November 23, 2020
I had yet to leave Las Vegas for the holidays on the night after High Stakes. Of course, I was immensely thrilled about being able to retain my Internet Championship against Seleana Zdunich and while a certain ex-boyfriend of mine would make such a huge deal about it with overbearing celebrations, my on-again, off-again lifelong friend Jazmyn Rain decided to do something for me that was far more low key: a small, ordered-in dinner between the two of us at her hotel room.
“I wanted to show you something…” Jazmyn told me with a smile. She pulled out two pictures and slid them across the table to me.
Curiously, I picked up the pictures and what I saw was a side by side comparison of my two, big, Vegas moments on a flagship stage. On the left was a picture of me after I won that epic ladder match that had made me a star in the first place and on the right was a picture of me in the moments after I retained the Internet Championship the night before. Visually? That full circle that I had wanted so much was now depicted and pride just poured through me.
“Thank you for that…” I told Jazmyn. “Considering that you were there all those years ago, last night wouldn’t have been the same if you weren’t around.”
“I was never going to miss it for the world, no matter what our differences have been in the past.” Jazmyn reminded me. “Besides, your journey inspired the start of my own as a professional wrestler. Despite the fights and the wars and the rivalry that we’ve had over the years with this, I can’t take that away from you at all. Besides, considering the wrestling comeback that I’m trying to make myself? The journey that you’ve been on here in SCW inspires some amazing hope for me… that maybe I’m NOT over the hill… that maybe I CAN still do something great in this business…”
“You can…” I said with a touched smile to the woman I’ve known since the age of five. “...and you will. You’re so much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“Coming from someone that is one of the greatest wrestlers I’ve ever known, that means the world to me…” Jazmyn said. These words just furthered my warm feelings about how everything has gone for me as a whole. Yet, a part of me was feeling a tinge of embarrassment.
“I mean… I’m sure you know at least 10 wrestlers better than me…” I said, trying to stay humble.
“Impossible.” Jazmyn said. “You do realize that you’re among a very small minority of wrestlers that are doing the things you’re doing at your age, right? If you’re pulling off what you’re doing at your age against the competition you’re doing it against, then you have to be considered an all-time great…”
“I’m not going that far…” I said, again trying to remain humble.
“Well… I do know this…” Jazmyn added. “...you’re on the verge of becoming the longest reigning Bombshells Internet Champion. You only need one more defense to break the record for most defenses.”
“Right… but records aren’t why I do this…” I reminded her, with my happy feelings suddenly starting to become mixed in with discomfort. “They’re nice but… I don’t chase records. I didn’t win my title to chase records.”
“You’ve done more than enough with that title. What’s left? The records! The opportunity to become the greatest Bombshells Internet Champion of all time! You deserve that recognition. You sure as hell have done a much better job than your predecessor, that’s for sure.”
“Listen…” I said to Jazmyn, trying hard to balance between being on the straight path for myself and dampening her enthusiasm. “...that’s great. I’m not saying I don’t want the records… but I can’t focus on them. I can’t chase that. If I do, I’ll lose focus. Can we just not talk about it? I’m not really with the idea of chasing ‘greatest champion ever’ right now. I just want to be happy that… well… as a whole? 2020 has been some hell of a ride….”
“Fine…” Jazmyn said with a smile, giving me some relief in the sense that I didn’t dampen her enthusiasm. “...you do deserve that much!”
Jazmyn and I continued with our humble celebration, but inside, I was starting to think more about the ‘records’, the ‘accolades’ and the ‘spotlight’ a little bit more.
“I know that for much of 2020, as the Bombshells Internet Champion… I was under the radar. I’m sure there has been some whispers about me moving on up to the main event scene. I know people are going to start talking about the records soon. But at the end of the day? I don’t need to put extra pressure on myself over things that are either in the far future or that are trivial at best. If I become the most successful Bombshells Internet Champion, great. But that’s not why I do what I do now. I’ve been a title and a record chaser many times before… and it’s led me down a self-destructive path. I can’t afford to even risk going down that path again…”
January 10, 2021
“So she’s going to be okay?” I asked a doctor outside of the medical room after CC280 went off the air.
“Sam? Yeah, she’s going to be fine” the doctor assured me, which made me relieved. “She’ll be back at it soon.”
“Good,” I said back to him. “At least Andrea didn’t put her on the shelf or anything.”
“She’s a crazy one isn’t she?” he said with a nervous laugh. “You can go in and talk to her now if you’d like.”
“Thank you.”
The doctor went inside the room and I was about to go in myself to check on Samantha Marlowe when I heard a familiar laughter in the distance. My relief turned into anger when I noticed that Andrea herself was coming in my direction.
“Crazy, huh?” my former protege said in a mocking tone. “That’s real cute, you know. You? Actually checking up on Samantha Marlowe? Myra, where it’s really going to hurt is psychologically. You know how fragile that bitch is!”
“Call her a bitch again and see what happens!” I said with a sudden anger.
“Whoa! Is that the REAL Myra coming out? The one that bullied and tortured me back in GCW?”
“I’m not that person anymore and you know that.”
“I’m sorry… I just find it very amusing that you’re trying SO HARD to repent for your old sins by being SUCH a good Samaritan! Giving Sam a free shot at your title? I thought that was low enough. But giving one to CANDY? REALLY? You do realize that the Sams and the Candies of this division are the weak links right? But you want to Oprah Winfrey your title reign and hand out title shots to EVERYONE! Sweethearts NEVER win! They ALWAYS finish last! When you finally move on from the Internet Championship, you’ll know what I mean… when the spotlight becomes too much for you, you’re going to revert back to that same bitch, trust me.”
“It’s called ‘being a fighting champion’... which you decided you didn’t want to be anymore after you lost the world title.”
“Myra, you do realize the spotlight and the attention you’re getting around here, right? I can’t hear enough of it! I hear so much of it, it makes me want to vomit! I can’t STAND all the praises people are singing about you right now! You really DON’T deserve it! No matter how much you want to dismiss it… you know deep down that at SOME point… you’ll be in that main event spotlight…”
“That may be true but…”
“What? You’re ‘not focused on that right now’?” Andrea just laughed after she asked this. “So if you’re not focused on that right now, why’d you enter the Blast from the Past tournament? You realize the prize at the end, don’t you? Don’t bullshit me and say that it’s about ‘the experience’ and how ‘you may never get another opportunity again’ and that fake, bullshit narrative you spoke about on camera like the pathetic, little two-faced bitch you are. It’s about getting that last world title… it’s about hitting that 20 title milestone. I saw you reference that milestone on social media.”
I was beginning to get really annoyed with Andrea, but I was doing the best that I could to hold back. Her bitterness over the past that we shared together was becoming less amusing and more of a burden every time we crossed paths.
“Knowing you the way I know you…” Andrea continued with a sneer on her face. “You are very much aware of the fact that you’re about to become the longest reigning Bombshells Internet Champion in Sin City Wrestling history. You know that with this defense over Candy, that if you’re successful at that, you’re going to be the first champion with five defenses in a single reign. Essentially, you get to cement yourself as the greatest champion in the title’s history! You don’t talk about it… but I KNOW it’s crossed your mind…”
“Vaguely…” I admitted as I narrowed my eyes. “Maybe I’m getting some increased notoriety around here, yeah. I’m aware of the records. I’m aware that there’s that ‘world title talk’ about me. I know that I won’t get to be under the radar much longer. I’m going to be under a bigger microscope this year. But the way you’re going about it, you’re making it seem like I can’t handle it…”
“You can’t…” Andrea said with a scoff. “You and I both know what happens when the spotlight grows too much for you. You snap! You couldn’t handle losing that world title match you had before you went on maternity retirement for two years. You went to GCW and unleashed three years of hell for it, remember? Oh I REMEMBER! You TORTURED ME! What happened in UWA when you realized you’d never break the ceiling there? You quit and ran away. What happened in Carnage when things weren’t going your way? You not only did the same thing, but before that, you destroyed someone’s career forever. So what’s going to happen if Candy beats you for the title? Can your EGO handle that?”
“It handled losing to Bobbie pretty damn well…” I reminded her. “You’re treating Candy as if she’s one of the worst women on the roster… you’ve been doing that for weeks. Honestly? I’m getting sick of it! I don’t care what YOU think, Candy is a worthy competitor for my title so… IF she were to win, I’d be able to handle that. I’d even hand her the title myself if it came to that and pass the torch to the new champion.”
Andrea responded to this by laughing in my face, not believing a word I said. Her constant pushing and prodding was really beginning to anger me and it wasn’t a good feeling knowing where this anger has led me in the past.
“What are you going to do if you get a BAD partner for Blast from the Past like Bill Barnshart and he drags you down, huh? What are you going to do WHEN you get EXPOSED as a pretender in the main event scene? Are you going to keep up this “HUMBLE SWEETHEART ACT” or are you going to revert back to being THE Myra that I know? You know that sweethearts finish last here… look what happened to me…”
“I’m not responding to any of that…” I said as my internal anger increased. “No matter what I say, you’re not going to believe me. I know who I am now. I don’t need YOUR approval, Andrea. At the end of the day, you’re the one that can’t let go of the past. Plus, I know I can handle myself in the main event scene. I’ve got wins over THREE former world champions here… and when I beat Amber, she was the Carnage World Champion at the time.”
I was trying to keep calm and composed, but Andrea’s prodding… which she continued with a sarcastic eye roll and a mocking chuckle to what I just said… was just furthering my anger.
“I know who I am… and you don’t want to believe in that, then that’s your problem.”
“No wonder your ex just dumped you…” Andrea said. “He never loved… well… this. He was always into who you REALLY are. Jayson was always too good for you. That’s why you both split right? Because You had gone way too soft for him? I bet he’s going to be laughing very hard when you fall flat on your face in 2021 and you have no choice but to show your true colors. But you know who’s going to see the fraud that you are more than anyone in the world? That naive, stupid, brainwashed little bastard bitch you call a daughter…”
That’s what did it…
That’s when I suddenly snapped and grabbed Andrea by the collar, pressing her hard against the wall. Andrea just looked at me and laughed in my face.
“...there she is… there’s the Myra that I know… are you going to start strangling me too? Come on! Let it out! You know you want to!”
Calming down in that instant, I let her go knowing that she wasn’t worth it.
“No… I’m not going to do the same thing you did last year. But if you EVER talk about my daughter like that again, you won’t have a career, I promise you that. You can say all the shit you want about me, my personal life, my career, my past… but my daughter? You leave her ALONE, you got that?”
“Oh lighten up!” Andrea said without any remorse. “I was only testing you to see what it would take for you to show me the Myra that I remember back in GCW. I figured I might as well get used to it because when you fail to reach the next level because of this ‘sweetheart shit’, I know I’ll be seeing so much of it… and seeing your downfall is going to be karmic justice for me…”
Andrea doesn’t say another word, maintaining her entire arrogance all the way through as she walks away from me. There was so much of me that wanted to blindside her and beat the holy hell out of her for that comment she made about Kimberly, but I knew in the end that caving into an old darkness wasn’t the right thing to do.
“This is going to be a critical year for me…” I thought to myself. “I can downplay the spotlight that I am finding myself in more and more the longer I’m the Internet Champion. I can downplay the hype that’s going to surround me when it comes to the Blast from the Past tournament. I can downplay the hype about me and how there’s talk about a potential ascension to the main event scene. However? None of that is going away. It’s true that in the past, I’ve never learned how to handle the big spotlight well on a long term basis… not even during any of my four world championship reigns. Yet… SCW has been where I’ve handled it the best… and it’s never too late to learn how to handle the spotlight all while staying true to yourself.
I guess that’s what’s going to be the mission this year…”
I was regretting that brief moment of weakness where I pinned Andrea against the wall, not necessarily because of her, but because of the reminder that I got that all it takes is just ONE big deal: whether it’s a derogatory comment about my daughter, or a big loss in a big match situation, that could have me snapping back to my old ways. The thought scared me, but on the inside? I wasn’t letting it control me.
That’s because I knew that 2020 prepared me for the challenges 2021 is going to bring….
January 15, 2021
On this night, I was my usual, confident self. The encounter with Andrea wasn’t on my mind anymore and I was more than happy to have put that behind me. Still, when the camera came on, I knew that this was a match that I wasn’t going to take for granted. Considering that it was my first match in some time and the fact that this was the last show before my title defense, there wasn’t a piece of my soul that was going to take the upcoming match lightly. I held the championship over my shoulder in my Saxon suite as I began to express my thoughts.
“High Stakes was a very fitting ending to 2020 for me! It was a moment that I am going to cherish considering that it capped off what truly was an amazing year. It brought my career full circle considering that my big breakthrough moment in this business nearly 13 years ago happened in Las Vegas and that I finally had a flagship moment that I could be proud of with no asterisks or nobody robbing me of that moment the way it had been before. It brought 2020 full circle… almost as if a redemption that I was fighting for became complete on that night. Now, I will be the first to admit. I’ve largely been under the radar since I’ve been here. I’ve gone about my business and done my thing turning back challenge after challenge all without causing any sort of controversy whatsoever. I’m a different breed of champion that doesn’t need to make this all about me. I’m a different breed of Internet Champion in the sense that I’m NOT using the Internet Championship as a stepping stone to the world title the way others before me that held this would. But… I also know the reality of the situation that I am stepping into as I enter 2021.
I’m going to be under greater scrutiny, I know that for a fact.
I know that the pressure is going to be greater.
I know that I’ll be wrestling under a bigger spotlight and a bigger microscope. Despite the fact that I’m not chasing records, I’m well aware of the fact that I’m about to become the longest reigning Internet Champion in history. I know that winning at Inception would make me the first champion to have five successful defenses in a single reign. I know that there’s a certain talk about the main event scene with me. So yeah, I WILL be watched heavily by this company and my fellow Bombshells alike because I know that this year I am going to be stepping into the biggest spotlight I’ve ever been a part of when I make that move up. I know that before? It’s broken me… so I’ve got some work to do… but I also know that at the end of the day, I’m so much smarter than I was 10, 5 or even 1 year ago. This is my year to prove that I can handle it without cracking like I had done before! I’m not going to focus on the ENTIRE picture here because THAT is what has brought me down in the past. Instead? I’m going to do what I had never learned to do before and that’s take it one step at a time…
And step one is this Sunday…
My fellow Internet Champion Caleb Storms and I are going to be facing our challengers in a preview of what’s to come two weeks from Sunday and it’s going to be one hell of a match and one hell of a test. For me, it’s not just a preview of Inception when I am in the ring with Candy, but it’s also just a little taste of what Blast from the Past is going to be for me. Yeah, I find myself in unfamiliar territory considering that this is my first tag team match in Sin City Wrestling, but that doesn’t scare me. I can work with ANYONE! I’m a four time tag team champion with four different tag team partners! So at the end of the day, I can trust Caleb to hold his end of the bargain. Augustino Romano may be an excellent athlete as he is, but at the same time, I know deep down that I’ve got the better man as my tag team partner. Caleb’s the champion and Augustino is finding his feet in this business so I’m pretty confident in that advantage. That being said, I’m not going to talk too much about the men’s side. I’m confident that Calebl’s got this held down…
But let’s talk about you and me, Candy…
I know you’re going to come into this match with all of that bubbly excitement! I know that same excitement is going to be with you in a couple of weeks. God, you even remind me of me when I was younger. I find it so damn hard to believe, but when I was 18 and starting my wrestling training, I was such a bubbly, smiley sweetheart even through some of the shit that my own father made me endure and I carried on with such bright optimism and being able to get up the next morning feeling happy… even in defeat…
Alas, that was when I started… when I was so sweet and innocent…”
I took a pause and let out a sigh, looking up past the camera. In that brief moment, I delivered about a 10 second moment of silence for the innocent sweetheart that I had once been… but that had gradually disappeared into the ether the more I got involved in this business.
“I learned real quick that professional wrestling wasn’t a damn fairy tale, Candy.
I love your personality, don’t get me wrong. I truly respect the work that you’ve put into this company, everything that you’ve accomplished and the fact that you were the Roulette Champion for quite some time. That’s why, even though you’ve had your waves ever since that title reign ended, I was willing to take you on as my challenger for two weeks from now. I didn’t listen to people like Andrea Hernandez and Mercedes Vargas and all of the mean, nasty shit that they either said to you or did to you. I saw you for what you are. You may not truly know your full potential. I get that it can happen with a happy go lucky type like yourself, but believe me sweetheart… once Sunday’s over… once our match at Inception is over… you may start to see things a little bit differently.
This… for me… Candy… is chapter one of a journey that’s going to be long and deep… and in some parts, brutal and cold.
This is a critical year for me and I intend to get it started on the brightest note that I can.
I want you to know that none of what’s going to happen between you and I is personal whatsoever. It’s me, once again, doing what needs to be done. You’re not going to be one of them, but I know that I am going into this year with many doubters in and out of this company. I know that I’m going to be facing the people that are going to try to paint 2020 as a fluke for me just because this locker room is going to have me better figured out than they did last year. You wouldn’t begin to understand the fire that this year’s about to throw me into. But, at the end of the day, I know in my heart that I can handle it.
I’m going to slip and fall, just like before. Hell, you may even be a cause of a slip and fall in a couple of weeks from now. I know that I’m going to go into what may be the most difficult year of my career in terms of competition, especially as I move up the ladder. But you see Candy and Augustino, I’m not looking past you two.
The Myra of old would just be blunt with you two just for the sake of being blunt and honest with no merit whatsoever. She would see wrestlers like you two and just scoff, looking past you both and looking at the bigger picture. I’ve been nothing but grateful to be the SCW Internet Bombshells Champion and I have been more grateful for this than any other non-world singles championship that I’ve ever had in my career.
Sin City Wrestling will never see the Myra that would take her women’s championships and her Intercontinental Championships from yesterdecade for granted because she had her eyes on the world title. They’re never going to see the Myra that would discard the GCW North American Championship like nothing, quit UWA in an ungrateful fit over being given a rematch for an X-Limits title that I never wanted and moaned and complained over being given a rematch in Carnage Wrestling for the Ultraviolent title that I didn’t want anymore. Thank god for that by the way.
You two, Candy in particular, are going to be dealing with someone who is in her 14th year in the mainstream business but has proven throughout her time in Sin City Wrestling that she’s wrestling the best that she’s ever had and in the best shape of her life… physically and far more importantly… psychologically. I may have been brilliant in 2020, but I know what I’m up against this year and I know that starting the year off right with Caleb and I coming out the winners is going to be the best start to this challenging year that I can hope for. I’m at an age and at a point in my career where I’m not taking anything for granted anymore.
You two?
You’re both young and you’ve got so much more time ahead of you in your careers than I do with mine. Maybe that is an advantage for you both considering you’re both going to be looser and more relaxed than I am. But I make up for that in spades knowing that I'm taking every single match that I’m in anything but for granted. What you saw out of me in 2020? Not only are you going to continue to see that, you’re also going to see that gradually get better and better as time goes on. I know you both are going to have an advantage in chemistry… having teamed together before.
Think that worries me?
It doesn’t.
Running down the tag team title reigns I’ve had in my career, my first partner was someone who was newer to the business and who was a complete and total opposite of me. We weren’t supposed to have any chemistry. We were a randomly thrown together team… just like Caleb and I are… and we pulled through!
My second partner was someone who… well… he was talented… but MAN… that guy had an EGO… very immature… very opposite of me in the sense that he was a goof… sort like Augustino in fact… and who always got himself into trouble with me having to bail me out. Yet, we got a 4 month reign out of it.
My third partner was someone I personally trained and mentored in Jazmyn Rain. We’ve been friends on and off for the better part of 30 years… so we’ve often clashed in and out of wrestling… but holy hell, we were one great team…
My most recent tag title win? It was with someone I had NOTHING in common with… and she wound up splitting from Carnage after that… so I had to make it work with a young lady with ZERO wrestling experience and who had hardly trained… and I did. I was able to make it work with the rawest of all wrestlers…
So someone I have no history or chemistry with against a team with an advantage in that aspect?
I’m not worried about it a damn bit!
Nothing personal against you two… but knowing the journey I’ve had in 2020 and my tag team experience? Caleb and I are going to bring this home going into Inception… and I? I’m going to get this year… this crucial, critical year for my career… started the right way.”
I was deep in thought and reflection, but feeling quite confident and undeterred by the challenge ahead and the odds that I was going to have to face. I stood up to shut off my camera and sat back down on my chair, taking a glance at the Internet Championship. I thought about the year that I had ahead which briefly made me nervous, but when I looked at my reflection, I only had one thing to say…
“One step at a time… one match at a time… you let everything fall into place and you’re going to have one hell of a 2021…”
This thought washed away that brief, internal nervousness and I got up from the chair I was sitting on and carried on with my night more than ready to take on 2021...
