It's been quite awhile since we last paid a visit to this particular homestead in the famed "City of Sin." It was late afternoon, almost into the evening. Theresa Aguilera, the familiar housekeeper and pseudo-family member to the Sins, stood in the kitchen and busied herself, preparing some treats for not just the men who called this house home, but some of the others in their little ragtag group. Thanks in part to some hints dropped from Despayre, the older Hispanic woman was at work making the first batch of her famous, homemade Christmas cookies. To Despayre, this was the mark of the Christmas season; not that silly snowfall -- of which they got none in Nevada. Or at least, she was attempting to. There was currently an ear splitting noise coursing through the house, and had made its way into the kitchen which was relatively known as her own domain. Perhaps the fridge was in need of repair.
No. It was just Despayre practicing his Christmas carols.
Talented as the little guy had been inside of the ring, singing was not his forte. Those closest to him might describe his singing voice as tone deaf, but none would hurt his feelings by outright stating so. All they could do was grin and bear it, at least until he was unleashed on their neighborhood where the few neighbors they had on this street would become his unwitting victims. Most notably Missus O'Heaney. Chances were she'd give him treats of some sort just to occupy his mouth and keep him from... sayyyy! There's an idea!
"You'll go down in history - like the Titan-grk!" Despy gagged as the tree shaped Christmas cookie, layered in green and red frosting, was shoved between his lips. "Mmmm!" He bit off the end and chewed while looking at the cookie thoughtfully. "Thanks! But won't this ruin my dinner?"
Theresa just said, "We'll chance it." As he righted his Santa hat from over his eyes and continued to give the cookie his undivided attention, Despayre asked, "Say, what is for dinner anyhoo? Dad said he'd be back with it soon. I wanted to go with."
"You had to stay home because your poppa said he had a surprise for you." Theresa said, and didn't add that she also was suspect that Synn insisted on going solo in order to give his ears time to heal from his boy's singing. Despayre did love surprises, especially those that were for him! And Synn had stuck firm to not revealing anything this time. He had even taken precautions with his phone and computer to make sure his crafty offspring couldn't find out ahead of time.
You know what it's like when someone has a surprise for you. The anticipation is half the fun! And when the car pulled into the drive, it was all Theresa could do to keep Despayre from charging out of the house to confront his father to finally get the big secret revealed! Another cookie did the trick, but only barely as Synn finally entered the house and walked into the kitchen, and Despayre's eyes almost popped out of his skull at the sight of the takeout bags in his dad's hands.
"Panda Express! Yippeee!"
And Despayre had insisted that Theresa's finest plates be set out on the dining room table for this special feast, which is where we found the quartet of figures. Wait, quartet? Who's the fourth -- oh right! Angel! You haven't forgotten about HIM now have you!?
"Boy! This is a great surprise!" Despayre said happily as he used his chopstick to stab a piece of orange chicken and scarf it down.
"I'm glad you approve, Joshua." Synn said. "But I'm afraid this is not the surprise I had in store."
"It's not?"
"No, I had something a little better in mind." Synn stated, and that drew a quizzical brow from his son. Better than Panda Express? Synn quickly amended his statement, "Almost better." To which Despayre nodded.
Synn shared a look with Theresa before he went on, "Do you want the good news, or the bad news?"
"Oo, I don't like the sound of that."
"Bad news first it is then." Synn drew in a deep breath before he broke the news to his son. "Sin City Wrestling is closing down operations soon."
Despayre looked at Angel and spoke nonchalantly, "Surprise."
"No, Joshua." Synn said. "SCW will be closing down. They won't be operating any more shows after the middle of January."
The weight of what he was hearing had finally sunk in, and Despayre looked first to Angel for confirmation, then to his father and asked, "How come?"
"I'm not sure, Joshua." Synn answered. "I think Mark and Christian are just feeling a little burned out and want to move onto new projects. Better I imagine SCW to close while it's still on top rather than let it drag out."
Despayre silently nodded, not liking this news but yielding to understand. He then shrugged and asked, "What's the good news?"
"Their two hundredth episode will be on the seventeenth, Joshua." Synn answered. "They're bringing back several men and women you may know for some special matches." He smiled hopefully. "They'd like you to be a part of one of those matches."
That certainly got Despayre's attention. He paused, the forkful of chowmein almost to his open mouth as he stared wide eyed at his dad. Theresa looked back and forth between the men, as Synn himself waited for an answer, any answer. But it did not come as expected as Despayre finally said in a soft tone, "No thanks." Before proceeding to shove the mound of noodles into his mouth.
Okay, that certainly was not the answer Synn had been expecting, and judging by the surprised expression on her face, neither was Theresa! The two older adults shared glances before Synn turned to his son with a frown. "No?" He said. "I thought you missed wrestling."
"I do."
"Then why...?" Synn closed his eyes and shook his head, not able to comprehend his son's thought process given the topic. "Joshua, your name was one of the first on Mark Ward's lips to come back for this show. Why don't you want to do it?"
Despayre paused before he carefully set his fork down across his plate and shoved his hands into his lap, a tell-tale sign of his emotional discomfort. He looked down into his lap as he asked meekly, "Are you gonna make me do it?"
"Make you?" Synn frowned. "When have I ever made you do something that you didn't want to do?"
Despayre looked up and the expression he now wore practically screamed 'Are you KIDDING me?' He shrugged and huffed, but found the courage to respond, "Do the words Internet Championship and World Championship ring a bell there?"
Sass? From Despayre to his father? That was certainly a rare thing indeed! Theresa wiped her mouth and thought to excuse herself from the table, feeling uncomfortable at being witness to this -- whatever this was.
Synn remained silent so Despayre took the opportunity to continue by saying, "I told you that I didn't want to go singles after Bernie retired. I told you that repeatedly. Next thing I knew, I was wrestling singles. I told you I didn't want to challenge for the Internet Championship." He raised a hand, palm out. "Two-time Internet Champion?" He lowered his hand and went on, "I also didn't want to challenge James for the World title but..." He shrugged. "I did. Twice."
"And you gave him the best matches of his reign." Synn finally spoke up, but it did not deter Despayre from his point being made. "But I still lost!"
"Is that what this is about?" Synn asked with a frown. "A fear of losing?"
"No!" Despayre answered with perhaps more heat than he intended. "It's about me saying one thing, and you doing another. You pushed me into both of those title spots and when I still resisted, you got Gabriel to help you make me do it!"
"But you were successful, Joshua!" Synn stressed. "You proved yourself more than capable!"
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?"
Despayre drew in a shaky breath, disliking any form of confrontation with his father, such was the amount of love and respect he had for Synn. He quickly wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand before he asked, "The point is, why do you ask me what I want when you've already decided what I'm going to do?"
Synn sat back, reacting as if he had been struck not with words but physically. He stared long and hard at his son who finally pushed his still full plate away and muttered, "I'm not hungry any more." Despayre slowly stood up and took Angel into his arms, stating, "Think I'll go to bed." And he wandered off, out of the dining room, leaving Synn and Theresa alone to contemplate what had just happened. But before either could say a word, Despayre was back and he picked up his plate,
"I hate to waste." And off he went again. Synn turned to Theresa, "Do I really do that?"
Night had fallen, and Despayre had come back downstairs only to bring his plate to the kitchen so that Theresa might wash it. Then he went back upstairs without a word and simply went to bed. He fell asleep easily enough, not just from his personal medications but also from the stress he caused himself with his confrontation earlier with his dad. It wiped the poor little guy out, but that did not mean that his sleep was a restful one. Beneath the Looney Tunes comforter, Despayre fidgeted in his sleep, making little noises when a soft, blue light appeared over his bedside. It fluttered down closer to the bedside and a throat was cleared.
"Ahem."
Nothing, Despayre rolled over and continued his slumber.
"A-HEM!" The voice tried again, but the result was the same. Despayre stretched out in his bed, only his sock-covered feet visible beneath the blanket. Finally the voice had enough playing around and called out, "OY!" and jabbed him in the heiney with the business end of the star-tipped wand.
Despayre flinched and say upright with a start, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He turned and looked up at what was causing the soft glow, only to find it was a teddy bear dressed as a fairy with butterfly wings and the aforementioned wand.
"AH!"
"EEP!" Despayre's startled yelp caused one to emit from the teddy bear and while Despy tumbled over the side of the bed and to the floor, the teddy bear flinched back and hit the lamp shade on the bedside table! S-L-O-W-L-Y Despayre rose from where he landed, only the upper half of his head seen over the edge of the bed. His wide eyes looked at the teddy bear who was straightening out her gown and looked at him with a frown.
"W-who are you?"
"I'm the Ghost of Wrestling Past."
"Ghost?" Despayre rose a little higher, his natural curiosity peaked. "You look more like a fairy to me."
"Yeah, well..." The Fairy reasoned. "That deadbeat called in sick so somebody had to fill in for him. Didn't Angel warn you?"
"Warn me? About what?"
"That you were going to be visited tonight by two ghosts!"
"Two?" Despayre questioned. "Aren't there usually three in this story?"
The Fairy Bear waved off the question, "We're under a bit of a time crunch."
Despayre looked at the camera and mouthed, "5k." Despayre then turned and looked at the teddy bear all snug in his footy pajamas, laying atop his mound of pillows. "Boy! Way to drop the ball Angel!"
"Well we're already behind schedule," The Fairy said. "So hurry up and let's get a move on!"
Despayre slowly stood up, frowning, "Where are we going?"
"There's some things that you need to see." The Fairy stated. "Things you need to remember."
With a wave of her wand, the closet door was opened and she fluttered in, followed by Despayre who cast a glance back and simply said, "`kay." as they were enveloped by the darkness...
And they emerged to a vision, backstage at the Star of the Desert Arena in Primm, Nevada. It was the very first edition of Climax Control, and Despayre and his best friend Gabriel had just made a successful debut in tag team action against Team Viagra. (No, seriously! That was what they were named!) Despayre, now in spirit form so that he might watch the proceedings, smiled hopefully.
"Are we gonna watch my match?"
"No." The Fairy answered. "We are remembering what happened afterward."
"Oh I understand." Despayre nodded. "That might count against me if we used a match flashback."
"Count against you...?" The Fairy asked him questioningly, and Despayre nodded, "Uh huh! For my promo!"
"I ... see." The Fairy turned back around and they watched as Despayre and Gabriel emerged from the curtains into the backstage gorilla position, and were immediately flanked by their teammates in the Seven Deadly Sins, namely Fantasia, Shane Boswell, and Synn himself who had followed closely through the parting curtains.
"We knew you two would do it!" Fantasia gushed as she enveloped Despayre in a fierce embrace, prompting the little guy to push back against her because, you know; girls had the ickies. Shane added, patting Gabriel heartily on the shoulder, "Never doubted you for a second!"
"What's so special about this?" Despayre shrugged as he watched his 'other' being led back toward the dressing room. "All Gabriel and I did was win."
The Ghost answered, "But don't you see? It was much more than that. It was the beginning of a dynasty in SCW."
Despayre turned to the Ghost with a frown and corrected her, "Gabriel and I teamed up before SCW. We teamed up in AWA first."
"But it was in SCW where you truly flourished." The teddy bear flittered in front of Despayre, her soft light illuminating against his fair skin. "You started off by winning a match nobody doubted that you could win, and moved onto tougher opponents and bigger matches. It was only a few months later when you and Gabriel did what you wanted; you won the World Tag Team Championships and set a record for the longest tag team title reign in SCW history! That record still hasn't been broken!"
Despayre puffed out his chest with pride and said, "But me an' Bernie did tie it!"
"Right!" The Ghost said. "Key point being Bernie. You won the titles again with him, and with Rage, er, Jake! You were always known for tag team wrestling because that was your focus. It's what you enjoyed the most."
"I like working with my friends." Despayre said simply, as if stating the obvious. "I have fun in tag team matches and I like sharing the fun with friends I love."
"Very commendable." The bear said. "But after a point, you had to evolve as a man and as a wrestler. The three friends you teamed with had to step away and focus on other goals; Gabriel with a second World title and his wife, Bernie had family responsibilities and Jake got hurt."
"And dad made me challenge for the Internet title." Despayre grumbled, looking at his feet while his socked toes kicked away at an imaginary pebble.
"And you could have stuck to your guns and not challenged for it, but you didn't want to disappoint your dad, did you?" Came the question, which got Despayre to bring his eyes up to his ghostly guide. He just shrugged and the teddy bear exclaimed, "See? I knew it! And you did do him proud! You won the Internet title not once, but twice!"
The scene before them morphed like ripples in the water to see the Sins en masse envelope Despayre in the center of them, hugging him, ruffling his hair, and in Fantasia's case, kissing him on the cheek. Despayre could not help but smile with a blush to his cheeks as he watched this scene.
"Do you remember?" Asked the Fairy Bear.
"Yes." Despayre smiled, despite himself. It was the reaction he had received after defeating Kris Halc for his first Internet Championship. Another time ripple, and the scene again morphed, but this time the mood was somber. Despayre was sitting on the bench in the dressing room, bruised in heart as well as body. Tears of disappointment flowed down his cheeks as his friends and family consoled him. Despayre's brief smile soured miserably.
"And this?" He was asked, to which he responded, "How could I forget? That was after the second time I tried beating James for the world title. I lost -- again."
"But don't you see?" The Fairy stressed, pointing at the scene as Synn had an arm wrapped around his son's shoulders while Gabriel kneeled in front of him, arms in hand, talking gently to him. "They were no less proud of your attempt to beat James than they were when you did beat Kris. If anything, they were prouder for how hard you fought."
The Teddy Bear Fairy floated up on her sprite wings and fluttered in front of him. "I know you Despy." She said. "I know your heart. After that loss to James, you lost interest in big matches because you felt like you would disappoint your friends and family if you were to lose again." Despayre tried to look away from her but she was not to be deterred. She simply floated in front of his eyes and continued, "Deep down, that was why you retired in your second Internet title reign. You didn't want to lose again for fear of disappointing anyone."
He looked down and away from her while she whispered, "You could only disappoint someone by not being yourself and not trying. Remember that..."
There was a soft knocking coming from the inside of the closet door, which stirred Despayre from his slumber. A shadow beastie that knocked? How polite! Wait, no. Beasties didn't knock or alert anyone to their skulking about. They were sneaky by nature, not that it ever helped. So what...?
Despayre slowly rose from his bed, his sleepy clothes rumbled and his hair a mess. Eyes almost closed entirely, he stumbled over to the closet door and pulled it open. He looked inside but saw nothing -- until he glanced down to spot the black teddy bear in the grim reaper robe and holding a chocolate candy cane. Despayre just turned around and started back toward his bed,
"Angel, it's for you!" When the Grim Teddy hooked his foot with the candy cane, causing him to trip to the floor with a loud, "WHOOP!" and dragged him into the shadows of the closet once again...
"Where are we?" Despayre asked as he waved his hand in a vain attempt to break the foggy darkness that currently surrounded him and... wait. He looked down and asked, "Are you the Ghost of Wrestling Present?"
The diminutive figure glanced up at him from his feet, only his bite-sized nose visible from within his black hood. Despayre nodded knowingly, "Oh right. I've seen the movies. We're skipping ahead to the good stuff!" He nodded as the Reaper bear walked forward and he followed, soon emerging from the darkness but the slight haze left from the fog still clouded their surroundings.
Despayre glanced around, casually saying, "I'm glad we're not doing that whole Ghost of the Present deal. Be kinda redundant since everyone knows what I get up to with Gabriel and dad and Mikah and OW!" He yelped, as the Reaper whacked him sharply in the ankle with its candy cane. "What'd you do that for!? I was just..."
But then Despayre stood upright, the sting in his ankle forgotten as the fog thinned, and he now found himself on the inside of a large auditorium. There were people everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Men and women, adults and children, milled about with arms laden with bags and wrestling souvenirs, as dominating the ceiling, stretched from end to end, was a banner that read, "WRESTLING EXPO 2047."
"Cooool!" Despayre beamed. "A wrestling convention in the future!" He then found the Reaper bear seated on his shoulder, pointing forward with its cane. "Alright! I get the hint!" And he started walking forward, and as if they could see his ethereal form approaching, the crowd of fans parted like the Red Sea so that he might pass. Everywhere Despayre looked, he saw familiar faces that hadn't aged a day in the thirty years that had seemingly passed.
"Boy! Mikah sure looks the same! Hey! There's Gabriel! Hi Gabriel!" He waved enthusiastically, but the specter of his bestest buddy could not see him, and thus could not respond in kind. He huffed, and muttered to the bear on his shoulder, "What's the point of seeing all this if I can't do anything? Can I at LEAST get an autograph?"
The Reaper pointed ahead again and then directed him to make a left. Despayre did as told, and as he approached a small table far off in a dead end corner of the building, he heard the mutterings of some passing fans...
"Can you believe they invited HIM again this year?"
"I hear he had his dad ask them to do it? Psht! Loser!"
"He's really let himself go where everyone else looks great!"
"If he makes that comeback after all this time, people are going to laugh him out of the business! Seriously! What has he done in all these years?"
"Who are they talking about Spirit?" Despayre asked in a hushed whisper, as if he didn't want the specter fans to know he was listening in to their private conversations. "Who's the loser?"
The Reaper pointed ahead again, and finally Despayre could see who occupied the fan-less table. A stooped, aged figure with a pot belly and white hair -- that was shaved on one side of his head. And on the table in front of him, a familiar teddy bear with a withered, white beard hanging to the table's surface. Despayre crept forward cautiously, and his eyes found the name on the sign...
DESPARE W/ANGEL
"No..." Despayre shook his head, tears welling up in his gray eyes. "Noo! Spirit..." He looked to his shoulder but the teddy bear was no longer there. "Spirit!" Despayre cried out. "Don't leave me here! Please! Tell me there's something that I can do so this future does not come to pass....!"
And a wide eyed Despayre shot up in his bed, a cold sweat beading on his brow. He looked around wildly before he threw off the covers of his bed and dashed out ...
...And into his father's bedroom! Synn was sound asleep when Despayre shook him by the arm and shoulder. "Dad? DAD!" Causing Synn to awaken with a start! It took a brief moment for Synn to become alert, then looked up at the figure at his bedside.
"Joshua? What... are you alright? What's wrong?"
"Is it too late to agree to do the show?" He asked.
"The show...?" Synn sat up and looked hard at him. "You want to do it now? You're certain?"
Despayre nodded.
"You're not just doing it because you think it's what I want?"
Despayre shook his head.
"Alright." Synn said. "I'll call Christian in the morning. What changed your mind?"
"Oh it was those weird teddy bears." Despayre answered simply, turning around and exiting the bedroom and leaving a VERY confused father in his wake.
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Messterpiece Theater
w/Joshua Kooky
As the classical theme song played in the background, the opening shot is that of a book's spine where inscribed in gold lettering was "Messterpiece Theater"...
**sound of a record scratching to a stop**
A familiar and fuzzy face appeared full center of the screens that our eyes are firmly glued upon, our rapt attention fixated on the wisdom that could be clearly seen deep within the little black eyes -- once one got past the thick rimmed glasses with even thicker lenses that magnified the teddy bear's eyes five times over.
"Hewwo! Will you be my fwiend?"
SCREEN FREEZE
And cut to a shot of Despayre's bedroom in Las Vegas, where our adorable hero was seated atop his bed with legs crossed and his arms laid out on his lap. He bit his lower lip and shook his head.
"No. Not this time. No Joshua Kooky, and no Mister Self Help. I thought maybe dad might do this part, or maybe even Angel, but this time..." He drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. "This is one I think I have to do for myself."
"I'm sorry to hear SCW is closing down. Very sorry, but I understand they wanted to go out big while still on top. And I'm glad to be one of the ones they invited back for the Survivor Series match." He turned his head to look closely into the camera. "Really? Couldn't think up a more original name?"
Despayre sighed, "Anything can happen in this type of match, which was proved when I got put on opposite sides as my close and personal buddy Nick Jones. Nick and I go way back, to the days I got to team up with his cousin and my personal friend, Bernie. Nick was always there and we had a great time together, which makes me really sorry to say that this time won't be so great." He sighed and looked forlorn. "Just because Nick and I are pals doesn't mean I'll go easy on him. I can't. I won't. I know Nick is a proud guy and he's going to bring the fight to me and all four of my teammates. He's one of the very best and I'm happy to wrestle him as friends. But... I won't be happy when he gets eliminated. He'll be sad but..." Despayre looked upward. "Them's the breaks. I'm sure by the night is over, we'll be as close as we always were."
"Kain? I never got to wrestle him but I heard a LOT about him and watched a lot of his matches!" He shook his head wide eyed and blew out a shrill whistle from between his lips. "He's tough!" He nodded seriously. "He won every title in SCW at least once. Kain even had some matches with Gabriel and THOSE were classics! I hope to get at least a little time in the ring with Kain before he gets eliminated (because it's gotta happen if I'm gonna win!), and I bet I make Gabriel proud to do as well against Kain as he did!"
"What about Gene Banton Junior?"
Despayre looked off-camera and asked, "Who? Oh! OHHH! That guy! He was fun but where did he go? Geno had everything going for him. He was popular and was winning! He was even a World Champion then he just ups and disappears as if he just got bored with the whole thing! Well Geno, I hope the interest is back and your dad is training you like mine is me! Because anything can happen in a match like this! It could end up two on one, or even five on one! How would you like to end up being that 'one', Geno? It could happen to you because it won't happen to me! I mean, it can't because I'm going to win and a five on one would make that REALLY hard! But you? You're very good when you want to be, but I'm going to be even better!"
He smiled and went on, "Goth has been my personal boogeyman for years, ever since my time in the AWA. We wrestled twice so far here in SCW, and here we are once again, on opposite sides. Do you know what the difference between then and now is, Goth?" He shook his head. "There won't be one. The two times we wrestled were in singles, and I won both times. The first for Gabriel, the second because you were stubborn, and this time?" He shrugged. "This time just because I want to prove that I still can. I was happy to induct you into the Hall of Fame. You got a bit nicer with age and the past is the past. But this time, in the ring?" He lifted his shoulders. "I'm still going to fight you like it was the old days, and I'm gonna win again."
He brushed his hair behind his ear and said, "I guess that leaves the best for last. J2H."
"I was kinda hoping to be on J2H's team, but I guess it has to be faces versus heels, even though he's a swell pal! Everyone remembers our matches for the world title, but we wrestled a few other times besides those two big matches. He challenged me once for my Internet title and we went the distance, a thirty minute draw! Jake and I even beat James and Giani Di Luca for the tag team titles. But one on one?" Despayre nodded. "I think it's safe to say that J2H's had my number -- so far." He looks impishly at the camera and smiles. "But this isn't a singles match, is it J2H? This is my specialty, a tag team environment. I got no doubt you'll be one of the last on your team, if not the last, and I bet I'll be right up there with mine. Only difference is, when the smoke clears and the last elimination happens, it won't be me that just got eliminated." He shook his head and pointed forward. "That honor goes to you."
Despayre smiled brightly and waved to the camera. "See everybody in Las Vegas!"
