Deanna Frost vs. La Pequena Luz vs. Kimberly Williams vs. Adam Allocco

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Guard Tower

The camera opens up to the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse arena in Cleveland, the site for tonight’s SCW episode of Breakdown as the road to Rise to Greatness continues. In fact, judging by the people, members of the SCW universe, beginning to enter the arena and take their seats, one would guess that Breakdown is only a short ways away.

But the site of the SCW fans filling the arena is a heart-warming one, which is shown in full as the camera shot changes to high above the masses, to the catwalks that house the lights…. And to the redhead smiling kindly at them all, unseen and unheard by them. The camera, however, catches the way her red hair shines in the nearby lights. How her clothes, her black wrestling attire with various colored leaves embroidered into it stand out amongst the dull gray of the metallic catwalks.

I love this view… Deanna Frost, the Queen’s Guard, smiles as she looks over the arena and people below her. All the problems seem so small from up here…

Despite herself, Deanna turns her head to see the large ‘Rise to Greatness’ decoration hanging just a ways away from her, seeming so big because of how high the sign is posted. Well, most problems anyway… she shakes her head before returning her gaze to below. You can think up here, try and consider your problems and consider your solutions. Like having a wife and world champion that continues to struggle to bring integrity into this sport. Or the inevitable misogynistic and sexists barbs we’ll hear from the only man in this upcoming match… again her eyes find the Rise to Greatness sign for a mere moment, but again, she looks away.

Or the monkey that’s been on your back for a damn year… Taking a moment, Deanna’s hands grip the rail as she rocks back and forth against it. And Adam Allocco, you know exactly what I am talking about.

I am talking about that infamous ‘Five Moves of Doom’ match that happened a year ago. I am talking about the match that sent my momentum into a freefall crash to a point where nobody beyond my wife believed that I was anything outside of a ‘supporting player’ in SCW. I am talking about the match that changed the trajectory of my next 365 days here in SCW. I am talking about the match that, try as I might, I could not shake. Until two weeks ago…

Two weeks ago, Adam, I took that problem, that burden, that shame, everything you buried me with and I made it smaller. I made the problem smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and then, with one swift knee, I emphatically and ultimately DESTROYED that burden! Taking a moment to pause, Deanna glares at the camera.

In that moment, Adam, I will tell you exactly what happened in that ring between you and me. And it was almost as amazing a feeling as pinning you and beating you. It was that moment of realization in your eyes. Knots saw it, Sharper saw it, the SCW Universe saw it, but you saw it first. I could see it. That realization in your eyes. That dawning of fact that ‘five moves’ was no longer ‘good enough’ to get past Deanna Frost. That if you were to have ANY hope of winning that match with me, you’d have to go all-in just like you did with Selena. She smiles knowingly.

And Adam, there is not a joke you can make or an excuse you can conjure up in your twisted mind that will EVER take that away from me. Now? Rather than hold our first match a year ago on my back, I have the result of a year of training, of hard work. Kimberly talks about ‘a year of transformation’ while she is still clinging to her chaos and her skits and her Kimmymaniacs. Adam, that night was the true sign of what a difference a year can make! Because I took your best! I took everything you gave to the world champion, Selena Frost, and like her, I overcame it! I surpassed you! I BEAT you, Adam Allocco! I BEAT YOU! And more than that, Adam, I was READY to beat you! I was READY to be better than you!

A content smile whispers across Deanna’s features. And it wasn’t easy, Adam. It took everything I had – unlike you, I’m not going to insult you by discrediting what you can do in this ring. But if I ever needed a more emphatic statement that I am in a better place than I was a year ago, if I ever needed a more clear message that I am better than I was a year ago and that I deserve more than I had a year ago, if I could do anything to make such a statement devoid of ego, THAT was it!

Because I look ahead now, and while I try and be a support system to my wife and SCW world champion, I find myself still believing that I have earned more for myself than I had last year.

One more time, Deanna’s eyes flit towards the large Rise to Greatness sign.

And in that regard, Kimberly, you are not going to like what I have to say. But let me start by saying that I agree with most of what you said. I am not bitter enough to ignore the journey you’ve taken. The steps you’ve made to prove me wrong. To prove that you care about this place in your own way. Was I mad at you over that ‘chaos match’? Yes. Call a spade a spade? The fact that you continuously whined about not being Underground champion across social media and threatening not to show up until you got your shot at the title again – just like you did the year prior? The fact that you systematically made a match where all you had to do was score a point and you’d automatically be Underground champion? You know it and I know it, it has never sat well with me. I found it cowardly, I found it frustrating and a slap in the face of what I thought each title should be worth and what I gave to beat you last year to become said champion. You go further and then to have you turn my match with Owen Cruze into your little ‘game’ with him by throwing in weapons? That further bothered me because I didn’t see that ‘respect’ you spoke of. I saw you just playing your games. You just wanting to mess with Owen and I rather than give us a proper match of integrity and skill. There are countless receipts I could show you – debt that you owe me that I could fixate on…

But… she holds up a finger to pause any retaliation. Up here, looking down on it, Kimberly, it sort of makes sense to me. It sort of makes sense how, all this time, you were trying so hard to bring your ‘version’ of integrity back to SCW. I mean, the Underground title was defunct for years. It was brought back ‘on a whim’ and nobody knew if it could last. That was on your shoulders – or you took it upon your shoulders – to keep it alive and even thrive here in SCW. While some just touted it around or wore it as an ‘add-on’, you were fighting to put it on every card. You’ve made it into one of the ‘star attractions’ in every SCW show and for that, Kimberly, I actually get it and I respect it!

Deanna nods her head. And from such lofty and noble intentions, Kimberly Williams, comes a good heart and I can finally see that, even if you bother me as much as you do. I won’t ever fully understand you, I think, but I like to think that after the year I have had, the mistakes I’ve made and the people that have grounded me, including O. D., I can say I ‘sort of’ understand you.

However… a teasing smirk comes to Deanna’s face. You still have that tendency to say things that are just not true. Things that irritate me. And you, you went in front of a camera and spoke about your ‘path’ not being clear, even though it was. You spoke about not ‘knowing’ even though your destination is carved in stone!

I am talking about Rise to Greatness, Kimberly. I am talking about you acting like your future is unclear simply because, while you have a where and when, you don’t know ‘who’ is on the docket.

Deanna shakes her head knowingly. And no, Kimberly, this isn’t me challenging you for that spot or to answer that question. This is me calling you out on a bold-faced error in your assessment! Because, as you said, O. D. has made it law! EVERY title in SCW will be on the line as part of the main show! Every championship will be defended on this ‘Show of Shows’!

So for you to say that you ‘don’t know’ your path? It irked me, Kimberly. It irked me because, unlike you and the others in this fatal-fourway, I don’t even have a ‘date and time’ as you all do. For Luz, it would be an insult and a disservice for Light in the Darkness to be ignored in this tag-team storm that the tag-team champions, Rated X, has created.

My wife, Luz, wasn’t just blowing smoke up your rear when she said you and Amelia were ready to become SCW World Tag-Team champions. You and her watched the match Amelia and I put on, where she BEAT me! You continued to fight and improve in every match you have been in – you guys are READY – and if SCW does not add LITD to that list of tag-teams to fight for the titles with the other great tag-teams than it is a disservice to you, to the 20th anniversary of RTG, and it is a disservice to tag-team wrestling in the first place. It is clear as crystal, your place at RTG is secured.

And if Xander Valentine doesn’t finally get his hands on you, Adam… she laughs a little. If, after a year of all of this mess, Xander Valentine doesn’t get his match with you to end this near-year feud?! Well, let’s just say that I wouldn’t bet against the Executioner. Your place on the card is DEFINITELY secured now. Just not your well-being. Cause you’ll either fight him, or he’ll beat you throughout the night in Toronto! I will be eagerly hoping to see that from a personal standpoint, Adam! She chuckles a little before her face suddenly grows serious.

But you, Kimberly, with your championship status, more than any of us, have secured a place on the main-card of Rise to Greatness!

I haven’t.

She sighs, leaning against the rail. And Kimberly, that is something that is driving me more and more as we draw closer and closer to that incredible event. As I feel the sands of the hourglass slip away – slip through my fingers – I am more and more driven to have what has been LITERALLY handed to you on a silver platter!

Because when I said the past year has made me realize what I have earned – THIS is one of those things. Last year, you and I filled the preshow and we stole it! We headlined it and stole the show but THAT is as far as we could go. Now? I don’t want to just be on the preshow. I don’t want to just be part of Selena’s entrance in the main-event! I want to be on the card! I NEED to be on the card! I HAVE EARNED a place on that card!

She takes a moment to collect herself. Because out of everyone in this match, I have beaten all of you. Kimberly, you know it. Luz, I proved it at Retribution when I pinned Amelia to show you how amazing the House of Frost was, and Adam – well, obviously. Again, a smile fills her features at the memory.

Out of the four of us, I can stand here and I say I have beaten all of you. So to be the only one whose future is completely unknown? Whose path doesn’t even have a hint of a direction in regards to the greatest show in SCW’s twenty year history?

THAT, Kimberly, is what makes me the most dangerous out of the four of us. THAT, Luz, is what makes me as I was last we fought, where I need to prove everything. Because I cannot afford to ‘go back’ or ‘rest on my laurels’ with a fate already secured. I don’t have that, so I have to fight for every inch, every centimeter, EVERY MILLIMETER to drag myself into the main card of Rise to Greatness!

The sign glows just beyond Deanna, though she doesn’t look at it. Because if I am going to try and carve my path to the card… she takes a slow, unsteady breath. I am not going to try for anything less than I believe I have earned.

And that’s the United States Championship. she pauses for a moment, her eyes taking in the SCW Universe. Like I said last week, I plan to earn my spot on the Rise to Greatness card, and if I am going to do that, then I am going to aim for the highest spot I can get on that card! Allocco bragged not too long ago that he was ‘the only choice’ to being the next in line for the world title. she scoffs at the idea.

I don’t want to be the ‘only choice’ as D. looks through his notes for a challenger against Bree Lancaster. I want the man that called me out months ago to pick my name because I am ‘the best choice’ to challenge for the SCW United States Title! To further show what a year, and even what a few months, can do!

Slowly, Deanna releases a deep breath, her eyes, once more taking in the growing audience far below her. Do you understand now, Kimberly? Do you understand now, Luz? Do you understand now, Adam? I do not have any intention of being merely a ‘pothole’ for you, Kimberly, or another sign of ‘respect’ for you, Luz, or perhaps some sick ‘rebound’ for your ego, Adam. I am not fighting for all of your feel good moments while your paths become clearer and clearer. No! Tonight, I am fighting like my future is on the line! Like my hopes and dreams and chances are all on the line! Because I don’t want to just ‘put on a good match’ and ‘continue to show the world that I can hang with the likes of all of you’.

No… tonight, I have to show – I need to show – that not only can I hang, I can be better than the likes of all of you! That I can find a way to overcome Kim’s chaos, Adam’s experience, and Luz’s passion! That I can definitively, undisputedly not just be part of the United States title picture… but I can be the next person to CHALLENGE for the United States title!

Her tanned hand slams against the guardrail with gusto. I have spent a year battling my demons and the doubters and my own securities, but ever since our match on the preshow last year, Kimberly, I have never stopped believing that I would come back here and be good enough to be part of the main-events and matches of Rise to Greatness.

So do I believe I deserve a match at Rise to Greatness? Yes!
Do I believe that I am good enough to challenge for the United States Championship? Yes!
Do I believe that I am good enough to deserve such an opportunity on the greatest of shows…

Deanna takes a moment to inhale and exhale before she nods her head. YES! I believe that too! I have to believe it! Because I can’t go back to what I was, not after what I’ve overcome! Not after a broken arm and beating former world champions!

So tonight isn’t about just ‘winning’ and ‘feeling good’! This is not just about my past with you, Kimberly, or you, Adam, or you, Luz! This is not just about me looking back – this is about me moving forward to where I deserve to be! Where I need to be!

Finally, Deanna points a strong hand to the Rise to Greatness sign. I need to be there! On the posters, on the signs, on the graphics – I NEED TO BE THERE! And I am going to scratch and claw and burn my way through all three of you to get to it! If that is what I have to do, I will endure Kimberly’s weapons! I will endure Adam’s cheats! I will endure Luz’s skill and I will forge my way onto that show! I will carve my place onto that card, even if there isn’t a soul in SCW that believes I can do it!

Stopping for a moment, Deanna slows her breathing to a few long inhales and exhales. I deserve that. And come tonight? I am going to prove it!

Checkmate, bitches!

Turning, Deanna walks away from the camera, travelling the catwalks as the camera shifts to focus on the Rise to Greatness sign before fading to black.