The video begins and we see we’re looking out across the Toronto skyline, notably because in the distance we can see the CN Tower standing tall. The camera focuses on the skyline from the moment before it begins to turn and we realise that the view we’re getting is from the window of a hotel somewhere in Toronto. The camera turns around and we see the person holding it is none other than former SCW World Champion Syren, who takes a breath before smiling at the camera. “So, we’re back in Toronto, and you know what that means, right?” she asks before laughing a little. “Yep, it’s the time of the year so many have been waiting for, it’s the time of the year so many have been hoping for, it’s the time of the year that’s all about opportunity, notably the biggest opportunity in the SCW calendar, to win the biggest match in the SCW calendar, to overcome the biggest challenge in the SCW calendar and as a result get the biggest reward you can get in this business, not just a shot at the SCW World Heavyweight Championship but a chance to fight for that title on the biggest stage in the single biggest match of the year. It’s an opportunity that every single person wants, but it’s an opportunity we all know that only one of us can receive. And this year it’s even bigger, and not just because where in Canada, in the home of SCW, but because this year the challenge is literally as big as it’s ever been. This year there’s going to be not thirty but FORTY men and women fighting for their chance. Just when you thought it couldn’t get bigger, right?”

“And while there’s no denying that this match is about the opportunity to head to Rise to Greatness and main event for the World Championship let’s not forget that this match is about another opportunity as well, the opportunity to overcome all that is in front of you, the opportunity to prove yourself on this stage and the opportunity to be able to say to the world that you took on the entire roster and some more besides in one match and you overcame! And Taking Hold of the Flame, it’s not just something you can forget about when Rise to Greatness is over with. Winning this match means joining the most elite list of wrestlers who’ve immortalised themselves by winning it, and you guys know that every single year that’s gone by it’s been my dream to join that list. I’ve so far been in the Rise to Greatness main event on two different occasions, the first by holding the SCW World Championship all the way into the event, the second by using a Trios Tournament to jump my way into a fatal four-way match. This year I hoped I’d be getting the chance at doing the first one again, if I’m honest. This year I hoped that come May 29th I’d still be calling myself the SCW World Champion, and that tomorrow night I’d be fighting for my chance to retain the title take another step toward booking myself in that main event spot again. But that wasn’t to be,” she says, biting her bottom lip and looking down with a shake of her head. “Now I gave everything I had to make that happen without doubt, but it wasn’t to be. I got knocked down. I lost the belt. Now I’m here.”

Rather than looking sorry for herself after that comment however she instead starts smirking, as though she knows something that we don’t. “Do you guys want to know something about that though? I’m not ashamed to admit that. I got knocked down. I got beaten by the better person. At Supreme Saturday Rachel Foxx gave everything she had and she overcame me, she won the match, she took the title and she deserved it. I’ve got no excuses to make. On that night I wasn’t good enough. I let myself down. I let you guys down. But here’s the thing about me: it’s not the first time I’ve been knocked down, is it? Hell, I’ve spent half my career getting knocked down. But do you want to know the difference between me and so many others? When I get knocked down I don’t slam my hands on the floor, I don’t kick my legs in the air, I don’t roll about on the floor screaming and crying and telling everyone how unfair it is that I got knocked down. Instead I dust myself down, I push myself back up, and I get BACK to where I want to be,” she says with pride. “And while so many people in this match will define their careers by the successes they’ve had and the so-called injustices they believe they’ve faced, while so many people will tell you time and again how unfair it is that they’ve suffered the way they have and how they DESERVE this opportunity because of that, I’m not going to do that. Instead of defining myself by my successes I’m going to define myself by being the one who gets back up and FIGHTS her way back to the top all over again!”

“And for me, that’s what tomorrow night is about. Because tomorrow night I’m going to get knocked down a whole bunch more times, in the literal sense this time, and every time I am knocked down I’m going to get back to my feet again and keep on fighting. And that’s not just what I choose to do, it’s what I HAVE to do, because it’s what I’m all about. The fact is that it took me a year to fight my way back to the World Championship, and I did it. And during that time I didn’t hide away or make any demands. Hell, during that time I stepped up time after time and took on all the biggest challenges I could find. The first ever Double-Elimination Match in SCW history, remember that? I competed in that. The first ever Triple Jeopardy Match in SCW history, remember that? I competed in that as well. In fact, I won both of those. And maybe I didn’t win Best of the Best, maybe I couldn’t go all the way in the Trios Tournament for a fourth time, maybe I got knocked down both of those times and a whole bunch more, but I still got back up the very next show, I still came back fighting all over again, and that’s what I’ll ALWAYS do,” she promises with a sense of pride in her voice. “You see I know how insanely difficult it’s going to be tomorrow night. I know how insanely difficult it’s going to be to have to fight against thirty-nine other people. I know what the odds are in this match and I know that they’re far from in my favour, and yet I also know that no matter how many times I get knocked down I’m going to keep reaching and I’m going to keep dreaming!”

She pauses for a moment before nodding her head a little, changing the way in which she’s holding the camera and also changing the tone of her voice to be less passionate and a lot more personal. “And guys, let me tell you a little about that dream, ok? That dream is to be the best that I can be, not because I believe I’m somehow superior to everyone in that locker room and every one of you but because I know I’m not,” she says before nodding her head. “Yah, you heard me. I’m NOT better than everyone else in SCW. I’m NOT the single greatest and most talented individual who’s ever graced this company with her presence. I know I’m not. But do you want to know what I am? I’m the most determined. I’m the most passionate. I’m the most committed. I’m the girl who NEVER gives up no matter what obstacles are put in front of her, no matter what odds are stacked against her and no matter what challenges she has to overcome. I’m the girl who goes out to that ring every single night and fights with everything she’s got, who leaves EVERYTHING in that ring and who, win, lose or draw, will be back again the next time to do it all over again. And guys, I have faced some of the most impossible odds in my career. You guys know my story by now, right? I’m a four-time SCW World Heavyweight Champion but do you know how many times I’ve just been given one of those chances? Never. I’ve FOUGHT for every single one of them. I’ve EARNED every single one of them. And I’ve earned a whole bunch more than that besides.”

“And yet in spite of that I’ve always dreamt of being the one in the biggest spots, being the one in the biggest opportunities, being the one with the biggest stage on which to perform, and the fact is that when the pressure is on its highest and it’s do or die in that ring I’ve fought my way through to a whole lot more do’s than I have let myself die. This Sunday I’ll be dreaming about that main event spot, I’ll be dreaming about booking my place in the biggest match of 2016, and even though I know the talent that stands between me and that chance I’m not going to cower away, I’m going to go out there and fight every last one of them for the opportunity. And I’m not just doing it for me either,” she says before laughing a little. “Ok, so I admit that I AM doing it for me. I’m not going to pretend like this is some totally selfless quest or something. It’s not. I’m doing this for me. I’m doing this because I want that spot. But I’m also doing this for something so much bigger than me. You see to me the SCW World Heavyweight Championship is not a trinket. It’s not a prize. It’s not something I can clutch to my chest while shouting ‘yes, yes, I’m the greatest, it’s all about me’. And we know plenty of people like that, let’s be honest. You take a look down the list of names entering this match and you’ve got a whole bunch of the most self-absorbed, ego-obsessed people on the planet. And I look at those people, I hear the things they say, I listen to the promises they make the world about their own ‘perfection’ and I know without doubt that I’m PROUD to be different.”

“I told you guys this before, and I meant it. That title that everyone is obsessed with is so much more than just a prize to me. It’s a symbol. It’s a symbol not of SCW and the way it is now but of everything that SCW stands for, everything SCW has always been about, and everything SCW can be about again. It’s not a symbol of blood, violence, kidnappings and brainwashing. It’s not a symbol of hatred, ego, disdain and a lack of respect. It’s a symbol of thirteen years of SCW history, a symbol of the biggest matches to have happened in that time, a symbol of the greatest warriors to have stepped into an SCW ring, and it’s a symbol of the legacy of what this company SHOULD be about! When people think of SCW they may think of some horrible events that have happened here, but what they should think about is the level of competition that this company has represented for so very long, and THAT is what the SCW World Championship is about. THAT is what the Main Event at Rise to Greatness represents. It represents the BEST IN THE WORLD fighting to prove themselves in front of the biggest television audience in wrestling, and the SCW World Championship itself represents HOPE for a better tomorrow,” she says passionately before nodding her head again. “That’s what I tried to make it stand for before. That’s what I wanted to do with my reign. My reign was never going to be about me. My reign was never going to be about my ego and making sure I was the first thing on the beginning of the show and the last thing you guys saw at the end. I wanted my reign to be so much more than that. I wanted that title to be a beacon of light in the darkness!”

She smiles. “And that’s what I want again now. I want to go to Rise to Greatness not as the self-professed queen of wrestling, wanting everyone to bow at my feet, and not as the perfect being so far removed from the peasants that surround her. I want to go to Rise to Greatness as a woman who believes, in spite of everything around her, that this company and that title doesn’t have to represent the WORST in humanity! And it can bring out the worst in people. I know all about that. I witnessed it first hand when I got attacked in the backstage area a few weeks ago by a woman so obsessed with holding that title that I don’t think she even cares what she has to do to claim it. And that’s NOT what I want to be about, guys. You see I’ve seen the darkness a lot lately. I’ve had a rough year, in truth. I’ve seen the damage that egos can do to reputations first hand by watching people I respected, people I admired, fall into disrepute by giving into their base instincts in order to ‘get ahead’. And I’ve seen the damage that egos can do outside of those with them as well, the negative effects they can have on the fans. I’ve seen a young woman hurt by the egos of others when she was only trying to do the right thing for those around her and I’ve seen how the entire world turned a blind eye to that. And I don’t think that’s what SCW should be about. I don’t think that’s what the SCW World Championship should be about. I don’t think that’s what Rise to Greatness should be about. And I think someone needs to step up, needs to reach out, and prove they can be MORE!”

“This Sunday I’m going to give everything I have to try to make sure that that person is me. I’ve spoken about the title being a light that cuts through the darkness that has consumed so many people, but this Sunday there’s another light that’s shining brightly that’s worth reaching out for as well. There are plenty of people right now in Toronto who’ll head out to that ring this Sunday not looking to REACH OUT for the flame but to EXTINGUISH it, but I won’t be amongst them. There are plenty of people this Sunday who’ll believe that they’ll scratch, claw, cheat, steal and stab their way to success because they believe that THAT is what success is about. I won’t be amongst them either. This Sunday I’m going to be fighting for a personal goal, to be the one in forty who overcomes the odds and goes one step further than she’s EVER been before, WINS Taking Hold of the Flame and secures another piece of her legacy. But this Sunday I’m also going to be the one fighting to show the world you don’t need to be a monster to succeed in this business,” she says with a nod of her head. “There are a lot of them around, aren’t there? There are a lot of those who’ll hurt anyone and everyone they have to with any objects they can to get what they believe they need. There are a lot of monsters in this company who only want to see everyone else fail. But I’m not amongst them. This Sunday, here in Toronto, in the Air Canada Centre, I want to show everyone that that the World title, the Rise to Greatness Main Event, and everything that goes along with it isn’t exclusively reserved for the wicked when tomorrow night I show the world that THIS Nice Girl DOES finish last – last of forty individuals – and wins the 2016 Taking Hold of the Flame. And guys, if you’ve got a problem with that you know where to find me, right? I’ll be the one in the ring STANDING TALL!”

She nods proudly to the camera before pulling it in close and planting a kiss on the lens and then pulling it back, smiling at it once more with confidence before the video ends and the scene fades out to black with the replay button flashing up on the screen.