“Christian, I got taken out of school at the age of 12 because someone said I had natural aptitude for fighting, and had me train for hours a day instead of studying.  And though I never been to school in America, I doubt that the educational standards of Kingston meet the standards of the USA.  Still, I know enough Math to get by and I know enough History that I can use it as I need to.”

 

[Possibly for the first time, Claira St. Sure is appearing on Defiance Television by herself.]

 

[Kai Scott is still in the hospital, thanks to Jonny Booya backstabbing them.  And of course Jonny is not going to be appearing either.]

 

“I can look at the history of your career against mine and know, very well, that no matter what the points I have say, that I am at a severe disadvantage against you.”

 

[Diane Parker’s whereabouts are… another story.  Suffice it to say, she is not here.]

 

“You’ve fought small wrestlers before, you’ve fought martial artists before.  I not planning on trying to surprise you because maybe it is a waste of time to try to surprise a man who has been wrestling for fifteen years or so.”

 

“And Kai Scott, he’s not out of bed yet but he tell me about the early days of the Coalition of Affiliated Leagues, and he tell me look up how you beat Brandon Pride and Mitsuya Li…” 

 

[Here, she stumbles over the Japanese name.]

 

“And how you did it all in one night to become CAL World Champion.  He also tell me about how you work for KWF instead of CCW.  An he tell me about how a man named Solomon King ruin your retirement from the CAL an hung from your neck over the top rope.  And he even tell me how you came back to rid the CAL of King in an almighty showdown between King’s followers an’ the rest of the CAL.”

 

[St. Sure is in her full ring gear.]

 

[And she’s no accomplished promo cutter.  She’s never gone it alone before, always had Kai or Jonny to pick up the slack if she got tongue-tied, or if she went on too long and started getting dull.]

 

[Things like eye contact with the camera, remembering to move her hands and shoulders… none of that.]

 

“An he tell me that you never again worked a full time schedule in the CAL, even though you were its first World Champion.”

 

“He also say it was representative of what the CAL actually was, and then he say maybe you one of the people who remember how he hated that place, and laughed.”

 

“But that’s history.”

 

[Claira looks down and picks at the tape wrapped around her wrists.]

 

“You know my history?  There’s not much of it.  From the time I was twelve I was taken out of school an trained in jujitsu and kickboxing for hours a day, and when I was done learning how to fight and working out I cleaned the gym, and this went on until Kai took me out of Kingston.  Then I join one of the WfWA feds, II, and the guy who run it, he don’t like women’s wrestling but he don’t have the guts to tell Kai that because he need people on his roster, so he just treats me badly.  Kai gets fed up with it, pulls me out of a tournament for the Double Crown Championship, and I wrestle in Mexico with Diane for a couple years.”

 

“Then he brings me to Defiance and here I am now.”

 

“I don’t have much history, Christian.  What I have is everything that I just told you.”

 

“But…”

 

[Claira looks up and directly at the camera.]

 

“I beat the sumo wrestler, I beat the bodybuilder, same as you.  I beat the fat nerd who somehow wins lots of matches too.  But you are in another league.  Kai told me, but it is obvious.  I haven’t yet beaten the likes of Eric Dane, or Jeff Andrews, or Christian Light, and I know well the difference between the Heidi that I beat and the one that is a three time World Champion.”

 

“And some may say that I have time on my side but maybe that is not so true.  I spoke of Adam Waterman.  He won the preseason, he’s gone from Defiance, his presence nearly forgotten.  His tag team partner Leon Maddox, got plenty of talent but no job working here.  I know how much Kai does for me.  Some say without him I would be nothing and maybe it’s true.  There is a huge element of luck involved.”

 

“If my Defiance run turns out to be nothing, maybe I will not get another chance.  There is a growing backlash over allowing women to wrestle, and too many other women use the ‘kick and stretch’ style.  Maybe Kai will retire and no one will be interested in me if he is not there.  

 

[She tugs the end of her wrist tape one more time.]

 

“So I’m warning you now.  I do not look at this match as my first chance of many, Christian.  Maybe I think you have a better chance of recovering from losing here than I do.  You see…”

 

“You already have a history.”

 

“And I need to make one.”