Part 1 - The Sorrow
The faces of Mark “The Dragon” Cross and Irish redhead “Deadly” Devinee Delaney appear side-by-side, a green tinge to both of their images. Between the two of them, the letters “PTT” and “Memory” show, reminiscent of a codec call from the Metal Gear Solid games. The conversation is a real Brit-fest, with Mark’s English and Devinee’s voice dripping with heavily-accented Irish.
The Dragon: Hey Devinee - How’s Japan?
Devinee: It’s good t’be back, ya know? Miss this place.
The Dragon: And Faith? How’s it going with that new girlfriend of hers?
Devinee: It’s not.
The Dragon: Oh wow - it sounded like she was really into her, even with the language barrier. How’s she holding up?
Devinee: Uhh...she’s been drinking more.
The Dragon: She doesn’t drink when she’s here.
Devinee: Exactly. I’m worried, d’ya think we should bring her back?
The Dragon: How bad is it?
Devinee: Well uhh…
The Dragon: Is she winning?
Devinee: Always.
The Dragon: How is she in training? Missing any sessions?
Devinee: 100% record. Beats me there most mornings.
The Dragon: It’s fine then.
Devinee: A teenage girl you’ve been training for the last four years is 7,000 miles from home and drinking to get over a break-up, how can you say that?
The Dragon: Because you did. I did.
Devinee: That’s different.
The Dragon: Why, because we’re British?
Devinee: It’s not good f’her.
The Dragon: Hey, you might be right, but we’re her coaches first and foremost. We look after wrestling matters and as far as those go, she’s as right as rain. She has friends, she has her family, if she needs a support network she can get one.
Devinee: I’m her friend. You’re like an older brother t’her.
The Dragon: And she won’t listen to us. You know she won’t appreciate it coming from you or me. Look - This isn’t the first time Faith’s got bent out of shape over a girl. If anything, it makes her better in the ring sometimes, angrier. If her performance drops or it gets bad we can step in, but she isn’t going to thank us.
Devinee: Ughh maybe ya got a point. Her Da’ did think this Japan thing would toughen her up a bit.
The Dragon: He’s been around the sport longer than both of us...but if she starts losing call me and we can have a rethink.
Devinee: Next week then? She’s fightin’ me next.
Mark sniggers in response.
Devinee: What? What’s funny?
The Dragon: Why’d you sign yourself up for that?
Devinee: I didn’t I was booked! I’ve beaten her b’fore.
The Dragon: I know, three years ago, I was there, but that was three years…
Devinee: You know what *beep* you Mark, why can I never rely on you to just *beep*ing believe in me for once in your life. You know what I’m gonna start her on a little losing streak and then she’s YOUR problem how about tha’?
The Dragon: Well that escalated quickly…
Devinee: I’m a good wrestler, and I’ve done this a helluva lot longer than golden girl.
The Dragon: And that’s why we wanted you on her coaching team...just...don’t inflict any long-term injuries alright?
Devinee: Deal.
The Dragon: Hey, Nee?
Devinee: I’m still not OK with you calling me that again yet...
The Dragon: Cool. You played Metal Gear Solid right?
Devinee: I ha’ to do the Psycho Mantis fight for you remember? Why?
The Dragon: Could you give me a lil “Snake...snaaaaaake?” to finish?
Devinee: Wha...oh you’re gonna do something stupid aren’t ye? Just leave me outta your silly little pro…
The Dragon: BYE!
The scene fades.
Part 2 - What’s up, slappers?
Following on from some good early traction on his Twitch channel, Mark “The Dragon” Cross was back again with another live stream. The scene opens to the same, newly converted gaming room that we’d seen from him the last time out. The collection of guitars behind him seemed to have grown, and his noblechair was now equipped with a blue branded neck pillow, the sides of it on show behind him.
The Dragon: What’s up slappers!?! Sorry - I’ve recently discovered Davie504 on YouTube, I think it’s become my new favourite channel, and I’m probably a little bit obsessed. I even got my bass out of storage...but you probably didn’t come to see me talk about guitars. Not tonight anyway. Hey, it’s The Dragon, thanks for jumping on with me tonight, and for those of you that have joined me over the past few days for my Football Manager streams, thanks a lot for keeping me company, it’s surprising how quickly we’ve got a little community building. As you can probably tell, I’m new to this, so still a few things to iron out. I’m useless at keeping up with chat, so I’ve got a second monitor on order that should help make that a little easier, but since I’m talking mostly about Climax Control here, I won’t have the chat up at all so I don’t get distracted and stick on topic - By my standards anyway.
Mark clears his throat.
The Dragon: Just before we get started though, a few questions I’ve got this week that I can answer real quick, what is a typical day for me...well, my home is in Miami, Florida. I try and come back here as often as I can between shows. I set up my own wrestling gym here, the Dragon’s Lair, which is maybe a 20-30 minute drive from my place, and I train virtually every day. Usually 3-4 hours, maybe less the day before or after a match. I study tape daily, on my opponent if possible, or on wrestlers with similar styles if there’s limited material, and I’ll usually do that at the gym as well, as I find I’m less distracted. That usually means getting back here at 3pm, I’ve got a swimming pool and a hot tub for recovery, then the rest of the day is my own. That gives me time to practice guitar, play games, watch a movie - and I watch a lot of other wrestling shows in my spare time too. I train hard, I try and absorb as much information as I can, and I make sure I give myself plenty of time to relax in-between. If I can bring you guys along for more of the down-time, I’ll definitely look to do that.
Mark reaches for a Fire Dragons mug, which he takes a long, satisfying sip from.
The Dragon: Also a lot of you have asked about how Faith’s been doing. She’s wrestling a tour with Pro Wrestling JAPAN, for those that don’t know already, and while I know she’s been quiet, it’s nothing to worry about. Being around a new culture can be daunting, and the training regime in the dojo is challenging, but another one of her coaching team is wrestling the same tour, and she’s in good hands. I know you were expecting regular updates, a whole Vlog series, but sometimes these experiences work out to be far more challenging than we first expect, and this isn't new. It isn't new for any of us in this business. Real life still rolls on for us wrestlers. Things happen. We can choose to break down, or we can carry on being a professional, doing a job, and putting the hours in. I mean look - Faith is nineteen, and yet she shows more focus and maturity than my opponent this week, and with a lot of the guys and girls I’ve shared locker rooms with over my career. I would love to say that I helped instil that in her early on. Maybe she had it already, or maybe it was a combination of both...whatever...but she has faced adversity and she has stayed on task. Are they typical teen dramas? Well yeah of course - but we all remember how "life-altering" they felt at that age. In the grand scheme of things, just how big are our problems anyway? My wife left me, that sucked. It still sucks, but I have my health. I have friends. I have a roof over my head, and I get to get up and do what I love every single day. I'm proud of that, and I’m proud of Faith, but I'm surprised. Surprised that we are oddities rather than the norm.
Mark takes another sip from the mug, holding it up to the camera for added effect, then pointing to it.
The Dragon: Distractions. Let me tell you a little something about distractions. I first picked up a guitar maybe 10 years ago. I didn’t have a natural talent for it, and basically, I'm still a shitty guitar player. I was too busy working at being a better wrestler when I first started, I still am now. I've flown planes, but I don't have a pilots licence. I've surfed, but I'm not much of a surfer…and all of these examples are because I can't afford to give them the level of commitment they need to take me to expert level. Enter the Homer Simpson meme here.
A picture of Homer Simpson fills the screen, with the text “Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain.”
The Dragon: The fact is, I don't waste time on ventures that are going to divert my attention away from the endgame. I played in a Superbowl in the final season of my professional football career. We lost, but personally I had a pretty good game. In fact, it was my best season in the league. I went to "the big show" in my contract year...but the NFL was changing. I was the 'every down' Running Back - I could block a bit, run a bit, catch a bit, I wasn't the fastest or the strongest in the league...and every conversation I had regarding a new contract highlighted at least one of those flaws. Nobody wanted a Swiss Army knife anymore. They wanted to replace one guy like me with two or three guys that could do one of the jobs really well - I knew in pretty short order that I was done.
Mark shrugs nonchalantly.
The Dragon: I stopped waiting for the phone to ring. My agent was still confident, he’d get me on a practice squad, I could go back to NFL Europe...I could be like Ricky Williams and ball in Canada, just without the drugs bust on my record...but I knew the writing was on the wall and I cut my losses. I found something else because I had to keep busy. I committed to it fully because I wanted it. I became a wrestler. I gave up on ever playing football again, because I didn’t want my wrestling to be held back by living in the past, and I became a winner, I went one step further and captured the big prizes. I found my true calling and I went for it whole-heartedly. See it’s even more so today, but a few years in one of the big leagues, NFL, NBA, MLB, you name it, as long as you’re smart with your money you can pretty much set yourself up for life. I invested well, in stocks and in property, not fast cars and extravagant parties. I didn’t have to jump from one sport where I’d put life and limb on the line straight into another, and I’ve had people say to me, “hey why don’t you go and enjoy your money, you earned it after all, take it easy for a few years, you could do this, you could do that” but that’s never been the goal.
Mark looks down at the desk for a moment, collecting his train of thought.
The Dragon: I’ve never stopped being true to me. Mark Cross. The Dragon, in wrestling circles. You know what I’ve also had people say to me? You should work on your mic skills. You should try and appeal to a wider audience. Maybe wear a costume, change your name, you’ve got the in-ring talent, you could make it to the very top. In that...they might well be right...but that’s not me. I had virtually NO game with the ladies when I was younger, not until I made the jump to NFL Europe. When I started to make waves as an athlete, it boosted my self-confidence no-end believe it or not. I mean come on I was dropping Dad jokes as a teenager. This? Me in front of a camera? I do it. It’s part of the job and in truth, I like doing it...and I know there are people that are interested in hearing my viewpoint, and what I have to say. Others...a lot of others...probably just want it to end. I could have done something about that. I could have taken acting classes, or something. Instead I took more wrestling classes...because otherwise that’s all I’d be doing. Acting.
Mark shifts his chair to the side, revealing one of the frames hanging on the wall behind him. Within it is a large poster for “The Dark Knight” movie.
The Dragon: If you ask me who my favourite Superhero was, tough choice, but I’d probably say Batman was my guy. In a world of mutations, superhuman strength, hearing, X-ray vision, you name it...Bruce Wayne is basically just a guy with some nice gadgets who does a lot of pushups. That’s real. To me it makes him the most relatable, the most human...yet the results he gets, the things he achieves...that counts for something. That MEANS something.
Mark looks back to his rack of guitars, which he has now turned his chair towards.
The Dragon: I will retire one day. I'll probably still be involved, continue coaching, maybe do some commentary work (lucky for you guys) but that'll be more about giving back to the industry rather than for me. I'll probably grab my guitar, write some songs, take them on the road to whatever dive bar will let me play, see if my music is good enough to maybe move a couple of people, who knows...but not now. “The Dragon” may hang up his boots but the man behind the “mask” is still the same. It’s not me giving up. It’s just me freeing up time to commit to the next thing, because I don’t have side projects. I have the wrestling project. The be better in the ring project. The get in the best shape of my life project. The winning more titles project. I even dug the beating Teddy Steele project out of the filing cabinet for one more run.
The Dragon: And this...brings me quite nicely to Teddy Steele. He spends so long trying to be a musician, a lyricist, a manager, a womaniser...a woman...that he's never properly knuckled down and got on with his own project of being a wrestler. It’s sad, and in a way, I feel for him. At times, I think he’s more than a little misunderstood, and I think more often than not, he wishes things could be different, that he could learn to knuckle down...but then he’ll dive off down some other rabbit hole that doesn’t lead to Wonderland. There’s only one Wonderland that I know of. It’s dunking yourself in a lava-hot tub as your aching muscles breathe a collective sigh of relief at the end of an intense training session. Hard work. That’s the golden ticket. I’m under no illusions here, I’m not indestructible. I’ve developed some holes in my game that just weren’t there before I dropped to part-time. I learned from that mistake, it’s an ongoing process to address those, and yes, scary thought to those who have slipped up against me already, I strive every single day to be better than I was the day before. Can Teddy beat me, straight up? Yes - but he hasn't. Can Bill Barnhart beat me straight up, yes - but he hasn't. That’s twice over, for both men. If the result stays the same for a third time, I think maybe we need to leave quite a substantial gap before we do it again.
The image of a GRIME mask flashes on and off the screen for a few seconds before we cut to shaky phone camera footage from a hotel bar. A thumbnail of Mark talking away from his live stream shifts to the bottom right, the audio muted. With his chat muted, as he’d explained at the start of his video, he seemed completely unaware. In the new scene, his arm is draped lazily over the shoulder of a woman...the same one whose apartment we saw him escaping from after his two victories at the High Stakes Supershow.
There are a small group of strangers sitting, standing and leaning around the couches as the phone wobbles around.
Guy #1: Kiss, marry, avoid. SCW Bombshells.
The Dragon: Ah c'mon…
Guy #1: Kate Steele, Sierra Williams, Bobbie Dahl - Go!
Camera Guy: No...Kate, Sierra, Valentina.
Guy #1: OOOOOOOH
Girl: That’s less fun don’t put Valentina in there!!
The Dragon: With the camera, seriously?
Camera Guy: Don't worry bro I'm so wasted I'll forget I have this!
The Dragon: Ugh I dunno...
Crowd: DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT
The Dragon: OK OK fine...avoid Sierra, she'd eat me alive.
Girl: And we all know how these next two are gonna go...
Camera Guy: Just let him answer
The Dragon: Kiss...umm...Val marry Kate
Girl: What!?!
Guy #2: No way!!
The Dragon: What?
Guy #1 She's...weird. Her husband’s weird. The whole thing’s just...weird ya know?
The Dragon: Oh come on, anyone loyal enough to put up with his bullshit every day has GOT to be a keeper right? I mean I can be pretty hard to live with but I’ve gotta be a Godsend compared to that...Besides she doesn’t seem that bad...and she might be able to teach me not so suck so much at guitar…
The girl’s hand shoots to his arm to comfort him.
Girl: I bet you’re not that bad bab…
Mark laughs out loud, probably too loud for being indoors, which cuts her immediately off.
The Dragon: Nice try, but I’m terrible. I’ve been playing for 10 years and I’m terrible.
Guy #1: So Kate walks over here right now, says that she’d leave Teddy for you, you’d say yes.
The Dragon: Hey if it means chalking up another win against him...
Crowd: OHHHHHH!
Camera Guy: Send her some flowers or something man!
The Dragon: ...Why?
Guy #2: Yeah dude, that’d be so funny!
The Dragon: Nope. Nopenopenope. Already been involved in one broken up marriage this year, mine, I’m swerving that like...erm...some like...plane or something...I’m drunk, I’m going to bed.
Mark pushes himself up from the couch, holding his arms out to the sides as if to balance himself. We see him move away from the group, accidentally bumping his hip on the edge of one of the couches which staggers him sideways for a couple of steps. The girl, maybe surprised by how her new famous wrestler friend had left without her, hopped up from the couch and gave chase, bare-footed with a pair of stiletto heels in her hand.
We're taken back to the live stream, this time with Mark’s audio reactivated.
The Dragon: I honestly don’t know why Teddy would have wanted this match-up to happen. He needs momentum, a couple of easy wins against a few rookies, maybe some softer opponents here and there...he’s not ready to avenge losses against Roulette champions in Griffin or guys with the ability to give the top guys a run for their money like me. That takes confidence, that takes focus, that takes motivation. Maybe even anger. The type of burning rage you get filled with when someone looks at your wife the wrong way, and you just want to rip their head clean off their shoulders. It might be the push he finally needs to put wrestling, the ancient art of doing a lot of damage to another man, at the top of his agenda. Shame I’m not that guy.
Mark shrugs as he cracks the top on a bottle of water, taking a long sip.
The Dragon: I don’t have too much more to say about the guy, as I’ve pretty much exhausted it all. The story with Teddy hasn’t changed since the last time I faced him, and while he was fast out of the blocks against me, at times in the match he almost felt like a no-show. We’ve heard the usual histrionics - I won’t fight you. I won’t show up. I’ll lay down. You’re turning my wife against me wah wah wah. Honestly in Sin City Wrestling, I can’t tell if my opponent is going to show up, in Sin City Underground I can’t finish a match without somebody else running in and getting involved. You know what would be a nice surprise? If everyone turned up for their own matches, wrestled in those, then stayed backstage for everything else. That’s what we call starting 2020 right.
Mark takes another glug of water.
The Dragon: So I think I’m going to wrap it up there. Thank you very much everyone for watching, please drop the channel a follow if you haven’t already, and be sure to turn on notifications to get a heads-up when I’m live next. For those of you making the trip to Port Charlotte, I look forward to seeing those Fire Dragons t-shirts!! Cheers guys.
The scene fades to black.
