[DoubleC]

 It has been a pleasant few days away from the wrestling world for Chris Crippler. Having made his victorious GWD debut in a triple threat match to advance into the finals of the American Justice Championship tournament, then making an unexpected visit to the land of sin to appear on the second to last Climax Control, Chris flew back to the United Kingdom that very evening and spent the first couple of days recovering.

Being fifty three now has definitely got its downsides. Years ago he would be able to wrestle in day long tournaments in Germany, compete in several independent shows one after the other in the states before flying to Tokyo and Australia to perform night after night, his body would have been tired and hurting but he could take it. He needed to get his name out into the wrestling world and that is exactly what he did. Chris Crippler may have been mocked for his surname but everyone knew what he brought to the table. Nowadays he is able to perform like he did twenty to thirty years ago, leaving fans in awe as he outperforms men and women half his age, however his body doesn’t allow him to have a heavy workload anymore and a special regime is in place to help recover.

A necessary burden to keep on competing. Throughout 2017 he had heard the same thing thrown at him, that his age is a hindrance and he should retire instead of being an embarrassment, sometimes he ponders that thought for a second before dismissing it as he is one of the best wrestlers in the world currently.

Chris hadn’t bothered to look at his emails or twitter account to find out his opponent, Chris stepped into his furnished office and sat behind his glass table and pressed a few keys on the keyboard, looking at the final Climax Control schedule to see he would be doing the honour of opening the show against Joshua Acquin. Chris un-cuffs his maroon dress shirt and rolls his sleeves up, loosening the noose of his tie, sitting back in his custom-made leather office chair and lets out a satisfying sigh and smirks.  He takes out his cellular phone from his black trouser pocket and mounts it on a special stand, clicking on the camera application and adjusts the height to get the perfect frame, Chris creaks his neck to the side before pressing the record button and sitting back in the chair with a look of content written over his face.

“For months now I’ve been posting tweets about Sin City Wrestling, retweeting shows that I’ve streamed whilst travelling on the road, showing my admiration to a promotion who has some of the best wrestlers in the world or have had some of the best compete in the iconic six sided ring.” Chris pauses for a moment. “And I have had the urge to leave the independent scene to try my luck here, more than an urge as I’ve seen some top quality matches, thinking I could challenge for that title or give a six starred match against him. But I’m someone who likes to honour my contract with a promotion, love or hate me it doesn’t matter, I was signed exclusively to Skyfire Wrestling with the added bonus of competing in special tournaments around the world. Guererros of Lucha in Mexico and New Japan Fighting Championship in obviously Japan.” He turns the camera to show two replica championships resting on the surface, the Skyfire Honour and Skyfire Championship belt, he taps both belts with his free hand whilst turning the camera back. A look of satisfaction upon his face. “I created history their and no one can ever take that away from me, sure the urge to leave was their but I took inspiration from my rival and someone I respect a lot, ‘Your Hero and Mine’ Mark Storm who posted at the beginning of the year a ‘To Do List for 2017’ and my name was on his list. That took me aback as someone from the EWC wanted to wrestle me and it got me thinking about 2018. I’ve recently joined a small promotion in Los Angeles with Skyfire on hiatus, I’m in Guererros of Lucha to wrestle in the Lucha World Cup, beyond that I have nothing planned and I wrote a list of things I’d like to do or achieve. The first thing I wrote down was to wrestle for Sin City Wrestling.”

A crestfallen look appears on the fifty three year olds face. “But the untimely news of the two hundredth edition of Climax Control would be the last, and a special iPay Per View entitled ‘Full Circle’ would be its last, the outpouring towards the promotion had been tremendous and very much deserved. That is genuine comment. But I was disappointed that the first thing I had written down wouldn’t come true. So I contacted the SCW once the news broke and asked if I could appear on the final shows, I had expected them to reject this offer, see out the promotion with its core guys and gals and special appearances of SCW stars of their past.” Chris smiles with gratification. “However they accepted my proposal and on its final show I’m going to have the distinguished honour of wrestling in the opening contest, sure everyone will be looking at the Legends matches and the main event, they can enjoy those matches to all their hearts content but the show is only as good as it’s opening match and I intend on giving the SCW fans the match they deserve! A match to remember! And the person I share that honour with is the ‘Nightmare’ Joshua Acquin.” He gives the camera a look of discontent. “The ephialtes of Sin City! The person who came from the infamous Galveston Island Wrestling, I just hope SCW doesn’t go along their lines as with each resurrection their credibility died and their name ran through the dirt, Mark and Christian aren’t that stupid as they’ve ran this promotion day in and day out for 7 years without a hitch. Promotors can learn a lot from them! Joshua Acquin has done a lot in SCW, a multi-time Tag Team Champion with Steve Ramone and the double cross of 2014 with Lucian Frost, he has had some memorable matches and like he says he has the Acquin way of welcoming wrestlers, many have fallen at his hand and others have gone on to prosper yet this match is intriguing as I’m not looking to prosper on SCW’s demise. I’m not looking to make a name for myself as my name is legendary!” Chris shakes his head. “No, I’m here because I know that Sin City Wrestling legacy will live on for a very, very long time. Promotions like 4CW and EWC are amongst those promotions who leave a legacy and SCW is like the unsung hero that everyone respects. Do I want to add it to my resume? No. Two matches don’t mean anything. I just want to tick off the fact I’ve wrestled in SCW. Self-gratification, Joshua.”

Chris leans forward in his chair to readjust his seating position to get comfortable. “You may see yourself as the come to guy to introduce people to SCW, comparing yourself to the short lived Arizona State Wrestling, you might see yourself as the person who greets the new guys to the promotion but HOW many people remember the greeter at Walmart? If you want to be that guy, Joshua, then that is completely fine. You seem content in it. I mean I could be that guy! I could wrestle the new guys and be content with that..” He ponders for a second. “..But I’m not a novelty act. I see myself achieving things like championships, wrestling the best wrestlers in the world to the best of my ability, seeing the chance to wrestle on the final days of SCW and giving it my all. Looking at the list and crossing things off one by one. You may be the guy Christian, Mark or both turn too but I’m so much more Joshua. So much more!” Chris smirks. “I will be looking for the nightmare who captured those championships, who manipulated a masked enigma to turn on his partner, the person who created waves with Alexis Terry, Ace Baldwin, Alex Castellanos and Chris Callum within the GIW, you speak about the SCW with love in your heart and lust in your eyes because you are SCW. I don’t want a bad thought.. I want THE NIGHTMARE! You want to remember SCW then let Climax Control be your final stand, not mister reliable, be the man who caused a load of bad dreams!” He pauses before letting out a long sigh. “I want to give the entire SCW a match to remember, a show opening match to remember, a show opening match that sets up this legendary show to be one of the best shows of 2017! I hope you find the nightmare but I fear he is but a distant memory, you will fight valiantly but in the end, you may be uncertain of your future but I know what I want and I’m going to be seeking glory in 2018. And maybe I will achieve something elsewhere to mark off another one of my list..” Chris lifts up a photograph of Griffin Hawkins. “..We passed each other years ago in Germany but never wrestled, you achieved great things in the EWC and I had hoped you’d replicate here in the SCW, I had hoped one of my matches would be against you rockstar. I will be watching where you go in 2018 with eager eyes as I hope to wrestle you one on one!”

Chris lowers the photograph and looks at the camera with intensity before tapping on the stop button. He re-watches what he had recorded before uploading it onto youtube, linking it to his twitter account whilst doing so, looking at the number of views rise by the second before shutting down all the apps on his phone. He had to pack his back before heading back out to Nevada to hopefully entice the SCW audience, open the show with a bang and a victory, letting Christian and Mark see that the fifty three year old isn’t just a fan. That he is the real deal.