Off-Camera
Friday, January 24, 2020
Meeting Room
The Golden Ring Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada
7:17 AM PST
Meetings were obviously a necessary evil when it came to business as much as communication was a must even if it meant losing time to come together somewhere and meet with a bunch of people you wouldn’t usually want to hang out with.
This would be slightly different.
Seleana Zdunich knew she would need to coordinate things even before she flew out to New York for a show she would be appearing on alongside her wife, her sister, many sisters-in-law and her stepdaughter. To fulfill that, she had invited the Studio’s COO, Chloe Martin, its new head of Creative Development, Melissa Chavez, as well as two members of the Zdunich Zoological Gardens staff in Melissa’s sister, Dr. Michelle Chavez, and recently hired Executive Director Mokoia Roberts, a woman that had worked with Seleana back in Christchurch at Orana Park.
The room had been arranged through the casino as her wife, fellow wrestler Christina Zdunich, worked there having taken a side job during the period of time when Teddy Warren had managed to scoop control of the studio out from under her. Christina had worried that money would be a problem because Teddy had made sure that Christina wasn’t receiving all the payments she should. As Seleana nods slowly, she smiles, watching the other four women enter the room and take their places around the meeting table.
Chloe Martin: Is Christina coming?
Seleana shakes her head quickly, decisively.
Seleana Zdunich: She is occupied with her duties here in the casino and then we will be flying to Rochester for a show tonight. We will then be going to Port Charlotte for SCW this weekend.
Chloe nods as if she’d been expecting that answer. Seleana nods to her reassuringly.
Seleana Zdunich: She will be meeting with some of the studio departments next week to discuss new ideas going forward. She is keen to get that part of her career back on track. In the meantime, have you been able to go over the books properly and see how much damage was done by Teddy in his tenure as chairman?
Chloe nods quickly again.
Chloe Martin: So far we have determined that you were correct. His personal security detail was undercompensated, in some cases completely uncompensated with only vague promises of payment to come at some point. The musical group appears to be more of the same with crew members still waiting for compensation for services already rendered. I think we’ve found six notices of intention to sue so far that were ignored. I have no doubt there will be more.
Seleana nods, sighing heavily. This was not a surprise and yet it still seemed to hit her hard, almost as if she’d been betrayed in some way.
Seleana Zdunich: He saw paying people as a nuisance, ja?
Chloe nods in shame.
Chloe Martin: It would seem so, yes ma’am.
Seleana nods, seeing the look on Chloe’s face. The look of a woman afraid she’s going to be terminated at any second for the sins committed by another under her watch.
Seleana Zdunich: This does not fall on you, Chickie. I would be willing to wager that no one was allowed to see what he worked on because he wanted no one to know how much money he was wasting on his own personal excesses. I am almost surprised we have not found evidence of a hidden substance habit.
Pausing, Seleana ponders this thought for a second and then nods in seeming acknowledgement to herself.
Seleana Zdunich: Perhaps champagne...
Chloe simply shakes her head.
Chloe Martin: We have not gone over everything yet but it doesn’t look like he was stockpiling much of anything aside from unpaid bills. He didn’t really put much into development that was not designed to feature himself and his wife, though, more and more, it looks like his wife was always more of a prop for his own...
Both Seleana and Melissa nod their agreement.
Melissa Chavez: She’s not wrong. I went through every pitch on file this studio had in the last twelve months, they were all for him. Half of them also featured his wife but most of those were second draft rewrites. Most of them were terrible ideas, but they all starred him, sometimes in more than one role.
Seleana nods.
Seleana Zdunich: How many would you have greenlit?
Melissa shrugs.
Melissa Chavez: Maybe two? And even then, not a slam dunk given how much he was demanding he be front and center even when it was an idea that should have focused on the Gems. I don’t see how they didn’t mutiny on him sooner unless they were simply kept in the dark on how many offers he turned down on their behalf totally because they weren’t about him. I saw ten ad campaigns they should have at least been a piece of that were flatly turned down. If I were his wife, I’d want to beat him down just based on costing me that money alone!
Chloe just stares at her across the table.
Chloe Martin: He turned them ALL down?
Melissa nods and Chloe sits back, anger starting to color her features.
Seleana Zdunich: You brought some to him, ja?
Chloe nods angrily.
Chloe Martin: I had friends working certain accounts that couldn’t wait to get their hands on the Gems. I told a couple of them we could work something out and they were made at me later.
Melissa Chavez: Now you know why…
Chloe nods sternly.
Chloe Martin: That bastard! Now I have to go back to them all, hat in hand, and beg them to to be open to working with us again and hope those bridges aren’t all ashes already! What the fuck did he think he was doing?!!!?
The Māori woman, Mokoia Roberts, shrugs.
Mokoia Roberts: It sounds like he was keen to make himself a star and everyone else was of no consequence to him. I have never met this man but…
Seleana can’t help but smile. Mokoia had always been one to mince few words once she had been given the facts of a situation.
Seleana Zdunich: You have his measure, Mokoia. Chloe, Mel, keep digging. I want to know how big a hole he has left us, especially since I will be paying a fine soon for leading the assault on him last weekend and since I was already fired from SCW once over assaulting a male on the air...
All four of the other women in the room look at her expectantly, shock setting into almost all of their eyes.
Seleana Zdunich: A year ago November, I punched Christian Underwood in the face. He fired me in retaliation. I was rehired within the week by Mark Ward because the two like to mess with each other and because he saw the money possibilities in the reaction that came from that action. So, while I do not think I will be fired considering they gave me a championship opportunity on this next show, I do expect that my fine will be greater than the others because I can be seen as a repeat offender in violation of this policy.
Mokoia Roberts: You punched your boss?
Seleana nods quickly.
Seleana Zdunich: One of them, yes.
Mokoia Roberts: And now you’ve punched Teddy Warren?
Again, Seleana nods.
Seleana Zdunich: I did. I also incited others to do the same. His wife and the Gems were present and joined the assault. I have already been in contact with my attorney and financial advisor.
Chloe looks over at her.
Chloe Martin: You’re expecting him to sue you, aren’t you?
Seleana nods firmly.
Seleana Zdunich: I do, however, it will not affect the studio because I was not acting as a member of the studio at the time. I was acting as a wrestler at a wrestling card.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: What about the zoo?
Seleana shakes her head.
Seleana Zdunich: You are safe, Chavy. The zoo is sheltered from my personal liability as the studio is. He cannot touch any of you or your jobs. I have been advised that because of the nature of the job with professional wrestling that there is no worry for liability involved as long as these things happened there.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: And since you did this at the show...
Mokoia can’t help but smirk.
Mokoia Roberts: You cracked him a good’n then?
Seleana nods, smiling amusedly.
Seleana Zdunich: Ja!
Melissa grins.
Melissa Chavez: You probably should have hit him harder!
Chloe and Michelle both nod their agreement.
Chloe Martin: I’d say and more too but you said there was a mob with you?
Seleana nods knowingly.
Seleana Zdunich: Most of the female crew members, others from the roster, Kate, the Gems…
The eyes of the four women in the room all start sparkling as if dancing with delight at the thought of this man getting a proper hiding from a large group of women.
Seleana Zdunich: Ja…
She nods knowingly as she takes her seat.
Seleana Zdunich: So let us go over things and how they will be run and then the four of you can enjoy yourselves here. Rooms have been arranged for you here for the weekend.
Chloe, Melissa, Michelle and Mokoia all smile brightly, nodding appreciatively. Seleana smiles back in kind knowing the woman sitting at the table will take good care of the companies they are being entrusted with.
On-Camera
Friday, January 24, 2020
Locker Room
Frontier Field
Rochester, New York
7:17 PM EST
The camera opens Seleana Zdunich
Seleana Zdunich: Two days…
Her right hand rises, her index and middle fingers extended, facing knuckles out to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: In two days time I find out two things that will be very important to me moving forward…
Her hand moves as the middle finger folds back in against the hand, leaving only the index finger extended.
Seleana Zdunich: First, I find out how much my fine will be for punching Teddy Warren on the last Climax Control, an action I admit, I enjoyed far more than I expected I would. I know Christian must levy such a fine because i did knowingly and willingly violate the company policy regarding intergender violence…
She pauses, and nods, rolling her eyes slightly at the need for the mention.
Seleana Zdunich: Again…
Stepping back, her hand lowers out of the shot as she nods to the wall. A smile crosses her face joined by a slight snicker escaping her lips.
Seleana Zdunich: Ja, I did and while it might feel good to look at Christian and repeat the words that got him punched by me nearly fifteen months’ time ago…
Looking back to the camera, Seleana shrugs, the smile suddenly gone.
Seleana Zdunich: It would also be selfish and foolhardy of me to do so because I already know the answer to an extent and because, let us face facts, there is no need for such attitude in this instance because Teddy Warren deserved what he got and probably more and my only regret regarding Mister Warren is that others such as Alicia Lukas were unable to engage as part of the rightful beating he received.
She points emphatically to the ground, standing almost defiantly.
Seleana Zdunich: He should be grateful we did not ask Johanna Krieger to join in or he might still be receiving his meals through a tube! That woman does not take his misogynistic words easily and would have done damage that might be irreparable so he might consider that the next time he wishes to tell all of us where our place is and what we are and are not capable of doing.
Seleana steps back and points towards the door on the other side of the room.
Seleana Zdunich: Johanna is only just up the hallway, Teddy, and your wife knows how to gain her attention!
Stepping back into place, she faces and glares harshly into the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: Or perhaps I will feel the need to allow Christian the opportunity to admonish and punish me again?
A sick smile crosses her face as the almost playful one did before.
Seleana Zdunich: I did enjoy the feeling of my fist smashing into your face and I think my fist did as well. It certainly enjoyed the taste of your blood and I know you have more where that came from! As much as you like to think of yourself as above everyone else and a different breed apart, you still bleed the same and you still have an awful lot of blood to give!
Her glare intensifies in its hatred.
Seleana Zdunich: Se dina ord, din jävla idiot, eller dåliga saker kommer att komma över dig och det kommer inte att vara lika förlåtande som förra veckan!
She looks down to the floor, almost shaking with rage. Pulling herself together, she nods to herself, collecting her thoughts as she looks back to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: But he is last week, old news…
She nods almost absently, pointing to herself in the chest.
Seleana Zdunich: In two days, the other thing I discover is how I stack up one on one against a woman I have admired for a long time!
Seleana takes a step towards the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: Roxi Johnson was and is a legitimate hero for me! She has always shown me kindness and respect since I come to this country and it is an honor to step into the ring with her in any capacity, but an even greater honor to step into the ring as her first defense of the World Bombshell Championship!
She looks down, the anger from earlier remaining.
Seleana Zdunich: There will be those who say I do not deserve such a thing, that I have already blown enough opportunities so why am I to receive another…
Her eyes crawl up from the floor and burn lasers through the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: Those people should shut their mouths and if they do not like that I continue to earn my way to the top, they should start to step up and stop me! They all complained long and loud, in some cases making fun of the fact that my record against Alicia Lukas was not very good however, she was not one of them because she saw that I had earned every one of those opportunities. I fell to the floor, picked myself up and walked through whatever fire I had to in order to get back there again! People like Jessie Salco and Mercedes Vargas had the chances to stop me and all they can do is stand there and complain while I take the shot that could have been theirs if they had simply stepped up and down what they said was so easy…
She falls to her knees and raises her arms almost begging from the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: All they had to do was beat the pathetic little foreign zookeeper trophy wife of Crystal Hilton and the world was theirs to devour...
Nodding, she reaches forward and slaps the floor.
Seleana Zdunich: Instead, they lay at my feet while I walk over them to the promised land and they look up at the lights begging to know why God above allowed this to happen to them!
Getting to her feet, Seleanastarst to rub her hands together.
Seleana Zdunich: And now, just like when it was Alicia, it will be me against Roxi and I promise all of you that whether I win or I lose, I will make Roxi realize it is me and not any of you standing in the ring challenging her for that championship!
She points to herself again.
Seleana Zdunich: I am Seleana Zdunich and I will continue to make all of you have to walk on the wildside!
Her hand falls away.
Seleana Zdunich: Roxi Johnson, let us show the world what it takes to be the champion! I look forward to showing you and everyone else exactly what I can do!
