There’s a wiping motion of a cloth over the lens, wiping away a thin film of ice, the picture seeming to vibrate for a moment as the cameraman tries to get his shivering under control and the well wrapped up frame of Scarlett Kincaid comes into focus, her breath hanging in the air as a cloud of mist for a moment, a smile appearing on her face.
Scarlett: Hey. You really should have come dressed a little bit more suitably for walking into a meat freezer. These really aren’t the warmest of places you know.
She shakes her head.
Scarlett: Anyway, I’m ecstatic that my tag team partner for this week, the one and only, extremely talented Wendy Briese could join me today...and I promise you Wendy, there’s no nefarious plot here, I’m not trying to get rid of a competitor through underhand methods or anything like that.
The girl smirks as she makes the joke.
Scarlett: Instead we’re here to talk about our opponents this week. Mika Demidov and Camilla Pazzini. And it’s not because we feel the need to do some Rocky-like demonstration of punching power to demonstrate that we can hang with Camilla. Nor is it because Mika Demidov is sometimes unfairly accused of having the personality of a slab of frozen beef.
Wendy: It’s because we’re redheads, and this is Los Angeles, and between sunburn and freezer burn, we’re taking the latter.
Wendy’s dressed almost as bundled as Scarlett, with a green hat and mittens, and a scarf wrapped around her, which she pulls down when she talks.. And of course a very heavy winter coat.
Wendy: After all, they say that the tag team that will freeze together will bring their opponents to their knees together!
Scarlett looks at her.
Scarlett: Do they really say that? Is it like some Inuit...eskimo...wrestling saying? Is it proven in their culture or….
Trailing off, the young girl smiles.
Scarlett: I’m getting off the point here aren’t I? We’re here to talk about a teaser for Ten Femme Chaos and to tell you why we’re the sure fire locks to walk out of the Staples Center with the victory and the momentum going into Chaos Theory.
A deep breath.
Scarlett: These matches of impromptu tag partners...the “Strange Bedfellow” matches always generate a lot of intrigue. Everyone starts to ask whether or not the teams can co-exist given the friction that has been created between partners. If all those comments made in the past will come back to bite them on the ass, the way it did the one I teamed with Isabella, or if they’ll be able to see past them to pull it together. Wendy happens to be something of a tag team expert...so I’m sure you’re all interested to hear her take on tonight’s spectacle.
Wendy shrugs.
Wendy: I’m not entirely sure I’m an expert on the matter, at least anymore. I haven’t consistently teamed with anyone in three years, and what limited experience I have in FFW has been met with equally limited success. I’ve always believed that chemistry matters to a team, and I still do. Even with a team that seems like a glaring exception- like Team Adonis, they still managed to work together as a unit once the match started.
Wendy glances over at her partner and rival.
Wendy: I think our team is going to work very well together. Scarlett and I have similar styles, and relatively similar mindsets. And even more importantly, we know that there’s a time and place for everything. Did we just face off in a very grueling match at One Night Stand? Of course. Did she take the FFW Championship from me? Yes. Do I want it back? Absolutely. Is that going to happen tonight… or anytime in the next month? Probably not. I, for one, am more than willing to put aside a rivalry for a fortnight if it means I get to work with someone I have a ton of respect for, and I think Scarlett has the same excitement over the prospect of teaming with me. I think that gives us an advantage, unless, Scarlett, you think Mika and Camilla are just as excited about teaming with each other as we are?
There’s a shrug of her shoulders.
Scarlett: You’re right. Time and a place for everything. Definitely a shared respect between us and most definitely similarities in our outlook on family and on this sport. I mean come on, we’ve got the woman who sticks about as rigidly as possible to the rule book as possible and me - a woman who spent most of last year as a bitch and never once broke the rules. I think there are those same similarities that are going to help Mika and Camilla put their differences aside. Listen to the pair of them talk. There are definitely ego’s at play. The Living Legend and Miss Undefeated, Unstoppable and Undisputed...who’s not really any of those things any more. There’s a lot to ignore too. Camilla’s downplaying of Mika’s title, referring to her as a dark horse, Mika calling Camilla immature and accusing her of not doing her best, of pulling the punch in their Femme For All match. I could be wrong though. You’ve already mentioned Team Adonis, but lets bring another name into this. Isabella Pazzini. The woman who has cast a shadow over her sister, who was never backward in creating her own hype and publicity. Maybe Camilla’s experience dealing with her will make her the perfect partner for Demidov with all that experience she has massaging and mollycoddling an oversized ego.
Wendy nods.
Wendy: And it’s not like having an ego is a bad thing in and of itself. I know I have one… I’m pretty sure you have one too, Scarlett. I don’t think it’s impossible NOT to have an ego… especially at this level, when you HAVE to have the belief that you’re capable of proving yourself the best. But at least we have perspective… and more importantly, at least we have a true sense of self-worth, and a true sense of accountability. Both Mika and Camilla lack that quality. Take Camilla and this whole ‘sick of being in the shadow’ CRAP she’s been spewing. It’s been since, what? AUGUST when she started this? When she pulled that stunt with Val that enabled Scarlett here and her sister to get the win in Val’s own hometown?. It was NOVEMBER when she jumped Val in my match against her, and DECEMBER when she went on a tirade about how I’m everything that’s wrong here.
Wendy rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
Wendy: It’s February now. Six months since she started down this stupid, childish route, and how much have things gotten better for her? Not one iota. She’s right at the same level she was when she got stupid in Scotland, if not even worse off. She’s been in one match since her rant, and can’t be bothered to show up anywhere near a TV show otherwise. Almost like she’d rather ruin an FFW Championship match than take the steps necessary to actually get one. It’s easier that way. It’s easier to blame other people, and to try to ruin things for them, than to take accountability and try to build yourself up.
Scarlett nods.
Scarlett: Maybe Camilla should be in here, hanging from a hook given how she feels like she’s been frozen out by management, held back and held down from achieving her potential, from following in Isabella’s footsteps and adding to the Pazzini legacy. It’s all bullshit of course. It’s nothing more than a sense of self-entitlement manifesting itself through a lack of heart...which is something she shares with Mika.
A grin appears on Scarlett face.
Scarlett: Yeah. Mika would like you all to believe that she’s the 2013 model of Scarlett Kincaid. That she knows adversity and she fights through it, that no matter the odds she keeps plugging on, she keeps on trying to move forward and will battle to get over any hurdles. Sadly reality doesn’t match the story she tells. Her reaction to adversity is to plunge head first into self-pity. Look back to November, she tied EVERYTHING, her entire identity into beating me, was happy to tell the world that Scarlett Kincaid versus Mika Demidov in the Femme For All final would define her entire career and when she came up short what did we get from her? Crying on Twitter, a deep deep deep depression claiming her career was all but over. A fear that she was frozen out. That she’d wasted her one and only chance to enter the Big Girls playground. Monday, we got a repeat of that as she related to Twitter that her new best friend was the porcelain telephone to God; that she’d spent Sunday night drowning her sorrows in Vodka.
Scarlett rolls her eyes.
Scarlett: My, how stereotypically Russian of you Mika. She talks a big game, she comes across as being so incredibly confident as to be overbearingly cocky and arrogant. Sadly it’s as brittle as cracked glass, a veneer of rice paper easily shattered, easily broken through. Just takes one single loss and we see she’s far from being “The Best” and just another young girl who whines
and throws a tantrum when things don’t go her way. I’m sure they could try and level that criticism at me - that last year my bad reaction was a temper tantrum. But I never once cried and whined about my position. I accepted it. I worked hard, bided my time and made sure to make the most of my opportunities.
Wendy nods grimly
Wendy: Mika could very easily be FFW Champion one day. There’s no denying her talent- either of their talent, for that matter. But you look at Mika, and the way she acts, and you can’t help but wonder if she won’t end up as one of FFW’s biggest collapses instead. Like Scarlett pointed out- Mika’s psyche is fragile. Very fragile. The constant need for attention. The constant necessity to make herself bigger and more important than she is- or anyone else could possibly be. The complete and utter lack of understanding of cause and effect- like her being clearly upset with the fans being happy she lost to Scarlett after she spent MONTHS antagonizing them. Her inability to cope with disappointment- Scarlett neglected to mention that Mika’s moping after losing to her lasted over a WEEK, and required nearly half the company to tell her she was still a good wrestler. And her tendency to lash out at those who are against her- which, thanks to her own doing, is a pretty sizeable contingent. Against Camilla the first time, it came off as being a plucky underdog, but now we’re to the point that its more ‘there she goes again,’ and you can’t help but roll your eyes. It reached the height of ridiculousness on Sunday…
Wendy glances back over at Scarlett, holding up a gloved finger before the clearly irritated Cajun can butt in, Scarlett letting out her breath with a sigh as she gets stopped before she can get going.
Wendy: The fact of the matter is, Mika has no idea how to deal with adversity, because Mika has yet to TRULY experience any, and the way she acts, God help her when and if she ever does. I’m talking about dealing with more than a lost match or a missed title shot. I’m talking about being contractually kicked OUT of the FFW Championship picture for over a year, like Scarlett was. I’m talking about being sidelined for six months with a fractured vertebrae, like I was. Or an injured leg like Caroline. Or knocked out for months thanks to injuries brought on by a SISTER, like Nicole Knight. And yet, she whined more over one little loss than all four of us COMBINED.
Scarlett: We’d probably never hear the end of it if she got an ingrowing toenail…
There’s a shake of Scarlett’s head before the Baton Rouge girl continues on.
Scarlett: It’s one of the reasons why we’re here inside a meat freezer. We both know what it’s like to get frozen out. To be forced off to one side, to suffer heartbreak and disappointment whether it be through accident or design, through overconfidence or hubris or a miscalculation. I’m pretty sure Wendy that you’ve heard the same cliches that I have - whether from the years spent around the ring, or from Terrence and Dan watching televised sport. The hallmarks of true champions are the way they bounce back, the way they never see any situation as truly hopeless and fight all the way to the end, that they always seem to grind out results, you always believe that they can come up with a way to snatch victory from the jaws of almost certain defeat. We’ve both done it. We’ve both heard the crowd get behind us when things look bleak; express their belief in us and our abilities. Can Mika or Camilla look themselves in the eye and say the same? We know Camilla is resilient, we’ve see the Ultraviolence matches, the punishment she’s taken in them...but she’s already admitted that her losses come when least expected, when she’s facing the dark horses like Mika Demidov, like Raven Wicked, like Casey Atherton at her delusional best. And we know Camilla’s on a skid...can she turn it around? Can she pull an iron out of the fire. Whilst Mika...she’s gone and gotten the tag as Isabella Pazzini’s chosen successor, supplanting Starla McCloud and sure, Demidov might have the talent and the desire to cheat, but she’s lacking the little something extra that set Izzy apart from all the rest who tried to take her crown.
Wendy glances over.
Wendy: Samantha Star doesn’t completely embrace her and endorse everything she does?
Scarlett glares a Wendy with a small smile forming at the sides of her lips.
Scarlett: Okay...Mika doesn’t have TWO things that Isabella had. Samantha’s unwavering support and that indefinable quality, that winning mentality, that Champions mentality I guess you can call it. Hard to describe...like an expectation of success, without diving into the deepest of abyss’ when things don’t go quite as planned.
Wendy smiles.
Wendy: It’s like the old saying. “A good wrestler makes a plan. A great wrestler knows when to chuck the plan through the ropes.”
Scarlett: I swear you just make all these “Old Sayings” up as you go along.
Wendy: I’m not that clever. If I was, I’d still have your belt!
Wendy gives Scarlett a small self-deprecating grin, and turns back to the camera.
Wendy: Anyways, I suppose we’d be remiss if we failed to drop the obligatory “we’re not overlooking you”, line. Because I can almost FEEL that card about to be played, especially after I made it very clear that I wanted Scarlett to win the Femme For All. The fact of the matter is, that statement wasn’t about who I thought would be the better challenge, and certainly not about who I thought would be the easier match. It was about getting a dream contest. About facing one of the women I respect more in this business than anyone, for the title that’s meant more to me than any other title in my career. And considering the show we put on at One Night Stand, I don’t think anyone can blame me for desiring that.
A small smile, although she does sigh.
Wendy: Camilla and Mika are great wrestlers when they want to be, and both are discarding some baggage- emotional and psychological- away from seriously contending for the FFW Championship. Heck, we saw what Camilla was capable of when she WASN’T feeling sorry for herself, when she beat her sister at the first When Worlds Collide. And Mika’s shown flashes of brilliance in between her false bravado and her frequent bouts of incapability to reap the seeds she’s sown with her words. And I know this is the kind of match both can get motivated for. Heck, Camilla said it herself- that at One Night Stand she and Mika would be fighting for the right to kick my butt. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way initially, but now they BOTH have a chance to do it. At once. And they can get the current FFW Champion as well in a package deal!
Scarlett nods her head in agreement.
Scarlett: Excuse me if I keep on bringing the cliches...though to be honest, I’m probably not going to the worst offender this week. Mika, for example has never met a cliche she didn’t like a repeat. Everything from being “A gift to wrestling” to “you’ll have to kill me to win.” Hi Shaelin.
A broad grin appears on Scarlett face as she carries on. For her part, Wendy cringes.
Scarlett: But, if you can’t get yourself motivated for a match like this. If you don’t come to a match with the reigning FFW Champion and one of the greatest wrestlers to ever walk the face of this earth...then maybe you’re in the wrong business. We aren’t overlooking either of you. Between us we’ve been in ring with and against you and multiple occasions, we’ve watched you compete every opportunity we’ve been able to. We know what you’re capable off. We know you’re achievements, including the incredible ones, like defending a title while your best friend is suspended above the ring in a shark cage - although surely it’s more an indictment of you that it was a stipulation even considered necessary in the first place.
Wendy: ...You are talking to a woman who mocked Todd Williams over HIS protests at being banned from ringside for David’s match, yet threw her own tantrum over Nessa and Leona being barred. Again- no sense of perspective.
Scarlett: Regardless, we’re not about to write them off and just discard them as nothing. And we’d expect you to do the same. In your angry, rage filled rant where you try to rip us apart and you at least acknowledge there’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to fail. Sunday night Mika, you asked to be shown a wrestler who’s gone undefeated as a singles wrestler in fourteen months or more...I’ll go you one better Mika. Thursday night, in Los Angeles, you’re going to be meeting a woman who last lost one on one when you were just a countdown on a website hyping your arrival. While my partner here...Well, I’ll let Wendy tell you about the tear she’s been on and about how long it’s been since she was last pinned.
Wendy smiles, blushing a little at the spot she got put in.
Wendy: Seventeen months. Sixteen since I tapped out in a deciding fall. Of course, I was injured for a bit of that, but… still. The thing is… it’s really not how long you go, or how many matches it is. Much of it is how you do it and how you carry yourself in the meantime. I daresay that trumpeting that the person who eventually ends your streak didn’t even deserve to be in the ring with you kind of sours everyone’s perception somewhat. But it’s not just me who has a streak… they come and go all the time. Heck, you yourself hasn’t taken a fall since last January either, Scarlett.
Scarlett: Even if we ignore the slightly less than legal method you pick up a couple of your victories, we’ve racked up these streaks against the cream of crop - champions and challengers - not by getting gimme’s from facing a middle-aged man who hasn’t won in years, who is out of his depth and lost to a guy with barely two months wrestling training under his belt. We’re not letting our performance level drop, professional pride won’t let us do anything but go all out in this match to secure the win, to have our hands raised in victory and leave both of our opponents out in the cold.
Wendy nods.
Wendy: So Mika… Camilla… as they say… come at us, sisters. You both wanted this match. You both want to hurt me, you both want to have a go at the champ. Here’s your chance. Just remember, the pressure’s on. You’re facing the current and former FFW Champion. The two women at the absolute top of this company, and you better bring your A-plus-plus game tonight. But just remember that as the storm sets in, and the pressure rises, and it’s all on the line- there’s a HUGE difference between being cool as ice in the face of adversity… and completely freezing up.
The scene begins to fade, and the audio cuts, but not before we hear the sound of three pairs off footsteps BOLTING for the freezer door.
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