The Glimmer Sisters vs. Light in the Darkness

[Wisteria Waltz]

At first, all we see is darkness. We hear nothing, we see nothing, and maybe that gets you thinking that something is wrong. Maybe there's a problem with the video feed? Maybe somebody forgot to do their editing job?

It's not long before the realization sinks in that this is intentional.

When there is darkness, it inevitably gives way to light. Sure enough, after a few moments, we see the flame of a candle flicker to life. Then another, and another. One after the next, candles begin to come to life, their little flames finally illuminating the scene in a warm glow as they surround us on either side, like a wall of warmth and comfort. Wherever we see a candle, we also find more to admire: old photos of the late El Espíritu Angélico in action, painting the picture of a proud luchador who left it all in the ring and was proud to be a hero to the masses. Those inevitably give way to photos of both Amelia Nevado and La Pequeña Luz, both following his example and setting their own in the process as they build legacies of their very own. Along the way, we also see photos of the two women simply enjoying each other's company together, ultimately culminating in a photo that has to be from their wedding night, having taken place on Día de Muertos almost two years to the day.

Ultimately, our eyes are drawn to what stands in the middle of this unique Día de Muertos ofrenda, and it only feels appropriate that the candles lit the way towards The Light In The Darkness. From the elegant black dresses and the sugar skulls, Amelia's painted upon her face and Luz's in the form of her current mask design, they both evoke the haunting beauty of the Día de Muertos icon of La Catrina, even more so being illuminated only by candlelight. The two look at one another, smiling at the memories of where their journey through life together has brought them so far, before Amelia turns her gaze to us.

“Seven years ago, I first crossed paths with a luchadora who I thought was going to be the bane of my existence. She didn't have a stellar win-loss record compared to the perfection I was expected to maintain, and yet, from the moment we first fought with each other in that ring, there was an instant chemistry that I had never experienced before. Somehow, I could read her next move like an open book, but she returned the favor, and through several matches with one another, she went from being somebody I thought I could write off to someone who actually gave me a goal that was all my own. Luz was never in my parents' plans for my career, but I just had to face her again. And when I did... I learned that even in defeat, I could still walk away holding my head high, knowing I'd found someone who truly understood me.”

“By that same token, Amelia gave me the chance to define myself in a way that my father never had before. Don't get me wrong, I'll always love mi papá and owe him for both bringing me into this world and starting me down the path of lucha libre, but I was overwhelmed with the expectation of being La Hija del Espíritu Angélico instead of being La Pequeña Luz. When I dealt Amelia her very first loss in the wrestling business, I chose to extend my hand to her, give her somebody to open up to when she needed it most. She chose to let me in, showed me that we were more alike than we could've possibly believed, and when she needed somebody to stand by her side and help her break away from her family, I answered the call with no hesitation. We turned our chemistry as opponents into a tag team synergy that defies belief, and the more we paved our own path forward, acknowledging the foundation our respective parents left for us regardless of whether they were amazing or awful, the closer we grew.”

“When we first showed up to SCW several years ago, we were merely girlfriends, having traveled all over the world and proven ourselves in every situation imaginable. As of two years ago, on a sacred holiday that means the world to this beautiful woman beside me, we officially took the next step together. Now? I can call her my wife, but Luz is so much more than that. She is the light of my life, the hand that reached out for me when I began to slip. Just as we prepare for Día de Muertos and proudly welcome back the spirit of Luz's father to watch over us as we take to the ring in Indianapolis for Apocalypse, I am prepared to take the next step along this winding road back to the woman I know I can be... the wrestler who earns her place at the very top, the fighter who doesn't give up and doesn't take shortcuts when things look bleak.”

“You can take issue with it all you want, but the fact of the matter is that we're both women who take a lot of pride in where we come from and how we got here. We subscribe to the philosophy of leaving it all in the ring every single night to prove how far we've come and how much farther we want to go. When you hear our name mentioned among the greatest tag teams in SCW history, that's not us being arrogant or conceited. That's everyone around you, from the fans to the locker room, telling us that we've earned the right to be acknowledged as such.

And deep down, we know that bothers the Glimmer Sisters more than they want to admit.”

The flames of the candles flicker and sway, as if a nasty wind had just blown through the scene at the mere mention of the twin acrobats who once again stand between The Light In The Darkness and tag team gold. Maybe the spirits joining us today are making their disdain for them very clear, and it's certainly clear by the looks on Amelia and Luz's faces that they are not the Glimmers' biggest fans as their smiles slowly give way to looks that could chill you to the bone when coupled with the skulls adorning their faces.

“Ever since they arrived in SCW, Gia and Gina have been telling anyone who will listen that they are the greatest tag team this place will ever see. They put themselves on a pedestal from day one, sought to make the very concept of tag team wrestling revolve entirely around them and their antics. By their own admission, they are not wrestlers... they are schemers, they are showwomen, they are only here to make a mockery of everything Luz, myself, and everyone in that locker room who gives a damn about wrestling stands for. That's the trick... they want you to hate them for it, they want you to underestimate them because they don't take this seriously, and they're just waiting for you to take the bait so they can get in your head and throw you so far off your game that by the time you get your bearings, they've already stolen the win. It's a cute trick... unfortunately, it only works if you're facing someone willing to bite, and if we've proven anything throughout the years we've been in SCW, Luz and I are never ones to take anybody lightly for any reason.”

“Don't believe us? Look back at Taking Hold of the Flame. Gina used her Trios contract to force Ames and I to wrestle under the most humiliating circumstances we've ever dealt with. They forced us to wrestle in nothing but lingerie... not even the lingerie we picked for ourselves, but what they decided to give us because apparently our choice wasn't 'sexy' enough for their twisted perversions. They put the World Tag Titles on the line because they were supremely confident while trying to pit us against each other and the World Title Amelia held at the time was also thrown into the mix. They tried to prey upon where Amelia's head was at back then, they got to wrestle the whole thing like it was a Handicap Match while we had to follow all normal tag team rules, they violated us in ways that proved how little they care about the fact that we're married just because all women need to be eye candy like them in their eyes.

The deck was stacked so much in their favor in Las Vegas that it might be the single most one-sided stipulation in SCW history...”

“And they still lost.

We were objectified, we were humiliated, we were fighting from so far behind the proverbial 8-ball that we weren't even on the table at all, and we still beat them. You can say what you want about me given where my head was at during that time, but we gave them separate warnings that when it mattered most, Luz and I could put our trust in one another and come together to pull it off, and that's exactly what we did. They forced us to play their game, and we beat them at it. They can make excuses, claim their 'real win' was every disgusting thing they did to us while they had us more exposed than we ever want to be again in a public setting, act like being named Tag Team of the Year proves anything, but we see straight through the illusion and know you two got a reality check back at Taking Hold of the Flame. We tied the record for most World Tag Title reigns by a single team, even if I take full responsibility for how quickly that reign fell apart, I kept you two away from the World Title and out of the Rise to Greatness main event, and you can't even really claim you rattled us that much considering Luz went right back down to that ring within the following hour and almost won the battle royal on top of it all.”

“Your confidence, just like everything else about you, is all an act, and when you can't force others to play along, you find yourselves truly exposed and don't know how to respond. You want to hold the fact that you're the latest Tag Team of the Year over our heads? Go right ahead... we know that we can count the number of tag team matches we wrestled over the course of the past year on one hand, and we've won that award twice ourselves in past years already. You want to try and get under our skin again, target people we know have the potential to go far in this business because we wanted to give them the same opportunity we were offered to prove it? Between targeting Seraphina, wearing vandalized versions of our merch, and even ruining our match with The Vision, all you've proven is how much we've gotten into your heads. Do us a favor and shelve whatever sick, perverted fantasies you've tried to frame it with just to feel better, because ever since Taking Hold of the Flame... the Glimmer Sisters haven't been looking so hot, have they?”

“Speaking from painful experience, when you build up an idealized image of yourself for so long that you start to believe it's both real and infallible, your inevitable fall from grace becomes the moment that either makes you, or breaks you. Neither Luz nor myself will stand here today and admit we're perfect... heck, this year alone has proven that I still have a long way to go in dealing with my own scars and not letting them rewrite who I am just to prove that I'm good enough. That's why we're more than willing to meet you two in that ring come Apocalypse... we know we have a rematch for the World Tag Titles, and we know Deanna and Selena will happily give us that rematch whenever we ask for it because, truth be told? We owe it to them to have a match that's truly worthy of those titles Luz and I spent years working to reignite the fire of competition for, because the Breakdown where the Frosts beat us? All four of us know that was nowhere close to the kind of match we know we can have, the kind of match that those titles deserve.”

“But this is about more than simply making amends for a match born of problems that shouldn't have been addressed the way they were. You two have spent the last year spitting in the face of everything we worked so hard to build, tried to erase our names because your egos couldn't accept that you weren't getting all the credit. You can blame us all you want for not being able to have your own rematch, but whether it's for the titles or to determine who's next in line for them, you better believe Amelia and I are letting you anywhere near those titles again over our dead bodies. In my culture, death isn't something to fear or mourn, it's simply the natural next stage of life, and celebrating that is what Día de Muertos is all about. If that doesn't make it clear we're not afraid of whatever tricks you think will work this time, then I don't know what will, because if you couldn't beat us when you had everything so far in your favor that your victory should have been inevitable... what makes you think the result will be different when you actually have to do things the right way, our way, and actually have to put in the work to get what you want?”

Amelia and Luz slowly kneel down, looking as if they are both paying their respects at the ofrenda surrounding them and getting closer to us to make sure their next words are heard loud and clear.

“We didn't underestimate you or let you rattle us at Taking Hold of the Flame, and that isn't going to change come Apocalypse. Try to disrespect our boundaries again if you dare, because around the time we're celebrating two years of marriage, your disgusting efforts to try and 'taint' us are only going to give us a reason to show you why our love has always been one of our greatest weapons. Try to lie and deceive and trade places when it becomes clear you're just as out of your depth in Indianapolis as you were in Las Vegas, because I'll give you the same warning I gave you back then... I know your game, Glimmers. Your cute little magic trick that takes advantage of you two looking almost identical? My older siblings are twins, and it's just as much their bread-and-butter to get them out of a bind as it is yours. We've done our homework, and you're going to have to try a hell of a lot harder than you think to deceive us.”

“Losing to us has caused your entire facade to start crumbling... no matter how hard you try to claim otherwise, we see how much it bothers you that people are catching onto the act, that your show is getting stale. You can tell us all your want that you've got tricks up your sleeves that we've never seen before... tricks do not get you a win over The Light In The Darkness. If you think you can walk into Apocalypse and take this as lightly as you did back at Taking Hold of the Flame, then Amelia and I are going to hand you your behinds on a silver platter and expose you once again to the whole world, and not in any way we unfortunately know you'd like. You can keep playing carnival barker and trying to sell the world on your greatness because you think you can be the best without having to actually try, but by the end of Apocalypse, the world will know the truth you've been trying to hide this whole time.”

“When you strip away the sex appeal, the tricks and the mind games, the Glimmer Sisters are nowhere close to worthy of being considered one of SCW's greatest tag teams, now or ever.”

“You won't find us hiding anything when that bell rings, Glimmers. You'll see all our imperfections, all our scars, the love that binds us, and everything in between. You're stepping up to the plate to face us around one of the most important times of the year for The Light In The Darkness.”

“And when the dust settles, Luz and I will have earned the right to meet the Frosts again for the World Tag Team Titles.”

“While the two of you will be haunted by another much-needed reality check that your free ride is over. You want to get the glory and recognition you think you deserve?”

“Then you're going to have to actually wrestle for it.”

Amelia and Luz stare deep into the camera, the skulls on their faces doing nothing to hide just how hungry they are for this win, not just because of the importance of this time of year and what the win would mean for them, but also how sick and tired they are of the Glimmers and their sick little games. The looks soften as they slowly turn away from us, bowing their heads as if in prayer at the ofrenda before them. One by one, the candles slowly flicker out, and eventually, we are left with nothing but darkness once again.