The video begins and we see an American flag waving slightly in the wind. It’s hanging from a flag pole. As we begin to zoom out we can see that the flag pole is standing with pride next to a rustic looking ranch. There’s a mix of sand and grass in the background. The camera continues zooming out until we see that there are cattle over in the distance as well. We then hear Zoe’s voice. “Whenever I used to think about Texas, I’d think about somewhere like this,” she begins before turning the camera around to point at herself. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but this is basically how I imagine Texas to be in my head. I imagine cowboys. I imagine cattle. I imagine guys in hats riding horses. Honestly when I first found out that people from Texas drove cars and didn’t just ride horses everywhere I was a little upset. Then again I was also seven. But that’s beside the point. Ever since those days this is what I’ve always associated with Texas. There’s something else that I associate with Texas as well, and that’s patriotism. There’s nothing that the people here care more about than America. Ok, so their views and my views don’t totally match up all the time, in fact in general I tend to disagree with some things they think in a really, really huge way. Being gay is still a majorly negative thing in Texas, and in fact until 2003 guys couldn’t even... you know. It was actually against the law! What isn’t against the law though is discriminating against people for their sexual identity, which is wrong. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the death penalty, except I rant about that one in California too.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “But as much as I disagree with a lot here, there’s also things about this state that I love,” she says before smiling. “They love football here. They’re crazy about sport in general. They like dancing. They have some pretty crazy parties, at least in my experience. And there’s something else that I absolutely love about Texas, and that’s that this Saturday night it’s Supreme Saturday in San Antonio. Now Supreme Saturday for me over the last year has been pretty much a night off. This is only the second show I’ve been involved in since they stopped doing one every other week, so that makes it feel pretty special. What’s even more special though is that this Saturday night at the show they’re calling ‘Rampage on the Riverwalk’ not only am I competing at Supreme Saturday, but I’m going one on one with the SCW World Heavyweight Champion. To say that’s an opportunity I’ve waited a long time for would be an understatement. And do you want to know why I’m going one on one with the SCW World Heavyweight Champion? Because last week I walked in to Mr Drachewych’s office and I asked for the chance. He told me he’d think about it. When I heard the rumour that the match had been approved I was more than just a little excited about it. You see I could have gone in to his office and I could have done what so many others have done. I could have slammed my hands on his desk. I could have thrown my toys out of the cot. I could have shouted and screamed and demanded that I get a shot at the SCW World Heavyweight Championship. I didn’t do that.”

She stops for a moment, looking at her shoulder and then back to the camera. “I remember when that title sat right there. Those were some of the best days of my entire life,” she says with a look of happy reflection on her face. “Winning that title meant everything to me. It was about so much more than just being the World Champion. It was about so much more than just placating my ego. It was about proving something to the roster, to the fans and to myself. The first time that title sat on my shoulder it was handed to me by Mr D in the middle of the ring on Friday Night Ammo. That in itself was one of the greatest honours of my life, and it’s not like I didn’t deserve it because I did just win an eight-person, one night tournament. But that wasn’t how I wanted to get it for the first time. I wanted to win it. I wanted to beat Shilo Valiant for it. But I didn’t get my chance. He was hurt. And I tried my best when I held that title, but people always judged me for being ‘interim’ champion. People like Shaun Cruze. Shaun was actually one of those who came after the belt when I held it then. It was Lucas Knight, Shaun Cruze and Thomas Valentine in a double-jeopardy match for my second defence of the championship at Apocalypse. I remember that night. That was the night Shaun lost the United States Championship to Tommy Valentine. That was the night I pinned Lucas and Tommy to retain my title twice on the same night. That was a huge thing for me. But people like Shaun, they all told me that it wasn’t enough, that I wasn’t really champion.”

“When I won that title it was in my hometown, Los Angeles, California, in the middle of the Staples Center, surrounded by fans who actually cheered for me that night despite the things I’d done, and surrounded by people I’d known my entire life. It was the biggest night of my life. It was the greatest night of my life. It’s one I’m never going to forget. I’ll also never forget Rise to Greatness last year, and losing that championship. I’ve not got a rematch for it ever since. Ok, so there was the Elimination Chamber. But there wasn’t me and the champion, not in any match that didn’t feel like I was locked inside hell with three monsters, a sick clown and a woman I hated. Ever since I’ve longed for a shot, I’ve been begging fate to give me a chance and I didn’t care if it was a triple-threat match, a fatal-fourway match, I would have taken anything. But it never came. For one full year I’ve waited, I’ve hoped, and it never came. Do you know what that does to someone to wait and hope and see people you’ve beaten get their chance ahead of you?” she asks before shaking her head slowly. “It’s soul destroying! It eats away at your insides. It makes you feel worthless. It makes you feel like you don’t even matter. And I wanted to feel like I mattered. But ever since the Elimination Chamber I’ve been going down a different path than I was before. Ever since that night I’ve been on a quest not to kick my feet, not to scream at the top of my lungs, not to turn in to Katie Steward, Kennedy Street, Regan Street, Silas Mason, William Mason... well, you know, pretty much half the roster. I’ve been on a quest to be different.”

“I wasn’t going to throw my toys out of the pram and make demands. I didn’t want to be like all those whiny little bitches. I wanted to prove myself. And I have. This year I’ve been working harder than I’ve EVER worked. This year I’ve been taking challenges left, right and center and winning one after the other. This year I’ve fought former World Champions, former number one contenders. This year I’ve been going above and beyond to prove that I deserve to once again be in the hunt for the World title, not because I have the biggest mouth and can cry the loudest, not because I have the biggest ego and need to make ridiculous claims on Twitter nine times a day about how much I deserve or how I’m an ‘uncrowned champion’. This year I’ve been making my claim in the middle of the ring. And this Saturday night I make the biggest part of that claim when I fight Shaun Cruze in the middle of the ring and I beat him,” she says proudly and confidently. “You see I wanted to prove myself to the roster, to the fans and to myself but there’s more to it all than that, there’s more to my motivation than that. I’ve figured what it’s all about. And being World Champion, competing in this business, establishing yourself in this business, it isn’t just about shouting that you’re better than everyone else. Being World Champion isn’t just about holding the title. There’s so much more to it than that, something that I first started to realise in my hometown on the night I won it. It’s not just about you. It’s about them!”

She points outward, turning all the way around three hundred and sixty degrees before smiling at the camera. “And right now I’m not surrounded by them, but on Saturday night when I climb in to that ring I will be. Because it’s not just about you when you’re holding that title, it’s about THE PEOPLE! It’s THEIR title as much as it’s yours. It belongs to THEM. When you hold that title, you represent something bigger than just you. You represent SCW. You represent every champion who’s come before you. And you represent the SCW fans. And when you’re holding that title you’ve got a job to do, not to whine, not to complain, not to hope that everything is easy, but to be the BEST that you can be. When you’re holding that title you’ve got an OBLIGATION to THOSE PEOPLE to fight in the BIGGEST matches. Hearing my hometown crowd chant my name made me realise that more than a year ago. This Saturday night, when the San Antonio crowd chant my name, I’m going to help Shaun Cruze figure it out as well. Because right now Shaun doesn’t realise that, right now in fact Shaun Cruze is of the belief that that World Heavyweight Championship that he’s been carrying around is all about him. I’m going to help him see otherwise,” she said confidently. “But while this match this Saturday isn’t for the SCW World Heavyweight Championship – I would have loved it to be, but we all know that I don’t call him Mr Douche because he’s my biggest fan in the world – make no mistake about it, this match this Saturday is entirely about the SCW World Heavyweight title.”

“It’s about me stepping in the ring and competing with the champion. It’s about me getting a chance to step up my game once again and prove myself against the current man at the top. It’s about sending a message loudly and clearly not just to Shaun Cruze but to Jake Starr, to Kelcey Wallace and to the half the roster who seem to now be a part of Silas World, not to mention everyone else besides. It’s about proving a point to them all, that come July 27th, come Rise to Greatness weekend, I not only have the opportunity but the ABILITY to walk out of Miami as the new SCW World Champion,” she says, nodding her head slowly. “And that opportunity is all Shaun Cruze seems focused on. He hates that I have it. He hates that I’ve booked myself in this situation. He thinks I shouldn’t be there. He thinks Jake Starr shouldn’t be there. He thinks that the match at Rise to Greatness has been ‘ruined’ because I don’t deserve to be there and just Kelcey Wallace does. He’s wrong. He couldn’t be more wrong. Oh, not about Kelcey. She totally deserves to be there. She won Taking Hold of the Flame. She eliminated me. I’ve talked about that in the past. But the idea that Jake and I DON’T deserve to be there? He couldn’t be more wrong. And really he should be thanking me, because I had another thought running through my head as well, and I get the feeling that he’d have been just as angry about that, but something tells me Silas Mason would have jumped for joy over it.”

She laughs to herself. “You see I had that contract in my hands in the weeks leading up to Taking Hold of the Flame. Every time I made the vow that I WOULD be in the main event of Rise to Greatness, that I WOULD be back where I failed last year to make it RIGHT, I had that contract in my hand and I thought about what I’d do. And when Taking Hold of the Flame didn’t work, when I came third for the second time, when I came within touching distance and just fell short, I held that contract in my hand and I wondered ‘what if’. And I thought to myself that I could repeat history. I could repeat history and I could phone up the Board of Directors and I could ask for the match to take place to repeat history. I thought I could phone up and I could ask for the World Heavyweight Championship match that week on Breakdown, in Los Angeles. Then I found out I was competing against Simon Lyman and I had something else to prove. So then another thought occurred to me and I thought about Supreme Saturday, I thought about San Antonio, I thought about a state that loves the red, white and blue and I thought about turning this state PINK,” she says, laughing happily as she looks down at the pink shirt she’s wearing and shrugs unapologetically. “I thought long and hard about that. I really did. I thought about walking out on Breakdown and making the announcement. And then Jake Starr beat me too it. Jake walked out and he made his announcement. And I saw what happened in the aftermath.”

She shakes her head slowly. “I watched you all complain. I watched you all bitch. I wanted Shaun Cruze and Silas Mason claim the match at Rise to Greatness was RUINED, and I watched Silas, Shaun and Jake all make the very same claim. I watched them all tell the world that that match was THEIRS, that that title was THEIRS, that somehow they felt like they were ENTITLED to it all and I knew they were wrong. I knew I had to do something about it. That’s when I decided to add myself to the main event at Rise to Greatness. See Shaun tells me that I did it wrong. He thinks I should have cashed in against him one on one. He thinks that because it’s small. It’s easy. A one on one match with the champion? He can get disqualified. He can get counted out. He can make a deal with the devil – nothing new there, huh Shaun? You’ve done that already – but more importantly than all of that it’s small. I don’t do small. When I used that contract two years ago it was for a FATAL FOURWAY match when I was DEFENDING that championship. It was the BIGGEST match I could think of, the one where I had the most to prove. I lost, but I don’t regret it. When I used that contract last year it was for a STEEL CAGE MATCH in my HOMETOWN, the BIGGEST match I could think of, and I wanted it to be against Jake but instead I got Regan. That’s life, I guess. So when I walked out on Breakdown I knew one thing. This year I’d make the match BIG. And I wouldn’t just do it for me. I wouldn’t just do it to give myself an opportunity. I’d do it for THEM. Because THEY WANT BIG!”

“You don’t get that, do you Shaun? You don’t understand that. Even now you’re STILL complaining because to you the biggest thing you can imagine is you and Kelcey Wallace one on one. It’s funny. You want the girl you call the best. Nothing else is good enough. Except that you don’t want her that badly. You don’t make the matches. You’ve said that a thousand times. But Shaun, I walked in to Mr D’s office and I asked for this match, and now here we are. I walked in to his office, I looked him in the eyes and I told him I wanted to face you, and now here we are! What’s stopping you from doing the same thing?” she asks, tilting her head at the camera curiously. “What’s stopping you Shaun? You want Kelcey one on one. You want to prove you can beat her. You want to show the world that you’re that good. You want to settle the score. WHAT’S STOPPING YOU, SHAUN? I’ll TELL you what’s stopping you. Nothing! There is not a single goddamn thing that’s stopping you from asking for the match but you! YOU’RE the reason that you’re not fighting Kelcey. If you REALLY wanted that match you’d have done what I did. If you REALLY wanted that match then Supreme Saturday would be about you and her, or Breakdown would be about you and her, but it’s not. Supreme Saturday is about you and me. Breakdown is about me and Jake against you and Kelcey. YOU’RE the reason you don’t have the match you want Shaun and I know you don’t make the matches, but there’s only so many times you can use that as an EXCUSE!”

“And you think I don’t know that that’s what it is? Oh, I know. I know because I could have done the same thing a year ago. I could have walked in to Mr D’s office and I could have said I wanted Jake, or Regan. I didn’t. I didn’t because I didn’t think I had anything to prove. But I looked them straight in the eyes and I TOLD them that. I didn’t lie. I didn’t hide. I didn’t bullshit. I didn’t claim I didn’t have the power to MAKE it happen. I was honest. I didn’t WANT to fight them, I’d already gotten what I wanted and I’d already BEATEN Regan. I didn’t think I had anything else to prove. So, I can be honest. Your turn Shaun, why don’t you give it a try?” she asks before laughing again and shaking her head. “No, you’re not going to do that. You’re going to keep making the same old excuses. And then you’re going to make excuses about making excuses. See I know what they say about you. I’ve heard the rumours. I know they’re saying you’re ‘sick’. I don’t believe them. I don’t think you’re ill, I think you’re pathetic. I think you’re finding another thing to hide behind. If you were really ill, the SCW doctors wouldn’t let you fight, right? They’re good like that. They care about the talent and their safety. But they’ve cleared you. You fought on Breakdown. Congratulations on that by the way. I’ve never beaten CHBK. Well, not in anything but a mixed tag. I’d have loved to be in that match. But you complained about that too, didn’t you? You’re always complaining Shaun. It’s never right unless it’s under YOUR rules.”

“I’ve got a lot to prove on Saturday. So have you. That’s what this match is about. You’re leaving SCW World Heavyweight Champion. We know that already. But what kind of champion ARE you Shaun? I want to find out. You’re not a champion who represents THEM. You’re not a champion who gives a damn what the FANS want. You’re not a champion who gives a damn about the biggest chances. You just don’t want to go in to Rise to Greatness and potentially lose the title without even being pinned. You fucking admitted that that’s your reasoning. It’s sad. You could see Rise to Greatness as the biggest fight of your life, your chance to overcome the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced, your chance to cement your legacy forever by beating the ‘perfect’ Kelcey Wallace, the ‘unstoppable’ Jake Starr and the Best Female Wrestler in the World all on the same night. But instead you make excuses. Instead you complain. You could see Rise to Greatness the way I do. You could see it as the ULTIMATE opportunity to prove you’re better than the THREE BEST IN THIS COMPANY RIGHT NOW, but you don’t. And make no mistake about it Shaun, that’s what we are. Look at what we’ve done. I’ve lost one match this year. Kelcey has been damn near perfect. Jake has been all but unstoppable. You could look at it like that, like I do, because you’ve been damn good too. But you don’t. So that’s why Saturday matters to me. They say that everything is bigger in Texas. Well Shaun Cruze against Syren? It doesn’t get much bigger than that for me!”

“We’ve got a long history, and over that history I’ve learned to respect you more than you know. I’ve watched you as the Adrenaline Champion. I was jealous. I’ve never gotten a shot at the Adrenaline title. It came so easy to you. I watched you as the United States Champion. I was jealous again. I’ve never gotten a shot at the United States Championship. It came so easy to you. And now I’m watching you again, I’m watching you as World Heavyweight Champion. I’m jealous. I’ve never gotten a shot at that either Shaun. I’ve never had Mr D pat me on the back and tell me that I’m next in line. I’ve wanted that. I’ve longed for that recognition. It’s never come for me. At Rise to Greatness I aim to become a three time World Champion in spite of the fact that I’ve never been given that chance. But at Supreme Saturday I aim to beat the SCW World Heavyweight Champion and show why I should have been given the chance. This match this week is all about the World title. We’ve got a long history, we’ve fought each other in singles competition, and we’ve fought each other in tag. None of that matters. What matters is what happens in that ring on Saturday,” she says with a determined look in her eyes. “I asked for this match. I want to take advantage of this chance. Nothing means more to me than this. So, what kind of champion are you Shaun? Are you the kind who steps up to the big challenges, or the kind who hides from them? Are you and your new ‘buddy’ Silas Mason going to try and take me out? I dare you. I fucking DARE you. Scarier people than you have tried yet I’m still here! What kind of champion ARE you Shaun? I know what kind I want to be. I want to be the kind who steps up to the big matches and the kind who delivers and not just for me, but for THEM. I’ve watched you a long time. It’s always been so easy for you. I’ve been jealous. This Saturday, it’s your turn to feel that. This Saturday in San Antonio, when my hand is raised at the end of this, do something for me Shaun: BE TOTALLY JEALOUS!”

She pulls the camera closer to herself and kisses the lens before tilting it so that we can see the flag behind her and saluting. The video ends then and the replay button flicks up on the screen.