name! She never saw this coming…

Chloe nods as the door opens to allow two more members to walk in.

The first, Augustus Mulvaney, was an Irish gentleman in his 70’s who, like John Pittman, had been selected because he was available and thought to be passed his prime when it came to being a big time corporate wheeler and dealer. The thought of having another “big name” on the Board that was too old and docile to cause problems or make waves was too good to pass up for both Chloe and Teddy.

The second, Jacob Fox, was a man seemingly without a country that had been in need of a cushioned landing spot after a hostile takeover of the company he had been performing in what could kindly be called middle management. The truth was, Jacob Fox had been a fast-rising young executive of an internet start-up that been grown until it could be sold. He had been brought along and was expected to have a high position in the newly-merged corporation only to run afoul of the aging CEO by taking a position in a division that did not operate in the same city as the corporate headquarters. Fox had been getting over a bad break-up when the position was offered to him as a formality.

He was never supposed to accept it.    

Therefore, two years later when the company had been bought again, he had been one of the people let go as a cost cutting measure, the victim of corporate politics. The CEO liked his proteges to stay close and Fox had made the mistake of going against this. Rose Productions had only been too happy to give him his parachute given that he would need to keep his head down and his mouth shut for the time being in order to allow the time to let his stock rise again.

Chloe watches them sit down and nods to herself. It was perfect, a young athlete to use as a shield for certain public relations needs, two elderly guys just happy to accept a paycheck and a title and a failed executive on the rebound meant she would be able to do whatever she wanted and since Teddy would be happy with whatever she wanted so long as the plan included a few bits of public glory for him and his wife, the place would be hers.

Teddy Warren: How many more are we waiting for?

Chloe smirks knowingly.

Chloe Martin: Two…

Teddy nods to himself, only too happy to hear this. It was almost too perfect! Two guys too old and lazy to care if it was all about him and his wife, an athlete not really paying attention so long as she’s thrown a commercial or two and a guy who desperately needed the spot? Chloe was the type to see the tide and jump on for the ride so she would be easy for him to manipulate to get what he wanted.

A minute more and the door opens to admit a thirty-year-old Mexican woman from San Diego named Melissa Chavez. Both Teddy and Chloe had loved the idea of adding further diversity to their Board, especially when it was a down-on-her-luck woman looking for the opportunity to break into the creative end of things.

Teddy Warren: So that’s one more?

Chloe nods just in time for the door to open again and admit Temuera de Jong. The final diversity hire, this one was a Maori man in his fifties that had worked for a studio back in New Zealand that was known for producing shows that had gone on to be tremendous hits for several networks. He was yet another shield, both against public relations nightmares and against the idea that they had brought in people who knew nothing of this particular business and just like with Melissa Chavez, even if he did have ideas, he was only one of nine and the others were safely positioned to keep him from getting traction opposite Teddy and/or Chloe.

Chloe Martin: That’s all of them…

Teddy nods and stands up, giving the room his best used car salesman smile.

Teddy Warren: I have some exciting news…

Chloe nods in agreement even as the door unexpectedly opens again to admit a blonde woman carrying an empty box in front of her face.

Teddy Warren: Who in the hell are you and why has security not removed you from MY boardroom?

The woman moves to the end of the table and starts to set the box down. As she does so, her face is revealed and Chloe gasps in shock.

Chloe Martin: Seleana???

Teddy stares at her angrily.

Teddy Warren: What the fuck are you doing here?

Seleana looks up, brushes her hair from her face and smiles.

Seleana Zdunich: Jag väntar på att den sista gruppmedlemmen ska komma.          

Teddy and Chloe both shake their heads, Chloe standing to match Teddy.

Chloe Martin: I have no idea what you just said but…

At that moment the door opens and the last person either expected to see at a Board meeting walked into the room.

Christina Zdunich: She said she was waiting for me.

Teddy slaps the table hard with both hands.

Teddy Warren: You have no place here, Crystalina!

Christina’s lip curls at the mention of the hated internet nickname for her but she says nothing in response.

Chloe Martin: What are you doing here?

Christina folds her arms across her chest.

Christina Zdunich: Am I not still CEO?

Chloe starts to frown in confusion.

Chloe Martin: Well, yes, but…

Teddy slaps the table again.

Teddy Warren: Who cares if you have some bullshit title?!!? You gave away all your power when you sold your shares to buy that Swedish trophy standing there a bunch of pets! You do not belong here and you cannot stop me from building my empire! Diamond will…

Seleana Zdunich: Håll käften, din jävla idiot!

Teddy stares at her, not quite sure if he should be insulted or not at what she’s just said. Seleana cocks her head inquisitively.

Seleana Zdunich: Did you not receive the memo...or did you simply neglect to peruse it?

Teddy starts to retort but stops himself.

Teddy Warren: What memo?

Seleana nods and then turns to Chloe.

Seleana Zdunich: And you?

Chloe glances down at the sheet of paper on top. Without reading it fully, she looks up at Seleana in shock.

Chloe Martin: She named a CFO?

Christina smirks, her arms still crossed.

Christina Zdunich: I did.

One more time, Teddy slaps the table.

Teddy Warren: Who gives a damn if she named somebody Santa Claus and called him a real saint?

Chloe slowly moves her gaze from Christina to Seleana.

Chloe Martin: You… ?  

Seleana nods.

Chloe Martin: Oh...my… God…

Teddy looks from Christina to Seleana and then to Chloe. Seeing the suddenly worried look on Chloe’s face, Teddy can’t help but become confused.  

Teddy Warren: What? What’s wrong?

Chloe slumps down into her chair, realization setting in.

Chloe Martin: Seleana’s on the board…

Teddy throws his hands up in exasperation.

Teddy Warren: Who gvies a fuck if Bruce Lee is on the damn Board?

Seleana smiles.

Seleana Zdunich: You should…

Teddy wheels on Seleana, facing her as a ball of fury but Serleana does not flinch.

Seleana Zdunich: Mister Pittman’s company had dealings with Orana Park when I worked there. He was only too happy to accept the position here and keep tabs on things, help suggest other new members…

Teddy Warren: He didn’t do…

Seleana nods quickly, sternly.

Seleana Zdunich: Others sent in the suggestions he made. It was never with his name on it.

Chloe stares at the wall in astonishment.

Chloe Martin: The Stealth Bomber strikes again…

Teddy wheels on her.

Teddy Warren: The hell does that mean?

Seleana’s smile intensifies.

Seleana Zdunich: Chiney went to school with Christina in Detroit…

She pauses and nods to the next person seated at the table.

Seleana Zdunich: Mister Mulvaney has a cousin married to my sister. Miss Chavez is someone who just needed an opportunity to show the world what she can do and her sister works at the Zoological gardens for me. Mister Fox is a man who should be earmarked as a top executive and would be the most competent business person in here. Mister de Jong’s studio did some adverts for Orana Park and directed me for a few photo shoots as well.

Teddy looks around the room to see every member smiling back at him except for Chloe.  

Seleana Zdunich: And since you neglected to name yourself to any actual executive office and I bought your shares in the company, as CFO, I move that Mister Warren is the one who has no business being in this room and should be removed from the premises immediately.  

Teddy’s eyes go wide with shock and outrage.

Teddy Warren: How DARE you?!!!?!?!

Christina smirks, light practically dancing in her eyes.

Christina Zdunich: We have a motion to dismiss Mister Warren, do we have a second?    

Chiney raises her hand.

Chiney Okoye: I second this motion.

Christina nods.

Christina Zdunich: All in favor?

She raises her own hand and seven other hands go up with them. Teddy stares all around the table, almost shaking with rage as he does so. Chloe looks up, reads the room and raises her hand as well.

Teddy Warren: You have GOT to be kidding me!!!!

Christina nods quickly.

Christina Zdunich: Unanimous, motion carries. Will someone PLEASE get this asshole out of MY boardroom?

Chloe presses a button and security enters the room.

Chloe Martin: Please remove Mister Warren from the building and make sure re-entry does not happen.

Security nods and moves in on Teddy.

Teddy Warren: This is MY company! You can’t DO this to me!

Security Officer: Sir, please come with us.

Teddy Warren: You hands OFF me! I OWN this place!

Security Officer: Sir… please ... ?

Teddy tries to shove one away and the entire complement of six men grab him and start to move towards the door.

Teddy Warren: Unhand me you bastards!

They quickly disappear out of the room, Teddy screaming the whole way out.  As the sound of him screaming becomes less and less, Chloe sits in her chair shaking her head in disbelief.

Chloe Martin: I’m so fired…

Seleana quickly, pointedly shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: Nej.

Chloe looks up, visibly shocked.

Chloe Martin: What?

Seleana nods, Christina nodding as well.

Seleana Zdunich: We are all in agreement that you are too good at your job to let you go unless that is what you wish. We will not stop you if you feel that is best for everyone involved. Take the week to decide what you feel is best given the new set-up.

Christina nods again.

Christina Zdunich: I know what you can do, Chloe. I know you’re good at this.

Chloe sighs heavily, closing her eyes and placing her hands on the table.

Chloe Martin: Thank you…

Christina looks at the door and smiles broadly, throwing her hands into the air.

Christina Zdunich: Oh hell YES!!!!

Seleana nods to everyone in the room and smiles, loving every second of how excited her wife is to be back in the saddle of her company once again.    




On-Camera

Friday, January 10, 2020
Rose Productions Gym
Los Angeles, California
6:34 PM  PST


The camera opens upon Seleana Zdunich standing by the heavy bag near a wall in the gym of the Rose Productions Studio wearing a pair of tight grey workout pants, a matching grey sports bra with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She looks at her taped fists, opening them to rub her palms across each other.      

Seleana Zdunich: Hej…

Looking up, she smiles brightly.  

Seleana Zdunich: I am so excited for this match. I have been waiting for too long to have a match like this! To tam with my wife against the likes of Team Hero is a dream come true and I cannot thank Christian and Mark enough for giving me this opportunity, even if they did not really want to or if they wish us poorly. I do not care, I am happy about this!

Squeezing her right hand into a fist, Seleana slaps the two hands together.

Seleana Zdunich: Roxi and Keira are the kind of talents anyone would be happy to step into the ring with and test themselves against alone, as a team…

She smacks her fist into her free hand again excitedly.

Seleana Zdunich: They are a dream come true, especially for a company that does not do such matches very often! I have wanted to see Team Hero up close since I became aware of them when I first entered this country and now I get to stand opposite them alongside my wife in a teaming I have been waiting to make real since we started! We have only gotten to do this on a few occasions and it is always an incredible treat!

Her fist opens and she claps to herself.

Seleana Zdunich: Jag älskar min fru. Jag gillar att samarbeta med henne och vi har haft en fantastisk framgång när vi agerar som en kombination!

She pauses, clasping her hands together.

Seleana Zdunich: Det är en vacker sak att arbeta som en kombination med min fru och vi kommer att njuta av denna kamp också!

She nods pointedly.

Seleana Zdunich: I cannot wait! Christina and I have been waiting for this chance to show what we can do and Roxi and Keira are that chance! But even more than that it is a chance for Christina to begin throwing off “Crystalina!” It is a tag she does not enjoy or appreciate even though she could grasp it with both hands, hold it aloft and use it as a shield if she wished to! Crystalina just means no one is looking at who she is or what she does, they are simply paying attention only to what name has been used for her and even then, only on occasion. Crystalina is what happens when you combine her personae and look for the real her because the truth is she is all of those things! She is not just the attention seeker and she is not just the ner. She is not just the former world champion and she is not just…

Pausing again, Seleana shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: Christian Zdunich is so much more but no one pays attention because no one wants to pay attention. They only see what they want to when they seek to dismiss her as so much flash and noise, sound and fury signifying nothing!  

She grits her teeth, glaring into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: But her CV would say otherwise and you all know it.

She nods in acknowledgement.

Seleana Zdunich: Just as you all tried to dismiss Roxi and Keira as old and out of touch when they returned and now Roxi stands as the one who finally dethroned Alciia Lukas!

Looking down, Seleana nods to herself.

Seleana Zdunich: Now she sits on the throne and we all hope for the chance to dethrone her!

She claps her hands together and looks back up to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Keira may wish for the opportunity to do the same but that is not unexpected. Christina openly wanted to do the same when I was champion and when I was challenging for the championship! Everyone wants to be number one…

She shrugs angrily.

Seleana Zdunich: If you do not, why are you competing?    

She nods forcefully and points to the floor.

Seleana Zdunich: We will come to this match and we will seek to prove we are the best combination out there! Roxi, Keira, we will see you in the ring and then we will all show the world why SCW misses its old division!

The camera zooms in and Seleana nods, her fist being held up.  

Seleana Zdunich: It is time for the world to see the Hollywood Angels fly!





 



     

 Off-Camera

Friday, December 6, 2019
Apartment of Christina and Seleana Zdunich
Las Vegas, Nevada
8:11 AM  PST


Sitting on the couch in the apartment in Las Vegas that she is currently calling a second home with her wife, fellow SCW wrestler, Christina Zdunich, Seleana Zdunich starts planning out her next week. She, Christina and their daughter-in-law, Haylie Jo “Halo” Annis would all need to train for the SCW pay-per-view show coming up, December 2 Dismember, where Seleana and Christina would both be in the co-main event for World Bombshell Championship, while Halo would be getting a rematch for the SCU Women’s Underground Championship with the woman who took the championship from her at High Stakes, Veronica Taylor. The fact that the Bombshell match was inside a Six-Pack Survival match only made the need for training that much greater. As she gets ready to set up her own schedule, Seleana sees Halo walk into the room.    

Seleana Zdunich: Are you ready for December to Dismember, Chickie?

Halo’s fist plunges down onto the couch as she takes a seat next to Seleana.  

Halo: I wish it were tomorrow! I can’t wait to rearrange that bitch’s face!

Seleana stares at her daughter-in-law with shock seemingly registering on her face at the level of ferocity in Halo’s voice.

Seleana Zdunich: You dislike First Class Vero that much, yeah?

Halo’s fire only grows.

Halo: That fuckin’ bitch is gonna feel this one, I promise you that, Mama Sel!  She ain’t gonna spend months tryin’ to throw Daddy in my face and sprayin’ me with that shit she always carries ad walk away with nothin’ but some gold. I’m gonna leave a mark or three on that fuckin’ bitch and wear her face like it’s a new pair of gloves just for my knuckles!

Seleana nods slowly.

Seleana Zdunich: I can understand the feeling. I have had that where it concerns several other people.

Frowning, Halo cocks her head interrogatively.

Halo: How many of them have you gotten to fight where legalized assault was involved?

Seleana almost laughs even as she remains grim-faced.

Seleana Zdunich: Technically, I have had matches with both of them but only one when I really wanted it. They have also both come creeping back to attempt an apology afterwards.

Pausing, she slowly shakes her head before sighing aloud.

Seleana Zdunich: Ironically, both were also apologizing to me for things they did to Brittany while trying to get to her mother.

Halo stares at Seleana for a second and then nods knowingly as comprehension dawns.

Halo: Maria Salvatore and Kate Steele…

Seleana nods affirmatively.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, Kate, of course, has since proven that was so much skit while Maria has attempted civil contact a few other times.

Halo stares on, looking mildly surprised.

Halo: Did she maintain that whole “mafia princess” thing to her?

Again, Seleana nods affirmatively.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, always, though she much less icy towards me following the attempt at apology.

Halo nods slowly.

Halo: So she might actually have meant it?

Shrugging, Seleana lean back against the couch back.  

Seleana Zdunich: She might at that. She is slowly proving herself to have some level of sincerity, simultaneously showing how she and Christina could have been friends in the first place.

Halo nods quickly.

Halo: What was their beef?

Seleana sighs, knowing full well how the answer will sound to anyone who can hear it.

Seleana Zdunich: Christina got drunk and fucked the bridegroom the night before the wedding and then tearfully admitted and apologized for it during the wedding as the maid of honor.

Halo’s mouth falls open.

Halo: How did that wedding actually manage to continue?

Seleana almost laughs at the absurdity of it all.

Seleana Zdunich: Maria blamed Christina in total for it.

Halo’s mouth falls open again for the second time in the same minute.

Halo: You mean to tell me the dude was a typical douchebag dude who dipped his wick in the maid of honor’s honeypot the night before the weddin’ and his bride didn’t blame him at all?

Seleana shakes her head, visibly stifling a laugh.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja.

Halo looks away for a second, a look of stunned disbelief on her face.

Halo: The fuckin’ guy banged her best friend while she was wasted as hell…

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja.

Halo’s gaze returns to her mother-in-law.

Halo: Ain’t that considered rape in some places?

Seleana nods yet again.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, it is.

Halo continues to just stare back at Seleana.

Halo: And somehow, she blamed Mama Christina and not the prick who just had to get his dick wet?

Seleana nods again still trying not to laugh at the whole situation.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, that is the truth...

The answer seems to punch Halo in the gut.

Halo: How was he not arrested? Or shot on sight by her daddy? Or taken out behind the woodshed by her brothers and shown the unofficial brothers' code of exposin’ vital organs of cheatin’ bastards to daylight?  

Finally allowing herself a minor chuckle, Seleana looks her daughter-in-law in the eye.

Seleana Zdunich: I would assume that Christina was a convenient scapegoat in public and no further demonstrations were necessary. Christina was ostracized from that circle of friends and then subjected to Maria and her little group attacking me, kidnapping Brittany and tried to make it look like Brittany wanted to turn on her mother fior a time. I’m sure in private, there were conversations given, warnings given in conjunction. To what level, I do not know. The only real contact I had with Maria for a time then was in the ring. She wished to make an example of me and only succeeded in making an example of herself.

Halo nods ever so slightly, taking this all in.

Halo: What made her come back to talk to you again?

Seleana giggles knowingly.

Seleana Zdunich: Self interest. She was attempting to publicly show a rehabilitated persona and knew how it would look if she allowed that incident to remain unatoned for. I think she saw Christina making the same basic attempt, saw Kate Steele making the same basic attempt and decided if it was working for them, it might work for her as well.

Halo frowns.

Halo: But… did it work for them?

Seleana almost snickers again.

Seleana Zdunich: Kate had the benefit of Griffin Hawkins to vouch for her at the time. She would not have that now and would have to… crawl back to him… so to speak. Christina had me but I do not have the same cache of good will with everyone that Griffin has earned over the years. Maria…

She pauses and shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: She really does not have one so she had to do it the hard way. Christina had made some effort to do it that way as well with Eavan Maloney and with Stacy Jones. Eavan she had to fight in WWA first and even then, it was a moment to moment thing with her.

Pausing again, Seleana nods in sad, almost guilty acknowledgement.

Seleana Zdunich: And Eavan does not buy her any goodwill in public because Eavan comes with her own baggage but it helps somewhat within the family. Adriana still needs convincing and Stacy…

As Seleana trails off, Halo nods understandingly.        

Halo: How do y’all manage to do that?

Seleana shrugs, knowing full well what Halo was referring to.

Seleana Zdunich: How did you when Brittany was engaged to Jordan Parker-Kane?

Without hesitation, Halo shrugs.

Halo: Easy, I was, “the other woman.” How was I gonna complain about her fuckin’ her boyfriend when she was doin’ me behind his back? The part of that I didn’t like was that I had to hide it, even when we was on that cruise ship the first year, I had to pretend I was a different kind of plus one. There we was playin’ basketball with Miss Roxi and Miss Keira, you and me lookin’ like the twin towers and I’m havin’ to act like me and Brit are just friends and maybe I’m tryin’ out for an assistant’s job with her…

Seleana nods quickly.

Seleana Zdunich: That was silly of her. I do not think the personal assistant or bodyguard stories really fooled anyone. She’s too much like her mother for that to work. If that had been Christina, they would have all been looking at me like I was an idiot for letting her cheat on me right out in the open like that.

She pauses and then nods again, this time almost seemingly laughing at herself in the process.

Seleana Zdunich: They already look at me like that to a certain degree for even being with her, much less having married her and then stayed with her through last winter.  

Halo lets out a sight, nodding quickly.

Halo: That scared me to death. I thought our family was going to be destroyed and we would all be taken down in the spiral. I don’t know how Brit would have taken that, another broken house. Everybody who was hangin’ out then just seemed to vanish voer night when you didn’t come home, like they all thought you was the only thing...  

Halo trails off, unsure if she really wants to say what she was thinking out loud. Seeing the look on the younger woman’s face, Seleana simply nods in a knowing, motherly fashion.

Seleana Zdunich: Like i was the only thing keeping her tolerable and that they might have all actually kind of hated being around her when she lets herself go full Crystal?

Halo looks away in shame but Seleana shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: Haylie Jo, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I have met many who hold similar views and most try to suppress them for her benefit. Many try to allow her the opportunity to prove them wrong and are pleasantly surprised when she does so. She knows she has done many things to earn such scorn and enmity. Eavan was the same way in the past, they both suffer from mental health issues and turned to self-medication that caused infidelity.  

Halo shakes her head.

Halo: So, Aunt Z’s the only who ain’t never been cheated on?

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: Alexi had that problem with Raevyn as well. It is how she ended up with Robbie in the first place. Maja as well.

Halo slowly mouths the word “wow” and Seleana nods back.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja…

Halo shakes her head.

Halo: Y’all just do not give up, do you?

Seleana just sits there for a second insilence before Halo nods to her.

Halo: Zdunich Women.

Seleana shrugs, a small smile coming across her face.

Seleana Zdunich: Jag avslutar inte de jag älskar.

Halo nods and then hugs her mother-in-law.

Halo: Good luck in y’all’s match.

Seleana nods as she hugs back.

Seleana Zdunich: Och du i ditt.  




On-Camera

Saturday, December 7, 2019
Indoor Gym
Pleasure Dome
Las Vegas, Nevada
9:39 AM  PST




The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich standing in front of a white stone wall, black workout pants and a black sports bra making sure she’s presentable on camera, a white towel wrapped around her neck, each end grasped by one of her hands, her hair tied back in a rough ponytail as she nods to the intruding camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Hej, hur mår du?

A smile crosses her face knowing full well most will not know what she just said.

Seleana Zdunich: You have caught me at an interesting time as I am using my friend’s gym as I train this week in Las Vegas. I know that on a fight week, Christina and I will not be good training partners for each other. Halo and Brittany are busy getting Halo ready for her own championship match so I came here where I know no other fighters from SCW or SCU will be. I know many would say this place is appropriate for me as they never saw me as anything but a plastic barbie doll anyway and there is obviously no way I can come from such a place and win. I will never rise...

She pauses and then shakes her head, almost laughing to herself as she looks down to the floor, releasing the ends of the towel and allowing it to dangle from her neck.

Seleana Zdunich: Two years ago, people told me I was crazy to even think about starting wrestling. I was new in this country, I was still looking for a job working with animals and had interest from some very nice places both public and private, both large and small collections. I could have moved anywhere in the country because I did not have roots of my own sewn into the ground yet. My second sister lived in New Orleans, my youngest had moved to New Jersey. I was without quarters of my own, enjoying a free room in New Orleans. I was attemopting to recover from the loss of making infrwequent trips to see a man I was in love with in Austin, Texas because he had died during a business trip to Florida when a hurricane blew in and covered his murder for a time. People called me stupid to have given up my poistion in Christchurch and moved to the Sattes to begin with and then called me this even more so for having dated Twain. They said I would never rise from that.

A small nod causes her to reach up and grab the ends of the towel again in order to steady it before she looks back up into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: Then a friend of mine, a wrestler called Stacy Jones, introduced me to someone that was in a stable with her and the woman who would have been my mother-in-law in a company called Ladies All-Star Wrestling. Stacy was competing as part of a team called the Boardwalk Angels with Zoey Madigan-Star, Farrah Cornett, Courtney Leinart and Crystal Hilton, and Stacy thought Crystal and I should meet.

Pausing, she releases the hold on the towel with her right hand to extend that hand out to stop a response she knows to be inbound.

Seleana Zdunich: I know Stacy feels she should be ashamed and needs to apologize for this introduction because of all the things that have happened she thinks are now her fault but all I wish to convey to her is gratitude.

She nods, bowing her head in deference.

Seleana Zdunich: Tack, Stacy, du har gett mig allt. Jag kan aldrig tacka dig tillräckligt för denna generositet och omtänksamhet. You owe me no apologies for where I am now, Stacy, and you never will.

She bows even further before returning to her original, upright posture.

Seleana Zdunich: Stacy was not wrong in her assessment and a new relationship and a new career choice were at hand as Crystal led me into the ring in LAW. I was laughed at, ridiculed and told I would never be able to rise to anything. I was too old, too unfocused and lacked the passion required to excel in this sport and yet I continued and made my way here, to Sin City Wrestling, and I heard it all once again. I will never rise, I will never amount to anything.

Again, her right hand rises up, her index finger standing tall.

Seleana Zdunich: One year ago, people looked down on me for being stupidly married to Christina and that I would never amount to anything because I had many growing pains in my first year in the ring. I did not come into this company and take it by storm the way Alicia Lukas and Andrea Hernandez did. I did not come in and dominate a division the way Sierra Williams did. I came in and looked like someone who had never been here before but I learned in every match I was in and I knew I could and would get better no matter how many times I was told I would never rise.

She reaches up and takes hold of the towel with her right hand again as a wry smile comes to her face.

Seleana Zdunich: And then Christian Underwood gave me the opportunity he never intended to give me. He continued to denigrate Christina at every turn, sometimes for things she had done and sometimes for things she had not done, but always with a  certain condescension that belittled his own position in the company and the sport. He deserved better, Christina deserved better and finally, I said, I deserve better than this.

She pauses and nods towards the door.

Seleana Zdunich: Christian then asked the fateful question that has brought us all to where we are now. He asked me what I would do about it…

Her gaze returns straight on to the camera

Seleana Zdunich: I punched him and broke his face, getting myself fired in the process and again, I was called a nothing, I was called stupid, now even more and far worse in that category because now, not only was I married to Christina, but I was now jobless because I had assaulted our boss in front fo the world and given him the excuse to be rid of me.  But a far funnier thing than Mark ward rehiring me happened because of that punch...

She nods as she releases her grip on the towel with her right hand to point to herself in the chest.

Seleana Zdunich:  I did rise.

She points even more emphatically than before.

Seleana Zdunich: I rose up and I overcame every obstacle that Christian put in front of me and I earned two opportunities to challenge the unstoppable and unbeatable Alicia Lukas for the World Bombshells Championship! I even overcame marital problems caused by my wife’s ego and Christian’s meddling and I pinned Alicia Lukas...

She pauses, her hand shooting out to stop responses again.

Seleana Zdunich: Allow me to repeat that statement because whether anyone likes it or not, it still happened.

Her hand returns to her chest, pointing to herself again.

Seleana Zdunich: I pinned Alicia Lukas, the unstoppable, the unbeatable, the Lioness, the Champion of Champions and I did it with the World Bombshell Championship on the line and everyone has tried to take that away from me because of how it happened. Yes, my wife interfered and caused the need for a rematch but there are only two people who can say they did that and I’m the only one still fighting now!

Quickly, she nods in acknowledgement.

Seleana Zdunich: Now, yes I lost two weeks later, due to circumstances and bad luck. It was an instant rematch and there were four people involved in the match. My wife fought with me and we exited the ring to fight on the floor allowing Alicia Lukas to pin Dani Weston and that was supposed to eb the end of my little flight of fantasy, ja?

She nods angrily.

Seleana Zdunich: I lost and people said that would be the end of me. I had my five seconds of relevance and I would be forever relegated to the bottom of the ladder, never to rise up the mountain again. Mercedes Vargas was then supposed to end me only, she failed and we knocked each other out. Then Jessie Salco and Amy santino were supposed to rid Alicia of me and my wife, only to fail as well.

She pauses to point to her chest again.

Seleana Zdunich: This is what I do! I rise again. I get knocked down, repeatedly and then I get back up and prove each and every one of you wrong! I got another shot and Alicia knocked me down. I rise again. I got another shot so that there would be Lukas/Zdunich III at High Stakes. Alicia knocked me down and I rise again so that now, I am the one entering the cage with Alicia, with Roxi Johnson, with Christina, with Sierra Williams, with Andrea Hernandez. People said I would never get here and yet here I stand and I have been knocked down by almost every person in this match. Alicia Lukas has knocked me down three times! Sierra Williams knocked me down. My wife tried to knock me down more than once! Andrea knocked me down just last week and Roxi will undoubtedly try as well the same way her wife did!  I stand on this precipice with many saying I will never rise again…

She pauses, taking hold of the towel again.

Seleana Zdunich: Just like they always have...

Releasing the towel her right hand sweeps every thought away.

Seleana Zdunich: It is funny that no matter how many times that is said, no matter how many try to make it the truth, be it Christian Underwood and his myriad of obstacles, be it Jessie Salco and her many shots at the dangling apple that lay just tantalizingly out of her reach, be it the now apparently completely obsessed with me Mercedes Vargas, who could not wait to tell the world before our qualifying match for this show that I had never beaten her while conveniently leaving out that this year, she has not beaten me, and then after she lost going on the next show and spending all the time she was allotted to try and tell the world I will never rise again, be it anyone else, I still rise!  Even with Kate Steele doing what she is doing…

She moves to point to herself angrily again.

Seleana Zdunich: Kate Steele hates herself and who she is so much, she changed everything there was about to her to try and be my wife.  Why beng kate Steele wasn’t good enough for her, i do not know but now she wishes she was my wife, which would usually open her up to untold ridicule, and because of this, she tried to steal our life. She is not “Diamond Steele,” she’s Steal Crystal because she’s stolen everything about herself from Christina Rose Zdunich including her significant other’s set up. I do not know why Teddy Warren wants to be Lady Steele, maybe it is part of Kate’s attempted theft that now he wants to be me because he thinks I have bigger balls and a bigger kuk than he does because we all know he would never have the insides to tell Christian off with his fists the way I did. You would think being who they were would have been enough for them and now all it I has really gotten them is to be on the outside looking in because Christian and I are in this match and Kate is most definitely not. She and Mercedes Vargas can both choke on me being a choke artist because they could not keep me from rising to this position again!

Nodding forcefully, Seleana glares into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: It is who I am and what I do. I rise and I will keep rising. Alicia is the champion, Roxi flies as a superhero, Andrea calls herself the phoenix, Sierra and Christina will say it is their time but I…

She pulls the towel from around her neck and nods pointedly.

Seleana Zdunich: I rise and December 2 Dismember, I rise again!

 Off-Camera

Monday, November 11, 2019
LAX
Los Angeles, California
9:18 PM  PST


Seleana Zdunich climbs into her maserati, her fellow wrestler and mentor, Stacy Jones, climbing into the passenger seat with Stacy’s nine-year-old son, Nick, in the backseat. Behind them is Haylie Jo “Halo” Annis’ red pickup, Halo at the wheel and Stacy’s wife, Jen Lawson in the passenger seat, their other two children, seven-year-old Chelsea and three-year-old Elena, in the back seats. Seleana grins back at the truck and then nods to Stacy as they prepare to make the trip from LAX to some friends’ home in Malibu.

Seleana Zdunich: Are you keen to give this a go then?

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Fire her up, Cat!

The car starts and Seleana can’t help but smile at the look on the young boy’s face.

Seleana Zdunich: Nick looks like he’s keen as well.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: He certainly does like his cars…

Stacy turns to her son.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: ...don’t you, Nick?

Nick Jones:  I do! Your car is so cool, Aunt Cat!

Seleana smiles.

Seleana Zdunich: It is Italian and was a gift. Just like the zoo and Sarabi.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: How is Sarabi doing?

Seleana beams as they put the car into gear and start the drive to Malibu.

Seleana Zdunich: She forgets she is a big cat now. Every time I see her, she tries to play like she did when she was a small cub.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Awww. That’s so adorable. I can’t wait to see her again, and I know the kids would love to see her again too.

Nick Jones:  Aunt Cat? Did you name her Sarabi because of Mommy?

Seleana shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: No, we named her Sarabi in Christchurch.

She pauses and smiles nostalgically.

Seleana Zdunich: My best friend heard my sister call me that and that became our new cub’s name. Sarabi’s Sarabi, though, your mum did love the name when it was first mentioned I believe.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Of course I was going to love the name! You know how much the Lion King means to me.

Nick Jones:  Mommy said she used to watch the Lion King wiv Grandpa all the time when she was little like me. I don’t really remember him very well though… he’s wiv Mufasa now.

Seleana nods knowingly.

Seleana Zdunich: My sisters and I used to watch it a lot too. It was always Kattunge’s favorite.

Nick Jones:  That’s Aunt Nala, isn’t it? I’ve heard you call her that before. Isn’t it, Mommy?

At first there’s no response.

Nick Jones:  Mommy?

Seleana glances over to Stacy and notices the mention of her father being with Mufasa struck her before Stacy finally breaks out of her trance.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Oh, yes, honey… Kattunge is Aunt Nala.

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: Kattunge means Kitten in Swedish. We called her that because she is the youngest sister, Shenzi and I that is.

Nick giggles.

Nick Jones:  Aunt Shenzi is funny! She and Mommy always make me laugh when Mommy says Mufasa and Aunt Shenzi laughs.

Laughing as she nods her agreement, Seleana’s smile manages to increase in brightness.

Seleana Zdunich: We have always enjoyed that as well. It was the first thing Kattunge learned to do in English.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: You enjoying the ride back there, buddy?

Nick Jones:  Yes, Mommy. I can’t wait to see Aunt Zoey and Aunt Katalina!

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Me too.

Stacy then turns to Seleana.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: So… how are things going for you in the wrestling scene?

Seleana Zdunich: I have two jobs. I team with Shenzi in one, I wrestle singles in the other. I just main evented for the World Bombshell Championship with Alicia Lukas on the biggest SCW show of the year.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Awesome! Did you win?

Seleana shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: Not this time, no. This was our third one on one championship match. I won the first one, she has won the last two.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Bummer. Never mind though… you’ll get the title back eventually. How about your team with Shenzi? You guys got gold in your sights?

Seleana shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: We have been having matches with Halo and Brittany a lot. Others hold the gold. We may get a shot eventually.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Well I believe in you, Cat, you’ll get there.

Nick Jones:  I believe in you too, Aunt Cat!

Seleana nods to the back seat.

Seleana Zdunich: Tack, Nick!

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Thanks for picking us up, by the way, Cat… it’s certainly appreciated.

Seleana nods knowingly to Stacy.

Seleana Zdunich: Of course, Chickie!  How long are you in town for?

Stacy Lawson-Jones: A few days. I’m going to the People’s Choice Awards tomorrow as I’ve been nominated for the Social Celebrity of the Year.

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: Well, if you have time one of these days, Sarabi and Simba are always up to be visited.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Sure! We’d love to visit them! Wouldn’t we, Nick?

Nick Jones:  Yeah! Thank you, Aunt Cat!

Seleana smirks playfully.

Seleana Zdunich: Maybe you’ll see me play with Sarabi this time.

Nick Jones:  That would be so cool! Can I play with her too?

Stacy Lawson-Jones: No, honey, it’s too dangerous. Even though Aunt Cat has done a great job raising her, she’s still a wild animal and anything can happen. Sorry.

Nick Jones:  Aww… okay…

Seleana nods firmly.

Seleana Zdunich: Your mum is right, besides, we have some smaller, less dangerous animals you can actually interact with if you like. Sarabi would not mean to do you harm, but it is possible she would because she is so big and she does not know you the way she knows me. It would not be safe for either of you.  

Nick Jones:  I understand, Aunt Cat. What other animals do you have that I can meet? And can Chelsea meet them as well? She’s younger than me but if she can’t meet them because of her age, I don’t want to be mean by meeting them without her.

Seleana Zdunich: We have two lemurs, three juvenile sheep that are just starting to get their wool, a couple of goats, three rabbits and a python who gets to have his own room. We named him Kaa.

Nick Jones:  Kaa? Like from Jungle Book?!

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: He did not look like a Sir Hiss to anybody so we decided on Kaa.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Would have been interesting to see Dean’s reaction had you actually named him Sir Hiss, haha.

Seleana shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: Shay calls his sister Kaa, so, still?

Stacy shifts in her chair a little and folds her arms, looking out of the window at the scenery flashing by.

Stacy Lawson-Jones: I suppose that works.

Nick Jones:  Aunt Cat? Are we nearly there?

Seleana nods.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, we have one more turn and we are…

She makes the turn and pulls into their destination, the Malibu home of Katalina Star and Zoey Madigan-Star.

Seleana Zdunich: We arrive at our destination. Please keep all hands and feet inside your seat until the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Nick giggles again as Stacy chuckles.

Nick Jones:  You’re funny, Aunt Cat!

Stacy Lawson-Jones: Alright, Nick… you stay put until I let you out, okay?

Seleana can’t help but smile to herself as she watches Stacy gets out of the car to tend to her son. As the Swedish woman looks into the rearview, she sees Halo’s pickup truck pull in behind them and nods to herself.    





On-Camera

Friday, November 15, 2019
Home of Christina and Seleana Zdunich
Hollywood Hills
Los Angeles, California
5:09 PM  PST




The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich standing in the driveway of the home wearing fades almost gray jeans, a gray top and black heels that wind their ways around her ankles.  

Seleana Zdunich: Mercedes Vargas…

She shakes her head and then waves her opponent on.

Seleana Zdunich: You go on and tell the world, I have never beaten you. Talk as if we have wrestled each other many, many times in the past when we have not. Talk as if you have defeated me time and time again and that you are my answer for that question that was making the rounds earlier about having a white whale to shoot for when that has not happened and never will. Ignore the fact that the last time we wrestled each other, you did not beat me either. We knocked each other out and forced the officials to just wave it off.  

Looking down to the ground, Seleana shakes her head again as she takes a deep breath and then looks back to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: I have spent the last year doing what you would say should have been you, wrestling for the chance to face Alicia Lukas for the World Bombshell Championship and I have won those opportunities several times and even managed to get my hand raised against Alicia once as well. Complain that It should not be me if you wish, I would suggest it should not be you either because of how you have refused to engage with Alicia as if you believe she is the kryptonite you can never get over on.

Seleana looks off into the distance to the right.

Seleana Zdunich: People will say I have had my chance this year and they would not be wrong but I would also say to them…

She pauses to glare into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: If you do not think I should have the opportunity again, then one of you step up and stop me for once!

She nods and points accusingly into the lens.

Seleana Zdunich: How many of you have been given the chance to prove that hypothesis correct in the last year?

Nodding again, she points emphatically to the concrete beneath her feet.

Seleana Zdunich: How many were told that all you had to do was beat the foreign blonde Zookeeper Barbie  trophy wife of Crystal Hilton and your championship dreams were yours?  

She waves both arms around into the expanse around her.

Seleana Zdunich: How many were given reason after reason to have proper motivation to take me down and when it came time, you were the one lying on the mat staring up at the lights asking how did that blonde nothing beat me?  

She angrily points to herself.

Seleana Zdunich: I am the one who has time and again proven I wanted to face Alicia more than any of you have. Every time the opportunity was placed in front of me, no matter who stood across from me, no matter what enticement was dangled in front of them, it was my hand that was raised and the grumbling started all over again despite the fact that none of you who did it had the…

She trails off for a second and nods to herself.  

Seleana Zdunich: How you say… gumption?

Again, Seleana glares angrily into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: None of you had what it took to beat me to keep me out of that match or even step up and challenge to take it away from me after I had it.

Looking to the ground again, Seleana looks like she can’t decide if she wants to scream or laugh.

Seleana Zdunich: And now it is Mercedes Vargas, who has never spoken of me without a certain level of disgust in her voice and I say to you, Mercedes...  

She looks uop, glaring even more hatefully than before.

Seleana Zdunich:  ¡Chingate y chinga su madre! ¡Chúpa mi culo, cabrón! ¡También te odio, puta! ¡Te voy a dar una zapatería y te quitaré el respeto!

She steps forward, the anger radiating from her eyes.

Seleana Zdunich: Start whining now, it’s what you are good at!

 Off-Camera

Friday, October 18, 2019
Kahanamoku Beach
Waikiki
Honolulu, Hawaii
10:00 AM  HST



Money.

Some say it makes the world go around and others claim it is the root of all evil. Some say it talks and others just don’t bother listening in the first place.

Today, as Seleana Zdunich sits on the beach in Hawaii, her laptop poised on her thighs a she glances out at her wife running into the surf with her middle sister, Zenna. Unable to stop herself from smiling at the sight, Seleana nods as she moves her gaze back to the laptop and starts to opening documents to go over. After a few minutes, she is joined on the beach by the rest of her sister’s household, Linnéa  Lacroix, Linnéa ’s younger sister, Alissa Lacroix, and Kelly Taylor. The four not only lived together, they played in a band together with Seleana and Zenna’s youngest sister, Katra Zdunich, in a band called American Murder Log, frequently referred to in many circles as AML.

Linnéa Lacroix: Having a good time?

Seleana looks up and smiles at her sister’s fiancée.

Seleana Zdunich: I am...    

Linnéa , Alissa and Kelly all sit down next to Seleana, the four all looking out to see Zenna and Christina going back for another surfing pass.

Alissa Lacroix: Who knew Z was a surfing fan?

Linnéa  shrugs.

Linnéa Lacroix: She mentioned it once years ago in one of those conversations you have when it’s just you, several bottles of whiskey and a big mound on the table between you…

Alissa and Kelly both nod knowingly while Seleana frowns.

Seleana Zdunich: I’m not keen to hear the rest of this story, am I?

Linnéa  looks away in shame as Alissa and Kelly both shake their heads.

Kelly Taylor: It’s not something most of us would be keen to talk about ourselves, Love, but sometimes, it just pops out…

Seleana nods slowly.

Seleana Zdunich: Where’s Kattunge? I thought she and Adriana were coming as well…

Linnéa  nods back behind them.

Linnéa Lacroix: She had Halo were playing air hockey the last time we saw them. They had a whole crowd around them watching.

Alissa snickers while Kelly shakes her head.

Kelly Taylor: You’d think the bloody punters had never seen two women playing a game before!

Alissa Lacroix: Well, when it’s two hot blondes like Katra and Halo in bikinis…

Linnéa  and Seleana join in the laughter as they all picture seeing that.

Seleana Zdunich: Where are Brittany and Adriana?

Alissa Lacroix: Watching their wives play air hockey in bikinis…

Linnéa  nods quickly.

Linnéa Lacroix: And making damn sure they never run out of quarters!

All four women start laughing, each nodding in agreement with the others.

Seleana Zdunich: Det är sanningen?

Still laughing, Linnéa  nods.

Linnéa Lacroix: It’s true, they’re totally back there watching in wide-eyed wonder as if they have seen the holy fucking grail in all of its wondrous glory!

Alissa smirks knowingly.

Alissa Lacroix: You saying you wouldn’t be back there looking at her like that if it was Z?  I know I would be if that was Kels…

Kelly smirks in kind.

Kelly Taylor: Would you really?

Alissa turns to face her.

Alissa Lacroix: And you wouldn’t if it were me?

Kelly shrugs.

Kelly Taylor: Well of course I would be, I’d have to be bloody daft not to!

Seleana just shakes her head. They were always like this, whether they were back in their New Orleans home in the house the Lacroix Sisters had grown up in or were talking with Kelly’s mother and sister about going back to Surrey for the first time in years. Linnéa  nods at her laptop.

Linnéa Lacroix: So whatcha doin’, Sarabi?

Seleana shrugs slowly.

Seleana Zdunich: Besides watching my wife surf?

Linnéa  can’t help but nod even as she glances out to catch a glimpse of Zenna on her board.

ZZ: That is a glorious sight to behold….  

Seleana smiles as she looks up from her screen.

Seleana Zdunich: Just trying to allay some of estrellita’s concerns…

Linnéa  nods and then moves her gaze back to the computer screen.

Linnéa Lacroix: That looks like…

Seleana nods as Alissa and Kelly look over as well.

Seleana Zdunich: Investment data. Estrellita worries she has somehow doomed us to poverty in her way of doing things.

Linnéa  frowns in confusion.

Linnéa Lacroix: She fall off the wagon?

Seleana shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: No.

Linnéa Lacroix: Get a coke habit?

Seleana Zdunich: No.

Linnéa Lacroix: Then…

Seleana looks up at her wife in the water and sighs.

Seleana Zdunich: She lost control of her studio and is thus worried she will lose the income it generates.

Linnéa , Alissa and Kelly all start to say something but Seleana nods to her wife.

Seleana Zdunich: She likes being showy before so she would give away large sums of money she earned wrestling to charity. It was part of being Crystal Hilton.

As Christina and Zenna stand up and discuss where they should try and get to next, Seleana can’t help but become visibly wistful.

Seleana Zdunich: Sometimes i wonder if that wasn’t her trying to buy fans or buy love and adoration because she didn’t feel it at home. She did not feel it anywhere…

Nodding to herself, she glances back to the screen before her.

Seleana Zdunich: So, now, despite that she still works many places in wrestling and makes good money from all of them, despite still getting offers for model work and whatnot, she has been looking at other jobs in the hopes that she will not have to downsize and lose her house.

Linnéa , Alissa and Kelly all nod in unison.

Linnéa Lacroix: We understand that worry all too well

Alissa Lacroix: Yeah, but we didn’t have back-up options like she does.  We didn’t have the band yet, you and Z weren’t wrestling and Kels wasn’t even taking modeling gigs. I mean, I could have taken a few session bassist gigs but I didn’t…

Seleana shrugs as she looks up to her family.

Seleana Zdunich: I do not think we will have to downsize. I’ve been making good money wrestling for a year now and I’m about to have my third one on one world title match with Alicia Lukas. Brittany and Halo have each been bringing in good money as well, especially since Halo won her championship in SCU. We have the zoo and it is doing well and I’ve been working the markets as well. I’ve even managed to buy back some of her lost shares, though she does not know that and neither does the man she thinks she lost them to. I will enjoy seeing his face when he finds out…

Linnéa  cocks her head.

Linnéa Lacroix: You look like you really do not like him.

Seleana nods firmly.

Seleana Zdunich: I do not, but he is for another time. The markets will get us there so this weekend is simply about Alicia Lukas and Veronica Taylor.

Alissa nods in the computer’s direction while looking at her own fiancée.

Alissa Lacroix: That bitch ain’t your kin, is she?

Kelly shakes her head looking disgusted at the very idea.

Kelly Taylor: Even if she was, she would never admit such slander. She would attempt to call all of us uggos and basics and treat us as if we were beneath her and her lot…

Alissa rolls her eyes in equal disgust.

Alissa Lacroix: I hope Halo beats her ass!

Linnéa Lacroix: Woodshed, here they come!

Seleana nods her agreement as well.

Seleana Zdunich: Halo will do well and I will take my place!

Linnéa , Alissa and Kelly all slap her on the back as they turn and watch Christina wipe out and almost take Zenna with her.

Seleana Zdunich: If Shenzi does not make me a widow first…

The four share a laugh as they watch Christiana dn Zenna pop back up in the water again. All of them feeling that all is right with the world.  



On-Camera

Friday, October 18, 2019
Kahanamoku Beach
Waikiki
Honolulu, Hawaii
12:09 PM  HST



The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich standing on the beach in her hot pink bikini.

Seleana Zdunich: So, here we are. You and I go one on one for the third time for the SCW World Bombshell Championship. Lukas/Zdunich III at High Stakes IX!  

She looks to the sand and shakes her head ever so slightly.

Seleana Zdunich: A year ago, the very thought of this match would have been laughable. The idea of this match being a main event on this show would have been even moreso.

Looking back up to the camera, Seleana nods forcefully.

Seleana Zdunich: A year ago you were defending the Honor Women’s Championship against Winter Elemental, Trinity Jones and Brittany Williams in a match that was pointed to as one that would determine how you were seen here in SCW. No one was talking about main eventing…

She turns to the right and starts to go down her left hand as if it holds an unseen list.

Seleana Zdunich: It was a match that probably had some questioning why you and Winter were getting spots on our pay-per-view despite your obvious talents and accomplishments and also had them questioning why Trinity and Brittany were being put in this position. Really, it was a test and you passed...

Sher pasues and smirks into the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: With flying colors, ja?

Looking back to her hnd, Seleana shrugs.
 
Seleana Zdunich: I was in a match with Cat Riley where the ending had nothing to do with us and everything to do with Kate Steele having some vague personal vendetta against my wife for reasons that probably sounded as crazy then as she does now, whether she likes it or not. I know she personally apologized to me for all that happened then but…

She pauses, shaking her head.

Seleana Zdunich: It does not change how High Stakes VIII went into the books.

She turns back to face the camera straight on again.

Seleana Zdunich: You were making a first impression that laid the groundwork for a championship reign that is setting the bar for everyone else in this company. I was a pawn in someone else’s story and it wasn’t even a story that made sense to anyone who cared to pay attention to it and technically, it is one that is still continuing for reasons that defy logic aside from Teddy Warren and kate Steele are attention whores who cannot seem to find it in any other manner than to try and rain on my wife’s life and now they’ve added that värdelös fitta, Diamond, to the story and…

Seleana turns, looking disgusted to the point of nearly being physically ill.

Seleana Zdunich: I am only too happy that they have kept their distance from me.      

Her teeth grind as she shakes her head before looking back up to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: But this is not about them. It is about you and it is about me and it is about the World Bombshell Championship. We have met for that Championship in a scenario like this twice before and we have each walked out with our hand raised once. Now we show the world why it is us who stand here and not all the others who tried to step and take your crown! There are two of us and two of us alone who can say they have pinned you for that championship.

Her right hand raises, the index finger standing alone.

Seleana Zdunich: One, Dani Weston, defeated you and was defeated herself in a rematch. She stuck around long enough to be involved but eventually took her leave for the time being. I hope that is not the end of her because she is too talented to allow herself to simply fade out in that manner.

She ndos as a second finger joins its mate.

Seleana Zdunich: The second one was me and unlike Dani, I have not disappeared into that good night. I continued to fight until I earned another chance and then I continued until I earned this one as well! I have climbed and climbed and climbed too long to allow myself to be simply dispatched. I will not be dispatched. I will keep fighting until there is nothing left and I will prove my standing!    

The camera zooms in to frame her face.

Seleana Zdunich: This is Lukas/Zdunich III and I deserve to be here just as much as you do! No one else wanted this the way I did and no one worked towards the goal the way I did!  High Stakes IX, I prove it was no mistake! See you there, ja?

 Off-Camera

Friday, September 20, 2019
Apple Bay Beach
Tortola
British Virgin Islands
3:21 PM  AST



Sitting on the beach in her black and white bikini with the almost soccer ball pattern to it, Seleana Zdunich watches her wife, fellow SCW wrestler Christina Zdunich, trying out her surfboard in the water. She smiles as Christina paddles out for her third try and nods, pumping a fist.  

Seleana Zdunich: Ja Stjärna! Gör det! Gör det! Gör det!

She nods again before turning to her bag and slipping her laptop from it and sitting on a short laptop flip desk she’d bought on Amazon for just such an occasion. As the laptop boots up, she glances otu and watches Christina trying to stand up on the board and nods happily. She turns back to the computer and quickly checks a few things. Nodding slowly, she opens a chat service and places a voice call. Within seconds, the call is answered.

V: Mrs. Zdunich?

Seleana nods as she glances out to the water again.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, Linda, how are you, Chickie?

The voice of the woman in question, Linda Anstee, noticeably brightens.

LA: I’m doing well, Mrs. Zdunich, how are you?

Seleana shrugs, still watching her wife in the surf.      

Seleana Zdunich: I am well, thank you. Did we receive the financial documentation we were to receive from the studio?

LA: We have, you should have copies emailed to you as well. Physical copies should be at your PO Box.

Seleana nods approvingly.

Seleana Zdunich: I will have that checked. How are the markets?

A few keystrokes are heard before Linda answers.

LA: Stockholm, you are up 40 for the year. The plan we came up with seems to be working there nicely. I think we will be ready to get out at the end of the month there unless you think we should try a little longer?

Seleana quickly shakes her head.

Seleana Zdunich: Nej, I think you are right that we should get out then. The others?

A few more keystrokes and Linda has the answer ready.

LA: Tokyo and Hong Kong, you are up 20 each. It would seem going in small and slow there was a good idea. If we had tried bigger, it might have been a problem but the strategy is paying off. I don’t think you’re going to see the same return there that you got in Stockholm but you mentioned you weren’t expecting that when you started so…  

A few more keystrokes.

LA: That mutual fund from the UK gives you an out before October starts, I would suggest you exercise that option. Brexit will make that fund go, for lack of a better term, apeshit, and you’re not going to want to be part of that volatility in your current circumstances.  

Seleana nods as she hears more keystrokes.

Seleana Zdunich: Okej, ja, let us do that.

A couple of more keystrokes follow.

LA: I’ll send you the paperwork for that, it’ll be in your PO Box on Monday. NASDAQ, you’re up 15, it probably should have been 18 but that last one I found for you didn’t perform as well as I’d hoped. I think we should get out of that one and look for something else as the factors that led us to it in the first place are no longer in play.

Seleana nods again.

Seleana Zdunich: Ja, we’ve gotten all we can get from that one. I’m sending you two options I found to see if you think they are viable for my situation?

Rapid fire keystrokes follow.

LA: This first one would be a slow burn. We’d be talking February before you start to see any real return on it but it has potential for a big one once it gets rolling. The second…

Another emphatic keystroke.

LA: That one looks like it’s a “too good to be true” situation. The big payoff for it isn’t real, it almost looks like a pump and dump but I can look into more over the weekend to be sure if you would like me to?  

Seleana nods slowly, pondering the situation.

Seleana Zdunich: Ok, set up the trades to get out of the one we discuss and into the first option. Look into the second but if you think it still smells on Monday, just say the word and we discard it as a possibility.

Slow keystrokes are heard again.

LA: Done. New York, I think you’ve done well to stay lowkey on. You’re up five with a chance for another two by Christmas. Hamburg, you’re down one but you stayed lowkey there as well so it’s not a bad one at all. I think you might consider just getting out of that market altogether. It’s not really doing anything for you.

Seleana glances out to the water and smiles.

Seleana Zdunich: We’ll revisit that next week. Come up with options for a replacement if we do get out of that one. What of the other project?

Linda goes quiet for a second.

LA: I think you can get enough to be a thorn in his side but I don’t know if you can crowd him out. There’s enough other holders that it might take a while to corner if you manage that at all.

Seleana nods slowly.

Seleana Zdunich: Does he know it is me?

LA: No, it just looks like other random buyers.

Seleana looks back to her computer and nods firmly.

Seleana Zdunich: Vilken jävla röv är han!

Again, Linda goes dead silent, this time in shock.

LA: I… don’t think I’ve ever heard you speak of someone like that…

Looking up, Seleana watches Christian start to paddle back out on the surfboard again.

Seleana Zdunich: There are not many I would speak of that way but he is one.

Keystrokes are heard on Linda’s end again.

LA: I don’t think your situation is as dire as your wife fears. You’ve saved all of your money from wrestling and even made it grow some. You’ve made money off the zoo and continue to do so. Becky says you’ve had modeling offers you could take up and I’m sure your wife could take a few as well. If her daughter and daughter-in-law still live in your house, you’re a four income family and you all should have a decent one on your own.

Seleana nods knowingly.

Seleana Zdunich: So I should not have to sell the car yet?

Linda laughs.

LA: No, you should not have to sell your car, unless Christina owns like eight and you think it would be wise to downsize anyway just to save on the insurance premiums.

Seleana shrugs.

Seleana Zdunich: She does not like to drive much so we will need to have that discussion. Haylie Jo and I do drive our vehicles. Brittany tends to ride with others, I do not think she even has a full license to drive herself.

She watches Christina climb up on the board again and smiles.

Seleana Zdunich: Thank you, Linda, I will call you again after we have returned on Monday.

LA: Good luck in your matches on Sunday!

Seleana smiles as she goes to end the call.

Seleana Zdunich: Tack!

The call ends and Seleana sighs heavily.

Seleana Zdunich: We’ll get through this, Estrellita.  Tillsammans kan vi tåla stormen.



On-Camera

Friday, September 20, 2019
Apple Bay Beach
Tortola
British Virgin Islands
5:31 PM  AST



The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich standing in front of a yellow surfboard on the beach wearing her black and white soccer ball-style pattern bikini.

Seleana Zdunich: It really is beautiful here, ja?

She swings her arms out so that the camera swings around to get a good view of both the beach and then the ocean.

Seleana Zdunich: I should thank Christian and Mark for sending us hear, though, that might cause Christian to think he is hallucinating so…

The camera moves back to find her smirking playfully in front of the surfboard.

Seleana Zdunich: Perhaps nej?  

Seleana looks passed the camera and smiles.

Seleana Zdunich: I am just happy that Christina can enjoy the anticipation of facing Roxi after what that…

She grits her teeth in anger, the smile slowly fading away.

Seleana Zdunich: Jessie Salco did to her the last two weeks.

She shakes her head in disgust, the smile now gone.

Seleana Zdunich: Jessie…

A glare crosses her face where the smile had previously resided.

Seleana Zdunich: Hon är en riktig fitta!

Seemingly catching herself, Seleana  glances down at the sand and then shakes her head before looking back up to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: The less attention I give that one the better…

She shrugs dismissively.

Seleana Zdunich: As Alicia would probably say, been there, beat that…

A small smirk returns to her face.

Seleana Zdunich: And ja, I know she can say that about me as well and at High Stakes, God willing, I will see about rectifying that but we are not here to talk about Alicia and I having a third encounter. We are here to talk about a woman I respect on so many levels, I cannot even begin to comprehend it all. She and her wife have rightfully taken their places in the pantheon of legends and I cannot wait to step in the right with Keira Johnson!

She nods happily, the smile broadening and brightening.

Seleana Zdunich: We played basketball together on the Summer XXXtreme cruise last year. Team Hero are really heroes to me and I was so happy to see you come back to the ring! I know you want to get back to where I am and I respect that. It’s the same thing I did when I first got to the spot I’m in. I wanted to earn my way in and I have more than once. Now you get the chance and it’s with me and Keira…

She nods forcefully.

Seleana Zdunich: Let’s let it all rock out there in the ring! I know Roxi and Christina will so when it is our turn, we make them proud of us! We make Nate, Brittany and HayJo proud of us! We give the world a fight that we will be proud to put our names on and show everyone that we belong in that discussion with Alicia Lukas!  

Nodding again, she raises her arm to point to the camera.

Seleana Zdunich: I want to see what team Hero is all about! I want to see the Keira Johnson everyone talks about as being one of the greatest of all time! I want to see the Keira Johnson I know is still there and just waiting to show the world! I want to see what all the talk is about! I am ready to meet you in the ring and I am ready to show you what I am made of!

Her arm drops back to her side as she glances down at her own body.

Seleana Zdunich: And hey, considering how much you guys talk about people not wearing pants, I think I dress appropriately for this, ja?

Looking back up, Seleana snickers.

Seleana Zdunich: Let’s do this, Keira! We’re already in the paradise city and we are the girls that are pretty so…

She drops down into the “Hero Landing” pose.

Seleana Zdunich: Hero Powers activate!

She jumps up, with her right hand extended to the sky as the camera fades to black.