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Supercard Archives / Re: World Mixed Tag Championship: Mercedes Vargas and Goth (c) v The Black Sheep

« on: January 21, 2022, 09:43:52 PM »

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Us Against The World
Jet City South - SAN DIEGO
20 JANUARY 2022
OFF-Camera



Coby hadn’t turned away from the window since Kris had come into the office. He seemed transfixed on Mikah down on the floor. She wasn’t known for being the most friendly with new students, so Coby was just hoping that nobody was dumb enough to approach her down there. He had seen enough of what Mikah and Kris had put Courtney through to know that their style was much different from the culture he had been creating in Jet City South. It left little of his attention to give to Kris, and he had been attempting to just nod and shrug his way through getting him to go away.

Kris: ...is this not a win-win for everyone?

Coby shrugged again, but from the pause that went on after it, Coby could tell that Kris was going to require a little more than that to make sure he was actually paying attention to what he was saying. Not that it was hard. They had already been through this several times in the month since Kris made the stupid decision to head back to Sin City.

Coby: I mean it certainly is for you. You get everything that you want without having to deal with any of the things that you hate.

Luckily for Coby, several of the trainers started to corral the students, and Mikah seemed to lose interest in the group once she would have been considered a disruption.

Kris: I hate traveling…

Kris had used it as an excuse for years, but lately it seemed to be a lot less true than it used to be. Kris spent half his time flying between one of three places for a few days at a time. Now he was adding a tour to the list. Yet, somehow all of that travel weighed less on him than his responsibilities around the gym. Although, there was more to it than that.

Coby: That gets canceled out by all of the attention that you get just by standing in the middle of a ring. It’s not like they’ll have you going further than you do in order to visit Mikah. Yet you manage to get out of helping out around here in any meaningful way once again.

Kris tried to laugh it off.

Kris: If I was always around here, what would be left for you to do?

That finally got Coby to turn from the window to glare at Kris.

Coby: Spend time at home mostly. I think I might still have a wife and child there. I’d have to have the time to go check that out though.

The Hall of Famer shrugged off that ridiculous thought without hesitation.

Kris: Stop being so dramatic. I’m surprised that Chelsea isn’t around here more often. Seems like she would get a kick out of being better than all of the trainees. She’s the type to go bad with a little taste of power. We should bring her on as a trainer.

Coby’s jaw dropped and his mouth fell open. He couldn’t believe his ears, let alone take the suggestion seriously.

Coby: Throwing a hand grenade into your own gym is ballsy….

Maybe it sounded more complimentary than he meant it, because Kris seemed to take his response that way.

Kris: Than--

Before he could even get the words out, Coby cut him off with a little more clarification.

Coby: I mean it’s also stupid, and I say that with all of the love in the world for my wife. She wouldn’t be any better out there on the floor than Mikah was. Nothing would get done, and everyone else’s confidence would get shattered for no reason. We wouldn’t be building anything up, just tearing it down for kicks. That’s not what we do here, otherwise you would fit in.

It was unpleasant to hear, but there wasn’t anything in it that Kris could really argue with either. Chelsea would be explosive. That was the most interesting thing about it for Kris. However, it also worked to prove Coby’s point about his uselessness inside this building. Coby had only really given him one option, and was now shaming him for taking it.

Kris: At least I will be out in the world using my skills to benefit us here. I won’t be here to bother you, and I’ll be doing something productive. Isn’t that what you wanted?

Coby wasn’t going to give him the benefit of the doubt this time though. Kris had been taking more and more time away from traveling and competing. That told Coby that he wasn’t really up for the toll that it took on him. This was just a band-aid on the problem. It wasn’t a long term solution, and may not even work in the short term unless everything goes absolutely-perfectly-right.

Coby: That’s assuming that you don’t go out there and fall on your face. You know what happens to the undefeated team that goes back and loses? They’re a joke. Especially because they let you two jump the line and take on the champions right out of the gate. This could backfire. Then what?

Kris throws his hands up, giving up. His had expected his friend to come around, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen regardless of what Kris had to say.

Kris: You know, I think you’re just determined to be negative, and I’m not liking how that’s ruining my energy right now.

It was the first thing out of Kris’ mouth that seemed to perk Coby up.

Coby: So you’re going then?

Admitting defeat, Kris turns around and starts towards the door.

Kris: You know what? Fine. Yes. You just sit here and sulk, and we’ll go and prove you wrong.

Coby had probably attempted to say something snarky back, but Kris closed the door behind him loudly enough to muffle whatever that was. He made his way down the hallway, and started out towards the floor of the gym when he was cut off by the woman that he had been on his way to collect.

Kris: Everyone is determined to tell me I am wrong no matter what I do…

Mikah frowns before looking at him as she pries her eyes away from her phone, no doubt on the phone with her teenager. She hangs the phone up and pockets it into the hoodie’s front pouch.

Mikah: I don’t think you’re wrong…but if it helps, nobody ever thinks I’m right either..

Her words don’t seem to have much effect. The talk with Coby must not have gone well. It wasn’t like Kris was particularly good at hiding how he felt either. She raises an eyebrow at him before offering him a small smile. She opens her mouth to try and cheer him up, but he cuts her off.

Kris: He wants me to help out without being in the way. I signed back on with Sin City to do that, and he doesn’t like that either. Look around though, I might own the place but it doesn’t feel very welcoming, does it?

He looks around, and really soaks in all of the changes that they have made to the place in the last few months. Coby really was turning the place into something more his own.

Mikah: I am not sure that I’m the best person to ask; I never feel welcomed at most places I go. Did you ask him exactly how he wanted you to help out without being in the way?

She raises an eyebrow at him, trying not to be accusing but more helpful.The heavy sigh that the question draws out of him answers her question though. He shakes his head, still at a loss for what Coby actually wanted from him.

Kris: I’m not even sure if he knows. I think it is just stress. But everyone agrees that when I am around and meddling, things go off the rails. It’s best that I am hands off. That is what he wanted. Now he just wants to complain about it whenever I am around. At least going back I am doing something other than sitting around getting old.

She presses her lips together, a slightly amused look on her face as she looks at him.

Mikah: If you’re old, then I must be ancient. And maybe he doesn’t even know what he wants. Maybe he just wants a couple days off? I’m not sure, nor am I a mind reader. And I like when you meddle in things; it makes it interesting.

She reaches up and messes his hair up a little bit before wrinkling her nose at him. He could tell that she was just trying to bring something positive to the situation, but he still wasn’t feeling it.

Kris: Well you’re probably the only one. I don’t know if that means the world is wrong, and you’re the only one with common sense, or the reverse. I just don’t know why I made such a fuss about stopping here before we went to the show. Maybe I was thinking that Coby would want to help for old time’s sake. I don’t think that’s a thing anymore though. Pretty sure if we are going back, we are doing it on our own.

She pauses, looking at him and trying to readjust her mindset.

Mikah: It is what we do best and when we succeed the best. When we don’t have to rely on anybody else. But it was a selfless idea to come here and offer Coby help, even if he didn’t want it.

Kris wasn’t even going to bother filling her in on Coby’s assumption that they were only going back to fail. To Kris, that was an impossibility in and of itself. It wasn’t worth putting thought into, or possibly dragging Mikah down with it. Proving his friend wrong was the least of his worries. It was just the nagging feeling of rejection that he didn’t like, but there was no fixing that.

Kris: ...but that’s fine. We don’t need Jet City. That was me and Jason. We don’t need Coby, or the rest of them in The Black Sheep. We are the ones coming back, so it should be all about us. Why let what everyone else wants distract us? Why do they matter in our story anyways? We are the Hall of Famers! We are the successes!

He realizes that maybe he was becoming a little too animated, and tries to pull himself back together. He looks around, making sure that he hadn’t caused too much of a scene before looking back to his significant other. She holds a smile on her face, the emotion reaching her eyes as she seems to have enjoyed the reaction from him.

Mikah: We never really needed them, if we’re speaking honestly. I don’t think that they contributed to our success last year, in 2018, and they don’t have to contribute to our upcoming success either. And they don’t matter; we matter.

She was naturally confident in her own abilities as a person and almost never relied on another person in the ring. Although, it was working to help pull Kris out of whatever frame of mind that Coby had left him in. If they were going to do this, there wasn’t any space in either of their heads for doubt, and Kris needed to realize that.

Kris: Then to hell with them. All of them. I don’t want to mention Jet City. I don’t even want to hear The Black Sheep referenced around us. We can just go and build our own thing, and show everyone how wrong they were to ever consider writing us off. It’s not like we haven’t done it before. I don’t even think it’ll be hard to do it again. It’s a new year, and Mark and Christian are basically handing us the championships.

She smiles at him before leaning up and kissing his cheek quickly.

Mikah: It’s probably because Christian has a small, miniscule crush on you. Let’s be honest, that’s the real reason we’re getting a shot at the championships.

She was teasing him, of course. Another tactic to try to pull him out of his funk.

Kris: I am pretty sure it is because Mark likes you the most.

The fact that he was even able to joke back was enough improvement for Mikah. He was at least back on the right path to being himself. That was the kind of partner that she needed if they were going to recapture the championships that the two of them never really lost. It was a step in the right direction.

Mikah: To be fair, I’m everybody’s favorite.

She winks at him. The two take another quick look around the gym, but she grabs him by the hand and the two make there way out the back entrance without drawing anymore attention to themselves than necessary. They still had to get to Reno, and start game-planning exactly how they were going to be relieving the current champions of their gold. At least Kris could start to put this negativity behind him. What Mikah needed to do was get him in front of a crowd of people, and the sooner the better. That would give him the shot of adrenaline that he needed in order to be back in his usual form for Inception.



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The feed comes to life with the sounds of cheers filling the speakers before there is any movement on the screen. As the camera pulls back, and cameras start to flash, the black screen is revealed to be the rear passenger door of a car, which pops open, intensifying all of the cheers. The orange and turquoise custom PG5s that step out of the car can only belong to one person, and the camera pans up to show Hall of Famer Kristopher Ryans as he rises to his feet, surrounded by cheering fans.

I mean who other than me can draw a crowd like this to do something as trivial as talking to opponents before a match?

He takes a few steps away from the car, and the crowd around it moves with him. As the cameraman backpedals, we see that there are ropes stopping the mob from getting too close to Kris, and a red carpet for him to walk along as he addresses the camera.

I mean we all have to do these things. Every week we all fly out a little early, set up some cameras, and tell the world what we think of the matches that Mark and Christian cook up for us. It’s kind of one of those unwritten rules of promoting the shows. Some people go low tech. Some people go way too over-produced. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle, where I like to stay. I don’t like to draw too much of the focus away from the words that are coming out of my mouth, so who cares where I say them?

He gestures to the passionate flock of fans around him. Most of them are wearing either Jet City, or Kris Ryans shirts. The orange and turquoise color theme is prevalent throughout the herd that moves with him.

I thought this time around maybe I would kill a few birds with one stone. I couldn’t very well blow off the fans that wanted to see me show up in the flesh, and this was the perfect way to put them to use. They get what they want, and I get to make my point. All that I have to do is snap my fingers, and the fans of this company will always come running, in whatever numbers necessary, in whatever city I tell them to. I am one of the biggest draws that this company has unto myself, and now I am hand-delivering one of the greatest mixed tag teams in the history of this company, and the only team of note that has ever gone undefeated. I am returning the rightful World Mixed Tag Team Champions to Sin City Wrestling, and our adoring crowd was here waiting for me to do so.

As he gets to the ropes, he pulls a marker from his pocket and starts to sign the things hung over the rope to him. Even as his marker flicks across shirts, and photos, and other items his focus still seems to be on the camera.

...and who cares if we didn’t work our way up through the ranks one non-existent team at a time? We did that last time, only to have to defend the championships against randomly paired lethal lottery teams anyways. Let’s leave the undefeated streak out of it. Let’s not even mention that the last time we were together in the ring as a team we were the Mixed Tag Team Champions. Let’s forget that I was forced to give up that championship. Let’s disregard that nobody on the roster was able to dethrone us. We can boil things down to a much simpler reason for Reckless Elite to get the championship nod: Mikah and I are a legit team.

Almost as if on queue, he is presented with a picture of both himself and Mikah as champions in the center of the SCW ring. He points down to it and the camera closes in on it for a second.

See what I mean… Anywhere you look in Sin City you are going to find Mikah and I. We are all over the history of this company. We are splashed throughout all of the record books. We are the highest points of the highlight reels. There are no others like us. There is no team as dominant as we are together, and no individuals as decorated as we are separately. Mikah and I are once-in-a-lifetime transcendent talents on our respective sides of the roster. It’s not just about the championships. It’s not just about the records, the awards or the wins and losses. It’s a combination of all of it. Some people you just look at and know that they have “it” and we most certainly do. We always have. We always will. That’s why nobody bats an eye when we show up and tell the world what we want. And that is why when we do, the world caves into our demands. We said we wanted to come back. The red carpet got laid out. Championships were laid out in front of us for the taking. Who are we not to take them?

Kris gets to the end of the makeshift red carpet, and the camera swings around in front of him. The fans are cut off from him by an archway that the ropes bar them from entering, however, it doesn’t appear that they are missing much. The particle board backings of the wall are plainly visible, but Kris doesn’t break stride to let the viewers focus on them.

...and who are Mercedes and Goth to stop us? Goth and I have squared off in the ring before and I was the one that walked away with my hand in the air. That was before I even made anything of myself in this company. That was back when people still considered me a heavy underdog and Goth a sure-thing. Times have certainly changed, and there is a reason for that. Since then, I have done nothing but prove my case again and again. All I have done is win, time after time. All I have done is accumulate every possible accolade in this company, most of them twice.

He pauses and holds his index and pointer fingers out to the camera, silently mouthing the word “twice” yet again to let it sink in for the viewers.

...and Mercedes? Has she ever even beaten Mikah? We all know that she’s had the opportunities. She has had chance after chance, and made promise after promise to come back and finally get it done. She has thrown her best shot at the greatest Bombshell in the history of this company, and come up short each and every time. It doesn’t matter how much success she has had. It never mattered what title she was holding, or what records she was breaking. Mercedes couldn’t ever get it done. So even though she will bludgeon us with all of the details of her successes, they have never added up in such a way that has allowed her to get the best of Mikah. She may have been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice, but it was never enough to get one over on the best of the best. And why is that? Because she just doesn’t measure up, by any definition or stretch of imagination.

Kris stops as they reach the top of a set of stairs that weren’t exactly solid. The black curtain and raucous cheers behind him give the impression that the landing that they are standing on is the back half of a large stage. Obviously his path through the backstage area was a way to buy time for the crowd to be herded to the next area by Kris’ handlers. Although it is less clear if they were following his words, or if that was just for the viewers at home to see.

Like I was saying last week, not all Hall of Famers are created equal. Just because we are all four members of the same club doesn’t mean we are all on equal footing. There are things that Mikah and I have done separately that nobody not named J2H can claim. That doesn’t mean that these two aren’t great when compared to the average talent in the back. They are. They’re great. But they’re not the greatest. And they’re not even really a team.

That was the point that Kris was trying to stay focused on, because that was all that was going to matter at Inception.

Two talents like Mercedes and Goth are going to run over regular teams. They may even run over most other lethal lottery teams. That is because this division really comes down to two matches happening in the ring at the same time. Bombshells are doing battle with one another, and the guys get to lock up when we can pry the ladies apart. It’s not a regular tag team environment with momentum, and wearing one member of a team down. It is more about strategy, and two people being able to turn the tide of a match in their favor no matter what. Mikah could be dismantling Mercedes, only for Goth to tag himself in. I have to be able to deal with that. I have to be good enough as an individual to hold my own. Knowing that will get you to some championships the same way that Goth and Mercedes did. However, knowing your partner as well as you know yourself, and being able to see their momentum shift one way or another is totally different. There is so much more to these types of matches than just throwing punches, or trying to choke someone out. You have to know what your partner needs, without them being able to spell it out for you. How can Mercedes and Goth hope to do that, when they barely know one another? You think these two were hanging out before they were randomly thrown together? You think they exchange holiday cards? I doubt it. And when it matters most, that is what is going to come back to bite them in the ass.

A stagehand comes over to Kris and hands him something that he slides into his pocket. The same person clips a small microphone to Kris’ collar and then runs a cord down the inside of his jacket and the camera swings to the other side of Kris once again. It backs out through a curtain, and for a moment Kris is gone. The new Reckless Elite theme blasts through the small space, and the camera whips around to see a crowd of a few hundred people surrounding the stage. The camera turns back to the curtain just in time for Kris to burst through it, his voice now booming through the PA system.

I find it funny that people keep trying to write Mikah and I off. People keep trying to decide that we are done. They think that our time in the spotlight is over for some reason. I don’t know what gave them that idea. I think we have always made it pretty clear that if we want to show up and take it all back. Every time people have said that our best days were past us, we not only rise back to the top, but then we elevate exactly what it means to be at the top. We have done it over and over, and we will continue to do it over and over again until someone or some team rises up that is actually good enough to force us out once and for all. Today, looking at what this roster has to offer, I don’t see that being a problem for a long time.

The camera shakes a little when the fans in attendance roar in agreement with him.

These people have been desperate to see a real tag team in this division, and that is something that has been missing from the moment that I won the SCW World Heavyweight Championship. I should have never given up my place at the top of this division in order to chase something that I didn’t really want. I should have never let a team wear the crowns that were literally created to be worn by me and Mikah.

Again, the crowd cheers, but he obviously didn’t need to win any of them over. They all showed up when he put out the word, and the show was still a few days away.

We’re going to Inception to win the Mixed Tag Team Championships because that is just what we do. We show up. We piss a lot of people off. We do whatever we want to do. We take whatever it is we want to take because we are that damn good at what we do inside that six sided ring. Nobody has been able to step up and say otherwise, and some of the best of the bests have tried. All have failed, and now we are back to remind everyone of their place. It’s beneath us, like it or not. It might not sound pretty, but that doesn’t change that it’s a fact, not an opinion. We have the receipts to prove it. Reclaiming what is rightfully ours is the only thing that matters to Mikah and I, and there is little that anyone is going to be able to do to stop us from getting what we want. Mark and Christian were smart to shorten the line for us, because now we will amass a pile of bodies as defending champions instead of disgruntled challengers, and one of those two things is going to draw a lot more money than the alternative would have.

For the first time, he breaks his attention away from the camera, and seems to acknowledge the crowd itself. A wide smile crosses his face, and he pauses for a moment to let their cheers wash over him. After a second, he turns and empties his pockets into the hands of one of the security people on the stage. He unclips the microphone from his shirt and wraps the cord around the man’s shoulders before turning back to the fans. He raises his voice so that he can talk over them, but almost instantly the rest of the room falls silent to hear him.

From my first day in this company, all the way to whenever my last one will be, I am going to talk exactly as RECKLESS as I want to. I don’t care about the rules. I don’t care about your norms. I don’t have to censor myself…. I don’t have to do what anyone tells me…. I am ELITE!

The crowd roars, and the camera pans from Kris over to the mass of people with their hands in the air. In a flash, the Hall of Famer takes off running the length of the stage, and leaps from the edge of it into the hands of his adoring fans. The camera follows him as he floats around the top of the crowd for a few moments before fading to black and cutting off.

2

Supercard Archives / Re: World Mixed Tag Championship: Mercedes Vargas and Goth (c) v The Black Sheep

« on: January 15, 2022, 11:31:10 PM »

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Boredom Kills
Jet City South - SAN DIEGO
1 JANUARY 2022
OFF-Camera



The days felt like they were getting longer, and waking up everyday was becoming more and more stressful. His new morning routine involved trying to figure out where he was. Life had become an endless parade of plane flights, and time zone changes. He had been told throughout his drug use that living a double life was impossible to maintain. At this point though, he had volunteered to live three. Kris was splitting his time between putting in work behind the scenes at Jet City, growing his relationship with Mikah in Hawaii, and raising his kids in Seattle. However, a few months into spinning all of these plates, they were all starting to fall, and take a toll on him when they did. If he sacrificed time at Jet City, his trainers were unhappy. He couldn’t miss events with his kids, so Mikah sometimes fell to the back burner. In the times he was able to slip away to the beach, it felt like the world back home was falling apart. It was that feeling that had brought him back to Jet City South after celebrating the New Year with Mikah.

Kris: Is it just me, or did you think that retirement would be easier?

Coby didn’t have time for Kris’ ramblings. It was bad enough that his mentor was bothering him while Coby was busy trying to keep the gym afloat. He never wanted to throw Kris out, but was drawing painfully close today.

Coby: It’s just you…

Kris sat up on the couch in their shared office, although in recent months Coby had redecorated and taken over the space in its entirety. Kris was designated to a corner, which happened to contain the only desk without anything on it. Every other surface in the office was covered with paperwork that Kris was never going to take interest in looking at. If the problems that they had were going to get fixed, it was going to have to be Coby to dig them out of it.

Kris: Well that felt blunt and dismissive. I thought that this was supposed to be a safe place? Are you championing the hostile work environment now?

Coby rolled his eyes. He was happy that Kris had been sticking to therapy and getting his shit together, but it had given Kris a whole new bag of tricks to weaponize against others to hold them conversationally hostage.

Coby: No… I meant that it is quite literally just you. The rest of us are drowning, but nothing is ever easy in your orbit, Kris. Maybe if you wanted to take a more “hands on” approach around here, I could probably spare the time to talk to you about your feelings.

Coby gestured to the piles of everything around the room, but it caused the color to drain out of Kris’ face instantly.

Kris: Paperwork? Hard pass.

Coby sighs, and sits back in his chair. He turns slightly so that he is not forced to directly look at the source of his annoyance. He points out the office window to the floor where several trainers were running students of the gym through drills.

Coby: You could always go down and run a few classes. You know, do something other than hang out and complain that you don’t have anything to do all the time. Find something productive to do with your time…. Be useful… We don’t want you to just come in and bitch. We need actual help.

None of it interested Kris though. He had a far different opinion about what his role should be. He had never really had anyone to train him, so what did he actually know about operating a gym? The students that he had the most contact with always seemed to flame out anyways, so the reward for his effort hadn’t ever been there. Kris wanted to focus on the fun part of owning a gym, not the work.

Kris: I like to think of myself as more of a spokesperson these days. You know? The face of the brand. You don’t see Jordan wearing one of those stupid referee shirts at a shoe store and trying to get people to buy his shit. I don’t even think he does any of the marketing personally anymore. The guy just… plays golf… I guess.

Coby claps his hands together, hoping that Kris would take his own bait on the subject. Anything to get him up and out of the office so that Coby could actually get back to something worth his attention.

Coby: There you go! Go learn how to play golf. Then you’ll be learning a new skill, and I will actually be getting work done.

Kris rolls his eyes. It had been a metaphor, and he was hoping that Coby was along for the ride. Apparently not.

Kris: I said I was bored being here, not that I’m 65. I just feel like Jet City as a whole could make more use of me than as some friendly face training a bunch of people without the dedication or talent to actually get anywhere. I can’t just smile in the face of people that are awful.

It wasn’t the most pleasant way to put it, but that didn’t matter. Coby wasn’t ever going to be on his side. Running the gym, despite all of its hassles, was Coby’s happy place.

Coby: You realize that is about half of what I do around here…

Coby also understood that Kris’ place wasn’t within these walls. Kris was happiest inside the ring even if he pretended he didn’t.

Kris: Yeah, and you’re a better person than I am for that. I can’t do it. It’s my job to be so amazing that it gets people in the door. It’s up to the trainers to get them to stick around.

He realized that most of the trainers were just friends that joined on in order to support him, but they were all better off around here without his influence. He trusted Coby, Parker, and Kate more than just about everyone else in his life. That was why he was so comfortable leaving the gym in their hands. Coby was still surprised to hear Kris say the words out loud though.

Coby: So you admit that you’re the flash and we’re the substance…

That wasn’t exactly what Kris was saying, but it wasn’t far off either.

Kris: I’m saying that the substance isn’t amounting to much. You made a dent in the industry. Courtney is in and out more than anything. None of the others have really risen up and done much…. It just seems like a losing battle trying to find the diamond in the rough.

Coby nods, in perfect agreement with his friend for once.

Coby: No, it’s work. And there are people that are okay with putting in the work…

Of course, he was talking about all of the people out on the floor right now, students and trainers alike. They were all here busting their asses to get better, even if Kris didn’t want to see it that way.

Coby: ...and then there’s you.

Kris had fallen backwards through all of his successes. He had openly bragged about not doing the legwork because of his ability to improvise and break down his opponent by using his own body as a wrecking ball or sorts. He didn’t have any technical skill, and he never really had much use for it. Everyone thought that working so closely with Mikah would have rubbed off on him, but it never took. Kris was just as wild and unpredictable as always, and that was impossible to teach to people. It was no surprise to Coby that he was struggling to fit in as a trainer or a mentor.

Kris: I like to think that I bust my ass to make sure that things stay moving in the right direction around here. Me popping up in Sin City and getting inducted into the Hall of Fame was great for business….

It was another shining example of what Kris thought his role was, but for Coby it was so much more than that.

Coby: You’re right. You’re right. It helped. And you help… when it’s convenient for you...

Kris hadn’t really been seen publicly since High Stakes. He wasn’t generating any buzz. It was all hit and miss, and Coby wasn’t willing to let him off the hook for that this time.

Kris: You see, that sounded nice right up until the end there….

Losing his patience, Coby just unloads onto his friend.

Coby: Is it not true though? I mean you went back and did a couple matches. We got some good publicity. People were starting to show up again, but now what? Those new recruits aren’t seeing you on the floor. You’re not popping up at events. You’re not teaching anyone anything, and you’re not competing anymore. You don’t want to do anything productive here, but all you’re doing outside of here is traveling back and forth between Mikah and your kids.

The spinning plates were really coming down now. Kris knew that it was just a matter of time before someone in his three lives was going to blow up at him. To be honest, he was glad it was Coby instead of Mikah. At least when he argued with his friend it tended to stay more civil. He and Mikah were explosive at times.

Kris: So you’re saying I should blow off my personal life and family in order to work more?

That would have been a good start, but Coby already knew that was out of the question. It wasn’t a matter of time for Coby, it was a matter of effort. And Kris didn’t seem to be grasping that.

Coby: I’m saying if you’re going to be retired, then be retired and stop complaining about it.

It was the nicest way to segway back to what Kris was complaining about without having to hurt his feelings.

Kris: See… dismissive.

Coby wasn’t going to fall into that trap though. Kris would sit here for hours going in circles if he would let him. Fortunately, there were more pressing things to get to, and Coby saw his opportunity to shoo Kris away.

Coby: Yes, I am dismissing you. You are dismissed. Go somewhere else. Go bother literally anyone else in this building.

Kris gets up from the couch and raises his hands up in front of his chest innocently. He backs up towards the door with a visible frown on his face.

Kris: Fine. I get it. I can feel the vibe change in a room where I’m not wanted anymore. I don’t have to take this kind of abuse.

He hangs his head and drops his shoulders and he turns back through the doorway, muttering under his breath. Coby doesn’t take the bait though.

Coby: ...and close the door please….

Kris turns and shoots a final glance back at Coby before reluctantly pulling the door closed. He turns away from it and heads down the hallway still talking to himself.

Kris: ...parenthood has made him bitter…

He turned a corner and looked out onto the floor where trainers had the students separated into different groups. He hesitated at the door, just watching them.

Kris: …hmmm…....be productive….

He shakes his head and decides against it. He wasn’t going to cave into Coby’s taunting. They didn’t need him out there and he wasn’t going to force it. Instead, he turned around to head towards the back exit before nearly being tackled by someone coming down the hallway towards him. The two slam into one another, but some fancy footwork from Kris keeps him from hitting the floor. His attacker isn’t so lucky, and falls backwards into the wall, his elbow going through the drywall.

Kris: Whoa guy! Maybe take it down a notch or two in the hallways.

Kris straightens himself up, and does his best to keep himself together. However, the student points up at the banner of Kris’ face lining the hallway with a half-smile on his face.

Student: Hey! Wow… You’re that guy!

Kris turns back and looks at it before rolling his eyes.

Kris: Yeah, Kris. This is my gym.

The student stands up in front of Kris, and the Hall of Famer cannot help but be slightly impressed. From their collision Kris could tell that he was built like a brick wall, but he was also light on his feet, and had Kris in both height and reach. He taps his chest twice and introduces himself.

Student: Jaycee.

Kris shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the damage to the wall.

Kris: Nice. Just pay more attention around corners. There’s some people here that you could have laid out.

The student couldn’t help but to laugh at the notion. He took stock of Kris and came to the conclusion that if it came to blows, he could probably hold his own despite the legend surrounding his adversary.

Jaycee: It’s not everyday that you turn a corner and run into a ghost.

He said it with a smile, but Kris didn’t find it funny.

Kris: Ghost?

Jaycee was taken aback that Kris hadn’t been clued into the rumor yet. He had mistakenly assumed that Kris was even the type to possibly start it about himself to build onto the mystique.

Jaycee: Oh… I thought you knew about that. That’s what a lot of students call you. The Jet City Ghost. Your face is on all the walls. You pop up in all the ads for this place. Yet, none of us ever really see you. We try to convince newbies that you died and just haunt the place for shits and giggles.

He continued laughing, but Kris still wasn’t joining him.

Kris: Am I supposed to find this flattering?

Jaycee wipes the smile off of his face, but shrugs his shoulders when his expression becomes more serious.

Jaycee: It’s a better story than being an absentee trainer, right? Figured you got a kick out of it. Guess I was wrong.

Kris had been trying not to take exception to a kid that clearly didn’t know his place, but this was starting to get insulting. He couldn’t let that slide.

Kris: I was just inducted into the Sin CIty Hall of Fame a few months ago… I’m supposed to believe that you guys have been telling people I’ve died since then?

The student shrugs. Kris’ behavior was really what had made it all possible.

Jaycee: Well you do make a habit disappearing silently for months on end, right? Couple that with a history of really gnarly drug use, and the story pretty much writes itself. It would be bad for the brand if you were dead right, so they just kept it all hush-hush.

The whole day was starting to be one baffling conversation after another. Kris couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief.

Kris: People believe this?

The student didn’t seem to think that it was that much of a stretch of the imagination.

Jaycee: Why wouldn’t they? It’s not like you’re putting in any facetime to disprove it.

Kris seemed to take that as a challenge.

Kris: Maybe I need to change that.

Jaycee wasn’t trying to provoke the man into having something to prove, and really just wanted to get back to his own routine. This was already an unexpected detour on his day.

Jaycee: That’s on you. In my opinion, if you had anything to add to this place, you’d be doing it. In all the time I’ve been here, you’ve just been a face on a wall. It’s nice to see that you’re just a guy though. It really shatters the illusion of some larger than life superstar to see you up close like this.

Kris wasn’t about to let that slide either.

Kris: I didn’t make a name for myself by accident….

The same laugh that bent Kris out of shape moments ago slipped between Jaycee’s lips once again.

Jaycee: Actually you did… didn’t you? Wasn’t that your thing? The Accident? The Miracle? That One that Shouldn’t Have?

Kris’ face turns red, and for the first time, his voice starts to raise.

Kris: I am an elite--

The student puts his hands up and starts to back away from Kris onto the main floor of the gym.

Jaycee: Maybe once upon a time. To me you look like a guy that has lost just as much as he has won in the last couple of years. A guy that disappears into the background far too often to be seen as a legend. You’ve been doing more reckless adventuring than teaching at your own gym. You’re a joke. You want to change your image? Maybe try putting in some work.

Kris tries to respond, but Jayceee reaches into the pockets of his shorts and places a wireless headphone in each ear. He mimes that he can’t hear Kris anymore and turns away from the Grand Slam Champion. Kris is left standing by himself full of rage that he has nothing to do with.

Kris: ....well fuck me then…

He turned down the hallway, pulling his phone from his pocket. He knew what he had to do. If people were already this emboldened to shame him in his own gym, who knew what the opinion of the outside world was. If he was going to save his image, he was going to have to do it the only way that he knew how. There was only one person he could call in order to make that happen: Christian Underwood. Although, he was going to have to get Mikah on board.



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Did everyone miss me?

I know that the general consensus after High Stakes was that I was going to be walking off into the sunset. I mean, I had gotten everything that I wanted.

I got to step in the ring with the greatest that this company has ever had to offer, and I stood my ground. I proved to the world that the two of us were on even footing. We stood toe-to-toe throwing our best shots at one another, and everyone in attendance realized that it could have gone either way. J2H and I made magic happen inside that ring at High Stakes, and I have no regrets, complaints, or excuses about how things turned out.

So why come back? Why not stay gone?

I guess that it’s PRIDE mostly. We all know that I don’t need to do anything else in Sin City in order to prove my place in history. That chapter of my life is over. I am a forever legend inside the six-sided ring, but that doesn’t mean that I am done adding to my story. That doesn’t mean that my story is over. You people don’t get to decide that. I do. I get to decide when I am done, and if I say that we haven’t reached that point yet, then any of you are welcome to come and stop me.

Very few have ever been up to the task…

And speaking of the tasks at hand, Inception will make yet another of my glorious comebacks to start the year. It seems that no matter how long we go in this business, we always come back to where we started. How many times have I come back to dominate the first show of the year? Just last year I was defending Sin City World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Washington and sorry ass O’Malley at Inception. A few years ago at Inception II my brother and I were retaining our World Tag Team Championships against the Unholy Alliance. And of course, we all remember the year that Mark and Christian replaced Inception with Full Circle and I literally brought the roof down and won two championships in one night… for the first time….

This is just what I do in Sin City Wrestling. This is the start of a new year, and the very same Kris is going to be here to greet it. This company wouldn’t hope to open up a new year of hijinx without me. Making an impact on the first big show of the year is expected of me at this point, I wouldn’t want to let anyone down. So when the whim struck me, I called Christian and asked if there were any gaps that a Hall of Famer might be able to fill. He said he might have a place for two Hall of Famers if I was interested, and that wasn’t something that I was ever going to be able to turn down.

The last time that I came back, I promised that I was going to dominate the Mixed Tag Team division like Mikah and I were always supposed to. I was right in the middle of that task, when the opportunity to take the World Heavyweight Championship back came along. It was just too good of a chance to pass up, so I bided my time, picked my shot, and took it from Jack fair and square. The only problem was, it put a wrench in my plan to establish Mikah and myself as the greatest team in the history of this company. I abandoned the thing that I set out to do in order to hold a championship that I didn’t actually need.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing negative about holding the top prize in Sin City Wrestling, and on top of being the one to lead the company and be in all the main events, it came with the added bonus of taking the championship out of the hands of someone that I found particularly wretched, and keep it out of the hands of someone that I think has the mental acuity of a shoebox. Once that is done though, the luster wears off. I accomplished what I wanted, but at what price? I sacrificed the team that I set out to build in order to save the company. So what do I do now that the company wasn’t really in need of a gatekeeper anymore?

I took time off. I took time to enjoy life. I protected myself for the better party of last year so that I could give the world one of the greatest matches that they will ever see, from any company, at any time in history. I wasn’t going to let some injury cost everyone what they wanted to see. So I sat on the sidelines, worked on myself, worked on my craft, and then came back for the Battle of the Greats.

....but then I was back in the same boat. My goals had been accomplished. I did what I set out to do, so what was next? For a while there, I didn’t think that there was anything. I have won everything, and competed against most everyone worth going to battle against. On the surface, it felt like the storybook ending to a decade of warfare inside a ring. I’ll be honest with everyone, the thought of walking away was all that has been on my mind for a couple of months. I didn’t think that I would be coming back to start off this year with a bang until just a few days ago…

I woke up from a deep sleep with the recollection that I had never finished what I started. Mikah and I have been undefeated since our Inception as a team, and the work that we started still isn’t done. We put down our quest for tag team superiority while I chased my singles aspirations, but as I’ve told all of you, all of that has been put to rest. There is nothing left for me to prove or accomplish as an individual as this company, but Mikah and I have yet to get the credit we deserve as a unit.

....and before you all get excited, I’m not talking about The Black Sheep. I’m not talking about some group of people fighting others for some higher purpose. I am not looking to outnumber and maul people. I am not looking to start a movement. Mikah and I came together as a team to prove one single point: As dangerous as we are apart, we are better together. The two of us are going to be picking up right where we left off. We are going to finish the work that we started. By the end of this year, we are going to be the only team in this company worth talking about.

...and I get that some people are going to get bent out of shape about us jumping to the front of the line and snatching this opportunity out of midair, but too bad. It’s not like I asked for this. I reached out to Christian to make something happen. He is the one that provided the details. Although, it’s not like the two of us taking this opportunity is unwarranted. We never got a return match for the championships that I technically never lost. As a matter of fact, I have a long history of breaking records with championships and never bitching about return matches the way that some people have done their entire careers. I didn’t ask for a championship match right off the bat, but I am not going to brush it off either.

Like I have already said, I don’t have anything left to prove in this company. I don’t have to convince anyone that I need to earn anything. I am Kristopher Ryans. All I have done since first coming here is win championships, break records, and help to grow this company. I am one of the greatest that this company has to offer, and they could place me anywhere, on any card, for any championship, at any time and it would make sense. Why? Because I am that good, and have been that good in this company for as long as anyone can remember.

I don’t expect that Mercedes or Goth are going to step up to the plate this week and say that Mikah and I are undeserving of this opportunity. I don’t think that they are going to blow us off as past legends. I think that they are going to give two Hall of Famers their proper credit regardless of how they feel about us personally. I am pretty sure Mercedes dislikes me just about as much as anyone that has ever worked here, and Goth has never been all that big a fan either. We have shared a main event ring with a championship on the line before, and I was the one that walked away with the win. This occasion won’t be all that different than that one. We might all four be in the Hall of Fame, but not all Hall of Famers are built the same.

These two might share a lot of the same accolades as Mikah and myself, but neither one of them could ever be described as dominant. Mercedes loses way more often than she wins these days, and has been coasting on reputation mostly. It has been a couple of years since she was able to string anything real together, and she has run into Mikah and been kicked to the curb more times than I care to keep track of. Goth captured this championship, but it is his first since around the time I was dominating him for the Internet Championship. Most of my success has happened since then, and where has he been to stop my ascent? Nowhere to be found. It’s because deep down the guy knew to stay out of the way back then, just like he knows now.

...but I don’t say these things to be mean. Sometimes facts are harsh, but trust me, that doesn’t make them less true. These two are good. They have proven that against a lot of people. Just not us, and they have had every opportunity to do so. It’s not often that you see fellow Hall of Famers that haven’t crossed paths more, but that just shows me that they were smart about picking their spots while Mikah and I were preoccupied elsewhere. In a way, they have survived this long by keeping their distance. There won’t be anyway for them to do that at Inception though. They are going to be backed into a corner, and Mikah and I will once again be showing everyone just how unstoppable we are.

This isn't some Black Sheep reunion.

This is the rise of Reckless Elite, and Mercedes and Goth aren't ready for what we are bringing to Inception.

7

Climax Control Archives / Number One

« on: May 05, 2021, 02:15:14 AM »

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The shaky video feed comes to life with “The Miracle” front and center in the frame. As he moves through the hallways, surrounded by stacked up crates and other random equipment, the fans quickly deduce that he must have been recording from backstage during Climax Control. The booming sounds of fans from inside the arena where the show was still wrapping up support the realization, as well as the fact that Kris was still dressed as he was during his brief run-in with Scott Oliver. Since then, his world had been full of surprises. He hadn’t even considered stepping back inside the ring anytime soon, but that had all changed. In stopping by to talk to Mark and Christian, Kris learned that a challenge was going to be thrown out. He had then watched J2H take the screen to call him out. Only moments before pulling his phone from his pocket to start his recording, he had watched O’Malley win the Internet Championship, making him the one Kris would be tagging with should he accept the challenge. From the look on Kris’ face, there was no doubt he had already made a decision about it.

I just want to make sure that we’re all on the same page here...

His tone was a lot more serious than most anticipated. Everything else about his demeanor led viewers to believe that he was excited about the opportunity. Although, anybody with any knowledge of his working relationship with O’Malley had to understand his hesitance.

...I had no intention of stepping back into the ring ahead of what I had planned to be my last match at High Stakes closer to the end of the year...

It was a much more formal retirement announcement than he had previously put out. Although most already assumed as much. Kris was no longer under contract. He was splitting time between the two Jet City gyms, and attempting to be an actual parent. Sin City just wasn’t on his radar, aside from a handful of the people in it. Kris wasn’t going to bullshit the fans by avoiding the subject though.

J2H3 and I have been planning that one for a while. It’s been plenty public that we were putting that one together. If you look at the history books of this company, there are only two names that stick out as contenders for the best ever, and they’ve never even really been in the ring together. Of course we were going to make that match happen. It would be an injustice to anyone that has ever been a fan of this company to leave that match on the table.

Given his tone, the fans knew that Kris was just fluffing them up for the catch.

....I came to Climax Control to see some friends. Give some advice to the students out of Jet City, and thank Mark and Christian for the opportunities that they have given me along the way. Absolutely nothing more, and absolutely nothing less. So all of this has caught me kind of off-guard.

He shrugs...

Then again, how many people can say that they got J2H3 to show up in the building to call them out in person? And yeah, he may not have expected O’Malley to pull out the victory, but he knew that either way he was pairing me up against someone I’ve been in the ring with that may not like me all that much. On top of that, he gets to handpick his own partner, another guy that doesn’t necessarily like me. I guess it didn’t sit well that Mikah and I beat him in that swamp shit match. So it’s really me stepping in the ring with three people with a reason to maim me regardless of who was holding the Internet Championship.

When he said it that way, it kind of sounded like the whole thing was an obvious set up. Kris made it sound like J2H3 was baiting him into a trap. Then again, that might have just made it that much more exciting to The Miracle.

It was the first decent pitch that anyone in this company has made to me since I dropped the World Heavyweight Championship. I mean, I was here for a year and only lost twice. I thought that maybe someone would want to call out a guy that was that successful. I was a champion for the majority of my time here last year, and every single day that I was under contract this year. I was unstoppable. Yet, there didn’t seem to be any interesting opportunities left. It was all so incredibly…. boring.

A smirk starts to break in the right corner of his mouth.

A tag team match? J2H3 wants to challenge me in a tag match? He may have been the longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion but I have dominated both of the tag divisions in this company. My record as a member of a team is outrageous. And he wants to pick a guy that I really wished I had gotten to have a real defense against to be his tag partner? Even better.

There was only one piece of the equation left, and clearly that was the part that Kris was being hesitant about.

...and then there’s O’Malley.

He shakes his head. It is almost like Kris knows that there is almost no way that the two manage to make it through the match as a functioning team.

How about this, you old Irish asshole…. I will never…. Ever… not even once… step into the ring with you again if you somehow fuck this up for me intentionally. I realize there is a good chance that we lose just because some of your in ring decisions are just as stupid as your face, and that’s fine. I can live with that. But if you want to turn this into a three-on-one situation or leave me hanging out there, rest assured that you will never get the match with me that you so desperately want. Understood?

The smirk turns into a full on smile as Kris tries to hold back a laugh at O’Malley’s expense.

I’ll see the three of you in the ring next week. It should be a blast.

With a wink, he kills the feed and the screen goes black.

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Jet City Reunion
Jet City Sports Lab - SEATTLE
4 MAY 2021
OFF-Camera


It had been a long time since Kris had seen the Jet City Sports Lab in person. He and his half brother had managed to spin their successful tag team into a successful brand name, and finally into a gym that was starting to boom with all of the recent success of its students. The state of the art sports lab in Seattle was much more appealing to the eye than Jet City South. Jason had an eye for that kind of thing, whereas Kris was really only concerned with what went on inside the gym. Jason’s attitude had always been geared towards professionalism. Kris was trying to show students like himself the path he took to the top, and there hadn’t been anything glamorous about it. In Kris’ mind, the vision that Jason was selling was a lie, but a pretty one. He had learned to appreciate it for what it was, instead of hating it for not being his own vision. As Kris strolled through the double front doors like he owned the place, several staff workers caught a glimpse of him and had turned the opposite direction. Parker Wayde, a long term trainer at the gym and Jason’s right hand man pointed Kris in the direction he was looking for without a single word. Kris’ brother had his back to the door, so had no advanced warning of Kris’ arrival.

Kris: It’s awfully good to be home...

Jason had been mid-conversation with his assistant when his brother’s words stopped him and caused him to spin around to face the terrorist.

Jason: Absolutely not! No. Maddie, put the sign up...

Jason pointed to a digital display along the wall that ran on a loop around the entire facility. Almost instantly bold and blinking red letters spelled out “KRIS DOES NOT WORK HERE! PLEASE IGNORE ANY OF HIS REQUESTS!” Kris read the words as they started to trail along the wall all the way to the other side of the gym and back.

Kris: For real? You don’t think that is a little excessive?

Jason shook his head without any kind of hesitancy.

Jason: Have you forgotten that I am plagued with remembering every stupid thing that you’ve done for the last… let’s say… 32 years.

It was more hurtful than Kris was expecting right from the start.

Kris: Rude… you’re really not happy to see me?

Jason finally finishes up whatever it was that needed his attention and turns back to his half-brother already exhausted by their conversation.

Jason: Why are you here? You have your own gym. There is no reason to come all the way up the coast to terrorize the people that chose to stay at JCSL. You can do that at Jet City South. I’m sure Court and Ruby would be happy to keep you occupied.

That was the entirety of Kris’ problem. If he was down at Jet City South, he would be the one with the assistant breathing down his neck every second of the day. Even if he managed to give her the slip, one of his students would need some kind of help preparing for an upcoming match. In short, there was no way that he could do anything to get ready for his own battle if he stayed in San Diego. Jason would bust him if he tried to lie his way through a reason that sounded better, so Kris was willing to take a stab at honesty.

Kris: They’re actually the reason that I came up here. They both have the big Bombshell Championship matches coming u---

The older of the two brother’s still wasn’t impressed and his patience was dwindling so he attempted to speed things up.

Jason: Yeah, and they could end up squaring off against each other even though they’re still in the cute honeymoon stage of their relationship. Again, not my problem.

Kris was dumbfounded to find out that his brother was actually following along. Maybe he did really care.

Kris: You know, for a guy that doesn’t want to be involved you sound awfully involved.

Jason shakes his head. If Kris was looking for a feel good answer, he came to the wrong place.

Jason: I keep tabs on you guys because your name is attached to mine. If your gym does well, mine looks good. If yours crashes and burns, my name becomes less valuable. It’s business, not pleasure. Then again, there isn’t very many things that I find pleasurable about playing games with you these days.

Kris wasn’t just going to take the verbal beating lying down.

Kris: That is because I am old enough to pick the games that we play now. I’m not just some puppet for you to pull the strings on anymore.

Jason sighs, giving up.

Jason: We’re going in circles here Kris. I’m going to need you to get to the point. I have a lot going on today.

Kris did the only thing he could, and just blurted out what he needed.

Kris: I need to win a fight against myself. You’re the only one that can help with that.

It was the first thing that drew Jason’s genuine interest.

Jason: ...J2H is finally stepping up….?

It was the hook that Kris had been hoping for. His brother knew what this match meant to him, especially on the kind of stage provided by it being Climax Control’s 300th show.

Kris: Actually he showed up randomly this past week to challenge me to a tag match. He picked Mac as his partner. I got stuck with whoever was lucky enough to walk out of the ring with the Internet Championship.

Jason could see the dominoes falling into place even before Kris told him. He could see it turning into a three-on-one beating quickly.

Jason: ...and let me guess… O:Malley won.

Kris blows that subject off entirely. That’s not what he was here for.

Kris: That’s not the point. I’m not worried about the two of them. I have seen Mac up close, and I think that I can run him down. O’Malley is going to want the bigger piece of him though. One of the two of us has to be able to counter James, and that isn’t going to be the Irish joke.

Jason: So you’re coming to me because James’ style is basically a little bit of yours and a little bit of mine. I can see why you’re scared

Kris wasn’t going to let the insult slide.

Kris: I never said I was scar--

Jason: [Interrupting] Well, you’re here. That says enough. You want to beat the guy so that you can try to claim that you’re the best of all time. You think because you beat me inside the SCW ring that I’ll be a good tune up for you. The problem is, it involves asking me a favor. You hate doing that. If there was any other way, you wouldn’t be here. So yeah… I think you’re scared. Even if you don’t want to admit it. If you fall on your face during this match, the one that you’ve been planning for High Stakes is irrelevant. You’ll be giving James all the ammo he needs to get into your head ahead of that one.

Kris mouth opens and closes wordlessly a few times. He hadn’t actually thought about it that way.

Kris: ...maybe that’s what he wants….

Jason cuts him off before he can spin a new conspiracy theory.

Jason: Look at you! Always trying to dig for some deeper meaning instead of just seeing things for what they are. James Huntington-Hawkes is the only one with the standing to challenge your place in Sin City history. You’d be a fool not to be scared about watching everything that you’ve worked for slip away.

It was reassuring in a strange way. Jason was scolding him, but at the same time acknowledging that the doubts Kris was feeding into were a waste of time. There was no need to be paranoid about what if scenarios. The match was coming. It was real. That is what he should be focused on.

Kris: ....so are you going to help me or did I come all this way just for a lecture?

Jason’s least favorite thing about dealing with his brother was his need to be spoon fed the answers that he wanted to hear. He surrenders with another sigh.

Jason: When have I not helped you out when you needed it?

Turning back to Maddie, Jason starts to empty all of his pockets onto the stack of papers they had been going over.

Jason: Cancel all of my appointments please...

Jason takes off his jacket and loosens his tie before the two start to head back towards the locker room, leaving Maddie holding a stack of items and looking more confused than ever.

Kris: You know… that sign might actually be helpful. I know it is meant as a way to make the staff ignore me, but maybe the students will take the hint and steer clear.

Jason laughs at how naive Kris still is despite years of rough lessons learned.

Jason: I doubt it...

He points up ahead along the path they are walking, only for Kris to spot Courtney Pierce, already changed and looking like she had been hitting the gym hard for a few hours. She caught sight of the two brothers and made her way over to them with a smile.

Court: So what did I miss? Don’t tell me that you two old timers haven’t even started yet….

The two founders of Jet City exchanged exasperated glances, knowing that their week of preparation had just gotten much longer.



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>Can you believe there have been 205 episodes of Climax Control between this Sunday and the last time that J2H3 and I were in the ring together?

The scene opens with Kris in his office looking at the wall of championships displayed on the back wall. Each of the five championships he was eligible to win in SCW were hanging, with both the Roulette and World Heavyweight Championships stacked with their double.

Back then I didn’t have any of these...

Kris gestures at the wall with a laugh, and tries his best to recall his first run-in with James Huntington-Hawkes III.

...I wasn’t even a Nobody yet. No Miracles had happened. I hadn’t broken any Roulette records yet. I hadn’t formed Jet City or The Black Sheep to dominate the tag divisions yet. I hadn’t held a single championship on my way to the Grand Slam... yet. We were far from the people that we would eventually become in the history of this business. All of our collective greatness played out after a weird chance meeting. Back then he was only just figuring out that his long ass name was too much, and I hadn’t found out that my name was a lie. He was a guy that nobody took very seriously, and I was an unknown. James just seemed like a spoiled rich kid that was too used to getting what he wanted and I was a burnout going nowhere. The version of him that came to Climax Control to call me out didn’t even exist yet. The Miracle that he wants to step in the ring with hadn’t happened. Yet, both of those things were actually born while we shared the ring, albeit not under the best circumstance for me.

It wasn’t the best of memories, but Kris looks proud of himself for remembering a time forgotten about by just about all of the present SCW locker room. The night he crossed paths with J2H3 had been a launch pad for them both.

I was fighting Equinox, thumbtacks were flying. People were getting hurt. Then this clown Ringo comes down, and starts to get beaten up. Then J2H3 comes out with a whole new attitude, all tatted up, and suddenly the guy can actually wrestle worth a damn. That match still hasn’t ended, to this day. They came down, eventually laid out Equinox, and left. No bells. No nothing. It’s a draw on my record only because there was never an official decision, and that was the singular time that I can remember two of SCW’s biggest future stars crossing paths. J2H3 went on to break records with the World Heavyweight Championship, and even hold multiple championships at the same time. The inconsequential guy whose championship match he ruined later became The Miracle standing before you now. Our origin stories overlap even though they are entirely separate from one another.

....but that’s the point, isn’t it? That’s what makes what we plan to do at High Stakes so enticing to everyone. That is why it is the match so good that it was booked nearly a year in advance. Everyone should consider themselves lucky to get this early preview, but we didn’t need to do this to sell tickets to High Stakes. They’re going to sell out the moment that they go on sale. Why? Because since Climax Control 95 when we were in the same ring, we have both done absolutely everything that this company has to offer, and we did it without ever crossing paths. It almost feels cheap for one of the two of us to claim to be the best before we have really even gotten the chance to prove it to the other man inside the ring. The same list that put J2H3 up on top of the world didn’t have my name on it at all. He wouldn’t have showed up to call me out by name if he didn’t think that was a mistake. He wouldn’t be wasting time on me if he didn’t think that I was worth his attention. The fact that he called this shot shows that I belong among the very best that have ever stepped into our six sided ring.

His excitement had taken him a little off topic, so he tried to bring himself back around to the match at hand. Everyone was going to have to wait a few more months for the other.

So when I was asked if I wanted to be part of the historic 300th installment of Climax Control, I already wanted to say yes. When they said that J2H3 wanted to be the one standing across from me, it was a no doubt situation. Everything else since then has just been a bonus. Getting to face Mac in a legitimate match is probably the biggest of those.

Kris had gotten so focused on the dream match that he had nearly overlooked J2H3’s partner for this preview.

Had Mac and Amber gotten a real shot on the Halloween show, there is no telling if Mikah and I would have remained champions long enough for me to hand the championship off to Coby. And that isn’t sarcasm. That’s not me blowing smoke up the guy’s ass either. He’s good. He wouldn’t have been recruited to this match if he wasn’t. More importantly, he sounds like a guy that wants to do things the right way. The way that J2H3 and I did. I didn’t have to look much further back than his comments to Fenris to see that. He offered to have his opponent’s back, despite the fact that it would have been in his best interest to let outside interference chew Fenris up and spit him back out for an easy win. He didn’t do that though. He did the respectful thing. He did the right thing. I can respect that.

...and that’s not to say that he is some kind of slouch in the ring either. There is a reason that Christian thinks that the guy could be a successful World Heavyweight Champion here. He has proven himself on a nightly basis since his debut. I know that there have been a few setbacks along the way, but that doesn’t change the fact that the guy is trending upwards. He’s even got a shot to get his hands on the Internet Championship. I know a little something about that. It was the first one that I won in this company. And he’s going to have to take it from O’Malley if he wants it. I know a little bit about beating that guy down as well.

Although, that can’t be what Kris wants to see happen in this next match. For the first time, O’Malley suffering a crippling defeat would negatively impact the Grand Slam Champion. Usually he would be watching his rival lose with a smile on his face. Their opponents had made sure that wouldn’t be the case this time around. Kris had been lured out of his semi-retirement to team with one of the two people in his life that there was no hope for co-existing with. More painful than that, it put Kris in the position to have to say something positive about his foe-turned-partner.

On that subject, I’m hoping that O’Malley is able to prove some of the things that I’ve said about him wrong….

The Miracle looked like even attempting to be complimentary was going to make him sick. There was no way that he could fake his way through enough pleasantries to convince anyone he was sincere either. Kris decided against even trying to play nice.

...but I’m not honestly expecting too much. Why? Because he is the same guy that he has always been. He is about fifty percent edgy tough guy, and fifty percent sob redemption story. He says that he wants to be better, and do better. Then he keeps up with the same tired excuses to explain away his failures. Maybe he would have been more successful if he hadn’t tried to come up at the same time that J2H3 and I were. Maybe he holds that against me. To be honest, I don’t know how this whole thing started, and at this point I don’t care enough about it to call him out to end it. It means much more to him than it does to me. That is why he was online crying about this match while I was busy rising to the challenge.

A wave of relief washes over the former champion. He was always more at peace when he wasn’t trying to mask what he really wanted to say. Plus, there was no need to fake some kind of truce. Kris was already carrying an ace up his sleeve.

I’m willing to look past that though. I’m willing to work with this reject for the duration of this match, if only because it is in my best interests to do so. I know that he is probably better than I will ever give him credit for. The problem with that is, it has still never been enough to beat me. That means it’s not going to be enough to beat J2H3 at his own game. The best thing that I can hope for is O’Malley keeping Mac busy long enough for me to prove to the world that I am the best that has ever walked through the doors of this company.

Of course, his plan relied on O’Malley being co-operative.

I am willing to do all of the heavy lifting needed in this match to pull off the victory. I am willing to put aside any misgivings between me, O’Malley, Jet City and the GO Gym for one night. I am extending my hand in an attempt to put on a match that should have been the main event of the biggest supercard, let alone Climax Control 300. J2H3 said that booking this match gave the show the star power that it needed and I agree with him on that. I don’t want something petty to get in the way of that. So if O’Malley can hold up his end of the deal and keep that temper of his in check, maybe I will be inclined to grant him his one final wish before my match at High Stakes. I know that stepping into the ring with me one-on-one is what he really wants in this company, and I’m willing to set aside my boredom with the idea to give him a shot…

I am willing to bet that offer will be enough to motivate O’Malley to do the right thing and give his best effort. As if dropping a match to the number one contender to his championship wasn’t enough pressure. I just want to make sure that he knows what is actually at stake for him at Climax Control. If we can somehow work together, we can take this thing. Hopefully O’Malley has enough incentive because with the right motivation we could be unstoppable.

He pauses for just a moment, as if a totally new thought struck him just as he had finished speaking.

Motivation...

He says it slowly, and he tilts his head slightly to the side. Fans can tell that he is still working through the epiphany, but he doesn’t leave them hanging for very long.

It’s a funny thing really… Mac jumped at the opportunity to take on the Internet Champion ahead of his scheduled defense. And why wouldn’t he? It will be the perfect test run before putting the actual prize on the line. He should be competing to get as much of an edge as possible...

With Mac down, he moves back to O’Malley.

We know what the dumb Irishman is fighting for at this point. It’s almost sad that his attention is going to be more focused on me than the guy threatening to take his championship though. He’s either going to crack under the pressure, which I will enjoy having a front row seat for, or rise to the occasion, which will benefit me immensely. Either way I win. Although I’d like to see the guy prove me wrong for once.

He taps himself on the chest.

Me? I think all of you watching have figured that one out for yourselves, but I don’t mind saying it out loud. When people say some other guy is the best there has ever been, you can’t help but want to see how you measure up. There’s only one way to step out of a shadow. This is one that has been clouding my view for far too long.

That left just one person.

...but what about you James? I was listening, but I didn’t exactly hear a reason that you’re putting all of this together. You’ve told us all that you don’t need to be here. You’ve let us know that you’re more happy with life and the wife at home. You don’t need Sin City. You over it. So why? What is it that you’re fighting for? Money? That’s sad if that’s all it takes to get your attention. Shits and giggles? That isn’t going to carry you through this one. Respect? You’ll have a chance to earn it. You’re stepping in the ring with three highly motivated people, and if you’re not careful you’re going to be collateral damage when it’s all said and done.

He shrugs. Nobody knows the answer other than the longest running SCW World Heavyweight Champion.

You’re used to coming in and doing these little one-offs before running away to recover for a while. You’re used to taking on people like Teddy and embarrassing them. That’s not going to be the way that this match goes, and if you think it is, you’re about to get reality checked.