The video begins and we see the growingly familiar sight of the inside of the tour bus owned by the SCW World Heavyweight Champion. We see however that there are a few differences this time than before, notably that there are a number of Christmas decorations in view of the camera, including tinsel hanging over the focal point of the camera shot, that being a shot of the SCW World Heavyweight Championship belt which sits in the middle of the picture on a table, behind which sits its current holder. Syren looks down at the title and the tinsel on it and then back up at the camera. “So, we’re now officially in the countdown period to Christmas, aren’t we? Hell we’re even within the ‘twelve days of Christmas’, the most festive period of the year, the time of the year that people think about giving, about buying for each other, and they look forward to a few days with family or friends, a day of celebration even if they’re not religious, and of course a great excuse to eat until you can’t eat anymore,” she says with a smirk at the camera. “Now a lot of you guys already know that I grew up Jewish but Christmas is something that I’ve been celebrating the last few years, and this year it’s something I’m looking forward to celebrating with my family. But while we’re still on in the period of the countdown to Christmas there’s still one more gift that you’ve all got to open, and that gift arrives tomorrow night with the final SCW television production of 2014, which comes complete with a very special main event. That main event, as a gift to all of you, will be the SCW World Heavyweight Championship on the line.”

She smiles happily and looks down at the title again before looking up at the camera. “Now I know a lot of people would probably get a little upset right about now if they were told that they have to defend the World title on the final show of the year. Not me. See I don’t see this as a negative, just as I’ve not seen anything I’ve done while wearing this title as a negative. SCW wants the biggest show it can have to go out on. SCW wants the biggest event possible to end one of the biggest years in its history, and so it’s putting on a match that in a lot of ways is reflective so much of 2014,” she explains with a smile on her face. “You see 2014 hasn’t been a year like any other before it. 2014 has been defined in a whole new way. 2014 has been a year of change in SCW. And change is something that scares a lot of people, change is something that has affected a lot of people, but ultimately this year has needed to be about change because this year has been unlike any other that came before it. This year, for the first in a long, long time, we haven’t had the same stars we’ve always had. When this year began it began without Shilo Valiant. When this year began it began without Shawn Winters. When this year began it began without Jason Zero. In fact if you look at the number of active former World Heavyweight Champions when this year began you can see without doubt that this year began a year of change. But a year of change was also a year of excitement; it was also a year of new faces, new stars and new opportunities.”

She smiles at the camera again, nodding her head in confirmation of the final word that she put so much emphasis on. “This year, for example, was the first year in the eleven year history of SCW that began with a woman holding this belt. The last two years has seen a dramatic change in the number of women who’ve been able to rise to the top of this company, because while before 2012 we didn’t have a single female who’d ever held this title, now we’ve had five, and this year began with the most recent of those, Kelcey Wallace, having overcome all the odds to win this title against a monster in December last year coming in to the new year after beating Thomas Watson and immediately having to face off against Greg Cherry. Now Greg is a name we’re all very familiar with, but Thomas Watson? Even Kelcey Wallace herself! These are names you’re not used to seeing associated with the richest prize in this business, but that’s how 2014 began and it’s what 2014 has been about the whole year. This was, after all, the year that Shaun Cruze fulfilled his dream to hold this title over his head, and as much as I may dislike Shaun for all the things he tried to do to me I can’t deny that Shaun showed the world that he deserved this title in his reign,” she says with a proud nod. “But like I said this was a year of opportunity not just for Kelcey, for Shaun and for Thomas Watson – well, if you count December 31st as part of this year, but whatever – but for so many other new faces who’ve never had their opportunity before as well!”

“2014 was the year that Simon Lyman challenged for the World title. It was the year that Dawn Lohan challenged for the World title. It was a year of big chances for everyone on this roster, but along with the chances for the new names came the challenge for the old names because 2014 wasn’t a year of endless rematches, 2014 was the year that SCW said that if you want to be at the top of this company then whining about it and expecting it handed to you isn’t going to get you anything. 2014 was the year that said if you want to be at the top then you’ve got to EARN it, and earn it we did,” she says proudly once again. “This was the year that Regan Street fought her way to the number one contendership in one of the most hotly contested tournaments ever. It was the year where Kelcey Wallace overcame everyone to win Taking Hold of the Flame, once again the first female in SCW history to do that, and it was the year that we saw a Fatal Fourway match in the biggest main event of Rise to Greatness 11 with one champion and three challengers all of whom had earned their way in to that match. Shaun Cruze, having proven himself as World Champion for four months before then, defended against the Taking Hold of the Flame winner Kelcey Wallace and two of the Trios Tournament winners, Jake Starr and Syren, in one of the fiercest, most hotly contested main events in company history. And since I won that match I’ve been all about opportunity as well. I gave William Mason his first shot at the gold, I gave Shaun Cruze his rematch despite the issue with rematches I’ve had, and I fought tooth and nail with Regan to find out which one of us deserved this more.”

She looks down at the title again before removing the tinsel and picking up the title, placing it over her shoulder and patting it with pride. “So when it comes to the final television show of 2014, when it comes to the final opportunities for the World Heavyweight Championship before the End of Year Special – an event which will also see a new challenger step up to fight for this in the form of the more-than-deserving Chris Cannon – I think it couldn’t be more fitting that the final challenger be another man who’s getting his opportunity, another man who’s shown what a fighter he can be throughout his career, and a man who I may have so many problems with on a personal level but I have always respected on a professional one, and that man is one half of the SCW World Tag Team Champions, Mr Dylan Howell,” she says before nodding her head and patting the World title on her shoulder again. “What better way to end the television year than giving someone like Dylan this opportunity? Now I know I may have been around the World title since 2012, I may not be a ‘new face’ to this belt anymore, but it wasn’t all that long ago that I used to sit in the back and I used to wonder what it would be like to get this kind of opportunity. Hell even earlier this year I sat in that locker room and I prayed that Mr D would walk out to that ring and he’d acknowledge me and he’d given me the opportunity that I dreamt about, because there’s a whole locker room full of people back there who dream about this kind of opportunity. There’s a whole locker room full of people who DREAM about a chance to fight for the most prestigious belt in this business and for the opportunity to call themselves the SCW World Heavyweight Champion.”

“So, why Dylan Howell? Now I didn’t make the decision so I don’t know what went through the minds of those who did but if I had to guess then I’d guess it’s because this year has been a year that Dylan Howell proved something as well. Now if you listened to what I had to say about him when we met recently and the Howell’s faced off against the reunited Dark Fantasy then you know my problems with him on a personal level. I’ll even cover some of those in a moment. But on a professional level this is the year that Dylan Howell fought his way back from the kind of injury that’s ended careers before. Anyone who can’t respect someone for showing the guts and the determination that it takes to do that is a fool because coming back from that kind of injury, battling back against all the odds, is one of the hardest things you’ve got to do in this business,” she says with a nod. “I’m so fortunate that through all the craziness I’ve experienced I’ve never had an injury that’s forced me to sit on the sidelines for months on end but I have had more than my fair share of knocks, bumps, bruises and minor injuries. I’ve been hit so hard that my ribs have almost broken and I’ve taped them up and gone back out there. I’ve been thrown around like a ragdoll and hit my head so hard the doctors asked me to consider taking time off, to consider stepping away, telling me that I have the rest of my life to think about and that ‘it’s not worth the risk’. So if I’ve been through that and I’ve heard that speech I can imagine the speech they gave you Dylan. They told you that it wasn’t worth the risk as well, didn’t they?”

She nods her head again. “But you didn’t listen, did you? You ignored them telling you that your career might be over and you healed and you got back in the gym and you busted your ass and you worked harder than you’ve EVER worked before and you came back and for that you earned the respect of millions of people, you earned the respect of EVERY SINGLE PERSON in that locker room who’s been knocked down and who knows how it feels and we all know it Dylan, but just like you every single person in that locker room looked straight at the doctor when he told them the same thing and they said that they were going back and they were going to be better than they’ve ever been,” she says with a nod and a smile. “We do that because we’re fighters. We do that because we’re competitors. We do that because we have the will and the spirit inside us never to give up, the will and spirit to defy all the odds and to fight back time and again and prove EVERYBODY wrong. That’s what we do, that’s what YOU did Dylan and it’s why when you came back I respected the hell out of you. But since you came back all you’ve done is ruin all of that. Because it’s like I said, you suffered a huge injury that could have ended your career... but so have so many others! You think you’re the only one who’s gotten hurt? You think you’re the only one who’s had the hell beaten out of them and been left in a broken heap on the mat? Um, no! And I could give you SO many examples of me being left in a heap, unable to get up under my own power, wondering if I’d ever be the same again, that I could fill the next twenty minutes talking about nothing but those moments. Do you want to know why I don’t? BECAUSE THEY HAPPEN TO EVERYONE!”

“That’s my problem with you, Dylan. It was my problem with you two weeks ago when the Howells met Dark Fantasy in the middle of that ring in a tag team match that stole the show, just as I promised it would. It was my problem with you while you sat on the sidelines bitching and whining and judging everyone, along with your wife, while the roster united and stepped up and fought, and it’s my problem with you as I look back over everything you had to say two weeks ago and I laugh,” she says with a disappointed shake of her head. “What happened to you sucks, there’s nobody who’d dispute that, but what happened to you doesn’t make you special. It doesn’t make you unique. You went to war with Rachel Foxx and you want a cookie, a pat on the back and for everyone to praise you for it. I went to war with the entire Coalition, I went to war with Silas World and Shaun Cruze, I went to war inside Tactical Warfare putting EVERYTHING on the line, and that’s just in the last year. You think you’re special because you did the same thing and got hurt? No, you’re not. And you think you’re overlooked because you only got ONE opportunity at the belt you wanted? You think you’re undervalued and unappreciated because they’re not throwing chance after chance after chance your way, and you want brag and let your ego run away with you because you finally won one of those chances and now you think you’re the best thing ever? Once again – and this is becoming a thing in this promo – I just find myself with one word: no!”

She scoffs and shakes her head. “That’s not the way it works Dylan. You’re upset because you only got given one chance at the Adrenaline title, right? Do you know how many chances I’ve been given at the World title? NONE! Nobody has EVER given me a shot at this belt and yet I stand here before you a three-time World Champion – two-time and interim, whatever, it still makes three – and damn proud of that fact. And I didn’t get those chances by crying. I didn’t get those chances by whining. I didn’t get those chances by complaining that ‘Mr Douche is so unfair to me and he doesn’t put me in the tournaments even though I’m holding another title and I’m so clearly better than everyone else and blah, blah, blah, blah, fucking blah’! You spoke about how you only needed ONE chance to become the SCW World Tag Team Champions – the same number of chances that Dark Fantasy needed, but the same number that we EARNED and weren’t handed, which is also kind of funny considering didn’t you also challenge for the same belts two weeks earlier at Fatal Fortunes and lose? I know you had a different partner but, I mean, that still counts as a chance, right? Whatever, I guess – but yet you need two chances to become Adrenaline Champion? You need three chances maybe? Four? Five? Six? How many is enough Dylan? How many chances do you need to be GIVEN before you’re satisfied?” she asks with a scowl and a shake of her head. “Well, you only needed ‘one’ chance to win the World Tag Team titles so here’s your one chance to win the World title. And here it is right here. Why don’t you come and take it from me like you took those titles?”

She smirks at the screen, taking the title off her shoulder and holding it up in front of the camera. “You called the Adrenaline title ‘your personal World title’, and you seem to think if only you’ll get given a chance at that that you can make it mean more than this belt, right? Well, now you don’t need to. Now you’ve been given a shot at the thing that everyone in that locker room is hungry for. Now you’ve been given a shot to back up your words. You say you’re the best technical wrestler in this business – a thing I found kind of weird, since the Adrenaline division is all about fast-paced, high-risk offence and you’re bragging about being more technical than them and therefore deserving their title more, but once again whatever, I guess – and now you’ve been given a chance to prove it because I may not be able to out-wrestle you Dylan, you may be technically a better wrestler than me, but I can tell you this. You don’t have the heart that I have,” she says, shaking her head slowly. “You don’t have the heart, you don’t have the commitment, you don’t have the determination that I have. That’s what I’ve made my name on. I’ve made my name on NEVER giving up. I’ve made my name on digging down deep and finding something in reserve even when the whole world thought that I was beaten. I’ve made my name on coming back against impossible odds and more often than not finding a way to overcome. And there have been roadblocks in my way from day one, but I don’t let them break me. You think you’re special, you think you’re overlooked and you do the cliché thing that EVERYONE on the roster does and you blame it all on Mr D, like it’s all his fault that you can’t get what you want. Well, here’s a newsflash for you sweetie: it’s not his fault, it’s yours.”

“For all your bragging because you finally won a title, for all your declarations that you’re the best tag team in existence right now despite the fact that, you know, you’ve lost two matches since winning those belts to two different tag teams, and for all your big threats about HURTING Ravyn and HURTING me to send a message to us the only person you should be blaming for everything that’s gone wrong is you. You’re the one who turned his back on the people who supported him. You’re the one who failed when he got what he wanted, and rather than facing up to that and improving yourself and fighting harder like I’ve done, like so many others on this roster have done, you make excuses and you cry and you bitch and you hold out your hand and you want more. Well now you’ve got more Dylan. Tomorrow night you step in to the middle of the ring in a sold out Times Union Center with the opportunity to leave that ring as not just the World Heavyweight Champion but as a double-champion. You’ve been given the opportunity that the entire locker room dreams about, and tomorrow night there will be no excuses,” she says proudly and determinedly. “The winner of our match goes on to the End of Year Special, the winner of our match defends in the final match of 2014 against Chris Cannon, the winner of our match gets the opportunity to enter 2015 wearing this belt, representing this company and proving themselves as one of the best this business has to offer. At the very end of the year of opportunities you’ve been given the opportunity so many wanted, and now it’s time to put up or shut up. Which will it be?”

“Two and a half years you’ve fought for opportunity, right?” she says with a smirk on her face, as though she finds that funny. “Two and a half years you’ve longed for the chance to wear the big golden belts. Two and a half years you’ve tried to prove yourself. Two and a half years filled with disappointment. And in those two and a half years you’ve still not understood what this is really about. You see while you’ve been longing for chances in SCW for two and a half years, I’ve spent five and a half proving myself. While you’ve been hoping and whining and praising your sister endlessly for two and a half years, I’ve spent five and a half years fighting to earn my spot. And right now I am the SCW World Heavyweight Champion not because I cried, not because I whined, not because I sat around judging everyone and wishing them harm rather than fighting by the sides of my fellow competitors, and not because I was given a damn thing. Right now I am the SCW World Heavyweight Champion because I’ve proven against every challenge, against every obstacle, against every roadblock in my way that I am the BEST FEMALE WRESTLER IN THE WORLD and that I am SECOND TO NO MAN, I’ve proven my heart, I’ve proven what this means to me, and tomorrow night I’m going to prove it again. Tomorrow night Dylan Howell gets his opportunity at the richest prize in this industry and tomorrow night, in front seventeen THOUSAND screaming SCW fans, in front of a worldwide audience of MILLIONS, I show the world what this belt means to me. This is it Dylan. This is your chance. Now tell me how much better than me you are. Tell me how much better your sister is. Tell me how you’ll hurt me. Tell me how you’ll take this belt. Talk down to me, just as you did before, and then tomorrow night if I’m standing in that ring as the show goes off the air, seventeen thousand fans on their feet cheering, do something else, ok? BE TOTALLY JEALOUS!”

She holds the World title up to the camera again before grinning and kissing the belt. She holds the title up again as the video ends, and the replay button flashes up on the screen.