(everyone who appeared in the karaoke scene was used with their handler’s permission)
The Summer XXXTreme Cruise was officially underway and Jessie was all set to defend the Bombshell Roulette Tile against Laura Phoenix and Mercedes Vargas! Laura and Mercedes have made their voices heard alongside Jessie and the three veterans were bound to put on an exciting show for the crow, but can Jessie retain the title?
Harper’s cabin, Sun Princess Cruise Liner, the High Seas
Tuesday the 27th of June 2023, 11:00am
Me and this event have a mixed history shall we say?
My first big event with SCW was the original Summer XXXTreme way back in 2012, at the time it seemed unreal that a company as small as SCW could rent out a cruise ship for a wrestling event but that was how it happened! That night I joined the New XTremes and remained there until the group dissolved in 2015, but I also lost my second match in Sin City Wrestling that night though I do attribute that more to Ms. Evangelista being a useless partner than anything else!
Still Spike wanted me in his faction because he saw the potential in me, the fact that I went on to hold the Bombshell Roulette Title five times (including my current reign), the Bombshell Internet Title once and the Bombshell Tag Titles three times with far more competent partners than Ms. Evangelista says a lot, doesn’t it? Since then, I’ve won matches, I’ve lost matches (and titles), I’ve even indirectly led to the premature end of a wrestler’s career!
Okay, granted, Chloe was practically a walking concussion time bomb considering how often she got concussed during her time in SCW, sooner or later the kid was going to get seriously hurt in the ring, yet it was a backstage attack on this cruise that ultimately did her in.
Luckily Harper’s had much better training than Chloe, the fact that she’s already a champion is a testament to that fact.
”Try not to worry too much about your Prime debut being delayed by that invasion thing they are doing Harp.” I assured Harper as she packed away her stuff and Harper glanced up at me. ”Or the fact that you failed to win your second title in Empire Pro and I’m going to stop there because I can tell that I’m not helping.”
”It’s fine, besides, me and Cassie debuted in EWC just in time for their Parabellum event, it’s a big cross brand PPV and there’s a chance we’ll represent Prime and Rampage on that show.” Harper explained as she finished packing her stuff away. ”Then again, could be a balancing act, Cassie had to wait two weeks to get her Gambit Match, I got mine almost as soon as I signed my contract, Cassie meanwhile is getting to make her Rampage debut on the Scars and Stripes PPV!”
”I’m just gonna say it now, Scars and Stripes might be the best event name I’ve heard in my career and that’s saying a lot!” I responded with a slight laugh and Harper grinned in response clearly agreeing with me, before I could say anything else I got a text and grinned. ”And my event is on!”
”Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that that’s a thing that SCW does on this cruise, you did karaoke last year, didn’t you?” Harper asked and I nodded, well, technically I took over the karaoke MC duties for the duration of the cruise but details, details. ”So, are you doing karaoke again or something else?”
”I’m doing karaoke again, it went down a storm last year with wrestlers and fans alike and I had a lot of fun doing it, it didn’t take much to convince Christian to let me do it again, I only requested that he give me a bit more time to metal it up a bit.” I added and Harper nodded as she got the idea. ”And yes, I included some Deathcore, including Lorna Shore but excluding the Pain Remains trilogy.”
”Really? How come?” Harper asked much to my surprise, for reasons I was about to go into it really, really wasn’t the right song for karaoke, like, at all, and Harper should know this because Lorna Shore is her favourite band.
”The nightclub will have screens with the lyrics on them, the Pain Remains trilogy deals with the following themes, grief, depression and oh yeah, SUICIDE!” I pointed out and Harper winced as it hit her. ”And just to make it worse, Chelsea Skye is on board, if there’s one thing that woman’s more public about than her careers in porn and death metal, it’s the fact that she’s suffered from depression in the past and nearly ended her life!”
”I didn’t even think about that, I usually just focus on how hard the three songs slap but I’m well aware of the themes.” Harper admitted clearly feeling guilty over this and I shook my head. ”Trying to shift the topic, what’s your stances on Krystal and Fenris?”
”Krystal is flat out banned from the karaoke nights, she did well last year but after everything she’s done since the last Summer XXXTreme? It’s easier to find people who want to kick her ass than those who don’t!” I responded with a frown and Harper nodded as she got the idea. ”It’s more for her safety than anything else! Also the fact that we want to leave something left for Keira and Whisper!”
”Yeah, I guess so, but what about Fenris?” Harper asked as she thought back to the previous year. ”Wasn’t he still blinded at the time?”
”Yep! To the point where I was worried about having to get a version of the list in braille!” I nodded to confirm that that was what happened. ”He literally picked one song, blew everyone else in the club off the ship before they even started and retired to the bar for the rest of the night! Obviously, he’s recovered from that blinding since then, but if he returns to defend his crown then I’m wondering two things, 1: what the hell is he going to pick, 2: who would be brave or stupid enough to follow him?”
”I could always volunteer to cover Sun//Eater and scare off anyone who didn’t flee during Fenris’s cover.” Harper joked and I shook my head before helping her finish her packing.
Ship’s nightclub
Wednesday the 28th of June 2023, 17:00pm
Almost the same as it was last year.
There are some differences this year though and I don’t just mean me having enough time to grab a wider variety of song choices or Krystal being banned from the karaoke nights because, well, everyone else on the Bombshell Roster wants to kick her ass! Besides, Krystal texted me not long after I tweeted about it saying that she wasn’t planning to attend anyway!
I could’ve sworn I blocked her phone number not long after she started breaking rookies’ arms but I digress!
Right now I’m getting things set up for the first official day of the Karaoke with help from Chelsea Skye and her wife Sarah, given that they both play in metal bands away from the ring they seemed a perfect fit for helping me with the setlist.
”Okay, I’ve got The Trooper, 2 Minutes 2 Midnight, Number of the Beast, Enter Sandman, Sad But True, and those are just the well-known metal songs.” I muttered to myself as I looked through the metal selection, Chelsea was chatting with the DJ on stage and I glanced up at her. ”I know one of your side projects is getting fucked on the internet but but try to keep your clothes on tonight Chels!”
”Oh please, like no straight man or gay/bi woman on this ship hasn’t seen me get my tits out!” Chelsea responded as she rolled her eyes after glancing up at me. ”Besides, I know Christian can be a hard ass but I’m not taking any chances after he warned me against a repeat of what happened between me and Sarah on Tara Fenix’s Charity Cruise! And we weren’t even the only ones doing it! Only lesbian couple? Probably but there were others!”
”And yet again, I feel sorry for the cleaning staff that had to clean up once all the cum had settled.” I responded as I shook my head and Chelsea grinned sheepishly. ”I thought you were bi anyway?”
”I’m bi, Sarah’s a lesbian, but aside from that? Pretty much dead on.” Chelsea shrugged her shoulders and I nodded before the Chicago native hopped off the stage and walked up to me. ”Don’t suppose there’s a chance you could get a Krawling Khaos track up there, right?”
”I checked your band’s Bandcamp page and the only release with any lyrics on it’s page is that Horror Comedy Christmas EP you put out after Kingdom of the Scourged was released.” I pointed out nd Chelsea facepalmed in response . ”Keep forgetting to do it?”
”Less forgetting and more me never getting around to it.” Chelsea admitted before the doors opened and several other Go Gym Graduates arrived, including the defending karaoke champ. ”And the champ is here.”
“Skye.” Fenris greeted her with a nod as he glanced over at the metalhead, couldn’t really tell if it was a respectful nod or Fenris being polite but either way, he snatched up the song book from my hands as soon as I offered it to him. “I’ll take that one, I don’t care where you put me.” Fenris added as he handed me the book with his finger on the song.
I had to do a double take, it was a Tina Turner song, and like the Tina Turner song I was most familiar with? It was a movie song, but it wasn’t Goldeneye, it was “We Don’t Need Another Hero” from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. ”That’s fine K, but do you mind going on last? Your performance last year was hard enough to follow, the moment you start belting out this chorus is the moment the whole crowd runs.”
“Fine, I’ll spend the rest of the night at he bar in that case.” Fenris nodded before he walked off towards the bar.
”I’ve heard the stories but is K always that grumpy?” Harp whispered to me and Chels and I shrugged my shoulders before referring to K’s fellow Go Gym Graduate for comment.
”Nah, that was him in a good mood!” Chelsea responded with a laugh as she shook her head. ”Just wait until Ryans gets here, if he has the guts to show up!”
”I thought you said you hadn’t had time to catch up on SCW programming until Krystal attacked those Hero Academy students?” I asked Chelsea who shrugged her shoulders in response.
”Ever heard of binge watching?” Chelsea sked and I shook my head, and right on cue? ”Well, well, look what the cat dragged in Kris.”
“Last I checked, cats weren’t allowed on board, or pets in general.” Kris responded as we greeted him and I didn’t need to be looking in his direction to know that Fenris was glaring daggers at Kris, at a guess? He was trying to keep things civil. “You got the song list? Actually, forget I asked, your joke about Thriller inspired me.”
”Well, it wasn’t in the book originally but we got time for a last-minute addition, but if I ended up being tossed overboard by a certain Icelandic MMA Fighter I’m blaming you!” I responded as I shook my head before we got back to planning the rest of the night.
Ship’s nightclub
Wednesday the 28th of June 2023, 19:00pm
I’ll admit, the interest wasn’t quite the same as it was when I first did this last year when I posted the call on Twitter, Mac and Kat weren’t interested, Max had been gone from the company for months, Krystal was banned for obvious reasons and there were, in general, a bit more fans than wrestlers taking part this year, still it took an hour for the club to fill up and I took the stage.
”Welcome to the second annual Jessie Salco KaraokeFest!” I commented into the mic and the crowd cheered. ”Like last year we have several SCW Superstars and Bombshells ready to sing their hearts out! Including the defending champion, FENRIS!” The crowd cheered as I motioned to Fenris at the bar, Fenris simply responded by flipping me off without even looking. ”And I see he’s as friendly as ever! Anyway, he’ll be going on last so don’t feel too intimidated by him, anyway first up tonight is someone who recently came back from the dead………”
“OH FUCK OFF!” I could probably hear Fenris’s voice from the other side of the ship, both because he was the only Icelandic wrestler on the ship and because he was just that loud! Regardless he quickly ordered the strongest bear the bar staff had and tried to ignore him.
”…….and the defending champ’s favourite performer, please welcome Kris Ryans as he performs “Thriller” by Michael Jackson!” I made sure me quip about K and Kris was dripping with as much sarcasm as possible, because I didn’t feel like being kicked in the head by a former MMA Fighter! Anyway, Kris took the stage to do a one man show of the Thriller dance (at least it was one man until several audience members jumped up on stage to do it with him), the cover itself was decent but then again, Michael Jackson isn’t really a guy you cover unless you can nail his vocals and ignore all those allegations against him.
”Hey Jess, you got a sec?” Harper approached me from just off stage and I glanced over at her. ”How long until I go up?”
”You’re going right after Keira but there’s a few fan performances in between Kris and her performance.” I explained after checking my list and Harper nodded. ”What’s up?”
”Is it too late to change my song? I want to do “Keep The Faith” by Bon Jovi instead of Sun//Eater.” Harper explained and I was eternally grateful to not be drinking anything at that moment, it would’ve ended up all over the stage otherwise! It was well known that Lorna Shore was Harper’s favourite Deathcore band to the point that she had named several of her signatures and one of her finishers after their/in reference too their songs, not to mention that she wanted to sing one of the hardest Bon Jovi tracks to sing in his back catalogue. ”I want to dedicate it to my parents.”
Ahh, yeah, that explained it, the other worst kept secret about Harper was the fact that her parents’ murders had left her feeling rough (to say the fucking least) for most of the tear, dedicating her first title win to them obviously had an effect so maybe Harper was hoping for a repeat performance tonight. ”I’ll talk to the DJ in between performances but next time? Just ask me before the show.” I told Harper who nodded before rejoining the crowd, soon after that Kris’s performance of “Thriller” ended and I took the stage. ”Give it up for Kris Ryans everyone! Okay, coming up next we have Tyson performing “Sad But True” by Metallica!”
The crowd cheered as the short haired guy took the stage and gave the Metallica song his best shot, the performances from then on ranged from “okay” to average because it was obvious that most of the patrons weren’t professional singers and were just there to have a good time, off course we had two band members in attendance in Chelsea and Sarah so that helped even things out a bit.
Once the girl who was honestly struggling to sing “Take on Me” by aHa (seriously, Fenris was watching with a “WTF Was That” look on his face after the first high note) I took the stage as and the mic. ”Okay, give it up Chrissy everyone! At least she gave it her best shot! Okay, first active wrestler of the day is up next!” I announced and the crowd cheered. ”And I’m talking about a wrestler who everyone thought had retired last October, performing “Vandalize” from the Sonic Frontiers soundtrack, it’s Keira Fisher!”
The crowd cheered as my one-time enemy turned best friend Keira took the stage with a big grin on her face, I hadn’t played the game myself so I wasn’t that familiar with the track, but it was a rock track and Keira proved to be this year’s shocker as she blew everyone away with her singing ability, and as the song was winding down I remembered that Harper was up next.
”Starting to regret doing this?” I whispered to Harp as Keira nailed the song and she shook her head. ”You’re braver than me!” I added before Keira finished the song and I shared a fist bump with her as she left the stage and I ran on stage. ”There always seems to be one person who no one wants to follow, and Keira seems to be this year’s example! Coming up next my cousin has thee unfortunate task of following her training, please welcome the KCW TV Champion HARPER MASON! She’ll be performing “Keep the Faith” by Bon Jovi!”
The crowd gave a polite cheer as Harper ran on stage, either she was putting on a brave face or that grin on her face was genuine, either way? It was another blowout performance, as Harper nailed it, much to me and Keira’s surprise, even hitting the high notes that made the song so fucking difficult! By the end of it she got less cheers than Keira but I wasn’t sure if it was because they were tired out by Keira’s performance.
Either way, it was my job to find someone to do the next song after Harper’s performance finished with her dedication to her parents which left a few teary eyes in the audience. ”Wow, wow, wow, wow, sorry to sound like Owen Wilson but can anyone follow Harper? Let’s find out, Pete if you haven’t run for the door your up next to perform “How You Remind Me” by………really dude?! Nickelback? Oh honey!”
As much as I teased him, the guy covering Nickelback wasn’t that bad and the rest of performances that followed weren’t that bad either, then the next “wrestler” performance followed and I put wrestler in brackets. ”Give it up for Mike everyone! Up next we have Sarah Blaze, and if you know what kind of wrestling she’s from and are with your girlfriend/wife, start running! She’ll be performing “You’ll be in my Heart” from the Tarzan soundtrack, originally by Phill Collins!”
I could see Chelsea groaning from the stage, and not in the sexual way most people saw her groan, this song clearly meant a lot to her as Chelsea’s wife took the stage. [font color=#005A9C]”Chelsea, babe, I’m sorry, I know how emotional you get from this song, but I’m dedicating it to you!”[/color] Sarah apologized before the song started, I don’t know what it was with most of the wrestlers, roster or guests, with emotional covers, but well, Chelsea was clearly crying about halfway through the first verse.
Sadly I couldn’t leave the stage without checking on her so I had Ari do that for me, she knew Chelsea better than me thanks to their Go Gym connection anyway, as for the cover? Sarah was the vocalist in Chelsea’s main Death Metal band Krawling Khaos, I don’t think I need to point out that Death Metal wasn’t really a style that leant itself to a song like this, which is why I was shocked to hear a beautiful singing voice coming out of her mouth, that said, she immediately ran off stage to check on her wife once the song finished.
Needless to say? I didn’t envy whoever was next. ”Give it up for Sarah everyone! Someone please check on her wife, that looked ugly! Err, anyway, up next is Cassie Wolfe performing “Your Betrayal” by Bullet for my Valentine!”
Oh boy, Cassie’s rough year managed to continue on the ship, obviously the metal genre was her forte but she had to follow Sarah, and clearly knew it from he look on her face as she took the stage, still a good performance though.
Chelsea and Sarah never returned to the nightclub for the rest of the night, and it didn’t take much to figure out why, Chelsea’s slot (performing “Enter Sandman” by Metallica) was taken by a fan and eventually it came down to the defending champion.
”Well folks, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! K, get up here! It’s time to defend your title!” I declared and Fenris pretty much marched towards the stage like he was marching towards an MMA Fight. ”He’ll be performing “We Don’t Need Another Hero” by Tina Turner!”
The crowd cheered as Fenris performed the Tina Turned classic, and like the year before he knocked it out of the park, unlike the year before there was no clear winner and I would set up a poll on Twitter later to leave it up to my followers.
Besides, it was time that I continued another tradition from last year.
The ship’s nightclub
Wednesday the 29th of June 2023, 21:00pm
*promo time*
Here we go.
”It’s funny, last year when I did this karaoke night I played host to the Bombshell Roulette Champion at the time, little knowing that it was leading towards her last match, here I am a year later still hosting the karaoke night but as the Bombshell Roulette Champion, funny how things work out, right?” I asked as I brushed some hair over my shoulder. ”How time flies! Gotta admit, it’s a weird feeling being the youngest wrestler in the match after so many years of being the oldest, but that’s what I get when I defend this thing against Laura Phoenix and Mercedes Vargas I guess!”
But I digress.
”Then again, my first defence was against Kim Pain and that was at Into the Void, maybe that’ll be the running theme of my PPV Title Matches? They put me against fellow veterans of the sport and hope that we can, collectively, show the whipper snappers how it’s done!” I joked as I folded my arms. ”As I said last week, this is a tale of two different veterans serving as my challengers, we have the well-respected veteran who came into SCW like a house on fire in Laura and we have the arrogant bitch who thinks that her past accomplishments still mean something! No, I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about Mercedes Vargas!!”
Let’s talk about them, starting with Laura.
”Laura, gonna be honest, it’s refreshing to see another veteran give me respect, most others try to crap all over everything I do, I believe the initials AL should ring a bell, at least someone still has their common sense after years of being conked over the heard!” I stated as I folded my arms. ”But how far can that respect take us? Somehow I doubt the bosses will let us hold this title at the same time, we both know the answer there Laura and it’s not very far at all!”
Nope!
”Respect can only go so far in a regular match, but a title match? We may as well throw that out the window with yesterday’s garbage, is what I’d say if we weren’t on a cruise!” I added as I patted my title. ”We’ve been around for a long ass time Laura, the fact that your daughter is old enough to be pregnant without a bunch of guys wanting to kick the dad’s ass for it confirms that, hell I was one of the original Bombshell Roulette Champs! I know what it takes to hold the belt for a long time, I just never got the opportunity until now! And this belt isn’t going anywhere!”
Next up is Mercedes.
”Speaking of things not going anywhere, hey Mercedes, still in the perpetual title hunt? Off course. It’s the perfect place for a wrestling dinosaur like you!” I added as I flipped some hair over my shoulder. ”But something is different this time isn’t it Mercedes? It’s almost like you think a bunch of fluke victories over a ten-year period means you have my number!”
Delusional
”Please Mercedes, are you still that slow to remember when I beat you for the Bombshell Internet Title? Or when me and Amy ended your reign with Traci Patterson? Good times, for me that is! For you? Not so much!” I added as I folded my arms. ”Beyond that? There’s our divergent career paths even though we debuted within a year of each other, I busted my ass for ten years, winning title after title, I earned my Hall of Fame ring through blood, sweat and tears! You coasted on the Mean Girls to stay relevant! You coast on your past success as champion rather than actually put the effort in! it’s time people realized that Mercedes was never that good to begin with, years of relying in better wrestlers to stay relevant have finally caught up with you Mercedes! And now that you’re the only Mean Girl still on the roster? It’s been exposed for the world to see and I’ll reinforce that this Sunday!”
It's that simple.
”Call this match what you want, a battle of the oldies? I mean, we’re not that old but sure, a battle of the ring generals? Again, debatable thanks to Mercedes! A Battle of the Veterans? That is true, I’ll grant you that, but I chose to simply call it one thing: defence #3!” I added as I held up three fingers. ”And my defences are going to keep piling up! I’ll reiterate that I’m not out to break any records, I just want to break a curse that’s haunted me for years! This match is how I’m going to break the cycle!”
And with that I decided to wrap things up.
”Me, Laura and Mercedes are three women who have done this wrestling shit for so long I don’t think we can go back to a normal life! That much is true, but there’s one other truth I need to address, I boarded this ship as champion and I’m leaving as champion!” I added as I held up the title. ”Laura has my respect, Mercedes? No, just no, but at the end of the day? Only one woman will cannonball into the water below with the title in hand and after I stroke you both like Blood Lightning? That woman will be me! See you in the ring!”
I left the stage as the scene fades.