The video begins and we see the inside of a hotel room. Its night, evidenced by the fact that the window is visible in the background but there’s no light coming through it. The lights are on in the room however and in the middle of the room, with the camera focused on her, stands Zoe Sperling, better known to wrestling fans as Syren. She smiles at the camera. “You know that feeling you get when you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, you feel the pressure raining down on you, and you feel the need to do something that there’s a little voice in your head questioning you over?” she asks, nodding her head slowly. “I had that the last time I stood here, ahead of my match with Reiha Laine. In fact, the truth is I have that feeling most times I stand here. I always feel the pressure. I always feel the pressure to go out there and bust my butt and compete to the best of my ability. I always feel the weight of the world as well, the weight of expectation. Now I’m not saying that I’m a favourite in any match I’ve been a part of thus far and that people are expecting me to win and that’s the weight I’m feeling. Maybe I have been. Maybe I haven’t been. I don’t know whether I have or not. If you listen to a certain commentator on the last edition of Breaking Point I’m not a favourite to anything I do. That’s fine. It doesn’t bother me. It’s not that expectation I feel anyway, it’s everything. It’s the fans. It’s those who do choose to support me. And it’s even my own. I put pressure on myself every week because I want to win every match.”

She laughs and nods her head slowly. “That’s one of those ‘well duh’ moments, right? I mean most people want to win every match. I don’t think any competitor stands here the night before a show and goes ‘oh, well, tomorrow night I’m going to lose’. What would even be the point? But there are those in this business who believe in ‘acceptable losses’. My tag team partner is one of them. Maddie believes in acceptable loss. She believes that if she can make a point, or if she can beat someone down, or if she can be the one who walks away when the match is over then that’s good enough. It’s not for me. I want to win every match. I want to compete to the best of my ability every time. I want to go out in front of the people and I don’t just want to win, I want to win with style. I want to put on a show. I want to get those people cheering. I want to do something they’ll remember for the rest of the night. Because those people out there every week matter to me. They’re the ones we do this for after all. They’re the ones who pay the ticket prices to fill the arenas everywhere we go. They’re the ones who buy the merchandise. They’re the ones who watch these videos. They’re the ones who cheer, who chant, who want to have a great time watching the best competition in the world, and I want to give that to them,” she says with a nod and a smile. “You know I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life so far but the greatest one I’ve EVER had, was standing in the Staples Center in the ring and hearing the crowd chant my name.”

She shuts her eyes and starts to smile. “I wasn’t born in Los Angeles but I was raised there. It’s my home. If I go out to the ring to compete every time and always to win, always to put on a show, then when I stand in the middle of the Staples Center and there are twenty THOUSAND people chanting my name then I want to do more than just put on a show, I want to STEAL the show,” she says with another grin. “Because there’s no feeling like competing in front of your home town fans, there’s no feeling like competing in front of your friends, in front of your family, in front of all the people in the world that mean the most to you. Every time I get to go to the Staples Center – and it’s not as often as I want it to be, maybe once or twice a year – then I always try to make the most of the experience because honestly that feeling you get can lift you no matter how low you’ve felt before. It truly is an incredible feeling. There’s one more feeling though that comes a little close. Not everyone has experienced this one though, so let me explain. Have you ever competed at the really BIG events? Sure, every event is big in its own way, and every pay per view has that special feeling to it, but I’m talking about the really huge events. I’m talking about the signature events. I’m talking about the ones that fans fly in from not just neighbouring states but from all over the WORLD to attend. Have you ever competed at one of those? Because those events give you a buzz like none other as well! They give you a rush of adrenaline that makes you feel invincible.”

She pauses for a moment and smirks. “You can see where I’m going with this, right?” she asks the camera playfully. “Of course you can, you’re not stupid. Because next I’m going to tell you to imagine competing at one of the signature events when it’s in your home town! I’ve been wrestling five years and that’s not happened to me before... but it’s happening tomorrow night. Tomorrow night I step in to the ring at Unstoppable 5. Tomorrow night I step in to the ring at the big show. Tomorrow night I step in to the middle of the Staples Center. Tomorrow night I get to live a dream that few people really get to live. And tomorrow night I’m going to embrace every single second of it. But I know that tomorrow night isn’t going to be an easy ride. Hell, tomorrow night looks set to be one of the most challenging nights I’ve had yet, and I’ve already had quite a few challenging nights. I’ve already made reference to the last one of those, a few weeks ago on Breaking Point against Reiha Laine, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the Capital of Second Chances where I got my second chance against her and I lived up to the expectation I placed on myself. Tomorrow night though it’s a whole different brand of expectation! And tomorrow night I have an opponent who I know is going to test me in ways I haven’t yet been tested in FFW. That’s not something I’m shying away from though, because I didn’t come here for an easy ride. I didn’t come here to fight a few small matches and then claim to be a megastar. I came here to fight the best.”

“Tomorrow night I get a taste of that, don’t I? Tomorrow night, win or lose, I get to do something I only get to once or twice a year. I get to drive to my house, I get to walk in to my own home, and I get to relax. Most of the time that isn’t what happens. Most of the time I end up in a place like this,” she says, motioning around her. “You see I’m on the road a lot. You kind of have to be when you’re in this business, because unfortunately none of the really big companies ever want to just stay in one place. And why would they? They want to tour. They want to bring in all the different fans. They want to give all the different breeds of fan a chance to watch the shows live and in person. But tomorrow night, win or lose, I get to go home after. I’m excited about that. I’m strangely excited about that, actually. But there are two different journeys I could be making. The first one is with a sigh and a disappointed shuffle to my car. That would be because when I face Jodie Gray she beats me in the middle of the ring. And you know what? That’s completely possible. Hell, it’s more than just possible. Seriously, have you seen this girl? Ok, so she’s not exactly popular but she’s a competitor like few others. You don’t put together an undefeated streak in the business that you get people talking about unless you’re something pretty special after all, and her undefeated streak may have been ended a few weeks ago but that’s not going to slow her down. If anything that’s only going to light a bigger fire inside of her, and if anyone would know that it’s me.”

She laughs. “I know what it’s like to lose. It’s actually been a thing lately, did you notice?” she asks jokingly. “Yah, I got knocked out of the Chase for the Crown, I got kicked to the wayside, I got my dream shattered, I got my chance to head in to one of the big matches at Unstoppable taken away, and I was hurt. I was upset. I still am. Now I don’t get the opportunity to go in to that match. It’s been a while though, and every cloud has a silver lining, right? Well I found the silver lining in this one and her name is Jodie Gray. Because I don’t get to compete in the Chase final, but I do get to compete against a Future Shock Cup winner, the Breakout Superstar of the Year 2012, and a woman who, like I already said, is capable of having the world talk about her. And Jodie, I was sorry to see your loss the other week. Well, partly I was sorry, partly I’ll be honest I was a little relieved. I wanted to be the one who snapped your undefeated streak, I’ll admit that, but when I saw it snapped already then I was a little relieved because I saw the wave of momentum you were riding before that and honestly I’m not even sure I can hold you back under normal circumstances, but if you came in to Unstoppable riding the wave of momentum you were on I’m not sure I would have been able to compete, there’s a chance I would have just been washed away. But Jo snapped the streak, and now you’ve got a whole different motivation. It’s the same motivation I had going in to the Trios match. It’s the motivation to bounce back and show the world that that loss doesn’t define you.”

“I don’t need to tell you that though, do I? You’re the Queen of Games, and you’ve already done half the stuff that I’m itching to do in this business. You’ve been in the ring with the best this company has to offer. I’m not going to focus on wins and losses because you know what? Saying ‘ha-ha, you lost to that person’ is pretty much the same mentality that most people have in Junior High, and instead I’m going to focus on the opportunity you had and everything you got out of it. When you fight the best you learn. When you fight the best you find out what you’re capable of. When you go toe to toe with the best in the game then sometimes you don’t need to even have your hand raised to come out of the match a winner. That’s the case with you. You’ve got the experience of fighting the very best, and it shows through in everything you do,” she says, nodding her head. “But I’ve got a little bit of experience of my own. I’ve experienced the ups. I’ve experienced the downs. I’ve experienced the highs. I’ve experienced the lows. And in FFW I’m still looking to really get myself established, I’m still looking to really prove myself amongst the elite, I’m still looking to really prove to the world that I don’t have the slogan ‘Best Female Wrestler in the World’ on my merchandise because it looks pretty written on there. It doesn’t actually. People try to abbreviate, and then it becomes BFWITW, and then someone will try and SAY that and it comes out befeweitwe, and... That’s just a whole mess.”

She laughs and shrugs her shoulders. “Seriously though, I’ve experienced almost everything there is to experience in this business and I know what it means to suffer that loss that breaks the run you’re on, and I know that it fires you up. I know that at Unstoppable you’re going to be coming to that ring and you’re going to be looking to prove a point, and honestly given your attitude I also know that you’re going to be coming to that ring looking to spoil my fun. I’ve already mentioned it’s my home town, and from what I know about you Jodie I don’t think you’re the kind who’s going to be happy and excited for me and let me enjoy the moment, you’re the kind who’s going to be on me every single second, who’s going to be looking to silence those fans, looking to put me on the mat, looking to stand over me with your arm raised and looking to disappoint the people I’m trying to entertain,” she says, nodding her head slowly. “Yah, I get that, I mean why would you want me to have any fun, right? You wouldn’t. You’re the ‘Villain’. You’re proud of that fact. Can I ask you a question though? What is it that motivates you to WANT to be the villain? All villains have motivation, right? Some want to rule the world, others want to watch it burn, and you and me Jodie, we don’t know each other all that well, so let me ask you right now what your motivation is because personally I’m curious. Why do you get off on destroying people’s dreams? Why do you enjoy the looks of anguish on their faces? What part of that is fun for you?”

“Seriously, I don’t mean to get personal here but were you not hugged as a child? Did you watch ‘Saw’ at an early age and just think that Jigsaw was the kind of role model you wanted? I can totally imagine you doing that voice as well. ‘Hello Syren, do you want to play a game?’ Well let me answer that question for you. Yes, I do. I do want to play Jodie. I want to play with the QUEEN of Games. And the game I want to play, it’s called ‘Fatale Collision’. Tomorrow night, in that ring, I want to fight you Jodie. Tomorrow night, in that ring, I want to compete against you, I want to test myself, I want to see if I’m good enough to beat the woman who put the entire roster on notice when she told the world that she wasn’t going to stop until she held gold above her head. I want to fight you and I want to see how good you are, I want to see how good I am, and I want to put on a show for twenty thousand people from all around the world who’ve come to be entertained,” she explains with passion in her voice. “Now I’d love to say that I know everything you’ve got planned for me, but I don’t. I don’t know you. I don’t know your tricks. I don’t know everything that goes on in your head. I’m not so sure anyone does. But I do know that you’re not going to be screwing around tomorrow. I know you’re going to come at me with everything you’ve got, and believe me I’m preparing for that. I’m preparing for your best shots. I’ve watched the tapes. I’ve seen you take so many people down with that ‘Hand of God’. I know what’s coming.”

“This business for me Jodie, this isn’t a game to me. Getting in that ring and competing isn’t a game to me. There’s no reset button. There’s no knocking the pieces down when I’m about to lose. None of this is a game to me, this is my life. Competing in that ring, being the best that I can be, that’s my life. That’s why I take it so seriously. That’s why every loss hurts me. That’s why every win feels euphoric. But I could win a hundred matches and if they don’t take me to where I want to be they’ll all have been for nothing. Facing you, beating you, puts me where I want to be. That’s why the cloud has a silver lining. I want to make an impact. I want to get my name talked about. When they’re looking up and down the roster, thinking about what matches they’re going to announce on Breaking Point, I want my name on the tip of their tongues. When they’re planning on Velocity I want my name on their tongues again. When they’re laying out the card for Sin & Sacrifice I don’t want to be an afterthought. Beating you puts me where I want to be,” she repeats again before smiling happily. “And I’m ready for you Jodie. I’m ready for the Queen. I’m ready for the Games. But are you ready? Because you might have your opinions about me, you might think of me a certain way, you might be certain you know everything about me, but tomorrow night I’m walking in to the Staples Center and I’m putting on a show and if you’re ready for that then let’s do this, but if you think this is going to be easy, if you think I’m just another typical blonde girl, if you think you know what I’m capable of then sweetie, you might just be set for a surprise. Tomorrow night it’s not ‘Game Over’, tomorrow night its ‘Game On’! Tomorrow night I plan to STAND TALL in my home town, and I’m going to do everything I can to make you JUST BE JEALOUS!”

She smiles at the camera again before stepping in to it and planting a kiss on the lens. The video ends there and the replay button flashes up on the screen.