We see Stephen Callaway sitting in a supermarket parking lot on an up-turned supermarket trolley. A brown wooden fence behind him.
Stephen Callaway
"A while ago I was in the market for a new place to go. I had recently parted ways with my old company and was in talks with a few different federations. I spoke with UK feds, East Coast feds, West Coast feds. I even spoke with a company that wanted to have rounds within a pro wrestling contest.
There was one company I'd been talking with and I took the time to look at the roster. After all, a champion is only as good as his contenders. If the company was full of green athletes and no-hopers then how does that make me look if when I compete against them. What if I beat them and win the title? There's no prestige if you're the champion in a land of broken toys.
I scanned the roster and I saw the name 'Griffin Hawkins'. I knew Griffin. We had a few mutual friends and acquaintances. We started chatting on Twitter and spoke about music and wrestling. We still do. I knew when I saw that Griffin was here that that company was a reputable company to go to.
So I signed for Sin City.
I knew sooner or later that we'd cross paths here in Sin City. Anyone that's been listening to me sit and ramble to these cameras on a near weekly basis will have heard me banging on about how I want to fight for the Sin City Title at December To Dismember 2020. And I'll be honest. I thought that would be where we crossed paths.
I thought of it like a triangle, I always have an Angle after all, with him working his way up one side and me working up the other until only one can be at the summit of Sin City in a match that's decided at December To Dismember. So in that respect, I'm about nine months early."
He stops talking to watch a trolley collector pushing supermarket trolleys in the supermarket's parking lot where he sits.
Stephen Callaway
"From the hallway window in my home I can see New Douglas Park in Hamilton Scotland. New Douglas Park is a ten, fifteen minute drive from my home. I have even walked from my home to New Douglas Park and back many times over the years.
New Douglas Park sits on the other side of the fence behind me."
He points behind him at the fence with his thumb.
Stephen Callaway
"To say that this week's Climate Control is going to be in my backyard is an understatement. Hometown is one thing. I know Hamilton like the back of my hand. From the lawyer's office just along the road from here that Mrs C works in. To the supermarkets that I have shopped in, to the street I was sick in. To the one nightclub that I have been in. To the cinema just a five minute walk from here where I have sat in and seen every Batman movie since Batman Begins. I have lived, I have loved and I have worked all over Hamilton. Hell, I even once worked in this dammed car park! It could even be said that I built this city!
On Sunday night, my family will be here. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, children of cousins, wives and husbands of cousins and their sister Christian. My mum, my dad and my brothers will be here. Friends will be here. My damn best friend will be here along with his family. My neighbours will be here. People I haven't seen since school will be here. People I've met over the years from the shops I go to, to the friends I've met will all be here.
And for me that brings pressure. I'm fine sat watching my brother collecting supermarket trolleys. But in a couple of days he and everyone else will be sitting in the stadium behind me. They will be filling that stadium and me the hometown, local jukebox hero of a local lad will be wanted, dead or alive by a good 90% of them to go into that main event and come out of it victorious.
Over Griffin Hawkins.
In the main event
In my hometown
For the Roulette Title."
He goes quiet for a moment as he thinks about all that. His eyes watch his brother, the trolley collector.
Stephen Callaway
"To face Griffin in the main event is pressure. To compete in my hometown, to compete in the home stadium of the Hamilton Accies is pressure. To compete for a title, any title, is pressure. To compete for the Internet Title like I did a couple of weeks ago at My Bloody Valentine was pressure. I put myself under a lot of pressure with my speeches about getting up every time I got knocked down to the point I sounded like Chumbawamba stuck on repeat.
That said I did try in the ladder match. Any time I got knocked down I did pull myself back up. Only problem was that as I was pulling myself back to my feet, Austin Mercer was pulling himself up the ladder and I couldn't stop him in time. It's fine. I like to think that some day down the line somewhere, I'll get my rematch. Does it even count as a rematch if it's a one on one?
But if I don't win this Sunday?
That's failure.
I could beat Griffin next month or next year. It won't be here in Hamilton. It won't be in front of God and Buddha knows how many friends and family. IT won't be my equivalent of Wembley Stadium.
If I don't win this Sunday then I fail in front of everyone. I fail to win the Roulette Title. I fail to win in the main event. I fail to beat Griffin Hawkins. I fail to win here in Hamilton.
It's one thing to lose a match, harden my heart and come back stronger for the next one but it's another when the stakes are as high as they are for me this Sunday.
Griffin, I have to come at you with everything I have and you'll have to hit me with your best shot to stop me. Because to win it, to stand victorious in the main event holding the Roulette Title above my head will be more than words. It'll be heaven."
He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a bottle of banana milkshake that he drinks.
Stephen Callaway
"Griffin, this Sunday you're either flying into Glasgow airport and wondering how the fuck you get to Hamilton or you're going to be waking up all jet lagged in the Premier Inn Motel with no idea how to go from there to Douglas Park. This Sunday you will be the one flying in to a place you don't know. You'll be jet lagged and tired having sat for god knows how long on a flight over the Atlantic to the point that a twenty odd minute match becomes a four day weekend away.
Me, I'll be waking up in my own bed in my own home. I'm so close to the venue that I can walk there using the back streets and short cuts that nobody else in Sin City will find.
Griffin, for a while I was bothered about the pressure of facing you. You in the main event. You in the main event for the Roulette Title. You in the main event for the Roulette Title in my hometown.
But then it hit me. I'll be the one walking in to the match fresh as a daisy and spurned on by a crowd willing me to win. As opportunities go, I couldn't ask for a better one. So this Sunday, I'm going to rock you like a hurricane and you'll find out that this rose has a thorn as it rips that Roulette Title from your grasp.
See you Sunday. Hope the crowd doesn't put you off."
He waves at the camera as we fade out.
