Sunday 24th April.
I couldn't actually believe it, the energy from the crowd was insane. They say you feel a proper buzz from the crowd when there's a lot of people in the same place for the same reason but this wasn't just a buzz, this was electric, pure electric, nothing but electric zapping through the air, there was something different about it. The crowd were drooling at the mouth to see Mac Bane Vs Fenris, they were excited the second the card was announced, hell I was excited because I got to be this close to ringside. There's front row and there's beyond the barrier and I got to be beyond and I gotta level with ya, it wasn't just about watching one of my closest friends in the ring against a man who has constantly sung my name like an X Factor contestant, Mac Bane, a fella who came and scouted me against Godly Ken Davison, and then went quiet when he got to pick his poison. There was another man there at ringside, another man with interest in this match.
Chris Page.
Yes, THE Chris Page.
I like to keep my fingers on the pulse of wrestling, not because I wanna be the boss some day, that stuff seems seriously stressful stuff what with the people moaning, trying to get in people's ear, all of that malarkey, it's all very political at times and if I wanna get in to politics, which is possible, I'd rather do it for the greater good, not a wrestling company, plus the finance side, geez, that must be an absolute mare. I am a guy who liked to look at other people and learn from them, a lot of the time, indirectly. When you look for people you know you can learn something from, then Chris Page is near the top of the list of legends.
I ain't blowing smoke, let's just face facts, the man is that good, he's had a career that has been one so many wanna live up to and there he was across the ring from me, watching on just like I was.
I couldn't help but look across at him constantly during the match because I wanted to see how his mind worked and I could see him watching the match closer than most do, I could see him write down mental notes after every move. If you could see a thought bubble over his head, that would have took the crowds attention to him without a doubt. There he was on the other side of the ring to me with a look of concentration on his face, the crowd drown out, just there to look at what was going on in the ring.
I guess I was a little envious of his mind as my eyes flicked back and forth between the match and Chris Page, but I don't think he even noticed I was knocking around there. His focus was one what was happening in the ring and I was in awe of him.
I thought that was the closest I'd get to Chris Page, and yeah, it was nice being in the same general area as him. Nice being involved in a match with him by standing at ringside. I didn't know what was just around the corner for me.
Anyway, you saw how the match ended, and it was a bit disappointing, two warriors went in and no one came out with their hands raised. As a fan, I woulda felt slighted in a way. Two men going to war for that result and I felt the disappointment as I walked through the curtain with Fenris. Max stood waiting for us with a couple of water bottles.
"Great match." He said as he handed a water bottle to Fenris and then to me.
"Shit ending." Fenris barked.
It was clear the Icelandic MMA fighter was not in the best of moods and when he's in those kinda moods, you tend to steer clear.
"Dunno what ya moaning for mush." I said to Fenris with a grin. "Was a good match, people were in to it, you got to smack Mac Bane in the gob a few time."
"Not enough times." Quickly came the reply from Fenris
Aron appeared, draping a towel over his brother's shoulder, which trust me, was a good thing, sweating all over the place.
"You still looked good out there." Max told Fenris. "Shame about the result but there's always next time."
"And next time isn't far away." The voice of Christian Underwood could be heard saying as he approached us from behind.
I snapped my head around, seeing the boss smile as he walked with a confident stride towards us, clear that he was a plan with a plan as usual.
"A little while ago." Christian started. "Chris Page and I made a deal that would allow him for an SCW match and I think that time is next week."
I arched an eyebrow in curiosity. Christian had instantly walked over and grabbed out attention just like that.
"So I'm thinking Mac Bane and Chris Page Vs Fenris and Ben Jordan, next week." Christian said full of confidence and swagger.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing from the boss himself, in an instant, I was standing at ringside with Chris Page to be across the ring from Chris Page, me, wrestling Chris Page. I did hear that right? By the way Max was looking at me and Fenris and nodding with approval, I guess I did hear that. I am gonna be in the ring with Chris Page!
"Earth to Ben?" Max's voice dragged me out of my slight drift in to the realms of fantasy.
"Yeah, sorry, drifted for a second there." I admitted. "What's going on?"
"Fenris is heading for a shower, and we'll hit the town?" Max questioned.
"Yeah." I quickly replied. "We should get a few others involved. Maybe hunt for Myra, and that young lad who you beat earlier, Miles. He seems like he'll be entertaining on a night out."
"I'll find Myra, you find Miles." Max says with a nod.
"And you." I said as I turned my head towards Fenris. "You go for a shower, you're stinking up the place. Smells like Billingsgate Fish Market around here."
"Where?" Fenris asked seriously.
I pointed away towards the locker room by my mind was on one. I get to be in the same ring as Chris Page AND Mac Bane. One gets my respect, the other gets a slap.
Anyway, so the rest of the night turned in to a little bit of a party, you don't wanna hear about that, right? Nah, didn't think so. I do have another funny story though....
RECOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD SCRATCHY SOUND!
You're probably just jumping in to this and wondering why I'm sitting here holding a glue stick. Well, there's an explanation for that and it all starts in Fenris' promo. Yes, we did inter linky promos like smarty people, so go, skip on over there and have a butchers on not only why I have a glue stick in my hand but why Fenris has his fish lips glued together...
Never thought I'd ever say that.
Good old Fenris had managed to glue his lips together, I know we've all wanted to do it at one point or another but he'd done it himself. What a lovely day!
I looked at the glue stick and looked towards Fenris as Max took a seat in front of Fenris.
"Well, there's good news and there's bad news, which one do you want first?" I asked as I glanced towards Fenris.
Muffled sounds came from the Icelandic wrestler.
"Well come on, speak up." Max added, only to get a frown in his direction.
As Max smiled towards Fenris, I looked at the glue stick, pretending to read the label.
"The good news is that it's not like gorilla glue, it probably won't last forever." I told him. "Maybe two or three years, five if we're lucky. The bad news is you're gonna have to learn to eat with your nose and ears."
"Maybe we can blend down a pizza in to a smoothie just for you." Max suggested.
"There's a bird on the roster who's a bit of a wannabe chef." I said looking at Max. "I think it's Ariana Angelos, could be one of the other people that hang with her, can't remember at the moment but maybe she can come up with some ideas of smoothies we can give him."
Fenris eyes widen as he shakes his head, he had been subjected to one of her weird concoctions in the past and now had a healthy fear of anything the woman could make.
"I think she can come up with a ton of good things, like steak flavoured cookies." I offered.
"Ahmm mmmmm mme-gan" Was the sound coming out of Fenris' mouth, just a sound no ones.
"Did you say mmmmm sounds good?" I said with a wink "Cause I think they would be."
"I think he said he's a vegan." Aron explained. "He doesn't eat meat."
"You two read each others minds these days?" I asked with a grin.
"I don't think it counts as eating meat if we're shoving it up his nose." Max said with nod of his head.
This was actually a rare opportunity for us to actually pick on Fenris for a change, the man has a sharp tongue but when he can't actually use it, a lot of that power is gone. We can poke the bear a little here without the fear of being called a tosser or worse.
"We need to find a way to get that glue off." Aron said, showing more concern for his brother than Max and I.
"But do we?" Max asks, his eyes darted towards Aron.
"Yeah." I added "Do we? This is the quietest he's been in years, he's actually listening to people cause he can't speak and the more he opens his mouth to try and break the glue, the more he looks like something out of a horror story and that's funny stuff mate."
Aron glances towards Fenris but Fenris looks back at his brother with stern eyes.
"We should probably do something." Aron softly said, not a statement, not a question, perhaps feeling the wrath of his brother later.
"Well Max." I said looking at him. "I think we're gonna have to come up with something."
Max and I mockingly tap our chins as we look towards Fenris.
"I'm thinking crowbar." I said to Max. "We get it right in those rubbery fish lips of his, angle it way up high. Then get a ladder, about fifteen feet up or so. Climb up and jump down with a double foot stomp on the end of the crowbar, popping those things wide open. Sorted."
"Might pop his head off." Aron offers.
"That's a risk we're willing to take." I said with a quick wink to Aron
"How about fire?" Max suggested. "We just burn some of his lips off where the glue is and he'll be able to talk again."
"He does have a lot of lips to spare if we're honest." I pondered. "But the real question is do we really want him to talk again? I mean he's probably thinking in his head about all the nasty words he's gonna say to us when we free him from his captivity."
We all looked towards Fenris who was nodding his head up and down, with a smile on his glued lips.
I knew of a simple solution to fix the issue but I found this way too more entertaining to watch him squirm for a while. An opportunity like this doesn't come along every day, hell, it doesn't come along any day to have Fenris in this position.
"Should probably call David though." I said in general. "It's the one chance Fenris can't say no to him."
I could instantly feel the heat coming from the direction of Fenris but I couldn't stop myself making the comment anyway. I could see the frustration in Fenris starting to rise. I mean this is the longest he's gone without speaking while he's been awake since he was a baby I would think. It must have been driving him potty just sitting there unable to speak, but for us, it was actually heaven. It was the most peaceful things had been for a while
"Could take you to a hospital or something." I suggested.
We all watched on as Fenris shook his head fast, instantly reaching to his lips and trying to pull his lips apart. It was a gruesome sight to see him try but it wasn't budging at all.
"Do we take that as a no?" Max asked.
Fenris stopped for a second, just to look at Max and nod before trying again.
"I guess there's one thing we can do." I said quietly.
"What's that?" Max asked
"Take a selfie!" I said with a wide smile on my face. "Everyone get in!"
I quickly moved towards Fenris, standing next to him as Aron moved to the other side and Max jumped in behind him. I quickly pulled out my phone and hit the camera, moving it around to get us all in the picture before quickly taking a shot of us all. A few seconds and a couple of taps later, the picture was sent elsewhere.
"I think Eves would get a kick out of that snap." I said, confirming that the picture was already being sent to my wife.
Fenris rolled his eyes at us he leaned forward, shaking his head from side to side as he looked forlorn.
"Well I dunno about you lot, but I could murder a pint." I said with a grin. "Fancy one Fenris?"
It was a cheeky question but I couldn't resist. Fenris tried to speak but nothing but muffled sounds came from him.
"What's that?" I asked. "You wanna be the designated driver today? Sure you can buddy! No taxi for us, we got us a driver lads!"
I pointed to the door and Fenris and Aron got to their feet, Fenris defeated as he walked slowly towards the exit. Max stops me as I attempt to walk past, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"You know you can dissolve most glue with something like nail polish remover, right?" He said in a hushed tone.
"Of course." I replied with a wink. "I'm just not gonna tell him that, I'm enjoying the peace."
Max and I shared a smile before heading towards the door behind them.
So you probably wanna know how this ended, right? Well, we went for a drink, well, three of us did, Fenris sat there with the right hump. We tried to get him to drink through his nose but the bubbles really didn't agree with him. We think he said something about them burning, but we couldn't understand a bloody word he was saying. Eventually the glue wore off, took a while but it got there in the end. The rest of the night...? He made up with shots and turning the air blue with his language and yep, we ended up getting a taxi home, don't drink and drive kids. Well, there ya go, that's an experience in Lesbos you don't get every day!
I dunno what draws me to the sea but something always does, something always makes me look for hotels on the seafront. I guess it's because part of me misses Cuba, misses walking out the front door and looking at the sea right there. Maybe it was London living on the river, Jersey, the original Jersey, not the new one in America, or even the lake in Maine. Something about me and water fits so on an Island tour, this bloke is at home and I made sure to get a hotel where I can look out the window and see water. That's what I did and now I found myself on my balcony late at night with a camera, and the sea in the backdrop, Lesbos lit up with lights from houses around the island. I was fairly high up but it added to the beauty of the night.
"Alright people." Ah, my classic opener.
I smiled down the camera.
"What a beautiful night in Lesbos to sit and have a natter with you all about something coming up on Sunday." I started. "Something bigger than I thought I'd be doing on Sunday to be honest with ya, I mean who woulda thought I'd get to sit here and talk to you about facing Chris Page."
I was still stunned to be honest with you all, absolutely stunned.
"A legend in our sport." I said honestly. "And he's getting in the ring with me, now that is something for the bucket list, something we can tick off the list. When I came back to SCW at the start of the year, I did wonder what was in store for me, if I was gonna be able to keep up, if I was gonna get the big matches against the top guys around and so far, I've beaten the guy who was the Internet champion at the time and I've beaten a former SCU Underground champion, and now the matches just keep getting bigger and bigger because no offence Mac, but Chris Page has made this match the biggest since I came back."
I was smiling through disbelief.
"Your SCW debut Chris and I hope it leads to more matches in SCW." I said seriously. "I hope this is the first of you resurrecting your in ring career and having a hell of a run here. I'm just sad that this didn't happen before, that this didn't happen years ago. I'm just sad this is the first time me and you would have crossed paths because I woulda given up so much to defend the SCW World Championship against you when I had it. Defeated the best out there is the way to build a legacy and I would have loved to have had a crack at defending my belt against you. I know you're a busy fella with all you're doing across so many places but I hope this match against me and Fenris gives you the urge to get back in to this and come on and face me more often."
I really was hoping that.
"But my guess is I know more about you than you know about me." I said with a wag of the finger. "Because I tend to do a lot under the radar, so I'm gonna tell ya as much as there's clearly a bit of respect from me, it doesn't stop me being confident that I can actually beat you come Sunday. I mean I go in to every match with a little bit of healthy respect, I go in to every match with the mindset that I am gonna walk out winning and if I don't, it don't wind me up, I just get up, dust myself off and get on with it again. I don't have people calling foul for me, I just get on with it, but it doesn't stop that confidence flowing out of me, it doesn't stop me feeling that I could beat anyone when I get in the ring. You may be a legend, you may be a man who people will line up for hours to see, you may be a guy I would queue up for hours to see, but I step in that ring, I look at those people and my heart goes in to everything I do in that ring and a lot of the time, it overwhelms man and legend alike."
I could start to feel that confidence flow through me.
"I look back on all I've done Chris." I said sincerely. "Everything, the long runs I've had without losing, the championship belts and although so many people out there doubt me and have done for a long time, I ain't done yet and I won't be done for a while. If I can beat someone like you, then they'll all sit up and take notice again, they'll all be keeping their peepers on me. They'll all be looking at me and my stock rises, but I ain't in this match for that Chris. I wanted to wrestle a true wrestling legend and that's what I get to do. I get to take on someone who has made a mark in this business and although the eyes might be on me if I beat ya, it's not about that for me. It's about the experience and I'm looking forward to being in that ring with ya."
I actually meant that.
"But you Mac." My tone changed to more serious. "I'm getting in the ring with you for a whole different reason, a very different reason, because it's about time you saw what you had a hand in bringing back. I heard you mention my name and make some dodgy comments and you've said to me whenever I was ready to step up, you'd be waiting for me. Mate, I was ready to step up a long time ago but you hid behind Blast From The Past, you hid behind Matthew Knox, it was like you called out the big kid, then changed ya mind and beat up the little guy instead. You spoke about me time and time again and well, in big Mac Bane style, nothing happened. You absolutely dodged me. You came and watched me against your heavenly buddy, or former buddy, I don't know anymore, you lot confuse me, and you still dodged me."
I kinda wanted to get under Mac's skin, I saw something in his match with Fenris and how he reacted to Fenris getting under his skin.
"You've been that big mean dog barking behind a tree, yapping away, while the gates been open right next to ya and ya haven't run around to bite." I said firmly. "You've been all mouth and no trousers as we say in England, all bark and sod all bite. I mean you could go and have a punch up with a guy in a parking lot after a show ended but you sit there yapping away about me and you couldn't throw a single punch my way? How does that even make you look at this point? I mean you call on me, I come back, and you hide away, you throw punches after shows, you hand pick a guy to suit you, not for the challenge and I've been standing here all along, waiting for you to punch me and nothing, not even a little dig."
I intentionally made myself sound disappointed there. Maybe there was something in me that was disappointed in the situation.
"You coulda come for me any time and you decided to sit there and tell me to come step up to you." I said firmly. "I've been trying, you've just been too busy elsewhere but now there is nowhere to run Mac, we will be in the same ring at some point, we will be face to face, now you gotta ask yourself are you gonna put that big old frying pan hand in my face or are you gonna hide behind Chris Page and tell the world everyone wants to see him fight?"
I must be mad begging Mac to hit me, but ya know.
"You got your chance to really send a message Mac." I said with slight authority. "And my inbox is empty just waiting for it. There's nowhere left to run, nowhere left to hide, nowhere at all, at some point, we will be face to face. You've gone quiet chatting about me, but now you have no choice to put my name back in your mouth and I ain't gonna lie, I can not wait to get the chance to punch it right out of it."
Now that I did kinda wanna do.
"It's food for thought Mac." I said with a firm nod. "It's the first time you've really come up against me since my name got stuck in your mouth, and it's my chance to punch another world champion in the mush and I ain't letting this chance go."
And I wasn't gonna.
"So I'm gonna leave you with that Mac, I'm looking forward to seeing ya." I said with a smile. "and I'm looking to seeing Chris Page for a whole different reason. Till Sunday...."
You know what's coming.
"Laters people."
And with that, the camera moves past me to show the beautiful island of Lesbos before fading to black.
