Zombie vs Azurine Vebbins

September 13th, 2021
New York City


Seacrest: Our first guest will be appearing at Madison Square Garden on September 19th as Mile High Wrestling rolls into town for Throwdown. Please welcome Wendy Zombie Pellegrini.

The crowd cheers as Wendy walks out in a black pantsuit and white blouse, shaking hands with both Ryan Seacrest and a very diminutive Kelly Ripa before the three sit down. Ripa is looking Zombie up and down, shaking her head.

Ripa: How tall are you?

Zombie: Six feet even, and can bench press a shade over four hundred pounds.

The crowd reacts with wows and scattered applause which Zombie nods her appreciation.

Seacrest: I read something about you this past Saturday. You’re a born and bred New Yorker. Your father was NYPD who passed away on 9/11. There have been stories from other families and residents of New York that have come out about that day. What was it like for you?

Zombie: I was a child of twelve when it happened. My dad, Lt. Stewart Lancaster, went to work that morning as he always did. We had a scanner at home that we’d always listen to. Police, fire, ambulance, we’d hear all the calls. We lived on Greenwich Street at the time, where you can look up the road and see the towers. When the first tower got hit, we heard it, and then the calls came over the scanner. Mom was scared, she was worried. I went down to the street, people were already heading away from the area. Less than fifteen minutes later, the second tower got hit. I could hear Mom wailing and I ran back up. The ash clouds were probably the thing that scared me the most, it was like nothing I’ve seen before or since.

Ripa: You became a police officer as well years later, right?

Zombie: I did, I had a full ride through college and the Academy. I found out I could find missing people so I was promoted quickly. Eventually, I ended up working in Los Angeles before I came home to New York and met the woman I would marry within a year of meeting.

Seacrest: Lexa, correct?

A picture of Lexa and Wendy together in Japan is shown on the screen.

Zombie: That’s her, my Ruby Soho. Though I have to admit, the silver-blonde hair she has now… I didn’t think perfection could be improved upon but yeah. Funnily enough, this picture was taken the day I proposed. We were in Japan on a show with a different wrestling company I was with and it just felt right. Our wedding anniversary is coming up in early November… I want to say the second and I hope I’m right.

Ripa: How did you get into wrestling?

Zombie: I was always the girl in the gym even in high school. I liked sports, I liked how I looked physique-wise. In late 2017, while I was doing the cop stuff, I was invited to an independent show and I thought it was cool. Spoke to the promoter about wanting to learn how to wrestle, the rest was history. Broke into the professional ranks within a year so I haven’t been doing it for long but I enjoy it.

Seacrest: So where does Zombie come from? Those who know you, or know of you, know you’re a member of an all-female motorcycle club called The Shieldmaidens. Was that a nickname given to you or was that something that you had a connection to?

Zombie: It’s from The Cranberries. I’m Irish Italian, can’t get any more New York than that I don’t think. The song resonated with me, my family were one of those caught in Ireland when the IRA was the big threat.

Ripa: Talk to us about this faction, The Purge. Are you guys the good guys or the bad guys?

Zombie: I think the business has evolved a lot over the years. There are very few people left who you can look at and say ‘this person should be cheered’ or ‘this person should be booed’. We have a few of those in Mile High. Guys like El Diablo Blanco, dude is so cool and so nice. Maybe it’s a good thing, maybe it’s a bad thing, time will tell though the historians already don’t like it. They’d prefer the cut and dry approach and the segregated locker rooms and what have you, and I think that’s stupid.

Ripa: We’ve had a few wrestlers come on the show over the years, and they come on television with their larger-than-life personas? Does that still go on?

Zombie: Oh definitely. I think we as wrestlers tend to live out loud so to speak. Some don’t know how to turn off their gimmicks for lack of a better term to use and will cut promos on restaurant servers or grocery store cashiers, it’s kinda weird. When The Purge gets together, we dial it up. We’re a gang of jackals who raise hell and take no guff. Our shortest member is also probably our strongest, and she’s exactly who she is twenty-four seven. We call her Maneater.

A picture shows up on the screen with the three members of The Purge; Zombie, Hairicin, and Maneater mugging for the camera without their wrestling gear on. To the side of the photo, we see Una Quinn facepalming herself as she’s watching the others.

Zombie: Haha there we are! Poor Una, she’s our manager and mouthpiece. I sometimes feel bad for her because she walked into a circus. We’re all so different but we have the same goal, and Una, bless her, she does a hell of a good job keeping us on the same page most of the time.

Seacrest: You said earlier you haven’t been in the industry for very long, but maybe I heard wrong, but did you become a Hall of Famer this year?

The crowd applauds loudly as Zombie thanks the fans and bows.

Zombie: I went into the Mile High Hall of Fame with The Shieldmaidens, yes. I have mixed emotions about it. Sure, we came in together and made our presence known, but I’d like to be able to say one day I earned my place on my terms. That’s how The Purge came about. My partner Katrina and I wanted to get that spark back. Force the spotlight where it belongs.

Ripa: What will it be like fighting in Madison Square Garden, in front of a hometown crowd?

Zombie: That place is Mecca to me. My mother sold tickets to Rangers games there and I would go all the time to see Messier play. When he came back in 2000 I was excited. Sadly, after 9/11, and Dad dying, Mom got sick and lost her job so there weren’t any more outings to MSG. I haven’t stepped inside that arena in a few years, and the first time as a wrestler that I can recall, so it will be a homecoming of sorts. I can say I’m probably the only person I know who’s been inside that building under three different names. Wendy Lancaster when I was small, Wendy Stevens after my father passed, and now as Wendy Pellegrini. And I get to fight an old rival in Azurine Vebbins who’s a character in her own right.

Seacrest: Check out Wendy and all of your favorite Mile High stars this Sunday at Madison Square Garden. When we come back, celebrity chef Guy Fieri will be here cooking up vegan alternatives to some of the popular fast-food staples.

Zombie: Thank you, guys.

*****
September 11th, 2021
New York City
Former home of Wendy Pellegrini



We open to a woman’s boots walking along a dusty and ash-covered floor as the camera pans around the room. A time capsule, a home once lived-in but now sits abandoned. The camera flips to Wendy’s face, masked and wearing protective glasses as well. Her eyes, the only things we can see, show a deep hurt and hatred.

“Welcome home. I haven’t seen this place in twenty years, and yet, here it sits practically untouched. The last time I was here was the day my life changed. The first time I felt true loss. I know you can’t see outside, the windows have been boarded up but from that window right there…”

Wendy points to a sheet of plywood where a window once was.

“...you’d have seen the towers. Just like the people who once lived here, the towers are long gone now. They built pools and a museum to remind the world of what once stood. The street below was cleaned up. Some businesses stayed, some folded and new ones took over. Not here, though. Somehow, I don’t recall exactly what, this place was condemned after what happened that day. They fixed the businesses downstairs and yet this place… sits forgotten.”

Wendy continues to walk through her old place and we come to a child’s room. The furniture is still in its place though some things appear missing. A framed poster of a clown hangs askew on a wall, the glass broken. Wendy picks up a dusty teddy bear and tries to clean it before clutching it to herself.

“This was my sanctuary. The place my dad would read to me every night. The place I dreamed of what I would be when I grew up. And it was taken away from me on that fateful day twenty years ago. It all looks the same as it did, and yet appears so much different. Do you know why I brought you here, Azurine? No, I don’t think you do. Come, let’s step outside and we can talk about it.”

Wendy heads back to the door, and we can hear the clicking of a flashlight and then its light illuminating the staircase down. After struggling with the door for a few seconds, the lights of the streetlights show a much livelier scene. Wendy walks to a bench and sits down, flipping the phone’s camera to show down the street where two lights shine straight up into the night sky only a dozen blocks away. Wendy sighs.

“It feels so much closer than I remember it. The towers were built to promote unity, to stand above all others as one force. It’s a stance that was taken by the people of this city once they came to like the towers themselves. And when they came down, the purpose stayed the same. It brought the world together. You were those towers yourself, Azurine.

Something that seemed like a bad idea in theory, but as time went on, it became accepted. You were the face of Mile High. You were the draw, the one everybody had to beat to be considered great. You had your detractors, but there you were. Hard to miss. Until one day, something changed.

You crumbled. You fell. People still remember you, sure, but they speak of you in the past tense. Just like the towers, you can see where you stood, you can see better days and relive them, but the reality is they fell and they’re gone. You fell, and your draw is gone as well.

What happened to you, Azurine? You used to be someone who made me respect you. We’ve fought, we’ve beaten each other senseless. You stood up against The Shieldmaidens, Tyke Index, Skrabz, and beat them. As I said, you were the draw. Now you’re losing matches to Baudelaire and practically everyone else this season. Thing is, it could be said I’ve been walking the same road. Hell, Skrabz asked the question straight out before the Penitentiary match. What have I done lately?

Do you want to know the answer? This. I’ve been doing THIS. Going back through my life, trying to understand my actions and reactions because I find myself now lacking. Something I once had, now missing. So it’s been pulling off scabs, peeling back layers, cleaning what was infected, all to find what I lost… but you wouldn’t know anything about that because you’re too superficial to think about any of that.

You truly are a shell of your former self. Whether the accent and the holiday gimmick were just a way of trolling everyone or not, these days nobody cares about it. Hell, you don’t even care about it anymore because we don’t see you anymore. And when we do, it’s all about Corrie and stripping at the Bras d’Or. Have you forgotten you used to be a wrestler? Or have we all got on the same page and realized you never WERE as good as you convinced us of?

There was a time where I would have prepared myself for a match against you. Watched your matches, studied you, but this time? I’m not sweating you. You’ve fallen so far that I would look like a liar if I made you look credible. I can’t do that, because I’m legit afraid that YOU’D believe you could be credible again. I won’t be the one to give you false hope, but I am going to use you to change my trajectory. Everything happens for a reason. Being back to where I came from, reflecting on moments that changed my history, and I end up across the ring from you.

Failure this week is not an option. If I can’t beat you, then the terrorists have won. I’m sick and tired of having to take loss after loss, having to climb out of rubble and dusting myself off only to hit another pitfall, take a few more steps backwards. I’m not walking into MSG looking for a wrestling match, Azurine, I’m coming to beat the shit out of you. To take out my aggression because I can, and I have to.

This Purge, it isn’t just a cleansing of Mile High, it’s a cleansing of ourselves. To rid ourselves of those feelings of being held down, of being overlooked, of being made to be lesser than. Some people like the Kirigawas, the Cross’, they didn’t like us, but they knew they had no power to overcome us, so they split. Harry, CJ, Una, they have the tournament covered and won. As for me, I’m shedding the past and growing from it at the same time. Cleansing my own guilt so I can use what I’ve built, tap into what I have, and make my people proud.

And it starts, again, with you. Not as the tower that symbolized good, but the hole that was left behind.”