Hollywood vs. Deanna Frost & Selena Frost

[SnowQueenSCW]

Frost No More

”Learning to Tag”

PPG Paints Arena
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  
October 7th, 2026  
8:16 p.m.

There was something almost insulting about how small a tag rope was...

That was the thought that ran through Deanna’s mind as she stood in the ring, one hand wrapped around the white cord tied to the turnbuckle.

The rest of the building carried on without her. Production crew rolled equipment somewhere beyond the curtain, someone tested the sound system, she heard a case slam shut, and voices echoed throughout the area concrete hallways.

It didn’t really phase her. Instead, she just stared at the rope in her hand. Six inches... Maybe eight... she thought. Simple...

For all the symbolism professional wrestling managed to cram into everything - championship belts, entrance music, ring robes, pyro, elaborate logos - tag-team wrestling ultimately asked for something remarkably simple.

Stand here.
Hold this.
Wait.
Trust the person inside the ring.
Then, when they needed you... Reach.

The redhead let go of the rope, letting it swing. Seems easy enough...

Her right knee disagreed. She felt the joint tighten as she stepped backward, forcing her to shift her weight onto the other leg.

“Yeah yeah...” she sighed knowingly. Her body had been complaining all day. Every part of her – shoulders, back, knee. There was one particularly ugly bruise along her ribs that had changed from red to purple sometime between Mexico City and Pittsburgh.

Nothing was serious, thank Odin. It was merely the accumulation of being exactly what Deanna had fought so hard to become: SCW World Champion. SCW Adrenaline Champion. One-half of the SCW World Tag Team Champions.

And it still felt ridiculous.

There had been a time when she would have laughed if somebody told her she would one day be carrying more championships than Selena Frost, going from ‘following Selena Frost in accolades’ to doing things Selena Frost had never done. Not because she thought herself incapable - at least, she wanted to believe she wasn’t. But for years Selena had been the impossible standard.

The world Championships, the main events, the records, Rise to Greatness over and over again. The woman Deanna had watched from ringside while quietly learning what all of this demanded. Except back then, Deanna had thought she understood the demand! She had packed the bags, booked the flights, adjusted the schedules, ran social media, remembered where Selena’s gear had been thrown, made sure meals appeared somewhere between interviews and matches.

Deanna had understood what it meant to support a champion.

She had just never understood what it meant to be one on the same calibre as Selena - until now.

Her phone vibrated on the ring apron, forcing the redhead to glance toward it.

“Of course.” She walked over, ducked beneath the top rope and picked it up, but relaxed when she saw the name on the screen.  Food is waiting in your hotel room. A second followed. Eat it before midnight. That is advice, not an order.

Deanna laughed at the pair of messages, and again just as a third one popped up. I am improving.

Deanna typed back. I definitely see potential! she teased towards the sender.
Almost immediately. I can withdraw the advice.
Nope. Too late. Growth documented.

Three dots appeared. Stopped. Appeared again. Then: You are unbearable.

Deanna smiled, biting her lower lip playfully. Maybe you love me. She sent it before she could reconsider. For several seconds there was nothing. Then...

Unfortunately.

Deanna stared at the screen a little longer than necessary, a warmth spreading through her chest. Not enough to erase everything – it couldn’t. But that was the point!

Nearly two months had passed since Eyrie. Nearly two months since Selena had knelt before her with Deanna’s wedding ring and offered her the decision. Nearly two months since Deanna had answered with two words that still carried more weight than most of the championships she had ever held.

Not yet.

And somehow... It had worked. Not magically like the fairy-tales she loved -  There were still uncomfortable silences. There were conversations that went badly...

There had been one dinner where Elsianna barely spoke to Selena for forty minutes because Selena had corrected her about something at school, followed by another twenty minutes where Selena visibly struggled not to interpret that silence as proof she should never have returned.

There had been nights Selena went back to her own place at the Eyrie Tower or had disappeared into her office. Nights Deanna wished she had asked her to stay or had gone after her. Nights Deanna was grateful she hadn’t.

There had been hugs.
Hands brushing.
Selena falling asleep in a chair while Deanna watched television.
Deanna waking once on a hotel sofa with her head against Selena’s shoulder and realizing Selena had not moved for however long she had been asleep.

Remarkably, they hadn’t kissed. Not yet... came the thought. And that mattered too for Deanna!

She had said she needed ordinary life. Selena had not attempted to turn ordinary life into a campaign: No flowers every morning. No dramatic declarations. No constant question of whether Deanna was ready now.

Just... Dinner.
Just... Flights.
Just... Coffee.
Just... Arguments.
Just... Children.
Just... Occasional sarcasm.

The strange little routines of two people trying to discover whether they could exist beside one another again...

Deanna locked her phone and set it back on the apron, then looked toward the opposite corner. The World Tag Team Championship sat there. Her World Championship remained in the locker room with the Adrenaline Championship.

She didn't want all three right now. Because for the first time since Frank Delatosso had handed her that itinerary, Deanna wanted to think about only one responsibility...

Chris Hollywood. Ryan Hollywood. The House of Frost.

She walked across the ring and lifted the championship. Hollywood...

Deanna remembered Selena showing her the booking earlier. She also remembered the look she'd given Selena after reading it. She hadn't meant to, but Selena had caught it anyway.

You remember last time. Why had the redhead hit that nerve? Of course Selena remembered. Everybody remembered.

Chris and Ryan certainly did. They had built part of their entire argument around it. The last time they had challenged for the championships, they had been close. Close enough that Selena Frost had lost her temper.

Deanna had gone back and watched the match herself after landing in Pittsburgh. And after watching? she could admit something Selena probably couldn’t just yet.

Hollywood might have won.

It was beyond possible to the redhead. Chris and Ryan had been keeping pace, they had found openings, they had made Selena and Xander uncomfortable, they had been close enough that the question remained legitimate.

Would Hollywood have become Tag Team Champions? Maybe!
Would Xander and Selena have recovered? Maybe.

But Hollywood was treating it like a certainty, which didn’t hold much water when they had lost to the Glimmer Sisters in tag-action less than a month later.

The truth was... Nobody knew. Because Selena had ended the match before either answer could happen. That was the part Hollywood had every right to resent.

Selena had robbed them... just not necessarily of the championships. She robbed them of the answer...

It was why Deanna had been so grateful to Selena and Luz and Amelia for how the main-event of Rise to Greatness went down. There had just been so much going on! With Gavin interfering and her accidentally hitting Demtria... and yet all four women had wanted the same thing! A clean finish! If any of the above factors had gone differently, she may still have won the world title... but the lack of true ‘answer’ would have eaten away at her. The thought made her stomach queasy...

Still, there was something about the way Chris and Ryan talked about their ‘robbed’ match now that bothered Deanna.

The bragging was fine. Hell, if Deanna had pushed two Hall-of-Fame-level wrestlers to the edge before her own career had truly taken off, she would probably still mention it too! No, what bothered her was the assumption hiding underneath it. They spoke about that match as though what had happened then told them what would happen now...

As though Selena Frost was the common denominator.
As though swapping Xander Valentine for Deanna Frost simply changed one name on the team sheet.

Deanna looked across the empty ring. “That’s not how this works.” she whispered.

She had learned that the hard way too. Her losses against The Brand had quickly made her understand how stupid that idea was. A tag-team wrestler had to understand another person. Know when they were genuinely hurt vs. when they were baiting an opponent. Know whether they wanted the tag or whether reaching would break their momentum. Know when to intervene. Know when interference would only create chaos. Know which half-second of eye contact meant trust me and know which meant get me the hell out of here.

Xander Valentine and Selena Frost had been two magnificent wrestlers. They had not been a magnificent team. They had been rivals forced into proximity.

Deanna and Selena? Complicated. the redhead half-laughed, half-scoffed. Gods, complicated.

But they were not the same as Xander and Selena.

They had chosen one another.
Before marriage.
During marriage.
After divorce.
After hatred.
After betrayal.
Even when choosing each other had not meant choosing the same future.

And lately... They were learning how to choose each other without choosing for each other.

The warmth returned to Deanna’s chest as she looked toward the tag rope again.

She had spent years thinking independence meant carrying everything herself – though not to an absurd degree like Selena had. But it was there! Maybe because she had fought so hard for people to stop looking at her as Selena Frost’s accessory...

Selena’s wife.
Selena’s manager.
Selena’s shadow.

She had spent so long and worked so hard to prove she belonged here. That she had earned this. That she was not standing where she stood because Selena Frost had opened a door. That she was NOT so interchangeable as ‘just another tag-team partner for Selena’.

Then somewhere along the way... Proving she could carry herself had become proving she could carry everything.

The World Championship.
The Adrenaline Championship.
Tag Team Championships.
Frank’s itinerary.
Outside appearances.
SCW.

Everything!

And the horrifying part? People applauded you for doing that. They called you strong...

Slowly, Deanna looked down at the championship. ‘Strong’/’Strength’. Once, she thought strength was refusing to stay down – calling it ‘grit’. Then she thought it was fighting alone...

But... it was surviving Veil that had taught her something else.
It was surviving Taking Hold of the Flame that had taught her something else again.
And it was Amelia who had taught her something else.

Maybe strength wasn't carrying everything... Maybe sometimes it was knowing which weight was actually yours...

With a slow exhale, Deanna stood and walked back toward the corner, wrapping her fingers around the tag rope. She had won the tag-team titles with Selena twice now. She knew the truth: A tag did not erase the wrestler leaving the ring. It didn't make them less capable. It didn't mean they had failed. It simply meant somebody else was there...

Someone chosen.
Someone trusted.
Someone who could take the next part.

Deanna smiled at that thought, the warmth in her chest returning for the third time. She had been so distracted – Hollywood had been right to assume that – with defending the world title day after day in the first stretch of her ‘World tour’. But now... able to breathe for just a moment – seeing the texts from Selena...

She felt it.

“Okay.” The word disappeared into the empty arena. “I think I get it.”

And with that, she released the rope and nodded to the waiting cameraman.

__________________________

The camera opens up to the inside of the PPG Arena in Pittsburgh. Standing on the apron of the ring there is the SCW World, Tag-team and Adrenaline champion, Deanna Frost. The SCW World Tag Team Championship sits on the turnbuckle near her.

For several seconds, she simply looks into the camera. Until she smiles...

So... she shrugs knowingly. Where do we start?
She chuckles a little. Silly, I know, but there is so much going on that... I almost don’t know where to start!

But if I may break from my usual ‘gentle, easing-into-approach’... I’d like to just attack the heart of the matter here! Because I am just one person of four that will have something to say in regards to this match! So let’s just skip the pleasantries, let’s skip the soft-shoeing and attack this!

Chris! Ryan! Hollywood! She calls out as she enters the ring, grabbing the world tag-team title with her name on it and moving towards the center of the ring.

Challenging for the tag-team titles again! Facing the champion in a Frost... again! I know you keep saying this is ‘deja-vu’ and I get it. Because I watched it...The match.

Taking a deep breath, the redhead adjusts the title and her dark-green hoodie. The one you've been talking about for the last eight months. You two against Selena Frost and Xander Valentine , right?

She gives a small nod. And I'll give you something I'm sure you're going to enjoy hearing. Deanna tilts her head. You might have won.

She allows that to settle but for only a moment. Maybe...

You were close! Closer than a lot of people probably expected you to be! You won’t hear a rebuttal from me! That’s how good you two are as a tag-team! Good enough to keep pace with two of the greatest wrestlers SCW has ever produced, and when that match ended, it wasn't because either of you got pinned.

Her expression grows more serious.

Selena lost her temper, got herself and Xander disqualified, and took the ending away from all of you.

She gives a slight shrug. I'm not going to insult you by pretending otherwise- And if you've spent the eight months wondering what would have happened if that match had continued? I understand.

If that near-win is part of the reason you believe you can become World Tag Team Champions now? Well... it should be.

She takes a few steps around inside of the ring. But here's where you lose me.

Because you keep talking about what happened against Selena and Xander as though you're getting another crack at the same exam. That this is another chance to ‘undo’ that match and prove you would have won had Selena not cost you.

You're not and it isn’t. Deanna's eyes sharpen. Last time you fought Selena Frost for these championships... she had a partner.

A pause.

This time... she has a teammate.

The redhead allows the silence to carry the distinction.

And before anyone decides that's disrespectful toward Xander Valentine, it isn't. Xander Valentine is extraordinary. Selena is extraordinary. But two extraordinary wrestlers do not automatically become an extraordinary tag team because somebody hands them matching championships!

She moves the title on her shoulder a little. They were rivals. Enemies that were forced together and expected to figure it out because they were individually talented enough to survive almost anything.

Deanna slowly shakes her head. You exploited that. Good. That's what you were supposed to do.

But Selena and I aren't two people management shoved onto the same side of the ring. We chose this.

And that difference matters. Deanna begins pacing again. Actually, that brings me to something else you said...

You said that it doesn't matter which two champions you stand across from...

A short laugh escaped her. Chris... Ryan... it absolutely matters! It should matter!

Because if you're walking into a championship match believing the people holding these titles are interchangeable, then you've already stopped paying attention!

She points toward herself. I am not Xander Valentine! She lets that statement settle for a second.

And Selena isn't the woman you fought that night anymore either.

So if your entire confidence comes from knowing you almost beat one version of Selena Frost while she was trying to coexist with somebody she didn't trust... Deanna smiles knowingly. You're about to learn why context matters.

She lowered her hand. Because Selena and Xander aren’t a multi-tag-team-champion together. Selena/Xander didn’t beat unstoppable champions like Light in the Darkness or Farmstead Friends. But the House of Frost did!

She stops back in the center. Now, I heard the rest too. You want to try.

No more being famous just to be famous.
No more being satisfied because somebody paid you and the crowd laughed.

You want people to care about Hollywood because of what you can actually do inside this ring. Deanna nods. Again. Good. I'm not mocking that. Because I know exactly what it's like to realize that being around wrestling isn't the same as proving you belong in wrestling.

A small breath. I spent years being known because of somebody else before people learned to know me because of me!

So if the two of you finally want these championships badly enough to stop hiding behind the joke?

She spreads her arms. Welcome. About time!

Then the warmth slowly disappears. But deciding you care is the beginning. Not the accomplishment. Trying isn't impressive at this level.

Trying is the minimum.

I’ve spent days... weeks so far... seeing people wanting to try! Every person who steps into this ring with me wants something. Every person who challenged me for one of my titles wanted it!

She taps the tag-team title. Wanting it only gets you to the door. You still have to walk through us.

Deanna steps closer to the camera. But you think I’m too distracted to notice you trying to walk in, right?

World Champion.
Adrenaline Champion.
Tag Team Champion.

A lot of hardware. She gives a knowing smile. You're right. It's a lot.

She gives a small huff. Frank Delatosso has me travelling from city to city, promotion to promotion, interview to appearance, match to match.

Running her free hand through her red mane of hair, she gives an honest shrug. I'm tired.

Another sigh. There. I admit it.

No heroic lie.No pretending I wake up every morning feeling perfect because champions apparently don't get sore...

I'm tired.

She shrugs. So what? Don't confuse tired with vulnerable. Don't confuse busy with distracted. And don't mistake the number of championships I've earned for evidence that I care less about any one of them!

She takes off the World Tag Team Championship and raises it. Especially this one!

Because this is the one championship I don't have to carry by myself.

Her voice softens slightly. For a long time, I thought being strong meant proving I could do everything alone. From Veil, to coming back, to regaining my credibility... I thought I had to do it myself.

And maybe after spending years fighting to prove I was more than Selena Frost's wife, more than Selena Frost's manager, more than the person standing beside Selena Frost... I became a little too determined to prove I never needed anybody standing beside me to do all of that. And maybe that’s something Frank’s been betting on with our match...

Her emerald eyes remain on the lens. But... I was wrong.

Needing a teammate doesn't make me less of a champion.
Trusting one doesn't erase everything I earned by myself.

And when that bell rings, just like with Light in the Darkness, I don't need to prove that I can beat both of you alone. A smile slowly returns as she holds out her hand towards the camera. I just need to know when to reach out my hand.

She lowers her hand down, adjusting the title onto her shoulder once more. That's what you're actually facing, Hollywood.

You're facing the House of Frost! The woman you've spent everything trying to put down and view as ‘interchangeable’... and the woman that’s been itching to face you two again.

Her smile sharpens.

Think about that too, guys. I didn’t say the Selena who was too busy being angry about whether you deserved a title match in the first place. I didn’t say the Selena trying to coexist with Xander Valentine...

Gazing down, Deanna shows her hand – particularly the ring on her finger. My Selena.

And that is a very different problem.

She tilts her head knowingly. You said you have one goal. Become World Tag Team Champions. Good. she nods.

When the bell rings, I have one too. She taps the championship. Keep this.

Not worry about the World Championship.
Not worry about the Adrenaline Championship.
Not worry about Mumbai or Montreal or wherever Frank has decided I should go next...

Just... Keep this.

Deanna's expression hardened. So try, boys. Really try! Give us the Hollywood you keep promising everybody exists. Give us everything that almost made you champions last time and everything you've supposedly learned since!

And I will show you the difference between a thrown-together tag-team... And a House of Frost.

A small, almost sympathetic smile. And this time... Selena won't be standing beside somebody she was forced to tolerate.

She'll be standing beside somebody she trusts. A pause. So will I.

Welcome back to the title picture, Hollywood. Her smile disappears. Now show us whether you actually belong here...

Checkmate, bitches!

The camera turns on Deanna, staring towards the empty seats before moving spotting someone sitting in an empty chair....