Comparisons.
I love my family.
I know the natural thing to do is to compare me to my sister. To look at us both and wonder just how similar we are. But, the truth is she and I had very different experiences growing up. She was the princess. The oldest child, and while she will tell you all about her abandonment issues, her memories of our father leaving when she was a small child and how deeply that affected her, I can’t say the same.
Because I was too young to ever remember him.
But while my sister had her ups and downs, while she had her own life and direction, she didn’t and doesn’t have a monopoly on pain.
While she was a Georgia Peach, a product of the debutante society that she then rejected, and rightfully so, I was never given that attention. See, she was more like our mother. Average size, pretty face, long blond hair. Me? I inherited our father’s “gift”. Height, strength, athletic domination. And in this world, in professional wrestling those attributes are advantageous.
But, as a young girl growing up in an area of the world that was stuck in archaic misogyny?
It was hell. I was tall, I was athletic. Sure, I had the long blond hair, the feminine looks. I was considered “pretty”. But the fact I towered over everyone, that was my curse – a curse our father left me.
And I’m sure I know what so many of you are thinking.
This is just a sob story right? Something to tell for you all to feel sorry for me? Well, no. This is to explain the differences between myself and my sister. Since, from the second I signed my contract in SCW and agreed to come back to the professional wrestling world, I knew everyone would start to look at us both and wonder…
How different are they?
For years, I deprived myself of food. I ate salads, I ate fruit, I stayed away from protein. I robbed myself of it to avoid my natural gifts and abilities. My genetic coding. And while my sister is respected for her skills, while everyone knows what kind of woman she is, none of you have any idea what you are dealing with when it comes to me.
No idea what kind of monster I am, and what will happen when those shackles are finally off.
But before that, I think it’s important to know parts of my story, parts of who I am and what I am capable of. And where it all started, before we see an end.
The Phone Call
It had been a few weeks since she had heard from anyone. The small apartment was filled with glass bottles, clothing and was untidy. The sound of snoring echoed throughout the living room as Zoey Lukas laid on the couch, sprawled out across the black leather, her right leg up and draped over the back as her left leg fell off the side, her right arm up and over her head as her left arm flopped over her body.
Since coming back to Atlanta, she had nothing.
A nomadic lifestyle had been hers after she walked out on everyone and everything. Her career, her family, her future. It was all secondary after she had her entire heart broken and destroyed by one man. It had been hard work repairing her relationships. Her mother, her brother and then of course her older sister. They had talked, they had grown closer. But still nothing compared to what they once were. And Zoey’s career? After walking out on previous commitments, appearances and contracts, no one wanted to touch her.
Working as a personal trainer allowed her to train, to live, and to eat. But it was never going to get her ahead in life, nor was it her dream, her future or her need. No, that was all tied up in one thing. Wrestling.
Her phone buzzed, an annoying, piercing ringtone cut through Zoey’s snoring, causing her to startle awake. Zoey sat up and looked around, unable to find the small buzzing annoyance. The sound of the vibration clueing her into the fact it was sitting on her glass coffee table. With one movement of her arm, she swept the clothes from the table, grabbing her phone and swiping it to answer.
”Hey…?” It was Alicia, something Zoey would have noticed right away if she hadn't been half asleep. Alicia’s voice was excited, happy, but also high-pitched. She needed something.
”So uh…..how fast can you get to Cali?” It was a strange question, Zoey needed a moment to let it sink in. She needed to answer Alicia back but before she could, Alicia continued. Obviously put off by the time it was taking Zoey to answer. ”I need your help, and I may have just talked you into a job.” Her voice echoed, Zoey raised an eyebrow.
She cleared her throat and sat forward, Alicia now having her attention. ”A job?...what do you mean?”
She could hear Alicia chuckle on the other end of the phone. She knew damn well that couldn’t be good for whoever had pissed her sister off enough to get Zoey a job and bring her in. ”I need backup, I may have picked a fight and even though…ya know…one on one…I’d kill all of them…I don’t play the numbers game well…” She paused again, Zoey swallowed hard, she knew what her sister wanted. Alicia growled and let out a sigh. ”You’re gonna make me do it, aren’t you?”
Zoey laughed to herself and reached up with her free hand sweeping her blond undercut back out of her eyes. ”Yep…”
After a few moments, Alicia spoke, her voice was now no longer excited and high pitched – it was lower and clearly annoyed. ”Please…”
”What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”
She groaned. Zoey could almost see her, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. She paused again for a few seconds as if trying to swallow her pride. ”Zoey, would you please meet me in Cali and have my back?”
Zoey laughed and smiled wide. ”Yeah, of course….but uh….I think I’m going to start training at Wolfslair…can you…talk to Alex for me?” There was more silence, Alicia seemed shocked and taken back by the request. After all Zoey was a loner, even more than Alicia was.
”No problem…we’ll see you there…and Zoey…thank you…”
As Alicia hung up, Zoey swallowed. Her sister thanking her and it seeming so soft and genuine caught Zoey off guard. But now she had a purpose, a job and a place to train. Wolfslair, the New York based gym, the Florida offshoot, the members were champions and the best in the world. She wanted that, the knowledge, the skillset. If Zoey was going to return to this world, immerse herself in it, then it was going to be on her terms for her reasons. Not just to stand next to Alicia menacingly. To become a champion, to become better than even Alicia…
Zoey stood up, moving through her apartment to the bathroom. She would have to pack up, move to New York, maybe even stay with her sister for a time. The light flickered on and hummed above, and Zoey looked into the mirror, noting the rings under her eyes and the telltale scars of the night before, as well as a small cut on her lip from the bar fight.
That she started.
Allegedly…
Her lips twisted into a grin as she ran her hands under the water, splashing it on her face, through her hair and instantly waking her up completely. Her eyes moved back to the mirror. She was still in great shape, her arms were large, her muscles bulging, her strong jawline not offsetting her other feminine features. She was a physical beast, an anomaly. Six foot one, almost two hundred pounds and could move faster than most people thought. She was a freak.
A genetic freak.
And she was ready to unleash it all. May God have mercy on their souls.
The Ballad of Jessie Salco
”I understand…”
The voice of Zoey Lukas echoes throughout the room, her large black biker boots hitting the ground as she steps forward, a tight black shirt over her upper body showing the outline of her shoulders and arms as she hooks her thumbs into the loops of her black jeans.
”There is going to be a lot of hatred for me, a lot of…what they call “heat”. See, I have come from not even being in the wrestling business for the last two years right to one of the longest running and popular companies in the world. A company that has set a standard for how a company should be run, with the best talent the world has to offer. So many will ask why I’m here if not for my sister and, honestly they’d be right. See, I had problems, many problems. I needed to get away and I walked out on a lot of people who depended on me. Not just my family, but friends and companies, business opportunities and contracts.”
“And, I did it for the most childish of reasons. A guy. A guy broke my heart and shattered my personal life and I thought that allowed me to walk out on all my responsibilities. Call it the stupidity of youth. And I am still young. I’m 25 years old. So yeah, I’ve made mistakes.”
“But, a few weeks ago, I got a phone call that has already changed my life.”
“Not only did I pack up my life and move to New York, not only am I now training at Wolfslair, the gym of champions, unlike Go Gym or whatever that Hero bullshit is, but I am also now signed to Sin City Wrestling on a full time contract. And that first appearance? Wow, I’m sure it couldn’t have gone better. The fact Steele and her little group of dumbasses had no idea I was there was perfect. And I showed what kind of true dominance you can all expect. I threw Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald around like they were nothing.”
She can’t help but chuckle, moving one of her hands up to sweep her blond hair to the side, a twisted grin coming across her black painted lips.
”And you can see why. I’m six foot one, almost two hundred pounds. I can bench more than most dudes and with all my physical gifts, I also know how to wrestle. I’m not just a powerful athlete, I can tie you up in knots. I can grab an arm or leg and hear that ever so satisfying snap. But, I’m sure there’s a lot of women on this roster who are sitting back with their chests puffed out and a smile on their face telling themselves and anyone else who will listen the same fucking lie. That they are not intimidated by me or worried about me…but…the truth is right there in front of your eyes.”
“You should be intimidated.”
“You should be worried.”
“See, I ain’t just here to occasionally have a match and stand next to my sister and look menacing. Nah, that ain’t me. Now I'm back in the crazy circus of professional wrestling. I'm looking to get to the top. And, while I’m at it, also show some of you that, while I expect to be compared to Alicia, I ain’t her. I ain’t like her. See, my sister is respectful to opponents that have proven themselves as her equal. It’s noble and she loves the challenge of wrestling. She loves the thought of epic showdowns and one-on-one matches where she and someone else beat the hell out of each other.”
“Me?”
“I just like fucking people up.”
She offers a small shrug and steps to the side letting out a deep sigh.
”And the first person I get to fuck up is Jessie Salco. A mainstay of Sin City Wrestling. In fact, when it comes to women who have been in the company and part of the Bombshells Division, there’s only a few names you’d say are more recognisable. My sister, Mercedes Vargas, Amber Ryan, Roxi Johnson, Mikah. All names that people would hold up there are synonymous with the company and the division as a whole. Some newer than others. But while you have a mix of names who once dominated the division like Mercedes, Mikah and Alicia and some names like Amber and Roxi who are currently on top, Jessie doesn’t really belong in either of those groups.”
“Nah, Jessie's notoriety is based on one thing. Longevity. Sticking around like a bad smell for years on end and hoping to somehow get a lucky break. And I get it, every company needs that person, someone with name recognition who they can trot out when something like this needs to happen. And Jessie fits that mold perfectly.”
“You’ve been brought out here as a name for me to kick off my career with. That’s it. End of story…Promo over…”
Zoey turns and goes to walk away, but after two steps she stops with a laugh, looking over her shoulder so we see her side profile, her eyebrow raised.
”Well, not really. I mean I have so much more to say as a point.”
She turns on her heels back forward.
”Look at me, Salco. I mean, really look at me. Physically, I’m stronger than you, faster than you. Trained by some of the best and a prodigious talent in my first few years. Confidence oozing from every single movement. The one place you have an advantage over me, Jessie, is experience. You have been in SCW for a long, long time. Aside from a pit stop in Honor Wrestling, your career has been here, in this company. As a mainstay and a name, you have been running up and down this company getting in the face of every champion, of every great name who has accomplished more than you.”
“And even in a loss you seem bulletproof. Like teflon, things just slide off of you. And why is that Jessie? Why are you so “made” in SCW? I think we all know the answer. It's because the one place you have talent is in that of deception and perception. You change perception of yourself by controlling the narrative. No matter how many matches you lose, no matter how many times you fail, the next week you pretend like nothing happened. And I have to be honest…it’s lowkey genius…”
“The only problem with that, well, if there is no perception of loss then no match for you has stakes, Jessie.”
“No match matters to you, because if you lose, you don’t care, and your wins are defined by your losses. And really, you’ve had a passable career. If we all believe your own hype. But, we look closer and we see a legacy of failure and missed potential. You’ve been here the better part of a decade and have never been able to win the big one. Some Roulette Title reigns here and there, a few main events there. But at the end of the day, you have never been able to live up to your contemporaries. Never able to crack into that upper echelon of names.”
“And it hasn’t been through a lack of effort. I have to give that to you as well, Salco, you do try hard, every single match.”
Zoey sighs, heavily folding her arms over her chest.
”And you’re very slowly reigning in on two hundred of those matches in this company. Which is incredible, Jessie, really. But look at the record. If I had 190ish matches in a company and I lost over 140 of them, I’d sit back and take a look at my career and what I was doing. Cause that kind of percentage? It’s sad. And, I get it, someone like me coming in, taking that spotlight, it’s just another name to leapfrog you and push you further down, even after you main evented a show with Matt Knox as your partner. Now, here you are, jerking the curtain with an arrogant bitch like me who just turned up…”
“I’m sure you’re angry, frustrated, pissed off.”
“But, look at me. Look at what I am capable of and realise a loss to me won’t be the end of you. Mainly because you’ll stick your head in the sand, hope people forget about it and then change nothing about what you do in and out of the ring. You’ll still be the same Jessie Salco next week, the woman who pretends like her losses never happened, who makes promises about herself she can’t keep, and will always be delusional and detached from reality. But me? I’m going to move on to bigger and better things, I will get you out of the way as a showcase for what I can do, then take out the gemstones and set my sights on everyone above me…see you Sunday Salco…”
