“Flashback: Lopez for life”
September 12th 2018…
(2018 was a massive year for Jenn in wrestling, but her personal life was a bit on the rocky side. With Eddie on the road doing his wrestling, what’s left of it, and Jenn on the road too, it’s wreaked havoc on their marriage with them seeing each other 3 or 4 hours a week. A couple of days ago, they got the papers for a divorce, reluctantly but it needs to be done. We see Jenn at the table looking at the papers and flipping between pages before Jorge, who was alive at the time, approaches the table, putting his hand on her shoulder.)
Jorge: Are you sure you want to do this?
Jenn: Yeah, I think it’s for the best. I mean we don’t see each other and it’s weighing in on us and when we do, we’re either sleeping or having small arguments. They seem minor but I don’t want it to lead to something that makes us hate each other, I’d rather nip it in the bud before it gets to that point. I know if I do this, I’m gonna get hate from a lot of people….
Jorge: Who cares what they say? I stopped caring what people thought of me years ago and It’s for the better. Look when I wrestled, I had those people who hated on me for no reason, Of course, times were different then but still, the point is you can’t allow people to control your decisions. If that’s the decision that you want to make, it’s yours. You’re a grown woman, a strong independent woman.
(She looks at the signature line for a moment, hesitating. As she goes to sign, Jorge looks at her.)
Jorge: I want you to know, when you make this final… you’re gonna be a Lopez still because I want you to have the name. I don’t care if you use it as a hyphenated name or not. You’re always going to be part of this family…
(She looks up at him for a moment, but she knows he’s in a middle of a talk and she didn’t want to interrupt him.)
Jorge: Since meeting you, it’s been fun watching you grow into who you are now. When I first met you you were this person who didn’t know what they wanted to do in life and was directionless. I know you’d never admit that but you were, you didn’t know what you wanted to do, and you gave wrestling a try, and look at you now. You also grew a relationship with Gracie, and it’s been fun watching that grow too…from being strangers to adopting her as your own.
Jenn: I told her I was never going to replace her mom but she needed a strong woman in her life and since she was on the road with me, I figured I’d do that. For safety and for my conscience. She was 15 at the time when I adopted her and I never regretted it, and I never will.
Jorge: I always thought it was the best decision. Mostly because my road days are done and Eddie’s is winding down, and what if something happened to her? You know? It would take us a while to get there.
(Jenn nods her head in agreement before looking down at the papers once again. She loves the idea of being a Lopez for life and how Jorge will make sure of it which makes signing these papers easier since he wants her part of the family. She signs those divorce papers before looking up at him.)
Jenn: Before you worry, he and I don’t want anything from each other. I know how messy stuff like this gets, and I just want him to have happiness and vice versa. That’s all I want. I know some people are going to be angry that I signed this but it needed to be done.
Jorge: Let them be angry. They don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors, this is your life, not theirs. Divorce is not easy on anybody and you don’t need outside voices trying to tell you how to live YOUR life. As long as this makes Eddie and you happy, to hell with what others say.
(Jenn smiles giving her father-in-law, which she’s still going to call him no matter what, a big hug. With all the trust issues she has with men, she trusts him 100 percent. As the scene comes to a close with them hugging.)
“2 Lopez’s born at once”
Present day
(A newborn cry fills the air as the baby is seeking attention from their parents. And we see Jenn the first one to appear. She has her magic touch and the baby quiets down for the moment. Soon we see Eddie Jr show up alongside his now fiance to check up on the baby as well. The baby is not even 4 days old and everything is thrown out of whack because of the baby’s early arrival with Christmas time drawing near, it’s always hectic this time of year to start. Soon, Eddie showed up to gather around the newborn. There’s another baby too but they remain silent.)
Eddie sr: Any idea what you guys are going to name him?
Eddie Jr: Javier and the other one Carlos.
(Eddie jr points to the other baby with a smile on his face, a proud papa smile.)
Jenn: I thought they would be born after Christmas but I’m glad they’re here and healthy! Think of it this way, they’re gonna spend their first Christmas here and not in the hospital or still inside her.
Lucia: They get to see grandparents too.
(Just like Eddie Jr, Lucia’s English isn’t very good and with her thick accent, it’s somewhat hard to understand but Jenn understood the grandparent part and grew the warmest smile ever. It’s the same smile when Manny was born. In her mind, these are her babies, Javier, Carlos, and Manny. She also knows the boundaries too and she won’t overstep but having kids around is fulfilling for Jenn. for a moment she looks down at the baby thinking about the future this kid will have.)
Jenn: That’s true, they showed up early so they can enjoy our wackiness. I know they won’t remember it, but it’s good enough for a family picture.
(Javier drifts off into dreamland, as the 4 of them move their convo to the living room, so the babies can sleep but they won’t sleep for too long.)
Eddie Sr: You know people are gonna start using "grandma" as an attack on you.
Jenn: Here’s the thing, I’m still somewhat “young” and every time I walk down the street I always get head turns when I say I’m a grandma, but I honestly don’t care anymore you know? It used to bother me the first 6 months of Manny’s life but I’m grown to embrace the role. When I found out I couldn’t have kids, I realized that grandkids were my only source to fill that hole left behind by that, I have 3 grandbabies now and I’m happy. If THEY have a problem with it, they can fuck off. They’re not going to ruin my happiness because they want to be judgemental. Go be judgemental to someone who cares, because I don’t.
Eddie Sr: That’s a perfect answer! You’ve come a long way, and embracing being a grandparent isn’t easy. I know it was simple for me because I was ready for it.
Jenn: It wasn’t because I wasn’t ready, because I was. I knew what I was getting into when I became part of this family, but it was just judgment from other people. Let’s be honest here, there’s a lot of negativity these days and those people want to ruin other people's lives for their own personal satisfaction, but I don’t give a shit anymore you know? I don’t pay attention to that shit anymore.
Eddie Sr: You and me both. See the best part of being retired, I don’t have to put up with the BS. I can finally live a drama-free life with the grandkids and wake up whenever I feel like it!
(Eddie Jr can be seen rolling his eyes sarcastically at his father’s statement about waking up whenever he wanted, but Eddie Jr has that work ethic that reduces his sleep hours. So, like Gracie he doesn’t sleep much, he just works. Workaholics are the name of the game for this family, they rarely take days off. Lucia leaves the group to go lay down since she’s tired, Eddie Jr would soon follow, leaving the 2 grandparents there.)
Eddie: You gonna tell Lexi the babies were born?
Jenn: Not right now, she has a match to worry about with Corey and I don’t want to distract her from that. I figured It’ll be a surprise for her when Christmas comes around.
Eddie: You know the last time you did that, she accused you of sleeping with EJ….
Jenn: I don’t see that being much of an issue now, I mean she knows I can’t have kids and you don’t want anymore. Unless she thinks babies fall from the sky or something out of this world….
(Jenn shrugs her shoulders a bit.)
Eddie: I mean I get she’s going through stuff but that was kinda stupid she did that. Like EJ is twice your age….
(Jenn slaps Eddie across the chest with a wrestling-like chop out of annoyance.)
Jenn: Exucseeee meeeeee!
(Eddie shakes his head before he chuckles a bit, she does the same as well.)
Eddie: OW!
Jenn: That’s what you get for trying to say I’m chasing 21-year-olds! I’m not a cougar. That’s something old people who have low self-esteem and nothing else to do with themselves, and I’m not.
Eddie: We can talk about this or babies all night if we wanted to but you haven’t talked about the match yet, how are you feeling about that?
Jenn: I tried to show this kid respect and he didn’t want it, I mean it’s cool I guess. It just shows me that kids today lack respect and I’m not going to beat it into him because honestly, it’s not worth my time. I know he’s going to run his mouth about me and say that I should retire or that this or whatever, I don’t care what someone like him has to say about me. He wants this title? Cool, I’m not going to cry over it.
(Jenn shrugs her shoulders.)
Jenn: Over the years, I’ve dealt with people like him. Little cocky shits who act like the world revolves around them and everyone who should bend the knee to them. If it seems like I’m bored it’s because I am, I’m bored of people like him who have the same personalities. People who act like things should just be handed to them without working for it, and just it doesn’t get under my skin anymore like it used to. It’s not worth my time to interact with them or try to talk sense into them it’s just not worth it. Look I get it as the vet i should be one to tell them that’s not how things work around here but people like him are lost causes.
Eddie: I don’t think he’s a lost cause, I think he needs to be pointed in the right direction and I don’t think his dad is doing that. He’s just letting his kid run wild.
Jenn: What’s the point? I doubt he even knows what respect means. Let me tell you a story. When I first came into this family, and when I met your dad, he demanded respect because he earned it. Over the years the respect I had for him started to grow, to a point where he trusted me with stuff that he wanted to get off his chest.
(Eddie nods his head with a small smile on his face. His dad DID demand respect everywhere he went because he earned it rather it be in wrestling or everyday life. 9 times out of 10 people would give it to him, and if they didn’t he didn’t bother looking or talking to that person.)
Jenn: Right before I signed the papers for the divorce, your dad and I sat at the table for almost 4 hours talking about life, talking about the future, talking about grandbabies that were to come and we also talked about the Lopez last name. Long story short, he told me to keep the name. He saw much respect and hard I’ve put in, i never asked for it. But he’s the first person to ever sit down with me and tell me face-to-face how important i was to the family..
Eddie: Oh yeah, I remember that when you told me after he left.
Jenn: And I know the Makarios’ did the same thing but stuff got messed up and thrown around and yeah… I don’t wanna get into that. But anyway, I know Max will try to throw my name around and say some empty garbage about it. But he doesn’t realize how hard I worked for everything I got in my life. I was given a second chance and I rebuilt my life for the better when I moved to the states on nothing but a bag of clothes, yeah Makarios tried to help but I wanted to do things my way and I did.
Jenn: That’s why this title means so much to me, from coming from a different country, rebuilding my life being stuck in the women’s division, being stuck in the tag team division to finally winning a worker man’s belt like this, and against my sister no less. I’ve come a long way in my career and in my personal life, and this championship proves it. I don’t care if i lose it or not. It’s always going to be in the history books that I won it and I beat a former world champion to do so, and that’s ok in my book. I don’t need to hold this for months on in and bore everyone with a boring title reign like some people. If I lose, It’s ok, I’ll pick myself up and I’ll get back in the ring again. If I win? I’ll do the same. Get back up and start training again, for the next title defense that’s who I am and I’m proud of who I am. I don’t need someone like max to tell me who the hell I am, I know who I am.
Eddie: A person that I’m damn proud of, go out there and kick some butt like you can!
(The scene comes to a close with the former married couple hugging on the couch as the newborn baby cries from upstairs, to which Eddie smiles. He loves having these babies around like Jenn does.)