Somewhere in the Eagle's Nest Arena not long after Climax Control went off the air...
The camera shows a white hallway somewhere in the arena. From around the corner comes Blade Alexander, looking at his hands which are still stained with the blood of Spike Staggs.
“When I came back to SCW I said there would be a price to pay... I told everyone that I had a list of names and one by one I'd cross off each and every one of those names and make them pay the price... Making wrestling real once again here in SCW. And starting tonight, look at this...”
He shows his bloody hands to the camera.
“Tonight Spike Staggs forced his way to the number one spot on my list. I made it no secret that sooner or later I would expose Spike for the fraud he is and tonight I made him pay the price that people like him aught to pay if they want to be successful in my ring. You want to play games Spike, you want to lie and cheat your way to the top that's fine, but you're trying to tell yourself a lie that no one but you is believing. Tonight you learned that you can't just walk around acting the way you do and get titles and money and acclaim without having to pay the price. You pay the price Spike. It's your fucking blood.”
He looks again at the blood on his hands and smiles.
“You claimed you wanted to put an end to my bitching. The truth hurts when you're Spike Staggs. I know. You figured I should be challenging Amanda Cortez instead of you... That's a huge insult coming from a guy who challenged me. It's not been a month yet and you're already trying to change history again Spike. You've already forgotten that you challenged me.”
He smiles.
“You're such an important champion Spike that instead of facing anyone who was put in front of him like Nick Jones did, you have to challenge others. On you the SCW title has become so meaningless in just minutes that you had to go out and challenge the guy who you know everyone pays to see in SCW. You're so stupid Spike, it makes me smile, It really does. You think people believe you. You think people care about you. You think you matter. You're bleeding out Spike...”
He looks at his hands one more time.
“But you already knew that.”
Several Days Later.
Somewhere presumably near Newark, California. Somewhere like a gym locker room. Blade Alexander sits there on a chair, head down, bottle of water in hand.
“Does it still sting Spike?”
He looks up.
“Can you still feel it? Can you feel the stitches inside your head? Does it feel like the end of your title reign?”
He smirks.
“I hope you still feel it Spike. I hope you've been home looking that stinging reminder of last week in the mirror every single morning. I hope every time you see the mark on your head reflecting back at you it makes you remember our exchange. I hope it reminds you how you felt when your head hit those stairs. I hope it reminded you how it felt when you felt the wet heat of your own blood flowing down over your face, into your own eyes. I hope it reminded you of every word I said to you, every word I said about you. I hope it's a fresh reminder every morning, every time you go to the bathroom, each time you wash your hands... Each time you catch your own reflection. I hope you see that wound and you remember.”
“I'm sure it's not the first time you've been bloodied, Spike. I know it wont be the last. I hope Vixen is there with you even though it's not that bad and you really don't need it. I hope she dotes over you despite your protestations about her attention.”
He smirks.
“I hope all these things Spike, because if you do these things then you know. If you shrug it off, if you just treat it like another of life's lumps and you go about your day then you're truly an idiot and where's the fun in that? Where's the fun in beating the life out of someone stupid enough to start a fight he doesn't even know he can't finish? Where's the fun in beating someone who was dealt a shit hand in life and can only look back and think that it was a great run while it lasted?”
“I know you had some success before SCW opened right? You did alright for yourself. Then you've stuck around SCW this long, and that makes me wonder. It makes me think maybe you're not really all that bright. After all, it's you who thinks you deserve your little golden reward just for being gainfully employed for over a year. I'm sure to someone like you that's probably an impressive achievement the dedication to one thing other than failure is a milestone to be celebrated. That's fine. If you're Spike Staggs. For the rest of us that's just life.”
“But oh wait, that's right, it's a milestone because it's something I didn't do right Spike? Because I left SCW for a few months just before I was going to get a title shot... Well that was just me being an ungrateful whiny bitch who took his ball and left. Gospel according to Spike Staggs. But that's only in a world where you can't conceive of another person who would actually chose to have something called a private life. If someone in SCW doesn't want ever tiny detail of their life played out for about 300 people in a high school gym. I don't sleep with every girl that comes through SCW, so that's my shortcoming right? I don't share all of the intimate moments of my life for the world to see or share the minutia of my life in real time on Twitter so I'm just a complainer that needs to be shut up. Well that's just great Spike.”
“Problem is, there's more than one way to look at life. There's more than your way to live life.”
He pauses to take a sip of the water.
“Some of us aren't into living our lives for the entertainment of others. Some of us can keep our professional and private lives separate. Some of us don't have to dip our pens in the company ink. So when someone, say me, needs to take some time off because of something personal and misses something, something say as big as a title match, then you know it's a big deal. You know what it isn't Spike? It's none of your fucking concern. You want to live your little romance with your bombshell fucking flavor of the week so everyone can see, fine. That doesn't make the rest of us taking time away from the spotlight a negative.”
“I was gone for a while. It is what it is. You claim Nick Jones ducked competition, but let's face it with out me here there was none to be had. You think you deserved your title shot just because you've been here from the beginning but, Spike, you just sort of hung around at first didn't you? Then when you did decide to get in the ring you really haven't done anything worth while. You used Misty mentally and physically. She was a burnt out shell before hand but look at her now. Wow.”
He smiles a slow deliberate smirk.
“Now you're onto Vixen and why? Listen to what you've been saying lately. You fashion yourself some kind of mad man sometimes and she's just so beautiful that seeing her is the only thing that can calm the murderous intent. You want to make it seem like it's Beauty and the Beast where you're this evil thing only her pure beauty can redeem, but really Spike, that just pure self indulgence. You are like Beast in one way though, you're both fuck ugly. Vixen is less like Belle though and more like a common street whore looking for a sugar daddy to give her all the pretty, shiny things she ever dreamed of and you're the sad old man looking for attention.”
“Lately you've claimed you've been having trouble sleeping at night.”
He takes another drink of water.
“What's the matter Spike, things got you down? You got that great girl right?”
He rolls his eyes.
“So what could it possibly be? Maybe it's that group of Super Friends you've got on the go there, the New Xtremes? What's the matter Spike? Band drifting apart? They're not becoming the group that you visioned? Those are the reasons you've stated publicly. Let's look a little deeper shall we?”
“First off you have your little girlfriend Vixen. You pay her to say she's on her knees for you nightly and act like your friend in public and she does like the good little employee so I'm guessing you're not bouncing any checks there. Next you've got Casey who's off on his own concerns just a little more than a tiny bit bitter with you for exploiting your past with Mark and Chris and your relations in talent relations to leap frog over him to get a title shot, so maybe you two are on the outs a bit, then you've got Koji and his Party Horde whatever the fuck that means. Guy goes down with an injury and you don't even send him a thank you card? Yeah that's a nice fearless leader for you. No concern for those putting their body on the line for you. Disregard for the muscle doing your dirty work. It's no wonder your friends are getting scarce.”
“Be honest, it's not your good intentions that are keeping you up at night. It's that the group with the stupidest fucking name in the history of wrestling factions is getting tired of being fed the same old Spike Staggs bullshit about you trying to help them and make them better and starting to grow less and less interested in busting their asses and paying the cost for your shortcomings. I told you everything has a price Spike. There's only so long you can keep getting others to pay it for you before it all comes back on you with interest.”
“Don't let it all get to you though Spike. Groups are passe. There are like eleven factions in SCW right now. Seems I'm the only one with balls enough to go it alone. Sad state for the rest of you fucks. Keep on doing your thing though. Keep on pushing your massive fucking egos, keep on getting distracted by your petty bullshit and I'll keep on being the best.”
He drains the rest of the water from the bottle.
“So this is what it's all come down to Spike. You throw out this challenge, not because you're so good, not because you want to be some fighting champion. This is your last chance to save face. You throw out challenges to me because you know I'll accept it, you know I'm the best in the company and you think you have enough faith left in your own little group to get past me and establish yourself as champion before everything collapses in on top of you and those people you've been abusing for so long finally come to collect your head.”
“And speaking of that head, I know you're listening to me Spike. Go ahead, touch them. No one would blame you. I'm sure hearing all this, hearing this negativity towards you must have your blood pumping. Those stitches must be stinging right about now.”
He smirks, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.
“I know enough about you Spike to know that you're burning to get even with me. You want to put me in my place for what I did about you. For what I said about you. You'll try to be a big man and shrug it off, but we both know that inside it's burning you up. Your blood is just boiling. That's what I want Spike. I don't want some pussy out to share his knowledge and help some group of sheep. I don't want some slick rick it all rolls off my back jackass. I want Spike Staggs seeing nothing but Blade Alexander. You challenged me Spike, but you never hunt a predator.”
“I have a challenge for you. Do to me what I did to you. Bust me open Spike. Take back ever drop of blood I took from you. Take that piss-ant little gym we're going to fight in and paint it's floors red with my blood. I know it sounds harsh, but it's the only way. It's the only way you walk out with your dignity, it's the only way you walk out with your self respect, it's the only way you walk out. Forget about the title belt, that was gone the minute you challenged me. Gone. Forever. You'll never be good enough to beat me for it. Never. But if you can do enough, if you can hurt me enough, then you can leave with some dignity. Then you can leave with your head held high. Hey, then you might even be able to win back some of those friends you've started to estrange lately. You'll be able to show them that you're the kind of man you claimed to be.”
“Funny thing is I know you wont though. I know what's in your mind. I can see through you Spike Staggs. I can see your heart. I can see that you don't have one. For all your sly words and self delusions you haven't got a single fiber of your being that's willing to do what I'll do to you. You haven't got the guts to go where I'll go. You'll puss out because you don't like to get your hands dirty and do any work for yourself and then when you do, when you hesitate for that moment and back away from that edge that you keep telling everyone around you that you so willingly cross... When you do back away I'll beat you and you'll be left wondering once again what the fuck went wrong.”
“That's when I'll set things back on track. Right there in Newark in front of 75 people and all the internet I'll rip those stitches out of your head, open up that gash again and I'll fucking pray at the alter of professional wrestling and offer your blood up as sacrifice on SCW's golden idol and all the teen heartthrobs pretending to be hardcore, the cross-dresses and transvestites, and male models turned business men will finally have to sit up and take notice. Their icon of callow vanity has fallen and Darwinism restored to wrestling.”
“There is a price.”
“Payment due.”
Fade.
