A champion emerges.

[Tara Fenix]

There was a confusing expression left on the face of Tara over the week that she has been forced to endure. Everything that she's had to go through with Angel has caused nothing but mental agony for her the entire week, however, what forced her to try to look at things from a brighter perspective was her infant child sleeping in his crib that was setup at the end of the couch... Her eyes were locked on the diamond ring that was still wrapped around her finger. Drawing in a deep breath, she lifts her head to look at her Samsung Galaxy S4 that was laid on the armrest just to see a blank screen.

I shouldn't... My eyes lingered on my phone a moment longer, and I felt my arm tense up while resisting the urge to make the call. I finally force my glare away from my phone and back to the ring which doesn't seem to help - I force it further, and see my child sleeping between the bars of the crib. There was no keeping the smile off my face...

Adjusting herself on the couch and bringing her arms down to her side, she lifts herself up and walks over unable to keep herself from taking a quick glance at Edward who was sound asleep. With one quick move with her hand, she gripped her phone and allowed her free hand to glide across the edge of the crib before continuing forward and walking into the kitchen, where she thought she might have some privacy.

I must be crazy.

Tapping a few buttons, the phone comes to life and she begins scrolling through her contacts - "Angel". She lingered a moment and taps the button to send the call; right as she clicks to make the call, a hand comes forward and takes the phone away from her!

Jennie:
"No!"

Taking the phone away from Tara and quickly hanging the call up before it can even connect with the signal, Jennie grips the phone in her hand as tight as she can.

Tara:
"Jennie, I need to talk to him."

Jennie:
"You're going to thank us for this..."

Why did it have to hurt so much. Knowing how my emotions were playing against me, I turned away from her and stared at the door that separated the kitchen from the living room. I tucked my thumbs into the pockets of my jeans before tapping my ring against my thigh a few times... I knew what I had to do.

Tara:
"Jennie... I need you to be at Lineage."

Without waiting for any sort of acknowledgement from Jennie, Tara brings her left arm out of her pocket and pushes the door open as she exits the room. Jennie had her back to the door but she knew when her sister had left - she lifted Tara's phone and pressed the button to power the phone back on... the phone was still highlighted on the name. Angel.

---

There's something that a lot of rookies seem to do because they think that they can just pull it off... right off the bat; they don't stop to think before they speak. They like to talk all of the talk that they possibly can to try and make the world believe that they are actually a big deal. Talking is very important, I'm not going to pretend that it's not. The reason that it's very important is because it does something for you before you actually march down to the ring - it fires you up. It ignites your confidence... you need to be confident in your own abilities and confident that you have what it takes to walk out with your arm raised! It's a mental game, and it's something that any veteran will tell you; if you don't believe that you're going to have your arm raised, don't even bother showing. Because you're not going to.

Here's where I tell you what's wrong with the talking...

You need to mind your opponents. On top of knowing what you are capable of doing, you need to know what your opponent is capable of doing. I'm stepping into the ring with one person who doesn't seem to have a clue as to what it is that I can do inside of the ring, and another who has convinced herself that she knows everything that I can do because she has looked up to me. The talking that anyone does, including myself, does nothing but piss people off!

That's why it's not a talking game... it's about walking the walk. You don't get better by telling the world about how good you believe you are, you get better by stepping into that ring and proving to the world how good you are. Both of you, rookies; have only walked so many times. Imagine, if you will, how many times I have gone around this world and sold out each and every venue that I have gone to... Imagine, if you will, how many times people have seen my arm get raised for everybody to see who was standing at the top of the company, and even the industry. The years that I've spent walking the walk have made me one of the very best to ever step foot into the ring --- and do you want to know another thing?

Nobody really knows who it was that trained me.

Amber and Ashley can spew it out all day about how Angel trained you to be the best... or how Mike Laszlo trained Ashley to do what he could never do; win. They can tell me about how successful their trainers have been in the ring and how they're just passing their knowledge on down. Here's a little newsflash for you: they can't do it for you. They can't save you.

I don't want you to get me wrong, Ashley... You've made a few bold statements. I was almost singling you out when I said that you talk the talk without thinking about who it is that you're going into the ring with. Tell me, Ashley; what do you know about me? What have been some of my greatest accomplishments? How much of the road have I paved for the likes of you and Amber? I just want you to understand that the world isn't tuning in because of the bold statements that you made... they're not tuning in to give you that moral support that you could really need right about now.

They're tuning in because they want to see what the answer to one question is going to be. They want to know: am I going to let you leave Lineage with a single breath left in your body after your threat to take away my belt? That's the question that we're all wanting to have answered tomorrow night.

As I said, though, I don't want you to get me wrong. I actually like your confidence --- I've trained a number of people, and even Seth Evans took it to heart when I told him about the mentality being the key. You need to be confident in your own abilities. I just don't want you to set that bar too high when you're stepping into the ring with someone like me. Your first leap with someone like me shouldn't be about taking my title away; it should be... surviving. This is your very first opportunity, and your very first chance to step into the ring with me. There are going to be some opportunities that will slip away from you while you're going to capitalize on some other ones.

You might have to just let this one go.

Onto the next one, Amber Richards... herself... you seem to have a fun time running your mouth about me, calling me --- old? Anyways, I'm not going to let your words really sink into my head. I want to make something very clear to you: I'm not Doc. I'm nothing like my brother which is why I'm not accusing you of sleeping with my husband while I was with him... I trust that you didn't. Call it a female instinct. Honestly, I would like to go a step further and even apologize to you for what I said to you the last time I was on camera. I lashed out at you for no reason and that's why I'm just going to go ahead and apologize.

One catch. I need to ask that you don't discuss my love life with anyone... not even Angel. It's for your own safety.

Letting all of the personal feelings aside, I'm going to go right out and say it. You are an amazing wrestling. There are a lot of things you do in the ring that remind me... of me... there are a lot of mediocre women under contract with a number of organizations, and they don't even deserve to wrestle my shadow. I'm going to go ahead and say that you're one of the few that I am impressed with and one of the reasons I'm looking forward to stepping into the ring with you at Lineage.

But here's something else for you. You may be the next step to evolution; but I am evolution!

There are days ahead of me that I will lay in the middle of the ring, defeated... bruised... laying in a puddle of my own blood. I want you to think back to all those times that that has happened to me, Amber, and I want you to recall; how many times did I ever stay down? Never! Every single time that I've been beaten, I would get back up. I would march back into the ring and demand that I get a rematch with that person. Granted, there have been a few that I wasn't able to get the rematch, or worse, I wasn't able to beat them --- but here's one more question for you: who's the one that's still marching down to the ring? I come back stronger, every time. I come back faster, every time. I come back a little better. Every... time.

Like the phoenix, I rise from my ashes.

Some would like to say that it's more like Batman... I won't argue, because Batman is awesome!

That's beside the point. The point that I just want to make clear is that I'm always aiming to become better than I once was... That is the reason that I have gone through several stages of evolution, while others have simply disappeared.

We both made the mistake of not signing the contract when we both had the initial opportunity, Amber, and that's why we're not fighting over the Diamond Championship. Instead, we're fighting over the Ruby Championship --- this is a belt that I earned. And I belt that I'm willing to lay it all on the line for, and that's why when the day comes that you do win this belt from me, you're going to know just how damn good this belt really is!

I hope Simon heard my message loud and clear. After Lineage, this belt is going to be on the line at Sacrifice. If it's not; there's going to be a riot!

When I walk out with my belt in tact tomorrow night, I'm going to continue on and prove to the world why the words that I have to say about myself isn't me being cocky... it's not me being full of myself. It's me knowing what I can do, and hoping that you do, too. I am the best at everything that I set out to do, and one of the best to ever step foot into the ring.

I'm going to make sure you all remember why at Lineage.