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Nothing like being home for Christmas, so that where I wanna go back to. I know, a flashback scene, what is it with me and Os and the flashback scenes? Truth is, we love to record stuff for promos early, and wait to pick out the best stuff for ya. I mean, you wouldn't really wanna see me recording this voice over, would ya? Didn't think so.
It was no major surprise we went off home after the last show, we had a chance to be back in England for a few weeks, and although the offer of a chance to sample Despayre's bright, yet strangely coloured cocktails were tempting, you gotta be with ya own family round about Christmas time and that's what we did. Did you know Os has a ninety nine year old grandmother? He may not say a lot but at Christmas, he beams being around her, by beam, I mean makes angry faces. I just love Christmas for the fact that it brings people together a little more. People, for all their stress of making one day seem more important then the rest of the year, seem to smile a little more. People would do a lot more for people at Christmas then they would on a random Wednesday. People look after their own at Christmas, I know I do...
Christmas eve.... In the drunk tank... I'm kidding, no drunk tank but if you didn't see in the drunk tank and put on a bad Irish, out of tune accent, is it even Christmas to you?
Bethnal Green Road, in London, home of the group known as London Underground, always a lively and interesting area depending on who you are. If you're from the east end, it's not a bad place but if ya looking from the outside in, you look at the crime and lately, the little street gangs and their love to throw acid. Thank god I'm from the east end and wouldn't change that.
Daniel J Morgan sits inside a greasy spoon cafe on the very cold Christmas Eve, his hand wrapped around a warm cup of tea as Osbourne sits opposite him, a plate swimming with grease, empty.
"Nothing beats a couple of weeks at home for Christmas Os." Daniel tells him with a smile. "I know they say Christmas is for the younger generation but I love it."
Osbourne, wearing a grey suit, looks up at Daniel, as usual, no works falling from his lips. Daniel looks at him, running his hand down his navy blue suit, but a voice grabs his attention.
"Always was a kid at Christmas." The voice says "Couldn't wait to get ya little hands on the presents before everyone else."
Daniel smile as he looks towards the man, a man looking just like him. If you've actually watched these London Underground promos before, you'll know him as David Morgan, younger brother by one year, of Daniel. The two look very much alike, other then the glasses that sit on David's face.
"And good morning to you too brother." Daniel says standing up and pointing an arm out towards a free chair opposite. "Take a seat."
David shakes his head in refusal.
"I ain't got time to fanny about." David tells his older brother in a harsh tone. "I ain't like you who can come up with a way to break in to America and spend a year trying, only for it to go complete and utter tits up while blokes in spandex try to stick their thumb up my arse and call it a wrestling move."
Daniel picks up his cup of tea and looks at his brother.
"You've actually watched to see what moves are." Daniel says with a smirk. "I'm impressed."
David grits his teeth as he looks down at his older brother.
"I ain't got time for that." David says firmly "You've been swanning about for a while and leaving things to me over here, and it's all gone tits up for you over there, and we're back to square one."
"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Daniel says with a smile "But we've already have had offers to stay there, which would keep us around and everything on plan. We're just not committed to anything at all just yet because we've watched how things are going for others. We got a lovely six month grace thing, which keeps us there, by then, something would have come up, we'd have met the right people and the right palms would have been greased."
Daniel lifts the cup and holds it just under his lips.
"And if not, I wouldn't worry about it brother." Daniel says "It means you'll have less stress because I'll be sitting in the big boy chair again, and you can go back to what you love doing, and being the face on the street scaring people."
Daniel takes a sip of the tea and looks at his brother with a smile.
"Don't put your eyes on the chair just yet." David warns Daniel. "Until your back in the country and not sitting around getting sweaty with a bunch of blokes who wouldn't know what a razor blade is, chair is still mine."
Daniel nods his head in agreement.
"That it is." Daniel confirms "But before you mock what I'm doing to break us in to America, remember what would happen if it didn't work out."
"Working out a fucking charm right now, ain't it?" David says sarcastically.
Daniel looks at Osbourne, who looks back at Daniel, his dislike for the younger brother starting to show on his face. Daniel shakes his head slightly towards Osbourne before he makes another move.
"Working out better than you think it is, David." Daniel tells him. "Much better, but you prefer to stand up like a spare prick at a wedding then listen to what's going on. Since your arse hit that leather, your ability to hear has vastly dropped."
"Talking bollocks." David responds. "If I couldn't hear a thing, I wouldn't be about to head to the south side to stop something from happening before it actually happens."
Daniel smile at him.
"Then by all means, don't let me hold you up." Daniel says, a slight hope that his brother will soon depart.
"I'm going." David tells him. "I just knew you'd be sitting in here on Christmas Eve."
"Well it is tradition." Daniel says "But you thought you'd turn up here just to take the piss basically?"
David nods towards Daniel.
"Partly." He admits "But also because I wanted to remind you about tomorrow night."
"We haven't forgot." Daniel says with a shrug. "Your place, eight o clock as per usual, as we do every other Christmas."
David looks at his brother and nods just once.
"Good." He says. "Now I don't live the life of sitting in cafes while I'm sitting in the big chair, I got things to do. I will see you tomorrow."
"We'll be there with jingle bells on." Daniel tells him.
"What's that, part of your next wrestling ring gear shit?" David says sarcastically.
Daniel looks towards Osbourne with a smile then back to Daniel.
"Funny you should say that, I was thinking of bright neon green for that." Daniel says with a sarcastic smirk.
David turns around, walking towards the exit.
"Don't wanna hear it." He says talking to no one in particular with a raised voice. "Don't fucking wanna hear it!"
He walks out of the cafe as Daniel looks towards Osbourne again, feeling slightly victorious.
"Too easy sometimes, isn't it?" Daniel tells Osbourne.
Osbourne nods his head, a rare smile on his face seeing Daniel have that effect on a man he didn't really care for. Osbourne had never really liked David. Where he saw Daniel as a man who gave back, something very big with people from East London, he saw David as a man who could take what he could from the world and offer nothing back.
"Well, we can't dilly dally around here all day Os." Daniel says as he stands up. "Should probably go do something else. I mean the girls are out running around shopping, I think we should invest a few quid in the Old George."
Osbourne stands up on to his feet and nods as his boss mentions going to a local pub and follows Daniel towards the door, Daniel opening the door and holding it for Osbourne. The two take a left turn, watching last minute shoppers moving around on this bleak London day. The two walk through the crowd, their notoriety drawing looks from the crowd around them. Daniel nods politely to people as he walks past, but an argument from a shop causing him to stop.
"I'll bring the money right back, I promise." A young female voice is heard saying.
"No. you pay now or you don't get what you want." An older male is heard saying.
Daniel looks at Osbourne, knowing full well what he's about to do. Daniel stops and walks in to the shop, as he looks at a young blonde, in a heated discussion with an older Asian man behind the counter of a small convenience store.
"It's only eight pounds." The woman says with pleading eyes. "I just walked out with my purse."
"I don't care about how forgetful you are, I have a business to run." The man tells her.
"Oi, oi, oi!" Daniel says, drawing the attention towards him. "Be nice now."
The man looks towards Daniel to see who he is, his demeanour changing instantly.
"What's going on here, then?" Daniel asks.
"I left my purse in doors and he won't let me come right back with the money." The woman tells him.
"She comes back with the money, she can get this stuff again." The shopkeeper tells him.
Daniel looks at the shopkeeper with lowered eyebrows.
"Now where's your Christmas spirit?" Daniel asks the man. "It's not like she's run up a dirty great debt and gonna leave the country. I've seen this woman around with a young kid, she's hardly likely to do a runner over a loaf of bread and few other things. It's fucking Christmas for Gods sake, a time for giving, not for being a Scrooge. We all see what happened to Scrooge."
Daniel reaches in to his inside pocket, pulling out a money clip filled with notes and pulls a ten pound note from the bunch and hands it to the man.
"Well, that covers it." Daniel tells the man.
The man quickly puts the money in the till and hands Daniel the change. Daniel quickly puts the coins in the charity box on the counter. Daniel looks at the woman as she picks up the shopping from the counter.
"Thank you so much. If you wait here, I'll bring the money right back." She tells Daniel.
Daniel shakes his head and waves his hand.
"No need." Daniel says "You just have a great Christmas."
The woman smiles, picking up the shopping and leaving the store and Daniel looks at the shopkeeper, waving a finger.
"You need to be nicer to your customers, especially at this time of the year." Daniel tells him firmly "Or they might just stop supporting their local business."
Daniel turns and moves towards the door, Osbourne holding the door open for him as he walks through it and shuts the door behind him. Daniel stops as a little old woman stands in front of him.
"Hello Mrs Dalton." Daniel says. "Merry Christmas, how are you sweetheart?"
The woman looks up at Daniel, a cheery smile on her old face.
"Hello Daniel, hello Osbourne." She says looking through thick rim glasses. "Merry Christmas to you too. Could you help me out? it won't take long."
Daniel smiles at her.
"Of course." He says "What do you need?"
The woman's face shifts to nervousness as she looks at Daniel.
"Would you mind walking me back home?" She asks. "There's a group of people that hang around there and they make everyone nervous."
Daniel looks at Osbourne, his jaw tightened at the thought.
"Of course" Daniel replies "We'll get you home and deal with ya problem there."
Daniel puts out his arm and the old woman grabs hold of it and the trio walk a little down the road before turning in to an alleyway and through to an open area where blocks of flats can be seen. Daniel looks towards the left to see five young men wearing hoodies, trousers hanging below their boxers.
"These your problem?" Daniel asks
"They're here all hours of the day." Mrs Dalton tells them. "Drinking, noisy, intimidating people."
Daniel leads the woman to a door on the ground floor of a block of flats.
"Don't worry, you just go inside and I'll make sure they won't be hanging around here any more." Daniel says confidently.
Daniel watches the woman reach for her keys and slide them in to the lock before walking in to the house and shutting the door behind her. Daniel looks up at Osbourne.
"Let's go for a little chat shall we?" He says to Osbourne but Osbourne walks past him and moves in the direction of the five men.
Daniel turns around to see Osbourne at full steam towards them.
"Someone's eager." Daniel says to himself.
Daniel quickly turns and moves towards Osbourne, trying to catch up with him, but Osbourne reaches group first, one, clearly the ringleader looks up at him.
"You hear for biznez bruv." He says with the tone many young East End boys use. "We haz some quality white."
The boy reaches in to his pocket, pulling out a small bag of white powder, but Osbourne smacks it out of his hand.
"What you doin bruv?" The boy says, the group standing, Osbourne with their attention.
Daniel moves towards the group faster, standing next to Osbourne.
"Really wouldn't do that if I was you." Daniel says calmly. "You seen the size of him."
"We're not scared of him bruv." The ringleader says, kissing his teeth.
Daniel puts his finger up at the young man.
"First off, kiss your teeth again and you'll lose them." Daniel tells him firmly as he picks up a nearby beer can. "Now it's your beer bollocks doing the talking here that's making you not be scared, but let me tell you this for free. The beer, it's gonna wear off at some point, and you'll be caught sober, those beer bollocks would have shrunk to the size of grapes. Now I'd be very careful of your next words because you don't wanna be waking up with that booze worn off, and feeling in a world of pain."
The ringleader looks to his friends, his ego kicking in as he looks back.
"Who the fuck are you, bruv?" He asks.
"Ok..." Daniel says "Let me educate you cause clearly, school wasn't your strong point. Around here, there's good, hard working people, people who worked hard for you to breathe. These people don't need little street rats like you knocking around thinking you're gangsters, you're not gangsters, you're just a little gang, who need to stop drinking around here, smoking the Bob Marley special and scaring people. You also need to pull those strides up, because no one wants to see your arses. In prison, that means you're ready to be someone's bitch. Now I'm not asking you fuck off and not come back, I'm telling you to fuck off and not come back and learn how to speak normal English, before I show you what real gangsters are like."
"Why don't I just stab you up bruv?" the man says.
"I've had enough of this shit." Daniel starts "And I ain't ya bruv."
Without a second thought, Daniel lands a sharp head butt across the ringleaders nose, a sickening crack heard. Osbourne grabs the two nearest to him and tosses them aimlessly over a fence as Daniel swings a punch at the forth man, knocking him to the ground. Osbourne grabs the fifth and drops him instantly with one huge punch. Daniel leans over the ringleader and hits him with a hard right hand and pulls him to his feet, holding him by the throat, squeezing tighter around it and staring in the man's eyes.
"Now, like I said, I'm not asking you." Daniel starts "I'm not requesting in any way. I'm telling you that if I hear for just one second that you're around this area, no matter where I am, someone will be around here not to have a chat, not to break that nose again, not to give you English lessons, but to take each and every one of you and make you disappear for good."
Daniel hits the man with another sharp right hand.
"The only reason I'm not giving you a nice little sleep in Epping Forest, is because it's Christmas, and I'm a little more generous at Christmas than most other times." Daniel informs him. "But next time, you're not gonna be so lucky. You hear me, bruv?"
The man slowly nods his head as Daniel pushes him against the nearby fence.
"One more thing." Daniel says calmly "Pull, your fucking trousers up!"
The man listens, pulling his trousers up as the rest of the group slowly start to stir.
"Now pick up your rubbish, pick up your friends and fuck off." He says with a point.
The man listens once more and helps his friends to their feet and start to move away as Daniel looks towards Osbourne.
"I love Christmas." He says with a smile. "Now, let's go get that pint."
The two walk off as the camera fades out.
*******
Sitting on a sofa in a London apartment, Daniel J Morgan sits with his half of the SCW Tag Team Championship over his shoulder. The camera pans out to see Osbourne standing behind him, his belt too over his shoulder. Daniel looks down the camera.
"Well..." He starts "Today has been an eventful Christmas Eve to say the least. We know that SCW's last event is called Full Circle and we know we're just over a week away from that card appearing but it's fairly obvious who we'll be facing. For weeks, a little war has been brewing between myself, Osbourne and those two chances Dmitri and James Tuscini, all because a little old man couldn't keep up his end of the deal and make good on something that he really should have. I mean to me, my word is my bond but it seems like I'm one of the very few people in this world that has that logic. The world is full of bullshitters, I know a lot of them, but this was one little deal that I wanted to get over the line to make things so much better, but we got caught with a chancer. Did we benefit? Did we fuck. We gained nothing out of it, but two men did gain something out of it, two men, we presume, gained a tag team championship shot out of it."
Daniel glances up towards Osbourne.
"Poor bastards." He says with a look towards the bigger man.
He looks back down the camera.
"We ain't been around as long as most but we see how SCW works." He says thoughtfully. "So we expect that Tuscini and Dmitri are our opponents. I bet those two don't even feel that bad that we got Casey Williams to smack the shit out of Uncle Pinky, because those two have benefited and got themselves a big old match. Now you'd think that Osbourne and I would be worried. You look at Dmitri and Tuscini's records, and they've held every title between them, except the ones currently in our possession. There's gotta be a reason for that, and like Sherlock and Watson, we've cracked it. We've worked it out, we've solved the mystery. It's because you two are not exactly a gelling tag team, in fact, you two have had too many single minded thoughts about what you could get on your own, rather then what you could get together."
Daniel looks up at Osbourne.
"Am I wrong?" He asks.
Osbourne shakes his head and Daniel looks back towards the camera.
"Nowhere near wrong." He starts. "In our time here, this is what we've seen. I want the roulette title, I want the Internet title, I want, I want, I want... That would be you Tuscini. You were so focused on Hawkins, Keys, Ramone, Ryans, anyone who had a single championship belt, anyone that had more prestige then yourself, but all about the gold, all about that solo title. You didn't spare a single thought about what you could do as a team with a man, who let's be honest, is the better half of the team, you just went for me, me, me, I want, I want, I want. This was your problem, because you were all about Tuscini. You're not a team player, never have been, you've been all about being center of attention. You can not tell me I'm wrong. You can not tell me I'm full of shit here because we both know I'm not. You become gold obsessed to the point when Pinky got his arse kicked, you blamed us because you saw that sparkly gold that you want and boom, look at you with another title match."
Daniel shakes his head in slow disappointment.
"Don't think you're much better Dmitri, because you're not." He adds firmly.
He looks back up at the camera.
"I want to be world champion, I deserve to be world champion, it is my destiny, I will destroy the world champion." Daniel says with a mocking tone. "You're no better then Tuscini, with your own solo ambitions and it helped your team suffer. You had your eyes on Calvin Harris so much, you didn't help Tuscini out. While he was getting beat down in various situations, where was you? You was sitting in a dressing room obsessing over a picture of Calvin Harris with the World championship belt, having a Wayne's World moment repeating over and over she will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine."
Another disappointed shake comes from Daniel's head.
"You two have always been a tag team by name only." Daniel points out. "Occasional match but both two people obsessed with ya own goals and fuck what the other one thinks. You two have always only looked after number one and number one only. That doesn't make you a team and it would explain why you two have never come close to these."
He taps the title on his shoulder.
"It's why you never will." Daniel explains. "To be a champion, to have that quality to be a tag team champion, you can't just take two random people with two different gimmicks and sling them together just like that. It simply ain't gonna work that way. You can't take two people who prefer to see what they can get on their own and expect them to be a good team, because they're not too bad having a go on their own. It takes more than that to be a team. When we sat down with Gabriel and Odette and said this is what we wanted, they taught us two ways, one as a team, one as singles and it's a whole different world with these two things, a whole different universe. No matter how long you've been wrestling on your own, means precisely fuck all when you team. You need to do what your parents shoulda taught ya when you was a kid and learn to share. You can't go in there and try and grab the glory on your own, it's just not cricket."
Daniel shakes his head widely.
"It can't be done that way and I know it sound condescending hearing that from a couple of people most would consider rookies, but it can't be." He says "We got a little blind sided in match one, a battle royal, but as soon as we started doing it the right way, it clicked for us. You two have been a team for a long time and it just hasn't clicked for you at all. Not once have you looked like a real team, not once have you even looked like a team with ya entrance and you need to be more than a team to beat us. You need to be something extra special to beat us. You need to be able to work together, and you just don't look like you have that in ya. You look like a fractured leg, leg looks in one piece but under the skin, you're a bone in two different directions."
Daniel points with both hands in different directions.
"You're fragmented and we're not." Daniel points out. "We're champions for a reason, we cleaned the division out when we won these belts because every single team in SCW knew they'd never get the belts away from us and one by one we saw them off. We're talking real teams, not what you two are, real proper teams and we waved them off like they were nothing, teams that earned their spot, not teams who ran after singles gold then took this chance because they saw that they were no longer on the level to keep singles gold."
Daniel reassuringly nods his head.
"You two simply lucked in to this match." He says confidently. "Lucked in to it cause someone had to put an old man back in his place. You lucked in to it cause ya couldn't keep up with the challenge of looking out for yourself anymore, but let me tell ya this for fuck all. It's not good luck at all, it's the worst possible luck you can ever find, because we're going out with a bang. We haven't lost a normal match here, battle royal maybe but when it comes to a match where you actually have to put your hand out or be pinned, we're pretty stellar there. We have no been pinned, we have not give up, we have not tasted what you two have when it comes to tag matches, so why split from the norm, eh?"
He confidently leans back on the sofa.
"Why break habits of a lifetime?" He asks. "Why change things now? You two stay off different pages, stay in ya different books and we'll just continue winning. We haven't been here as long as you or many others, we didn't get a chance to cement a legacy here but there is something here that we want. We want to be known as the team that never got pinned. We want to be known as the team who saw off everyone who stood up to us. We want to be known as the last ever SCW Tag Team Champions. Now it's well within our reach boys, it's well it's so damn close, we can smell it, it's right there in front of us and believe every single word that I say here that we will be the ones that have these belts for the rest of eternity."
Daniel puts his hand on the belt.
"The closest you'll ever come to these belts is when the referee raises them in the air before the match" He says with confidence dripping from his voice. "We might let you take a selfie with them or something but they will never be yours, they will never be in your possession at all. We're going out to win, we're going out to walk out with these belts, we're not gonna show up to give you two a good send off, you're showing up to give us a winning send off lads."
Daniel presses his hands together as he moves forward again.
"See only one of us gets our fairytale ending." He says waving his finger. "It's not gonna be you two. you're just gonna have to put up with that familiar disappointment you're so used when it comes to title matches because me and Os ain't gonna show up just to end up losing our belts, behave yourselves if you think that anything is gonna change. Nothing will change, you will end up losing in another big title match as usual, we'll defend these thing as usual. It's the way it's gonna be and you'll do fuck all to change that."
Daniel looks down at his watch.
"We have to cut out now, but Dmitri, Tuscini, this is probably gonna air way after Christmas, so I hope you got everything you wanted." Daniel starts. "But if you put these titles on your wish list to Santa, Santa's only gonna disappoint. We'll see you at Full Circle, but I'm telling ya now, it's not gonna be a very good night for ya."
Daniel stands up, straightening his jacket as the scene cuts to black.