Cid Turner vs. Selena Frost

[SnowQueenSCW]

The camera opens up to reveal the interior of the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, the site for tonight’s SCW pay-per-view, the first of the new season: Apocalypse. The camera sweeps across the last interior, taking in the empty seats and lack of people before settling on the ring, where streams of white and arctic-blue lights shine from various angles upon it. Drawing closer, the camera is able to catch the sight of a woman standing in the middle of the ring, the light bouncing a little off the championship that rests on her shoulder. She wears black jeans, a light-blue shirt under her leather jacket. Lifting her head, the World Champion looks around the arena, as if she can imagine how packed it will be in a matter of hours. 

She takes a slow breath before a small smile forms on her exhale. Everyone that’s coming to this pay-per-view… she speaks slowly. Everyone that will be watching it… the entire SCW Universe – every person knows that when you and I get in this ring, Cid Turner, they’re going to get a battle. Everyone knows that when one of us does something to the other one, we’ll make it a point to raise the bar. Finally, Selena turned her attention to the camera and her audience.

It started with an innocent title match announced over three months ago, then you sent your “friends” after me and hit me in the back of the head with a title. Then I beat you and took the world title from you, then you and Asher beat me down and laid your hands on my wife, then I humiliated you in a restaurant and beat you again, this time in a tag-match, then you beat me down with the title and made me bleed. she gives a slow shake of her head.

I can’t really give you points on ‘originality’ or ‘creativity’, Cid, but you see the point. Back and forth this has gone. We are talking about the two people that have, essentially, held the World Championship picture in their hands for the majority of this year. We have waged war, we have both successfully retained this title, and not a soul in SCW can doubt how much we both want to be SCW World Champion.

Holding up her free hand, Selena hand moves with her words. And you can feel it. You can feel it in the air, that electricity. The second round, the vortex of events – us one-upping each other, be it for ourselves or for revenge, it has come to a head here. It NEEDS to come to a head here. Selena Frost vs Cid Turner for the SCW World Championship! A match where you and I will beat each other up so badly that we will be feeling it for days, maybe even weeks!

She takes a pause to let that statement sink in. This is a match fueled by revenge between you and I – a match where the landscape of SCW will hang in the balance and be forever changed one way or the other.

With her free hand, she gestures to the camera. But for weeks, you have chosen to come out here and use the same tired lines over and over and over again about me being some kind of ‘evil sorcerer’ and that I’m ‘brainwashing the masses and some of the superstars’.

A long sigh escapes the Snow Queen. Tell me, Cid, do you even listen to the SCW Universe?

I’ve been loved and hated by these amazing people. I’ve been cheered, booed, hell one time I got a silent crowd when Xander Valentine brutalized me in a match and made me pass-out. I mean, come on Cid, we’re about to fight in your HOMETOWN! Talk about hostile territory! You think I’m going to be cheered here? The Snow Queen laughs in good nature. Actually, there is a chance I might… she gives a teasing smirk.

See, I’ve always been a polarizing figure, Cid, my entire career. Everywhere I go, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Some people and fellow wrestlers cheer me because they believe in me and what I stand for. Some of them boo me and hate me because I’m “boring” or “the same for the last eight years” and would love so desperately for some kind of ‘creative change’ or something like that.

But with you, Cid? They don’t go back and forth with you. Those boos and disrespect have grown because when they look at you now? They see what I see. Just another ‘short-cut loving’, desperate jackass that wants this! Selena holds up the world championship. And hometown hero or not, Cid, if you try and screw these people out of what they deserve to see in a hell of a match – they are going to make sure you hear it loud and clear! she takes a quick glance towards the empty seats before returning her gaze to the camera.

Like I said, Cid, this whole thing needs to come to a head, but the world knows just as I do how this is going to play out. Just like last week – soon as you hit that brick wall, soon as you start to lose that step, and the match starts slipping out of your hands, in comes Holly or Asher to save your ass.

She holds up her free hand. And just like last week, it isn’t going to work. But they know it’s going to happen and I know it’s going to happen.

Because when it comes to Cid Turner, there is always a limit. A limit to his patience. A limit to his “morals” and a limit to how much he can endure.

Slowly, Selena walks around the ring, her eyes on the empty seats, her eyes slowly drawing back to the camera. You heard me in my last promo, Cid. You might be stronger, smarter, faster, and have more resources than I do, but there is one thing I purposefully left out. Because while you may be all those things, I know that I am a hell of a lot tougher than you.

I have survived wars and injuries and threats that you cannot possibly comprehend here in SCW. I have scars and busted body parts that will forever be etched into my form and my memory. I have survived ordeal after ordeal and kept going while you? You lose one world title match and you and Asher throw a tantrum. You lose one tag match and you, Cid, throw a tantrum. Sapphire eyes narrow at the memory of Cid’s chosen actions after the clean loss his team suffered at the hands of Selena and Syren.

And the reason you will use Holly or Asher this weekend is because you know I am telling the truth. You can beat me down. You can make be bleed, but you CAN’T keep me down and put me away by yourself.

A quiet laugh escapes the Snow Queen. But I find it hilarious that you think that my ‘toughness’ comes from a pathological fear of ‘losing this title’… The platinum-blonde gives a tilt of her head. That what you said last week, right? You made an interesting remark that ‘fear is what motivates me’. That ‘fear controls me’…

Cid… You gotta stop trying to figure me out because every time you try, you just make yourself look more and more stupid, okay? Reaching up, Selena scratches the back of her head.

But I’ll be happy to set you straight in this matter. You think that ‘losing’ terrifies me. You think that I can’t ‘live without this title’. Let me refresh your memory, Cid. I went four years without this title.

I spent four years thinking I would never get a chance at this title again and rather than whine and cry like you and Asher have for the last one-hundred plus days since you lost it, I spent my time conquering different divisions and performing “matches of the year” against superstars like Xander Valentine and Sienna Swann, and by the way? Both of those matches? I lost. I didn’t throw a tantrum. I didn’t seek “creative change”. I picked myself up and sought to make myself better, which is exactly what I have done.

In fact, one of your former buddies, Ace Marshall, a month ago, bragged up and down that I was ‘replaceable’. That the “Face of SCW” was something that could be and would be replaced as soon as I couldn’t compete at that level anymore. And you know what? He was right.

Let me remind you of something that clearly has slipped your mind since you’ve been back here, Cid. Doesn’t matter if you’re the ‘most superior so and so in SCW’s twenty-year history’ like you bragged about last week or the ‘first Co-World Champions’ or ‘most entertaining and ratings booster’ or whatever you and Asher are spouting out for your egos. Doesn’t matter if you’re a… Selena snaps her fingers a few times. ”A Disney-ripoff” or a “master-manipulator”, or “boring” or “insufferable” or whatever else you want tag to my name. Every one of us, from me to you to the guys and girls in the back are on borrowed time.

Streaks, title reigns, careers, they all eventually end. Her eyes lower down to gaze at the championship on her shoulder.

There was a year, Cid, that I was basically untouchable. 2016. The infamous “Year of Selena Frost”. I became the only person to ever win both the Shot of Adrenaline Tournament AND the Best of the Best Tournament and the only person to do so in the same year. I beat legends like Kelcey Wallace and Kennedy Street and Ravyn Taylor just to name a few. I became the World Champion for the first time to cap it off and was the Female Wrestler of the year. 

Within a month’s time of 2017… I had lost the world title, failed to recapture it in a rematch, and was little more than the target for Vixen Cain’s mind games while Kelcey Wallace and Ace Marshall were dominating the world title picture. A year after that? I was nowhere near the world title. It would be nearly two years before I even got a crack at a top-tier title again.

The Snow Queen turns her head back to the camera. We are all here on borrowed time, Cid. The question is how we choose to deal with that. You use it to blame me for all your problems. You choose to let that bastard, Asher, talk for you about ‘conspiracies’ and ‘unfairness’ while you stalk a married woman. I choose to cherish every second I am here. Every instant I am able to wrestle here and challenge new, legendary, or upcoming talent, all of it! Every moment that I can share with all of the SCW Universe as the Face of SCW, as the Snow Queen, as the World Champion - just as me! she turns on the spot, taking in the entirety of the arena space, slowly stopping back to eye her audience.

So… maybe it’s not that I’m afraid that my current world title reign will ‘come to an end’, Cid. Maybe the reason I’m here is because I cherish this place. Maybe the reason I do what I do isn’t because I can’t live without being the SCW World Champion, but because I love being an SCW superstar and I love what SCW is meant to stand for: Supreme Championship Wrestling.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Selena takes a slow, calming breath before opening her eyes again. I do, Cid. It’s so simple that it baffles me that you haven’t gotten it yet. I love being an SCW superstar. I love seeing the kids you think I ‘brainwash’ cheering for their favourite wrestlers. I love seeing parents come to me and say things like ‘thank you for all that you do’ and I get to thank them for supporting this amazing federation. I love talking on talk shows and podcasts and, while I sometimes can put my foot in my mouth and say something dumb, I love talking about SCW and the SCW Universe. 

And when smug-entitled jackasses like you and, especially, Asher think that they’ve got me figured out? When people use words like ‘superiority’ over me, oh gods, do I love coming down to this ring and knocking them out with one swift kick!

I am here because I love this place, Cid. So tell me, what the HELL are you here for? her question rings throughout the arena for a moment as she coldly glares into the camera.

You want to talk about “fear of losing” this title, Cid, and that fear “controlling” you? Look in the damn mirror. Because it wasn’t me that grabbed this title from Deanna and attacked with it because he LOST a tag-match…

And sure as hell wasn’t me at the end of that World Title match that night in June that was on their knees, begging to ‘undo the match result’ and ‘hand over the world title’.

Selena’s tone suddenly grows colder, her gaze turning more and more into a sharp glare. You want to know why I don’t respect you, Cid? That’s where it starts, and it’s what takes every line you’ve ever said about ‘respecting’ me and this title and exposes it for the cheap BS that it is. Because you don’t respect me or this… she holds up the title a little off her shoulder before putting it back.

Let me tell you something about this title. There is a reason Jonathan Knots and Adam Sharper… Leaning over the ring ropes, Selena gestures to the empty commentator’s booth. There is a reason those two refer to winning the world title as ‘standing at the top of the mountain’… For a moment, it is almost like the audience could hear those words in the voice of Sharper and Knots, Selena leaning back into the ring to stand properly.

Because that’s what winning this championship – being the world champion – means to this company and every single person that tunes in! It is not meant to be ‘an easy endeavour’. It is meant to be an accomplishment. It is a journey. It is a gruelling, challenging journey that not everyone gets to complete. It is not meant to be ‘given’ but earned by fighting the best and BEATING the best. By investing your heart, soul, mind, all that you are into training and learning and pushing yourself past your limits. And when you finally endure that journey and all the hardships, you earn the right to stand “at the top of the mountain” and call yourself ‘the’ SCW World Champion. 

I have respected anyone that has endured that journey to win this title, including you, Cid. For Odin’s sake, years ago, you survived a fatal-fourway ladder match just to keep yourself the world champion. I respected that. Even Syren, who I despise – doesn’t matter how many times she’s failed to get a shot. Nobody works harder than her at getting this title. Year after year, whether it was con jobs and manipulations, or beating the hell out of anyone that was in her way to get and keep this title, she did all she could be and REMAIN SCW World Champion for years – I respect that. Maybe not the methods but I respect that she respects the journey and is all too eager to take it on time and time again without hesitation.

It takes a moment for Selena to breath and calm herself down, clearly not use to speaking of the Alpha Female with respect, given their history. For me? This title was a journey to get to. I was proud of the four years I needed achieving so much to be ready to take this on. To be able to put the company on my back and carry it as the World Champion. I was proud to fight and fight and overcome all the doubt, the injuries, the turmoil, to become the World Champion.

And let me segway for a second here, Cid, because it wasn’t just a journey that I took alone… 

Slowly, as the camera follows her free hand, Selena reaches out to the side. A moment passes until another hand reaches out from the opposite side to take Selena’s hand. Backing up, the camera reveals Deanna Frost, Selena’s wife, standing in the ring with the world champion. She wears not the casual clothes normally associated with her appearances, but wrestling pants and light-green shirt, as if she were the one wrestling instead of the Snow Queen. 

Giving her wife a kind smile, Selena continues. It was a journey that we took together. For me to be the World Champion with my Deanna by my side? That was our dream. And for two years, that dream seemed impossible. My wife’s wrongful incarceration, the hell she and I went through – our future together in constant question and doubt, we survived and we came back to conquer the world-title division…

We have done the improbable, we have achieved what many thought was ‘impossible’, and we have conquered what was thought to be ‘Unbelievable’! And that journey – which is now part of this title’s history and representation - is as much hers as it is mine…

Lifting Selena’s hand, Deanna gently kisses the back of it before quietly exiting the ring. Selena watches her go for a moment before returning her attention back to the camera, sapphire eyes blazing. When I beat you last June, Cid, and finally became World champion again, yes, I was proud. I was proud that Deanna and I had reached this point. I was proud of the journey. I was even proud of you. I respected that you gave me the match that pushed my limits, tested everything I knew about wrestling and strategy. I was proud to have beaten someone that could turn back Bree Lancaster and Datura… she takes a slow breath.

Until you fell on your knees and begged me to give you back the world title.

It is as if everything shifts again in the shot. Selena’s jaw clenches, her free hand tightens to a fist – her anger very clear but controlled. 

I don’t care that you were crying after the match, Cid. Hell, I was crying after the match! But after the hell I went through to get to that point – after the HELL you and I put each other through in an epic match that represented what THIS is all about! She holds up the title a little. You were begging me to ‘unmake it’. You were begging me to just throw it all away as if beating you – as if EARNING the SCW World Championship – meant nothing! You were willing and begging to be handed the world title just like you were handed it earlier this year when you were inserted in a tag match and then handed the win by Holly Adams as if it all meant nothing!

Releasing a breath, Selena casts her gaze up towards the lights for a moment. You know, my father told me when I was a kid, “never kick a man when he’s down”, but I swear to Odin, Cid, in that moment, I wanted to kick your damn head off more than anything because who the hell do you think you are?!

For the years that people have fought like hell for this title. For the decades that people have risked their careers and their lives for this title. For the history this title represents, the journeys people like Syren and Regan Street and Kelcey Wallace, and David Helms and CHBK, and Shilo Valiant, have taken – hell, one of those guys lost his damn face in a pyro incident and came back from it just to hold this one more time! she holds the title off her shoulder before lowering it back down to her side.

For all of their sacrifices and journeys to hold this… And you were begging me to just ‘hand it over to you’…

The Face of SCW slowly shakes her head. Yeah, Cid. I lost my respect for you then and there because if you gave a shit about this title, that idea would NEVER have crossed your mind as an option. You would have stood up, shook my hand, told me you were coming to get this title back, and then done just that! Hell, I would have preferred another tantrum like last week where you hit me from behind and declare things weren’t over! Better than crying and begging me to just “make you the World champion” again!

Her agitation clear, Selena shakes her head again, her tone dropping to simple resignation. But you’re no different than Asher Hayes. You don’t care about this title. You don’t care about what ‘being world champion’ really means – you just care about ‘having the world championship’. Even now, you still aren’t any different. Because instead of fighting me, beating me, and showcasing this ‘savior of SCW’ bit you’ve been trying to sell of yourself – instead of proving me wrong, Cid, in a match that could be ‘match of the year’… what is your grand plan?

The platinum-blonde shrugs. You know what it’s going to take to beat me, Cid. I’m not Datura, I’m not Bree and I sure as hell am not Ravyn or Syren. I am one of the most dangerous people in SCW. I am the hardest-working wrestler in this business. I have outlasted monsters like Xander Valentine, outsmarted masterminds like Vixen Cain, and surpassed ‘standards’ like Syren and Bree. I am the Face of SCW and I will be, I promise you, at my most dangerous at Apocalypse after all you and Asher have put Deanna and I through. a quiet huff escapes Selena.

I have said it before and I’ll say it until it’s clear in your head, Cid. It doesn’t matter how much ‘help’ you have. This match will be brutal for both of us. It is going to be something that eclipses our last bout at Taking Hold of the Flame. It will push our limits and test our resolve. It will make us question every choice we have made in being part of SCW, all to have someone be the World Champion.

But what happens after that?

She gives a quiet pause, as if expecting an answer. We know what happens if I win, Cid. I win, I silence any argument A/C Unit has to this ‘Co-World Championship’ nonsense. I go on and look for new challengers like Xander Valentine or Syren or whoever else wants to step up. I continue to defend this title as the ONLY World Champion, defending a full-title, which is more than I can say for Asher.

But what will happen if you win? Again, a quiet pause before a sarcastic smirk graces Selena’s features.

Well, hell, I mean we all heard it at the first Breakdown, didn’t we? The very first title defence after Apocalypse, should Cid Turner be the world champion? He’s gonna defend the title against his pal, Asher Hayes.

It is this statement that cause a laugh to escape the young woman. Ignoring the fact that Syren is going to kick his ass, Cid, how’s that going to work? You both actually put on an entertaining match? Fight each other tooth and claw like you and I will? Give us a legitimate championship match that represents this title? her tone suddenly drops and grows serious, as does her expression.

Or are you gonna do what everyone here has already predicted you’d do and just hand that belt over to him in the shortest world title match in SCW history?!

There is a reason that Asher Hayes got that piece of paper, Cid, and you know it. There is a reason he’s not trying to earn his spot here, and you know it. And you know that as soon as he tells you to, you will drop to your knees once again and simply throw away EVERYTHING this title represents – everything our match represents! Angrily, Selena drops the world title onto the ring mat, running her hands through her hair.

There it all is, Cid. That is why I don’t respect you. That is why I know I am tougher than you. Because I’m willing to put myself through hell to avenge my wife and to show what this championship has meant and continues to mean for all of the SCW Universe. Deanna and I are willing to survive another brutal war for this championship and for such hard-work and hope to continue being its standard! You? You’re fighting me for this title just so you can hand it over the first chance you get to a guy that hasn’t earned it, is too much of a coward to do so, and hasn’t won a match since he came back from his suspension!

With a slow breath, Selena bends down to pick up the world title, turning it over in her hands to look at it. I’m not afraid of losing this title one day, Cid, but I sure as hell am not going to lose it just to watch you two play hot-potato with it as you disrespect the journey and everything that so many, including me and Deanna, have given to it! lowering the title back to her side, Selena runs another hand through her platinum-blonde hair.

In the game of chess, the pawn has to keep going forward. It takes on all opponents and threats and can never go backwards. It’s a hard and dangerous path, but if it makes it across the board… if it can complete its journey… it can become the most powerful piece in the game… as Selena speaks, she takes steady steps across the width of the ring before resting a hand on the ropes of the other side. That’s my story, Cid. That’s how much I love being here and how much I love being the world champion. Enough to endure the journey and stand before you as the queen. 

So, if you think you’re gonna end it by taking a shortcut-en-masse, just to take Asher to ‘world champion status’ with you? If you think that you have another ‘sure-fire’ plan and it will be that easy to beat me- despite herself, Selena simply smiles, speaking slowly. You are welcome to try for a third time. Because while I’m facing a possible ‘hometown hero’ and one half of a supposed ‘world champion’, you are facing the one AND ONLY SCW World Champion…

A world champion that is going to remind you what it takes to be called ‘the’ world champion.
And a queen that is going to knock you, Asher and that piece of paper of yours on your asses and off the damn board!

Slowly, she raises the title over her head. Believe it, Cid! Because it’s the only thing you and Asher have truly earned! 

The cameras fade on Selena and her world title before going entirely to black.