The face of Ben Jordan appears on the screen, a bright smile on the cockney's face as the camera pulls out to show him wearing blue jeans and a figure hugging white T-shirt. His hair slightly curled and a neat beard on his face. He runs his hand down the beard as he looks down the camera with a smile.
"Alright people." He says with a smile on his face "I'm sure you've figured this one out by now but it's time for another promo from this geezer here. I mean that's how most of these things start... With this mush on your screen, throwing you down a little intro and getting ready to have a little chat with ya."
He quickly puts a thumbs up towards the camera.
"First off, I'd like to state this scene was written by me, recorded by me, as ya can tell because it ain't exactly pro video going on here, produced by me, everything by me." He says "Doing it the way it should be, no help from anyone else, no one even consulted."
Ben turns his head to the side before turning it back towards the camera.
"Well this is the part where we have a quick chin wag about what's gone on the last week in SCW" He starts "And boy is it controversial. I ain't gonna get involved in it all, but I am a firm believer of the saying there is no smoke without fire and this one has a lot of flames, but if people can have a clear conscious, guess that's all that matters."
He shrugs his shoulder and shakes his head.
"Also a firm believer in karma so what goes around, comes around and some people will get there's when the time is right" He starts. "I'm sure ya wondering why I brought this up. Well, I was there when possibly the biggest travesty since the OJ Simpson case, was going down in the ring. In fact, I was backstage with a few people having a little drink and finding out who my next opponent was and that my good people, is where we start today..."
He pauses for a second.
"But just an advanced heads up." Ben says slowly "Now I record this part late, after the rest of this promo and I've been pretty Tom and Dick lately, so I'm sorry for the sneezes in this. Shout out to all you people who see the sun and instantly get a cold. I am your leader. Anyway, let's get this thing going shall we? Back to Climax Control. As earth shaking travesties were going down in the ring, this is what was going on backstage..."
Ben points at the camera as we jump in to the first scene.
*******
Ben's eyes turn towards the monitor as the referee's hand slams down for a third time, pronouncing the winner and new SCW World Champion, Jeremiah Hardin. His eyes narrow as he watches the events unfold, shaking his head as he looks at the screen. A look of curiosity crosses his face as he knows he should be happy for the first time champion, but an uneasy feeling passes through him. He bites his lower lip as he mutters to himself.
"Hmmm." He softly says "What a difference a week makes I guess."
"What was that?"
The camera pans out to see Drake Green as the man asking the question, standing with his wife Mikah on one side of him and SCW legend, Simon Jones on the other.
"I said what a difference a week makes." Ben tells him "Last week beat by Ivan Darrell, and don't get me wrong, Ivan stepped up his game, and this week, wins the world title. That feels odd."
"Does put your match for the title in doubt." Simon comments.
Drake shrugs his shoulders.
"Doesn't matter who has that belt." Drake says "It's just a case of who I'm gonna take that belt off."
"Still feels off to me." Ben states with a slight shake of his head "I mean one minute, he's outclassed by two women and a man in a match and the next he looks like superman. Someone needs to drug test I reckon cause he played out of his skin there and I can't see why."
"Careful Ben." Mikah says with a wave of her finger. "You keep talking like that, you'll ruin your nice guy reputation."
Ben smiles towards Mrs Green and shakes his head.
"Just an opinion." Ben states "But one minute you're Emile Heskey and the next you're Leo Messi, raises an eyebrow or two."
Drake and Mikah look at each other confused before looking towards Simon Jones, who raises a finger to explain what his countryman has stated.
"What Ben means is that he is comparing someone who is lower down, to someone much better." He starts "Like saying one minute he was opening the show, and the next, he's turned in to someone like J2H."
Mikah and Drake nod, finally understanding what Ben was trying to get across in his own way.
"Yeah, just like that." Ben says looking towards Simon. "Cheers Jonesy."
"You're welcome, Ben." Simon says.
Mikah rolls her eyes as she looks at the two Englishmen.
"You two are being so boring." She tells them. "We have drinks on the table and you two are talking about things that are less important."
The camera pans down to a table below the four, four shot glasses full and a half bottle of tequila in the middle of the table. Mikah reaches down towards the glass nearest to her and puts her fingers around it.
"Now the show is over." She starts "Stop being boring and drink."
The others look around each other and reach down, wrapping their fingers around the glasses. Mikah gives a nod and the four lift the glasses, knocking them back in one before looking around each other. Ben closes his eyes as the alcohol runs through his body.
"And this is why I don't drink this stuff that often." Ben says to the group.
"Stop being a wimp." Mikah tells him, but Ben shakes his head.
"Me and tequila have a dodgy relationship. It lied to me once." Ben says, putting the glass back on the table "It told me it would make me a better dancer and it lied to me. I looked like a chimpanzee on ice. It was not pretty."
A smile is raised around the table, but Ben turns his head to see Sam Marlowe standing to one side. Sam raises her hand to get Ben's attention and Ben nods is head. He looks back towards the table.
"Excuse me a bit" Ben says.
The group nod and Ben turns around, walking towards Sam Marlowe with a smile on his face. He stops before her, noticing she has a piece of paper between her fingers.
"What's up ginge?" He asks with affection.
"Not a lot prat." Sam starts "But I was just handed the card for next weeks show. Thought you might want to see it."
She hands the piece of paper to Ben who looks at it closely. He cranks his neck back as he looks at him name on the card to see his opponents for next weeks show.
"Amy and Dax, eh?" He says with an approving nod "Well, it was always gonna happen that we'll end up going against a friend at some point. Got more friends in this tournament than enemies really."
Ben turns his head away from Sam, sneezing on to his arm. Sam raises and eyebrow towards him.
"Are you feeling ok?" Sam asks Ben.
Ben turns back, looking towards the young redhead and nods.
"Yeah." He starts "Guess I'm just used to the higher temps these days and sitting on me arse, rather than touring around the country. Takes it out of ya a bit."
Sam nods sympathetically at Ben.
"Most people don't do this travelling stuff anymore." He says "They do what they gotta, go home, spend the next five days being a normal bloke or bird and chill for a bit. Tours, we're always switched on to meet fans."
Again, Sam nods, life on the road isn't an easy thing as a lot of wrestlers will tell you.
"Anyway." She says softly "I don't wanna distract you. Just thought I better let you know about the next show."
Ben waves his finger at her, slowly shaking his head.
"Nah, nah, nah ginge." He starts "Don't think you're getting away THAT easily. Someone left me with a few kids tonight, on the promise of picking up a bar tab tonight. Now I wouldn't be me if I let ya get away with that one."
"But you're busy." She says "So we can do it another time."
Ben shakes his head firmly.
"Nah, not happening." He says firmly "Gimme like twenty or something and you'll be helping get this geezer tanked up a bit."
"Are you sure?" Sam asks "I know you don't get to see Simon a lot."
"Yeah." Ben says with a nod "Besides, I'll be inviting Simon, his missus and sprog to Cuba for a holiday after the tour is all said and done, so will defo catch up with him a lot more then. Just gimme twenty."
Sam nods as we fade in to the next scene.
*******
The thumping sounds of music can be heard as the duo of Ben Jordan and Sam Marlowe sit at a table in a busy bar. The Easter vibe flies through the building as people dressed in rabbit ears party the night away, the following day usually a tradition to have off from work. Ben wraps his hand around an almost full glass, just a mouthful or two missing from the top. A waitress places another drink in front of Sam, and the redhead nods with appreciation before turning towards Ben as he sits at the table looking down at his beer.
"Are you feeling ok?" Sam enquires "I've never seen you nurse a beer for so long. It usually doesn't touch the sides."
"Huh?" Ben says looking up at Sam "Yeah, I'm fine, just feeling a bit knackered to be honest. Was just thinking about this whole Blast From The Past thing."
Sam puts her fingers around her glass and looks across at Ben.
"About facing Amy?" She asks.
Ben shakes his head as he looks at her.
"Nah." He starts "It was always a given that I was gonna face a friend at some point. I mean like if we win the whole thing. I'm looking at the teams left and there's a big chance that we can win it, but to be honest with ya ginge. I ain't sure I want that title shot if we do win it."
Sam takes a sip of her drink before placing it on the table, looking back at the Englishman across the table.
"Why?" She asks.
"Well there's something about being at the top right now that doesn't feel right." He says "And I know people have been crying out for me to go on and have a proper go and in the past, yeah, might have felt right, but I think being at the top now in the men's division is gonna be a poisonous. I guess it's bothering me about how you can be forth best in a match against a tag team wrestler and two women who haven't wrestled in SCW in god knows how long, to be winning the World title the next week. The division feels wrong."
"Well you know it's bad when one of the nicest people on the roster is happy to be negative about the division." Sam says with a smile.
"I'm not negative ginge." Ben comments "Just doesn't feel right. Feels like someone is playing an April fools joke or something up there. I just don't get it, maybe there's something not to trust there, but I see meself as a good judge of character and things going on but that don't feel right."
"Well if we win this thing." Sam says thoughtfully "There's no idea of who will be champion. We know how this works. Things get tied up after the supercard, the Blast From The Past winners get the next cycle at the top, there's Drake Green, Rage and J2H determined to be champion again. You gotta think one of them will have a chance at the supercard, so he may not be champion then."
Ben picks up his beer, taking a quick drink from it before looking back at Sam.
"Think I will graciously refuse a shot at the belt if we win and he is champion." Ben says "Not that I don't like the guy, it's just when you don't understand something, like it don't add up, you kinda don't trust it and it makes more sense not to get involved with it all. Still, I'll whack on the cheerleader outfit for you to take on Melody."
Sam raises a finger towards Ben.
"One, we have to win first." She tells Ben "Two, Melody has to still be champion if we do."
"Melody is on fire." Ben comments "Be bloody shocked if she lost that belt. Men's division turned on it's nut is bad enough, women's division too? That would be bloody chaos on toast! Anyway, we gotta win this bloody thing."
Ben looks around as part revelers walk past him.
"And why is that?" Sam asks him.
"Because if we don't win this one." Ben says slowly "I'm gonna probably step away from the ring after me and JD lose the tag belts. Might go in to management to see my contract out."
"Wash your mouth out prat" Sam tells him, a firm look on her face "Why would you do that?"
"Well Jamie and I agreed to do more single stuff, yet we end up winning the tag titles." He starts "It's not that I dislike being in a team, but more single stuff was needed so I could see what I could really do. I've let meself down in SCW over the years, never got to grab the glory like I did with ACW. This is my last chance to break away and do single stuff. If I can't win a tag tournament while being a tag champ, I shouldn't be doing this, so need to knock this on the head and knock around as a manager or something."
Ben looks away, picking up his drink and taking another mouthful before putting it down.
"I think you could have a title shot tomorrow and win it if ya really wanted to." Sam tells Ben.
"Not the way this division has been lately. First J2H loses to Drake, who loses to Rage, who loses to Hardin?" He says with a shake of his head "The division don't know it's arse from it's elbow right now. Feels like it's been cheapened. Me winning it now wouldn't prove I'm good, would prove that belt ain't liked it's owner since it shacked up with J2H. That title is like ya mate who lives with his parents, but hates it so much, it's happy to crash on random peoples sofas."
Ben and Sam smile at each other.
"I don't think you should give up no matter what happens in the tournament." She says "But that's extra motivation right there for us to go on and try to win this thing."
"If we win it." Ben says while tapping his chin. "It will be well earned. Although only Markus and Evie seem like the only other team trying to be a team, still got a lot of good solo talent in there, that if they click, could be a bit of a danger."
Ben turns around, a sneeze quickly happening without prior warning causes him to almost jolt from his chair. He turns back towards Sam, grateful he wasn't facing her at the time.
"Sorry 'bout that." He says with half a smile.
Sam lowers her eyebrows as she looks at him.
"Are you sure you're feeling ok?" She asks him.
"Proper cushdy." He says. "Never felt better."
He picks up his drink again, taking another mouthful and places it down on the table and looking at Sam.
"Like I said, just a bit run down from the touring and stuff." He explains. "When SCW does the tours, I don't go home, spend more times in hotel rooms than anywhere else."
"Maybe you need to go home next week and relax." Sam offers, but Ben just shakes his head.
"Nah, see, we win this, next week, we're on again and not worth bouncing back home." He says quietly "So might as well head on to where ever we're meant to be going. I probably just need to be in bed for two days or something like that."
"If you're sure..." Sam says picking up her drink.
"Oh yeah, very sure..." He says before turning away. "ACHOO!"
The loud sneeze catches peoples attention as they walk past the table the two SCW stars sit at and Ben shrugs at Sam.
"Well..." He says with a smile "Sorta sure...."
*******
2 days later in a Washington, D.C hotel room.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
The sound of knuckles hitting a door can be heard.
"Hold on, I'm on me way." Ben's voice can be heard saying.
The camera looks around the room, a fairly basic living room area with a couch, two chairs, a coffee table and TV placed on the wall can be seen in the room.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"Gimme a minute." Ben's voice calls out.
Ben appears in the room, coming from a side door, his hair messed up, eyes heavy looking as he pulls his robe together, covering up a pair of South Park boxers, Cartman's face on them with the words respect my authortaaaaay written across them.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
He gets to the door and reaches for the handle.
"Alright, alright, keep ya knickers on!" He says as he opens the door.
Standing on the other side of the door stands Jamie Dean, his eyebrow raised as he looks at his tag team partner.
"Well damn." Jamie says as he lowers his sunglasses "I forgot to put them on today."
Ben looks at Jamie as he points to the way inside the hotel room.
"What are you doing here?" Ben asks.
"Well you said you was meeting up with us all at midday." Jamie says.
"What time is now?" Ben asks.
"About three thirty." Jamie responds.
Ben looks towards his wrist, seeing no watch. He looks on the wall to see the clock reading the exact time that Jamie had just stated. Ben runs his fingers through his hair and looks back at Jamie.
"Oh, so I'm just a little bit late then." He says, his eyes half closed.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"Get that will ya." Ben says to Jamie as a sneeze explodes out of nowhere, causing Jamie to jump and look at Ben.
"I think the walls just moved." He comments as he moves towards the door.
Jamie opens the door to see Evie Baang and Sam Marlowe standing outside. The two look at Jamie before Evie speaks.
"So is he still alive?" Evie asks, causing Sam to snap her head around to look at Evie.
"He's sort of alive." Jamie says as he points in to the hotel room.
Evie and Sam walk in to the room, seeing a glass eyed Ben standing in front of them.
"You don't look so good, Ben." Sam comments, but the cockney waves it off.
"I'm alright, I'm just one of the seven dwarfs today." He says has his face scrunches up "AAAAACHOOOOOO!"
Ben shakes his head after his sneeze.
"See, I'm dopey!" He says with a giggle.
The trio look around each other as a goofy smile crosses the cockney's face.
"Maybe you need a lie down." Sam tells Ben.
"I'll tuck you in." Jamie says
"I was gonna offer that." Evie responds.
Ben waves his hand as he look at the three of them, still, the goofy childlike smile plastered across his face.
"I'm good, I'll just lay here..." He tells them.
Ben turns around, looking at the nearby sofa and falls face first in to it, his rear in the air. Sam politely turns her head away, her eyes averted from Ben's rear, but Jamie and Evie stare at his rear in the air.
"If ever there was an invitation." Jamie says with a wink to Evie.
"Told him those squats would pay off." She tells Jamie.
Let's leave those two to their wicked thoughts and go in to Ben's head. We all have those bizarre dreams when we're sick, flu dreams are up there with drunk dreams and now we get to see what kinda flu dreams the Cockney King just might have.
Ben stands behind a white door, looking around at his unfamiliar surroundings and raises an eyebrow. Looking down at himself, he sees he's wearing, a very expensive looking silver suit, with a light blue tie. A look of confusion crosses his face as he straightens up, reaching for the door handle and pulling it down, somehow feeling he'd done this a million times before. Opening the door, a bright ray of sunshine bursts in, temporarily blinding the Englishman. Squinting his eyes, the shadow of a female figure silhouetted starts to form. Ben blinks rapidly to allow the figure to take shape. He blinks his eyelids as his vision becomes clearer.
"Eves?" He says softly.
Indeed it was Evie Baang standing in front of him, well, by looks anyway. The usually casually dressed Aussie looked different in a white sundress, flowers randomly dotted around it. Her hair neatly tied up with a ribbon in the same style as her dress.
"Well good morning sunshine." She says in an unusual cheery voice "Well don't you look handsome today neighbor."
Ben looks at her, slightly taken back by her cheery demeanour.
"Are you feeling alright, love?" Ben asks with a serious tone to his voice.
"I feel fantastic." She responds. "So sweet of you to be concerned for me. Anyway, I thought I'd bring you something over to start the day off just right."
She raises a takeaway coffee cup towards Ben, who looks at it. She puts it in to Ben's hand and squeezes his fingers around it.
"Cappuccino, no sugar, just the way you like it." She says happily. "Oh, let me get that for you."
She reaches up, straightening Ben's tie as a blank look crosses his face. She straightens his jacket and looks at him.
"Much better. I always did like that tie, brings out your eyes." She tells him.
Ben stands silently, lost for words as he looks at this new Evie.
"Well you have a fantastic day, Ben. Enjoy the coffee." Evie says before walking away from him.
Ben scratches his head, his eyes following her towards the next house. She turns to wave at him before walking in to the house. Ben turns his eyes towards the street.
"What the hell just happened there?" He mutters to himself.
His eyes look towards the street as a redheaded woman walks past, looking at him with a casual glance before moving on.
"Oh thank God." He says with relief "Sam!"
The woman walks past, dressed in green combat pants and a white tank top. Around her head, her hair is tied back by a camouflage bandana. Ben quickly moves towards her, getting behind her.
"Ginge." He starts "Wait up!"
He reaches her and puts her hand on her shoulder, but she snaps her hand back and grabs Ben's fingers. Gripping them, she spins around and forces Ben's fingers backwards. He looks at Sam with gritted teeth.
"Who do you think you're calling Ginge, huh?" Sam says to him. "Did I give you permission to touch me? Did I?"
She reaches back on his fingers, pushing them backwards to almost double them over.
"What ya playing at?" He asks through gritted teeth.
"You walked up behind me and called me ginge." She snaps back. "Do you think I'd let anyone get away with that? Have you ever seen me let anyone get away with that? No! You touch me again, you ever call me ginge again, I'm gonna snap your fingers clean off and shove them right up your nose, do you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah." Ben says as she pulls back on his fingers "Got it."
She lets go of Ben's fingers, staring at him and turns to walk away. Ben shakes his hand as he turns around, the blood returning to his fingers.
"What the bloody hell was up with her?" He asks himself.
Looking up, he sees a man walking towards him, walking a rather big looking dog. Ben rapidly blinks his eyes as he looks at the man coming closer, the dogs size getting bigger.
"Ryan?" Ben says softly.
Ryan Keys stops, looking at Ben. Ben observes Ryan, covered from top to toe in a long trench coat. Ben looks up at the sky, seeing the sun burning down on the streets below.
"Morning Ben." Ryan says.
"You must be sweating your gooleys off in that thing." Ben says pointing to the long coat.
"You know me Ben." Ryan replies "People who walk around showing off their bodies should be ashamed of themselves! No one wants to see that much flesh in public!"
Ben lowers his eyebrows as he looks at Ryan.
"Yeah, you're right." Ben says slowly "No one likes an exhibitionist...."
"Exactly!" Ryan agrees "Anyway, gotta go, have a good day Ben."
With that, Ryan shuffles past him with the huge dog, leaving Ben standing and shaking his head.
"Well this is bizarre." He comments with a laugh.
Ben looks up as a car drives towards him, the sounds of smooth modern Jazz blasting from the speakers. Ben looks up to see Amy Marshall in the drivers seat and Joey Santiago in the passenger seat, the two wave at Ben as they pass, Ben just slowly raising his coffee free hand to wave towards them. He slowly shakes his head and turns around, straight in to Lord Raab and Samuel McPherson. Ben looks at them, bother dressed in beige slacks, shirts and red bow ties.
"Good morning Ben." Raab says "I hope tonight is still on?"
"Tonight?" Ben stumbles out.
"Yes Ben." Lord Raab says "Tonight is our annual cheese and wine night. Samuel has picked out a great selection this year."
"Wine and cheese? You guys?" Ben says with a tone of surprise in his voice.
"Of course young Ben." Raab says "You should know by now that Samuel is one of the worlds leading wine experts and tonight he will showcase some absolutely fantastic wines from all over the world."
Ben looks towards Samuel who firmly nods his head towards Ben. Ben looks at him and nods his head up and down slowly.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, chaps." Ben says slowly.
"Excellent." Raab says with an unusual smile "Seven thirty would be a fantastic time to arrive."
"Consider it done!" Ben says pointing at the two.
The two nod politely before walking away. Ben looks towards the house that he came from and walks over, sitting down on the step outside the front door, placing the coffee next to him. He closes his eyes for a few second, rubbing the sides of his head.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" He asks himself, but a voice grabs his attention.
"When a guy is sitting there talking to himself, it must have been beer O clock and I missed it."
Ben opens his eyes to see Jamie Dean standing before him, Jamie not as immaculate as usual - wearing blue jeans covered in motor oil and a tank top that use to be white, but black greasy finger marks are pulled randomly over the shirt. In his left hand, he holds a cooler and sits on the step next to Ben, opening the cooler and pulling out two beers, handing one to Ben. Ben glances at his watch.
"It's like eight forty five mate." Ben says as he looks at the messy looking Jamie.
"But it's five O clock somewhere." Jamie says, his voice deeper than usual.
Jamie opens the beer and take a huge gulp, looking at Ben, encouraging him to do the same. Ben opens up the can and takes a gulp of his own.
"I love getting up early, watching the women go by." Jamie says to Ben, causing Ben to spit beer everywhere.
"You?" He says with shock in his voice "Women?"
Jamie takes a huge gulp of beer, a satisfied sound leaving his lips after.
"That hit the spot." He says before turning back to look at Ben "Yeah, women, the one thing that gets my motor running morning, noon, and night."
Ben silently looks at Jamie, a smile creeping on to his face.
"You take that little woman who lives next door to you." He tells Ben "She seems all prim and proper, but she probably got a naughty side. Serious wife material, dirty as all hell in private and will make you a sandwich after, but that redhead down the street."
Jamie pauses to take another gulp of beer, finishing the can, crushing it and throwing it to one side.
"You know that's wild as all hell when you get her inside." Jamie says to a smiling Ben. "Hell, inside a house, inside a pick up truck, inside the woods, it won't matter."
"You sound like an expert." Ben says, holding back a laugh.
"I've had my fair share of women." Jamie tells Ben "Probably had your share too!"
Ben bites his lower lip, muttering to himself.
"This can not be real." He says to himself.
From nowhere, a bird flies down, landing on Ben's shoulder and looks at him.
"It's not real." The bird says...
Ben's eyes go wide, before snapping back in to reality. His eyes fire open as he lies on the sofa. He rolls over on to his back to see Jamie sitting on the arm of the sofa at the other end. He turns his head slightly to see Evie in one chair and Sam in the other. Ben sits up, looking around at them.
"I just had the most bizarre dream." Ben tells the group, grabbing their attention.
"What happened?" Sam asks as she turns to face him.
"Well, I was in this street where I think all of you guys lived, but you wasn't you guys." Ben explains.
"So who was we?" Evie asks.
"Well..." Ben starts. "You was perfect little wife material for a start."
Evie puts two fingers in her mouth, in the universal sign of I'm gonna be sick.
"Sam here was bad arse and threatened to break my fingers for calling her ginge." Ben says looking at Sam, who lowers her eyebrows as she looks at him. "Amy and Joey drove past listening to Jazz music. Ryan was there covered up from top to toe saying people shouldn't show off their bodies in public, Markus was there in a bow tie all prim and proper, and Samuel was a wine expert."
"And what was I?" Jamie asks.
Ben sits up, smiling at Jamie.
"You was a beer drinking, car fixing, redneck looking straight guy." Ben tells him with a huge grin.
A look of horror crosses Jamie's face as he places his hand on his chest.
"Well that's your dream and my nightmare!" He tells Ben. "I feel dirty with you just saying that."
"You shoulda seen it, it was just brilliant." Ben says "But you know, while I'm conscious, I should probably do my whole promo thing, so let's get those stars between scenes on the screen, shall we?"
Ben clicks his fingers and the scene freezes Evie, Sam and Jamie in place...
*******
Ben looks around at the frozen crowd, spinning and planting his feet on the ground and holding back a sneeze as he looks down the camera.
"Alright people." Ben starts "My apologies in advance if I randomly sneeze a bit here, but some of those sneezes creep up on ya like little ninja and come outta nowhere."
He smiles down the camera.
"So it's happened then." He says calmly "It was always gonna happen where I'd have to jump in the ring with a friend and have a battle and looks like this week is the one for me. Up against Amy and here's the thing, I know I don't have to get in the ring with Amy, but I do know how tough of a person she is. I do know what she brings to the table and I know she's gonna give Sam a proper punch up. I know Amy is gonna be a toughie to break down, the woman has done it all, but I will be backing my partner one hundred percent to get the job done. Hate to see me mates have a punch up amongst themselves but I got faith in Sam to deal with this one."
Ben's face scrunches up as he holds back another sneeze.
"But my opponent this week is a bloody interesting one." Ben explains "People have actually said to me over the past week that it's basically like facing the anti me, like facing the evil version of me, like Spiderman and Venom, because apparently, I'm the ultimate good guy and my opponent is the ultimate bad boy."
Ben winks.
"See what I did there?" He says with a smile. "ACHOOOOO"
Ben turns his head away from the camera and looks back quickly.
"Sorry about that people." He says softly. "Anyway, I know fairness has been brought up a lot this week from various people all over the place, been brought up about certain people helping others and putting the unlucky at a bit of a disadvantage. I'm in that boat right now, cause one could say this bloke is at a disadvantage."
Ben breathes deeply.
"The fact that one of me closest mates, is a mate of my opponent would make it seem like I am very much on the disadvantaged side." Ben says, biting his lower lip "And people might think I'd have gone off Mickey for this whole bad boy stuff, and while it does look like three bad guys have been banded together for the sake of it, I'm proud that Mickey is getting more noticed in this role. Regardless of what sides of the fences we're on, we'll always be mates and if he gives his new mate a tip or two against be, fair enough, but there's a lot that motivates me here."
Ben turns away, feeling a sneeze coming on but holds it in. He turns back to the camera.
"This could be me last shot at going for something big." He starts "And I owe it to myself to find out if I can pull it off. Dax has a ton of stuff to prove too. SCW is about shocks lately, last few top boys have won the belt through a shock and Dax is someone that can continue that, but it might be a bloody shock to see me get hold of that belt, and that motivates me a fair bit."
Ben pauses for a second.
"It's hard to knock Dax for what he can do in the ring." Ben says thoughtfully "Everyone can see he has top level potential, that ain't in doubt people, but it's the way you act outside the ring Dax, is what makes people not take you so seriously. They've all see this bad boy stuff before, they've seen people rebel and play pranks. There was a guy here a while ago, Jamie Staggs, dunno if ya know him, but Jamie could play prank like no other man on this planet. The tricks you get up to mate, ain't nothing on him. It shows a bit of immaturity on your part and that's gonna come in to play a bit in this match. Everyone knew Jamie was immature, Jamie loved that tag, and didn't take things too seriously, but you do Dax, you wanna be noticed, you want to be known, you want to be the geezer everyone is talking about, but I think you want to be known for the wrestling side and not the joking pranks thing. I mean doing that to Ryan Keys, doesn't make you a serious competitor, doesn't show you want this as much as you want the group to get over...... ACCCCCHOOOOOO"
The long sneeze cuts Ben off mid speech. He quickly gathers himself before continuing.
"Sorry bout that." He says "Where was I? Ah yeah, about the group getting over. Admirable in a way that it's more about the entity rather than just you, but the group ain't in this tournament. It's just you Dax and this is where we see if you're good enough to do so without the aid of the group, without Giani and Mickey. As a three, you're good, but are ya as good as just the one? This is where I have me doubts Dax."
Ben puts his hand up.
"I'm not saying you can't do this on ya own." He says waving his hand "Far from it, but you have a group mentality going on there, you have people to fall back on and take some of the pressure off you a bit. Here, you don't have that, you basically have yourself, you don't fall as a group at this point mate, you fall on your own. You have no one to blame, no one to share your loss with, and yeah, you got an impressive record, but if I beat you, like pin you, you got no one to really fall back on. Can you handle that one? Believe me, I've been there and took the loss and it's not a rosey feeling to be having at any point of your career, let alone a chance that could propel you to the top of SCW just like that."
Ben pauses for a second.
"This is how I see it mate" He starts slowly "As much as this is a tag thing and some of us would love to see our partners do well, I think you wouldn't want that, you'd be happy seeing Amy fail, but you know you need to drive yourself on a bit to be able to kick on through and be at the top and this is your big chance. This is a chance for YOU Dax to prove yourself, not the Bad Boys to prove themselves, you to prove yourself. I'm not sure you really can without the help of those boys of yours. It's all personal opinion of course, but it looks like to me you're more dependant on them, then you clearly think."
Ben holds back another sneeze.
"I know you can say I depend on Jamie a bit." Ben starts "But you gotta remember, I came here and done a lot of solo stuff Dax, you haven't. Part of you feels they can cover you but in this match, they can't. I don't want to put out the bright star that is you, but I do wanna advance, I do wanna get through this and go as far as I can, and I will do that mate. You got future champ written all over you, but this is not your route to the top."
Ben stands up.
"Anyway mate, I am off to bed to shake this flu off." Ben says down the camera "But Dax, I'll see you Sunday, will be a pleasure to face ya pal, but I will be going one step further at least."
Ben winks down the camera.
"Laters people!" Ben says with a wink.
Ben walks towards the bedroom door once more, before stopping mid step.
"Bollocks, almost forgot." He says with a smile.
Ben clicks his fingers, allowing Jamie, Evie, and Sam to move once more before slipping in to the bedroom as the scene fades.
