[Tony Thorn]

 Narrator: It's been a few weeks since we last saw Tony Thorn, defeating Ty West whilst being a late replacement, but it was an exhilarating night for the young man, an unexpected night that seemed to give him a warm glow inside. That feeling of victory was a rush, a reason for people to put the pain of that night out of their mind and focus on their hand being raised while constantly telling themselves in their own minds that this was indeed worth it, that it was worth the fatigue. The glow of victory makes a wrestler believe life is good without the thought of the morning after. Tony had felt the glow and the pain the day after, pride had grown from it, but so had something unlikely to from the most unusual of sources. Effie Bingham, a friend of Ty West had taken an interest in the young man in a plutonic way, with zero romantic feelings either way, both had a piqued interest in each other due to overwhelming differences. Effie was the street smart person taking life as it flowed towards her, Tony was very book smart with a thirst for knowing every little detail about every little thing, planning every little thing. This was no different for Tony as he spent some time with Effie a mere thirteen minutes away from the arena where SCW was running a show in just a couple of days. The location though might surprise you though.

Santa Ana Zoo in Prentice Park was alive and well, filled with locals and tourists alike, adults and children moving around to see the two hundred a fifty plus species of animals. It was a bright day in California, many dressed for the occasion in shorts and sleeveless shirts but one man stood out from the crowd, looking more than slightly out of place. The man sits in front of a primate cage, a notepad and pen in his hand, taking notes on what he sees. He's dressed in long pants, a white jacket over a red shirt, his head covered by a red baseball cap and thick rimmed glasses on his face. The camera shows the man to be Tony Thorn. Tony glances up through the thick rimmed glasses, just watching, when Effie Bingham, dressed more appropriately for the weather, in denim shorts and a white shirt, held up by two thin straps approaches the bench.

Effie: Don't tell me you got me to drive you hear so you can sit and look at monkeys all day? I thought when you said you wanted a ride to the zoo, it was gonna actually be fun.

Narrator: Effie's confusion was justified. She had been filming a promo for DIVISION, which, if you're curious, you can watch by going to the link at the bottom of the screen now, a federation where not only did she have clients to look after, but was indeed walking a mile in their shoes and stepping in to the ring, when she got a call from Tony, asking her to drive him to the zoo, later being asked to join him on this expedition. She knew it wasn't a date, yet didn't exactly know what it was.

Tony diverts his eyes away from the cage and towards Effie, his hand pointing down to the space on the bench next to him, offering her an invitation to take a seat.

Tony: Well, this is fun, being able to watch animal in a fabricated environment that you would not get to experience unless you felt a trip to Africa or South America was a wise thing to do. I'm sure both places would be a wonderful experience, but you would not have the safety of this environment. Secondly, these are not monkeys. These ladies and gentlemen are white handed gibbons.

Effie takes a seat next to Tony, looking at him with a slight shake of her head.

Effie: Monkey's, gibbons, what's the difference?

Tony: A monkey is any member of the clade simiiformes not also of the clade hominoidea containing humans and apes, from which they are usually, but not universally, distinguished by smaller size, a tail, and cheek pouches, while gibbon is a small ape of the family hylobatidae with long limbs, which it uses to travel through rainforests by swinging from branch to branch.

Effie: In English please professor?

Tony: Monkeys are monkeys and gibbon are apes. I could explain further if you wish.

Effie holds up her hand waving it from side to side in a universal no movement.

Effie: I knew I shouldn't have asked. Next time, you should probably get mommy to drive you to see all the little animals.

Narrator: Effie's sarcasm wasn't lost on Tony, most would need a much broader personality to be able to accept sarcasm constantly, but Tony saw it part of Effie's charm, a chance to learn a little more about human behaviour. He knew all humans were different, each with their own traits. Sarcasm just happened to be one of Effie's traits and Tony found it intriguing, even if most sarcasm was lost on him for now.

Tony: My mother is not really a zoo person. She is however exploring California in her own time as we have never ventured to the coast.

Effie: And why don't you drive?

Tony: Well, there's one point three million deaths per year world wide, related to driving, an average of three thousand, two hundred and eighty seven per day. About eighty two percent of those are drivers, and thirty seven thousand die in the US alone. After figuring out those odds, I feel it's much safer to just be a passenger in a car. Plus when you add in eight thousand of those deaths are in my age range...

Effie puts up a hand to stop Tony before he can continue.

Effie: I really shouldn't have asked that either. I'm going to take a risk and ask why we're looking at....

She points towards the cage with a flat hand.

Effie: Gibbons.

Tony: Well, I figured as you're teaching me to be more street wise as you put it and be more random and normal, I thought I would teach you something about the relationship between animals and who we are.

A look of pure confusion crosses her face, unable to work out what Tony means.

Narrator: The animal kingdom and human life is very similar. If you believe in Evolutionism over religious views on how the earth really began, once upon a time, we were the top of the evolutionary scale, whilst being a primate. It stands to reason if you believe that sort of thing that someday, we will evolve in to superhuman beings and those primates will become us. Evolutionism is a theorists dream.

Effie: Why?

Tony: Well my opponent on Sunday is Casey Williams, and Casey Williams is the largest man on the roster in terms of not only height, but in weight and it got me thinking about the animal kingdom and how for centuries, leaders of the animal world have been ruled the same way as wrestling has done many years ago - by the biggest, meanest, angriest of their kind. Now Casey Williams is the biggest of our kind in Sin City Wrestling. His matches show that kind of dominance that presents itself amongst the animal kingdom. It shows that animal nature and human nature are alike.

Once again, Effie shakes her head towards Tony before massaging the side of her own temples, a headache clearly forming.

Effie: What are you hoping to learn from this wasted day?

Tony: A day is never wasted Ms. Bingham when there are things to learn. Observing animals in their natural habitat is much like watching wrestlers in the ring. The ring is where they feel comfortable, for animals, it is the same. That cage is their ring. Now I've been watching this cage for a while, and he right there, he is clearly the leader.

Tony points his hand to a gibbon sitting on a log, surveying the others as they run around the cage. Effie's eyes can't help but look at what Tony is pointing at, although she doesn't see what he sees.

Narrator: Everyone has a leader. Everyone has a boss at work pointing, shouting, trying to force that extra ten percent out of you. Everyone has a family member considered head of the family, someone for you to go to, to talk to, to be able to advise you. The animal kingdom was the same. Everyone had someone to lead, regardless of species. I would think the easiest example to link this meandering thought to would be the animated movie, The Lion King. Every pride needs a leader.

Tony: He's the biggest out of the entire cage, granted, he is not on the unrealistic levels of say the fictional King Kong, yet his size makes him king, his size make him rule over everything he sees. Yet there to his right, is someone smaller, someone trying to edge his way towards that log he is sitting on.

Effie's eyes move towards the smaller gibbon, edging closer to the log 'throne' that the leader of the primates.

Tony: Now I've been watching him for a while, and I'm ninety seven percent sure that he is set to make his move to take the rulers seat.

No sooner does Tony finish his sentence, the smaller gibbon pushes the slightly larger one off the log and waits. The Larger one turns around but the smaller one bares his teeth, hissing at the bigger one, causing him to step back a little. Tony tilts his head to look at Effie with a smile.

Effie: Pure dumb luck.

Tony: No such thing as luck. It's a myth. It was pure observation that this was about to happen. It wasn't even right place at the right time. Should this not have happened in a few moments, I would have almost certainly moved on to the next set of animals to observe. He won't sit on that log all day, the bigger one shall return shortly after formulating a plan and take back his seat, but this proves that the biggest, most dominant can be dethroned, as will Casey Williams come Sunday. You just need a plan of attack like the interim king had. He snuck up, he knew he was gonna bare his teeth and he did just that and that is what I'm going to do to Casey Williams.

Effie: I don't think Casey is gonna be scared of you showing your teeth.

Tony: It's not about showing your teeth per se, it's about the pure aggression and the unexpected nature of things to come. He, like that big thing can be banished if even temporary, and I need to do just that. I just need to be as aggressive as our reptile friends over there.

Tony stands up, offering his hand to Effie to join him but she stands up under her own steam and Tony leads her to a fenced off area where crocodiles lay on muddy shores around a simulated swamp type area.

Tony: See now these rely on aggression and speed to take down much bigger pray who may lean in to take a drink of water in the hot sun. They're angry and have no fear of size and that's how I see facing Casey. Do you know why they're so angry?

Effie: Because they've got so many teeth and no toothbrush.

A smile breaks out on Tony's face as he looks at Effie.

Tony: Ah, Adam Sandler movie reference.

Effie: I'm surprised you even seen it.

Tony: Well you have to watch low brow comedy before you can appreciate the good comedy. Adam Sandler is very low brow. They're angry because they have to be, they're feared because of that aggression. They don't care what size you are, they will attack, and that Ms. Bingham, is me. See over there, the gibbon that took the throne showed that little bit of aggression to move the bigger one off the log. Crocodiles don't care who you are, or what you are, they will take your leg clean off given the chance and that is what I am.

Effie: You're a little slimey thing, with a long face, that crawl on their belly, got it.

Narrator: Tony wasn't used to quips coming in his direction from anyone, he had no emotional attachment or feeling of hurt towards words, he knew that humans were capable of hurting with words, yet he knew of no reason to be hurt by them.

Tony: I wouldn't exactly go that far. I mean they don't exactly crawl on their bellies, they have their legs extended as far as possible. I can assure you if I used their way of doing it and crawled, my mid region would be at least two feet from the floor.

Effie: Anyone ever tell you that you over think literary everything, professor?

Tony moves his hand over his chin, just staring at Effie through his thick rimmed glasses, his breathing steady.

Tony: Not really, no. Most people feel threatened by my intellect, that they feel it's best not to engage me for fear of being verbally destroyed.

Effie: Look, I get it. You're the crocodile, Casey's the gibbon, you're gonna be faster and more aggressive than him, now can we go and do something fun?

Tony: Well, you have learned about why I'm here and hopefully the animal world is more open to you. I guess we can walk around and see other species if you feel that would be more fun.

Effie: As long as you don't tell me the history of everything in this zoo, we could do that.

Tony: I make no promises I can't keep.

Effie rolls her eyes as the two turn to make their way further in to the zoo and the camera cuts elsewhere.

A life size cardboard cut out can be seen in a dark room, a cut out of Casey Williams, standing high in it's seven foot glory in a dimly lit room. Tony Thorn, although not seen, can be heard.

Tony: Look at you Casey Williams. Look at the size of you, I'm right behind you Casey Williams, yet your mass prevents me from being see, that pure bulk of muscle and flesh stops me from being even noticed.

His footsteps can be heard as he walks around the cardboard cut out, his head tilted as he looks in it's eyes from the side, just staring, almost seemingly lost in the lifeless cardboard eyes. Tony's face is emotionless.

Tony: Look at you Casey Williams, you're so much bigger than me, you're size should make you think that you can pick me up and throw me around like a little ragdoll. It's what everyone would think.

Tony moves in front of the cutout, his head barely level with Casey's chest. He reaches up and put his hand on Casey's cheek, his thumb moving across it as his face remains emotionless.

Tony: I hope you enjoyed my little video at the zoo with Ms. Bingham Casey, I hope that maybe you learned something from it, that maybe just a little went though your thick skull and in to your head to give you a message from, a little hidden warning if you will. If you didn't, I will explain to you again. You see I tried to prove about size is just something people hide behind to seem dominant and speed and aggression will always win through. You've got aggression, don't you Casey, you have the aggression to usually force your way through matches and opponents but you see, I have that too Casey.

Tony strokes the cardboard Casey's cheek with his thumb and brings his free hand up to his lips, almost shushing the lifeless image.

Tony: Shush now, don't say a word just yet, we don't need to hear you speak at the moment, not even just once. I just need you to listen and learn. I said no!

Tony moves his hand from his cheek and puts his hand over the cut outs mouth and moves his head closer to it, looking up and staring through his cold dead eyes.

Tony: Speak when I tell you to Casey. Aggression is a means to get many things, intimidation is key to many things in life and size alone offers that, but if you have the size and not the ability to use it, then you've lost the battle before you even try, you've lost before you've even put on the army uniform. People have called you a beast for a long time Casey, but as you've seen, being a beast can not always cut it. Being smart can cut it. That gibbon formulated a plan in his less than developed mind to be able to kick the bigger, dominant one off the log. He has a mind akin to a child Casey, I do not. I have a mind of genius levels, do you think I haven't worked out how to brush you to the side like you're not even there?

Tony stands up on tip toes, trying to get to eye level with the Casey cut out, his hand still over the mouth.

Tony: I do Casey. I've been a little obsessed Casey, more than obsessed since I found out I would be facing you. My mind was racing, racing on how to get you down to my size, it turns out it's not that difficult.

Tony throws a kick towards the cardboard cut outs knees, buckling them and folding them over, forcing the cut out to be slightly shorter than Tony. Tony wraps his hands around the throat of the cut out and looks down at it with half a smile and a tilted head, his eyes still showing no emotion.

Tony: Now that is much better, don't you agree? Now that we see eye to eye on things Casey, maybe I can explain things to you a little better, make things a little clearer to you, explain to you just how things are going to go. I know in your head, you've already got this one won. I know your thinking that all you need to do is show up and throw the little guy around, beat the little guy up till he can't  move anymore. IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY CASEY!

Tony tightens his grip around the cardboard cut out's throat, pulling the cardboard closer together and narrowing his neck, his tone becoming increasingly angrier

Tony: That is not how it works, this is not where I lose Casey. I am gonna be more aggressive than you, I am gonna be angrier than you, I am gonna do whatever it takes to show you that I am the aggressive beast in SCW and I don't have to be a freak of nature to do so. I am gonna show you that I am gonna be the toughest opponent you've faced in a long time, I am gonna show you that Tony Thorn is a name that will haunt you for as long as you're still breathing on this planet. Hell would be a comfortable relief for you Casey when I'm done with you cause I am going to walk through you like you're not even there. Enjoy being the big man on the throne for now, because I am coming to kick you off from that perch. Until Sunday Casey.

Tony tightens his grip around the cardboard throat and rips the head clean off, tossing it in the air and walking away as the camera fades.