[Despayre]

 DESPY'S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow"

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white"

Yes indeed, everyone dreams of a white Christmas. Even those that lay claim to being tired of the snow or hating having to deal with it in the winter. They dislike shoveling the drive. They feel it too dangerous to drive on roads that have been slicked over thanks to the powdery white flakes fallen from the heavens. Perhaps it's just the cold that they have grown to despise that always comes with having a winter wonderland, but one would be hard pressed to find anyone who feels Christmas is just fine when one doesn't have snow to go along with it.

One such person is the star of this here promo, Despayre. Despayre loves the cold. He loves snow even more. He always did. Ever since he was a little boy, in body and not just mentality, he adored the Canadian winters that blessed him with enough snow to satisfy any child's delight. A rare thing it was indeed to wake up on a Christmas morning in Vancouver and there not be snow on the ground and floating through the air, all the better to play in and hold out your tongue and catch those tantalizing frozen crystals upon it, a child's game played for decades. Of course, living in Las Vegas, which was basically a great big desert, carried with it the unfortunate consequences of never having snow.

Heck! It was a rare thing to even see rain fall from the sky, let alone snow! Still, it did not detract Despayre from hope, a testament to his childlike personality: that anything was possible if you only believes hard enough for it to come true.

Is that why Despayre was at this very moment hanging out in the front yard of his homestead in the famed "City of Sin", behind the hedge that during warmer times of the year, sport varied floral growths? No, he did most of his fanciful snow dreaming later at night, when it just seemed more -- magical? Yes, that's the right word for it. Magical. No, he was out here for a more professional reason. This was business, or at least it was if you were to ask him. And as Angel would freely say, "'Business' business is private business." No more need be said about a topic once Angel added his two cents worth. After all, he didn't get his reputation by collecting bottle caps.

Despayre was just pondering the vast mystery of how a thermos keeps hot food hot and cold food cold without getting them mixed up, when he heard a vehicle slow to a crawl at the drive at the forefront of their yard and the engine shut off.

There! Despayre heard it from where he was crouched down on his belly, waiting. Oh that mailman thought he was so clever! Sometimes he would even send in a female-man or come early, just to throw him off! But Despayre was too smart for him! Yes sir! He knew the relative time frame the mailman had to deliver their mail every day. he also felt a phone call to the post office for a delivery time frame was entirely ethical. Using binoculars from the upstairs window helps too!

Despayre used his fingers to gently pull the shrubbery apart so that he might peek through and watch as the timid old mailman made his way up the path toward their mail box. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, and even at one point spun around having thought he heard a noise. Hunh! Where was the trust? The old man glanced about and seemed to relax if his frame was any indication. Could it be? Could he have managed to escape a day delivering mail to this particular house without suffering any form of...

"HI!" Despayre shot up from the bushes in a standing position, just as the mailman reached for the mail box with his right hand. The mailman let out a startled yelp of fright and turned tail and ran, scattering the mail for his dad (Despayre's, not the mailman's!) behind him. Despayre watched him go with wide eyes and followed his path as he jumped into the mail truck and practically burned rubber towards the next homestead down the road!

Despayre shook his head and started to walk along the yard, picking up the fallen mail to give to his dad as per usual, when his eyes fell upon a small, slim package addressed to him and his face lit up.

"Oh boy! It came! Just in time too!"

That being said, he quickly snatched the package up into his eager grasp and turned to dash up the drive to his house and...

<Be>BANG!</Be>

"I guess Joshua is finished with the mailman." Synn observed from his office, having a casual chat with Theresa who was seated in the chair opposite the head of the household's desk, on her break with a small glass of tea in her hand. Such was the nature of the working relationship and yes -- friendship -- that the live-in housekeeper was more than welcome to such intimacies normally frowned on between employee and employer.

Theresa asked, "Why do you allow him to continue to torment that poor old man, so?" She shook her had. "One of these days Joshua will go too far."

"You don't give him enough credit." Synn looked up from the computer screen on his desk. "Deep down Joshua knows where not to go when he's 'playing' with Mister Browne. And besides, I already spoke with the man, and he assured me there's no harm between them." Synn held back a chuckle but not the smile that came along with it as he added, "He thinks at his age it's doing him a world of good."

"You say the same thing about his little feud with that miserable, old neighbor." Theresa observed.

"What happens between Joshua and Missus O'Heaney are just harmless pranks." Synn stated simply. "And half the time Joshua gets as good as he gives."

"Harmless?" Theresa finished her tea and set the cup down on the desk's coaster. "The woman sicced her German Shepard on Joshua!"

Synn replied, "And Joshua bit the dog before the dog could bite him. No real harm done save for the dog's psyche. Plus, let's face facts..." Synn spread his hands out in open invitation. "Ever since he found her on the floor of her home, Joshua's actually taken a liking to the old woman. He's been going over there quite often."

"Where she wants him to or not." Theresa added.

"I have a feeling she enjoys the company more than she lets on with that hard exterior of her's." Synn said. "If she truly hated it, she wouldn't let him in or tell him stories of her youth as an actress."

"Speaking of that boy of yours..." Theresa shifted around in her chair to look towards the still closed office door. "Shouldn't he have barged in here by now with your mail?"

"Unless I didn't get any." Synn replied. "But that almost never happens, so... yes." He sighed as he slowly stood up from his seat. "Might as well go find out what he's gotten himself into this time and get it over with."

Theresa stood up and followed her boss and friend out of the office, pausing only long enough to quickly pick up her glass to clean it later. They walked down the long hallway of the modern house until they arrived in the foyer which ld into the living room where a large Christmas tree decorated the far corner. The entire home itself had been done up in holiday decor, the usual conceding on Synn's part on behalf of his son's wishes. (I know, shocker, right?) Garland, lights and holly were everywhere the eye could see, but nowhere was the festive mood more prominent than in the living room. Garland and lights lined everything from the mantle to the windows and everywhere in between. There was that dreaded mistletoe but the tree! The tree in all its glory was the most prominent display -- well, that and the presents!

Oh there was so many colorfully wrapped packages of all shapes and sizes positioned beneath and around the tree, and in some cases, the furniture itself. Probably one of the many reason why Synn was constantly teased by those closest to him that he spoiled Despayre terribly, a fact Synn never denied. Not that he could, really. And that eight foot tall Christmas tree was where Synn and Theresa walked in to find the aforementioned Despayre kneeling in front of, his back turned to them but with a large package in his hands.

"Can you see anything Angel? ... Me either. ... I `unno. Maybe they're not turned on?"

Synn interrupted -- whatever it was that his son was doing this time, and asked aloud, "What exactly do you think you're doing Joshua?"

Despayre jumped in startled surprise, spinning around and flopping from his knees to his butt, holding that colorfully wrapped package in his hands -- and a pair of novelty X-Ray specs on his eyes. Synn and Theresa's eyes shifted to Despayre's side and saw the teddy bear Angel, facing the tree but with a pair of 'his' own X-Ray specs perched on it's nose. Their attention turned back to Despayre who was staring at them though his glasses.

Theresa clucked her tongue, "What would Santa say?"

"You're not gonna nark on me, are you!?" Despayre cried.

"No. Synn answered, despite his growing amusement at his son's antics."Besides, it wouldn't be worth it. Your presents aren't in the house and those things..." He motioned with a forefinger towards the specs on Despayre's face. "... do not work."

Despayre's eyebrows rose up almost to his hairline before he took his special specs off and stared hard at them momentarily, before he slipped them back on and stared at his dad.

"Then how come I can see you're wearing that rubber thong Shipman gave you?"

Synn stared at his son, but felt the eyes of someone else on him. He did a double take at the house keeper at his left and simply said, "Don't judge me."

That being said, Despayre jumped to his feet, picking Angel up along with him by the paw and with his free hand, snatched a small package wrapped in "Grumpy Cat" wrapping paper and started to dart around his father and Theresa.

"NOW where are you off to?" Theresa asked.

"Fine." Synn called after him. "Just make it fast as I'm taking you two out to lunch!"

Despayre poked his head back into the frame of the living room with an impish, hopeful smile. "Panda Express?"

"Olive Garden." Synn corrected.

"Awww!" And Despayre vanished and they saw him through the window, running toward the old neighbor's house down the road...



"I have to admit that I am not entirely certain just how I should feel about this match that Despayre finds himself in. I mean, on one hand, I had felt that after winning the Going For the Gold Battle Royal in Canada, he had certainly earned a break and at least a week off, but then I also thought about it and believed if anyone should have a match at not just the 'homecoming' edition of Climax Control, but also the Christmas themed episode as well? Well, Despayre's name should be right there at the top of the list."

"Still -- Gabriel Asar?"

"Out of any and every Superstar that Despayre could find himself against, he gets signed to face a man that has not competed in an SCW ring since January of this year? And before that, his scheduled matches were few and far between. Three matches in August of 2014, two in September of the same year, then nothing again until January of this year. After that, vanished. Poof! Gone! But I was mistaken, wasn't I? It was just your career that pretty much vanished in a cloud of smoke, wasn't it Mister Asar? Hardly surprising. The most notable thing you were involved in wasn't even a wrestling match. It was an attack at the hands of your ex, Amy Marshall, that left you laying, out cold."

"Everything that happened after, just showed the world what a sad little human being you are. A boy that had finally experienced the world without ever having had his nose bled before. You displayed for the world to see, your true worth as a human being, and I must say, that value is worthless."

"So why here? Why now? Why does my son, Despayre. have to face you now all of a sudden? Why are you even here in the first place? You actually think you are going to use Despayre as a means to an end, a way to shake off the proverbial ring rust so that you can forge ahead in another endeavor that benefits you and you alone? No. I think not."

"Arrogance will be the root of your downfall, Mister Asar. It always has been. You speak as if the world owes you, well, the world, and act the part of the victim each time you are denied. The sad thing is that arrogance can be a powerful tool inside of the ring, so long as you know how to channel that emotion into a weapon and learn to not underestimate the man staring at you from across the ring. Sadly, I have seen no examples of you being able to accomplish any such thing. You are a mere boy, a child, playing the part of an adult. And doing so quite badly."

"Whatever is going through your mind right now? Whatever strategies you come into Las Vegas armed with? None of it is going to work. Despayre has suffered two defeats in his entire career. Two! One to his own 'big brother' in the real Gabriel, and one to Sean Jackson. And you? You of all people are not going to add a check mark to that very small tally. I don't care what kind of ridiculous holiday themed match the two of you get entered into, the end result will be the same; you walking into the Gold Coast Casino with high hopes and boastful dreams, and laving mere hours later in defeat with your tail tucked between your legs."

"Don't feel too bad for what's about to come, Mister Asar. It should only come as natural in the grand scheme of things. After all, Despayre is King, and every King needs a royal clown."