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1

Climax Control Archives / Boiling Point

« on: May 10, 2025, 12:00:24 AM »

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Dr. Halliwell’s Office
20 February 2025
10:45am
OFF-Camera

It felt like an eternity since he turned away from her. He didn’t know what more he should have expected though. There was no way that Kris expected her to understand, and he knew that it was going to be an uphill battle to convince her that going back to Sin City was in his best interests. It just felt that there was a huge chasm between them. She clearly thought that he was being impulsive, and he had given her years of examples that made backing up that assumption easy. Instead of raising his voice, or blowing up about it, he had taken a timeout to try and compose his thoughts. Some people would call that growth. Maybe Dr. Halliwell would have been less irritated by it had he worked out all of this before breaking into her office well before his appointment was set to start.

E.G.: .... so are you done talking or is there just something really interesting going on outside?

There wasn’t. Despite the fact that her practice was going well, she still hadn’t moved off of the shit street that Kris made fun of on her first visit. He had let himself in back then as well, and when she complained about it he informed her that it was much more dangerous outside than it was inside with him. In fact, even before his incident at Jet City South, he had known several people that were mugged and carjacked just around the corner. It was never the best neighborhood, and hadn’t really improved alongside the rest of the city. The problem with places like that, is that all of the action happened at night. It was more than uninteresting, the morning hours were perfectly still. Not even the birds wanted anything to do with this place in the sunlight. He knew that he couldn’t pretend to have gotten distracted, so he had to deflect her question.

Kris: Funny. I say that I need to go back. You tell me that I don’t. I guess that is the end of it, right?

He turned back towards her, but held his position near the window defiantly. He wasn’t going to cross the distance between them until she started to move her perspective on a return to the ring a little closer to his.

E.G.: You know that’s not true, and it’s unfair. If you think that you need to go back, there’s got to be a reason. If you don’t agree with my perspective, then you have to explain yours and try to convince me. I am not just going to give you what you want with no questions asked. That’s not my job.

He sighed, and shook his head. No matter what he tried, the words weren’t putting themselves into the right order in his head.

Kris: I always thought that there was going to be more time. I spent so much time not taking things seriously. I burned a whole lot of bridges. I pissed away a ton of opportunities. I just thought that there was always going to be time to make it right and check everything off of my list.

The words came out with no real purpose. None of them really explained why he was determined to make another return, but he ran out of words before ever actually getting to the point. Luckily, it was enough word vomit to give her a place to start with him. Her tone changed, and it appeared he had earned her full attention.

E.G.: Well, we often take things for granted while we are in the thick of it. That’s normal. That’s human. Despite all of your delusions of grandeur, that applies to you too.

She thought something in there would be reassuring, but he blew off each one of her words with a shake of his head. He didn’t need the therapist speak, and even though she gave it a good shot, she was still missing the point.

Kris: ...you aren’t understanding. I don’t feel bad about how I acted. I am the person that I am today because of how I acted. I needed to learn those lessons. I earned each and every one of those mistakes. I own that.

She nodded, and took another shot at trying to figure out exactly what he was trying to say.

E.G.: You just thought that no matter how bad you messed things up there would always be a shot at redemption, right?

He shook his head again, this time slightly annoyed that she still wasn’t getting it. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and took another step away from her.

Kris: It’s not about that. I am past needing that validation. I couldn’t possibly care less if everyone hates me. It’s about the things that I didn’t get to do. It’s about the notches that I haven’t gotten to put in my belt yet. It’s not like I was broken down. It’s not like I was on my way out. I was at the very top of my game…

He trailed off, but she was able to see the moment that the puzzle pieces finally snapped together for him. He knew what he wanted to say, but didn’t want to say it.

E.G.: ...and two guys came in your gym and took it from you.

There was a long pause, and she took it as a personal victory that he hadn’t immediately told her how wrong she was again. She mistook the pause for clarity. However, the only thing that she had done by saying the words for him was light the fuse. When he finally opened his mouth, rage poured out of it.

Kris: TRIED to take it from me! They didn’t succeed! The only thing that they really accomplished was making my life really annoying for 16 months and they got what was coming to them! Actually, no! They deserved so much worse than what they got!

This wasn’t the first time that he had blown up in her office, but it did catch her totally off guard. She slid her chair back from her desk, subconsciously creating more space between them and giving herself an exit strategy.

E.G.: You’re angry.

He got even louder, but didn’t move from where he stood.

Kris: YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I AM ANGRY!

She rose from her chair, and pointed a finger at him in an attempt to stifle the rage before it got any worse. When she spoke, her voice was just as calm and collected as it was from her chair.

E.G.: No, I mean you are angry today. You are angry right now. Kris, it has been years since those men came into your gym. You have even already made a successful return to the ring since. You have your health. You have an amazing family. You won. They lost. It’s over.

She gestured to everything around them as a way to get him to look around and ground himself to this moment instead of continuing to live in the one that haunted him, but he wasn’t having any of it.

Kris: It’s not over! That is what I have been trying to tell you!

She dropped her arms defeated, and sat back down in her chair. Her only hope was to get him to explain himself so that he could get it all out.

E.G.: How do you mean?

He took a step forward, and it seemed like the worst of the outburst was over. His voice came out at a much more reasonable level.

Kris: It’s like nothing that I ever did mattered. I look back at my career, and the only things that I can see are all of the things that I never got to do. All I can see is all of the opportunities that I will never get. I might be alive, but they took everything from me that I actually care about.

That was the kind of negative speech that she didn’t allow during their sessions. It was counterproductive.

E.G.: That’s not true, and you know it.



Kris: Being in that ring has always been the only thing that I ever wanted. I thought that when it was over I would feel complete. I can’t do that. If I don’t go back and finish what I started, then they win. It doesn’t even matter if I am still breathing.

The fact that he was actually worried about starting another fight instead of thanking his lucky stars that the shots missed his heart by millimeters was beyond frustrating.

E.G.: Kris, you are lucky to be alive. You can’t keep wasting the opportunity that you have been given by forcing yourself into these impossible situations. The fact is, you may never get back to the level that you were at.

He came all the way across the room this time, and finally sat down across from her, but shook his head. That wasn’t something he could accept.

Kris: That’s not an option.

She shrugged, and had to deliver the hard truth that she had allowed him to dance around since he first got back on his feet.

E.G.: ...but it is the reality of your situation. Even under the best circumstances, people in your line of work start looking towards the exits when they get to be around your age. Your body can’t handle that kind of long-term stress. It breaks down. Father time is the only person that is undefeated in your business.

He shook his head more forcefully this time. He wouldn’t let himself listen to those words. That reality wasn’t real.

Kris: I didn’t break down. I didn’t get old.

She concedes, and walks back her comments, even if just by a babystep.

E.G.: Yeah, but you’ve never been great at taking care of yourself. You’ve always been reckless, and lived hard. At some point, you are out of time to get it back. You can’t blame what happened to you for that. All that will accomplish is stressing you out until you spiral all the way out of control.

He shrugged.

Kris: I am already spiraling out of control, and if I am ever going to find a way to pull myself out of it, I have to get back into the ring.

He had only blown up when she was giving him the textbook things that she had to say to everyone. That wasn’t what he was here for. The one time that she gave the honest truth a chance, he had come back to the table and sat down. If it worked once, maybe it would keep working.

E.G.: I just think that you are setting yourself up for failure. You aren’t trying to process or deal with any of this. You are trying to erase it so that it can’t hurt you anymore. They took something from you, and you are hellbent on taking it back, any means necessary.

Instead of disagreeing with her ludicrous line of thinking, he nodded.

Kris: Now you get it.

He was right, and she understood now. He wasn’t actually out for redemption at all. What Kris actually wanted was revenge, but against what the world was trying to take from him. He wanted to punish everyone the way that life punished him. It was insane.

E.G.: Kris, that isn’t rational. That isn’t how trauma works. If you would just come in here more regularly and start to unpack some of th---

He cut her off.

Kris: I can’t do that.

E.G.: No, you WON’T do that. You’re still running away from it. And instead of confronting that, you’re trying to frame it like you are running back towards the ring. How long are you going to pretend like all of this isn’t chasing you no matter where you go?

Kris: As long as it takes.

E.G.: As long as what takes?

Kris: Getting back what is mine.




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”How long has it been, Eddie?”

”I feel like the two of us have been in this situation before. I mean, arguably, last time we were in the ring together it was part of a tournament that neither of us even realized that we signed up for. Mark Ward was trying to find himself a contender, and threw a handful of people into the fire without warning. I won’t lie, I didn’t even really want that opportunity. I am pretty sure that I even said that at the time. I thought that it was too much, too fast. I didn’t think that I was ready. I hadn’t even gotten my legs back under me inside of the six-sided ring, and I found myself standing across from someone UNBREAKABLE.”

”I couldn’t tell you that I was intimidated. I couldn’t admit that, not then. It was one of my first matches back from being gone for a long time. Suddenly, the stakes became so much higher than what I was prepared to face, and then there you were. Sin City superstars that the fans wholeheartedly love are few and far between. It is even rarer air for one of their favorites to be one of the fastest rising and brightest spots on the roster. It really seemed like the perfect situation for me to get steamrolled.”

”I didn’t really sleep at all that week. I can be honest about that now. I was terrified that all of the momentum that I was building was about to come to a screeching halt. I felt like even if I went out there and managed not to fall on my face, the crowd would riot after seeing you lose. I didn’t think that they would want me, not when they had you. I was worried that I had already been replaced in this company, and I was going to be the very last one to find out. After all, you still have basically your entire career in this business in front of you, and there were plenty of people saying that my time in the sun was over.”

”I was in a match that I was afraid of, in front of a crowd that I couldn’t trust to have my back, with stakes that I wasn’t ready for. The whole situation felt absolutely hopeless. It was a perfect storm of terrible.”

”That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t excited though, Eddie.”

”...for all of the reasons that I was terrified of that match, I also couldn’t wait for it to get started. I told you that at the time. I mentioned it in my remarks leading into the match. I think I said as much again on the night of the show. You reached out on social media before our last match. You were excited to share the ring with a member of the Sin City Hall of Fame…”

”I am not sure if you know how much I needed to hear that. I am not sure if you fully understand the impact of your words. Eddie, you were the only person that looked at me and still saw a Hall of Famer. You were the only one that I competed against last year that didn’t try to tell me that my time in this business was over. You saw my name on the card opposite your name, and got excited. You saw it as an opportunity to step into the ring with a legend. You saw me the way that I was afraid that nobody would. You weren’t calling for me to bow out respectfully like everyone else. You weren’t telling me to stay at home. You didn’t minimize my accomplishments, you celebrated them. You propped me up, and you didn’t have to do that. I am not sure that I ever got to thank you for that.”

”Thank you. Sincerely.”

”Back in September I needed that boost to keep going. I needed to hear those words so that when my music hit, I didn’t feel like I was walking out to be slaughtered and laughed out of the building. I needed the enthusiasm that you brought to our match, because like I said, I wasn’t all-in on the opportunity that was being offered to us. You changed that ahead of our match though. No, I still didn’t want to be the champion. That isn’t what changed. No, instead you motivated me to do something bigger and better. I was horrified that I was going to go out to the ring and drop the ball, and you came out like a ball of energy ready to tear the roof off of the place. Aside from what was going to happen when the bell rang at the end of that match, I think that we both had a bigger goal. I think that you helped me realize that the real prize was going to be the two of us stealing the show. I stopped looking ahead to Finn. The only thing that mattered was making sure to give everyone watching a moment that they wouldn’t be able to forget.”

”I may have won, but we succeeded because of you, Eddie.”

”You gave me the match that I didn’t know that I wanted. You gave me the boost that I didn’t know that I needed. Things may not have been smooth sailing since then for either of us, but the mark that match left on me isn’t one that is going away anytime soon. The impression that you made isn’t one that I will ever forget. When Christian Underwood said last week that he needed a match worth big ratings this week, I mistakenly thought that he was going to throw me into some crazy main event. I couldn’t be happier to be wrong, because now I understand what he really meant. He knew that he had to put us on the going home show, because there isn’t a semi-finals match that anyone is going to be more hyped for than this one. There is no way that anyone else in this tournament would be able to follow what we are going to do out in the middle of that ring. Christian knew that the only thing you can do after ‘Eddie Lyons v Kris Ryans 2’ is start the goddamn finals.”

”...for me, that shows exactly how far both of us have come in the last few months. I started taking the comeback seriously. I stepped away to get back up to speed, get focused, and sharpen all of the dull edges that you were able to expose in our last match. I busted my ass to fix the mistakes that I was making, and clean up the sloppiness. I took the time to put in the work that I have been avoiding for my entire career, and that wouldn’t have been possible without you, Eddie. You woke me up. You snapped me out of it. You reminded me exactly who I was capable of being in that ring, and then I put everything that I could into making sure that I can be that person week-after-week and month-after-month.”

”See, my last return was a bit of a rush job. I can be impulsive. I can be easily persuaded when my phone rings and Mark or Christian is on the other end of the line. I owe the two of them everything. There is no way that I could ever say no to either of them. When I realized that I was in over my head though, I asked them for the time necessary to be my best self. I told them that I would be back for this tournament long before it was announced that they were even going to do it again this year. My name was signed up before the format ever changed. I was the first person they called, because I told them that I was coming back ready for the opportunities that I was afraid of last year. I told them that I was coming back to finish what I started nearly a decade ago. I told them that there is too much left on my bucket list for me to walk away now.”

”Physically, I don’t think it is possible for me to be more ready for this fight.”

”Mentally, I am finally ready to be The Miracle.”

”I am not sure that I could honestly say either of those things without that last match we had, Eddie. You definitely lived up to the UNBREAKABLE moniker. You proved, without any doubt, that you are a hard son of a bitch to put down on the mat, but that isn’t going to stop me from doing everything in my power to do that, just one more time. I have big goals this year, Eddie. You are the one that helped me realize that my time isn’t up yet, but I know that clock is still ticking. I have to make the very best of every moment that I have left. You have been a champion in this company before, and am I certain that you will be again, but not this time. Not this tournament. Not this opportunity. Not the next champion. That can only be one of us, and I am finally ready for that person to be me.”

”...but that doesn’t mean we can’t give Amsterdam a show that they’re never going to forget along the way. Let’s tear it down.”

2

Climax Control Archives / The First Step

« on: April 18, 2025, 11:47:44 PM »

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Dr. Halliwell’s Office
20 February 2025
10:32pm
OFF-Camera

E.G. Halliwell was smiling as she came to the door of her office. It had been a great morning. She woke up refreshed. Traffic hadn’t been terrible on her way through the city. The weather outside was perfect, and had put everyone she had come across in a much better mood. There were days where she dreaded the trip into work, especially on days where her list of clients was particularly challenging. Today was supposed to be one of those days, but so far it hadn’t wiped the smile off of her face. She was taking that as a win. She took her keys out of her pocket and slid them into the deadbolt, only for the door to push open at the slightest pressure. She sighs; the smile long gone from her face.

E.G.: You aren’t even scheduled for another hour and a half…

The first time this happened she panicked. It was almost something that she could laugh about these days though. Sometimes she thought about what her life would be like if she had done the rational thing and thrown Kris out of her office eight years ago. It certainly would have saved her a ton of headaches.

Kris: The earlier you schedule me, the earlier I have to be here to beat you through the door….

E.G. rolls her eyes and comes through the door. She locks it behind her, and flicks on the lights in the office before throwing her bag down on a chair in the corner of the room. She makes her way to her desk, but doesn’t take the bait to start an argument. They had been over this exact thing so many times that she knew she was wasting her breath. If she wasn’t willing to throw him out over it, she had to let it go. Kris was sitting in one of the chairs across from her desk, with his shoes propped up on the corner, scrolling through something on his phone.

E.G.: I would ask how you were doing, but I think I know. You might be a pain in the ass, but you aren’t breaking into my office for nothing. I’d like to just skip the pre-game if you don’t mind.

He puts his phone down in his lap, and looks up at her with a forced smile.

Kris: You know I can’t make any big decisions without your help. It’s been too long. You’re the only one that will tell me that I am stupid.

Everleigh shakes her head. If this was where he was trying to start, he would have needed to show up hours ago to finally get to the point. She knew better than to even let him start weaving his false narrative.

E.G.: Kris, everyone in your life is willing to tell you that you are stupid. You are selfish. You are impulsive. You are typically self-destructive. You know it. I know it. Let’s not waste a whole bunch of time trying to break through those layers. You want to talk, I am here to listen. You have to dig a little deeper than that though, or I am going to start answering emails while I am waiting on you to figure out what you want to say.

She couldn’t have used this approach with any of her other clients. It had taken years to be able to get to a point with Kris where they could get through all of the superficial layers he put between himself and the rest of society. It took even longer to find the right way to get around having to do that for each of his sporadic appearances in her office. Her solution may have been blunt, but oddly, it was the only thing that had ever worked.

Kris: Well that is just the list of all of the things that I need you for, isn’t it? I can’t listen to the world. That’s not how paranoia works. I definitely can’t trust any friend or family, because they are always just selfishly worried, right?

She rolls her eyes again, not even attempting to hide her frustration at having to listen to this speech for what felt like the one thousandth time.

E.G.: I think people call that caring, Kris.

He puts a hand up to stop her from interrupting his thought by answering his rhetorical question.

Kris: The point is, you are the only one that truly doesn’t care. Plus, it is kind of your job to tell me when I am being unreasonable, and you have all of those degrees so I am forced to accept that you are qualified to have an opinion.

He wasn’t wrong. The problem was that he wasn’t getting any closer to actually talking about whatever had brought him in the door.

E.G.: You’re always unreasonable.

He takes his shoes off of the desk, and sits up in his chair. Her lack of enthusiasm for his game had wiped the smile off of his face, and he had finally gotten serious.

Kris: I am thinking about going back to work.

She shouldn’t have been surprised. They had gone back and forth in sessions about this decision last year, and he eventually chose to ignore all of her advice. Of course he was back in her office to rehash all of it now that it was the time of year for his tournament to start again. Fortunately, she didn’t have to tell him directly that it was a terrible idea.

E.G.: Have the nightmares gone away?

He sits back in his seat and averts his eyes, trying rapidly to find a way not to answer the question. However, he knew that his body language had definitely already given him away.

Kris: They aren’t so bad.

He couldn’t even bring himself to look at her while the lie was coming out of his mouth. To be honest, she would have been surprised if they had improved. She had told him dozens of times that the only way that was going to happen is if he actually wanted to unpack the reasons they were happening in the first place. That wasn’t something he had been interested in doing during any of their sessions.

E.G.: …and I am still the only person you have talked to about them?

He shrugs, still diverting his attention out the window to avoid the judgement in her eyes.

Kris: Like I said, you’re the only one qualified enough to have an opinion. I don’t need anyone else in my head poking around and trying to tell me how I feel.

She wasn’t even sure that Kris really knew how he felt. His entire life had been spent splitting himself into smaller and smaller pieces to micro-manage different pieces of his life. He was one person in front of a crowd. He was another person at home. Those two were more than enough to cause him a whole mess of problems, but then he started stretching himself in even more directions. Could he be a successful father? Could he effectively run a gym and teach students? Could he still give fans the ‘Kris’ they knew and loved? Each one of these was another piece of himself that he snapped off from the original. Getting gunned down in his own gym a few years ago tossed all of those little pieces into the air, and Kris had never been able to put them all back together again. Some days were better than others, but all of the nights were bad. It was the reason that he stopped sleeping. It was the reason he volunteered to be at his daughter Ridley’s service all hours of the night. Yet, it wasn’t something that he could open his mouth and put into words.

E.G.: You won’t talk to anyone about it. You won’t do any work on it. And now you want to run head first into a situation that you know is only going to make it worse. I don’t know exactly what you want me to tell you.

The smug smirk came back to his face, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Kris: I want you to tell me that it’s not a terrible idea.

Everleigh shook her head, not willing to tell him what he wanted to hear.

E.G.: You know I won’t do that.

He looked away from her, and back to the window, a grimace coming across his face. He bit down on his tongue a few times, debating on exactly how he wanted to phrase his next words.

Kris: What if I need it?

Unlike Kris, she answered immediately, and confidently.

E.G.: You don’t.

He looked back at her, but the smugness that was previously on his face was gone. He finally dropped the act, and for the first time she could see how he actually felt all over his face. Things were significantly worse than she expected. He was desperate.

Kris: You don’t know that…



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>SCW Fan Event
18 April 2025
Oslo Spektrum
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The feed starts with a wide shot looking down at the Oslo Spektrum. We zoom in as part of the card for Climax Control flashes across the various different marquee screens. Once we drop to street level, the camera moves to the left to mount the curb to allow a car to pass on their right. It comes to a stop, and the driver runs around the vehicle to open the door for whomever rides in the back. From behind, we see them step out, and look up at the sign before having a laugh.

”It seems like every time that I come back, the show gets further and further away from home…”

The Sin City faithful know the voice without having to see his face. He takes a few steps away from the car, and the camera moves with him first down the sidewalk, and then up the steps leading to the front doors of the building.

”There was a time that I wouldn’t have made trips like these. I would have said that it wasn’t worth the flight time. I would have said that I had too many obligations back home. There was one contract that I signed with Sin City where Mark and Christian couldn’t force me to leave the continental United States for an entire calendar year. But…..”

When he pulls open the center door of a set of three, and steps across the threshold and into the building. From the moment the door opens, the cheers of the screaming fans inside are startling. The Sin City Hall of Famer shrugs off his jacket, and hands it to one of his handlers revealing that he is wearing the new Blast from the Past: Reckless Elite shirt.

”I WASN’T GOING TO MISS MY CHANCE TO TEAR IT UP IN FRONT OF THE SIN CITY WRESTLING FANS IN OSLO, NORWAY!!!!!”

The already cheering fans roar even louder as Kris makes his way through the crowd, giving out high-fives and even going as far as to sign one of the posters presented to him. He talks over his shoulder to the camera, only barely able to be heard over the raucous crowd.

”I was a bit of a passenger princess for the first stop of the tour. I was trying to keep a low profile so as to not step on the wife’s toes, you know? It was her big night. Her big return. Her big win. I spent the duration of the show handling our little crew of offspring, and I was content to let her have her moment. Not this week though. This is my moment. This is my tournament. Let’s go!”

He turns away from the camera as he gets to the front of the crowd, and goes up a few stairs onto a platform. The camera stays on the floor in front of him, but moves behind a makeshift railing made to keep the fans a few feet back from the stage. Behind Kris is a black backdrop covered in miniature versions of the Sin City Wrestling logo, but the whole setup seems awfully well-designed, albeit temporary. There is a podium at the center of the platform with a microphone for him to use, but Kris nonchalantly picks it up and drops it off the side of the stage. He raises his voice slightly, but forces the fans to quell their cheers to be able to hear him instead of talking over them through the PA system.

”I’m not going to lie, I appreciate all of the enthusiasm, but I only know what half of those signs out there even say. Hopefully I didn’t sign anything awful on my way up here.”

He gets a chuckle from the crowd, but continues before they can turn against him for not knowing anything about the language before showing up.

”...but there was no way that I was missing this tour for Sin City. There was no way that I was going to sit on the sidelines for another Blast from the Past tournament. See, I have been very vocal about pointing out the few milestones that are left for me to achieve here, and winning Blast from the Past is one of them. Somehow, someway, this one has always eluded me. I have had past students from my gym win it. My wife has won it. I have never had the luck required to go the distance though.”

A hush falls over the crowd as they all lock-in on what the Hall of Famer is saying. A smirk crosses Kris’ lips as he realizes that he has them all in the palm of his hand.

”That’s not going to be a problem this year though. Mark and Christian went and axed the worst part of this tournament. And I don’t mean any disrespect to the Mixed Tag Team Division. We all know that I was responsible for building it, and dominating it before anyone thought that was a cool thing to do. The blind tournament vibe was just never really my thing though. The few times that I tried it, my partner ended up costing us matches early on. This year there are no partners though.”

He pauses as the fans burst into more cheers. Kris seems at least slightly surprised at being so well received, despite the relatively short time away. The pause allows him to go back and slightly correct himself though.

”...I mean this tournament was always basically two singles matches happening at the same time, in the same ring. The rewards were always for two individuals, not one team. At the end of the day, everyone is in this tournament for the reward, not the long-lasting friendships that we make along the way. Then I saw that the bosses were scrapping the inconvenient part of the tournament. I finally saw my opportunity to actually go the distance.”

The fans, or at least those that cared enough to attend his part of the event, don’t seem opposed to the idea of seeing Kris make a deep run during Blast from the Past.

”...and then a couple of weeks ago my wife sweetened the pot by letting me in on the secret that she was going to be joining the tournament as well. Now we don’t have to wait on some random pairing to put us together. We don’t have to cross our fingers and hope that our partners don’t suck. We put our names on the list for Blast from the Past, and our ability to run the table and win this thing is totally in our own hands. If anyone wants to stop us, they’ll have to do it between the ropes by putting our shoulders to the mat for a three count. No distractions. No shitty partners. Reckless Elite is here to take Blast from the Past 2025 for ourselves.”

The fans pop again, but Kris cuts them off quickly.

”My wife took her first step in this tournament last week. She didn’t let me down, so I have to hold up my end of the deal. That brings me to our first obstacle on this comeback tour, Logan Hunter.”

The crowd boo the rookie from the GO Gym, and Kris holds his hand up behind his ear as if he can’t hear them to evoke more of a reaction. The negativity brings a smug smile to his face that he couldn’t have hidden if he’d wanted to.

”...yeah, I haven’t been all that impressed either. I’ve tried to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. He got off to a little bit of a hot start before fizzling out lately. I would like to be able to speak a little more harshly about that, but it kind of sounds like the story of my 2024, so I am going to have to give the kid a little bit of a pass...”

The crowd boos that idea, and immediately Kris reverses course to get back on their good side.

”You’re right! What was I thinking? I was losing matches for the World Heavyweight Championship last year. I failed to recapture the Internet Championship last year. I was busy beating people on my way to winning major opportunities. I was competing in high profile matches. I was in the main events. I was one of the few people last year to pin Finn’s shoulders to the mat for a three count. The matches that I was losing, while heartbreaking, were against some of the best that Sin City had to offer. I wasn’t opening the show and having some hack mop the floor with me. I wasn’t pissing away matches to nobodies. I wasn’t failing to rise off of the bottom of the roster, despite being the hot new thing in the locker room.”

The fans are now whole-heartedly back on Kris’ side.

”If people can’t spot the difference between me, a Grand Slam Champion and Hall of Famer and a kid that will never be either of those two things, then they need to make sure they are watching Climax Control in just a couple of days because I have something to show them real quick. This kid is not ready for the beating that I am about to uncork and unleash on him. I have been out of the ring for months waiting for this tournament to start. I announced back in February that this was going to be my sole focus. I am putting the shitty end to last year behind me. He couldn’t last ten seconds with Fenris, and I have taken that big bastard on for hours at a time. Logan isn’t on my level today, and I don’t think the day exists that he ever will be.”

”...so this kid has got to go, and he will. He’ll be flat on the mat, in the center of the ring, wondering why he ever bothered to sign up for this tournament. He will be the warning shot that I send to anyone else that makes it out of the first round. I am not here to make friends. I am not here to have a good time. I am here to win this tournament, and have my name etched into history alongside my wife’s once again. After that, who knows? Who cares?”

Kris waves to the camera and acts like he is going to step down from the stage, only to be met with a chorus of boos. When he looks up, all of the hands in the crowd go up in front of him, and he gets the message immediately. Instead of descending and exiting the way that he came, he runs the stage, and leaps off into the crowd like he had done during the Jet City shows in San Diego. After a few moments of him floating around in the arms of the crowd, the camera cuts away.

9

Climax Control Archives / Number One

« on: May 05, 2021, 02:15:14 AM »

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The shaky video feed comes to life with “The Miracle” front and center in the frame. As he moves through the hallways, surrounded by stacked up crates and other random equipment, the fans quickly deduce that he must have been recording from backstage during Climax Control. The booming sounds of fans from inside the arena where the show was still wrapping up support the realization, as well as the fact that Kris was still dressed as he was during his brief run-in with Scott Oliver. Since then, his world had been full of surprises. He hadn’t even considered stepping back inside the ring anytime soon, but that had all changed. In stopping by to talk to Mark and Christian, Kris learned that a challenge was going to be thrown out. He had then watched J2H take the screen to call him out. Only moments before pulling his phone from his pocket to start his recording, he had watched O’Malley win the Internet Championship, making him the one Kris would be tagging with should he accept the challenge. From the look on Kris’ face, there was no doubt he had already made a decision about it.

I just want to make sure that we’re all on the same page here...

His tone was a lot more serious than most anticipated. Everything else about his demeanor led viewers to believe that he was excited about the opportunity. Although, anybody with any knowledge of his working relationship with O’Malley had to understand his hesitance.

...I had no intention of stepping back into the ring ahead of what I had planned to be my last match at High Stakes closer to the end of the year...

It was a much more formal retirement announcement than he had previously put out. Although most already assumed as much. Kris was no longer under contract. He was splitting time between the two Jet City gyms, and attempting to be an actual parent. Sin City just wasn’t on his radar, aside from a handful of the people in it. Kris wasn’t going to bullshit the fans by avoiding the subject though.

J2H3 and I have been planning that one for a while. It’s been plenty public that we were putting that one together. If you look at the history books of this company, there are only two names that stick out as contenders for the best ever, and they’ve never even really been in the ring together. Of course we were going to make that match happen. It would be an injustice to anyone that has ever been a fan of this company to leave that match on the table.

Given his tone, the fans knew that Kris was just fluffing them up for the catch.

....I came to Climax Control to see some friends. Give some advice to the students out of Jet City, and thank Mark and Christian for the opportunities that they have given me along the way. Absolutely nothing more, and absolutely nothing less. So all of this has caught me kind of off-guard.

He shrugs...

Then again, how many people can say that they got J2H3 to show up in the building to call them out in person? And yeah, he may not have expected O’Malley to pull out the victory, but he knew that either way he was pairing me up against someone I’ve been in the ring with that may not like me all that much. On top of that, he gets to handpick his own partner, another guy that doesn’t necessarily like me. I guess it didn’t sit well that Mikah and I beat him in that swamp shit match. So it’s really me stepping in the ring with three people with a reason to maim me regardless of who was holding the Internet Championship.

When he said it that way, it kind of sounded like the whole thing was an obvious set up. Kris made it sound like J2H3 was baiting him into a trap. Then again, that might have just made it that much more exciting to The Miracle.

It was the first decent pitch that anyone in this company has made to me since I dropped the World Heavyweight Championship. I mean, I was here for a year and only lost twice. I thought that maybe someone would want to call out a guy that was that successful. I was a champion for the majority of my time here last year, and every single day that I was under contract this year. I was unstoppable. Yet, there didn’t seem to be any interesting opportunities left. It was all so incredibly…. boring.

A smirk starts to break in the right corner of his mouth.

A tag team match? J2H3 wants to challenge me in a tag match? He may have been the longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion but I have dominated both of the tag divisions in this company. My record as a member of a team is outrageous. And he wants to pick a guy that I really wished I had gotten to have a real defense against to be his tag partner? Even better.

There was only one piece of the equation left, and clearly that was the part that Kris was being hesitant about.

...and then there’s O’Malley.

He shakes his head. It is almost like Kris knows that there is almost no way that the two manage to make it through the match as a functioning team.

How about this, you old Irish asshole…. I will never…. Ever… not even once… step into the ring with you again if you somehow fuck this up for me intentionally. I realize there is a good chance that we lose just because some of your in ring decisions are just as stupid as your face, and that’s fine. I can live with that. But if you want to turn this into a three-on-one situation or leave me hanging out there, rest assured that you will never get the match with me that you so desperately want. Understood?

The smirk turns into a full on smile as Kris tries to hold back a laugh at O’Malley’s expense.

I’ll see the three of you in the ring next week. It should be a blast.

With a wink, he kills the feed and the screen goes black.

==========================================================


Jet City Reunion
Jet City Sports Lab - SEATTLE
4 MAY 2021
OFF-Camera


It had been a long time since Kris had seen the Jet City Sports Lab in person. He and his half brother had managed to spin their successful tag team into a successful brand name, and finally into a gym that was starting to boom with all of the recent success of its students. The state of the art sports lab in Seattle was much more appealing to the eye than Jet City South. Jason had an eye for that kind of thing, whereas Kris was really only concerned with what went on inside the gym. Jason’s attitude had always been geared towards professionalism. Kris was trying to show students like himself the path he took to the top, and there hadn’t been anything glamorous about it. In Kris’ mind, the vision that Jason was selling was a lie, but a pretty one. He had learned to appreciate it for what it was, instead of hating it for not being his own vision. As Kris strolled through the double front doors like he owned the place, several staff workers caught a glimpse of him and had turned the opposite direction. Parker Wayde, a long term trainer at the gym and Jason’s right hand man pointed Kris in the direction he was looking for without a single word. Kris’ brother had his back to the door, so had no advanced warning of Kris’ arrival.

Kris: It’s awfully good to be home...

Jason had been mid-conversation with his assistant when his brother’s words stopped him and caused him to spin around to face the terrorist.

Jason: Absolutely not! No. Maddie, put the sign up...

Jason pointed to a digital display along the wall that ran on a loop around the entire facility. Almost instantly bold and blinking red letters spelled out “KRIS DOES NOT WORK HERE! PLEASE IGNORE ANY OF HIS REQUESTS!” Kris read the words as they started to trail along the wall all the way to the other side of the gym and back.

Kris: For real? You don’t think that is a little excessive?

Jason shook his head without any kind of hesitancy.

Jason: Have you forgotten that I am plagued with remembering every stupid thing that you’ve done for the last… let’s say… 32 years.

It was more hurtful than Kris was expecting right from the start.

Kris: Rude… you’re really not happy to see me?

Jason finally finishes up whatever it was that needed his attention and turns back to his half-brother already exhausted by their conversation.

Jason: Why are you here? You have your own gym. There is no reason to come all the way up the coast to terrorize the people that chose to stay at JCSL. You can do that at Jet City South. I’m sure Court and Ruby would be happy to keep you occupied.

That was the entirety of Kris’ problem. If he was down at Jet City South, he would be the one with the assistant breathing down his neck every second of the day. Even if he managed to give her the slip, one of his students would need some kind of help preparing for an upcoming match. In short, there was no way that he could do anything to get ready for his own battle if he stayed in San Diego. Jason would bust him if he tried to lie his way through a reason that sounded better, so Kris was willing to take a stab at honesty.

Kris: They’re actually the reason that I came up here. They both have the big Bombshell Championship matches coming u---

The older of the two brother’s still wasn’t impressed and his patience was dwindling so he attempted to speed things up.

Jason: Yeah, and they could end up squaring off against each other even though they’re still in the cute honeymoon stage of their relationship. Again, not my problem.

Kris was dumbfounded to find out that his brother was actually following along. Maybe he did really care.

Kris: You know, for a guy that doesn’t want to be involved you sound awfully involved.

Jason shakes his head. If Kris was looking for a feel good answer, he came to the wrong place.

Jason: I keep tabs on you guys because your name is attached to mine. If your gym does well, mine looks good. If yours crashes and burns, my name becomes less valuable. It’s business, not pleasure. Then again, there isn’t very many things that I find pleasurable about playing games with you these days.

Kris wasn’t just going to take the verbal beating lying down.

Kris: That is because I am old enough to pick the games that we play now. I’m not just some puppet for you to pull the strings on anymore.

Jason sighs, giving up.

Jason: We’re going in circles here Kris. I’m going to need you to get to the point. I have a lot going on today.

Kris did the only thing he could, and just blurted out what he needed.

Kris: I need to win a fight against myself. You’re the only one that can help with that.

It was the first thing that drew Jason’s genuine interest.

Jason: ...J2H is finally stepping up….?

It was the hook that Kris had been hoping for. His brother knew what this match meant to him, especially on the kind of stage provided by it being Climax Control’s 300th show.

Kris: Actually he showed up randomly this past week to challenge me to a tag match. He picked Mac as his partner. I got stuck with whoever was lucky enough to walk out of the ring with the Internet Championship.

Jason could see the dominoes falling into place even before Kris told him. He could see it turning into a three-on-one beating quickly.

Jason: ...and let me guess… O:Malley won.

Kris blows that subject off entirely. That’s not what he was here for.

Kris: That’s not the point. I’m not worried about the two of them. I have seen Mac up close, and I think that I can run him down. O’Malley is going to want the bigger piece of him though. One of the two of us has to be able to counter James, and that isn’t going to be the Irish joke.

Jason: So you’re coming to me because James’ style is basically a little bit of yours and a little bit of mine. I can see why you’re scared

Kris wasn’t going to let the insult slide.

Kris: I never said I was scar--

Jason: [Interrupting] Well, you’re here. That says enough. You want to beat the guy so that you can try to claim that you’re the best of all time. You think because you beat me inside the SCW ring that I’ll be a good tune up for you. The problem is, it involves asking me a favor. You hate doing that. If there was any other way, you wouldn’t be here. So yeah… I think you’re scared. Even if you don’t want to admit it. If you fall on your face during this match, the one that you’ve been planning for High Stakes is irrelevant. You’ll be giving James all the ammo he needs to get into your head ahead of that one.

Kris mouth opens and closes wordlessly a few times. He hadn’t actually thought about it that way.

Kris: ...maybe that’s what he wants….

Jason cuts him off before he can spin a new conspiracy theory.

Jason: Look at you! Always trying to dig for some deeper meaning instead of just seeing things for what they are. James Huntington-Hawkes is the only one with the standing to challenge your place in Sin City history. You’d be a fool not to be scared about watching everything that you’ve worked for slip away.

It was reassuring in a strange way. Jason was scolding him, but at the same time acknowledging that the doubts Kris was feeding into were a waste of time. There was no need to be paranoid about what if scenarios. The match was coming. It was real. That is what he should be focused on.

Kris: ....so are you going to help me or did I come all this way just for a lecture?

Jason’s least favorite thing about dealing with his brother was his need to be spoon fed the answers that he wanted to hear. He surrenders with another sigh.

Jason: When have I not helped you out when you needed it?

Turning back to Maddie, Jason starts to empty all of his pockets onto the stack of papers they had been going over.

Jason: Cancel all of my appointments please...

Jason takes off his jacket and loosens his tie before the two start to head back towards the locker room, leaving Maddie holding a stack of items and looking more confused than ever.

Kris: You know… that sign might actually be helpful. I know it is meant as a way to make the staff ignore me, but maybe the students will take the hint and steer clear.

Jason laughs at how naive Kris still is despite years of rough lessons learned.

Jason: I doubt it...

He points up ahead along the path they are walking, only for Kris to spot Courtney Pierce, already changed and looking like she had been hitting the gym hard for a few hours. She caught sight of the two brothers and made her way over to them with a smile.

Court: So what did I miss? Don’t tell me that you two old timers haven’t even started yet….

The two founders of Jet City exchanged exasperated glances, knowing that their week of preparation had just gotten much longer.



==========================================================


>Can you believe there have been 205 episodes of Climax Control between this Sunday and the last time that J2H3 and I were in the ring together?

The scene opens with Kris in his office looking at the wall of championships displayed on the back wall. Each of the five championships he was eligible to win in SCW were hanging, with both the Roulette and World Heavyweight Championships stacked with their double.

Back then I didn’t have any of these...

Kris gestures at the wall with a laugh, and tries his best to recall his first run-in with James Huntington-Hawkes III.

...I wasn’t even a Nobody yet. No Miracles had happened. I hadn’t broken any Roulette records yet. I hadn’t formed Jet City or The Black Sheep to dominate the tag divisions yet. I hadn’t held a single championship on my way to the Grand Slam... yet. We were far from the people that we would eventually become in the history of this business. All of our collective greatness played out after a weird chance meeting. Back then he was only just figuring out that his long ass name was too much, and I hadn’t found out that my name was a lie. He was a guy that nobody took very seriously, and I was an unknown. James just seemed like a spoiled rich kid that was too used to getting what he wanted and I was a burnout going nowhere. The version of him that came to Climax Control to call me out didn’t even exist yet. The Miracle that he wants to step in the ring with hadn’t happened. Yet, both of those things were actually born while we shared the ring, albeit not under the best circumstance for me.

It wasn’t the best of memories, but Kris looks proud of himself for remembering a time forgotten about by just about all of the present SCW locker room. The night he crossed paths with J2H3 had been a launch pad for them both.

I was fighting Equinox, thumbtacks were flying. People were getting hurt. Then this clown Ringo comes down, and starts to get beaten up. Then J2H3 comes out with a whole new attitude, all tatted up, and suddenly the guy can actually wrestle worth a damn. That match still hasn’t ended, to this day. They came down, eventually laid out Equinox, and left. No bells. No nothing. It’s a draw on my record only because there was never an official decision, and that was the singular time that I can remember two of SCW’s biggest future stars crossing paths. J2H3 went on to break records with the World Heavyweight Championship, and even hold multiple championships at the same time. The inconsequential guy whose championship match he ruined later became The Miracle standing before you now. Our origin stories overlap even though they are entirely separate from one another.

....but that’s the point, isn’t it? That’s what makes what we plan to do at High Stakes so enticing to everyone. That is why it is the match so good that it was booked nearly a year in advance. Everyone should consider themselves lucky to get this early preview, but we didn’t need to do this to sell tickets to High Stakes. They’re going to sell out the moment that they go on sale. Why? Because since Climax Control 95 when we were in the same ring, we have both done absolutely everything that this company has to offer, and we did it without ever crossing paths. It almost feels cheap for one of the two of us to claim to be the best before we have really even gotten the chance to prove it to the other man inside the ring. The same list that put J2H3 up on top of the world didn’t have my name on it at all. He wouldn’t have showed up to call me out by name if he didn’t think that was a mistake. He wouldn’t be wasting time on me if he didn’t think that I was worth his attention. The fact that he called this shot shows that I belong among the very best that have ever stepped into our six sided ring.

His excitement had taken him a little off topic, so he tried to bring himself back around to the match at hand. Everyone was going to have to wait a few more months for the other.

So when I was asked if I wanted to be part of the historic 300th installment of Climax Control, I already wanted to say yes. When they said that J2H3 wanted to be the one standing across from me, it was a no doubt situation. Everything else since then has just been a bonus. Getting to face Mac in a legitimate match is probably the biggest of those.

Kris had gotten so focused on the dream match that he had nearly overlooked J2H3’s partner for this preview.

Had Mac and Amber gotten a real shot on the Halloween show, there is no telling if Mikah and I would have remained champions long enough for me to hand the championship off to Coby. And that isn’t sarcasm. That’s not me blowing smoke up the guy’s ass either. He’s good. He wouldn’t have been recruited to this match if he wasn’t. More importantly, he sounds like a guy that wants to do things the right way. The way that J2H3 and I did. I didn’t have to look much further back than his comments to Fenris to see that. He offered to have his opponent’s back, despite the fact that it would have been in his best interest to let outside interference chew Fenris up and spit him back out for an easy win. He didn’t do that though. He did the respectful thing. He did the right thing. I can respect that.

...and that’s not to say that he is some kind of slouch in the ring either. There is a reason that Christian thinks that the guy could be a successful World Heavyweight Champion here. He has proven himself on a nightly basis since his debut. I know that there have been a few setbacks along the way, but that doesn’t change the fact that the guy is trending upwards. He’s even got a shot to get his hands on the Internet Championship. I know a little something about that. It was the first one that I won in this company. And he’s going to have to take it from O’Malley if he wants it. I know a little bit about beating that guy down as well.

Although, that can’t be what Kris wants to see happen in this next match. For the first time, O’Malley suffering a crippling defeat would negatively impact the Grand Slam Champion. Usually he would be watching his rival lose with a smile on his face. Their opponents had made sure that wouldn’t be the case this time around. Kris had been lured out of his semi-retirement to team with one of the two people in his life that there was no hope for co-existing with. More painful than that, it put Kris in the position to have to say something positive about his foe-turned-partner.

On that subject, I’m hoping that O’Malley is able to prove some of the things that I’ve said about him wrong….

The Miracle looked like even attempting to be complimentary was going to make him sick. There was no way that he could fake his way through enough pleasantries to convince anyone he was sincere either. Kris decided against even trying to play nice.

...but I’m not honestly expecting too much. Why? Because he is the same guy that he has always been. He is about fifty percent edgy tough guy, and fifty percent sob redemption story. He says that he wants to be better, and do better. Then he keeps up with the same tired excuses to explain away his failures. Maybe he would have been more successful if he hadn’t tried to come up at the same time that J2H3 and I were. Maybe he holds that against me. To be honest, I don’t know how this whole thing started, and at this point I don’t care enough about it to call him out to end it. It means much more to him than it does to me. That is why he was online crying about this match while I was busy rising to the challenge.

A wave of relief washes over the former champion. He was always more at peace when he wasn’t trying to mask what he really wanted to say. Plus, there was no need to fake some kind of truce. Kris was already carrying an ace up his sleeve.

I’m willing to look past that though. I’m willing to work with this reject for the duration of this match, if only because it is in my best interests to do so. I know that he is probably better than I will ever give him credit for. The problem with that is, it has still never been enough to beat me. That means it’s not going to be enough to beat J2H3 at his own game. The best thing that I can hope for is O’Malley keeping Mac busy long enough for me to prove to the world that I am the best that has ever walked through the doors of this company.

Of course, his plan relied on O’Malley being co-operative.

I am willing to do all of the heavy lifting needed in this match to pull off the victory. I am willing to put aside any misgivings between me, O’Malley, Jet City and the GO Gym for one night. I am extending my hand in an attempt to put on a match that should have been the main event of the biggest supercard, let alone Climax Control 300. J2H3 said that booking this match gave the show the star power that it needed and I agree with him on that. I don’t want something petty to get in the way of that. So if O’Malley can hold up his end of the deal and keep that temper of his in check, maybe I will be inclined to grant him his one final wish before my match at High Stakes. I know that stepping into the ring with me one-on-one is what he really wants in this company, and I’m willing to set aside my boredom with the idea to give him a shot…

I am willing to bet that offer will be enough to motivate O’Malley to do the right thing and give his best effort. As if dropping a match to the number one contender to his championship wasn’t enough pressure. I just want to make sure that he knows what is actually at stake for him at Climax Control. If we can somehow work together, we can take this thing. Hopefully O’Malley has enough incentive because with the right motivation we could be unstoppable.

He pauses for just a moment, as if a totally new thought struck him just as he had finished speaking.

Motivation...

He says it slowly, and he tilts his head slightly to the side. Fans can tell that he is still working through the epiphany, but he doesn’t leave them hanging for very long.

It’s a funny thing really… Mac jumped at the opportunity to take on the Internet Champion ahead of his scheduled defense. And why wouldn’t he? It will be the perfect test run before putting the actual prize on the line. He should be competing to get as much of an edge as possible...

With Mac down, he moves back to O’Malley.

We know what the dumb Irishman is fighting for at this point. It’s almost sad that his attention is going to be more focused on me than the guy threatening to take his championship though. He’s either going to crack under the pressure, which I will enjoy having a front row seat for, or rise to the occasion, which will benefit me immensely. Either way I win. Although I’d like to see the guy prove me wrong for once.

He taps himself on the chest.

Me? I think all of you watching have figured that one out for yourselves, but I don’t mind saying it out loud. When people say some other guy is the best there has ever been, you can’t help but want to see how you measure up. There’s only one way to step out of a shadow. This is one that has been clouding my view for far too long.

That left just one person.

...but what about you James? I was listening, but I didn’t exactly hear a reason that you’re putting all of this together. You’ve told us all that you don’t need to be here. You’ve let us know that you’re more happy with life and the wife at home. You don’t need Sin City. You over it. So why? What is it that you’re fighting for? Money? That’s sad if that’s all it takes to get your attention. Shits and giggles? That isn’t going to carry you through this one. Respect? You’ll have a chance to earn it. You’re stepping in the ring with three highly motivated people, and if you’re not careful you’re going to be collateral damage when it’s all said and done.

He shrugs. Nobody knows the answer other than the longest running SCW World Heavyweight Champion.

You’re used to coming in and doing these little one-offs before running away to recover for a while. You’re used to taking on people like Teddy and embarrassing them. That’s not going to be the way that this match goes, and if you think it is, you’re about to get reality checked.