Selena Frost vs. Christy Matthews

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Witches of Alden

”Intrigue”

VanHohenheim Home
Maplewood, New Jersey
August 18th, 2022
11:41am

“Such a wonderful idea.” Alejandra smiled as she excitedly marched into the large dining room where her daughter, Selena, sat patiently at the tall table, the platinum-blonde wrestler sipping on a cup of peppermint tea. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”, the older woman added, placing the large binder she held onto the table.

“I hope so.” Smiled Selena, who placed her cup down as her mother joined her at the nearby chair.
“Is this for an anniversary or something?” Alejandra asked, running a hand through her short, white hair.
“No.” Selena shook her head, her sapphire eyes scanning across the table at the various pictures and the metal frame that covered it. “I just- I want her to have one for herself. And you know me and pictures.”

“You got that from me.” Alejandra smiled, tapping the binder in front of her before opening it, turning to one of the transparent sleeve-pages. “I didn’t have much time with you before the DeCarlos took you away, but I was given a few days…”. Dark eyes scanned the page until Alejandra’s hand gently gestured towards a few photos. Leaning over, Selena spied her mother, obviously much younger – with long white hair, holding a small baby in her arms. The joy (but also the sadness) was still beyond noticeable in the eyes of the photo.

“Is that me?” Selena asked, eyeing the small baby dressed in a dark blue towel and, clearly, asleep.
Alejandra gave a nod. “This was before digital photos, so I had to wait till I was here to have them developed.” She gave a small laugh. “Smuggling the camera roll was actually the easiest thing about leaving Nome.”

“They didn’t find it?” Selena asked, eyeing another photo of herself and her mother, this one of Alejandra kissing ‘baby-Selena’ on the cheek while standing outside the Frost mine (the Snow Queen recognized the stone structure in the photo).

“I was getting out of their hair without any fuss.” Alejandra sighed. “They didn’t have to frisk me.”

Slowly, Selena nodded her head. She knew leaving Nome without a ‘fuss’ was not as easy as Alejandra was making it sound. But, she also knew how powerful the DeCarlos and the Scythes were, especially when she had been born and they held all the cards. ‘Leaving Nome without a fuss’ and leaving her must have broken her mother’s heart…

It was the reason why Selena was visiting her mother for the third time in the last ten days. Alejandra had taken Killjoy’s… Celina’s…. death and funeral the hardest. Between the daughter that had been taken from her, the son that wanted nothing to do with her, to now have a daughter that was dead?

Selena’s heart went out to her mother, and with her still on vacation time during SCW’s off-season, the Snow Queen (much to Deanna’s agreement) had taken it upon herself to check-in on Alejandra while Jonathan was at work, keeping her mother distracted with walks, discussions, and now, the current ‘arts and crafts’ project for Deanna.

“So what did you want to use for a center piece?” Alejandra asked, closing the binder and placing it aside to focus on the more digital and pristine photos laying on the table. They were all of the same event: Rise to Greatness.

“Thiiiiiiiiisssss one!” Selena’s voice dragged as her eyes scanned the pile of photos before picking out the one when she found it. “I liked the frame-“ she added, indicating the large, metallic picture frame that held multiple spots for different sized photos. “I loved what we did with mine last year but I went with a variety of frames linked together: circles and rectangles instead of just rectangles. More playful…”

“Like Deanna?” Alejandra smiled knowingly before taking the photo Selena held. It was a picture of Deanna being held in the Allgent stadium by Selena, the redhead smiling as she held the SCW Underground Championship. “She looks so happy.”

“She was.” Selena smiled. “That was a good day. But damn was she sore and a little grumpy in the morning.” She added with a tease. “Took a few ice coffees to get her to here…” once more, the platinum-blonde searched the pile of photos before taking another photo, this one of Selena and Deanna kneeling with their three children, Amiliah holding Deanna’s new Underground title while David grasped Selena’s world title. Elsianna stood between the Frost wives in contrasting levels for the photo symmetry.

“Amiliah and David seemed eager to hold those belts.” Alejandra laughed. “When did you get these done?”
“Right away.” Selena sighed. “The day of the main-show. I didn’t…” a pale hand traced over the world title in the photo that her son held. “I didn’t want to take any chances about whether or not I’d retain the title. I was up all night worrying about ‘ruining the moment’ for Deanna if I couldn’t that I just had to get something for it.”

“Oh! Let me go get the scissors so we can shape the photos nicely!” Alejandra offered.
“No, let me.” Smiled Selena, but as she pushed herself up out of her chair, she did so too fast, wincing a little and sucking in a breath as her knee protested. “I’ll just…” she spoke slowly before a pair of dark hands pushed her gently back into her chair.

“Take it easy.” Ordered her mother. “I’ll get the scissors.”
“A…alright.” Sighed Selena.
“And maybe some ibuprofen?”
Selena shook her head. “No painkillers, mom. You know that.”
“Right, sorry. I’ll be right back.”

Quickly, the woman scuddled out of the room, leaving Selena to her photos. Take a few moments, Selena gazed at them once more, seeing the variety of shots taken from Deanna’s match with Kimberly Williams to the celebration at FanFest, to of the two of them holding one another as well as the ones with them and their children.

It was a bittersweet memory for Selena, both delighted and proud of her wife but also sad by her own loss at the event. Still, she was excited about the new season beginning again in about two weeks. She wanted to be on the show and was hoping she would be. Deanna could carry on celebrating as the new Underground champion, like Allocco could with the world title, but the Snow Queen wanted – needed – to be in the ring wrestling right out of the gate. More for herself than to ‘send a message’ or ‘bounce back’.

For a second, Selena’s eyes spied the large binder her mother had left on the table. Her curiosity growing, Selena plucked up the surprisingly heavy binder and opened. She saw countless photos there across each page. Some were of things she recognized: people like Jonathan/Donovan and Alejandra and even her ‘uncle’ Liam Jacks, places like the Nome community center – she saw her father skating with Alejandra (they both looked so young). The smile growing across her features, Selena kept flipping through the pages, merely taking things in. She saw time ‘shift forward’ as older versions of her parents were shown in the photos – of them visiting places in New Jersey and New York, photos of her brother Peter and…

Selena stopped when she spied a photo at the near-back of the binder. This one had a young Alejandra – as in a pre-teen – standing there smiling with two women and one man standing with her. They all seemed to be closer in age than Alejandra, them as young adults (20s) opposed to the smaller Alejandra. But that wasn’t what drew Selena’s attention. Rather, it was the crest that stood on the wall in the background behind the four. From what she could make out, the metal décor was some kind of bird’s talons overhanging what looked like some kind of winged-creature, maybe a bat? And there was some words etched into the bottom. Narrowing her eyes, Selena tried to read it but the photo was one of the oldest ones and the quality was a far cry from any of the others. Still, it dawned on Selena how little she knew about her mother and her side of the family. Perhaps that’s something to talk-

“Found them!” she heard her mother call from another room before the older woman returned to her seat. “Wait…you have copies of those photos right? I don’t want to-“

“Relax, mom.” Selena smiled, closing the binder to refocus on the task at hand: the gift for her wife, the previous thought forgotten. “That’s what digital copies are for.” She smiled, taking the scissors from her mother in order to begin their assignment. “Of course, I rather NOT go back to Walmart for a second time today, so let’s try and do it right the first time, shall we?”

_______________________________________________________________

The Royal Letter

True Believers and the SCW Universe,


At the risk of sounding like a broken record player, I’m going to start off this letter the same way I started my last promo before Rise to Greatness. And that is with a ‘thank you’. Wow… I mean, the outpouring of support and love not just for me and congratulating Deanna but for the match, the pay-per-view… we only have one chance a year to put on a ‘show of shows’. To put on a pay-per-view that is worthy of the name ‘Rise to Greatness’ for all of you and this year… I think we got it right the first time, and that’s because of all of you!

All of you letting your voices be heard! All of you being as much a part of it as we were! All of you making it "Unbelievable” in every sense of the word. Even thinking about it, remembering it, my eyes get a little misty, and not because of how things are with me but because all of you made it so wonderful and special. So, again, thank you.

But… I suppose that isn’t what some people were expecting from me. Perhaps some people were thinking I’d be a mess or lacking or distraught or something to that effect. Maybe many of you were doubting or wondering “Where does Selena Frost go from here? What does she do now?”. And I don’t blame you for that. Such logic has its points.

Fact: I am no longer the SCW World Champion.
Fact: My reign as World Champion has come to an end at 235 days.
Fact: For the first time in 2022, I will be heading into Breakdown without the SCW World title.

I suppose with all of that, it’s understandable to believe – or not – one thing or another about my place in SCW. Or how I’ll be now that I’m no longer the world champion.

Well, to start… I’m here. I’m still here. Do you see me hiding? Do you see me crying? Do you see me whining on Twitter, demanding rematches or declaring ‘unfairness’? Do you see me being ‘ashamed’ of myself for failing to retain the world championship on such a grand stage?

No… because I’m not ashamed. I’m… I’m proud of us. I’m proud that we got so far. I’m proud that we proved so many people and naysayers wrong. When world title reigns usually fizzled out in less than three or so months? We surpassed that! When world title matches usually ended in controversy? When ‘tainted victories’ were the standard – the expectation - and all that was cared about was the end result of ‘holding the title’? We changed that. When it was thought Syren’s record could never be surpassed, we did it.

Am I supposed to be ‘destroyed’ now just because it’s over? Because one reign came to an end? Why not be happy and blessed that it happened? Why not be grateful that it ended on terms that I believe in? With someone rising to the level and standard that I believed in and beating me? Why not be excited about what the future holds, knowing there are people that will fight at THAT standard against me? That there are future matches of that calibre waiting for me?!

Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but I can’t help it. Yes, part of me wishes I retained last July, but more of me has just been itching throughout August to get back into the ring where I belong. Get back into wrestling. Get back to representing the standard of integrity, title or no.

And yes, when I said ‘people that will fight at that standard against me’, I do mean you, Christy. And, again, maybe that is me being a little too optimistic given our history. After all, many of our matches have resulted in you doing anything to win. I mean, there was the time you used Katya to make Alexander Crowe the guest referee against me just so you could try and take the United States title from me – even choking me with camera cables right in front of him knowing he wouldn’t disqualify you. There was the time you demanded Chris Cannon spear me in the U.S title tournament finals while the official was unconscious. I could go on, but you get the point. Beating me has always been a bit of an obsession for you, maybe because I’ve continuously found a way to stop you and be the victor and that has never sat well with you, maybe it’s because your daughter looks up to me – as you’ve admitted to in the past, maybe it’s because your ego won’t let go of the fact that you were wrong about me, I don’t know.

But there are two things I do know for certain when it comes to Christy Matthews and myself:

One, Christy and I don’t like each other. Never have and never will. My entire time here, she has been obsessed with making me out as this ‘super-villain’ – her and Infamous starting the overused “Selena is evil! Selena is really the devil in disguise! Selena only cares for herself” lines that’re nearly a decade old and, despite me proving her wrong over and over again, she’s still used those lines – all while using every trick and cheat in the book to try and beat me.

Not like I’ve liked her. Her methods, her desperations in the past, her cheap ploys, selling out SCW, disgracing the tag-titles with that infamous ‘hot-potato’ gag with Zero Fucks to Give? Hell, her little rant during her Hall of Fame speech where she literally spat at the honor of it didn’t surprise me – no I do NOT like Christy Matthews one bit. That’s one certainty.

Here’s the other: in that ring, whether she plays by the rules or breaks them for her own sake, ego and/or goals, Christy Matthews, by hook or crook, always forces the best out of Selena Frost. She always forces me to be on my A game. In skill, in strategy, in adaptability – in every element of being a wrestler. Because that is the ONLY way one can survive and beat a woman like Christy Matthews. Beat a wrestler of her calibre. You have to wrestle nearly flawlessly. You have to be as sharp as a tack and you have to pray that there will be a slip up or a mistake in her moves that gives you that one opening that can make all the difference! That’s how good Christy Matthews is. That’s how good Christy Matthews makes me when we fight!

So, with that in mind… am I the only person a little put-off that SCW has labelled this just as a ‘bounce-back’ match for us on Twitter? Yes, I get it, we both lost at Rise to Greatness, me in the main-event and Christy in the first round of Double Jeopardy, but why diminish “Christy Matthews vs. Selena Frost” – the main-event of Breakdown – with such a concept? Especially knowing our history.

I mean, guys, it was one match – I lost one title. You make it sound like I didn’t just spend eight months beating legends, icons, and a proverbial ‘Who’s who’ list across the SCW roster. You make it sound like Christy hasn’t made a career of doing the exact same thing.

I don’t mean to offend management, but why not call this what it is? A match that hasn’t happened since April of last year! Two former world champions fighting for a place here in the new season of SCW! Two of the best in SCW, who know each other’s style very well, setting the standard of what the main-event picture will look like in this new season? The Hall of Famer and second woman to ever hold the world title against the longest reigning World Champion in SCW history?

I mean, this is not just a ‘bounce-back’ match! This is a Pay-Per-View quality match! This could very well be on the same level as Rise to Greatness!

Do you think I’m worried about ‘bouncing back’, Christy? Do you think that’s what I care about when facing you? I’m not. I’ve lost big matches and titles before. When Vixen Cain stole the world title from me, I humiliated him at RTG and kicked him out of SCW on his ass. When Regan beat me at Rise to Greatness in 2018, I turned it around and became United States Champion. When Xander Valentine destroyed me in the middle of this ring to take the same title from me, Regan and I beat the holy hell out of him to end the same year en route to me becoming World Champion. When Cid Turner beat me for the World title, I beat him again to become world champion for a fourth time a few months later and began the ‘Reign of Integrity’.

I mean, Christy, you of all people know how dangerous I can be when people think I’ve lost my step from one significant loss. When you thought you had me because you beat me in the first round of the 2016 Shot of Adrenaline tournament and took the Adrenaline title from me, who ‘bounced back’ to win it all back from you?

When Giovanni Aries threw me off the scaffolding for the US title, who bounced back to beat you in the finals of the tournament for the same title while then winning the World tag-team titles – a feat so remarkable you copied it the very same way the very next year at Apocalypse against the very same opponents?

I don’t care about the idea of ‘bouncing back’ by facing you, Christy. I care about being better than you. I care about taking whatever you’re bringing and rising above it. I care about starting the 20th season of SCW not with a ‘step back’ just because we have a new world champion but with a ‘step forward’ – with proving that the value is still ‘integrity’. That the standard is still ‘integrity’.

I’m not Konrad Raab, Christy. I’m not going to bring a mace to the ring or make some cheap-shot about your daughter or you as a mother. But you, of all people, know how much my daughters mean to me – how much my children mean to me. And how much I want to embody the values that they can believe in – honor, passion, integrity. How much I want SCW to still hold those values in the definition of its letters.

So… maybe the question shouldn’t be “What does Selena do now?” because the answer is two-fold. There’s an immediate answer and then there’s a ‘future’ answer.

Immediately? What I am going to do is roll into Philadelphia, come into the Fargo Center and I’m going to beat you, Christy. I’m going to take whatever ‘theories’ and ‘conspiracies’ about me you will, inevitably, have and all the skill and power you have and I’m going to do what I seem to do more often than not when I face you – I’m going to win. I’m going to surpass your standard and show you why people like Quinne and The Brand continuously got past you but couldn’t quite get past me. I am going to show you the best that I have and I am going set the standard for this new season of SCW!

That’s the immediate. As for the long-term answer of what I do now? I’m not too sure… but being the woman that broke the ‘unbreakable’ record of Syren? Dominated the ‘Executioner’ Xander Valentine? Made the ‘Unbelievable Main Event’ twice over? Maybe the better question is ‘what can’t Selena Frost do now?’.

And that, Christy, is a simple answer – because it’s the same answer as the one that’s probably haunted you: “What does Christy Matthews do now?”.

Nothing.

There is nothing you can do now to stop me because there is nothing I can’t do now - including beating you in the middle of the ring. And if you don’t believe me now, just wait till tonight, when I prove it and turn this ‘bounce back’ into a ‘welcome back’ for the SCW Universe.

Believe it, Christy! And welcome back to MY world!