[Kristopher Ryans]

 Algeria [Post Climax Control]
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17 May 2015 (11:06 PM)
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Off-Camera [Backstage Inner Thoughts]


He zips the gym bag closed, and turns around to survey the rest of the small locker room for any of his belongings he may have forgotten to pack. Sure enough, he crosses the room and reaches down to the small couch, picking up is black and purple gloves. He smacks them on the back of his right hand, checking out the rest of the room to make sure there was nothing else lying around, and then nods before moving back to the bag. ”I wonder how many people lost their money tonight on that match. Everyone was rooting against me, not that I can fault them. Sure, I am carrying what is supposed to be looked at as a second tier title, but not even the backstage announcers care enough to lend me their ear for a minute. Kris Halc versus Goth with the SCW Internet Championship on the line. Kris Halc, the guy who only retained the title in Morocco by getting his friend to cheat Kain. Kris Halc…. who the hell is that guy? There are those, and a dozen more, reasons not to bet on me. That doesn’t even go into accounting for the fact that Goth is a Triple Crown Champion going for a Grand Slam, and coming off a win in the most brutal contest from the supercard in Morocco. Sure, it’s fucking Africa, but people in Africa bet, don’t they? I bet they do. I bet a lot of people are unhappy.” He throws the gloves in the bag and rezips it. Hanging in the locker above it is the SCW Internet Championship. He had purposefully left it out of the bag. He hangs the gym bag on his right shoulder and then reaches out, taking the title and placing it on his left. ”Sure, I have a few bruises here and there, but if anyone is about to give me shit, maybe the bruises, along with flashing a little gold will get them to back off. Security people weren’t in front of a screen watching the show from back here. They wouldn’t just off hand recognize my face from having just been in the ring. Even if my face, my bruises, and my title don’t do the trick, maybe they are more concerned with the faces that they do know. I am walking out of the building without any kind of entourage or fancy car outside. Maybe they will be busy making sure people like Gabriel and Andrew Watts are getting out unscathed by hordes of cheering and adoring fans. I fucking despise them.”

He flips the lights off in the room as he steps out into the hallway, and closes the door gently behind himself. Moving down the hallway he reaches into the front pocket of his hoodie and pulls out a set of headphones. They aren’t attached to anything, but that wasn’t the point. Kris stuffs one in each ear, and then takes the other end of the cord and stuff it into the front pocket of his pants. ”If people think that you are listening to something they leave you alone, for the most part. Unless they have something important to say, or you arouse significant suspicion, you’re practically invisible. Unfortunately it doesn’t work when you are walking into a building. It does work when you are trying to sneak out. I don’t need some half-hearted congratulations from a person that had never heard my name before it came through the arena PA after I retained my title. Honestly, I don’t need a congratulations from anyone, regardless of it they know me. I don’t do this for anyone but myself and if people in the back don’t realize that, then they don’t actually know me at all. That goes for Tim. That goes for Johnny. That goes for Amy. For those first two, sure, we are part of this Nobodies group. That doesn’t tie me to them. It is just a few guys with the same problem putting a name on what they are. It’ll hurt their feelings if I mention it. If I did they would probably just refer to me like we do everyone else. The difference between me and everyone else is that I look at these guys, and see nobodies, BUT understand that they are going to be somebodies. Just like me. Nobody gives us a chance because we don’t look like bodybuilders, and don’t come from money. Tim is a second generation guy, but because of the way he looks, people think he is a janitor and write him off.” He passes through a small security choke point in the hallway, and pushes through them. The hood of his sweatshirt over his head makes the guards want to stop him to check him, but the headphones and the title on his shoulder make them guess twice. He moves through the checkpoint unbothered and shoves open the door leading into the garage area. We are the Nobodies of this industry, and of this company, and look what we are capable of. Tim made a huge entrance, and then an impact in Morocco without being in a match. I came in and won a title that nobody can take from me cleanly, or uncleanly. Maybe it is a blessing that people lost money on me tonight. If people don’t bank on us winning, and people don’t think we are threats, we can’t lose.” He gets to the rental car and throws open the door, tossing the bag and the title into the passenger seat. He looks around and then drops down into the driver’s seat, pulling the keys from his hoodie pocket. ”I don’t care what next week brings. Right now, I’m golden.

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Tunis, Tunisia
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22 May 2015 (7:12 PM)
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On-Camera [Hotel]


”Talk about throwing the Nobodies across the ring from the Somebodies, and seeing if it sells. Last week, I was leaving the show and thinking to myself. I said, Kris, one day you are going to be a somebody, and that is no different from Tim or Johnny. I grabbed a shower back at my, less than five star, hotel and fell into a deep peaceful sleep. I didn’t waste any time dwelling on the fact that another interviewer walked away from us. I didn’t consider the fact that winning a main event was a huge step forward, and now losing in the undercard would ruin all of that progress. Honestly, I didn’t even care what the match was going to end up being this week. All in all, I thought after tossing my a main event, they might just give me the night off. They wouldn’t want to give a guy that they can’t successfully market too much air time, after all. So imagine my surprise when I saw my name, and the names of my partners, across the marquee from Gabriel, Despayre, and Chris Shipman. For the record, I list them in that order because I feel like it goes most intimidating to least intimidating.”

Kris hands money to the woman behind the counter at the small booth at which he stands, and she hands him back a small wooden box. There are engravings in the sides of it. The designs are intricate, and most likely unable to be duplicated perfectly. He nods at the woman with a polite smile, and turns to the camera, holding the box up.

”Never go international without bringing pretty and unique things back home to friends and family.”

He drops his hand, and pushes the box into the front pocket of his hoodie. Despite the heat, his attire doesn’t change. The sleeves of the sweatshirt are merely pushed up, and the hood is lowered instead of on top of his head. All in all, the heat doesn’t seem to bother him at all. The only setback, or course, is that the bottom of the track marks on his arms are visible, at least for those that are closely looking for them.

”I don’t know if you people have heard, but I don’t have many friends. Shit, I don’t really have any friends. The fact that me and the rest of the Nobodies are part of the same match, as a team, is more than a little scary, without even taking a glance across to the other side of the ring. Tim tried to get one-up on Kain last week, and fell short. Johnny, hasn’t even had a match yet. If you look at that, we don’t have a chance going against these guys. These are documented, successful names that we are fighting. How long has Gabriel even held the top prize in this company? I know it is longer than I have even been here. When has Despayre had a bad match? I can’t think of one. Chris Shipman, this dude is walking around two weeks removed from one of the most brutal matches I have ever personally witnessed. Though Shipman fell short to the man I beat last week, it doesn’t change the fact that it is damn impressive that he was up and ready to go, practically the next day. All three of these men are intimidating.”

He shrugs his shoulders, and starts moving towards the camera. He doesn’t stop his approach, instead continuing past the camera as it turns and follows him off to his left. Together, they turn into an alley, not far from the booth. Kris points ahead of himself.

”My hotel is all of one hundred yards down this alley, so I am going to make this short and sweet. All of these men are documented winners. Some might actually have paid some attention to me. I doubt that anyone has much of anything to say about Johnny. My guess is any of them talking about Tim will just mention how good his father was. I am the most decorated of the bunch, and I am not giving them a lot to work with either. I guarantee you one thing, the Nobodies have had a lot more homework to do than the people we are going to be across from, and we have done just that. We know what we are going to be walking into. We know what each man is capable of. We have watched their promos, studied their matches, talked to people that have been around them for a while. The Nobodies are prepared for this match mentally. Physically, I guess we will have to see once the bell rings. In this industry, preparation is key. The guys of Seven Deadly Sins simply do not have the kind of material to work with that we do. Best case scenario, they have me scouted. I am merely one-third of the team though. I can tag out of the match and then they are in the ring with unknown and unfamiliar talent. Right now, they have the edge when it comes to history. However, we have the edge when it comes to knowing what the match is going to look like once it gets started. We can match ourselves up against the right person, for any situation. Gabriel, Despayre, and Chris are going to have to learn that on the fly. I am not going to discount them. You don’t get as noticed as they are without being able to pick things up as they happen inside the ring. What I am saying is, they have a learning curve to account for. We are the guys that come into the match with all the answers. If we can keep it short, then a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money for betting against us. The longer it drags on, the better the chances that we shoot ourselves in the foot.”

He stops walking and turns around, the camera stops short of where he is so that he is now facing it, with the hotel in plain sight just twenty or so yards from them.

”I am not saying that it is going to be easy. I am not saying that it is an inevitability. What I am saying is, come time for Climax Control, maybe you people should be ready to see the Nobodies take a step towards becoming Somebodies by taking out the man on top of the mountain. We have everything to gain. They have everything to lose. If they lose, the world will call it an upset. If we lose, everyone will call it common sense, because nobody thinks we stand a chance. It is going to be our job to make sure we prove people wrong.”

He moves forward like he is going to give the cameraman a shove, like he normally does, but stops short. The camera visibly jumps as the man braced for impact, but it was all a joke. Kris laughs lightly, and then gives a small nod, turning towards his hotel and leaving the camera behind.