Breakdown 3-3-23
The scene opens outdoors, to a dark green Mercedes GLS SUV, parked in a curved brick driveway. Perched on the hood is Kandis, legs crossed at the ankles as she leans back, propping herself up with her elbows down. Dressed in skin-tight black leggings and a red halter top, the neckline cut to expose more cleavage, Kandis smirks as she takes one hand and caresses the SUV's hood.
Isn't this baby a beauty? I was never really a person super interested in cars. As a kid, they were just a means to hop from one foster home to the next. As a teenager, one in particular served as a sort of salvation, when I jumped into it in the middle of the night, being taken away from an abusive home. Other than that though? I found them uninteresting. As a teenager and young adult, they represented everything I thought I would never have. I mean, you have to have a good job to afford one, right? People who grew up like me don't get good jobs. I'm a very rare exception to that.
I never even got a driver's license until after I started wrestling. I didn't drive, couldn't drive, when I signed with Emerge. It never seemed necessary. But then I came to SCW... and I changed my mind. It was a pain in the ass trying to get around to airports and hotels everywhere. Cabs suck, I don't trust Uber... so I had one option.
Learn to drive and get a license.
So, that's what I did. Then I went and bought a used Toyota, because I didn't see the need to buy brand new, when so much value drops off the moment you drive it off the lot. The car was a means to an end, not a status symbol, like it is for so many people. I didn't care what people thought of my car. It ran, everything worked, and that's all that mattered.
Kandis pauses to caress the hood of her Mercedes again.
Then a funny thing happened. I hooked up with a man who fixes old cars for fun. It took a while but I started to see that, okay.... cars do have some beauty to them. Design, color combinations, the sound of the engine. I'll never be a gear head, but I understand the appeal. After a while, I started to relate somewhat.
I used to be a bit... unpolished, too. Not that I'm all sparkly now, but I think you know what I mean. I didn't think I was worth shit, I thought I was just here to be used, for rides...
Another smirk, as she sits up straight.
You get me. But as I got older, I worked on myself. Kickboxing gave me confidence mentally, strength and tone physically. I put the brakes on for a while after a comp went south..... but then I stumbled into wrestling, and you know the rest. I scratched and clawed my way through Emerge, to SCW, through the ranks. All the way up to earning a chance to become World Champion.
Kandis shakes her head, a scowl on her face. One hand absentmindedly rubs her knee.
Well, you all know what happened to that. I wrecked my knee. Had to pull out of the match. I went to the shop, you could say. Bad wheel, as they call it.
Kandis scoffs at the metaphor, but continues it anyway.
Surgery and physical therapy really did make me similar to one of those old cars Tommy has in the garage that he enjoys fixing up. I needed repair... restoration. I did the work. And it was hard work. If you've never been through it, you can't understand it. I'm no stranger to setbacks, hard work, getting back up after being knocked down. Done it all my life. And there was no way I was gonna let this freak injury keep me down.
I fought back. I came back. And I made a statement when I won the battle royal that won me this.
Kandis pats the hood of the SUV, making a metallic thump. She smiles as she caresses the hood again.
Isn't she sexy? And when I turn her on... holy fuck does she purrr.
Kandis smirks again, amusing herself with all the innuendo.
It's been a few months now. This baby is just as pristine as the day I took her home.
Me? I've kicked some ass, and as Asher Hayes will tell anyone who will listen... I got caught once. He thinks I'm downplaying that but I'm really not. The man simply has many more years experience than I do and he found a way to counter something I haven't done a whole lot. I went into that match thinking I had t pull out a few new tricks, cause he would be prepared for all my old ones. Joke was on me, wasn't it?
Now he thinks he has a claim to the next World Championship shot, but I'm sitting here to remind him and everyone else that our match at Body, Heart, and Soul..... was not a contenders match. It was for bragging rights. And Asher has all the right in the world to brag. I mean, beating me is a big deal.
But he still doesn't have the right to a World Championship match. That's still me. I am still the one who never got the one I earned. I am still the one who thousands of people wrote in my name on the End of the Year ballot, because I wasn't listed. They know. I'm owed what I never got.
Kandis leans back again, and shakes her head with a dry laugh.
So... imagine my reaction when I saw the name across from mine on the Breakdown card.
Datura.
Excuse me?
Kandis laughs again.
I'm gonna need someone to explain to me the point of this, because I can't see one. This woman just came out on the losing end of the biggest clusterfuck in SCW history, and from what I can tell, and what she and her friend Bree have been saying, they want to throw themselves into the Tag Division.
Kandis sighs heavily, obviously because the Tag Division is something that means a lot to her and she can't be a part of right now.
Those two just will not shut up about it, so can they please be given a tag match already so we don't have to listen to it anymore? Nah... instead, I get Datura. And while I can see the appeal for her... facing one half of the greatest Tag Team SCW has ever seen... I fail to see what its in for me.
Is this practice, like Kelsai was? I can't see it getting me any closer to what I want. Datura has never been World Champion. She was Adrenaline Champion for a while, but it's easy to forget that considering she let Holly Adams take the spotlight nearly the entire time she was champion. Sure, she grew a backbone eventually but other than that, her reign was somewhat... lackluster.
Kandis shakes her head again, tossing her one long braid back over her shoulder.
It's kinda sad, really. I've done research, as I always do. Datura has had her moments. She can brutal. She can be technical. She can go with the best of them. Or... she used to. Until she had an injury similar to mine. I don't know the specifics, but I do know she also had surgery, and rehab, the whole shit. She did the work to get back to a place where she can compete. She's one of a few in this company who understands just how much it takes to come back from a wrecked knee. Difference is.... every time she opens her mouth she talks about the next match being her comeback.... and most of the time they just end up being another setback.
That's where we're different. Datura seems to think every loss is the end of the world and something she has to move mountains to overcome. To me? Losses aren't a setback at all.
They're experience.
They're an example of mistakes to correct.
They're motivation.
I'm not gonna let the fact that Asher Hayes held me down for three seconds – and trust me, that's about all he's good for – but I'm not gonna let that put my tits in the dirt and keep me down.
Fuck that!
I might be asking questions about why Datura was chosen to face me this week, but the reality is that it doesn't matter. Anyone put against me would be looked at the same way. The next opportunity to show this place how every time you think I've been knocked down, out of contention, out of the picture... I get right back up and fight harder. A lot of people don't like that about me, they want to talk shit.... ask Simon Lyman what happens to people who fuck around like that.
They find out, I don't play that shit.
Kandis looks sideways a moment, and snaps her fingers.
Wait a second... is that was this is? Some kind of punishment for putting my hands on the retired man? First of all... he's shown he's more than capable of defending himself. He even got in my face and challenged me! So if putting me against Datura, someone who I'm sure would love to make a statement and build a case for entering the Tag Division by beating me, is supposed to be some kind of fucked up reprimand for that whole scuffle... maybe you should be giving the old man a reprimand, too. Making a challenge to a violent bitch like me when the entire world knows he more than likely can't get medically cleared? Give him a psychiatric evaluation while you're at it.
Shaking her head once more, Kandis scoffs.
Fuck, I let that motherfucker sidetrack me. As I was saying.... maybe this is some kind of test. For both me and Datura. Put her against an accomplished Tag Team wrestler and see how she hangs, to see if she really should be thrown into that particular fire with the partner of her choosing. And me? Put me against someone else who's been known to be brutally violent when necessary. Datura proved that when she tried to piledrive Evans. But more than that... put me against someone else who lost at BHS and see who's more capable of a comeback.
Kandis pats the hood again.
I think we all know the answer to that one.
Datura is the one who wallows in misery for weeks after a loss... any loss.
I'm the one who shrugs it off and moves on to the next, coming back even harder than before.
Kandis slides off the hood and leans against the grill, crossing her arms.
Datura is the next. And she's gonna find out real quick that I am not fucking around.
Kandis' glare seems to penetrate through the screen before the scene cuts to black.