We start the scene by getting a clear shot of a warehouse with a small sign on it that reads “Riot Wrestling Academy”. The setting? Cloudy with a few drops of rain scattered all across the Cleveland ground. We see a pair of boots and a leather jacket accompanying some blonde with facepaint. Oh, it’s Cleveland’s resident freak, Serena Riot.She takes a moment and stares up at the sign and exhales.The Newport in her hand suddenly gets stomped away with her boot as she heads on in. She turns to the camera man and signals for him to come in with her. A cinematic shot of the Riot Wrestling Academy is shown. We see a bunch of different things; A few posters of action shots from FCW’s very first show in 2021. The original design of the FCW Championship. And a picture of the first group of signees to FCW, featuring Helena Handbasket, Matt Knox, Ricky Rodriguez and a few others.

We see a lonely black chair that Serena Riot sits in. She smiles before taking a deep breath. It’s just her and the cameraman.

Cameraman: Okay Serena, you ready?

She nods her head.

Cameraman: Take it from the start.

Serena looks around, as if looking for some extra motivation. She can’t help but stare at a photo of her son Jack. Smiling, she starts.

Riot: You know…The pandemic did massive damage to a ton of different industries. And wrestling was one of them. Lack of crowds, no touring, etc. And I was working full time. I was working for Zion Wrestling. My only real thought was “Well if I can’t tour, I’m still gonna’ make the most of it.” But somewhere during the pandemic…I don’t know why. I don’t know what really motivated me. I guess I’m just someone who doesn’t know when to stop. I get obsessed with the idea that the moment I can execute it…I do it the best I can. Sure it won’t be perfect. But I can rest at night knowing it was a killer show that everyone loved. So I drew. Drawing’s my passion. But the wild thing was, I was drawing an arena filled with fans. Filled with passion. And one thing led to another, and suddenly we were able to have fans again. And we did. It was a whirlwind, but then my first event was promoted, Be The Fight. From the 2300 Arena in Philly.

We then get shown highlights from that event. We see Chelsea Skye versus Yukiko Kusanagi, Dionysus versus Anthony Cross, and Serena Riot  versus Azurine Vebbins.

Cameraman: And how’d it do?

She chuckles.

Riot: You know, I don’t ever wanna pat myself on the back. But that night? Yeah. I’ll do it every single time. We tore the house down. I defended my Zion World Championship. Against Azurine Vebbins. My first time facing her no less. First of 3 times. But the bigger picture wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about Azzy, or frankly any of the wrestlers. It was about raising money and awareness towards Autism. And we did that. So much so that I was constantly asked if another Be The Fight was in the cards. And it absolutely was. .But somewhere along the way, I thought...Fuck it. Let’s go in full blast. I had a professional logo drawn up, and I wanted to keep the word “Fight” in the name, and Fight Championship Wrestling was born.

She gets up out of the chair and walks around with the cameraman.

Riot: And right here, we actually have a picture of the first night when we went on television on CHARGE! The first FCW taping happened back where it all began, the 2300 Arena. And eventually we opened this little place.

The camera zooms out a little bit. It shows the Riot Wrestling Academy for what it is; A small, standing room only venue that maybe fits 500 people on a good day. We see graffiti-style art all around as Serena is known for her artistic prowess.

Riot: It’s just…It’s insane for me to think that when we started this show, this Friday night show on the CHARGE! Network, we were doing it in front of maybe 500 fans in like, little bars all across the country. To now. Where we’ve gone. Which is doing a month tour of Hawaii, and moving to venues that fit 2 to 5000 fans, a streaming service and a show that airs right from this building. Little fun fact, we weren’t sure if we were able to have a full camera setup, so I duct taped a GoPro in the corner just to record the matches…And spoiler, we don’t have the room so the DuctTapePro as I call it, came in pretty clutch.

She laughs as we see a shot of the horribly placed camera. It’s not much but at least it works for them.

Riot: We may not be live every week, but we’re more than okay with that. We hit up a town for two nights and record two tapings worth before we bounce. Easy peasey. It’s all about doing things that makes sense for us, and this whole setup, like I said man. It ain’t perfect. It’s far from it. But the beauty of it is that we’re our own bosses. Just when you think we’re dead, boom. We find a new way to come back from the dead. And now, this December Be The Fight will be broadcasted from Tokyo Japan at the Tokyo Ariake Coliseum. Safe to say we all proved the haters wrong.

Cameraman: What is in FCW’s future?

Riot: Honestly? Much of the same. Sticking with the status quo. Sure that can change. But I like to think of ourselves as the “renegades of wrestling.” We do things so, so differently than anyone else. And I’m damn proud of that. We’re showing the world that you don’t need the brightest lights, or the biggest budget. You just need to believe in yourself. And you're going to fall down more times than you'd like. But you have to understand that every time you fail, you learn something new about yourself. I've fallen more times than I've stood up. But that's the beauty of being human, there's not a single soul who can honestly look at themselves and think “I'm perfect.” If you do, you're just miserable. Because you know you're not perfect.

We get a small cut of Serena B-roll footage. It shows her at various Cleveland landmarks such as the Guardian Bridge located on Carnegie Avenue. We see First Energy Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Museum of Art, one of Serena's favorite places in the world. And lastly, Progressive Field.

Camerman: Most people know your love for your city. Why do you insist on bringing Cleveland to the forefront of professional wrestling?

Serena takes a moment to digest the question, and to figure out a response. She takes a sigh before coming up with her answer.

Riot: …For…For a few reasons.

She rolls up her left sleeve and unveils a tattoo that reads “216 Til I Die” inside the Cavs logo.

Riot: You never forget where you came from. I'm a firm believer in wherever your home may be, it will shape you into the person you are destined to become. Reason two is because…even when I deserve nothing, this city finds a way to cheer me up. Whether if that's in the form of The Asian Lantern Festival, or a Browns game, there's always something rad going on. And lastly…The amount of anxiety I've had to deal with. “Will they like me?” “Am I trying too hard, am I trying too little?”...I've had an unwavering anxiety that ultimately led to depression. You can't eat. You can't sleep. But worst of all? You can't imagine having hope. And…man. When you have nothing, it's even worse when you FEEL like you have nothing. You spend hours on end, curled up in a ball. Your kid wants you to play. You don't want to. You try. But you can't. And even in those moments even when I'm at my lowest, Cleveland came in and found ways for me to care.

Riot: So how can I ever repay them? By carrying them on my back more than 2007 LeBron James.

She looks down as she has a slight tear running down her face. The camerman takes a moment.

Camerman: Should we-Do you want me to stop?

Serena waves him off, basically instructing him to keep recording. We then get a mini montage of Serena.

Camerman: So we have to talk about August 16th.

Riot: Yeah, for sure.

Camerman: from Barcelona, Spain. An Elimination-Style match. John Black, Ricky Rodriguez and Serena Riot.

Riot: Yeah. First match of Smashed 2. Wild times.

There's a brief pause as Serena smirks. It's almost as if she has been waiting to say something on the match.

Camerman: Obvious question, give us your thoughts.

Riot: Well…first and foremost I'm sure there's going to be the keyboard warriors who will shout from the rooftops “Gee whiz how many times will Serena unretire?!?!” And I laugh so hard everytime. My rule will always be my rule; I only come out of retirement if I'm asked to. So imagine my excitement when I…you guessed it, got asked to do this match. It really, really doesn't take much digging to find that out. But people would rather read headlines instead of actually paying the fuck attention.

Camerman: Does that bother you?

Riot: No. Because I get it at the same time. People have their little cliques and their Mean Girls circles. I’m fine with that, don’t really have a problem with it actually. It’s just not how I personally operate. But at the same time…It can be irresponsible. Because you’re doing significantly more harm than good. Damaging a persons reputation simply because you don’t like them is idiocracy. But it is what it is.

Cameraman: So let’s get back to the match.

Riot: Oh, right! So…My first thought is this…Well, actually I guess my first thought is that I’m so fucking stoked to go to Spain. I’ve wrestled internationally a few times but never in Spain, so this should be kick-ass. But it’s an Elimination style against John Black and my homeboy Ricky Rodriguez.

Camerman: You want to start with John?

Serena nods.

Riot: John is someone I’ve never faced. Truthfully, I don’t know anything about him. And it’s not like, because he’s a nobody. I’m a very busy Bitch. I watch tape on people, yeah. But to say I watch tape on everyone just isn’t the truth, so I won’t say it. But what I will say is this: I’m glad I’m facing someone I never faced before. It adds flare. And if anything it makes it far more interesting. There’s certain matchups that I look at and to me doesn’t interest me at all. But as someone who’s been on both sides of the camera, I would’ve booked Serena Riot against a new opponent too. And it’s an honor to kickoff the show that way, no less. So for John’s sake I hope he’s seen tape of me. Because I’m not an easy opponent to put down. And he can ask Ricky Rodriguez that.

Camerman: How many times have you two faced off?

Serena takes a moment to think about it.

Riot: I believe once, in Zion Wrestling. And he got the better of me…Fucking bastard.

She chuckles.

Riot: No, but Ricky is a real one. He knows it. There’s a reason why he wrestles…Shit, I can only imagine like 7 days a week, he’s wrestling all 7. Ricky has a work ethic that I haven’t seen before. And whenever I call him to come into FCW for a night of tapings, he’s taking a red eye to make the show. I can’t say for certain, but I think he has to have the most matches in a calendar year that I’ve ever seen. And his girl happens to be my girl. I love Madi to death. But Ricky has no clue what he’s stepping into this time. He thinks he does. I know Ricky almost better than anyone. But come Smashed 2, he’s going to experience something he’s never felt before. He’s going to be in for more than what he bargained for. I haven’t hit a Psychosis in a very hot minute. And I’m due. So I don’t wanna’ waste one on Ricky but I might have to. It’s going to take a lot to put him down. But he better hope that I can’t lock in my hands. Because if I hit that, I think he knows just as much as I do that he’s not going to pop back up.

Camerman: So is that how much you like him?

She laughs once more.

Riot: Ricky? I mean yeah. He knows it’s all in good fun outside the ring. But in it, we’re all different beasts. If we weren’t, we’d be in the wrong sport. But Ricky can turn it on with the best of them. My only question to him is if he’s ready. Because it’s not just a one on one. Having that third person always creates a problem because you have to constantly look over your shoulder. After the first fall things will be different. But I can’t say for sure if it’s going to be any easier. Because both competitors are hard to defeat.

Camerman: So will this affect not just your and Ricky’s relationship, but also Madi?

She shakes her head.

Riot: Not at all. Like I said, strictly business.

Camerman: So what happens after Smashed?

Riot: I mean, the wheel keeps spinnin’. I have a company to run. Ricky is going to run things. And John is going to live to wrestle another day. But when the bell rings, it’s going to be a matter of who can stand their ground the best. And I know I’m going to come fully prepared.

Camerman: Will there be any special Serena Riot moves coming out?

She laughs obnoxiously.

Riot: I’m known for a lot of things, but innovation isn’t one of them. My moveset is pretty much “It ain’t pretty, but damn it was effective.”

We take one last look around The Riot Wrestling Academy in all its glory.

Cameraman: Thank you for taking the time out and sharing not only your story, but your thoughts on the match. Anything else you want to add as we wrap this up?

Riot: Yeah, actually. I want to thank everyone who reached out to me. And to the people who never stopped believing in me. I know it’s hard to lose faith in me. I lose faith in myself a lot. But for you all to stand by me even when I didn’t deserve it…Thank you. And come Smashed 2 from Barcelona, I’m going to prove once again exactly why I am…That Bitch…From the 216.”

She smiles as we end the scene.