Here we go, the build up to SCW's biggest show of the year. I won't lie, I was excited to be part of it. Up until Sunday, I didn't know I would be. I'd asked in public for a match, asked to go against someone, anyone. I knew that coulda shot me in the jacksy, because I know anyone coulda jumped on that challenge, but no one actually did. When ya think about it, Caleb Storms got a quicker response to an open challenge than I did. I could have gone and asked for the match against someone but I woulda just as happily showed up and supported my wife, who was heading to war with someone, but then I saw that announcement and it caught me off guard.
Alex Jones people! Alex Jones! One of the best wrestlers in the world against.... me!
I was delighted, me against another former World champion. I seriously wished he was one of my challengers, but hell, I "lost" the belt before I could face him. I'm sure SCW has a plan about challengers and knew Jack Washington would have been against me at the next big show, maybe Alex woulda still been next and I woulda got to face the man. The title may not be there anymore, but this isn't Climax Control, this is High Stakes X! Biggest show of the year, really makes up for it not being a championship match.
But with this show comes great promotion responsibility, especially in times like these, you need to draw every penny possible from every corner of the world. The smartest thing is to target your hometown or country, it makes sense that way to do just that. Just so happened that after the show on Sunday, I got a little call from back home, from the notorious Twitter stalking for news, opinionated Piers Morgan, well his team.
Piers has a show on early morning back home, the most popular show on morning television. I've been on there before, actually earlier this year when I won the SCW World Heavyweight championship, to speak about things. I know Mark Ward has been on another of his shows, Life Stories, I know London Underground have been live in his studio. If you're a Brit and you get the chance to be interviewed by him, you take it. Me doing this again in my mind, was no different than getting interviewed by Pussy Willow every week, but this wasn't all about wrestling. This was to talk about other stuff too, like getting money back to England to help out. Either way, I liked being on this show and Piers is a wrestling fan, so knows his onions. These things were always fun, even if the time difference was a pain.
2am - Monday 9th November 2020.
I sat myself in front of a laptop, my face on the screen as I waited to be introduced to the early morning fans of the show, Good Morning Britain, back home. The house was quiet, Evie had opted to go to bed as she usually does when I'm doing this kinda thing, allowing me chance to focus, and Bear, well, it was 2am, of course he was gonna be somewhere in doggie dream world. It was a tight thing for us to get back in time, leaving Vegas directly after I reacted to Alex Jones and myself's match announcement, with the bosses permission of course after I got this phone call earlier in the day to appear on the show, but we made it back to Maine in time for everything to go to plan. I had my earphones in, ready to talk as I looked at the screen, Piers' face on it, with a little countdown clock in the corner showing me when I was about to be live. As the seconds fell down, I waited for his introduction.
"Well it's time to meet a friend of the show." Piers said in his unmistakable accent. "A man I've happened to meet on a few occasions, a man who did this show earlier this year. Please welcome my guest joining me from Maine, former Sin City Wrestling World Heavyweight champion, and also since we've spoke, former Sin City Underground champion, Ben Jordan."
The countdown hit zero and I knew my mush was on screens up and down the UK.
"Good morning Ben." Piers said with a firm nod. "Ben, you're at home in Maine right now, correct?"
"Morning Piers." I responded. "I am indeed in Maine right now."
"A crazy time to be in America right now." He commented. "How is it where you are?"
I knew he was talking about the America election, but although I have my opinions on it, and if I think it's fraud, I figured it was best not to stir the pot.
"It's alright in Maine." I replied. "Split state. Just one of those things where no one wins, no one loses, everyone is just half happy I think. It's not something I overly have a thought on. I'm just sick of seeing Facebook posts by people close to me banging on about it. It's all done now."
"I heard you may be going in to politics yourself in the future." Piers threw in.
He had done his research, it's been no secret for me or anyone else that I have considered the whole mayor route, some supported it, some looked down their nose at it.
"It's been mentioned to me, yes." I confirmed. "But it's one of those things where there's not much to talk about in that sense. The people of Bar Harbor are great people, they're friendly, and they work together to make their corner of the world the best they can. I'm a part of that now, and it's something I love to be a part of. Being a part of something and taking control of something is two very different things."
"You already have done more for the people over here than the current government at the moment." He said with a hint of venom in his tone.
If you follow this man on Twitter, you'll know he is very outspoken right now against the British government, and who can blame him?
"You're a wrestler, a high profiled star, last time we spoke you was a World Champion." he reminded me. "But even thousands of miles away in a pandemic, you still rallied your troops and helped out by sending donations to England to help feed children, that screams leadership to me."
I was taken back by the comment but it brought a wide smile to my face hearing it out loud. I didn't do it for the pats on the back, I didn't do it for a raise in profile. I did it cause it needed to be done.
"Thank you." I said in a humble tone.
"What made you decide to do this?" He asked me.
"I'm involved in a few children's charities. They're all aimed at giving children better lives and when I saw this, I thought a government, more powerful than I can ever be, more excess money than I could ever have, decided to sit there and turn their nose up at it, well, it frankly peeved me off to the point where I wanted to storm parliament if I could." I replied firmly. "I was disgusted that people on more money then most could sit there and shoot down something that would allow a kid to prosper. They sit there and yell from the benches to get the kids back to school, which in itself is a mistake, but they yell about that, so kids go to school, expose themselves to a virus, yet when they're at home, can't eat? Bang out of order in my eyes. If you're gonna force people to go out in a pandemic, at least help them out."
I could feel myself getting angry and had to calm myself down a little, but this situation made me mad.
"I felt that the government had let down the people they are sworn to protect and take care of." I said in a much calmer tone. "So something had to be done."
"And it started with a tweet?" Piers questioned, already knowing the answer.
"It did." I confirmed. "I put it out there on my plan, what I was gonna do. I worked out every penny I was gonna make between now and the end of the year and send it to as many places as I could in areas where there was a lack of offering for free lunches for kids. Then people got on board. My wife told me she was going to help out, Fenris gave be a call, Kate Steele got in touch, Jessie Salco too, a wrestling company I've never worked for jumped on board too and before you know it, me and the missus were calling places back home and getting things done. There was no time to waste with the British government failing on such a huge issue."
"You feel the government have failed the people?" Piers asked with a smile.
I knew he felt the same way about the government and the people so I think the smile was to do with getting some justification in his thoughts.
"I feel things should have been done much differently then they were." I said. "I was in England when this whole thing kicked off, we were on a tour that we had to abandon and get back to America while we still could and I sat thinking that we needed to lock things down earlier. I watched things get out of control in Italy, a country my wife and I love to go to, and it was clear it was gonna hit the UK. The UK is an island, if things were locked down sooner, we could have been like New Zealand, controlled it a lot better, but people in power sat on their hands for an extra few weeks and watched it get out of control."
I could see Piers smirk on my screen, I know he has a lot of opinions about this virus and a lot mirrored mine.
"So it went out of control, and when we was making progress, he opened up the country again, way too soon." I said seriously. "The UK was beating the virus down, suppressing as he liked to say, and he opens it up. Sure, it goes along steady, but instead of saying online classes till the end of the year, he sends schools and colleges back and boom, numbers explode. Another lock down comes three weeks too late and it's four times as worse as before."
I was stating fact there.
"So failed the people, in a way yes. Opening schools instantly put hundreds of thousands of families at risk with their kids unaware that they're bringing the virus home." I said firmly. "But these are unprecedented times, so you can't judge too harshly, but would have been nice for a little common sense to be used. He can see the numbers are school related, but instead of shutting the schools down, he shuts down boozers and restaurants. I think it took real people stepping up to do things the right way and help out."
"So you think the government is out of touch with the modern man?" He asked.
I knew he wanted a juicy answer to this question, he too believed that the government was and still is making a hash of things, but I wanted to stay away from controversy.
"I think they could do with looking at things through others eyes." I said diplomatically. "MP's and other government officials live very different lives to a lot of people. I think they need to get out of those corridors of power, get out there and talk to the common people. You don't cut numbers to look good by taking out one of the little things not giving off big numbers, you aim at the biggest, schools, colleges, universities, and set up ways you can still educate them without leaving the house. You don't cut the tail off the snake, do ya?"
By his smile, I could tell he was impressed by my answer, maybe more to the point, me agreeing with him.
"So hypothetically, should you become mayor of your town, will you be looking for stricter rules?" He asked with serious look on his face.
"All hypothetical." I said, wringing my face in to thought. "I think it's easier to handle in a small town than it is in a whole country. I won't control people, you have to give trust to get trust, but there's certain things I'd look at and deal with the places causing the bigger numbers. Thankfully, our small little town doesn't have big numbers. I'd be looking at trying to get tests for the whole town and go from there."
"Every thought about running for Prime Minister here?" He said with a joking laugh.
"You never know mate." I said returning the laugh. "I can't wrestle forever after all."
I didn't believe my long term future was politics for a second, being a mayor in a small town could be fun but the realistic side of it was it was unlikely to happen. I spent a lot of money in a house on the island of Jersey, off the coast of England. Once I retire from wrestling, if Evie is done too, it looks like sadly we'll be leaving Maine, which is a little sad for me, cause I love Maine, I love the people, it will always hold a special place in my heart.
"Although after years of wrestling." I continued. "I think I'll be looking for a less stressful activity rather than running to try and run a few countries."
"So is there a plan for after wrestling?" He probed.
"Not really." I admitted. "I sign a yearly deal at the end of every year, I get to the end of every year and say sod it, still got another year left in me, I can still do this. With that thought, I'll probably be wrestling till I drop."
"Well speaking of wrestling, a few hours ago, it was announced your match for two weeks time, against a wrestler I rate very highly, Alex Jones." He stated.
"Yeah that took me by surprise." I said with a smile. "It's a match that needs no build up, needs no hype, it's a match you put in any company in the world at a moments notice and the fans and Internet blow up."
"As soon as I heard about it, I was very excited." Piers agreed. "It's two of my favourite wrestlers in one ring."
"It's gonna be a hell of a match." I said with a smile. "I have the ultimate respect for Alex Jones. He came in to SCW and people took notice, he's picked up a couple of belts, and sold his divisions well. This was something I wanted a long time ago, it's a match that I'm absolutely looking forward to."
"I think we could all see your thoughts when you were on screen, just by the look on your face." Piers said with a laugh.
"That was like the first time I'd heard about it or I would have been banging on about it forever." I admitted "And mate, let me tell ya, rush of emotions. I dunno how Alex is gonna play this but I respect the fella as a wrestler, as an athlete, as a leader. It's clash of two former champions, it's big stuff for me. If you can beat Alex Jones, you mean something in this business and I wanna mean something more than just who I am."
"The show is on the twenty second of this month and you can see it online?" He asked, again, already knowing the answer.
"You can catch it at scwrestling.net." I said. "Go to the site for start times, I'm not sure what time the show is actually starting because there's a lot of matches, so the start time might be dragged forward a bit, but there's some top matches on the card and it's really gonna be worth a watch."
"Excellent." Piers said. "Well Ben, thank you for joining us this morning. I'll let you get to bed. Good luck on Sunday and thank you for doing all the hard work you do back home."
"Cheers Piers." I said with a nod. "It's been my pleasure."
And with that, the interview ended and I switched off the laptop. I stretched out as I stood up, it had been a busy day and a long plane ride home. It really was time to get up and go to bed. So I walked past the Christmas tree and went to bed.
RECOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD SCRATCH!
Christmas tree? In November? I don't know how it got there either, this is what happened.
Yes, Christmas tree in November - Now that's what you call a segway people in to this scene. Yes, it was November and my house was done up like Santa's living room. I know, it has to be me, right? I love Christmas, I really do, but November, it's a bit early for me, this was all Evie.
You heard that right, this was all Mrs. Jordan!
It all happened one day last week...
"Ben, go out and get some air in your lungs, you haven't left the house for days." Evie's voice said as I was slouched on the sofa.
It was morning, I hadn't been up for too long and I felt drained, I felt tired, I felt like I couldn't be arsed to do anything.
"I can't be bothered." I told her.
I don't know what it was that got me, but I was so tired lately and I didn't wanna leave the house. I knew I should but meh, didn't wanna. I was happy just sitting around.
"Just get out there and get some air in your lungs." She told me. "You've been sitting around for days not wanting to do anything, it's about time you did, you'll feel better for it."
It probably would help if I did get out the house. I just didn't want to.
"Have you started Christmas shopping?" She asked me.
"No, it's November. As a bloke, that means I don't start till December 23rd and panic." I said with a smile.
Evie was having none of it as she put her hands on her hips.
"Ben, you need to go and get something for Nan." She said very firmly. "You know it's gonna take a while for you to send home and you know she likes the handmade stuff, not stuff you can buy off Amazon."
Evie had me, she knew which card to play there, but I was suspicious. Why was she trying to throw me out of the house? I think the look of suspicion on my face had caught her attention there.
"And while you're there, could you pick up my dry cleaning?" She said with a sweet smile on her face.
HA HA! I knew it! She wanted me to pick up her clothes from the dry cleaners. I knew there was a reason - Well, that wasn't the reason, that was a genius card played by the wife to misdirect her own misdirection. When you think about it, it was pretty cool.
"And when ya done there, the bar will be open." She reminded me. "You can go have a beer and lunch or something. Be around people you don't work with for a change."
Suspicious mind started kicking in for me again, my wife encouraging me to go have a beer?
"And you can bring me back some takeaway from the bar for lunch." She quickly added.
My suspicion dropped once more, Evie was strong on her misdirection game today, but me being of all innocent mind, I didn't expect it to be anything other than Evie trying to get me to go get lunch and pick up her dry cleaning. I didn't know it was a very clever rouse to get me out of the house and away from things.
"Alright." I said standing up. "I'll be back about two."
"You don't have to give me a time to be back." She said looking at me, dead in the eye. "Stay at the bar for a bit if you want, just remember you're driving. You haven't seen people outside of work in ages, besides, I wanna watch some reality shows."
Another misdirect from Evie, her game was on fire. She knew I wasn't a fan of reality TV shows, and knew I would rather be anywhere else, other than watching them.
"Later tonight it is." I said with a cheeky wink.
So good people listening to my story, I got myself ready and off I went. Half an hour later, I was walking back to the car with Evie's dry cleaning going in to the back seat. I took a stroll down the main street. It was like something you'd see in one of those Christmas movies me Nan back home would spend all day watching any day of the year. It was picturesque, with a lot of independent businesses that got me thinking.
"If I did become Mayor, I couldn't shut all these places down without giving them some help." I muttered to myself.
I also didn't think I could pay them all out of my own pocket either if I'm honest, I knew the only thing I could do at this point was support local businesses and local people. It's what I did, I wandered up and down the main street, in and out of stores and spending money on Christmas gifts not only for Nan, but for the whole family. I even picked up a ton of gifts for the kids at Oasis. I got so wrapped up in all of that, I didn't realise I'd been here for hours and time was already rolling past two in the after. I didn't know that until I loaded the last box in the back of the car and took a glance down at my watch.
"Bloody hell." I said spying the time. "Do I go home or?"
Well, Evie did mention the bar and lunch from there, although it's creeping more towards dinner time. Be rude not to, right?
"Quick pint, pick up lunch, go home, sorted." I told myself with a firm nod.
So I quickly jumped in the car and drove the five minutes up the road to the bar, which was daft really, I walked past there four times just hunting for gifts. I went in and out of so many places, I needed a shoe store because I was burning the leather right off mine. Anyway, off I went to the bar, I had a pint and lunch and very much debated a second pint, but you know, driving and all. Last thing I wanted was a pull from the plod. So I stuck to the one people, like the good boy I was, and went for a soft drink as I looked up at the television screen by the bar.
"Evie will still be watching those reality shows." I told myself to justify another coke.
More time passed and I put in an order for what would now be dinner for Evie. I knew she'd have probably been snacking while watching those shows anyway, so I knew she wouldn't be waiting on me. As soon as it was done, I was out the door and in the car and driving the short distance home. It was weird, I stopped outside the house to see Evie waiting outside for me. Not gonna lie, panic kicked in that either she was real hungry or something had happened. I jumped out the car as quickly as I could.
"Is everything alright?" I asked her in a worried tone.
"Perfectly fine." She replied. "I knew you'd be back at this time and I wanted to show you something."
My mind started to wander on what it could be and my heart started to face in my chest. Evie looked at me calmly as she pressed a button and the whole outside of the house lit up with Christmas lights. I was stunned, I didn't have the words.
"I got a head start on the Christmas lights." She told me. "Come on, come inside."
"Your dinners in the car..." Was all I could mutter out.
Evie smiled at me.
"Never mind that for now." She said taking me by the arm and leading me in the house.
She walked me in to the main room and I couldn't believe my eyes. A huge Christmas tree was set up in the corner, fake snow on the windows, the whole room beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations and scenes.
"It's amazing." I said with a tone of surprise. "I haven't been gone that long."
"You were gone long enough." She said proudly, tugging at my arm.
"Just... How?" Was the only thing I could ask.
How indeed! Thing is, I don't know how, or what transpired that day I went out, but I think I know a lady who might be able to explain that to you a little better.
I can't say for sure, but you might find out in Evie's promo... Ya never know ya luck.
I thought it was only fitting to sit under, or near the Christmas tree to have a chat about my opponent at High Stakes X. I mean the tree was up, the house looked like Santa's Grotto, Bear had checked his calendar four times to make sure he didn't fall asleep and wake up in December. It was a nice place to be at night with the fire on the go one side, the lights of the tree on the other.
"Alright people." I said with a little smile as my face turned toward the camera.
My face lit up with various colours from the tree.
"When I showed up for work on Sunday, I didn't exactly know what I was gonna do." I said honestly. "I knew Evie was gonna go ask for that match to be confirmed of her own, but I couldn't help but think they've forgotten all about me, and just saved on a match. I thought they woulda sat there and gone we got enough to do, looked at Wolfslair and gone nah, their two top people are in the co main event, and a third is defending a title, no need for another on the show. then bam! Outta nowhere, I see Alex Jones Vs Ben Jordan and it felt like at that time, the whole world stopped for a second. I could not believe my peepers seeing that on the screen. I was blown away but didn't have a chance to react before Pussy Willow appeared."
I thought back, she got there quicker than most would, maybe she takes this reporter job more serious than most.
"My mine was racing to the point, I barely remember what I said." I admitted. "It took a plane ride back, an interview with Piers Morgan and a pint before it really sunk in. I'm facing Alex Jones!"
Inside, every time I mentioned his name, I felt respect.
"When you showed up in SCW Alex, I could not believe I was going to work at the same place Alex Jones was now working." I said with a smile. "I'd known the name and face for a long time but I never got to be in the same building as you. Now I know we haven't really been around each other, our career paths in SCW have lead us in different directions, until High Stakes X. What a time for those two paths of ours to cross. What a time for two out of the last three former World Champions to meet, the longest serving two out of those three might I add."
Was that a slight against Griffin Hawkins? Probably, I don't know really.
"I'm pretty sure the fans have been wanting this for a long, long time Alex." I said, pretty sure it was the truth. "I'm a wrestling fan myself, have been for years, and I think back to before I got in this game and think if I could see Ben Jordan go against Alex Jones, it's something I wouldn't shut up about for weeks. It's something dreams are made of, it's something people want to see, and me as this all grown up wrestler wants to be a part of and here I am, a part of it."
This match genuinely made me excited. There's been matches in the past where I've been very meh like and not been excited to be a part of, I may have said I was excited at the time but the novelty had worn off by the time the music started playing and the bell was rung.
"I make plans for everyone I face, different plans and I'm flexible to do the same thing against you Alex but the difference is with you and everyone else I face, plan A just won't cut it." I said with a slight nod. "I know what you can do between those ropes and I know I'm gonna need more than one plan. I've seen you rip people down with ease in so many different ways, you've actually made me think about myself here. Usually, I'm the kinda bloke who sits there, makes a bit of a plan for what could come at me, but I'm thinking a lot more about attack, best form of defence is attack to me. Score one more goal than the others, that's all you need to do to get through these things, but with you, my mind is working a little differently. You know as well as I do, with some guys, they go forward with the same old plan against everyone and it works, but you do not, you mix it up. So now I'm sitting and thinking about what plans you can come at me with and I've figured out I need to get down to plan F to stand a chance against ya. Well I'm gonna push it to plan Z, because I know I might just need it."
I honestly have come up with a lot of ways to try and counter what Alex Jones can potentially bring to me. I have thought about a lot of ways to not only counter Alex, but also ways to surprise.
"I know this sounds like I'm giving you a little more respect than I should, but don't mistake that for an easy ride, or a hole you can pick through Alex." I said with a firm tone "It's far from that, it's something that can drive my chunky aris on. Beating someone you have that level of respect for proves something to yourself, and lately, I've been thinking I got a lot to prove to myself. I've dropped to wrestling one match a cycle, which is what I want at this point, but it means every single match I wrestle, that one Climax Control match, those supercard matches, means I want to put on the show to end all shows. I wanna give it my all. In my head, this is an amazing match without a championship belt on the line, but I'm thinking that there is a belt on the line and it's gonna drive me on to beat one of the best wrestlers to ever pull on the boots."
It's a real drive for me.
"Thinking that there is a belt on the line drives me on." I stated. "But I'm not just adding that in there, I'm thinking my career is on the line, my life is on the line and that means no matter how hard you hit me, I will shake it off, no matter how many time you know me on me aris, I will pull myself back to my feet, no matter how many pins you get on me, I will kick out at two. I'm not coming in to this match overrawlled by the man I'm facing, I'm coming in to this one thinking I can win, knowing it would take my last breath for me to lose this."
I knew in my heart this could be a career defining match. If I win, it could give me the spur I need, the kick in the rear to look at Jack Washington or Austin James Mercer and say I'm coming for that gold once more. Alternatively, it could tell me I just can't hang at this level anymore and drop down to the bottom and start all over again, build myself up in to who I used to be.
"This will no doubt be my biggest challenge in a while Alex, but it's one I feel I can overcome." I said confidently. "It will not be as easy as some of the challenges I've faced in the past, but I believe in me. I believe I can do this and get through my toughest challenge in a long time. No disrespect to other opponents but this to me is the hardest challenge that has been put to me in a while and I do love a good challenge Alex."
I did, and I knew there was a huge chance Alex would kick the daylights out of me and move on. This is what made this match have a touch of extra spice to it. For the first time in a long time, I'm not going in to a match as a favourite.
"And come High Stakes Alex, this is gonna be one challenge I will, without a doubt, rise to." I said with a firmer nod. "This is the challenge I've needed for a while, the challenge that will either relight my fire, or show me a lot about myself. This is the one Alex, the one that's gonna send me flying up or send be dropping like a bag of spuds. It will be a pleasure to share a ring with you, but I'm confident that by the end of the match, my hand will be raised."
I felt like I've waffled on long enough so it was time to end it there.
"Anyway mate, I will see you at High Stakes X." I said. "Good people out there, makes sure you give this match a butchers, because this one can steal the show. I'm coming to bring the best Ben I could possible be. Till then, stay safe."
I wink at the camera.
"Laters people."
And with that ends another Ben Jordan promo. Be good out there people, I'll see you on the 22nd.
