Post by Kenzie on Feb 4, 2022 17:03:27 GMT
Kenzie sighs as soon as the video starts with her head in her hands. She seems troubled, her dark chestnut brown hair with subtle caramel highlights disheveled. She's in her new Nashville apartment right now, days after the most recent Freedom episode. She is sitting in a chair behind a desk in what could be described as her bedroom. It's modest as ever, with her bed only partially made. Underneath the comforter sits a small stack of textbooks that Kenzie tried to hide behind before the camera started rolling with not much success.
Kenzie: Hey, guys! Kenzie here.
She smiles and waves cutely, flashing her hazel eyes speckled with tiny flecks of forest green at the edges.
Kenzie: It's been a while, hasn't it? I feel like it's been forever since I talked openly and earnestly to all of you watching.
Looking down with a hint of sadness, she looks back at the camera lens once she finds the right words.
Kenzie: If you've been following my career closely, the last time you saw me before my Liberty Pro debut was the end of the run I had in Valiant Wrestling. I've met many good people there, in front of the camera and behind it. When my contract was set to expire, I ultimately decided not to extend it. I needed to take a long leave of absence. I needed to think about how I’ve been handling things and re-evaluate the choices I made.
Nervously twirling her hair with her index finger, she continues.
Kenzie: I had to watch less deserving people than me get ample opportunities while I just wanted a shot to prove once and for all that I could be the centerpiece, too. I could be the main event. I could be that top champion who transcended the familiar names who constantly got chosen, and I was willing to do anything it took to make it happen.
Despite her words, Kenzie is unnervingly calm in her delivery.
Kenzie: This unhealthy obsession consumed me. It was like I was just a passenger holding onto all the what-ifs without noticing the what-wases. So when I took that break from social media to focus on my priorities, I came back with the revelation that no one else should have to deal with that loss of self-worth I suffered through on the grand stage. Not even Rayven Hardy.
She looks off into the distance as if imagining something as she speaks.
Kenzie: We came in with the same mindset, you know. She wanted to make a difference. She wanted to live up to the Night legacy and maybe even add an entirely new chapter. Unfortunately, though, somewhere down the line, she became so obsessed with winning championships that she put her Empire Pro career on the line just to get another chance at the EPW Empire Championship. She could have let me get another opportunity at the gold, of course. She could have let my sister Megan get a crack at it. Instead, Rayven shoved us aside because she needed to feel validated. She wasn't comfortable with herself unless the fans, her peers, and the media showered her with praise until they went blue in the face! She didn't have an internal sense of feeling good enough, so she put it all on the line to try to get the external sense — and she failed. She fought courageously, keep in mind. She did better than anyone expected! But because of her hubris, her obsession, she was fired on the spot.
She nods, then drinks from her glass of water nearby in the glow of her computer screen.
Kenzie: Then she tried to get the Valiant Championship in the first season finale of Valiant Wrestling, and she failed that too. Her hopes were dashed when she fell from a ladder through a table much like how my very first world championship attempt ended. There’s no telling how many stories like that Rayven went through between those two attempts and after that I might have missed, but the point I’m trying to make here is she cares too much about titles. Even now, she feverously craves the Freedom Championship so much that she wants to shove me aside a second time — toss me down a deep hole — all because I want to inspire her to make better life choices? All because I want to show her the right way to live that I've learned through my extended absence? All because I don’t want her to become miserable after all those failures eat her up inside, and she finds out she’s still not happy in her own skin?!
The older Rydell sister pauses.
Kenzie: Titles are pretty and shiny. Everyone who held one (or two, or three, etc) should be proud. Though, Rayven needs to know they don't dictate your worth. Neither do the fans. If she just follows my lead, she can accomplish great things. Not for the praise of her peers, or the adoration of the fans, no. For herself. For her own self-growth.
She shakes her head back and forth.
Kenzie: She never will though, will she? She’ll keep turning me down at each turn, so I’ll have to inspire her another way…
The veins on the right side of her neck bulge slightly with anger, though her face doesn’t show it much. Her eyebrows furrow and her nose scrunches for a brief microexpression, but it’s replaced with a smile much too big to be genuine.
Kenzie: Rayven will learn that the path to self-fulfillment is paved with blood, sweat, and tears — and I’d be happy to relieve her of all three in abundance.
The words are said slowly, menacingly. Though, with a chilling happy veneer.
Kenzie: Rayven couldn’t keep her concentration on Scotty when I asked the production truck if they’d be so kind as to play my music during her match. She couldn’t dodge a kick in that fatal fourway match for the Freedom Championship number one contendership. And now she wants to beg General Manager Lily — the same Lily who brought in Blyss Lockhart and Dante Locke to attack Syn at the beginning of the most recent Freedom — for a match against me?! She wants to shove me aside again like she did in Empire Pro just so she can stand over everybody else on this brand like she’s better than the rest of us to feel some sense of security she can’t feel any other way?!
Her voice started to rise, and her smile starts to crack. Then, her voice gets calm again.
Kenzie: No. I refuse. Not yet.
Another pause.
Kenzie: I’m the best wrestler on not just the Freedom brand, but all of Liberty Pro — and I don’t need my name on a plaque of a title or my hand raised on a regular episode of Freedom against Rayven Hardy to know it. My self-worth is at an all-time high, and I won’t debase myself because of what Ray tells me to do.
Rydell smiles, her eyes a bit darker in color than the perky appearance from earlier.
Kenzie: We’ll compete when I’m good and ready to compete, and not a minute sooner.
Kenzie: Hey, guys! Kenzie here.
She smiles and waves cutely, flashing her hazel eyes speckled with tiny flecks of forest green at the edges.
Kenzie: It's been a while, hasn't it? I feel like it's been forever since I talked openly and earnestly to all of you watching.
Looking down with a hint of sadness, she looks back at the camera lens once she finds the right words.
Kenzie: If you've been following my career closely, the last time you saw me before my Liberty Pro debut was the end of the run I had in Valiant Wrestling. I've met many good people there, in front of the camera and behind it. When my contract was set to expire, I ultimately decided not to extend it. I needed to take a long leave of absence. I needed to think about how I’ve been handling things and re-evaluate the choices I made.
Nervously twirling her hair with her index finger, she continues.
Kenzie: I had to watch less deserving people than me get ample opportunities while I just wanted a shot to prove once and for all that I could be the centerpiece, too. I could be the main event. I could be that top champion who transcended the familiar names who constantly got chosen, and I was willing to do anything it took to make it happen.
Despite her words, Kenzie is unnervingly calm in her delivery.
Kenzie: This unhealthy obsession consumed me. It was like I was just a passenger holding onto all the what-ifs without noticing the what-wases. So when I took that break from social media to focus on my priorities, I came back with the revelation that no one else should have to deal with that loss of self-worth I suffered through on the grand stage. Not even Rayven Hardy.
She looks off into the distance as if imagining something as she speaks.
Kenzie: We came in with the same mindset, you know. She wanted to make a difference. She wanted to live up to the Night legacy and maybe even add an entirely new chapter. Unfortunately, though, somewhere down the line, she became so obsessed with winning championships that she put her Empire Pro career on the line just to get another chance at the EPW Empire Championship. She could have let me get another opportunity at the gold, of course. She could have let my sister Megan get a crack at it. Instead, Rayven shoved us aside because she needed to feel validated. She wasn't comfortable with herself unless the fans, her peers, and the media showered her with praise until they went blue in the face! She didn't have an internal sense of feeling good enough, so she put it all on the line to try to get the external sense — and she failed. She fought courageously, keep in mind. She did better than anyone expected! But because of her hubris, her obsession, she was fired on the spot.
She nods, then drinks from her glass of water nearby in the glow of her computer screen.
Kenzie: Then she tried to get the Valiant Championship in the first season finale of Valiant Wrestling, and she failed that too. Her hopes were dashed when she fell from a ladder through a table much like how my very first world championship attempt ended. There’s no telling how many stories like that Rayven went through between those two attempts and after that I might have missed, but the point I’m trying to make here is she cares too much about titles. Even now, she feverously craves the Freedom Championship so much that she wants to shove me aside a second time — toss me down a deep hole — all because I want to inspire her to make better life choices? All because I want to show her the right way to live that I've learned through my extended absence? All because I don’t want her to become miserable after all those failures eat her up inside, and she finds out she’s still not happy in her own skin?!
The older Rydell sister pauses.
Kenzie: Titles are pretty and shiny. Everyone who held one (or two, or three, etc) should be proud. Though, Rayven needs to know they don't dictate your worth. Neither do the fans. If she just follows my lead, she can accomplish great things. Not for the praise of her peers, or the adoration of the fans, no. For herself. For her own self-growth.
She shakes her head back and forth.
Kenzie: She never will though, will she? She’ll keep turning me down at each turn, so I’ll have to inspire her another way…
The veins on the right side of her neck bulge slightly with anger, though her face doesn’t show it much. Her eyebrows furrow and her nose scrunches for a brief microexpression, but it’s replaced with a smile much too big to be genuine.
Kenzie: Rayven will learn that the path to self-fulfillment is paved with blood, sweat, and tears — and I’d be happy to relieve her of all three in abundance.
The words are said slowly, menacingly. Though, with a chilling happy veneer.
Kenzie: Rayven couldn’t keep her concentration on Scotty when I asked the production truck if they’d be so kind as to play my music during her match. She couldn’t dodge a kick in that fatal fourway match for the Freedom Championship number one contendership. And now she wants to beg General Manager Lily — the same Lily who brought in Blyss Lockhart and Dante Locke to attack Syn at the beginning of the most recent Freedom — for a match against me?! She wants to shove me aside again like she did in Empire Pro just so she can stand over everybody else on this brand like she’s better than the rest of us to feel some sense of security she can’t feel any other way?!
Her voice started to rise, and her smile starts to crack. Then, her voice gets calm again.
Kenzie: No. I refuse. Not yet.
Another pause.
Kenzie: I’m the best wrestler on not just the Freedom brand, but all of Liberty Pro — and I don’t need my name on a plaque of a title or my hand raised on a regular episode of Freedom against Rayven Hardy to know it. My self-worth is at an all-time high, and I won’t debase myself because of what Ray tells me to do.
Rydell smiles, her eyes a bit darker in color than the perky appearance from earlier.
Kenzie: We’ll compete when I’m good and ready to compete, and not a minute sooner.