In the underground cinema of the Sin City Wrestling Hotel, we see Stephen Callaway. He sits on his own. The lights from the movie illuminate him. He turns and looks at the camera.
Stephen Callaway
"You know, I hate the term 'veteran'. I even hate being a veteran in this business.
To me veterans are those old people you see on the TV. Somewhere in their eighties being pushed around in a wheelchair every November as a memory of a war from so long ago that we still shouldn't forget.
Old people.
I'm not even 40 and I'm being called a veteran. I'm not even 40 and the question about retirement has been hovering around me for the best part of the last five years.
I've been around for a while and I have a lot of experience. But the idea of being a veteran that is close to retirement is something I struggle with. It's something I know I'll struggle with. I know that somewhere down the road, I'll be in the training system with some new recruits and I'll be more hands on than I ever was to show that I've still got it. That I'm not an old man.
I'd love to be one of the new guys coming through. Just a young thing in my late teens or early twenties. My body wouldn't be sore, all the mistakes I made wouldn't be there, all my experience would still be out there waiting for me to experience it. Everything would be like a sheet of blank paper waiting for my story to be written,
All that potential waiting to be explored.
I look at the kids, the rookies these days and I think where could I end up if I started out now. With all the state of the art training facilities and all the video on demand sites that offer thousands of hours of wrestling knowledge at the touch of a button. I started at a time where the gym had some dumb bells, an exercise bike and a rowing machine. I started at a time where I could count on the one hand the different companies that had easily available content and probably have some fingers left over.
I believe that if I was making my wrestling debut this Sunday, I'd probably be the top guy in Sin City by December To Dismember 2021."
He takes a drink from a blue solo cup.
Stephen Callaway
"But I'm not. Instead I'm at the point where my sheet of paper is covered in writing. I'm at the point where I've made the mistakes. I have the experience of all my highs and lows.
Like it or not, I am a veteran.
That said so is Bulldog Bill.
While I know some want me to be concerned by the fact he's a brawler while I'm a technician. I know something they don't. For years I was known as 'Mr Everything'. Thus the name of my Reverse DDT, The 'Everything Goes'.
I got the name 'Mr Everything' because that's what I was. It was also what I gave, but I digress.
I can work any style from Brawler to technical. Submission to high flying. Put me in there with anyone and I will match them. Put me in there with anyone and I'll give you a great match.
Sin City know this, that's why they know that they can put me in there with any name on their roster. That's why most weeks no matter if my results are good, bad or indifferent I am always on the card.
They want to put 'Mr Everything' in there with a brawler? Then this Scottish lad gets to throw down, throw hands and throw punches. Bulldog Bill might think of himself as a veteran but I know more about wrestling than he ever, ever will.
This Sunday we might be going to Sam's Town, but it's going to be my ring"
He turns the camera to the movie screen and we see credits are rolling, when the camera turns back, Stephen Callaway is gone.
All that remains is the blue solo cup sitting on Stephen's vacated seat.
