[Kristopher Ryans]

 Vacation Cruise
1 November 2017
OFF-Camera

The scene opens with a familiar looking woman, dark hair and skin with her ear pressed against the door. From the other side there are raised voices.

WOMAN: “I thought you were going to consider taking a break, after you lost the roulette title. Now you are re-signing?”

The man’s voice is too low to make out. Kali seems to strain to hear better, grabbing the door latch and without warning the door opens and she lets out a bit of a surprised scream, collapsing in a mess on the floor. The two speakers both look towards her. Neither one seem particularly shocked to see her.

HEATHER: “I was wondering when you were going to stop loitering in the hall and join us.”

Kali looks up embarrassed not only for her clumsiness but for getting caught eavesdropping. Kris points back and forth between himself and Heather without taking his eyes off of her.

KRIS: “You realize that we are not the only two with a valid opinion on this, right? I mean, you are just as much a part of this as we are. You don’t have to be afraid to join in the conversation.”

He walks over and leans down to her, offering her his hand to help her up. She takes it but seems to be a loss for words. She shoots Heather a look, catching her eyes.

HEATHER: “She still feels like she has no say. Even though I tell her repeatedly that she does.”

Kali clears her throat.

KALI: “You were both talking and I didn't want to be rude, just in case it was private.“

Kris shakes his head, and does not even look over to Heather for confirmation before reassuring Kali.

KRIS: “There is no private. There is no Heather and I talk it out and you live with the decision. It’s all three of us. Otherwise this is never going to work.”

Heather crosses the distance toward her. She’s dressed in a bikini top and a colorful skirt that reaches her ankles.

HEATHER: “Are you okay with everything?”

Kali bites her inside cheek for a second.

KALI: “He didn't discuss it with me before doing it. I wasn't there to look the contract over first either.”

She starts to regain her list confidence.

KALI: “That could have wound up being a really stupid move depending on, what they might have wormed into the fine print, Kris.

She looks just as annoyed at Kris as Heather was. Both women look at him intently. He looks back and forth between them, almost regretting the fact that he had invited Kali into the argument now that they were allied against him. The moment would have been comical to him if he were on the outside of it. Normally he would have gone on offense, and tried to skirt around it, but that was not who he was anymore. Instead of redirecting, deflecting, or trying to change the subject, he stands his ground against the both of them.

KRIS: “It’s the same deal that I got last year. Kirsten looked over that one before Jason and I signed it. I didn’t need more money, or more time off. I wasn’t asking for anything other than a match. It was easy.”

His eyes dart from Kali’s and back to Heather’s.

KRIS: “...and yes, I was going to take time off back when everything was going wrong, but look at us now. We have all been doing so well. Things at home are great. I feel better than I ever have. I even got out of all that Roulette division stuff.”

The women look at each other, as if speaking telepathically before looking back to Kris.

KALI: I know we did discuss your plan to move forward. It doesn't guarantee that Mr. Crimson will try to hurt us again but...

Heather finishes for her.

HEATHER: “Fool me once, shame on you...”

KALI: “Fool me twice, shame on me. He can't catch me the same way again. I will be okay once we can get back to our regular routine. You know, when I came to shows with you...”

Heather doesn’t seem to have had her mind put to ease. Kris picks up on it immediately, and shrugs his shoulders.

KRIS: “I know that you have doubts. What can the guy really do to me though? For as long as he holds that title, and I am out of the division, he is off of my radar. Worrying about me is a waste of his time. I’m not going after that championship again. He’s not going to want to drop it in order to come after me. He doesn’t win in that scenario. He doesn’t prove anything by taking the title and then dropping it a week, or even a month later. My guess is he is going to try and wipe away my record since beating me didn’t break my spirit. That keeps him pretty far away from me for the next five months. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

Heather sighs.

HEATHER: “I was just looking forward to having you home...”

She still appears more saddened than mad.

He crosses to her and wraps his arms around her waist. Instead of hugging her close to him, he leans back, keeping his eyes on hers.

KRIS: “I know it has sucked. It was hard to be apart for so long. It was worse when I was away and on that boat. The international tour couldn’t have come at a worse time either. That’s all over now. I only have to be gone for two days, any time that I leave.”

He uses his arms to rock her back and forth a little.

KRIS: “Not that you’ll always be there when I am thanks to all of your success. You’re on camera for Pride more than anyone else, and you have your shows to do.”

HEATHER: “Pride is one night a week and only a couple hours in the city. If it was a travelling thing I would have said no. And my next show isn’t until the weekend before Christmas. But maybe I should cancel...”

Kali and Kris both respond at the same time.

KALI & KRIS: “NO!”

It pulls their eyes away from Heather and to each other. Kris points back and forth between himself and Kali, and she smiles.

KRIS: “We kind of harmonized there for a second... That was good...”

All of them laugh lightly, but Kris is quick to cut it off and get back to his point. He looks at Heather and shakes his head.

KRIS: “You need to go out and do that for you. I know you want to spend more time at home. Believe me, I do too. I wish we could all stay there and never have to go out and do anything to make money. Not going out and doing stuff for ourselves was what started all of our problems though. It doesn’t sound smart to go back to that.”

He shrugs.

KRIS: “...and everybody will tell you that it is always good to get a break from me here and now. Apparently I am super annoying.”

Kali speaks up now.

KALI: Plus, maybe I should maybe make more effort to get to know the kids. I want them to trust me too.

She tries to smile but it's obvious the kids still make her a little nervous. The admission seems to catch Kris off guard completely, but not necessarily in a bad way. He breaks his hands from around Heather’s waist and turns towards Kali, almost in disbelief.

KRIS: “Really?”

He shakes his head. It was not the right choice of wording, and he knew it as soon as the word was gone. Before she can respond, he takes a second stab at it to make sure he had not hurt her feelings.

KRIS: “I mean they like you. I can see it on their faces when you guys interact. I haven’t wanted to push you or anything. I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

He looks back to Heather for some kind of reassurance.

KALI: “I have been staying at arms length because I wasn’t sure how long this might last. I did research on triads. They are usually not serious, more like something couples do to spice things up. I just... didn't want to get attached... and have my heart broken having to say goodbye.”
He shakes his head, not accepting the idea that they were doomed to fail for even one second. Others had brought it up. People had even poked fun at their relationship on social media. Kris was not having any doubts though.

KRIS: “They fail because people don’t feel equal… or worse, aren’t equal. Maybe it is a thing where only one person is interested in keeping all three people involved. Maybe it is never meant to be a serious thing. When we all three talked this over though, that was not what we talked about. I don’t ever want either of you to feel unimportant. I wouldn’t have agreed to it if it wasn’t something I was going to put my all into. I mean… am I wrong here?”

He looks back and forth between the two of them for an answer. Kali shakes her head.

KALI: “No, but I am a realist. For all intents and purposes I wanted this. We agreed to be equals but we aren't. You and Heather are married, have children together... what do I have? No matter what, you guys are like fairy tale couples.”

She stops, her eyes welling up a bit.

KALI: “I’m sorry. I’m being selfish... Forget... Forget i said anything.”

Heather looks alarmed at their girlfriend's sudden show of emotion and looks at Kris with concern. The only answer that either of them has to offer is the one answer that they had avoided since their relationship started.

KRIS: “...what did we have before you came along though?”

It was more honest than he usually was, and much more direct. He was not above taking responsibility or being honest though, not anymore.

KRIS: “I mean we were falling apart. We were on the brink of getting divorced. We weren’t talking. When we were talking we weren’t really hearing each other. Without you we wouldn’t be together now. None of this would have been possible, because we don’t know how to stay out of our own way.”

She gives the barest of smiles and wipes a tear from her cheek.

KALI: “I know that, but you are better now. I guess... I just wanted some kind of... guarantee. I really don't mean to sound like... like... a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum...”

Heather takes one of Kali’s hands, pressing it to her heart.

HEATHER: “Kali you are just as much a part of my heart as Kris is. I love you. I can't imagine life without you now. I know I can't marry you or give you a guarantee like that but I can give you my promise.”

Kris tries his hardest to keep his mouth closed, knowing that it was probably not the right moment to try and break the tension, but fails to hold himself back. He shrugs his shoulder as nonchalant as he could, and tries to pass off his comment as totally legitimate.

KRIS: “You know if you two wanted to get married I could totally just divorce Heather and take half of her money….”

He points back and forth between them again.

KRIS: “Then you two could make this thing official and I could just be some kind of love slave to the two of you. We could even post all the details on social media so that we could be like the popular people.”

Both women turn their heads to glare at him.

KALI: “You are the reason we can’t have nice things...”

She can’t help but laugh though. She pulls both Heather and Kris into her, hugging tightly. Kris wraps an arm around each of them, but does not exactly let go of the idea.

KRIS: “I mean I could settle for forty percent if half was too much…”

Heather pinches his side between the nails of her thumb and index finger. He quickly jerks away from her without breaking from their embrace. He puts his best attempt at being offended into his voice.

KRIS: “Fine! Damn! Why does everybody have to be so hostile all the time….”

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Congratulations!
ON-Camera


The screen comes to life to start the video, and former Roulette Champion Kristopher Ryans is sitting center frame. Behind him is the San Diego house built on top of the ruins of the house he grew up in. He and his half brother had reclaimed this spot for themselves before their careers even really started. It functioned as Kris’ home during the summer while he was separated from his wife, Heather. There was history all around him, but the one thing that was not there, was the SCW Roulette Championship. Kris is sitting in a reclining beach chair with his legs kicked up. The white button-down shirt that he is wearing only has every other button actually done up. The wind catches the loose fabric in between and sends ripples through the shirt as he looks out at the water. Next to him on the table are the two awards he won at High Stakes. For now, he completely ignores them, and looks over at the camera. Normally when he spoke, it was to fans. He was not even a sentence into talking before the viewers at home realized that his message was for one person in particular.

”I’m glad that you think what you picked up at High Stakes was a huge victory, Tommy. I want you to celebrate it. The moment when I realized that you had pinned the announcement of your win to your Twitter account, was one of the best moments of the last year for me. It is, in fact, a big deal that you took that championship away from me. I’m not even going to sit here and say that you didn’t deserve it, or that I let you win. I’m not going to cheapen your victory over me. That may have been the guy that I used to be, but that’s not who I am now. I know that is disappointing to you. I know that nothing would make you happier than to see me sit here all mopey. I know you want me to kick, scream, and throw a tantrum about the fact that I lost. I know that you want to see me disappointed. If we are going to talk about this though, there is one thing you need to understand first.

He pulls the thick, black sunglasses off of his face. It has only been a few days since their match, and the puncture wounds have not quite healed. He makes no move to hide them, or try to explain them away. Instead, he looks directly at the camera with a smile.

I will never be the person that you want to fight because I don’t need to be. I was able to be the person I have become, and still get you to do everything that I wanted you to. I don’t have to play your game. I don’t have to buy into your manipulations. I don’t have to insult you. I can be me, without changing anything about you. If you can’t do the same, then I guess that just means you are a step behind.”

He shrugs, and puts the sunglasses on the side table next to his two awards. He takes the Most Improved of the Year award into his hands, and holds it in his lap. He runs his thumb over the lettering, and a smile crosses his face.

”The thing that most people don’t understand about goals, is that the feeling of success is fleeting. It was amazing to come back to SCW last October, and kick things off with a win. Back then I didn’t think that this was going to be the result though...”

He turns the award towards the camera for a moment so that the viewers could read the words off of it, but then turns it back to himself. He seems to be running through everything that built up to getting the award in his mind before he speaks.

”When I came back, I had lost more matches in this company than I had won. To be honest, it wasn’t even close. It took me well into April of this year to finally get back above .500.”

He laughs. Mercedes had done well to make sure he remembered the fact that he used to be a joke to many members of the roster. It all seemed so long ago now, which was probably why he could talk about it with a smile on his face.

”I made my little announcement video. I said I was coming back to fix things. At that point though, all I wanted to do was win one match. I just wanted to know that I could. I wanted to know that the Internet Championship reign wasn’t a fluke. I had gotten injured. I had gotten into things that I shouldn’t have. I just needed to know that I could still do it. If you’re watching this now, you probably already know this, but it only took me one night.”

He laughs, and unlike the old days, it was not because he had just cut someone down. It was not a laugh full of malice. It was genuine, and light, and a side of Kris that fans were only just now really getting to see. He looks up, trying to remember the day exactly. It only takes him a second, despite all of the abuse to the head he had sustained in the last year.

”Climax Control 164.”

It takes him a second, but his eyes close, almost like he was trying to picture the crowd as he walked down the aisle.

”Santa Barbara, California.”

His eyes snap open, and his voice becomes more excited. Each word comes out confident, and cheerful. It was the first time he was recalling a positive memory on camera, and he was enjoying reliving the moment.

”Ryan Keys walked in confident that I had nothing left. Everyone thought that I was done, or that I would show up all messed up. I heard people were taking bets on if I was actually going to make it to the arena.”

He shakes his head, and loses his train of thought when a light laugh interrupts his speech. He gets it together quickly, and shifts gears a little back to himself. He nods as he speaks, almost like he is fact checking himself as he goes, and physically signing off on the details of his own story.

”I remember being nervous coming into the arena. I mean, if I would have fallen on my face, they would have all been right. It was my last shot, and it was the only one that I needed. I just needed to win one match.”

He holds up the index finger of his right hand, and then used it to tap the award in his lap.

”I went out in front of that crowd clear-headed, and focused. I was ready for Ryan Keys. I was prepared to compete at this level. From the moment I stepped through the curtain, I could feel it. I knew that all of this was mine for the taking. In that moment I realized that I could go farther than I ever have. All I needed to do was beat Ryan Keys...”

He pauses, and his voice drops a little. The weight that the win held for him was evident on his face. He nods, proud of himself

”...and I did.”

He shrugs his shoulders and reaches over, placing the award back on the side table. Once it is placed he turns back to the actual camera.

”Getting my hand raised was great. It was one of the best moments of my life. I felt all of the pressure come off. For the first time, I came out and this job the way I always dreamed of doing it when I was growing up, and the shit actually worked. I walked away with a win. That might not sound like a big deal now, but at that point I had lost more than a dozen matches. I had only won maybe a handful, and all of them were right in a row when I had that Internet Championship run. Before that it was failure after failure. To see me win was something new, something unexpected. You don’t have to take my word for it. Go back and watch it. Listen to the crowd. Look in my eyes when my hand got raised.”

The pacing of his words slow down now that the exact memory was fading from the forefront of his mind. Instead, the feeling that followed that match seems to wash over him.

”...but like I said, that success, that feel good moment, is fleeting. It’s like eating a piece of chocolate. I had that feeling of accomplishment, and success for about ten seconds, and then it was gone.”

Alongside his last word he raised his hand up and snapped his fingers. He shakes his head, and the disappointment of it washes over his face.

”It was one moment.”

There was another laugh, but the underlying irritation that had been an integral part of the majority of his career was back in his voice. His gaze falls down from the camera, and sighs lightly..

”...and it had to stack up against a lifetime of anguish, failure, and disappointment.”

He is silent for a moment while he lets it sink in. He was no longer skirting these feelings, or this kind of honesty. If he was going to move on, he needed to get it out. His voice stays low, like he is ashamed to admit the details. For so long he had a persona in front of the screen that was bulletproof, but with the changes over the last year, fans had seen that mask slip and fall away. What was under it was the man in front of them, and the honesty pouring out of him.

”I wanted to buckle after that. After I realized that it didn’t make me feel much better, I didn’t see much of a reason to keep going. I figured that I was just wrong. Coming back was not the answer that I was looking for. I wasn’t sure where that answer was, but for a few days I was certain that it was not here.”

A small twinge of a smile starts to form in the corner of his mouth. The confidence boost it gives him brings his gaze back up to the camera.

”Then Jet City happened.”

He reaches over to the side table again and picks up the Tag Team of The Year Award. The smile on his face grows wider than any we have seen today. He almost looks like a child seeing all of their presents under the tree on Christmas morning.

”Not only was I getting to team with the only person that was always there for me,, but because Team BJ was taking a step back, we got thrust into the championship picture. Suddenly there was a new goal. Another step towards earning my way back. Another opportunity for me to make up a little ground. I knew I had an awesome partner. I knew that there was no team capable of playing us against one another, because we did that all on our own for amusement.”

A laugh cuts him off, but only because the sentiment was entirely true. The two brothers went at each other just as much as their opponents, and the owners had even put them in a match against one another to force them to work it out.

”That pain, and frustration, all melted away. I had a purpose again. I trained harder than I ever have in my life. I watched hours worth of past matches. I broke down promos. I learned everything that there was to learn about The Elders before we even flipped on the cameras and recorded a syllable. I wanted everything to be perfect, so that when we walked down that ramp, fought for our lives in that ring, and had our hands raised at the end, that the feeling of accomplishment would stick with me a little longer this time.”

He runs out of steam, and has to stop to take a breath. The disappointment that had faded away shows signs of coming back to life though. He tries to deflect it away.

”I guess this is where you expect me to say that it didn’t. I would imagine that Tommy Crimson would even call me a liar for saying that it did. He seems like a guy that has so much, but appreciates so little. He would probably argue that the feeling doesn’t last, because he is probably already looking at that Roulette Championship with disdain that he will likely never admit.”

He shrugs, blowing off the speculation as unimportant to what he was trying to say. It does not take him long to get back on track.

”I would by lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy it though. I would be lying if I said that the joy of being champion did not linger for a while. That’s the thing about being a champion. It’s not just one goal, it’s a whole division full of goals. Jet City ran through team after team, after team. There was always someone to challenge us, so there was always some kind of goal that I could set for us.”

He starts to count on his right hand by holding his hand up and extending only his index finger.

”Hold onto the titles through our first defense.”

He extends his middle finger next.

”Hold them longer than The Elders did.”

He extends his ring finger, not breaking his pace at all.

”Beat a team that has been around SCW for forever like Dying Breed.”

He turns his hand now, showing his palm to the crowd and extending out his pinky.

”Hang onto them until the division recovered.”

He drops his hand back to his lap and rolls both of his shoulders. Some of the excitement fades from his voice when he does.

”...and then that happened.”

He sighs, and pushed through, not letting himself sink back down into the darkness.

”Each win along that road pushed me just a little bit further out of the black hole that I was stuck in. It was like fighting and clawing my way back to life one week at a time. When we realized that we had done everything that we set out to do though, everything felt stagnate. When a company has to throw every single team on the roster at you at the same time, because no team could beat you on their own, it takes a lot of the joy out of it.”

Just like he had the first award, he lifts the Jet City award from his lap and puts it back on the table before launching into the explanation of the events that led to the end of Jet City.

”Jason needed some time off. I mean the guy is getting old, and he hadn’t been in the ring since his big injury. We knew we were going to lose the championships eventually because the motivation was just not there. We were not just going to let just anybody take them from us. We weren’t going to just hand them over to someone either. Vacating them was never an option, but we saw the writing on the wall.”

He shrugs. The weight of the decision to end Jet City was not weighing on him like the rest. Maybe it was a sign that he was further along through his transformation at this point. People liked to claim it was sudden, but the look on his face is much more positive than when he was talking about his initial return.

”Blaze of Glory came, and Team BJ walked away with the championships. Jason took his leave from Sin City. I felt good about what we had accomplished. I knew that we had made some kind of mark that SCW fans weren’t going to forget. You can call me arrogant for thinking so, but that award proves my point.”

He points back over to it without taking his eyes off the camera. He does not slow down either. Instead of letting himself fall back down the rabbit hole, he pushes forward through the story.

”This time I wasn’t going to let that doubt, and loathing creep back up. I could feel the excitement starting to slip away, but there was something else. I didn’t really understand it until recently. It was a new feeling back then and I wasn’t sure how to process it. See, all we had done as a team was win. All I had done since coming back, was win.”

He chuckles. A year ago it would have come across as cocky, but even he seems surprised by how he finished the thought. It was certainly true, regardless of how anyone chose to take it. The intention of saying it was not to brag though, and he does not linger on it.

”With each win, I felt better, but with each win the expectations rose. We had to find ways to outdo ourselves every week. We had to be funnier. We had to win more impressively. Everything had to be absolutely flawless at all times, or things were going to fall apart. I’m not saying that their weren’t slips and missteps. I think a lot of them are pretty well documented actually. What is that saying? Pressure makes diamonds, but also bursts pipes?”

He nods, satisfied that he had gotten it right.

”We got to a point that we couldn’t move forward. If Jet City was a pipe, the pressure of those tag titles made it burst.”

He raises both hands as closed fist, and with the best sound effects he can muster makes an exploding sound and opens both hands to add a comedic element to the team’s demise. It helps him to not dwell on the negatives.

”From the moment we dropped those titles though, I was determined to keep going. That’s exactly what I did too. It was a new day, and I had a new goal. I felt energized like I hadn’t in a long time. I was ready to go up against anything...”

He holds up his finger again, but not for a list this time. Instead, it was to demonstrate his epiphany. It was a symbol of the moment that everything came together for him. If there was a start to the real change that he made in his life, this was the turning point.

”...and then I remembered what I said in that video right before I came back. I said that I was coming back to right the wrongs. I had already started to do that by showing up, busting my ass, and winning matches. There was something that I couldn’t erase though. I could beat everyone in the company that had previously beaten me, but there was one person that I never could beat, and won title that I never could win.”

He shakes his head, and grits his teeth for effect. The fact that he had not ever beaten the man in a match was still a mild annoyance, despite breaking the record.

”That’s why I came out and issued the challenge for the Roulette Championship. I needed a goal, so that I could hang onto those positive feelings. I wasn’t going to be satisfied going night to night just hoping for a win. As much as the expectations of fans and management had gone up, my expectations for myself had gone up even further. I needed to do something big. I needed to do something legendary. I needed to add my name to the SCW history books.”

He claps his hands together in excitement and then points to the camera to ask all of the fans a question.

”What better way to do that than erase the name of a man that beat you on several occasions?”

Even the skeptics had to admit that the plan had merit. It made sense for him to go after the record, and it gave him a purpose. The excitement on his face was evidence to that fact. Even now, after the dust had settled, the retelling of his story was giving him that jolt of life that became the basis for ‘The Miracle’.

”I saw a record that had stood for more than three years. A record that was made off of someone beating my ass. I record that might never have happened if I was the person that I am now three years ago. I wanted to prove that I was better, and I knew exactly what I had to accomplish in order to do it. If you don’t believe me, go watch the old shows.”

He points off camera like he is actively encouraging people to turn him off,
but the moment passes.

”Like Babe Ruth, I called my shot. I didn’t wait for opportunity to come to me. I singled out a champion. I pointed at them. I said that I was going to win the championship, and I did. I said that I was going to clear out the backlog of people deserving their rematch or title opportunity. I did. I said that I was going to stop the hot potato bullshit. Again, I did. Week after week, goal after goal, I marched to my October deadline. I told the world that I was going to beat Equinox’s record before I ever even put my hands on the championship. Then I went out every night and made that happen.”

The smile on his face now goes nearly ear to ear. He runs through each hurdle along the way in his mind as he tells the story, and it only acts to bolster his confidence. When he gets to the end though, he knows what part comes next. The cheerfulness in his eyes starts to fade. The smile shrinks on his face. He had started to catch up to present time.

”Then, and only then, is where you come in Crimson. For all your research, for all your planning, this was where you began your breakdown of everything that there is to know about me. This is where you started your narrative. You didn’t recognize the change before it was in front of your face, because you don’t know how to relate to those feelings. You don’t know what it means to grow as a human being.”

They were two back-to-back digging comments, and the confidence in his voice when the words came out of his mouth made them sound believable, even if it was not the case. It was the truth as he saw it from his perspective, and after hearing his story, it was easy to see why.

”You chose to attack me, based on what you saw during my title reign. You tried to convince the world that you you could tear me to shreds based on what you thought you knew about me. Yet, even from the start you missed the point. Kali was never the person that changed me. It wasn’t Heather, or Jason, or anyone that you could namedrop in an attempt to get under my skin. That’s why when you get in my face, I don’t have to do anything. You can’t hurt what you can’t understand, and you can’t understand me. You have proven that over and over again in the last few weeks.”

He backs off of his point for a moment, as not to sound overly cocky. It was not his intent to demean. He raises both of his hands up from his lap, with his palms facing out to the camera to look innocent. After a moment, he drops them, and turns more introspective.

”Was I starting to drag a little? Of course. The Roulette Championship is not easy to carry. You never know what you’re headed into, but more often than not, it’s something that is going to land you in the hospital. The recovery times get longer, and the time between defenses gets smaller. It is mentally draining, and physically demanding from the moment you wake up, to the moment that you go to sleep. I’m not saying that Tommy Crimson is not going to be able to handle that. I’m not using it as an excuse for losing the match at High Stakes either. I’m just stating a fact that any of the former Roulette Champions would wholeheartedly agree with. Every night you are subject to the spin of a wheel, and you know whatever it lands on is going to be painful, but that is what makes the division so entertaining for the fans.”

The last thought seems to strike him as strange even as it comes out. For a long time he had not really cared about them, but now, more and more, they were becoming a part of how he made decisions. The fact that it was new and different was not lost on him, and it takes him a second to recover his thought.

”I was able to push through it for one reason. I had a goal. I had a mission. I had made a promise to everyone that if I got my hands on that championship, I would not let it go until the record was broken. If Babe Ruth had pointed out into the outfield, and then struck out, nobody would remember that moment. If I spent my entire reign talking about records, and then fell short, nobody would remember that I even tried to touch greatness. But, that day came, and went just like any other. I was supposed to celebrate, so I did. I went out to the ring and I enjoyed the moment while I was out there, but again, that feeling was fleeting.”

As soon as the last word slips from his mouth, it is like the story had come full circle. The same expression on his face when he talked about feeling let down after defeating Ryan Keys was back. The same hopelessness and powerlessness was filling him up.

”I looked down at that Roulette Championship, and you know what it felt like? A fifteen pound weight. It wasn’t a goal anymore. It wasn’t my purpose. I did everything with it that I set out to do. There was no way to move forward. There was nothing else to do, but have it end. So,  just like Jet City, it was time to close the chapter. It was time to pass it along to the next person.”

Again, he stops short of cheapening Crimson’s win, as that was not his intent. He shifts gears a little to stay away from that idea.

”I thought heading into that match with you was difficult because of how personal it got. I thought that maybe you had gotten under my skin. I debated about whether or not I was going to flip my life upside down to figure things out. I talked to my friends in my time away. I mean you know that already. There wasn’t a camera around, but somehow you knew. I guess it’ll stay a mystery.”

He shrugs, not sure how to answer the question. Crimson had outed personal details of conversations that there was no possible way that he heard. Kris had lost time worrying and wondering about it, but was not going to allow himself to make the same mistake here. He needed to move on.

”When it was over, and I was just laying in the ring, it wasn’t doubt, fear, anger, frustration, or depression that I felt. That same familiar feeling that I had the night Jet City split apart came back. At the beginning of the year, I couldn’t have told you what that feeling was. It was new to me. I hadn’t gotten to a place where I could process it for what it was. Over the course of my miserable summer, that you were so quick to jump on, I learned a lot about myself. I did a lot of growing up. I found an answer, and it was there waiting for me when I needed it.”

He smiles, and raises his arms out to his sides. It seemed so easy, and so obvious, but not even he could see it until now.

”I was relieved.”

He drops his arms, and laughs lightly.

”I did all the things that I set out to do in the Roulette division. Once I crossed all of those things off of my list, one truth became very clear to me.”

He sits up in his chair, and points at Crimson and the Roulette Championship through the camera.

”Holding that championship was only going to hold me back.”

He gets up from his chair and starts to walk towards the camera. The operator takes their cue and starts to back away from him.

”Now don’t get me wrong. Like I said, I can’t take anything away from your win. I didn’t give it to you easily. I still made you take that championship from me. There’s a few sayings that the announcers use a lot to try and explain upsets to the viewers at home....”

He exaggerates trying to remember one before snapping his fingers and offering the answer to the camera.

”The challenger just wanted it more.”

He snaps again, firing a second saying at the camera.

”The new guy was just hungrier.”

He shrugs, and drops his arms back down to his sides.

”Most people wouldn’t be comforted by those phrases after a loss. I was though, because I knew it was true. I watched what you had to say leading up to our match. I saw the look in your eyes on Climax Control when you were in my face. I could see how bad you wanted it, because you thought that it was your key to the big leagues. You thought that it was your foot in the door to greatness. You wanted that championship like your life depended on it, and I… didn’t.”

The word comes out flat, but honest. There is no malice or ill will in his voice, which is strange considering how heated the exchanges were leading up to High Stakes.

”That’s the reason that you walked out of High Stakes with a championship around your waist, and I spend the night getting tacks pulled out of me. That’s the reason that you are celebrating your victory, and I am recovering from injuries. That’s the reason that I didn’t want a rematch with that title on the line. That’s the reason that this time, you’re going to lose.”

His tone changes as he finishes, and the smile shrinks, but only on the left side. The signature smirk he wore into all of his matches was all that was left behind.

”Remember what I said about TV logic?”

He pauses for a moment to give everyone a moment to think back to his comments. Not wanting to linger though, he helps the slow people along.

”The biggest obstacle to the man that has everything, is complacency. You’re on top of the world right now, or so you say. You beat me. You did the impossible. You broke the streak!”

He stops, and shrugs yet again. He leans into the camera a little, and lowers his voice.

”But did you?”

The condescension that fans were used to seeing was on full display here, and he was making no attempt to hide it.

”Did you really?”

He lets it linger for just another second before launching into an explanation to help Crimson along.

”Again, you picked up your narrative at the end of the story. You cherry picked the parts the parts that fit and disregarded the part that didn’t, but your gaze was too narrow. You talk about me being undefeated, but like I said at High Stakes that was never the case. Jet City lost the tag team titles just like I lost the Roulette Championship to you. I tried my hand at Blast From The Past and didn’t make it out of the first round.”

He brings both of his hands up to his chest, and taps it twice.

”My streak, which is very much still rolling, was going an entire year without being pinned, or tapping out. I have said it a bunch of times. I have repeated the same phrase over and over and over again. It’s not my fault the the words I say, and the words that you chose to hear were so different. It’s not my fault that the impression that you got from me was incorrect. It was your own doing. For all of your research, and all of your boasting, you missed by that much.”

He raises his left hand with his index finger and thumb just millimeters apart from one another.

”...and cutting my head open with some tacks didn’t change anything for me.”

He taps some of the wounds that were still healing on the left side of his face. He does not seem bothered by them though.

”The only thing that you have done is unburden me from the one thing that I couldn’t overcome. SCW has rules against champions challenging other champions. They keep their divisions separate. There is a hierarchy around here, and the title that you called your ticket to the top of the roster, is really a weight that keeps you on the bottom rung of the ladder. There’s a reason why I have gone a year without anyone pinning my shoulders to the mat but the top champion acts like I don’t exist. He didn’t have to.”

For once, the painful, blunt truth was directed at himself.

”I was the unbeatable Roulette Champion! There was nobody around that could take the championship away from me! People were saying that I was going to hang onto that title forever. Every other champion on this roster was safe. As long as they held onto their gold, they knew that they were never going to cross paths with me. I was weighted to the bottom of the roster, and all I could do was look up at the less talented people that were in the spot that everyone told me I should be in.”

He has to cut himself off, not wanting to look ahead, and trying to stay focused on the match in front of him.

”You called your match with me your ticket to the main event. You were wrong.”

He shakes his head and makes a familiar clicking noise with his tongue against his cheek.

”Your winning that match was MY ticket to the main event.”

He taps his chest twice again, and the smirk on his face started to lengthen back into a smile.

”You unburdening me from the Roulette Championship freed me up to take the place that everyone already knows is mine. That’s why when I walked into Mark Ward’s office, I could say that I didn’t want that championship back and he could see in my eyes that I meant it. It wasn’t because I was defeated. It wasn’t because I was broken. You didn’t kill me Crimson, you revitalized me. I feel like I can breath again for the first time in five months, and I owe that to you.”

He nods towards the camera and brings his palms together in front of his chest.

”I owe it to your short-sighted, half-assed research into a person that you couldn’t hope to understand. I owe it to your narrow-minded view of how the world works. I owe it to the fact that you think heroes are a figment of people’s imagination while you walk around trying to make yourself out to be some kind of supernatural supervillain. You are just a guy. There is nothing particularly special about you. You may be good inside a ring, but every word out of your mouth tells everyone listening that you aren’t enjoying a second of it. Your whole shtick is to endure, survive, and accomplish things out of spite. You don’t take things for yourself because you want them. You take things for yourself because taking things away from others gets you off.”

He was on a roll now, and his words were starting to cut after all of the time he spent setting the table for his argument.

”You move forward at the expense of others, and that’s why you’re going to end up stuck exactly where you are right now. You’re the very best SCW superstar that’s standing on the bottom rung of the ladder. For as long as you hold that title, you’re going to be looking up. You know whose name you’re going to see on the marquee when you do? Mine.”

He stops suddenly, and has to catch his breath. It was time for the hard truth, and the difference between the two of them.

”You excel to spite others.”

He says it with every bit of the disdain that he used to have for himself.

”I excel in spite of others.”

He nods towards the camera, signaling that he meant Tommy Crimson specifically.

”You did your best to get in my head. You did your best to insult me. You did your best to beat me. I have taken everything that you have to give, and it must annoy you to see me standing here with a smile on my face.”

It was there, as plain as day, and even though it had wavered when he walked viewers through his history, it had always come back to his face when he talked about where he was in life now.

”Get used to it. It’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.”

He winks, and walks past the camera, out of the frame. As soon as he is gone, we cut to black.

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