After a conversation with Evie, we decided it was best I tackled this one alone, I mean I went all the way to Iceland on a whim, my idea, she shouldn't have to be punished by having to talk a miserable Icelandic geezer in to coming back to America and ending what I believed to be a smirking hypocrite, scaring off the big MMA bad ass. Evie took the time to go and see some sights, we hadn't been to Iceland in over a year, not since maybe May last year. She'd found a few places to call her haunts back then, and decided to go visit them, but she was correct at finding the address for Iceland's grumpiest man...
My hand hovered over the wooden door of Fenris' family home, a home he'd spent his entire life before the call of MMA and punching people in the face yelled at him. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd done the right thing, maybe I should have listened to that Bobbie Dahl bird and left him to wallow, although considering her recent actions, she's hardly one to make smart choices or give good advice. I didn't know what reaction I was gonna get knocking on that door, I didn't know if anyone was in, at that point, I didn't know I had the correct address, but in for a penny, in for a pound as we say back home.
My doors rattled on the wood as the doubt ran through me a little more but it was too late to go back as I could hear footsteps behind the door.
"If he opens the door, there's a good chance I'm gonna need a dentist at some point on this trip." is all I could say to myself.
The steps got louder and the sound of a handle could be heard turning. There was no turning back as the door swung open, but there was no angry Icelandic punch in face for a living guy, just the sweet surprised face of Fenris' younger sister, the one he describes as not the bitch, Freyja staring directly at me. The look on her face, one of utter shock and surprise, knowing she was thinking if she was seeing things.
"Mr Jordan?" She questioned, her tone slow with a strong Icelandic accent behind it, the slight sound of disbelief in her voice.
"Alright darling." I quickly reply with a smile. "Put the kettle on, it's a bit parky out here. Know what I mean?"
She didn't have a clue what I meant, but years of charades helped be out, acting out the term for cold, got me an invite in to the house.
"Please come in." She says politely, pointing in to the house.
I didn't need to be asked twice, Iceland wasn't exactly full of sunshine today, or probably most days, but being that good old London lad, I should be used to it. Spending a while in Canada, should have helped, but something about Iceland was freaking freezing.
"What are you doing here?" She asked me.
"You didn't see the SCW show on Sunday?" I replied as the heat of the house started to warm my bones.
"I did, but I didn't expect you to fly all the way here." She says with still that tone of surprise in her voice.
"Oh yeah." I quickly fire back. "I got on the plane right after the show with the missus and we came right here. Been here for a couple of days, I was trying to find the address when I got here, but struggled for a couple of days, then the missus found it in five minutes."
"How did she do that?" Freyja asked me, shyly looking in to my eyes.
I couldn't help but frown as the answer fell from my lips.
"She called Aron." I admit. "I think she was having fun of me making a pigs ear of things for a couple of days, walking around asking people, but she put me out of my misery and just called Aron, who gave her the address."
I could see in Freyja's eyes, she didn't know what I was talking about, but her politeness forced her to nod her head.
"Is the grumpy old git in?" I asked her, my mind switching back to the reason I was there.
"He is upstairs in his room." Freyja tells me. "He rarely comes out of there. Spends most of his days up there."
"He's like a teenager, ain't he?" I said with a smile. "Get the Spanish archer once and ends up playing Endless Love on repeat."
Again, I knew what I was saying to Freyja was confusing, English wasn't her first language and cockney is a whole different level.
"Where can I find happy chops?" I quickly ask.
It took her a few seconds to understand my meaning, but she pointed me in the direction of where I could find Fenris and a minute later, I was standing outside his door. I rattled three times on the wood.
"Room service!" I yelled out in a high pitched voice, getting the reaction I expected.
"Piss off!" Boomed the voice of Fenris from behind the door, only for it to bring a smile to my face.
"Charming." I say through the wooden door. "Come all this way, freeze me bollocks off, I even bumped in to a penguin crying about how cold it is, only to be told to piss off? Bit harsh. Now I'm coming in there, so I hope you got your pants on, cause I don't wanna be poked in the eye with anything, ya get me?"
With a deep breath, I put my hand on the door handle and pushed down, putting my weight against the door, but the door didn't budge an inch. I heard a click from the other side and finally the door opened.
"It was locked genius." Fenris told me as he turned and walking in to the room.
This wasn't the Fenris I knew, this was a bearded, scruffy looking mess of a man and I couldn't help but pick Fenris up on it as he turned to look at me.
"I didn't know they were remaking Castaway, but you're a shoe in for the Tom Hanks role looking like that." I said as I pointed to his unshaved face. "Where's Wilson?"
My eyes darted around the room.
"WILLLLLLLLLLLLLLSOOOOOOON" I yell out, but at a level to not alarm anyone, but that didn't impress the former SCW World Champion one little bit. "I didn't know there was a razor blade shortage here or I would have brought some with me."
He looked at me with not even an ounce of being impressed or the mood lightening.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" He asked me in a harsh tone.
"I was in the neighbourhood." I told him with a smile. "I haven't been here for two days looking for your address only for Evie to find it in five minutes or anything."
"She let you make an ass of yourself for a couple of days before calling someone for it, didn't she?" He said, for the first time, his face turning to a slight smirk.
A sigh left my lungs.
"Yeah, and boy do I feel a pillock for it." I admitted. "But I was in the area anyway and thought pub, and then I thought let's get you down the pub cause I'm pretty sure when we left off, it was your round, so it's time to go to the pub.... Right after you shave and shower, you look like a right state."
That was met with glaring eyes and for the best part of an hour, it took me to even persuaded him to make himself look half decent but before you knew it, we were sitting at a table in a bar called Kaffibarinn and I was doing one of the things I did best... Drinking.
"Not a bad drop." I said as I put the glass back on the table.
"Why are you really here Ben?" Fenris' question was blunt and to the point, not a sound of emotion in his voice. I decided to match that.
"I've come to take you back to America." I told him just as bluntly. "Two reasons, one, they booked you on the next show in some qualifier thing for the World title, I'm also booked in a match there, and two, we let Ty West rob the world of what would be an epic match. Now If we both qualify, we'll be in a big arse match against each other, but we owe the fans a one on one."
"Not interested." What his quick reply, matched with a stubborn look on his face.
"All because of Ty West?" I replied quickly. "Mate, listen, we've all been screwed over when it came to love, and I did what you did, I hid, I ended up living in a van going from place to place so I could stay under the radar, got fat on pizza, and woke up on a bench outside the SCW offices where Christian Underwood helped me. Christian is a dick at times, but he saved me."
"I don't need saving." Fenris fired back quickly.
"Look at ya, ya look like a hobo." I quickly replied. "All cause of getting the elbow. At least you got told to your face, my first love, well, I never got that."
That seemed to draw his attention as he looking across the table at me.
"No one has ever been told this story directly, it's been touched upon, but not directly." I told Fenris, I could see his interest growing "so keep it stoom"
My finger lifted in front of my lips, indicating stoom meant keep it to yourself. I got a nod from Fenris, allowing me to continue.
"When I was a kid, I met someone, a girl called Emma Rose." I started to recall the story. "And we were inseparable. There was me, Mickey Carroll, Tessa Flanagan, us four couldn't be parted, Emma was the love of my life. Then she upped and left, just gone, went like that. Just one day she was there, next she wasn't, I was told she went back to New Zealand, her family just packed up and pissed off basically. I never got a goodbye then."
Fenris scoffed at me from across the table.
"You were kids." He said with an edge of sarcasm in his voice.
"We were, but it gets worse." I continued "Years later, we all found ourselves in the wrestling game, Emma Rose found her way to ACW and well, the flames were still there, it wasn't long before I was soppy bollocks again, and we were bang in love. Christmas was coming around, and I bought a ring and everything, I set things up lovely. We lived in an underground house to the point I made it snow in the house and everything and I was gonna do the one knee thing the next morning and I woke up and she was gone. Clothes gone, possessions gone, not even a note, she just upped and disappeared. I called everyone and the best I got was she was sorry, but I never got an explanation, to this day, I still have no explanation. I don't know where she is, what the hell happened. Hell, if Effie Bingham knew that, I would have probably been accused of being a murderer."
I noticed Fenris face had changed, he was listening to every word, but could tell his heart was racing hearing the words coming out of my mouth.
"She just disappeared, been no sightings of her anywhere. I guess she lost the ginger hair, changed her name and went somewhere where wrestling wasn't a big thing, she did a full pelt Lord Lucan." I told the eager listening Fenris. "Even right now, could be anywhere in the world, all I was left with was an underground house and a lion."
"A lion?" Fenris questioned with a raised eyebrow, almost trying to confirm I actually used those words.
"Despy." Was my casual reply.
"Say no more." Came back from Fenris.
"My point is, I went from thinking about marriage to not knowing what the hell happened." I told Fenris. "But it all worked out in the end. A little while later, I met Evie and everything in the world felt right, everything worked out for the best. Let's be honest, Ty was not a good person."
It had to be said, but I knew I could have crossed a line so had to justify myself quickly.
"Ty was jealous of everything." I explained quickly. "He thought that it was a god given right that your friends had to be his friends, and that wasn't the case. I heard he got pissy on the UK tour cause Daniel wouldn't let him stay with you. He got pissy at me because me and you were friends."
"Why didn't you try and be more friendly?" Fenris asked me.
I felt I had to be honest with him, no point sugarcoating it.
"Frankly, he was a bitch mate." I said, drawing a raised eyebrow from Fenris. "I'm a cockney, and here's how cockneys work. We have a laugh, a joke, and have fun at peoples expenses but it's never taken seriously. I've been out in the boozer with friends for 8 hours, ripped the hell out of each other all day, no one got offended, no one got hurt, and we all hugged at the end of the night. Ty West could never fit in with something like that after he cried after being called lover boy. Mate, there was even rumours that he went crying to the bosses about leaving because J2H ripped him a new one on Twitter one time, dunno if they're true..."
I looked at Fenris' face, looking for any slight acknowledgement to that, and saw a short, sharp nod, that brought a smile to my face.
"It made you weak too." I continued. "Everything that made you stand out disappeared when you got with Ty West. You never dragged him up to your level, he dragged you down to his."
"So am I to be miserable and alone to preserve others' image on me?" Fenris asked me out of the blue, cutting me off.
"No." I quickly replied. "It means you just ain't found the one to connect at that level with."
"I had that, and lost it." He replied to me with a turn of his head.
I couldn't believe he was putting so much stock in to a guy like Ty West.
"What is it gonna take for me to show you Ty West ain't all that?" I said with a sigh, but Fenris turned his head back to me slowly.
"What makes you think I'm talking about Ty?"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH And it's time to leave it there for you good people but if you want to see how this conversation continues, I'd go right to Fenris' promo.... Interweaved promos rule!
I figured I could take a chance and slip out for a few moments, just enough time to cut a promo thingy talking about my opponent, while Fenris hit the bar again and got in another round. The beer really wasn't a bad drop around here, so I figured with Evie ten minutes away from joining us, now would be a great time to step outside the Kaffibarinn and have a chat. It was probably a mistake and I shoulda picked somewhere with some heat but it's all good.
"Alright people." I start with, as the cold wind nips at me slightly. "Welcome to Iceland. I have come all the way here to try and talk that angry Icelandic git to come back stateside with me and kick the ball rolling about having a one on one match with him. I was so focused on that, it didn't really sink in on the plane ride over that I got a chance to actually make that one on one match bigger and better than you could imagine and that's getting hold of the SCW World Heavyweight title before I get to go one on one with Fenris."
I couldn't help but smile, in awe of the chance before me.
"But don't worry, I will be more than focused at the job in hand by the time I get back." I say with nothing but truth in my tone. "I guess you could say this draw has been fairly kind to me that I get to face a guy who no one considers to even be worthy of being on the list, but to me, those one's who you don't expect to be on the list that make it there are the one's that are the most dangerous because no one takes them seriously at all. It's part of SCW history that an underdog will go on and grab that title, something no one expects, we've seen it all in the past so Stephen Callaway, I for one my Scottish mucker, I refuse to take you for granted like everyone else in this tournament probably would. I'm not that kinda guy. I tend to take no one easy, I get up and get on with things and take everyone seriously."
It's true, I did, didn't matter who you were, I took every single match seriously.
"I mean it's fair to say that you don't have the best record in SCW at all." I continue "But you wouldn't be in SCW if someone didn't see something in you. People don't just end up here by luck, they end up here because they're good and things like this, the biggest chance of one's SCW career sorta adds something to it, kinda makes you lift your game a whole lot, makes you pull yourself up an extra notch. It would be daft of me to write things off like they're nothing but here the thing."
I had to be honest with myself and everyone else.
"It would also be daft to think I don't have that hunger too though Stephen." I said with a firm tone. "You're new here so let me fill you in on the tragic story of Ben Jordan. I have been here for years, bloody donkey's years and I've sat and watched people come in, lose five World title shots before leaving. I've watched people get title shot after title shot, both divisions, like Jessie Salco, constant title shots at whatever level, I've seen it. In all the years I've put in to this place, I have gone on with my job, wrestled everyone, probably got one hell of a record here and had one title shot to my name. Just one out of all those years, which I've seen people come and go get so much more for whatever reason, so regardless of my years here, regardless of the wins I've had, when it comes to the World Heavyweight Championship, I too am the underdog."
It's sad but it's true. A lot of the time, I don't think my efforts stood for much when it came to stepping up the ladder but I was a wrestler, a proper one that didn't moan and complain about where I was on the card, I just stepped out and did what I did.
"I've tried to scratch and claw my way to the top Stephen and it ain't easy." I confidently say. "So when I'm handed a chance like this to go out there and prove myself, actually earn a win rather than jump out there like certain people who have returned and said they want big title shots, I'm here to earn it and it starts with you. It starts with getting myself in that big match and being noticed. I mean you winning the World Heavyweight Championship is oddly on the level with me winning it because no one fancies us to do so but this is where my determination comes in because I want a chance to shine in a supercard main event, I want the chance to be in there with the best and it all starts on Sunday when I get past you and book a place in this huge main event. It's nothing personal against you Stephen, this is just my chance to get noticed."
For the first time in a long time, I believed what I was saying.
"Anyway, it's bloody tatas out here, freezing me jacobs off so gonna leave it there." I say with a nod. "As always SCW, it's been a blast talking to ya and I will catch you all soon."
My eyes drift to where I can see Evie walking towards me. So I quickly winked at the camera.
"Laters people."
The camera fades as Evie approaches me.
