You would have thought this week would be easy to focus and get things done, right? Wrong. See, a lot of things have run through my mind lately, which has spun my head in to overdrive. It hit me when I was sitting on Twitter the other day, being mocked about not tweeting my wife more, mocked by lovey dovey people. It sent me on a rant and then Rage sent me the tweet that made me wonder.
"You sure we haven't switched places, Magic Man? Shit your all rage like lately.."
Maybe just this one time, Rage is right. I have become an anger driven, edgier man. Oh it's the ring on the finger that has drove me to that, far from it. It's the fact that my eyes are now open to see just what SCW has become. Taking demands from people who have been here five minutes, and think they're something special. A place I was one of the first to put my name to has become a place bowing to the worthless. People think they can control this place, but no, they can't. They need someone like me to show them the ways of SCW. Yes, I'm angry, I'm making Rage look calm, but I need to be like this. I need to be like these selfish bastards, but better.
I need to show my aggression.
My eyes open slightly, the heat of the South Africa air filling the dark room. The cool sheets under my naked body is little comfort as my also naked wife wraps her leg around mine, her skin lighter as a tiny sliver of the moon peaks between a small gap in the curtains. My finger trace her hairline as I look down on her.
She's Australian, this heat is nothing to her, but to me it is a sweat box. This could be the first time my mind has let me be my own since I got to this filthy country.
I rest my hand on Odette's cheek.
I make history, I have done my whole career but this is the worthless piece of shit country that get's to see a Lion's Den match for the first time in SCW history. Of all the places in the world to have this match, they have it here.
Odette let's out a sigh, pulling herself closer to me, her hand moving over my upper body.
This is my chance to make a statement in SCW, this is my chance to show them that this return was not something that was going to run out of steam, that this was all part of a much bigger picture. So I end up with a loser on the other side of the den from me, I can make him special. I can make him fit in to this one perfectly. He wants to play the hero, he wants to be noticed. I'll make him noticed, I'll turn him in to the man who will be remembered as having his career ended in the Lion's Den.
Walking around the Lion's Den.
I stand inside the ring, set up for Chaos In Cape Town. The half sized cage, Mixed Martial Arts style is wrapped around the ring. I look around at the structure, moving towards it and wrapping my fingers through the wire mesh, tugging on it and nodding in approval. My bare feet press firmly against the mat below, my toes gripping to the floor. I turn around and lean with my back towards the wire mesh, pressing my body against it and rolling my neck as my eyes focus in towards the center of the ring.
My first time in one of these things. I think I could get used to this.
"I thought you was meant to be getting ready for this match." Shane Boswell's voice is heard saying "As in dress like it was match night."
I turn my head to look outside the ring, to see Shane and Fantasia standing outside the cage. I look down and the tight shorts around my lower body, and knee pads. My bare feet taped with white tape. Elbow pads sit loosely around my arms. I look down at Shane outside the ring again.
"I am" I respond. "This is exactly how I'm planning on being dressed to smash Ramone to pieces."
"Barefoot?" Fantasia questions.
"Yeah." I reply. "Why not? The rules of this thing is either knock the idiot out or make him tap out. Not to come dressed as a wrestler. Just knock the fuck outta him."
Shane reaches in to his tight jeans, back pocket and throws a pair of gloves in my direction.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of you two being here?" I ask.
"Kittie is getting Rage ready for Hill." Fantasia starts "Synn is working with Despayre and Big B."
"And you're the lucky bastard that gets us." Shane adds.
"Oh lucky me." I sarcastically respond.
"It could be worse." Shane says with a shrug of his shoulders "You could have had Despy and B here trying to teach you some stuff."
"What do you know about this stuff Shane?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
"Absolutely fuck all." Shane replied "But these guys do."
Shane points behind me, where four men walk up steps behind me. I turn around to see the men entering the cage and turn back to Shane.
"These guys?" I say with arrogance.
"Those guys." Fantasia adds "Now put on the gloves and lets see what you can do."
I look down at the MMA gloves in my hand and start to pull them on, pulling the right glove on first with my left hand and fastening it tightly and moving my fingers. I pull the left one on with my right hand and pulling it up, tightening it around my knuckles. Shane pulls himself up on to the cage.
"Gum shield" he calls out.
I shake my head at Shane, turning around to the center of the cage.
"Fuck that." I call out to Shane. "I think I'll go commando on this one."
Shane shrugs as he drops down from the cage. I look at the first to step up, a young blonde man, in his early twenties.
"Gonna work on shoot defense here." Fantasia calls out.
I nod my head and the man dives towards me, trying to lock his arms around my waist, but before he can tighten his grip, I raise my knee and catch him under the jaw, knocking him backwards and on to the canvas. The man lays on the mat, his eyes shut. As the other three quickly move towards him, I turn to face Shane and Fantasia.
"Well that was easy." I say with a cocky smirk. "Wanna give me more of a challenge than that? Like taking candy from a baby or something."
I arrogantly turn around.
"Ok." Shane says looking at the three remaining. "Which one of you lot is versed in submission?"
A tall man steps toward, with red hair.
"The ginger guy can make me tap out?" I smirk "Just no."
Shane shrugs his shoulders.
"Let's find out shall we?" He says "Standing reverse choke."
"He better not give me ginger disease" I say, as I turn my back towards him.
The man wraps his arm loosely around my neck as I stare in to the sky, my eyes focusing on nothing in particular.
"And go." Fantasia says.
The man tightens the grip, but before he can lock it in, I lift myself off the ground with a quick jump and slam the base of my foot in to his knee, crumpling him down to his other knee. I grab hold of his wrist and spin around, planting my open palm to his nose. The man falls backwards, holding his face as blood starts to trickle from his nose.
"Gabriel one, ginger guy zero" I arrogantly say, turning to Shane and Fantasia "What ya got next?"
Shane scratches his head, looking at the last two in the cage. He points to a guy with similar size to himself, well built, with defined cut muscles. He gives him a nod.
"Back to the cage defense." Shane instructs. "Go stand with..."
"My back to the cage by any chance?" I snap back
"Well you took your smart pills today." Shane quickly replies.
"I do that every day Shane." I reply as I walk towards the back of the cage, spinning and putting my back to it.
The much bigger man approaches and stands in front of me.
"Remember." Fantasia starts "Your arm movement is limited because of the cage behind you. If you swing fists too wide, you leave yourself open to take shots to the head and body. You need to think fast and move fast. Try to get your back off the cage and turn him."
I shrug my shoulders as the bigger man gets in closer, pinning me to the cage with his forearm and pulling his right arm back, his fist balled. Before he can throw his fist forward, I lift my knee up, kneeing him directly between the legs. As he doubles over, I quickly put my hands on his head and leap in with an almighty headbutt, knocking him backwards and to the ground.
"Come on Gabriel." Shane shouts out, with a long exhale "You know you can't get away with that in the match."
I casually walk away from the fallen man, lifting my leg and placing my toes in between the wired cage and pulling myself on top, sitting on the top of the cage, my legs either side and looking down at Shane and Fantasia.
"I was told to get my back off the cage and look..." I say, slowly moving my hands around, my fingers pointing at the cage. "Here I am, sitting on top of it and my back is not on it. To me, that's job done. My back is off the cage, he is on the floor."
"You kneed him in the bollocks." Shane protests.
"You have a point to that or should I act like a teen and say cool story bro?" I say, ignoring Shane's protests. "You guys told me what to do, I did it, I'm great, these so called MMA fighters suck. They're as bad as Steve Ramone and he's pretty bad."
I point my thumb out at the last remaining guy standing in the caged ring.
"What little circus trick is this trained monkey gonna do?" I ask smugly.
"Standing strikes." Fantasia says
I roll my eyes as I get off of the cage, spinning my body and landing on my feet, looking across at the last guy standing in the cage.
"Come on, lets get it over with." The boredom dripping from my tones.
The man walks over, but before he can get in to a fighting stance, I leap in the air and catch him with an enziguri. The man falls to the floor his eyes shut as I lay on the floor, leaning on my hand, supported by my elbow. I look out through the wire mesh to see Shane with his hand over his face, slowly shaking his head.
"Can I go now?" I cockily say "I mean this got a bit dull after I smacked the freckles off the ginger guy. This Lion's Den stuff is a piece of piss."
"I give up" Shane mumbles.
A slow clap is heard from the rows of seats set up. I turn my head to look up to see Synn standing up applauding, just out of the corner of my eye. I stand up to see that next to Synn's right, Big B sits, to his left, Despayre, with Angel clutched between his finger, and Melody Grace. Behind them, Rage and Kittie sit. Beside Kittie, Odette Stevens and Ivy Bayley. I take a bow towards the group as Shane and Fantasia joins me in the ring. The group start to make their way towards the ring, moving through the rows of chairs and down to the ringside area, each stepping up the steps and moving in to the ring. Synn moves towards me, his head close to mine.
"That was impressive" he tells me "You're becoming more and more like me every day."
A smile crosses my face, still a look of arrogance in that smile.
"Aren't ya proud?" I quickly say.
Synn nods his head, but I move my head closer to Synn's ear.
"Well let me give a little pep talk and make ya a prouder daddy." I whisper.
Synn nods again, his hands out in front of him, the universal sign to offer me 'the floor'. I move back, leaning back against the six foot high cage and looking at the group.
"This ring is full of winners." I say, addressing everyone, causing everyone to look at me "You heard me. This ring is full of winners. You must be blind to not see what's going on in SCW lately. You have those little NXT people, trying to add more to their group, no quality, just numbers and a lot in this ring right now, are facing NXT people at Chaos In Cape Town. We, as a group, the Seven Deadly Sins, and our close associates in this ring right now have a chance to show where we belong."
"What the hell are you going on about Magic Man?" Rage asks
I lean off the cage, looking towards Rage, my head lowered, eyes looking up.
"Don't you see peanut head?" I ask Rage "You have NXT adding numbers, you have the midcard lot of Hot Stuff International, they're already digging at each other Rage, but what about us? The older group in SCW, the group that has proved once a sin, always a sin, the group that is invite only and mid card nobodies will never get to see inside. It's obvious they're going to clash at some point, but the focus shouldn't be on two little groups, one new, one changing members more than most people change underwear, the focus should be on us and Chaos In Cape Town, the focus will be on us, we won't be able to be ignored."
I step towards the group.
"Look at it. These two group are there, bubbling away but in this ring of Seven Deadly Sins and associates, we're the ones that are spending time clashing with the New XTremes." I say with a firm nod and placing my hand on Rage's shoulder "Only you're not Rage."
I smile up at Rage.
"But you, you get to take out the apparent God that walks amongst us." I say firmly "The man that has made so many people turn around and take notice, and you are gonna steal his focus, you are going to put the limelight on you. That is step one in getting The Sins and associations back in the limelight."
I turn towards my wife, sliding my arm around her waist, but looking at Rage.
"Kittie will lead you to the promise land and you start our night off strong." I tell Rage "And then we move to step two. Showing that everyone in this ring, is better then the goody two shoes stable of SCW. My wife gets to kick that off."
I turn to look at Odette, a smile on both our faces.
"For weeks, Melody and Ivy have lead the charge on Jessie Salco, a NXT member, they have made Jessie look at her weaknesses and those weaknesses can never be patched in time to defeat my wife. These three women..."
I point with my free hand around to Melody, Ivy and to Odette, my fingers running down her cheek.
"They've put Jessie right where they want her." I say with a smile "They will finish the job and damage NXT's reputation, taking them a step down from being the best, well the best in their minds only. Then we light the fireworks a little more."
"We're having fireworks?" Despayre says excitedly
"Oh we will Despy." I say confidently as I move towards Despayre. "You get to set them off Despy, because you and this pile of muscles here."
I tap Big B on the arm, my palm bouncing off his bulging biceps.
"You two, led by Synn and Angel, will defeat not one, not two, not three, but..." I stop and point to Big B.
"Ummm, four?" B says with a scratch of his head.
"Four you little maths genius you!" I reply with a firm thumbs up.
B responds with a smile and two thumbs up of his own.
"You two get to defeat four NXT members." I say with a smile "Guns For Hire, Jon Dough, Connor Murphy, they're nothing compared to you two and you will walk away with Acquin and Frost's tag team championships. A record breaking night for you Despy. Three tag titles, three partners, it shows that you are that damn good."
I point at a smiling Despayre
"That good Despy." I say with a wink "You will bring home the gold and again, people on the board will have to open their eyes to see that the elite group, is the one they've took for granted too long."
I move behind Shane and Fantasia, my hand on a shoulder each.
"And then, the work Shane, Fantasia and I did today, plays a part in taking the knife and dropping it in to the chest of SCW." I say in a lowered voice "Because I step in here, against Steve Ramone, and I plunge that blade deep in to the wrestling world, because I will beat Steve Ramone, and when I knock him out or tap him out, everyone in this ring will have victory, no one will let us down, we will not be able to be ignored, we will never be able to be ignored and we will all be back in the spotlight where we belong and not stuck behind a bunch of new guys, nobodies, mid carder and people who are just not good enough to be around us."
I walk towards the front of the group, their eyes burning in to my flesh. I turn around to face them all, a smile on my face.
"Chaos In Cape Town, is our time to walk out of the shadows once more." I start. "Chaos In Cape Town is where we get one over on another stable which makes them look weak, and us look powerful. There will be no mistakes."
I spin quickly, pulling myself on to the top of the cage and turning around, looking down at the group.
"This is our time." I continue. "Shane, give Despy five bucks for me."
Shane looks confused as he reaches in to his jeans, pulling out a five dollar bill and handing it to Despayre. Despayre looks at a confused Shane.
"Swear jar, advanced payment" Despayre says to Shane.
"Well done Despy" I start softly, but my voice starts to intensify. "This is our time, and we won't fuck this up. We have one huge shot to jump over every group in this place, put us in line for bigger and better things, and I don't give a shit what gets thrown at us, we will take this supercard by the balls and make it ours."
I look around the nodding heads in the ring before me.
"How many swears have I got left, Despy?" I ask
"Two." Despy replies
"In that case. Fuck Jericho Hill, Fuck NXT" I say firmly "This is all ours, and we're gonna take it! No one let's the team down on Sunday. It's our night, and we're gonna show SCW, that we deserve to be on top again."
The group nod along as the scene fades out.
Maybe I'm not like Rage after all.... maybe it's worse... maybe I'm Synn
Well that was a rousing speech, wasn't it? And I know it will have the desired effect because I have faith in everyone who stood in that ring with me, I know it's gonna be a flawless Sunday.
So Steve, my uncreative amigo, did you enjoy promo one from the man who's going to destroy you on Sunday? I hope you did, because you know, a lot of people, they take what their opponent says in week one and if it airs first, they respond to it in week one. Where's the fun in that? I don't play to my opponents, I let my opponents play to me, so you'd notice, if obviously, you had your head out of your arse long enough, that I never responded to a single thing you said on week one.
Guess what?
It's new dawn, and a brand new week, and I was going to ignore everything you said last week, but the more I watched it, the more I wondered how you actually survived to the age you are now, because you are as thick as dog shit. I can't help but to be drawn in to reply to that drivel you decided to spurt out to the people who pay to come and see me. It became slightly embarrassing that I'm actually giving you a reason to be remembered, because wow, your attacks on me were lightweight. Where to start? I mean really, so much I can do here with that pile of trash you allowed to be aired.
Shall we start with why we left the ring, when you asked us to? We knew you didn't really wanna drill that chair down on my head, we knew you didn't wanna put your family at risk for the sake of a chair shot. By that, mission was already accomplished. Your friends being there, that was an added bonus really.
How are they, Steve? Still tied up in a hospital bed in deep dark Africa? Such a shame. Well... no, it's not a shame actually.
It's deserved, but anyway, case in point here Steve. Our job was done, we were under your skin and we knew you was three seconds from crying like a baby. No one wants to see a grown man cry, and just for once, we decided to spare your blushes. To some idiots out there, you're a bit of a hero, we saved your reputation, but not because we give a shit about you Steve, but because well, I want to steal that reputation from you. I'm the Sin Of Greed, makes me a bit of a collector and I want that reputation to go along with your self respect and dignity that I've already taken from you. It's already mine Steve, so I want your reputation to go with it.
In this big old box of ammo you left me Steve, where do I go next. Let's go to your reasoning for why you're in the position that you're in. You claim to be gentlemanly, I see it very differently. I know you better than you think. You don't actually care about being gentlemanly at all Steve. Your whole thing is about the spotlight, the limelight, the fact that your face is being shown to people around the world. Don't give me that gentlemanly bullshit. You was the guy commentating on matches, that had nothing to do with you, not so long ago, you was the guy that ran in to everything possible, or did interview spots where you spoke about nothing at all. Gentlemanly my arse Steve. You was a camera hog and when you saw Odette, someone with so much more star power than you, you jumped on, gripped on like a leech, and held on tight, not because it was the right thing to do Steve, but because you saw power and you wanted a slice of it.
Can you honestly tell me that isn't the truth?
You saw power and clung to it. Don't try and make it come across as any different because it just don't wash that way with me, the fans or the man on the moon.
Ok, let's talk about mothers being embarrassed. You went to that old chestnut again, so let's revisit it like a return in Kitchen Nightmares, I know you like that show Steve, see, I know you well. Once again, you tried and failed to link things to the gentlemanly thing, brought up by your mother, blah, blah, blah, all that bullshit. Well, you wanna be like a kid and insult mothers. Let's stoop to your stupid arse level with mother insults. Your mother Steve, she wishes she had a headache when you was conceived. How about bringing Daddy in to this, your Daddy wished mummy swallowed that night and save the world from having to put up with a bastard child like you.
Relax Steve, I'm joking, I don't know your daddy or anything about him. Having said that, neither did your mother.
Can we stop the lame arse jokes that you started now Steve, because frankly, they're below me, just like your mother wanted to be when she first saw me.... that's my last one, I promise. Let's try being adults again, shall we?
Feel like I've flashed back to childhood with lame stuff like that.
It's time to educate you about why I really went for your family Steve. I went for them, because I knew as much as deep down, they despise you, you make them your world. You put them as number one Steve, I knew that's how I could mentally weaken you and look at your pathetic self. You're all over the place, your mind isn't in it. I've won this match without being in it yet. I've already had you beat for weeks, but you just haven't seen it yet. Open those eyes Steve, you're already screwed, you actually have less than no chance. I reached in to your mind, found the most important thing to you and I've used it to beat you before you've even got in the ring.
Oh, take the thoughts of you actually getting a title shot out of your head now, you little deluded bastard. You've got more chance of fucking the Queen of England than getting that title shot. Telling me I'm not good enough for the Heavyweight title? Please, did you really think I came back to spend my time pissing around with people of your standard? Be careful of your words Steve, you're painting targets on Simon Jones and Sean Jackson, because that belt, it's just waiting for a reunion with me. You'll be back at Roulette level before you know it.
So Sunday Steve, please bring the pain that you supposedly have, please bring what you say you are, don't make yourself out to be a liar again. Enjoy your moment in the sun, because at Chaos In Cape Town, I take the sunlight away from you.
May God have mercy on your soul, Steve Ramone....
....Because I will not.
