The video begins and we see Zoe Sperling, better known to the wrestling world as the star of this particular vlog, Syren. She’s standing against a relatively nondescript wall, but one thing that is very clear is the SCW World Heavyweight Championship title that she has over her shoulder. She props it up on her shoulder as she looks in to the camera. “We’re on the road to Retribution,” she says before smirking. “Now that’s a phrase I’ve already heard five times before in my time in SCW, but it still feels exciting to hear it for a sixth time. And for the second year in a row the road to Retribution passed straight through Supreme Saturday and the Trios Tournament, and I actually want to begin by talking a little about that. First of all I want to congratulate the winners – and the first team that didn’t involve me on it for three years – Lucas Knight, Trinity Street and CHBK. People say you three winning was an upset. I don’t agree. How can you consider it an upset when you’ve got two former SCW World Champions and one of the most accomplished competitors outside of SCW on the same team? I don’t think you can. But one thing I know you can’t do is predict what those three individuals are going to do with those three contracts. Knowing the history of the Trios Tournament as well as I do however you can bet that I’ve got my eye on all three of them.”

She smiles proudly as she looks at the World title. “And on the subject of the Trios tournament, that leads me to a thank you that I have to give to SCW management for the invite to come and sit at ringside and give my insight to the whole tournament. Everyone who knows me knows that there is little I love more in this business than tag team wrestling, and I may have started in the Women’s division but you guys all know that I really made my name as one half of the SCW World Tag Team Champions and in the Trios Tournaments, But it was an honour to be on commentary, it was a lot of fun, and I want to personally thank Adam Sharper for helping me out on Saturday before the show and giving me all the advice that he gave me, and for helping me keep my cool when I needed to,” she says, smiling at the camera again and then looking a little guilty. “You know how much I admire you Adam, and I’m thankful for every word and every little bit of help you gave me. What you do isn’t easy but it’s a LOT of fun, and I’m still super sorry about what happened to you before. I hope that nothing like that is ever going to happen again. And you did help me keep my cool as a certain someone tried to goad me in to the ring after having me attacked me two weeks ago like the cowardly bitch she is.”

“Now the road to Retribution for me has always been an exciting one. In 2010 it was the road to me defending the Women’s Championship. In 2011 it was the very same thing again, although the circumstances were entirely different, and the whole thing was different come 2012. In 2013 it was Retribution that was the site of my very first ever shot at the title you see on my shoulder right now, and I’ll never forget last year when I walked in to the Thunderdome and all kinds of hell was unleashed in that structure. But last year I knew exactly what I was walking in to, I knew the kind of environment I was walking in to, I knew the opponent I was getting in there with and I knew that there was going to be a fight. This year I’m not walking the road to Retribution ready to fight a vindictive, vicious and remorseless monster, this year I’m ready to fight the prom queen turned stripper,” she says before rolling her eyes and then laughing out loud. “Yah, you might be able to tell that I’m not exactly filled with respect for my opponent, especially not after what happened on Breakdown a few weeks ago. You guys all saw it, right? Now we all know that Keenie doesn’t do tournaments. We know that Keenie doesn’t do contendership matches. We know that Keenie doesn’t do proving herself. But what Keenie does do, aside from tasteless studio photographs she claims are ‘selfies’ on Twitter, is cowardice and cheap shots.”

“So, you’ve got yourself a new muscleman, huh?” she says before rolling her eyes again. “Oh, I’m shaking in my boots, really. Is that because Keenie doesn’t do actually proving something on her own? Oh wait, we already knew that. And you know what? You like to talk. You like to brag. You delude yourself in to thinking that there is anyone in those arenas that gives a damn about you as well – while the truth is that they might want to see you get a title match, so that someone can finally shut your mouth, and it looks like that someone is set to be me, huh? – but I really hope that you’re set to continue the same routine this week. Hell, I hope that you’ve got your night planned around it. I hope that you’ve got everything planned out to bring your big muscle head with you to the ring along with anyone else you want in your entourage. And don’t worry about the ones who’ve failed you, you can bring them as well. You can bring a fucking army with you on Wednesday night because Kennedy, let me tell you this straight up with absolutely no bullshit, I’ve FOUGHT armies before, I’ve FOUGHT monsters before, I’ve FOUGHT overgrown steroid freaks before and you know what? I’m standing right here right now and I’m still holding the thing that THEY all wanted and the thing that YOU want.”

She lets the World title belt slip off her shoulder before catching it and holding it up to the camera with pride. “And this is it, isn’t it? This is what you want. Keenie doesn’t do respect or dignity, but she does do everything she can to try to take this from me, and this week on Breakdown you’ve got a chance to soften me up because unlike you, bitch, I’ll be doing better than ANYONE in the world this Wednesday night when I’m standing in that ring stealing the show and proving why I am the Best Female Wrestler in the World, and why I am Second To No Man,” she says with determination and a smirk. “So, here’s an invitation for you sweetie. Bring out your army. Bring out everyone you can find to support you. Bring everyone who gives a damn about you, and you know what I’ll do? I’ll fight ALL of you because THAT’S what I do! And in less than two weeks at Retribution I’ll fight all of you all over again, I’ll walk in with the richest prize in this business in my hand and come the end of the night I’ll be doing this, and raising it over my head just like I’ve done time and again better than anyone else for longer than anyone else. And that’s crazy, right? But it’s true. For two hundred and twelve days, while you’ve been taking off your clothes and proving you’re a better stripper than a ‘perfect ten’ I’ve been proving that I’m simply BETTER!”

“So whatever you’ve got in store, whatever tricks you’ve got up your sleeve, whatever plan you’ve got to weaken me up, bring it the fuck on because I’m not scared of you Kennedy. You can have your muscle knock me down and all that means is that I’m going to get back up, I’m going to make you eat your words, and I’m going to send a message to the world that ‘everyone loves Keenie’ but everyone wishes they could be Syren,” she says before looking at the World title and grinning, “and everyone wishes they could have this. Only one person can though, and I’m not giving it up without a hell of a fight. Do you want to see what a fight looks like? I know it must be difficult for you, given that you only compete six times a year because ‘Keenie doesn’t do regular competition’. Well, I’ll show you. You see on Breakdown I’m scheduled for this thing that in professional wrestling we call ‘a match’, a crazy concept for someone like you I know, but bear with me here because this is where it gets good. This Wednesday on Breakdown I’m in the ring with Alex Young, another one of your army of assholes, another mindless troll who does what he’s told by another Katie Steward wannabe, with the major difference being that Katie makes it look good, and you just look tacky.”

“Uh-oh, I insulted her, think she’ll file a formal protest?” she says before laughing. “Oops, wrong one. So hard to keep track, right? But it won’t be hard to keep track on Wednesday, I promise you that. You see Keenie may not do proving herself but I do, and in Denver I’m going to prove that I’m that much better than your wannabe boot-licker when I beat him in the middle of the ring. And for the record Alex, it’s really not personal between you and me, even if you may think otherwise. Truth is I don’t know what you think because I try not to think on your level. If I did I’d be following around a boy band on tour screaming at the top of my lungs like a good little groupie, right? And I know something about groupies. I’ve got a few. They’re sweet, and they could be a lot of fun, but you want to know the major thing about groupies? Once you’re done being nice to them and thanking them for coming you forget all about them. Sound familiar Alex? You see having groupies is great, it’s a lot of fun and it makes you feel special, but when you are a groupie you’re not special, you’re just a faceless body in a crowd and being a groupie does nothing for you. You don’t get respect for it. It doesn’t prove anything. And when you’re a groupie for someone like Kennedy Street it also doesn’t get you anything. Then again you’ve figured that out by now, right?”

“I hope you have sweetie, I really do. I hope you’ve figured out that everything you’ve done for her has meant nothing to her. She’s already recruited new blood because one person failed her one too many times, right? And I guess it’s not hard to replace one failure with another, so it’s not going to be hard to replace you Alex. But the thing about it is, if you pulled your head out from up her ass, maybe you wouldn’t been seen the way you are anymore because we all know that you’ve got the potential. You’ve shown more than a few glimpses of it with some of the wins you’ve picked up, with the fact that you’ve kept your name in contendership for the Adrenaline title time and again despite the big names that are in the hunt for that belt, but you’ve never quite made it over the final hurdle and now that you’re out of the Shot of Adrenaline tournament – another tournament that you proved something in without Kennedy Street – there’s nothing there to be ashamed of. Look at what you did. Look at how close you came. Look at the people you beat. Look at how close you came to becoming the Adrenaline Champion against the woman who may just go on to prove herself amongst the greatest Adrenaline Champions in history,” she says with an admiring tone. “You’ve got the potential to be great Alex, but you’re never going to reach it doing what you’re doing.”

“Now I know you don’t want to hear this, and I know that others have likely told you the same thing in the past – although at some point you’ve got to wonder if enough people are telling you the same thing then maybe there’s something to it after all, right? – but she’s not going to help your career Alex. Associating with Kennedy Street isn’t going to get you what you want. You want to be Adrenaline Champion, right? That’s the dream. That’s the goal. But associating with her isn’t going to get you there. It’s going to hold you back,” she says before nodding and letting out a sigh. “I know you don’t believe that. I know you don’t want to think it could be true, but I know from experience what associations like that can do for you. They’re toxic for you, Alex. Don’t believe me? Look at Kelcey Wallace. For all the talk that Silas Mason may claim about making World Champions, do you know how many World Champions he’s made in SCW? None. The only one he ever had he managed to losing the World title, he cost her the match at Rise to Greatness, and on top of that the reason that she hasn’t had more title opportunities is because of him. Not enough? Well then look at me. I thought the Infamous was going to help me in my career. I thought they’d get my name out there. Do you know what happened? I became a target. Management didn’t trust me. It cost me.”

She lets out another sigh. “But let me guess, you don’t care about that, right? You don’t care about being liked, right? You don’t give a damn about people respecting you, right? You should, because that’s what gets you to where you want to be. Being hated, being thought of as a joke, being seen as a lackey, that doesn’t help you. If you want to be Adrenaline Champion then look at the GREAT Adrenaline Champions and tell me how many of those people were in the shadow of ANYONE? Not a single one of them. They stood on their own. They stood tall, they stood proud, and they fought for themselves. And you’ve been doing that. You’ve been focused on the Shot of Adrenaline tournament. You’ve been proving to the world the talent you have. The moment that it’s over, the moment that you’re out, you go back to kissing Kennedy’s ass again,” she says before rolling her eyes. “Like I said, the Infamous never really helped me. They never got me the opportunities that I wanted. All they did was put me in the shadow of guys like Lucas Knight and CHBK and women like Christy Matthews. What got me to where I wanted to go, what made me in to the champion that I am, was figuring out that I needed to stand on my own. When I figured that out, when I stopped associating with anyone else, even the people that I loved, my career took off. I started to prove myself to everyone, including those in management who’d doubted me.”

“Do you want to know the thing that helped me get this belt though Alex?” she asks, looking at the World title again. “It wasn’t an association. It wasn’t kissing anyone’s ass. It wasn’t being anyone’s lapdog. It was losing. At Perfect Destruction and at Retribution last year I got my ass kicked by Rachel Frost, two of the worst beatings I’ve ever had, one of which left me unconscious, the other one unable to stand… and I learned from those two beatings that if they didn’t kill me, if they couldn’t stop me, then nothing could. I learned to stand, and I stood on my own, I STOOD TALL, and I proved myself to the world. You can do that Alex. You can become a great man, a great champion, you’ve got the tools, you’ve got the opportunities in front of you, but while you’re making yourself in to a joke. Now, you can listen to that, you can take it on board and you can do something about it or you can not, the truth is that I don’t really care, but the opportunity is there in front of you to become a great of this business, but to do that you can’t turn your back on everyone who came before you like she does, you can’t look down on people like she does, you’ve got to earn it, you’ve got to work for it, and you’ve got to prove that you deserve it. Once you do those things the world is waiting and it’s full of opportunity. It’s your choice.”

“There’s one more thing I want to talk to you about, and that’s your shot at the Adrenaline Championship. I don’t mean the most recent one, I mean the one a few months ago, the one where Red Rayne was set to turn you in to another victim, the one that I came out to get my hands on her and send her a message, and you didn’t take kindly to it. Now I know what you thought after that match. You thought I cost you something. That was never my intention. If I thought you could come back, if I thought you could beat her, I’d never have gone out there. I didn’t want to see her retain that title. I’d have liked to see SCW reclaim it. But I didn’t want to see her victimise you. If you took exception to that then I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry for what happened when you tried to come after me,” she tells the camera before shaking her head. “That week I wanted to send a message to her, to Aiken Frost and to all the rest of them that they don’t own this company, they don’t CONTROL this company, and I did that. This week I intend to send a message to your ‘goddess’ – I know it’s a Katie thing but it works, right? – and when this week is over I aim to have done exactly that. You’re the message, Alex. Because the truth is that you’re good, you’re full of potential, you’ve got the ability, but you’re going about it all wrong and so is she. She wants this title, right? So when this week is over do something for me. Go back to her, kiss up to her, tell her how amazing she is, do all your little groupie things for her, get her laundry, get her drinks, rub her feet, do whatever else you do, and while you’re doing all that tell her what it felt like, ok? Tell her what it felt like when I dropped you on your face, rolled you over and pinned you one-two-three. Tell her how it’ll feel for her at Retribution, and tell her that the outcome then will be the same as the outcome with us. I’ll be STANDING TALL, and you’ll BE TOTALLY JEALOUS!”

She laughs before leaning in and planting a kiss on the camera. She holds the SCW World title up once more before the scene fades out and the video ends, with the replay button flashing up on the screen.