Ever since I said that there's five people I feel I need to go through to get to earn a title shot, SCW have been coming up with a way to monopolize that fact, a way to maybe show a different side to things, show me as a person than just a bloke you lot get to see on your screens on a weekly basis. I'm not Keira Fisher coming in here with a sense of entitlement, demanding shots at champions, I want to earn it and since I mentioned those five names, SCW have tried to come up with a way to show me as the real hard working guy that I am, so they sent a camera crew around with me to document everything I do as I try to get through those five names. It started just last Sunday at Climax Control 249. I had a camera crew follow me about and it's gonna continue until one of those five names knock me off the track.
I had just pranked Fenris, it wasn't a harmful prank, and he got it, although someone close by will probably think handing a guy with big lips a chapstick might have been too far... Maybe that silly little Greta girl might fight the cause when she's bored of taking planes everywhere and bitching about Climate Change - even nice guys can dislike spoilt brats. But that was done and I'd walked away from Iceland's finest before he could shove that chapstick up my left nostril. As much as I fancied that steak, I had one more thing to do and that was report to the area tied off with the SCW backdrop and a chair, a place Christian Underwood usually makes announcements, or at times, Mercedes Vargas spins pearls of wisdom.
As soon as I arrived, a microphone was being pinned to my chest as I sat down on a chair in front of the SCW sign.
"So Ben, I will just be following you about most places with the camera crew." The producer explained to me "And I'll ask questions and you answer honestly. Hopefully, we will be following you around and through till you get that World championship and a lot of things will be edited and we'll have ourselves something we can market."
"And if I never win the World Championship?" I ask with a half smile.
I knew me and championship shots are as rare as seeing a leprechaun arriving on a unicorn, I knew I was the opposite of Salco when it came to title shots.
"Then we'll have some great footage of you we can turn in to something else." The producer tells me. "Comfortable?"
His finger points to the chair I'm sitting in and a quick sharp nod comes from my head.
"As I will ever be." I replied.
My eyes look around the various cameras pointed at me and I take a deep breath.
"So five names Ben." The producer says to me, not really asking a question but I watched his hand as he waved them to encourage me to speak.
"Yeah." I reply, clearing my throat as I do. "Five of the top names in SCW to be honest."
"What made you pick those five?" He asks, looking from behind the camera.
"Well Alex Jones, most people would sit there and say he hasn't had any major success in SCW." I begin. "But the truth is, he's probably the most underrated wrestler in SCW. He's go bags of potential but he's been overshadowed in Wolfslair by Alicia Lukas and Austin James Mercer. When they got the top belts, it became about them, so maybe he should have dropped to the Roulette level till it was his time to rise, but we all know how good he is, so I knew he'd be a challenge."
I hold up two fingers.
"And Austin James Mercer." I say respectfully. "There's a reason the man was a champion for so long. geezer is incredible in the ring and it don't come across that way unless you see him close up or you're in the ring with him because he's phenomenal. Probably one of the hardest workers in SCW in the ring, but people put their eyes elsewhere because he's not a man of many words on shows, he puts his effort in to what he does in the ring and it shows. Anyone who can claim they've gone up against Austin James Mercer and survived is a bonus, let alone defeating him. I see Austin as the man you need to beat in SCW if you want people to sit up and take notice."
"What about Ty West?" The producer asks me, bringing a slight smile to my face.
"Well it's a case of Ty earned his way to be number one contender." I reply with a shrug. "Clearly there's talent there, and everyone knows Ty is a sensitive soul, and those don't usually make for good wrestlers, but he broke the mould a little bit there. He earned his spot there and those are the people you need to aim towards if you want that spot, they're the people you look at and use as a rough guide to get where you wanna be."
"And Fenris." The producer asks.
"Look, no one wants to face Fenris." I say with a serious look on my face. "Trust me, no one. Caleb Storms was tanking it but stepped up to do it. You gotta admire that a bit, but the fact is, if you can't step up and face people that you know are that good, that are seen as better than you, you shouldn't be in this business, you shouldn't be doing this job. Fenris is a guy you aim to be, a guy with the big title run, the eyes on you, yet still have respect for the championship. He's the only World Champion I can remember since J2H that showed up all the time, that was proud to be a champion, that actually put effort in to what he was gonna say and do weekly. That's the kinda level I want to be on, and you need to be able to beat someone like that, to become better than someone like that."
"Senor Vinnie is the champion and he is last on your list." the producer comments.
"He is." I reply with a slight smile. "He's got the belt, he's what people are aiming at but to me, it's his unpredictability that makes him a draw for me. You don't know what he's gonna do from one moment to the next, you don't know what he will do because he don't know what he will do I think."
I couldn't help but smile at my own comment. It was true, I wasn't sure Vinnie knew half the things he was doing until he was actually doing them. He was a very Jekyll and Hyde guy to me. Would be a beast when it came to talking about a match in a promo sent in before a match but put him in front of a live camera and it was a shadow of what he could do. That was the draw for me with Vinnie as well as the championship.
"Do you think the likes of Griffin Hawkins, Jack Raab and maybe even Teddy Warren would be disappointed not to make that list?" The producer asks.
"I don't think so." I reply quickly. "I mean Teddy and Griffin are ripping it up right now with each other, Jake has a lot of respect for me, so think he'd be more happy that I'm doing this. If he spoke to Markus about me, I know Markus would have told him that I'm fairly humble, fairly in the background, not too worried about pushing myself to the spotlight, so I think he would be happy for me."
"You confirmed earlier you will be facing Ty West next week at Climax Control two fifty." The producer states. "Should you beat him, do you feel that you should be headlining High Stakes IX?"
"Not at all." I fire back "Number one contenders lose all the time, you've seen that tonight with Bobbie Dahl and Bill Barnhart. You saw it last week with Seleana Zdunich. They've earned their right to get the matches they deserve. If I beat Ty West, big if at the end of the day cause he was on that list for a reason, I will be sitting there with a lot of confidence going in to my match against Fenris, which in my eyes, is bigger than facing Ty West."
"How so?" The producer asks.
"Without disrespect meant, but Ty might take it that way anyway." I say with a sigh. "Fenris is by far a better wrestler than Ty West, far better. He has the personality for it, tough inside and out and I already know the fans are wondering if Ty West loses to Vinnie, will this be the last of him? Will he be the next wrestler to take a break."
I couldn't help myself but air quote the word break, it felt natural and right considering how many people fail at a title shot in SCW or lose a championship and you don't see them for months. No consideration of the shape of the roster, no thought on how they can turn that loss in to a positive, just think of themselves and take the easy way out.
"But when you can beat someone like Ty, then go on to take on someone like Fenris." I point out. "The confidence flows and believe me, I'm gonna need all the confidence I can get."
"You'll need more than confidence." Fenris voice could be heard off camera.
"You're gonna need more than Ty softening Ben up to beat him." Evie's voice can be heard telling Fenris.
Fenris and Evie had a weird brother sister relationship. Both came from the same gym, both as tough as old boots and neither would back down from anyone, including each other.
The camera turns around to see them and I rise to my feet, raising a finger to the producer, just asking for a minute.
"What is all this?" Fenris asks curiously.
"It's all about when Ben kicks everyone's arse, including yours and wins the World Title." Evie tells him.
Fenris rolls his eyes.
"More of if." I explain. "They got a hit DVD to sell at that point, so until I win that bad boy, or lose to one on my list, these guys will be following me."
"So for the next few weeks then." Fenris says with a confident look.
"Maybe six when Austin James Mercer or Alex Jones get their hands on me." I reply with a grin.
I look towards the camera crew.
"Can we call this part for now?" I ask "I really fancy that steak."
The producer nods and I look at Fenris once more.
"Must dash old boy, but don't be surprised if you see a certain tweet later." I tell him with a smile.
And that is what Evie and I did.
I'm not gonna bore you with the details of what we ordered, how it was cooked, small talk about it. We've all seen that done before and frankly, it was boring and just took up promo time, so we're gonna skip to the end of all that to where Evie and I were leaving the restaurant area and heading to bar area.
Both of us dressed casually, we took a seat at the only empty table there was, a table for four people. It didn't take long for a waitress to spot us and move towards us, taking our order of beer for myself, a large glass of wine for my wife. I looked around the crowd, watching the eyes of the people at the beach club fall on me.
"You wanna go somewhere else?" Evie asks me, snapping my attention back towards her.
I quickly shake my head, crowds have never bothered me and at the end of the day they're fans after all, having to deal with price bumps since SCW was announced to be here.
"I'm alright." I tell my wife as I pick up the beer in front of me. "It's not like we haven't had fans look at us before. They're just spotting all they can before they know most of us will head off in the morning, speaking of which, I'm thinking we should stay here for a couple more days."
"Oh?" Evie says curiously.
"Till Wednesday." I tell her. "Then I need to head back to Las Vegas for the day, but you should go on to Abacas for the next show and I'll join you there on Friday morning."
She raised her eyebrow at me, not sure exactly why I would leave the tour and tell her not to come with me.
"I just got a chance to do something in Vegas on Thursday night." I explain. "But after it's done, I fly directly back to you at the next stop. It's not worth twenty long hours of travelling overall for us both to get there for me to do just a little work and come back. You can Bear can keep yourself entertained while I'm gone for just over a day, go and chill and I can meet you there."
Evie trusted me completely, she knew that I wasn't running off to meet some fancy woman, I was going to Vegas for a reason. I liked to travel and I would always prefer Evie to be with me when I did, but this time, it wasn't worth dragging all those clothes we took on tour, just for one night in Vegas to come back when I could take a bag and be back with the wife in just over a day and a bit.
"I like to go above and beyond with some things." I tell her. "I'll be back before you miss me."
Evie frowns, still not sure what I'm talking about.
"If that's what you wanna do." She tells me. "I'll go lay on a beach while Bear looks for new turtle friends and you go sit on a plane back to Vegas and probably spend a lot of time playing Football Manager or FIFA."
"Actually thinking about taking the camera crew with me." I tell her. "I'm sure there's a ton of questions they can ask me on the way and film a ton more for that possible DVD or waste of film, whatever it may be."
Evie puts her hand on mine, looking across the table at me.
"Oh you're gonna be champion." She tells me the smile on her face and confident tone comes at me like a sledgehammer.
I wish I had the confidence my wife had but the fact is, I'm not sure I do. I've named great opponents, but there is a truth behind biting off more than you can chew. I don't know if I have but time will tell.
"So, party after this tour?" Evie asks.
"I'm not that popular anymore." I admit "I dunno why people would wanna show up. I just wanted to maybe go on a cruise where I'm not working, ten countries in three weeks, something like that. I can't even attract people out anymore with pub texts."
"Prove it, go on, pick up your phone and tweet it." Evie says with a smile.
"Not gonna get anyone here." I tell her. "One person at most."
I wanted to prove the point to Evie, so I did what was asked and picked up the phone. A few seconds later, I'd invited every follower I had on Twitter to come and join us at the bar. Looking at my phone for an age, no one notification brought a smug look to my face as I looked across at my wife.
"See, told ya." I smirk. "No one, no a sausage, not a bean not a..."
I'd spoke too soon as my phone lit up with Fenris responding to my tweet. We were in a beach club, it wasn't like this place had many pubs and it wouldn't take long for him to get here.
"Who?" Evie says with a smirk now plastered on her face.
"Fenris." I reply sharply.
"Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeat." Evie sarcastically. "Which means boy scout will be coming along too."
I couldn't help but scratch my head. I hadn't seen Ty around at all this weekend. I saw him earlier this week when Fenris was recording his promo - yes, you never do know who's behind the camera when it comes to tours on smaller islands. We all run across someone recording their work, but this weekend, I haven't seen him.
"I don't even know if he is still on the island." I tell Evie. "I know he was knocking around earlier this week, but he wasn't on camera earlier, I didn't see him backstage, he wasn't even around Fenris when I gave him his present, which is weird cause he's usually the first to meet him after a match. He wasn't even with him when I was sitting and filming earlier, so maybe he had a family emergency or something and went home."
"Hmmmm" Evie muses. "It isn't normal for him to not follow his master around like love sick puppy."
That was the topic of our conversation for the next ten minutes until the familiar face of Aron Baltassarson appeared at our table.
"Alright mate." I say warmly to greet the brother of Fenris "Where's the nutcase?"
"He's at the bar." Aron says as he takes a seat, he shouldn't be too long.
That was indeed the case as Fenris quickly joined the table, a tray of shots in his hand and places them on the table in front of the three seated people.
"Tonight, we drink." Fenris says as he takes the spare seat.
"For tomorrow, we will all be dead with hangovers." I quickly continue
Fenris nods as he hands out the glasses to us all. Needless to say, this was the start of a rough night for us four.
Yes, tomorrow we will all have hangovers was correct, well, I wouldn't say hangover as such but I wasn't exactly feeling too chipper if I'm honest, I felt rougher than what I was about to wake up to.
"The hell.." was all I could mumble out as I felt something against my cheek.
My eyes were close tight but could feel something rough rolling along my cheek. I had to know what it was but didn't know if forcing my eyes open was a good idea. It had to be done, and to my shock, I was met by the hairy face as Bear staring me in the eyes, nose to nose with me.
"Did you just lick my mush?" I ask our pet dog.
It was almost like he was smiling at me as he moved his head back, looking me in the eye with what seemed like a very mischievous look. I look around my surrounding as Bear leaps down, running around the room, seeing myself sitting on the sofa in my boxers, in our rented beach club apartment. From a side door, Evie walks through, spying me sitting on the sofa and walking towards me, fully dressed and looking fresh as a daisy. She slides herself across my lap and wraps her arms around my neck.
"Morning sunshine." She says before planting a kiss on my cheek.
"I really wouldn't if..." I say with a wince, knowing it was too late.
The look on Evie's face said it all, like that last roll of a sour gob stopper. Her face shrilling up like she'd bit in to a lemon.
"What the fuck?" She says in a loud firm tone.
"Bear decided to kiss me on the cheek before you did." I tell her, trying not to smile.
Evie fires a look towards Bear, who tilts his head, looking at her with a doggy smile, his mouth open as he stares back at her. Evie shakes her head and puts her hand on my shoulder.
"Liven yourself up, we did promise him we'd talk him for a walk on the beach." Evie reminds me.
"That was before be slobbered all over me." I reply gruffly.
Evie softly taps me on the shoulder.
"Come on, get your arse up and ready." She says as she slides off my lap and stands up.
Twenty minutes later, off to the beach it was and the sun was not playing kindly with my eyes at all, or maybe it was those shot of snake venom beer Fenris had somehow managed to pull out of nowhere. Personally, I think he went to the bar for shot glasses and a tray but carried his own personal stash of that insane stuff, either way, a little stroll along the beach, the cool ocean breeze should have been just what the doctor ordered, right? Well, not really. The doubts had been forming in my head ever since I sat there and gave that interview last night. Talking about the five people I wanted to face and beat to sit up on top of the SCW world had got me wondering, doubting if I could. It wasn't like I picked five low card guys I could beat in my sleep to lay claim to a top spot. It's not about how many you beat, it's about who you beat.
I sighed deeply as I walked hand in hand with my wife, watching Bear run off in to the distance a little, grabbing the attention from us. What can I say? The boy was recognisable. I was looking forward but I could feel Evie's eyes looking at me.
"Hung over?" she asks me as she looked across.
I had to shake my head, it was less of a hangover, more tired. I get the occasional hangover but since all that treatment for the medical issue I had a while ago, it's been replaced with tiredness.
"Not really." I tell my wife as I continue to keep my eyes on Bear. "Just over thinking I think."
Evie nodded her head, I caught it out of the corner of my eye, just a few nods before her eyes looked forward.
"You're doubting your list again, aren't you?" She says firmly.
She knew me well, better than anyone on the face of this planet I think. She's spent years around me, she knows what I'm thinking half the time before I know what I'm thinking. That brings a lot of awkward conversations, believe me.
"Yeah." I admit. "What if I over bit here a little? What if I shoulda looked a little lower? Instead of looking at the top five guys in wrestling now, two are the top two in the world right now, maybe I should have looked at five good ones, that sit around the middle, impressive on their day but not exactly breaking through at the top, then hit one just on the edge of being top five, then someone in the top five? Give myself some build up over a longer time."
I could feel Evie gripping my hand tighter the more I spoke about this situation.
"So you're saying you haven't earned it?" with an air of disgust in her tone. "You've been here for years, one title shot, and you rarely lose, yet Jessie Salco had two title shots in two weeks, fuck, the woman has had a shot at EVERY title since Summer XXXTreme. One at that show, two in the last two weeks and lost them all. She had three Bombshell title shots in a year back in the day, one against me and lost them all. You have worked your arse off for SCW since you walked in the door and had one go at the top and you took on J2H, who went on to hold that title forever. People show up for a few weeks and get title shots so why not you?"
I knew she was right but I'm not someone that sits there and demands. I don't say I want that title shot and get it granted. I've often thought I can do just that, and know the staff would have given it to me like they have done others in the past, although I'm sure they grant that to watch people fail. I didn't want to be those guys, I wanted to come off a hot streak where people are behind me. I want to go in to a match like that as the favourite and give the champion something to think about.
"Why hasn't it happened before Eves?" I ask sincerely. "I mean all these people who do show up and ask and receive, why hasn't my work been recognised before? I mean do you remember the whole Keira Fisher thing years ago? Got a shot, failed, started a whole thing for one more shot? I don't wanna be that guy, I want to be the guy who goes on this epic run, and take that belt, this is the only way I can do it, but damn, the people I chose to prove myself against."
"You'll beat all of them." Evie says confidently. "And the bosses will give you those matches without a doubt. If they can give people title shots because they ask, they will give you those matches."
I was very sure they would give me those matches but something was nagging at me.
"I'm thrown by the order of these things." I admit. "Fenris was meant to be the one from last to me, Ty maybe my second one. Not a slight on them, but felt that was the way to do it, and now because Ty is more apt with Icelandic terms somehow rather than English, going public having a sulk about me because I called him lover boy, Christian saw it and boom, a match."
"Ty's a bit soft anyway." Evie says with a smile. "He gets butt hurt over everything."
"Maybe, but it throws off my order a little bit there." I tell Evie. "I don't rate him anywhere near as good as Fenris or Senor Vinnie, I even think maybe Austin has the slight edge on him too. Nice guy, don't get me wrong, but he's no Vinnie or Fenris."
I watch Evie stop in her tracks, forcing me to stop next her. She stands in front of me, looking in my eyes.
"It doesn't matter who you face in what order, you can beat them all." She says in a changed, soft but serious tone. "Hell, you could face them all at the supercard after this, all six of you and you will beat them all at once."
"Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuush." I say as I raise a finger to my lips. "You can't say things like that, the bosses will always find out things like that and before I know it, I'm in a chamber with a whole lot of people."
"How would they find out?" Evie asks.
Both Evie and I couldn't resist but turn to look at the camera with smiles on our face, both of us shrugging before looking back at each other.
"No idea but these things just seem to become public knowledge." I tell Evie while holding back a smile.
"Well if it does happen, I want royalties for coming up with it." Evie says to me with a smile, before her tone changes to a softer, more personal tone. "You're gonna beat Ty West next Sunday, you're gonna beat Fenris at High Stakes IX, you will get through Austin James Mercer and Alex Jones and you will beat Senor Vinnie. If anyone has earned it, it's you."
"I think Bear is more likely to get a title shot before me" I say nodding my head towards Bear. "He's much more popular."
Evie turns her body to see Bear sitting in between four bikini clad women, each with their phones taking selfies of the popular dog. Both Evie and I shake our heads.
"No wonder he likes the beach." I whisper to Evie as I put my arms around her from behind.
"Feels like he's not the only one." Evie says looking back at me and winking.
"That's not them, that's because you're pushing up on me way too close." I tell her with a grin.
That's where I'm gonna leave it there for you, I'll let you make up your own mind on what that meant but frankly, most of you are perverts so you get it. Next few days were all fun and games, but then, Evie found herself on the way to another exotic island but me? I was on my way back to Las Vegas.
Plane rides never bothered me too much, especially as I have my own private plane, there were often times I was just drift off, which happened a lot on my way home from an SCW show backs home to Maine. It was a few hour on the plane usually between where SCW held shows and Maine, but it gave me time to sleep, or sober up after a few beers with some of the boys, before heading back to the arms of my wife. This Wednesday afternoon was slightly different as I flew back to Las Vegas without Evie, but with the documentary film crew.
"You can roll the camera now." The producers voice can be heard saying before the red light goes on and the recording starts. "We're just gonna talk Ben and we'll see what we can use later."
"Amazing how much film you need for an hour or so special on the SCW site." I comment with a smile.
"Well there will be that long roughly on the SCW Studio site maybe, but they're looking at blurays and extended cuts, director cuts, all kinds of things." The producer tells me. "So we need to get as much as we can."
"To cut out all the boring stuff, you're gonna need a lot." I respond with a half hearted smile.
I wasn't exactly the most interesting person in the world, I knew that, so yeah, SCW better have one hell of a budget for this thing, or must expect it to make a ton of money in some places. It probably won't.
"So Ben, we're on a plane, we're heading toward Las Vegas." The producer states. "Why are we heading there?"
A smile crosses my face.
"We're heading there because I'm gonna appear on a wrestling show on Thursday night." I say with a nod of my head.
"Sin City Underground?" He asks.
"Sin City Underground." I repeat back to him.
"You've only worked for two place, ACW and SCW, so does it feel weird going to a place that you don't work for full time?" He asks.
"It's indifferent." I admit. "But it was my choice to do it. In SCW deals now, you can work for SCU, you can appear on their shows to push things for your own. It's a strange feeling cause I think there will be a very different energy about the place, their fans are unique like SCW's, but in different ways. I've been to an SCU show but not on camera, not in front of their crowd, but been backstage once just out of curiosity to see how differently they do it from SCW."
"How differently do they do it?" He asks me.
"It's a smaller budget so things need to be tighter, there's no chance of trial and error where if it doesn't work and you lose a fed quid doesn't matter, just go again." I say thinking back to the only show I attended. "They don't sit there and do elaborate things to sell matches because they need to keep things in budget, so they help out by giving their guys bullet points to talk about to cut down on the risk of screw ups, where as SCW have a much bigger budget and allow people to be a little more expressive. SCW can take the risk SCU can't afford to take, and it's not a bad thing SCU is run like that. They're building their brand and SCW has already built theirs. In years to come, SCU can open the purse strings a little."
"Do you think the link of SCW and SCU is beneficial to both parties?" He asks as he looks me dead in the eye.
"I think it's great for both companies and getting closer, they work well together, but..." My voice slows down. "I don't think people make the most of it. Not the companies, the wrestlers. The smart ones in SCU are appearing on SCW shows more, it's smart, it's a bigger company at this point, people are starting to know who Mark Cross is, they knew Hitamashii before, they were slightly familiar with some members of Le Coven, and The Kawaii Dragons, but these guys are the smart ones who know appearing on SCW TV can draw people to SCU TV, and I think if big SCW fans hear of surprise appearances from SCW stars down there, people would be like god damn, who might show up next week and tune in, and the wrestlers and companies benefit. People who love SCU are wondering who's gonna show up on Climax Control, so there eyes are on there and weeks like this, I think both sets of wrestlers need to be all over the place."
"Why is that?" he asks with a genuinely curious tone.
"Because we're a couple of weeks away from High Stakes IX." I remind him. "Everyone knows what they're doing at the show in SCW, a lot in SCU know, now's the time for us to go sell our stuff on Underground, and SCU guys to come sell their stuff on Climax Control. Doesn't matter if you're on the pre show or the main show, it's been SCW's biggest show of the year and now it's SCW and SCU's biggest joint show of the year. Time to be smart."
"Is that why you're heading to Vegas?" The producer asks me.
"It is." I tell him with a smile. "It's a big few weeks coming up for me. I gotta get out there and get people interested in seeing me and Fenris have a punch up. There's been a lot of rivalries sold well this time around, a lot of big things happening. You've seen a lot of Jessie and Crystal or Christina going at it, Mercedes and Melody, Sammi has been about reminding people about her match and a lot of disappointments with people that have known about their matches for a while and not even been in the same ring as each other for a face of. I just want people to be sitting there remembering that this is a huge match and it's happening at a huge show."
"Worth the flight?" The producer asks me with a smile.
"Absolutely." I reply quickly. "If you don't give it your all in this business, you shouldn't be in it. Turn up, wrestle and go home isn't gonna get you chances anywhere. Years ago it could, people would show up, demand this, demand that and companies folded. Since Mark Ward's been back, it seems to have re-energized Christian where they've changed things to giving chances who give back. Maybe that's why Salco is getting a lot of shots? Cause she turns up to work when she doesn't have to and maybe why some wrestlers don't, because they don't show up unless they are in the ring, but this is a big show for me, this is why I'm putting in the effort coming all the way back to do it."
"Do you think many others will?" He asks.
"Not a chance." I reply with a laugh. "They're already on their way to the next island so I doubt many will follow my lead, I hope to be proved very wrong. I hope a few more are gonna show up too, but my gut says they're swanning it up a bit on the next island with their feet up."
Well the next few hours passed well, with myself and the producer talking about many different subjects and if ya lucky and I go on to be the person I hope I can be, you might get to see them in the final bluray cut.
Getting in front of a live crowd is always a rush, I don't know why people don't do it that often, but for me, huge rush, huge excitement, love it. Today was something just like that. Walking back through the curtain after Fenris and I had surprised the world, just by showing up at an SCU show and continuing to build up what we started in SCU. If you missed it the first time around, feel free to go and watch it on demand.
I was met with a sea of nodding and smiling faces when I got back through that curtain, the buzz of the night still running through my body as the producer for the documentary waited for me to reach the bottom of the steps leading up to the ramp.
"Happy with that?" He asked
I couldn't stop smiling as I looked at the nearest camera held by his crew.
"Absolutely." I reply beaming from ear to ear. "The fans didn't expect me here, let alone seeing Fenris pop up on one of their shows. This is gonna be a show they won't forget in a hurry, because of this. I'm sure they'll appreciate the fact we flew thousands of miles and leaving our loved ones behind just to come to them. High Stakes isn't just an SCW show, SCU play a huge part of it and should feel involved. I hear there's a pre show and some of their guys will be on the main card so yeah, they need to see SCW people here."
"This felt like one hell of a surprise." The producer states. "How did it all come about?"
I start to walk down the hallway, watching SCU wrestlers look at me, some with a smile, some not overly pleased at the fact SCW had appeared.
"It was Tad and Donna." I explain. "They were randomly talking to the people there and mentioned they wanted to have some SCW people there. I kinda wanted to appear on one of their shows but never got the chance and felt that it would show that we were willing to keep up the momentum we've built. Talking Fenris in to it wasn't too tough. He lives here in Vegas he'd been travelling a lot so he was happy to be here and sleep in his own bed last night. Mentioned a day away, he mentioned going to the Casino, having a few pints were discussed and here we are."
"Is that where you're heading tonight?" The producer asks
"Yes, off to The Golden Ring Casino." I tell him. "Just for a few pints, lose a couple of quid, not go too mental, cause we gotta get back on a plane and fly ten hours tomorrow"
"Was that different?" The producer asks "Being in front of a different set of fans?"
"That was exciting." I explained as I kept walking. "The buzz was mad. The music hitting, people know the song, they didn't expect it, takes them a few seconds to get their head around and bang, walking out there and listening to them cheer. It was a whole different level. People love the unexpected, and people know with us when we're in SCW, we might be there, that's what they pay to see, but here, they didn't pay to see us, they paid to see guys like Javi, Hitamashii, The Bad Boys, those guys, never expected to see up so they took it up another level."
Before I can continue, I can feel a weight on my back, arms around my neck. I look down to see a pair of arms around me but the weight felt heavier. I look down to see feet off the floor. I break the grip to see Fenris behind me.
"If that was an attempted leapfrog, you're really bad at it." I tell him as I look at the grin on his face.
"If I tried to leapfrog you while you were standing up, I would have landed in front of you." The ever confident Icelander tells me.
"How did you feel it went out there Fenris?" The producer asks him.
I looked at the look on Fenris' face as he puts his hands up.
"Why the fuck are you asking me stupid questions, this is his documentary." Fenris reminds him. "Keep asking him stupid questions."
That brought a smile to my face. This rivalry was nothing to do with hate, neither of us had done anything to offend the other. From Fenris' eyes, it was about respect, because for some reason or another, he respected me a lot. It was half the same through my eyes too but also a lot to do with me feeling like I had something to prove. There hasn't been a superstar in SCW that rose that quickly to the top, that gained a lot of eyes and respect, since my own wife.
"Uh, ok." The producer says a little taken back. "Do you think fans will find it weird if they see this and see two enemies being so friendly?"
"Enemies?" Fenris says to himself under his breath.
"Look, angles get build in different ways all the time." I explain. "Some are built around wrong doing, some are built around respect and giving the fans one hell of a match. I think we'll be fairly high up the card because of the fact the fans wanna see this as much as fish lips here wants to do it."
"Hey!" Fenris yells as he fires me a look for the fish lips comment.
I look towards him with a smile before continuing.
"I think we know this is something the fans wanna see." I continue. "Because of who we are but there's a lot of good matches on that show so it's about making the fans invest in things with us and sit there excited to see us. Lot of great stuff happening lately so we gotta stay fresh in people's minds."
"So there's plans for Sunday at Climax Control 250?" The producer asks.
"I think so." I reply with a smile. "But don't worry, I won't be giving you another chapstick."
My eyes move towards Fenris, a less than impressed look on his face.
"I will get you back for that one?" He tells me.
"No you won't." I quickly reply.
"Look, can you stop talking now, we're wasting valuable drinking time." Fenris says with a huff.
He was right, we was, so we went to change that, a night in the Golden Ring Casino, a real good burger for me, a squashed plant in the shape of a burger for Fenris, a few hours sleep and a plane ride to our other halves....
And our quick stop off in Las Vegas had come to an end as I sat on a plane roaring it's way back towards Abacos. The week felt to me like it had been ten days long but worth it to me, but there was one more thing I had left to do and that was talk about what was coming up on Sunday, what was coming up at Climax Control two hundred and fifty. A great number for a wrestling company when so many fail to get past a handful of shows. It had hit me the sooner I got things done, the more time I could just spend with my wife when the plane landed. That's why I decided, with the help of the documentary team, to do my talking on the way back.
The camera crew had set things up to have a camera right in front of me on my private plane, which gave me time to relax, speak and get everything in order. It felt a little weird knowing I had to talk about Ty West but it had to be done, so I looked in to the camera and decided to get on with it. It wasn't gonna get any easier the longer I left it.
"Alright people." I state with a cheery smile. "You lot are joining me tens of thousands of feet in the air as we cruise our way back towards the islands and back to SCW. We I hear you ask?"
I point to the left and the camera turns slightly to see Sam Marlowe, a woman who had surprised the SCU universe just like I did, by showing up. Sam had her earphones in and flicking through a magazine, not a care in the world.
"And this guy" I continue with a thumb pointing behind me.
The camera moves up to the seat behind Ben to see Fenris sitting playing some kind of game. Yes, my plane is fairly modern where you can play games with the screens in the back of the seats.
"Fucking turtle shells." He gruffly says as the camera moves back to my face.
"He's playing Mario Kart and not having a great time." I explain. "But it's all good cause now I get a chance to talk about Ty West. Man, Ty, it's taken a lot of thought for me on how to approach this. I could have gone full on yellow eyes and ripped you a new one with that remaining dark side of me that still lives there, or I could have gone respectful and such but I spoke to some people and they said Ben, just be honest, if Ty is worth anything, he won't get too upset. Problem is, I don't believe that because for me to be honest, is for me to be a little on the nose. For me to be honest, feelings would get hurt. I mean look at how this match came about."
I sigh deeply.
"Because you got over sensitive because I called you Fenris' lover boy?" I say with disbelief, I couldn't actually believe out of all the things said on Twitter every day, this is what upset him. "And that was what got you firing back at me? That is what got you digging me out? Because I used a term of jokingness used up and down my country every weekend, by every blokes who's mate just got with a new bird?"
I couldn't believe I was actually trying to sell a wrestling match based on the fact that the term lover boy had offended someone! I know this world ain't as tough as what it used to be but I actually felt stupid for having to sell it like this.
"This is what offended you out of all the rubbish you see on a daily basis on a site made for people who like to feel self important?" I question. "That has to make me question your character, it's gotta make me question if you are in the right game here because if you have paper thin skin, you can't last in this game. I mean I know the world gets offended at everything, but this takes the piss if I'm honest and it's made me feel like me and you will never be decent friends because if you get offended at silly little things like that, people will be standing on eggshells around ya and I don't think I can do that or wanna do that. You can admit it, my friendship with Fenris probably annoys you, that probably makes you more clingy and maybe that's why you got offended, in hope that he'd take your side and not hang around me anymore. That's pretty soft."
I knew that I could be friends with pretty much anybody but something about Ty West made me feel that I couldn't see myself going out with him for a pint and I would happily drink with everyone. I know should the end of tour party happen, all will be invited but I can't see me rushing to hang around Ty.
"It's weird, but I think of myself as a good guy, but think if I ended up around you Ty, I'd go soft." I say with half truth. "I mean people sit there and look at how Fenris has been since you two got together. People have been saying how soft he's become."
Fenris pokes his head over the seat, looking down at me.
"Soft?" He says slowly.
I tilt my head upwards, looking towards Fenris.
"Well, there's a case there." I say with a smile. "Before he met you, it would only have taken one of your kicks to put Bulldog down but looky there! It took two. Two to put down a guy that has seen better days."
"His head is made out of bricks." Fenris grumbles.
"Or maybe you're seeing all sunshine and rainbows since you fell in love with someone that was a lot more sensitive than you." I counter. "It's like you end up at a happy medium, you get the tough one, you get the more sensitive one and you end up meeting in the middle. Evie wanted sheep on our land, could you imagine Evie ever wanting sheep before being with me. You being a bad arse bloke who like kicking people's heads off, you've dropped down to meet Ty in the middle. He might have come up a bit, but you, dropped down. Could you do me a favour?"
"What?" Fenris asks.
"Can you put your earphones back on and keep avoiding those banana peels, so I can get this done and save the boys a lot of editing?" I say with a smile.
I listen to Fenris huff as he lifts his big headphones back on his head and sits back in his seat. I glance over at Sam Marlowe, looking at me.
"He's like a big kid." I say with a shake of my head, drawing a smile from the redhead. "Anyway..."
I smile towards Sam and turn my head back to the camera.
"I mean you got a great opportunity coming your way in a couple of weeks Ty, this is why you should have avoided this match left, right and center." I say as I look down the camera. "Because when I get through you, you've gotta go on and face someone slightly better than I am, you've gotta go on and face the champion of this division and he beat a top guy who ended the streak of the guy sitting behind me. Facing me now, knowing that I can and will beat you on Sunday will send you in to the biggest match of your career on a loss. Frankly, I know personally that the guy behind me should be going for that title instead of you, he's got the rematch sitting there but part of me thinks he hasn't taken that rematch because he knows if he did, you wouldn't get your hands on the belt. And he doesn't think you've made him soft. I'll put that one to him later."
A wider smile crosses my face.
"I'll give you a chance to get out of this one, you can go to the staff and fake an injury, you can tell them you're ill, hell, if you want, I'll do it for ya because it won't look good for you if I beat you and the fact is Ty, I'm confident enough to beat you." I say, backed up with a confident tone. "It's not that I don't rate ya, or I'm looking down on your abilities, clearly for me to put you on the list, I see you as one of the top five male wrestlers in this company, but I truly feel that I got the motivation and focus to get past you. I am not looking past this match to a World title match, or any kind of title match, because we've seen what happens when people look at that with you being the only number one contender that hasn't lost this cycle. We've seen number one contenders who don't care because they know their matches are set. You're gonna fall in to that same trap because your mind is on Vinnie. My mind is getting past you, and moving on to tougher things, my mind is walking in to High Stakes IX with the confidence of knowing I beat the guy in one of the main events."
I lean back in my chair.
"That is where my confidence is coming from, that is where my motivation is coming from." I explain. "That is why I'd put my house on winning this one, getting through you and moving on to face Fenris. I know your mind has drifted to bigger things and a match with me probably don't mean too much to you but to me, I'm taking this one very seriously, as if my life depended on it. My life may not but my career just might."
I roll my shoulders backwards, my back starting to go stiff.
"Anyway, it's time for me go good people, thanks for listening." I say as I start to wind down. "Before I do, I know a lot of people have had a little moan about people watching what they say and responding to it. I suspect this may be the case with me this week, but Ty, you're welcome to do just that because you're not denting my confidence mate. I'm set to start my journey to the top, starting with you and there ain't no stopping me now."
I wink at the camera.
"Laters people!" I say with a nod.
The rest of the flight went swimmingly well until Sam beat Fenris at Mario Kart, then there was a whole lot of sulking. Still, certainly beats a dull plane ride.
The camera fades out to black.
