It's been a trying few weeks, I don't think lock down is getting to me as much as I thought it would, the party days are mostly long behind me. I still enjoy a good time, but I'm a little more subtle these days. I went from party animal to a fella who likes the chilled out days, I like the days of being able to kick back and enjoy the peace. It's not as easy to do when ya lumbered with the entire roster in a hotel, but there are times you can find some quiet contemplation. All you really need to do is lock the door of that hotel room and just forget where you are.
It's worked wonders for me in the past when we've been on tour with Sin City Wrestling, been travelling around places far from the place you choose to call home. This was meant to be the ultimate SCW tour, I expected hotels, and rarely getting back to Maine, but instead, the same hotel for months was not part of the plan.
Now the SCW, SCU and GRIME bunch of lads and ladies were party people, they loved a good booze up and knew how to arrange one. We all have that one friend that couldn't arrange a booze up in a brewery, I have one of those back home in England, his idea of arranging a night out was I wanna go here, here, and here by this time, without thinking about how far apart these places were, but the SCW, SCU and GRIME people were the opposite, they knew how to arrange one and how to make the most of it. I guess that's one good thing about being around your work friends more often, people have grown in to proper friendships, but me? I just wanted a little peace and quiet, to be able to quietly think about better times when I could go where I want, when I wanted. Not because I wanted to be able to hide from things, because I wanted to try new things.
This was my quiet contemplation time and digging in to the memory banks of a different time.
I sat in the bath of the hotel room in The Saxon Hotel that I shared with my wife Evie and of course, that ever popular pooch of ours, Bear. We were lucky to have a room with a whirlpool tub thingy that wrinkled ya bits quicker than you would like. I felt the bubbles bounce off my back, sending me in to a world of thought in my own mind, images forming behind my closed eyes, but I could feel eyes burning in to me. It could only be one of two, it was Evie, or it was Bear.... Unless Jamie Dean had Spiderman'ed himself up a wall, and ninja'ed his way in to the hotel. Never can tell with Jamie.
"I would say take a picture, it'll last longer." I said without opening my eyes. "But depending on who's standing there looking at me, I'd be worried that you actually would."
"Oh darling, I've already got the videos." Evie's voice said.
My eyes opened to see Evie standing to my left hand side, a smile on her face as she looked down at me.
I know the bubbles were keeping me covered up but I knew what was running through her mind. She'd seen beneath the bubbles many, many times. I knew that imagine was in her mind, until she drifted her eyes to the side of the bath.
"What the hell is that?" She asked.
I reached to the side, on my right hand side, to pull a cold glass in front of me, consisting of thick yellow with brown running through the see through glass.
"That is a banana and chocolate milkshake." I said with a proud smile. "Lovely jubbley."
The look on Evie's face was a mix of confusion and disgust.
"I get a beer in this thing." She said shaking her head. "We've put away a lot of champagne in this tub but hot water and milk?"
I shrugged at her and put on my best cheesiest smile that I had, if only to get that confused look off her pretty face.
"Cold milk goes in hot water when you make a proper cuppa." I explained. "Thankfully, I don't plan on dropping this in here. Might chill me bits if I do."
I took a big gulp of that ice cold milkshake, instantly backfiring on me to give me brain freeze. I tried to keep a straight face but I could see Evie had already figured it out, the smirk on her face showed that.
"You overstepped that, huh?" She said with that smirk getting wider on her face.
I couldn't answer for a few seconds, my brain was not my own for just a little there and putting my head under the water to get some heat through my thick skull didn't really do anything justice at all. I knew once my head came back up through that water, the smile would still be on her face. I'd overplayed my hand and we both knew it.
My head emerged through the bubbling water and I let the water run down my face before opening my eyes and looking towards Evie - I was right, the smile was all over her face.
"I might have just over cooked that a little bit." I admitted.
"And who's fault was that?" She asked.
"Totally mine." Again, I admitted. "So, just gonna stand there and watch me?"
The smirk turned in to a smile and a nod from Evie who looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"I can move some things around to sit and look at you." She said in a soft tone. "I've had worse days."
She probably has to be fair, not that I'm bragging that I'm decent to look at in the bath or anything like that. I just know she's had some mad days.
I looked at her with a smile.
"I dunno what ya gonna get outta sitting here looking at my aris go wrinkly while bubbles fire in awkward places, while I sit and reminisce about certain times." I replied.
"Oh?" Evie said curiously "What's on your mind?"
"Just thinking of times when we could get out there and bugger off on holiday whenever we wanted." I said. "My mind keeps dropping back to The Maldives...."
Ohhhhhhhhh, this was a set up thing! How clever! Time to speak about what happened in The Maldives.
There was a little bit of a traveller in me and Eves to be fair, always loved seeing new places, always loved being around new people, seeing new cultures and of course, trying new things. I wouldn't say I'm an adrenaline junkie by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it'll probably give you a headache if you did think of me doing something that got the heart racing. I nearly past out a few years back in Italy when Eves was driving a Ferrari down thin winding roads at faster speed then God intended. I was convinced I'd meet God that day cause I never thought we'd make it to the bottom of the hill, but thankfully we did.
A few years back, we went to The Maldives, it's stunning there and I try to make a point of whenever I go to a new country, gotta try something I haven't before. It could mean trying the local dish, doing a local dance - which is not impressive with my two left feet - but The Maldives was different, there was a lot of things to do, mostly involving water and that I was ok with.
Summer 2017
"How hard can it really be?" I asked.
I stood on a beach, looking at my wife, her face was frowning at me as she slowly shook her head at me.
"Very." She replied.
"It's standing up on like something in the water." I debated back. "It can't be too difficult."
I was of course talking about surfing, yes, there I was in a full wetsuit, talking to an Aussie, debating with an Aussie that surfing wasn't too difficult. The woman I married come from a country where your first present is a surfboard.... If you believe in Home and Away... I don't, I don't watch that stuff... What? innocent look on my face but you can't see it! Yes, I'm debating with an Aussie over surfing. The Maldives had some beautiful beaches and high waves, surfers from all over the world would come here not only for fun, but to compete. Watch out professionals, here comes Ben!
"Maybe you should practice with a boogie board or something first." Evie suggested.
"Nonsense." I protested with a wave of my hand. "Can't be that tough."
Famous last words you could say but I was confident. Out of the stuff I've done in the past, I thought I could do this. This was balancing on a floatation device. I've done way crazier things, did way crazier things on this holiday, you might get to see that later. To me, this was easy.
"Trust me." I said to Evie. "I got this."
Ok, those was famous last words as I made my way to the water, looking back at Evie, who waved me back. I walked back towards her, standing their with her hands on her hips.
"Forgetting something?" She asked.
"A good luck kiss?" I replied.
Evie pointed to her left, where a surfboard was pressed in to the sand, standing up straight. I couldn't help but sigh as she frowned at me, the frown turning in to a smile.
"Yeah, gonna probably need that." I said in a slow tone.
Yes Ben, well clever, brag about being able to surf when you one, forget the board, and two, never surfed in your life. Yes, this was pure bravado and the fact I've seen it loads of time on Home and... Ummm, hardcore surfing films, all manly, nothing like those soaps!
"Remember to attach the chord to your ankle." Evie said, trying to hide her smile.
"I know, I know." I said confidently.
I waved her off as I reached down towards the chord and picked it up, but Evie put her hand on my shoulder.
"Probably best you put that on when you get near the water." She instructed. "You'll look a right tit if you fall over."
Pish! I could do it... Wait, she was probably right, I could fall over air while sober and done it on more than one occasion.
I nodded towards her and pulled the board under my arm and held it and nodded my head to the water, eye contact with Evie all the way to ask her to come to the waterfront without the use of words. She understood as we both walked to the water and I put the chord around my ankle.
"Alright." she said. "Board flat, paddle out with your arms and your legs. Then get over the waves, sit on the board, turn yourself around, paddle back fast, spring to your feet as the wave breaks and balance."
I knew she was dumbing it down for me cause she knew I had no idea what I was doing. It was that she was watching me to see me make a tit of myself, it was mostly to see if I could actually do it.
"Roger that!" I said with a salute.
I turned the board around and laid it flat in the water, instantly watching it slightly drift away from me.
"Boards gonna go without ya." Evie said with a smile.
I knew she was getting a kick out of this, probably as much as anyone else watching us that might have known us was. Not every day you see a couple of people from the television out on the beach, although probably more common in a celebrity vacation spot like this.
"Ok, you got this." I muttered to myself.
"What was that?" Evie asked.
"Ummm." I stumbled out. "Cowabunga dude?"
Evie rolled her eyes, her fingers running across her forehead as she once again frowned at me.
"Fucking hell." She muttered this time. "I married a ninja turtle."
I heard the comment, brought a smile to my face as I looked away and to the board floating in the water and moved towards it. I pressed my body down on to it and started to paddle. I made it a whole three feet when.
SPLASH!
Yes, I was off the bloody thing and not even sure how. The water was so shallow, my toes were touching the sand below me. Here I was, face first in the drink, knowing I had to turn around and face my Aussie wife, with surfing in the blood of most Aussies. I leaned on my elbows, keeping my head above water, stalling on turning around but I knew I had to eventually. I took the plunge, turn, sat cross legged in the water and looked her dead in the eye. There was no hiding of the smile this time, it sat widely on her face as she looked at me.
"Not your best attempt at anything." She said with that beautiful smile on her face. "But it was your first go. Try again."
Her words were encouraging, even if I knew she was laughing inside. Let's be honest, everyone would have laughed seeing that. I had to get back on and try again, so I did. I brought the board towards me and scrambled my way and tried again. I got six feet this time before.
SPLASH!
Yep, I was in the drink again.
"Oh bloody hell!" I said to myself as the water splashed around my face.
I knew I wasn't out of sight of anyone, so I grabbed the board and pulled myself on to it, but I put too much wait to one side and...
SPLASH!
Back in it without moving another inch.
"Are you kidding me!" I said as my head dropped in disappointment.
"Surfing God's must have it out for you." Evie said.
That voice didn't seem too far away, I'd gone about nine or ten feet away from the shore, I shouldn't be hearing her voice this clearly. It baffled me until I turned my head to see her standing next to me.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked as my mind got slightly more confused.
"You're not that far out, the water is about four foot deep here." She said with a smile.
I cocked my head to the side to see Evie standing in the water, the water barely over her stomach with her feet on the sand beneath the water. Realizing how shallow it was, I swung my feet for the bottom of the water and found it barely with my toes. With a quick shift of my weight, I was on my feet and looking at her.
"Probably got a confession to make." I said with a deflated shrug. "I don't know what the bloody hell I'm doing here, haven't got a scooby."
I put my best sympathetic face on as I looked at Evie, who nodded her head slowly.
"No shit?" She said in a sarcastic tone. "I thought you were expert level."
"Well that would be a stretch." I admitted. "I'm more of I haven't started playing the game level, over expert."
"Well, if you'll listen to me, I might give you a few pointers." She offered.
What else could I do, but say yes to my wife and for the next two hours, she gave me pointer after pointer. She explained things a whole lot clearer and things were finally sinking in, and it might have took a while, it might have taken getting out of the water and a demonstration with a chalkboard, and a youtube video on a phone. It might have taken standing on the board on the beach for two hours like a ninja about to strike, but I was ready to get out on the water and this happened.
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" I shouted out as I stood on the board in the water.
I had done it! Hours later I was up on the surfboard at the top of a wave. The roar of the water rung in my ears as I balanced like a cat.... A three legged cat....
"SHIIIIIII." I yelled out but....
SPLASH!
Yep, I was in it again up to my next. Hours of work, still couldn't do a thing. I turned my head to breathe as the tide gently brought me back to the beach, like a lot of tiny hands carried to like I was crowd surfing to the shore, the board drifting gently next to me, right at Evie's feet. I looked up at her.
"At least I stood up that time." I said as I rolled over on my back and looked up.
Truth is, surfing wasn't for me and the reason I told this story was because I need to link it to SCW and Griffin Hawkins. Here's the moral of the story. I tried and I tried and I had a ton of fun doing it, but I just couldn't get what I wanted. The top prize in my head was to stand up and drift in and regardless of the fact I tried, I just couldn't do it. I had the bravado, I had all the talk, but I just fell short.
Do you see the link now?
Good.
Anyway, now would be a good time to pause this promo and swing by Evie's promo cause you'll see more of our adventures, or misadventures from The Maldives!
Hope you enjoyed that one, but now ya gotta join me sitting with my feet up on the sofa, just a pair of shorts on, and the SCW World Heavyweight championship over my shoulder. It's time to talk to you good people, the people who cheer me on, the people who are tired of me, the lot of ya.
"Alright people." I say as I look down the camera in front of me. "It's been a bit of a chill out week for me, as you saw stuff from Monday, and now ya looking at me now. I ain't one to mess about so once this has been given the thumbs up, you'll be sitting here watching me."
I quickly fire a thumbs up towards the camera.
"So, raise ya hands, who saw this tag match coming right before Summer XXXTreme?" I ask.
I had to raise my own hand, I had a sneaky feeling this could happen. It was a smart thing to put champs and challengers in the ring at the same time and give the fans something to look forward to after a little taster.
"I saw it coming and I ain't too disappointed." I say with a smile. "I'm a massive believer that if you wanna know an opponent properly, you need to be in the ring with them. I've been in the ring with Griffin Hawkins a bit ago, so I wanna say I know what he's capable of and I'm pretty sure there hasn't been too much evolution over the past few months. I ain't saying it to knock Griffin at all, but what you see is pretty much what you get, that phrase was made for him, because when you look at Griffin, you see social media star, rockstar, talented wrestler, and believe me he's all of them, but I don't have the distraction of all of that. In fact, you'd notice that I haven't been as active on social media lately."
What? Did you all think I've forgotten my password or something? Nope, it was an intentional thing to prove that I didn't need social media to build myself up.
"I don't need the like, the retweets or spending probably ninety percent of my day trying to get people to watch me." I state honestly. "You know where I'm best when it comes to work Griffin? When I'm right there in the ring and showing people the skill set that turned me in a world champion. I know you have a ton of world championships to your name, but did social media get ya any of them? No, your wrestling skills did and that's where I've decided to put my focus and that's on what I can do in the ring. Now don't get me wrong mate, I'm not saying that you don't put the effort in but I dunno where you find the time to do it. I take every match seriously and I've been putting my time and effort in to sharpening up my moves rather than my thumb."
I don't dislike people who spend a lot of time on social media, each to their own of course, but I know for a match this size, you need to be more focused on the skills. Summer XXXTreme is a weird event, being out there at sea, has different effects on people. Sea air makes some tired or sluggish.
"I know our big showdown is a couple of weeks away." I say with a nod. "But it's never too early to get ready for a huge match and this is what I've been doing since it was announced and this is a perfect match for me to have right before a supercard. It's a chance for you to see what ya up against real close because I feel like I got a ton better from the last time we faced. Being a top bloke is about growing in to the role and I think I've grown more and more since I've won the World Heavyweight championship. I think it might have gone the other way for you though Griffin."
Not a slight on the man at all, just pure observation.
"Since our first match, your first chance at getting your hands on this." I look at the world title over my shoulder and smile as I speak. "Things ain't exactly been rosey in your garden, has it? Lost the Roulette championship, been on a bit of a slide down that slippery slope people talk about. Not really done a lot since that Roulette title went for a burton, but it doesn't take away that you are a dangerous bloke but it's not really gonna matter. Sunday is gonna show ya that you're still a bit behind where you need to be at this point. There's not too much momentum behind ya run at this and whacking a fella in the mush who offered to help ya, isn't really momentum building. In fact this match, as good as it is, could work against ya."
I don't like playing mind games, just stating fact.
"Say I pin ya Griffin." I start. "How's that gonna effect ya when ya go face to face with me one on one? I mean it'll play games with me if the boot was on the other foot. I'd be sitting there thinking bloody hell, I can't beat a bloke when I got a partner on my side, taking breaks in between to rethink, how the bloody hell am I gonna beat him one on one? Mate, it would proper mess with my nut, the disappointment in my heart, and the thoughts going through my melon would put me lower than a snakes gooleys."
I wonder if he knew what that meant? If not, someone will explain it to him.
"While this is a cracking match for me to step in to and it really is." I admit. "but not for you if you don't come out on top of this one. I know it would mess with my mind, so dunno what it'll do to you but that smile on ya face can't last forever if you don't walk out of this one without winning. I know how much this one little tag match means to me and Eves and we wanna go in with the advantage in the ring, and in the mind too. We're not champions cause we didn't work for it Griffin, and it's something you and Andrea should know by now. Pretty much every challenger is the underdog. You two are the underdogs at Climax Control and you will be at Summer XXXTreme."
Champions seem to find that extra step and I knew this. I had to find it against Fenris, I had to find it against Mark Cross, I had to find it against Jack Washington and I did.
"After taking on a talent like Jack Washington." I start. "I'm on a bounce up. From the outside looking in, it doesn't look like it was a big match on paper, but trust me with the talent that kid has, it was a huge test for me, and I passed it well enough. I worked hard and got through it and with you Griffin, you'd have to be a mug not to think you can pull off an upset not only this week but at Summer XXXTreme, and it's not a chance I'm willing to take to ease up because you've been going downhill and I've been on the bounce. I don't like letting my guard down in a ring and I won't with you and on Sunday, you'll see just how much better I've become since we first stepped in the ring with each other."
I felt better, I felt stronger, I felt like I knew what I was doing better and better in the ring. My work rate was upped because it had to be, my energy levels in the ring were higher than they've ever been before.
"I'm a better guy than I was when you first got in the ring with me and it's something you will see very soon." I say with a smile. "But I really hope I'm wrong and this doesn't effect you as much as I know it can because I know I'm gonna get the best Griffin Hawkins I can get on Sunday for you to prove a point, I know I'm gonna get that guy who is gonna try and get rid of any doubts, get rid of anyone who ever sat there and call you a loser. I know you're gonna try and silence any voice behind ya back saying that ya just not good enough for this business, but this is the Griffin Hawkins I want coming at me at Summer XXXTreme VIII. This is the Griffin Hawkins I want there, and I know it'll be a tough one to pick yourself up after this match when me and Eves walks away with the win. I don't want this to get in your head because not only do I wanna win this one, I wanna make sure this sets me on the way to beating the best Griffin Hawkins you can be."
It's what every wrestler wants, to beat people while they're at this best. Maybe it's an egotistical thing, maybe we're all narcissists, but we want to beat the best version of everyone. Not like champions in non title matches, who lose and say they can't be bothered cause nothing was on the line, that's just plain lazy.
"So look at this match as a lesson Griffin." I say with a nod. "Look at this match and soak in all the information you need to know about what I might do, and how I might act and bring your absolute best you can on Sunday, because it's the only way you'll ever know what you need to improve on in that short two weeks there will be to actually stand a chance of taking away me belt that I worked for years to get and worked even harder to keep."
I really have, it's been a long time between my last top title in ACW and this one and I worked so hard to even get anywhere near this one. Others come in, make demands because they feel they need a title, I didn't, I worked my socks off to get where I am and stay here for a long time.
"But I did it anyway Griffin." I say with a proud tone. "And I ain't ready to chuck it away now. Sunday is a taster of things to come and things to come are me and Eves winning this match, going on to Summer XXXTreme as champions and leaving as champions."
I knew my time was running short, yes, we only have so long to do these things and I knew my time was coming up.
"So anyway you lovely bunch." I say with a wide smile. "I'm gonna leave this right here. Now I covered talking about Griffin, so if you want to know what Evie has to say about Andrea and the fact Alicia is the guest referee too, then switch on back to what she has to say."
It's Evie, expect it to be blunt, obviously.
"So until then." I say as I nod my head firmly. "You stay safe, tune in on Sunday and watch the champions show you why we're champions."
I wink at the camera.
"Laters people!"
And with that, another one of my promos had come to an end. Thanks for watching, The Jordan's will see you on Sunday!
