Directly after Climax Control 210 had gone off the air. Fans were leaving the arena slowly, not uncommon for wrestling fans who are always hoping something else is gonna happen - a champion walking to the ring to speak to them, an extra surprise match, maybe even a surprise announcement, but tonight wasn't the night for that, Mikah was nowhere to be seen, Kris Ryan's was announced as injured at not at the show, Brittany Williams wasn't to be found, only Jon Dough had made it out of the single champions and of course, Mixed Tag Team champions London Underground.
Both us lot and Jon had made an appearance on the show, showing off the titles, building a match for Summer XXXTreme, or in our case, looking for one. There was nothing left to announce either, two main events had gone tits up in the space of a day, but fair play to the staff for coming up with alternative plans.
Here plonkers, you try and run a company and come up with this stuff before running to Twitter to criticize who's in what match, I'll bet you a pound to a tenner it ain't easy, so shut up, you sound like a bunch of kids... Not that any of you will see this because hey, you don't think I'm talking about you in any way, but cry on on Twitter about a job you couldn't actually do if ya life depended on it. I know you smart uns will sit there and say "Hey Daniel, you was complaining on Twitter about not having a match..." Nah ya bunch of wallies, I was on Twitter trying to draw people in to SCW, represent our division, much more than what can be said for other current champs. That's alright, you just keep on complaining, didn't take Salco long did it.... Here bosses, do us all a favour and actually fire her, heard she's got a title shot in Honor, could do without the greedy cow in SCW.
But yeah, while everyone took to social media complaining, we took to it campaigning, some of us are here to help bring people in to SCW, some of us ain't selfish enough to just see what we can pull out of it. Some of us actually wanna make it a better place, with more competition, other than the staff, we're the only one's who seem to go out of our way to promote our company.
Call yourselves wrestlers, wrestlers promote where they work to make it better, you lot on Twitter are a joke, and not a funny one.
Sorry, I'm getting a bit off track here with this, but you lot have embarrassed yourselves and your company. You should be working to get people in, or tell people what it's really like to work here, drop the character for a second and help keep your place of business open. I believe Mark Ward when he said he considered shutting down, you lot ain't helping.
We tried to bring people in, tried to tempt back Griffin Hawkins and Alice Knight but ultimately, we couldn't manage to do that cause they didn't know a good thing when it bit them on the arse. Natalie McKinley and Lowri Moss saw the worth it in on SCW's Full Circle, they knew that a spot on a big SCW show was hard to turn down. Roxi Johnson and Keira Fisher-Johnson knew it was too hard to turn down hosting a show, Griffin and Alice, God knows why they're special enough to say no, but we tried.
Things looked a bit grim for us to be honest coming in to this show, especially in hindsight. Last minute changes and a Griffin and Alice shaking their heads at things meant there was not a lot that could be done, until I dunno if it was dumb luck that brought this match together, or because there was no one else, or because the bosses decided one of the two named against us actually did deserve some kinda title shot without pulling a Caleb Storms and trying to sneak their way in to one, or having to go through an Ultimate X match earlier in the night to get one.
Like Mark Ward said, this is their business, we play by their rules, Twitter babies, people who bitch on shows, he's right. His business has give us one hell of a card where anything can happen, but I sure as shit didn't expect his rules to give us two people who have done it all, Mercedes Vargas and Kain...
Now that was an unexpected curve ball, and when me, Os, Charley and Kenz found out, coulda knocked us down with a feather.
The group of London Underground, Daniel J Morgan, Osbourne, Charlotte Elliot and Mackenzie Page wait in the set up backstage area of the Kemah Boardwalk in Texas, the group conversing amongst themselves as they wait for the fans to clear outside. They were often the last to leave the arenas, or in this case, as it has been through the tour, the amusement parks designated backstage areas. They were never one's to interact with the fans if possible, the nature of their real business has taught them to always avoid camera and prying eyes if they could, this translated in to wrestling too. As much as they were enjoying their side career, they needed to keep themselves a guarded secret, often not volunteering for fan events if they could avoid it. The championship belts did bring those responsibilities, but they had none when it came to being off the clock. When the last three count of the night was made, that did make them off the clock. Many wrestlers were already in their cars waiting for that last bell to make their escape to the nearest bar or their hotels, London Underground preferred to wait it out, let the crowds go before making their way to their next destination. It was a waiting game and tonight was no different.
"So now what do we do?" Charlotte asks.
The look on her face was serious as she peered in to Daniel's eyes, her hair tied back and a leather jacket covered her sleeveless black shirt, overlapping blue skinny jeans, resting upon just the back of her high heels. One of the Mixed Tag Team championships over her shoulder
"Concerning?" Daniel responds
His eyes narrowed as he looked up at her, his navy blue suit pressed against the nearby wall, the jacket covering a white shirt, with a light blue tie hanging in front of it.
"We are now two weeks away from Summer XXXTreme." Charlotte tells him. "There's been zero build up to anything towards this show for us, because while others have known what they're doing, we don't know a damn thing."
"She's right." Mackenzie adds. "Gabriel and Odette told us countless times, find out what you're doing and sell like Del Boy."
Daniel looks at Osbourne, wearing a silver suit and black shirt, holding the second Mixed Tag Team championship in his hand, hunches his shoulders up in a shrugs and looks towards Mackenzie, cladded in black leather pants and a white T-shirt, hanging loosely off her shoulders.
"I tried mate." Daniel tells her. "I tried to get interest up, but no one bit. I tried to get interest in to this division from outside, I had less luck than Germany at the World Cup. If we had more on the roster, it might not be a problem but right now, it is."
"The problem is people like Salco and Mikah." Mackenzie says firmly.
The other three look towards her, Osbourne with a raised eyebrow above his sunglasses, Daniel with a thoughtful look on his face and Charlotte looking plain confused.
"What the hell are you going on about Kenz?" Charlotte asks, her tone matching her facial expression.
Mackenzie looks at them, knowing she has their full attention.
"Twitter is a great tool for bringing people in, selling a place to work, right?" She says, looking around the group.
"From what I know, yes." Daniel responds.
"And then people see Jessie Salco and Mikah slamming how things are run, and they don't wanna work here." Mackenzie says profoundly. "They look at those two clowns moaning at bitching about how everything's done, public fights on Twitter and they make the company look like it's run by fucking idiots who do everything randomly."
"We all know that's not the case." Daniel muses.
"Shit, I ain't scared to say it." Mackenzie says. "Salco and Mikah are off putting, and the bosses ain't that bad."
"Still haven't found us a match though yet." Charlotte says firmly. "Right now, seems like the only good thing to come from this is a week on a cruise ship."
"And watching the sun turn Os in to a lobster." Mackenzie says with a smirk. "Gonna have panda eyes and everything."
Osbourne glares through his tinted sunglasses at Mackenzie, who stares back at him, nowhere near intimidated by the big man.
"You lot musta had a little sleep when a match announcement was made in a graphic." The voice of SCW owner Hot Stuff Mark Ward can be heard saying.
The group turn around to see Co-Owner Mark Ward looking at them, bottle of Budweiser in his hand and seeming much more relaxed than he did on camera earlier in the night.
"How long have you been standing there?" Charlotte asks.
Hot Stuff walks towards the group, a smile on his face.
"Long enough to hear everything." He says looking directly at Charlotte.
"Even the Twitter stuff?" Daniel asks.
"Even the Twitter stuff." Hot Stuff repeats.
"I stand by that." Mackenzie tells him without a hint of remorse in her voice.
"I can't argue it." He responds.
The group look around each other with surprised looks on their faces, unsure what to make of the bosses reply, each expecting a major comeback.
"Christian and I take too much shit on there." He says with a shrug. "Makes SCW look bad, makes us look like we don't put the effort in to it. Also, who wants to work in a place where people seem to have more fun moaning and bitching, rather than being the best they can be?"
Hot Stuff takes a huge gulp of his bottle of Budweiser but Daniel raises an eyebrow.
"Wait..." Mackenzie says slowly. "Did you say match announcement?"
Hot Stuff slowly nods his head, with a smirk on his face.
"Wondered when you was gonna get back to that." Hot Stuff says. "A match for you was announced, sorta. Half of it was at least."
"Against who?" Charlotte asks with curiosity in her voice.
"Well it was announced one of you two ladies would be in the ring with Mercedes Vargas." Hot Stuff tells here.
He looks between both women, their eyes wide. Neither of them expected that in the slightest with someone of Mercedes quality. Dani Weston, Amy Marshall, Jessie Salco, Claudia Seraphina were not as decorated as Mercedes Vargas.
"How about one against one of those two?" Mackenzie asks, pointing her finger towards Osbourne and Daniel.
Hot Stuff looks down at his watch on his left wrist and shrugs his shoulders.
"Don't suppose it matters if I tell you now?" Hot Stuff says dragging it out. "I mean the card does go up in a few minutes so it's not like you're gonna get any advantage."
Four sets on eyes rest on Hot Stuff as he smiles, knowing full well he's dragging things out to build up suspense.
"Her partner will be Kain." He tells the group.
Charlotte, Mackenzie and Daniel look taken back by this announcement, but Osbourne looks confused, he looks at Hot Stuff.
"Got wind or something?" Hot Stuff asks.
Osbourne takes off his sunglasses and puts one of his giant hands across his own face, hunching his shoulders up and standing as tall as he can. Hot Stuff looks at him curiously. Osbourne puts his hands to the side, stretching his arms out and raising them up, palm upwards before pulling them down, fist clenched, with force. He puts his hands together and pulls them away quick, spreading his fingers in an explosion type movement.
"Ohhhhh" Hot Stuff says, finally getting what Osbourne is referring to with his game of charades. "No, different Kain."
Osbourne puts his sunglasses back on and shakes his head, doing the explosion sign again before loosing clenching his fist and waving it up and down in a wanker sign. Daniel looks at Hot Stuff.
"He likes the other Kain." Daniel tells Hot Stuff. "Thinks this Kain is a bit of a wanker."
"Many would agree." Hot Stuff says. "Anyway, I need another drink, I'm gonna let all that set in."
Hot Stuff turns to walk away and the four look around at each other.
"Now that is a turn up for the books." Daniel says as a smile starts to creep across his face. "Who would have thought it."
Believe it or not, the group was already familiar with this team, not by being in the ring with either of them, but the group had watched Blast From The Past with interest. They were just learning about this whole Mixed Tag concept and Gabriel and Odette made them, along with Fenris watch the entire tournament, well, the matches Fenris wasn't in, O'Malley too, but his interest diminished on his Blast From The Past exit. The other member of the Stevens' clan, Evie Baang was a seasoned vet and current Blast From The Past holder, she was excused from these lessons, but London Underground, although not in the competition, they were just learning how to become a Mixed Tag Team. Their eyes did fall across one Mercedes and Kain match.
"Whatcha know bright eyes?" Daniel says looking at Charlotte.
She rolls her shoulders back.
"Pretty much all there is to know about Mercedes Vargas and Kain." She tells him. "Multiple champions, grand slam champions, Kain's in the Hall of Fame, Mercedes is pretty much there, rumour has it this year."
"We watched a shitload of these two when we was training." Mackenzie reminds them. "I remember all those rumours about Kain that Gabriel told us."
Daniel smiles.
"Confident enough to cut a promo now?" Daniel asks. "Cause it's all come flooding back to me."
Both women nod towards Daniel, who looks towards Osbourne.
"Go find us someone who can film all this." He tells Osbourne.
Osbourne nods his head and walks away, Daniel looks across at the two women, standing side by side.
"Very much a challenge for one of you." He comments.
"You say challenge, I say another grand slam champion to beat." Mackenzie replies with nothing but a casually shrug.
"A decorated one." Charlotte adds
"If she can walk and talk" Mackenzie says. "She can be beaten. She's no spring chicken these days, and she had a bad run lately. Not sure how she can mock people like Crystal on Twitter about championship matches when she just got one after a long losing streak that she only recently broke."
As Mackenzie shrugs, Osbourne returns with a scared looking cameraman.
"Ladies first." Daniel insists.
He points towards the women as Osbourne hands the other Mixed Tag Championship toward Mackenzie and the cameraman points the camera towards the two women. As the two women pull the championship belts over their shoulders, the camera changes completely, just focusing on the two women.
"Well we didn't expect this." Charlotte starts "A chance to get in the ring with someone who actually means something around here, square off against someone with true championship quality. Not someone who shithoused their way to championship with no talent like Jessie Salco and Amy Marshall. Someone with actual quality, someone with nine legit championship runs. I can't be arsed to look at the stats, I look at people, not the numbers, but you happen to look at everything, so surely, that must be the most championships held by one person in SCW, correct?"
Charlotte looks at Mackenzie who shrugs her shoulders.
"Like I give a fuck how many belts she's won." Mackenzie tells her. "Means she's lost nine belts too, don't it?"
"It does but it takes a lot to win nine belts, have those nine championship runs." Charlotte says. "Shows a lot of character to step up and raise a belt above your head after losing one a few times, shows a lot of heart to bounce back without begging for title shots and letting your work speak for yourself. It takes a lot of patience to sit there and not ask for a title shot and showing actions speak louder than words."
"Takes being creative and not recording the same shit segment ever week too." Mackenzie says under her breath, drawing a smile from Charlotte.
"It does." Charlotte continues. "But what have your actions actually done lately."
"I can answer that." Mackenzie says. "Absolutely fuck all."
Mackenzie looks at Charlotte and places her palms flat out in front of the camera. Mackenzie turns her head to the camera once more.
"Seriously fuck all, less than fuck all." Mackenzie says with a calm demeanour. "I jump on to Danny's Twitter from time to time, just to see the shit that gets spoken and I've seen Mercedes mock others for losing, and how well she's doing elsewhere. Well good for you Mercedes, sitting there with ya head between your own legs blowing smoke up your own arse, but things ain't been too kindly for you in SCW, has it? Climax Control 209, your first win in six matches, six matches!"
"That is pretty bad." Charlotte comments.
"That's fucking dreadful." Mackenzie says with a shake of her head. "How can you sit there and take the piss out of others losing five on the spin? Things like this show people like us so much, it shows the fucking world everything. The world might not say it Mercedes, but I will. At the age of thirty eight, your SCW career is on a downward slide. The only person you could beat in six matches was a woman in just her third match."
"Wow!" Charlotte mutters.
"The only woman you could defeat was a newcomer to the ring, and trust us, we know she's a newcomer to the ring cause we trained with her." Mackenzie tells her. "You're sliding out of peoples thoughts quicker than Argentina in World Cup."
"Bloody hell." Daniel can be heard mutter off camera.
Mackenzie can't help but smile.
"The fact is you couldn't defeat five people on the spin, you're probably all fucking giddy at somehow shit housing your way to a title shot because you're thinking you can be first grand slam champion plus one." Mackenzie tells her. "Sorry to burst your bubble but it ain't happening. You're not gonna add something else to brag about and try and wave everything in people's faces, you're not getting up to Messi's number in championships and running around like you own the place. It just don't work that way. You're on the slide, we're on the fucking rise. What does that tell you? In every fucking sport, in every walk of life, once someone is on their way down, someone else is on the way up to take over and that will be us Mercedes. When we hit thirty eight with more title runs than you could ever imagine, you'll see that all your bragging and boasting with a pile of elephant shit. You'll see you spent the best part of your career talking bollocks. There's no upside for you at all anymore. You've got in this match while digging at people for their loss records when you've offered us and SCW fuck all."
"Doesn't mean we're gonna take you lightly." Charlotte adds. "We just know you're not the challenge you once were. We just know you're not the person you used to me, that you're not the person people remember as a champion. Getting a little help these days from Kain ain't really gonna help, I think we know how things are gonna go with him, we know you're the danger of the team, we know you're the main force of this team, but even you're not your best anymore. It does kinda make me sad"
Mackenzie tilts her head to look at Charlotte, a little confused by her partner.
"You kinda wanna beat the best version of someone, don't ya?" Charlotte asks.
"If you say so." Mackenzie replies "I just like beating people."
"Well yeah, but it's pointless if you're beating on the shell of who someone used to be." Charlotte says.
"If you say so." An undeterred Mackenzie replies.
"I do, I'd rather beat the old Mercedes than this version." Charlotte admits "But this version, the old version, it doesn't really matter to me. I wanna be part of the group that can say we beat Mercedes Vargas. I wanna be part of the group that says we stopped Mercedes Vargas from winning every title in SCW. I wanna say that we took out probably one of the most respected SCW people on the roster."
Mackenzie looks upwards as if in thought.
"I don't" She says, drawing a look from Charlotte. "I just wanna punch her in the face and remind her that she's no better than Jessie Salco. I wanna show her that these belts are going nowhere, they're staying with the only mixed tag team that gives a shit, London Underground."
Mackenzie nods firmly and looks at Daniel past the camera.
"I'm bored talking about this woman." She tells him. "Can you talk about Kain instead?"
The camera turns to Daniel who nods....
We'll be right back.... Ummmm, when you scroll down a little.
