The video begins and we see the back yard of the home shared by Zoe Sperling, Ravyn Taylor and Alexander Crowe in Malibu, California. It’s long past sunset but it’s not clear exactly how late it is. There are lights lighting the area in which Zoe is standing, not far from the pool, with a metal bin in front of her with flames flickering out of the top. She looks up at the camera and lets out a contented sigh. “Hey guys. So by the time you’re getting to watch this it’ll be like Saturday night, maybe Sunday morning, and you guys will be getting yourselves ready for the biggest show of the year. And trust me when I tell you guys that there is nothing like Rise to Greatness. If you’re in Vancouver when you’re watching this, or you were in Vancouver and you’re watching this after the fact, and this is your first Rise to Greatness weekend then trust me when I tell you it’s incredible. Nobody does the big events like Supreme Championship Wrestling,” she says with a smile on her face. “And to all the fans who met me this weekend, and all the people I shared moments with, I hope you guys had as much fun as I’m sure I did. For everyone watching at home, you guys are guaranteed a HELL of a pay per view! And actually on that note I’m sorry, because I hoped I’d be main eventing this year for the third year running and I’m not. But there’s always next year, right? And don’t worry guys, I fully intend to be back in the main event next year.”

She smiles before holding out her hands over the metal bin in front of her, warming them up, before looking up into the camera. “But if you guys are wondering, I taped this a little in advance. Now the times that I get the most focused for a match is normally the day before, or maybe the night before that. At pay per view time that’s when I’m normally in the city that the match is happening in, and I sit down in my hotel room or in the tour bus and I relax because the training is over, the preparation is over, and all that’s left to do is focus on the match, focus on the moment, and prepare myself. That’s when I normally like to record videos because that’s when I feel like I’m the most ready to talk about it, you know? But this match is different, and for this match I don’t want to wait until the last moment, because this isn’t a match like… any other, really,” she explains calmly, pausing for a moment before taking a deep breath. “On Sunday, in Vancouver, I’m stepping into the ring with someone I have a ton of respect for. That’s the first thing I want to tell you guys, ok? There is probably nobody in this business I have more respect for than David Helms. And that’s not just me saying that. If you look at our careers, if you look at our associations, they date all the way back to 2010. I’ve known David a long time and in that time he’s been a lot of things to me personally, but professionally I’ve always believed that he was a standard-bearer in this company.”

“The fact is that David Helms is unlike anyone else I have ever known in his professionalism, in his commitment, in his sense of pride in working for this company, and in the very real sense that he didn’t just make himself in SCW but you guys helped make him,” she says with a smile and a nod. “You guys remember that, right? Because that was 2010 and that was when I first got to know David Helms. And I was right there alongside all of you willing him on to become everything that I hoped he could be. I wanted to see him become the top guy, to become the face of the company, because David wasn’t like all the others. He was the only guy I’ve ever known in this business – and I’ve known quite a few people in this business by now – who straight up told you when he was wrong. And he’s been wrong. He knows that. But how many times has he come out and made it right in the end? You see my respect for David started long before anything you guys will think about. It started not long after Jake Starr attacked Ravyn, when David came to me and apologised to me for his part in that because he’d seen what that had done to me and nobody has ever done before and nobody has ever done that since. I’ve had horrible things happen to me – Shaun Cruze and Silas World last year, for example – and nobody came to me and apologised for that. Shaun never came to me and told me he was sorry or that he regretted it. And David did.”

She pauses for a moment. You can tell by the look on her face she’s very emotional talking about the subject. “Now as a wrestler you get one question asked to you a lot. You get asked, other than you obviously because the douche-bags always say themselves, who is your favourite wrestler. For the longest time, and anyone who’s asked me this will testify to the fact, I used to say David Helms. I wanted to see him win. I wanted to see him succeed. He was my friend and I wanted to celebrate his success. When I lost the SCW Women’s title – I’ll always remember this – I was sitting on some steps in the back and I was crying. It was the most crushing feeling I’d had in my life up until that point. And David came along and he sat next to me, and he put his arms around me, and he told me that things would get better. He said I wouldn’t believe that, but he promised me they would. And I loved him for that,” she says, smiling at the memory briefly before the smile fades away. “Now if you guys want to complete the history lesson we need to talk about what happened next, about the fact that I lost a lot of love for him because he didn’t trust me and because he went after Ravyn – I know, she messed with his head, I know the story and I’m not making excuses for her, but I’m just telling you how it went for me – and our friendship ended, but my respect for David didn’t.”

“Whether we were friends at the time or whether we weren’t I’ve never stopped respecting David. That’s what makes this match on Sunday so very special to me. You see I don’t just see this match as another match. I see this match as one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever faced. Taking on David Helms at Rise to Greatness should be a dream match for anyone in this business. Do I need to tell you what he’s achieved? I don’t think I do. You say ‘Supreme Champion’ and it says it all. And professionally for me there may be no bigger challenge I could face without the World title being involved. I feel like this Sunday, if I can win this match, it sends a statement to the world that no matter what you say about me, no mater what you think about me, I stepped into the ring with one of the best of all time at the biggest show of the year and I won. That’s what I want. That’s what I want to be able to say. And you guys can talk about David’s Rise to Greatness record, that he’s never lost at this event and that this is his last one, and that just adds even more to it,” she says, nodding her head respectfully and smiling. “I mean to be able to say that I’m the one who beat David Helms at Rise to Greatness when nobody else could is something to go on my résumé alongside everything else, you know? And I want it. I want that. Professionally this is a huge match for me.”

She pauses for a moment. “Not only is it a huge match for me given the past but you know what? It’s a pretty huge match given the future as well. There are no contracts on the line, we all know that, but the two of us are fighting for our future championship aspirations. There is no doubt that whoever wins this match, be it David or me, is going to be talked about in consideration for the SCW World title, and that’s where I want to be, you know? It’s where I think I deserve to be. I keep saying it, I think the line starts with me and I beat David and maybe I prove that,” she says, looking a little sad at the thought. “Of course if I do beat him that means David might not get another shot at the title. He’s retiring soon, right? So I could beat David Helms and effectively ensure he doesn’t get that one final shot that so many want to see him get. Yah, sure, Taking Hold of the Flame was amazing and we wanted to see him win – we wanted to see him win, because I was again with you guys for that one – but even after the end… I mean c’mon, we’re all hoping he gets the one last chance, aren’t we? He beats me at Rise to Greatness and maybe he gets that, or at least he puts himself in consideration for it. I beat him and maybe he doesn’t, and professionally that’s hard for me to handle. I don’t want to be the person who did that. I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

She pauses for a lot longer this time, looking down into the fire in front of her before warming her hands again. Then she looks up again with a different look in her eyes. “I keep using a word here. You guys have probably picked up on it. Professionally this is how I feel. Professionally I love David Helms. He is an icon in this business and there will never be another like him when he retires. And I know you guys don’t want to see him go for that reason. He’s going to leave such a void that I don’t think anyone can fill. And that’s my professional opinion on David Helms,” she says softly before wiping her left eye, perhaps to get rid of something from the fire that jumped up and hit her face but more likely to get rid of a tear she doesn’t want anyone to see. “I haven’t lied to you guys. I want you to know that. I meant every word I just said. But there’s another side to it, a side I’ve purposefully not talked about so far, and that’s the personal side to all of this. Because you guys know – every single person watching this video will know – not what the wrestler ‘Dangerous’ David Helms meant to me, but what the man David Helms meant to me. Because I know a lot of you guys were angry about it, you hated it, you hated me, you hated him, but there was a period in my life, a two-year period in my life, that I didn’t just love ‘Dangerous’ David Helms, but I was in love with him.”

“And this is where it gets hard for me, so I hope you guys understand that, because like I said before this isn’t just any match. This isn’t just Syren versus David Helms to find out which of us is better or to find out which of us deserves to be considered a contender or for all the bragging rights at his last Rise to Greatness. This is Zoe Sperling against the guy who took her heart, ripped it out of her chest, and then…” she says, trailing off for a moment before wiping her eyes again. “Look, I know it’s not like he woke up one morning and decided to try and hurt me, you know? At least I don’t think so. I’m not talking about the breakup now; I’m talking about the bit that came after. But he didn’t just rip out my heart and drop it on the floor, he then paraded around in front of me with the girl he cheated on me with and wanted to run away with. They did lovey-dovey stuff on Twitter, so for weeks and weeks I couldn’t look at my phone without having it right there in my face. They were on all the shows together, so I couldn’t go to work without seeing them and hearing about them. They announced their engagement on the night I fought one of the toughest challenges of my life and… god I cannot even tell you how much that got in my head. David isn’t just the guy who ripped out my heart, he’s the guy who dropped it down in front of the world and then took turns with Regan stomping on it over and over and over…”

She stops and laughs a little before shaking her head. “Have you ever been in love? I have. It’s incredible, isn’t it? You feel like you can do anything. You feel invincible. You don’t even notice anyone else around you because it feels like it’s just the two of you. And that’s why I don’t think David tried to hurt me. I think he was just caught up in how he felt after me. And if ever offended anyone or upset anyone when I did the same stuff, because I don’t doubt that I probably did the same stuff, then I am genuinely sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but when you’re in that place you just want to shout about it from the rooftops! It’s incredible. And I was there with David. He was the Romeo and my Juliet. I mean, not just like ‘we were in love’, but like we were star-crossed and everything! There were forces working against us when we got together, you know? And those forces had names. They were… everyone we knew,” she says, properly laughing happily for a moment before the happiness fades. “He was Romeo and I was Juliet, and the truth is that I loved him so much that if I woke up and I found him dying in my arms I’d have taken a knife and killed myself alongside him. That’s not an exaggeration, that’s the truth. That was how much I loved him. And you say ‘that doesn’t have anything to do with wrestling Zoe’ but you’re wrong. It has everything to do with this match this Sunday!”

“It’s been a long time since we broke up now. It’s been eighteen months since the hotel room that was the night that our relationship ended, and that was supposed to be the celebration of our two-year anniversary. A lot’s happened in that time. David’s moved on. You guys know that. I’ve been in another relationship for more than a year. I’m not in the same place I was when we broke up. I’m not heartbroken anymore. I’m not crying myself to sleep. I’m not drinking until I pass out just so that I can sleep. I’m actually amazingly happy right now. I guess I owe that to David, but you’ll forgive me if I don’t go thanking him for it, right? Because that’s not going to happen,” she says with a scoff at the thought of it. “But in order for you to understand my personal motivation and how I personally feel about David Helms going into this Sunday you need to know one more thing. David Helms cheated on me with Regan Street. Then he told me all about it, and he told me that he loved me, and I forgave him. He cheated me and I still wanted to be with him. And he planned one night after that, when we were together and I thought everything was going ok, to run away with her. She was going to leave Lucas. He was going to leave me. They were going to run off together. They didn’t. She didn’t show up. And I found out about that and I forgave him again. Then I told him that I loved him, and I looked in his eyes and I asked him to say we’d be together forever… and he didn’t.”

“That was why our relationship ended. I walked out in tears, heartbroken beyond words, because I looked in his eyes and I told him that I loved him and he looked back at me and I knew that he didn’t love me,” she says, looking away from the camera and biting down on her bottom lip while taking a few breaths. She looks back to the camera again, seemingly still in control but only just. “So, you tell me that all this stuff I just told you doesn’t have anything to do with Rise to Greatness. I say you’re wrong. All the stuff I just told you about me loving him as a wrestler, me respecting him as a role model, me adoring him as a guy I learned so much from and who I trained with, means that I feel genuinely bad about the possibility that I could break the streak of a guy I respect that much on the biggest stage and I could deny him ever having another World title match before he retires. But as much as I feel that, everything inside me burns with the desire beat David Helms on the biggest stage, in front of the biggest audience, and get a career win over an icon not because he’s an icon but because he’s my ex-boyfriend, he hurt me more than anyone ever has, and I want to see him fall! Does that make me petty? Maybe. Then I’m petty! If wanting to take something from him that means something to him on the biggest stage in our business makes me petty then I am a petty little bitch and I don’t give a damn!”

She starts laughing before letting out a long sigh. “That’s why I’m not recording this on Friday night. That’s why I’m not recording this on Saturday. I don’t want to be recording this while I’m thinking about the challenge that lay ahead of me, I want to record this while I’m thinking of everything I have waited eighteen months to do,” she says before looking at the metal bin in front of her. “And there are other things I wanted to do as well. You just knew this was going to be significant, didn’t you? Anyone who was thinking ‘why did Syren set a bonfire in a trash can in her yard to record a video next to it, how weird is she?’ just had to know that I had something planned for this. And I do. Because ladies and gentlemen I was not good with being part of a breakup! You know all the stuff they say you should do, like unfollowing him on social media, hanging out with friends, getting plenty of exercise – well, I do that anyway – and keeping a busy schedule? I didn’t do any of that stuff.  But I didn’t have to give him back any of his belongings because I lived with him… so I was homeless after we broke up. I also didn’t throw away the things that reminded me of him, or the stuff that he gave me… so would you like to do join me in doing that? I don’t know if you do, but I’m doing it anyway so I’m going to assume you said yes…”

She walks out of shot of the camera for a moment and returns with a box. She pulls out a stack of photos and holds them up to the camera before shrugging. “Photos. Obviously. That’s like token ex-boyfriend stuff. And yes, I kept the photos. But they’re going bye-bye right now,” she says before dropping them in the fire. Then she reaches into the box and removes what looks like a championship title belt that she holds up to the camera and smirks. “Ok, this one has it’s own story. David was always pretty creative with gifts; I’ll give him that. He gave me this after I lost the World title for the first time. He said it was to remind me that I would always be a champion in his heart. It was sweet at the time, you know? But it was also not true. So…” she says before dropping it in the fire and looking down before stepping back a little and smiling as the flames lap up against the edge of the metal can. “Wow, that really caught fire. If you’re watching this and you’ve previously read about how an idiot wrestler set fire to her house in the build up to the biggest show of the year then… well, now you know the story behind that. But let’s hope that I don’t set fire to anything when I just pour all the rest of this stuff in there, because there’s tons of personal memories to all this stuff but I think it’s long since time that it all went in the fire, don’t you?”

She pours the rest of the box into the trash can and then jumps back as the flames come out of the top again, laughing to herself as she then throws the box it was all inside in there as well and covers her mouth to try to stop herself from laughing. “Ok, wow, that was a little too much fun, and David I know you’re watching so let me tell you that professionally I’m sorry, that I know we’ve come on a long way since it all ended and I want to thank you for being there for me when you were, but also fuck you,” she says before looking into the bin and smiling again. “That’s therapy right there. That’s two years of my life burning in my backyard. And that’s something I’ve needed to do for a long time. But so is kicking your ass David. Now I could keep this professional. I’m going to try and keep this professional on Wednesday when we’re doing a sit-down interview about our match, but right now and on Sunday I’m not going to keep this professional because for me this is so very personal.  And it’s not just the breakup, it’s not just the heartbreak, it’s not just the parading around on Twitter and the stupid photographs and all that bullshit that sent me into spiral after spiral of depression and self-loathing. This is about the fact that you had so many chances to be a man and tell me how you felt in the six months that we were together and you OBSESSED over her. You looked me in the eyes and you told me you loved me instead of telling me the truth!”

“Two years of my life I spent with you,” she says softly, shaking her head as she does so. “Two years of my life I loved you. And it’s all burning right here. The truth is that I moved on a long time ago. I didn’t come after you seeking revenge because – and unlike it might seem right now given the whole burning thing – I’m not some psycho ex-girlfriend. I didn’t want to murder you. I didn’t want to wreck your dreams. I didn’t want to trash your happiness. But I do want to beat you, David. And I want to beat you even more after Best of the Best. Losing in that tournament to anyone was going to suck. Losing to you was harder than I thought it could be. Now you’ve got something I’ll never have. You’re the inaugural Best of the Best tournament winner. I beat Kennedy Street by disqualification and they made me fight a sixty-four-person tournament if I wanted another shot at her. I failed. You didn’t. I guess that was payback for the one-night number one contendership tournament, right? That’s funny, you know? We’ve never fought outside of a tournament before. We’re going to on Sunday. And honest to god David I want to beat you. I want to put you behind me forever. I’m going to do that on Sunday. I’m going to take the best you’ve got – because we both know that I know all the best you’ve got and you know all the best that I’ve got – and I’m STILL going to beat you.”

“This is our story ladies and gentlemen. This is the story of Zoe Sperling and David Helms. This is the story of Syren and ‘Dangerous’ David Helms. This is the story of two people who fell in love, one who betrayed the other, one who had her heart ripped out, and one who kicks the other’s ass on the biggest stage in our business,” she says confidently. “No more tears. I’m done with tears. No more memories. I just burned every one I had left. Just one thing left now David and that’s this Sunday. I have no idea what you’re going to say to me, but I imagine it’s going to be the same mix of professional and personal that I’ve said. Maybe you’ll be more mature than me. I doubt you’ll set fire to photographs of me. But I know that you know how much I want this victory. I want this personally. I want this professionally. I want this on every level of my being. And I know you’re going to be a tough son of a bitch to fight. I know you’re going to hit me hard. I know you won’t be pulling your punches. I know you’re going to give me everything you have to leave on a high, to celebrate your final Rise to Greatness with your head held up. And I know what that record at the biggest event means to you David. And I’m going to take it. I know what I’m getting into. I know the fight that’s waiting for me. And I know you know the fight that’s waiting for you.”

“Do you remember the first time I ever called myself the ‘Best Female Wrestler in the World’? I remember asking how you felt about that. You told me it was a bold claim but that you believed I could go out there and prove it true. Since then I’ve made a whole bunch more bold claims. Now I’m going to make one more. I am the Best Female Wrestler in the World and I am SECOND TO NO MAN and this Sunday I’m fighting for my career aspirations, I’m fighting to prove myself in the ring, and I’m fighting to write the final chapter in our story,” she says before nodding her head and warming her hands by the fire again. “This Sunday Juliet kicks Romeo’s ass! That’s how this story ends. I’ve waited eighteen months for this. Your legacy is going to live forever David, and every single SCW fan knows that. Nobody can ever take that from you. But you’re not walking out in November six and oh, undefeated at Rise to Greatness. You’re walking out five and one, and that one is the thing you’ll always remember. Two years of our lives David. Two years of our lives. I will always respect your accomplishments in that ring and as a professional, but after this Sunday I’m hoping that personally I leave this chapter of my life behind forever and forget all about it, but professionally I hope you never forget this match and when you look back you think about the night that you gave everything you had on the grandest stage and I did the same, and in the end I stood in that ring with my hand raised over my head and you looked up from the mat with no choice but to BE TOTALLY JEALOUS!”

She warms her hands on the fire again as the scene fades out and the video ends with the replay button flashing up on the screen.