SCW World Championship

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Witches of Alden

”Within”

Trinity Church Cemetery
New York, New York
December 27th, 2023
11:42am

Deanna sat quietly on the rough stone within the uptown cemetery. The sounds of people passing by – tourists, mourners like her, regulars that found the space peaceful, it didn’t really matter – was more like white noise to her thoughts and distant gaze.  

The whole service, from the quiet celebration of life in the chapel nearby, to the delivery of the urn into the niche, complete with the color cameo of the smiling child placed within the niche, had ended over an hour ago; and with the Frosts quietly backing everything months and months ago and preparing for the worst, the whole process had gone rather smoothly,. Well, as smoothly as a funeral could go with the tears and heartache. It was almost unsettling to Deanna how ‘mechanical’ the whole process had actually seemed.

Quietly, she gave her head a shake, feeling the chilly wind breeze by her. There was no snow on the ground, Manhattan and New York City experiencing a rather plain and cool winter – perhaps a sign that they were in for a snow-heavy spring with global warming and all that. Still, Deanna appreciated it the lack of snow and the manageable temperature of the outside. At the thought, she instinctively bundled herself up within her black coat, her black dress and leggings offering little warmth to her, forcing her to rely on the coat and matching scarf that was wrapped over her shoulders.

Poor Tannis… Deanna thought as she gazed at the numerous tombstones, still unable to leave despite nobody from the service having stayed. Except for the parents: Sara and Paul Park. They had stayed at the sight of the niche at the chapel, wishing to be left alone to mourn their loss.

A sigh escaped Deanna. It had all happened so fast. She had been home, having just finished her training at her in-home gym for the End of the Year event and her potential World title shot when she had gotten the call. Tannis Park, the child the Frosts had been helping through her cancer treatment and residence for her and her family costs, had suddenly taken a turn for the worst.

It just happened…
She suddenly started to fade…
She was gone before anything could be done…

These were phrases that Deanna had heard in the ‘explanation’ she had heard from the Parks and the doctors when she had managed to get to the hospital, but they didn’t make sense to the redhead. How did it ‘just happen’? How did life just… disappear? This wasn’t something violent like a murder or a car accident. Tannis had been fighting tooth and claw against this disease for so long and was making progress, GOOD progress, with the treatment. Things seemed hopeful for the child and her family… so what had happened? How had she just ‘faded away’?

It was so confusing to Deanna as she ran a gloved hand through her red locks of hair. Had Tannis been given any choice? Did she even get a chance to say goodbye to her parents? Did she fight? Was she able to fight it? Or had she accepted it long ago as ‘something that could, inevitably, happen’?

Wonder if that’s how I’ll go… came the inevitable inflection of such thoughts. The redhead couldn’t help it. True, she was only 26 years old, but Tannis had been younger. Death didn’t care for age – it was, as One had overly-stated as a tagline, a certainty. And when it came for Deanna, would it be something she could hold off like Tannis did? Would it be sudden and instantaneous like her parents’ car-crash when she was 4? Would it be soon, while she was young? Or would it be decades from now, with her surrounding by loved ones and reflecting on a full life?

Gazing around the premises filled with tombstones and stoney paths, Deanna hoped for the latter one. True, there had been a point in her childhood where an early death would not have been objectionable, her rough days being harassed in Kentucky for her sexuality making her days less than ideal - More like a living hell… she thought – but she had long, since, moved past that. She had left that life behind nearly a decade ago and grown a life that she didn’t want to end early.

She wanted to see her children grow up and have families of their own. She wanted to see a lineage of her own develop within the heart of Manhattan. Despite Kristen Scott’s incorrect assessment of the Frost family being some kind of ‘lineage’ within SCW – the only members being Selena and Deanna (via marriage) – the idea had sparked a kind of hope within the redhaired woman. Not that SCW be filled with Frosts, per say, but Manhattan? Maybe.

Maybe a nice small chapter of Frosts like the Aldens had within the New York/New Jersey sector. Maybe a place to create a safe haven for their family members. Maybe something that could help change the city for the better. Who knows… but obviously it wouldn’t happen overnight and Deanna was sure she would never really live to see it, even if she lived to a ripe old age.

“I’ll be dead some day…” she whispered on the wind, her emerald eyes continuing to take in the many stones. Their different designs and carvings, the different names and dates of birth and date, all while ignoring the people that passed her by. “The question is, how will it all go going forward?”

That part was almost as scary as the ‘how it will happen’ she had just asked herself. Tannis’ funeral, thanks to the Frosts paying for everything, had been a simple matter. They had even paid for the larger niche so Paul and Sara could join their daughter when their time had come. But that was someone being there to care for her.

Would Deanna have anyone? Yes, she had her children, but would they are for her? Was she only ‘mom’ as long as she was married to Selena, which could end any day now? No, she didn’t want to believe that! Even if it was a matter of genetics, Amiliah was, biologically, her child! But would she be around? What if… the redhead breathed, unable to stop the thoughts that came to her mind so rapidly…

What if, when all this was said and done and Selena did divorce Deanna? It wasn’t like Deanna would leave Manhattan, but she wouldn’t force her children to separate between the two Frost women either. Selena… for everything that had happened these last months, Deanna refused to believe that the Snow Queen would be so cruel and deny her access to their children after the many years living together. Even so, what if, when they were older – adults – all they saw was just ‘the woman mom used to love’? What if Deanna was replaced by another woman? Selena was quite loved in Manhattan as a celebrity, despite the SCW Universe hating her. Even so, there were women that would die to be where Deanna had been for eight years. What if her children wanted a full, unbroken family, choosing to remain Frosts and forget about her? What then? Who would mourn her when she died? Who would remember her when her time came? Would anyone care that she wanted to be buried here, in Manhattan, and not back home in Kentucky?

It was a similar matter within SCW. Even with Selena gone, her name could not seemingly be dropped and forgotten so easily. Week after week, the Snow Queen had been mentioned, sometimes without Deanna being there or the topic of conversation! Would Deanna reach such heights of fame? Could she? Sure, winning the world title in Toronto in a few days would help that and she’d be lying if she hadn’t thought about it as a possibility.

She knew she could beat Asher Hayes.

The man was arrogant, and that was his biggest weakness. He looked at Deanna and saw someone ‘out of his league’. Someone that couldn’t ‘measure up’. His insults were the same she had heard ever since she had started wrestling within SCW. ‘Selena’s shadow’, ‘Selena copycat’, it was anything but original and merely made the redhead roll her eyes that, even after the months she had stood on her own, having a United States title reign that eclipsed his world title reign in length and number of defenses, the man STILL wasn’t taking her seriously. Still, she wasn’t going to look such an opportunity in the mouth. Let Asher be full of himself. It would lead to an opening sooner or later and that was where Deanna would catch him offguard!

It would be tough, with her having to rely on every ounce of training and knowledge she had amassed in the past two years as a wrestler, but it was doable! She had survived the chamber, after all, and it wasn’t so much of a leap from the two-matches in two days fiasco she had managed at Rise to Greatness to become and stay the SCW United States Champion.

But even if she DID beat Asher and even if she did become World Champion on top of being United States Champion, it wasn’t uncommon or ‘legendary’. Owen Cruze, Shilo Valiant, Bree Lancaster, there were a number of superstars that had already pulled off such a feat. It was impressive, to be sure, but it didn’t guarantee immortality within the halls of SCW. It didn’t promise that someone – anyone - would care once you were gone-

Briskly, Deanna shook her head. She didn’t need to think this way. SCW was a business! It had survived the rise and fall of many superstars and factions, and no matter what Asher Hayes said, she refused to believe it was ‘dying’. Sure, SCW went through rough patches, but the reason it had lasted over twenty years was because it found a way to adapt and change through the hard times! And, as she had thought, it was a business that needed the SCW Universe, not one superstar. And when it came to her, SCW would forget her in due time and that was fine. She was just projecting and she knew it. Projecting her fears of being forgotten by her family if things continued as they seemed to.

Slowly, the redhead released a sigh, trying to calm her nerves with logic. Her children loved her. What’s more, they had been raised by her and Selena to be kind. Even if Deanna ended up alone, an ‘acquaintance’ in their lives, she had to believe that they would still be there when it was her time, or Selena would be. Even if she doesn’t…

She smelled the familiar scent in the air – vanilla – knowing of the presence of the woman before she even saw her. Feeling her heart skip a beat, Deanna’s head jerked left and right before she saw the woman standing before her just a short ways off, eyes on the sitting woman intensely. Unlike a dress and leggings, like Deanna wore, the woman wore a black suit with a matching shirt underneath the jacket. The entire ensemble was partially covered with a charcoal gray long coat (it was winter after all). The platinum-blonde hair was wrapped up in a tight bun.

The two women simply stared at one another - emerald eyes meeting sapphire ones – for a few minutes, staying to the side so other visitors could pass them without disturbing them.

“You look good.” The voice came from Selena, who kept her pale hands in her pockets.
“Thanks.” Came the automatic reply from Deanna, who adopted her wife’s posture as she stood up from the stone she had been sitting on. “I…” she quickly looked around the cemetery. “I didn’t see you in the chapel.”

With an answer, the former wrestler gave a shrug of her shoulders. “I was there.” Reaching up, she checked the hair that was tucked around her head as part of her up-do bun. “I saw you.”

Deanna gave a quick nod, choosing to turn away, casting her gaze on anyone or anything but her very-present wife. Her heart was a mixture of emotions, not the least of which, was the very familiar anger and frustration that had become associated with the older Frost.

“When did you find out about Tannis?” she settled on asking, pointing her gaze the way she had come, back to the chapel where she had left the Parks to grieve.

“Sara told me that I was the first they called.” Selena answered blatantly. “It was sudden and-“

“Unavoidable.” Deanna finished, trying to hide the trace of bitterness she felt at Selena’s answer. “Couldn’t be stopped. Faded away. I heard it all too. Probably not long after you did.”

“Yeah…” Selena nodded, casting a glance back towards the chapel as well. “I don’t get these things happening.” She replied honestly. “It’s…it’s beyond unfair.”

Like abandoning your wife and kids out of the blue? Deanna mentally-spat, clenching her jaw shut hard to avoid speaking the thought. “Unfair things happen.” She settled on saying as calmly as possible, still unable to truly gaze at the taller Frost as Selena turned her attention back to her.

“You don’t sound too sad about it.” The platinum-blonde observed.
“No.” Deanna replied honestly. “I save my crying for when the kids are asleep. Can’t afford to during the day.”
“Deanna…” a sigh came from Selena. “That isn’t…”

“Not much of an option, Selena.” Deanna shot back, quickly interrupting the woman with the raise of her hand. “Gerda can’t be there for the kids all the time. It’d be unfair to ask her to do that. And I have to deal with work. Nights are all I have.”

Selena opened her mouth as if to say something before slowly closing it, perhaps thinking better of it. Instead, she shuffled her hands inside her jacket pockets awkwardly. “Do…do you want to go for a walk?” she offered. “I think I owe you an explanation.”

“No explanation needed.” Deanna replied. “Just tell me when to expect the ‘divorce’ papers.”

She watched Selena’s eyes go wide at the words. “Wow… your mind went there, did it? Didn’t take much.”

“You call clearing your stuff out our house and leaving us-“ Immediately, Deanna stopped herself, taking a deep breath through her nose, followed by a slow exhale. “I don’t have time for this, Selena. I have to…” she stopped herself again, her instincts still trying to keep her from ‘talking wrestling’ with the former world champion. Except why the hell would I need to hold back now? She’s gone… “I have to deal with the End of the Year.”

She kept her eyes on Selena as the platinum-blonde tilted her head. “Yeah… turns out the fans REALLY only hate you, it seems.” She didn’t want to enjoy saying that, but she would be lying if there wasn’t a spark of personal satisfaction in throwing some shade on the woman that had abandoned her. “Cause they voted me-“

“For the End of the Year title shot. You and Kelsai Adamson.” Selena finished, causing that spark of satisfaction to morph into surprise. “I saw.” Selena remarked.

“You’ve been watching me.” Deanna stated slowly. “I suspected that after Eric’s involvement.”

Selena said nothing, merely looking away to gaze at the cemetery and crypts like Deanna had. “How long now?” Deanna asked.

“Longer than you think.” Selena replied honestly.
“How long?”
“What does it matter?”
“How long, Selena?!”
“Since the chamber, alright?!” the older woman spat out. “The FIRST chamber.”

“You…” Deanna couldn’t hide her surprise. “You were watching me from home for THAT long?”

Selena’s scoff was not the answer Deanna had expected, nor was her next set of words. “No, Deanna.” She turned her gaze to the redhead. “I mean I was THERE that night to watch you. In Atlanta. At Under Attack. From the audience.”

Emerald eyes went wide in disbelief. “You were there?! The whole time?!”

Again, another scoff came from Selena. “Did you ever wonder how you even got back to the Marquis Marriot in the first place?”

“I…” desperately, Deanna’s memory flashed back to that night, but like before, the memory was shattered. Parts she could remember, like getting into the chamber and fighting. Taking certain hits, and even winning the match and holding the belt, but the rest remained fuzzy. “I thought Luz and Amelia helped me.”

“No.” Selena remarked. “I waited for you in the parking lot and when I realized how concussed you were, I took you back to the Marriot.”

“How did you know where I was staying?”
“Card key in your purse.” Selena answered with a shrug. “Well, that and you used our joint account, so…”
“Oh, that’s great. My wife stalks me.”
“Not really stalking when you tell me that you’re going to be in Atlanta.” Selena shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.

Growing more and more confused, Deanna quickly shook her head. “Why?!” she finally asked. “Why would you do that?”

“You know why.” Selena replied.
“No, I don’t! You told me to deal with the chamber on my own. That it was my choice and the consequences were mine to deal with! So, why would you come all the way to Atlanta?!”

“Because I’m stupid, okay?!” Selena remarked with a bitter laugh. “I can tell you to stay away and I can tell you not do to this and that, but you’re not gonna listen. Well, I’m the same way! And no matter how many times I said ‘don’t go there! Let her figure this out on her own!’, I couldn’t do it! All I could think about was you being alone and hurt or worse, okay?! Maybe with a broken arm again or something.”

The two stood there in silence, letting their revelations settle with the other. For Deanna, she was beyond stunned and confused. She had come to terms that Selena was watching SCW again. That wasn’t surprising given the events of Fatal Fortunes, but to go THAT far as to follow her and watch over her?

“If…” Deanna tried to reason. “If you were watching me… why were you so surprised when I showed you the video ad for your return at Fatal Fortunes?”

It took a second for Selena to answer, the older Frost processing the question. “Because I didn’t watch SCW after Under Attack.” She answered honestly (Deanna knew her wife well enough to know that). “I realized that I would come rushing to you, wherever you were wrestling, if I knew. I…” she paused for a second, running a hand up towards the back of her head to unclip and untie her bun, letting the platinum-blonde braid untie and rumble down to her back, the ‘Selena Frost look’ she was known for on full display. Seemingly more comfortable, Selena released a sigh before continuing. “I had already broken my promise never to return to SCW because of that.”

“Under Attack.”

Selena nodded. “So I doubled down and doubled my efforts not to talk, watch or anything related to SCW. Until you showed up at mother’s house with that video, I figured everything was alright.”

“But… did you see CHBK’s apology?”
“I did.” Selena replied, her tone a little dark, a bitterness in her voice.

“Then you know it wasn’t me!” Deanna ignored the tone of Selena’s voice, opting for optimism and the surge of hope she felt with her train of thought. “You know it was an error with management. It wasn’t anything I said or did.”

“I…” Selena tried, but opted to sigh first. “I do believe that now. And I’m sorry that I didn’t when you first showed it to me, Deanna. I made a mistake with that and I’m sorry.”

Biting her lower lip, Deanna tried to, at least, quell the growing hope in her chest. “Then…” she dared to take a step towards her wife. “Why not come home then?” Another step. “This whole thing was a mistake. A big misunderstanding.” Another step, this one added with Deanna reaching her hand out to take one of Selena’s. “Come back home with me. To our kids. I won’t talk about wrestling anymore. I won’t ask you for advice. I won’t…” she breathed. “I’ll give you all the peace you want from SCW, I promise.” Her she heard, and felt, her voice crack a little.

“Deanna…”

“I know, but please listen, Selena. That night when you called Eric? When he took the bus to Fatal Fortunes? I was there.”

“I know.” Selena answered, but it did not slow Deanna.

“And after you hung up, he and I talked. We talked all the way back to Manhattan. Two days, Selena! Two days he and I talked about you and me… and us.” Her voice was still shaky as she cast her eyes down at her wife’s hand in hers, squeezing the pale hand a little. “And he made me realize that I was being unfair to you. That it was wrong of me to walk out on you and stay away until you ‘saw things my way’. To call your new life ‘fake’ when you were trying to be happy.”

“I was happy…” Selena’s voice trailed off in its whisper.

“But I thought you couldn’t be. I’ve known you as a wrestler all this time. I spent two years in Frankfurt and, aside from you and the kids, I missed working for SCW as your manager. And then I became a wrestler and… I’m just two years in but… I don’t want to stop. I don’t want things to end.”

“It’s addicting, isn’t it?” a small, but knowing, smile came to the platinum-blonde’s lips.

“So much!” Deanna half-laughed, half-cried. “Even if they don’t like me. The lights, the challenge, the thrill of fighting for what you believe in! I never want to lose that.”

“I hope you don’t.” Selena sighed. “But I did, Deanna. Little by little, I lost it until I just… I couldn’t be there anymore.”

“And I couldn’t understand. How you could want anything but ‘being a wrestler’. I still don’t get it… but I want to. I want you to tell me about it and help me understand it. So I can learn and let go of the idea of you coming back. So I can tell SCW management to ‘stick it’ whenever they ask questions about you. But I…” Again, her eyes found Selena’s hand before moving up to gaze into her eyes. “The one thing I don’t want is to be without you. So, please… come back home.”

For a moment, the two stood there, neither woman unable to speak after such a pleas, the whirlwind of emotions flowing within and between them. For herself, Deanna watched the mental war wage across Selena’s features, the proud Snow Queen unable to say a word until finally, she gave a long exhale… and released Deanna’s hands from her own.

“I can’t.”

The two most damning words Deanna had ever heard in her life. It was worse than coming to a Selena-free house!

“I’m sorry.” Selena continued. “But it’s too late.”
Deanna felt her jaw quiver as she tried to form words. ANY words! “For…f-for us?”

“No.” Selena answered sharply, glaring at her wife. “But I… I can’t go back to that life, either…”

“Why?” Deanna asked. “Tell me what I have to do to make things right, and I will. I promise.”

“You can’t do anything, Deanna.” Selena tried to explain. “It’s just… it’s just how things have to be right now.” A sigh escaped Selena, the woman stealing a glance away from Deanna before returning it to her. “Because you were right. That life was fake. No matter how hard I tried to make it real, it…it couldn’t be.” She sighed. “So, until I can find what’s ‘real’ in my life, I can’t be near you. It’s something I have to know, and find, on my own.”

“But…what about the kids?” she asked. “I don’t even know where you are.”

“I know.” Selena smiled a sad, apologetic smile. “I’ve done all I can to stay away. I don’t even have your phone number on my phone. I’ve forgotten it.”
“You forgot my number?”
“Not hard when you’re used to using ‘Contacts’ or speed-dial.” Selena defended. “But I am still nearby. And I’ll always be around to see the kids and help the family.”

Deanna didn’t want to believe this. Couldn’t believe this. It was too final. Too serious. But there it all was. And she dreaded her next questions.

“So… that’s it? It’s over?” she asked, her fingers finding her wedding ring. “You and me?”

“I…” Selena tried, eyeing Deanna’s shifty fingers. “I don’t want it to be.” She answered honestly. “I just need time away to figure out the next step. And where that leaves us.” Her voice grew stern. “But I swear to you. I don’t want to divorce you. Unless you want to be.”

“I…” her eyes flew back up to Selena, a mixture of relief and dismay filling her. “I don’t want to be.” She answered honestly. “But I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

“I know.” Selena offered with a sad smile. “It’s complicated.”

“It always is.” Deanna laughed bitterly. “It can never be simple with you.” She took a steady breath before stepping back a step. “Fine. Go off and find your ‘real life’ or whatever it is you have to find. I’ll… I’ll be waiting at our house.”

“In-between being the World and United States Champion.” Selena teased. “I promise I’ll be watching that too.”

“Don’t bother.” Sighed Deanna. “The way I am feeling right now? Kelsai’s gonna roll right over me. And that says nothing about Asher…”

“Don’t say that.” Selena pressed.

“Oh come on.” Deanna laughed. “We both know which Frost should REALLY be the world champion, Selena. And it’s not me.”

Another laugh, but this one came from Selena. “You really don’t get it, do you, Deanna?” another laugh, sadder than the first. “You think that I was training you all those months because I needed a tag-team partner and that was it? That I was just training you just for your dream of us being tag-team champions together?” Slowly, Selena shook her head. “Deanna…” she sighed, taking one step closer to the redhead. “All along, I was training you because I knew THIS would happen. That one day, you’d outgrow the House of Frost and the tag-team division. That one day, you’d outgrow me…” She breathed a shaky breath. “And one day… you’d be ready to become the world champion.”

The words stunned Deanna, to the point where she almost missed Selena’s next words. “I was never training a future tag-team champion. I was training the next world champion. And I’ve known since Rise to Greatness that you were ready to do this.”

“But…I…” Again, the damn emotions made speaking nearly impossible, but the shorter Frost struggled through. “Without you…”

“You’ll be fine.” Selena promised. “You don’t need me by your side anymore, Deanna. You grew to overcome Adam Allocco, grew to overcome the One, and grew to overcome the chamber. All on your own, without me. This…” she gestured towards her. “Asher? He’s wrong. You don’t need me anymore.”

A brief spell of silence fell between them before Selena took a small step backwards, looking down at her own hands that were clutched together. “So… let me find my way as you’re finding yours. And when we both do… whoever is there, at the end, first… they can wait for the other to catch up.”

Neither moved closer. Neither reached out for the other. They simply gazed at one another, Deanna’s eyes filled with more tears than Selena’s. It was all so much to bear. The encouragement but also the truth of their separation, temporary as it would be (according to Selena’s promise). She never felt so relieved but so empty alone at the same time. So confident and yet so unsure… did that even make sense?! Deanna had no idea, but as she opened her mouth to speak – to say anything that would keep her wife with her for just a little longer, she heard and saw Sara and Paul Park approaching them from the path that lead to the chapel.

“Deanna…” Sara called out, alerting Selena to their presence. Deanna watched a sad smile cross Selena’s features, the platinum-blonde giving one last gaze at the redhead before stepping back and away from her wife.

“Until next time, pet.” Selena smiled sadly before turning on her foot and walking away towards the Parks, stopping only to say a few words Deanna could not hear before she was, once more, departing, quickly out of sight and out of Deanna’s life… For now…

“Is…” Paul Park asked as he reached Deanna with his wife in tow. “Is Selena staying?”

“No…” Deanna sighed, no longer able to see the platinum-blonde hair belonging to her beloved. “She… she has to go to do something on her own…. We both do.”

“Is everything alright?” Sara offered as best she could, the woman still recovering from the loss of her child.

“I…” Deanna opened her mouth to speak, but no answer came right away. Instead, she merely shrugged. “I’m not sure.” She offered a weak smile to the two parents. “Come on. Let me get you guys some coffee or something. I want to hear about Tannis and all the good memories you have of her.”

Reaching out, the redhead guided the father and mother pair to the exit of the cemetery, stopping for only a second to cast her eyes back down the path her wife had gone. If Selena was telling the truth, and believed – truly believed – that Deanna was ready to be the SCW world champion, and if that was part of the journey that would see them reunited at the endpoint, then there was really only one option that the young Deanna truly had…

I’ll see you at the finish line… she thought to no one… and yet to someone. Don’t keep me waiting…

_______________________________________________________________

The camera opens up to the interior of the Scotiabank Place in Toronto, Ontario. The arena is empty, but the site is decorated with the graphics and décor of SCW, a ring in the center, a ramp leading up to a large titantron screen. The lights are simply arena lights, no colors, and the ring is… empty. Instead, the camera focuses on the barricade near the ring, specifically the front row. For leaning forward, her elbows on the leather of the barricade, is the SCW United States Champion, Deanna Frost. Her hair has a braid woven on each side in amongst the mane of red, flowing down with the rest. She wears black track pants and a dark-green t-shirt.

Ordinarily, for a promo like this, I’d be up in the rafters, looking down at SCW and in contemplation. I’d wonder where SCW was headed, where I was headed, where ‘we’ were headed, SCW Universe. And then I’d ask the inevitable question… “So…where do we start?”

The young woman smiles at the camera before returning her eyes to the ring.  But seeing as how I already started in my last promo talking about one opponent I have to face tonight, there really is only one other place to go, isn’t there?

But…before we do. Quietly, Deanna taps her fingers on the barricade. I want to just take this in for a second. This moment, this place, everything that this night represents to me…

Seven years ago…  I sat at this very spot. The year was 2016, before my baby Amiliah was even a thought, I sat here with my eldest daughter, Elsianna, and my newborn son, David, and I watched as my wife, Selena, became the SCW World Champion. A moment that capped off ‘The Year of Selena Frost’, in what many believed was the ‘defining’ moment that made my wife a main-event superstar and put the Frost name on the map in the wrestling world, catapulting it through the stratosphere! The beginning of what would make her ‘The Face of SCW’…

A fond smile forms on the young woman’s face. I remember feeling such pride for my partner. All the hard work she went through that year: the tournament wins, overcoming the self-doubt, all to stand there as the best SCW had. The best in the world. And I remember thinking “I hope, someday, I can make her as proud of me as I am of her.”

She gives a shake of her head. Now, I’m not arrogant enough to think that this had been the ‘Year of Deanna Frost’ or something. And, despite what a certain ignorant world champion thinks, I’m not going to proclaim myself to be ‘The Next Face of SCW’, and I’m not gonna stand in front of a camera and declare how I’ve ‘taken SCW by storm’…

Because none of that is true and none of that is what this year has been for me. No, this year, if anything, has been a slow burn. A year of being knocked down in the dirt, having my whole world rocked, forced to stand on my own as the sole Frost in SCW and a year of grinding and working through the ranks, through perceptions, through bitterness and so much more to stand here and say ‘I belong here’. And now… She looks ahead of her towards the ring, then upwards towards the empty arena. Here I am, two years to the day since my start as a wrestler, at the same event I debuted, the same event my wife debuted and the same event she won her first world title, now with my own chance to win the SCW world championship!

She takes a moment to let that sink in for herself, the herculean task of getting said title shot not lost on her.

It’s beautiful in so many ways – but more so on my end, because of how far we have come. I’ve said it before, I said it in my last promo and I’ll say it here once more, SCW Universe: there is no moment that this is without all of you. There is no ‘THIS’… she gestures to the ring and the arena – the opportunity that is before her. Without all of you. I mean that with every fibre of my being. You got me here as much I did, guys.

And when I stand in that ring… Carefully, Deanna hops over the barricade, no longer merely a spectator in SCW anymore, but a full-blown superstar and champion, and slides under the ropes to enter it, reaching a corner of the ring where she gets to her feet. When the final match of the night starts and Phillips calls out “The following is your main-event of the evening and is for the SCW World Championship!”, it will be my name that he declares first as the challenger! Deanna holds her arm up towards the heavens before lowering it slowly, pointing to the corner on the opposite side.

And standing across from me… she glares down the path of her pointed finger. Will be the SCW World Champion, Asher Hayes!

Lowering her hand, Deanna turns her attention to the camera pointed at her. Told you I’d get to you, Asher. ‘Saved the best for last’, right? That should tickle your feathers considering you’ve been screaming how ‘you’re the best’ since you won that title last pay-per-view, am I right? I think your social media has been more active in these last few weeks than even Kandis and her “Thirsty Thursdays” has been and THAT is saying something!

See, Asher, you have been here for many, many years. You’ve told us so time and time again – played off this whole thing as a personal ‘journey’ of yours. To climb from the gutter up through to becoming SCW world champion, right? Not that I would know anything about taking a journey, would I? I’ve only been doing it for the past two years…

Deanna smiles knowingly, shaking her head. But while you’ve done all you can to be as loud and obnoxious as you can with your declarations across your promos and social media of being ‘the best in SCW’, ‘The Face of SCW’, ‘The Past, Present, and Future of SCW’… ironically, the times you made the most noise was when you said nothing at all…

I’m talking, Asher, about the night where you took down then world champion, Kandis, by hiding in a costume the Breakdown after Rise to Greatness, and then again when you nailed her with the World title and finally… when you stole the world title belt at Apocalypse despite not being the champion...

She tilts her head. In those moments, Asher, you said more than you have ever spoken, because in those moments and since, you have made it loud and clear that this wasn’t a ‘new’ Asher Hayes, one driven by passion and desire to become the best and to restore or resurrect or correct his career course. No, this was the exact same Asher Hayes that we had to deal with back in 2022!

Yeah, I remember that Asher Hayes. You say you ‘stand on your own two feet’? That Asher Hayes is his own establishment? Well, let me take you back to the Asher Hayes I knew back then. A man so desperate to stay relevant, that he transformed the world championship into a ‘Co-World championship’, simply because he couldn’t win it on his own. A man so desperate to be recognized as a ‘somebody’ that he hid behind a Brand just to get attention. A man so desperate to be ‘acknowledged’ that he tried to end Syren’s career with a piledriver simply because he couldn’t beat her.

You say I need Selena and her approval, Asher? Let’s talk about how you NEEDED Cid. Let’s talk about how you need Holly Adams. Let’s talk about how you need Giovanni Aries. Let’s talk about how you needed fake accolades and fake championship belts and fake friends, Mr. Self-Establishment…

A moment of silence passes from the redhead before she continues.

Because now, here we are almost two years later, and you had the chance to be different! You had the chance to show the world how much better you have become… to prove you could actually stand on your own two feet, as you say you do!

And you spend it throwing away a world title match by disqualifying yourself. You align with Konrad Raab to hedge your bet and ambush Kandis because you couldn’t beat her by yourself. You steal a world title that isn’t yours and then to cap it all off! The show after you FINALLY do it – ‘a 10 and a half year struggle’. A moment of history for you and you actually win said title – and you spend your first night as world champion hiding behind a gate and a locked house…

Emerald eyes narrow. Sort of explains why no one’s latched onto your whole idea of ‘best in SCW’, eh, Asher? Why no one has gotten on board with ‘SCW needs Asher Hayes’. Why there isn’t a fan in SCW that cares about ‘what Asher Hayes is about’.

Because, the truth is, there is no Asher Hayes. You don’t even know who Asher Hayes really is, do you?

Deanna tilts her head before pushing herself up to perch on the turnbuckle. Time and time again, you have come in and out of this business, Asher. You have run away when things got tough for you. You have fled the scene when you couldn’t hack it, only to come back with another ‘scheme’, another ‘plan’ and always – ALWAYS – needing someone or something to latch onto and get you there. From Cid Turner, Holly Adams and the Co-Champions nonsense, to coming back and needing Raab to get the world title… it has never been simply ‘just Asher Hayes’, has it?

You have changed your ideology numerous times, you have relied on ‘hook or crook’ methods to get by, you have stolen ideas and concepts from the likes of Kandis, Simon Lyman, my wife Selena Frost, even from me with this ‘journey of yours’… all because the notion of ‘just Asher Hayes’ terrifies you. The notion of losing – of not being enough, terrifies you. So you scream and scream the opposite as loud as you can each time a little success comes your way and you slander anyone that dares to take that success from you, because you know… deep down, without that title… you don’t know who you even are.

Reaching up, Deanna runs a hand through her hair. And even so, you stand there and think you can figure me out? You can stand there and tell me in your promos that I’m ‘not in the league of the world championship’. You stand outside my pod at that last Chamber and tell me that I ‘don’t want any of you’. You bad mouth my journey, you try and stick me in the shadow of my wife – you say the same crap every other person has been saying for months to try and get to me. “She’s still in Selena’s shadow! She’s just gonna end up like her wife!” As if you are capable of knowing me. Knowing me… when you’re too scared to really know yourself…

Biting her lower lip, Deanna shakes her head.

Well, let me tell you a little something about myself, Asher. While you have needed the likes of The Brand and Konrad Raab, I have done all I can to sink or swim in this business… as me. Not as ‘the wife of Selena Frost’. Not as “The House of Frost”, but as me. Through every win, getting my arm broken, failing in the United States Tournament, to finally succeeding at the Rise to Greatness weekend, to surviving two chamber matches, I have done it on my own… as me. Not by pulling the tights or disqualifying myself when I couldn’t win, not by spurning the fans and declaring myself ‘better than them’ or ‘bigger than SCW’, No. I did it by working my ass off to be better than everyone else through grit and heart! By failing, accepting those failings and coming back better than before!

She holds up a hand. I’m not saying you’re not tough – I saw you in the chamber and I’ve fought you before. And I’ve seen you in action recently, Asher. And I’m not saying you’re not talented, you clearly are. The reason I said the gym-training was more for Kelsai was basically of how much smarter you are than many other superstars. On par with Ravyn Taylor some days, I can admit that. So, I know what a threat you are to me as an opponent both physically, but more so, mentally.

But, for all of those talents, Hayes… your whole existence – your latest identity – has revolved around having that world ‘title’ by any means necessary, including being a parasite and leeching off of others to take their success – success you never deserved. An identity where you refer to that world championship as ‘Kismet’ in a cheap knockoff of Dylan Howell’s ‘Addy’ gimmick and to justify everything you say and do. You claim, like you did back in the Brand’s glory days, that because you have THAT title in your possession, you automatically deserve to be heralded as the best in SCW. You automatically deserve respect.

Again, the young woman shakes her head. No, Asher. That belt does not give you respect. Any more than the belt that I hold does! These belts, Asher, give us the chance to EARN that respect. EARN that accolade, by taking on challenge after challenge and turning them back, not by hook or crook, not by backstage deals, not by nailing people in the head with said title, not by ambushes or backstabs, but by sheer talent, passion, and grit! That is what makes a champion in my eyes! THAT is what makes someone ‘the best’ in SCW!

Hopping off the turnbuckle, Deanna dusts her hands off as she paces around the ring. You think SCW needs you, Asher? Let me remind of you of something. Every time you’ve left this place, SCW survived. Every time you quit on SCW, SCW moved on. No one is bigger than SCW. Not you, not me, not your 2007 ‘real SCW superstars’, no one! And if you disagree, then I’ll just show you tonight when SCW is still standing when you are NOT the SCW World champion!

End of the Year Special – you think you have me figured out, Asher, but the one thing you’re not gonna be able to understand about me is ‘how the hell is she still able to keep fighting’? Because, unlike you, I’m not afraid to stand alone. I’m not afraid to fight on my own. I’m not afraid to stand in this ring as me and fight till the very end. And no matter how exhausted I am at the start of our match, Asher. No matter how much it may hurt, I am going to find a way to beat you!

You’ve been really loud these past few weeks, showboating a reign that no one in SCW believes in. Screaming as loud as you can because, deep down, you know that the end is coming… not for SCW… but for you. The end of your reign is coming just like the end of the year is coming. And when 2024 hits, the very thing that you – not SCW, Asher, YOU need – your ‘kismet’ – will be gone and you are going to have to search for a new identity.

You… Just Asher Hayes.

Because I am not ending this year – this journey of the fans and I – in failure. No. I am going to face you, Asher and come hell or high water, I am going to take on the ‘supposed’ best and I am going to beat you. And I am going to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, whose ‘league’ I belong in, whose ‘shadow’ I am no longer in, and that there is not a superstar, man or woman, in SCW that I am afraid of!

2023 ends tonight and ends the mess that has been the world championship! 2024 starts with a new beginning! For them, for all of SCW, and for me!

No longer just ‘the wife of Selena Frost’!
No longer just ‘the shadow of Selena Frost’!
No longer just ‘The Queen’s Guard’!
No longer just ‘The Rookie of the Year’!

But the NEW SCW World Champion, DEANNA FROST!

Deanna’s eyes look up at the heavens before settling back down on the camera, her voice a cold certainty. And unlike another Frost, Asher, I don’t care if you believe it! Because at midnight tonight, you’re gonna have to live with it!

Checkmate, bitches!

The camera slowly fades on Deanna standing in the ring before it goes entirely to black.