I do love an SCW tour! I mean who doesn't? The places they take us are unreal, the sights we get to see are just amazing, the things we get to do could turn the most easy going bloke, in to a jealous mess. We're kinda blessed in a way to be doing this and we pay a high physical price for it but man is it worth it. Ever since I've worked for SCW, I've seen some truly amazing places, I've been to countries years ago back home pulling pints, I would never have even dreamed about and here I am years later travelling the world. Taking away where I've been on my time off, so far SCW has taken us on a tour of the Greek Islands, where I got to meet some amazing people, we've been on the yearly cruise which was as always brilliant, because being around those fans make it that way. Now, I'm still here having a rabbit with you from another amazing place. I'm talking to you from a place people call The Pink City, no, it's not a strip club, it's a place rich in culture, with three forts from olden times, lots of palaces and the worlds biggest cannon on wheels!
I'm in Jaipur, India! How amazing is that?!?!
Most people can only dream of going to places like this, a place of pure history and culture in one of the most populated countries in the world and here I am!
You wouldn't believe that so many of these people have such a passion for wrestling, it's unreal. I've been in the country for a couple of weeks, doing the public relations stuff I do for SCW now, last week and this week focusing on the biggest match I've had since I came back at the start of the years, and every person I've spoke to have this huge passion for what we do. It's a bit humbling if I'm honest with you, well, more then a bit humbling. Every person I've spoke to on the street, in the hotel, anywhere actually knows who I am and what SCW is. The Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium holds over thirty thousand people, thirty thousand! I know a lot of top seats will be taped off and floor seats added but thirty thousand people mate! The place is gonna be absolutely heaving, there's gonna be so many people, it's gonna be louder then most places because these guys are passionate about us, and I'm telling ya, it's gonna run close to the Madison Square Garden show SCW did.
I am getting a little excited just thinking about this whole thing, it's gonna be bonkers. These guys know us all, these guys respect what we do. India is gonna turn the level up to a bazillion come Sunday with this card.
I know it's easy to get caught up with thoughts like that and it brings on the butterflies a bit but they say it takes two to tango, and well, it's more then a tango when you hear who you're facing in front of that crowd.... Mac Bane! Yes, SCW World Heavyweight Champion, Mac Bane. The guy who dipped his hands in glue and then in glass to beat the hell out of someone, yes, that Mac Bane. I'm stepping in the ring with a man who put his career and really, his life on the line not so long ago, just to get back that big prize and score a little revenge. I'm getting in the ring with a man who has fought so many and came out on top. Bloody hell.....
Did I mention it could be in front of thirty thousand plus people? I did? Again, bloody hell!
People have wanted this match for a long time, I think I have too. What started out with a few digs at each other over the last seven or eight months, there's been a little respect between Mac and me over the last couple of months. We have shared a kind word and a beer or two, we both shared concerns over wrestling, we've spoke sports, although he's bloody rubbish at giving me gambling tips on American sports though, but this match gets the old juices flowing and gets everyone a little excited and we both know stepping in the ring on Sunday, the roar of the crowd, and buzzing in the air, all of that malarkey, we know respect gets paused, but enough about that just for the time being, obviously later, I'll have a little more of a chat about things and try and get some points across.
We, as wrestlers, are always at work to a certain extent, a lot of the time, we can only be ourselves when we're at home. In public, you wave the Sin City Wrestling flag all the time, you try and make yourself open to fans. I'm sure our concert loving wrestlers get spoke to at gigs all the time, our bar people have many conversations with other bar patrons and still have the whole wrestler vibe going on. This is enough at times to put people off from going out as much but not me. I love soaking in everything a country has to offer. I mean back home, I'm just Ben who lives over there, but on tour, people get excited but it never puts me off on having a little nosey around a country or being a complete and utter tourist, I love to do it. I love seeing things with my own eyes that I've only read about and now I'm in Jaipur, a city that has so many things to see that will blow your mind, that will make you lose your breath at any given moment.
My mindset is that I might only ever be here once, tomorrow is never promised, so I couldn't help myself but pick up the camera and explore this amazing city. I had to get out there at the risk of being mobbed, I had to put the thought of thousands of fans watching me face the SCW World Heavyweight champion out of my mind for just a little while.
It was time to see some of what this wonderful city had to offer.
"Where the fuck are we going?" Fenris' voice demanded to know as Aron and I walked either side of the never happy Icelander.
I could feel his eyes looking at me through his dark sunglasses. He wasn't a happy bunny when I told him to pick up his stuff that he needed for the day because we were going to explore. You people know what he's like, a gym rat that tries to get poor sleeping things like me, up at 5am for a run.
"Told ya happy." I said with a wink towards Aron. "We're off to see some of this city, and going to a place where you couldn't go back home."
He grumbled under his breath and Aron smiled towards me, knowing his brother was not the biggest fans of surprises.
"I set it up earlier." I told him. "These guys were happy to give us a bit of a tour when it closed to other tourists."
"How did you manage that?" Aron asked.
"I basically said my name and the reply was about me being a wrestler and I said yes and well, rest is history." I said with a casual shrug. "Apparently we've been the talk of the town since SCW announced a show here and here we are. Surely you two have had people come up to you since you've been here."
"No more than usual." Aron replied. "It's not like Mr Warmth here has an approachable personality."
"Just the way I like it." Fenris replied as we kept a steady pace walking. "Now where are we going?"
I wanted to tell him, but I knew he would probably kick me in the nuts or something and turn around.
"Dunno why ya worried." I started. "You would have only spent your time at the hotel in a gym or something, but you've been walking for a while, you'll get the same amount of cardio doing this and you get to see this lovely city."
"At least you can see it more clearly." Fenris replied.
"Oh your vision is coming back." I told him "You can still see some stuff. I mean come on, this place is stunning.... Just a sec."
I quickly reach in to my pocket after seeing an interesting looking building and pull out a camera. An aim, point and shoot later, I had a snap shot of the building.
"Such a fucking tourist." Fenris muttered under his breath.
"Such a happy chappy." I replied a little louder.
We continued to walk but I could feel eyes on us from the people around us this evening. People pointed and looked towards us, and I knew it was wrestling related, I knew we'd been recognised. Well, lets be fair, we are hard to miss and do stand out a bit, but no one really approached us until we got closer to our destination. Two teenage children, a boy and a girl along with what we presumed was their mother, came closer to us, bowing her head in respect.
"I'm sorry." She said with a heavy Indian accent. "You are Ben Jordan, yes?"
I smiled at the woman.
"I am and this is Fenris and Aron." I said pointing at the brothers.
"My children are big wrestling fans, we are coming to see you on Sunday." She told me with a shy tone, not making direct eye contact with me.
"That's great love!" I said with a warm smile. "We can't wait for you to see it."
"Can my children have a picture taken with you?" She asked me.
I could almost hear Fenris roll his eyes from behind the dark sunglasses he was wearing. He wasn't a photo with the public kinda guy but he already knew what I was gonna say.
"Of course." I said with a wave of my hand.
The two teens moved in front of Fenris, Aron and I, Fenris opting to go for the moody look as usual, while Aron and I offered a smiling face. The mother held up her phone and snapped a picture of the five of us.
"Thank you so much." She said with another bow. "A thousand blessings to you all."
I instinctively returned the bow, and instantly wondered if I did the right thing. I was still very rusty on Indian culture.
"Beat Mac Bane." The teenage girl said to me.
Once again, I could hear the roll of Fenris eyes.
"I will do everything I can to do that sweetheart." I said with a quick, sharp nod. "Now you guys have a wonderful day."
The three moved away from us at that point and we continued our walk to where I had planned on taking us.
"Do you ever have a day off?" Fenris asked me. "Everywhere we go, you have selfies taken with everyone or pictures taken. You must have had your picture taken with everyone in the world by now."
"Cockney King, Selfie King." Aron added with a nod.
"I like that." I said with a grin. "And to answer your question happy, no, I don't take a day off, I'm just a nice bloke like that who will take pictures with anyone, even you. These people are our bread and butter. They put their hands in their pockets to come and see us, in the worst economical times I've ever seen, in times people can't afford it, so it's only nice that we be nice and justify their costs."
"Saint Ben speaks again." Fenris said referencing one of my other nicknames.
"Yep." I replied. "It's who I am."
I noticed more eyes on us as we walked through and the approaches got more and more often the closer we got to our destination. Fenris wasn't pleased that every few steps, we were approached by someone else for another picture or a quick chat. It never bothered me, I was used to it, but Fenris wasn't happy at all until we moved to a more remote area where the faces became few and far in between and the buildings had thinned out to a more countryside feeling.
"How do you do that?" Fenris asked. "Fuck, how do you get anything done whenever you leave the house with reaction like that?"
"It's different at home." I told him. "Or in the places we wrestle regular, people are used to seeing my mug on the street and a lot of the time it's just a quick hello and on with their lives where they can tell the family they've seen me. Here, these people are seeing us for the first time that's not on the box, they're bound to get a little excited. At home, I can pop in to the local for a pint and watch the football and nobody bats an eyelid. It's just how it is with things."
Fenris shook his head at me.
"And here we are." I said pointing at a sign.
I watched Fenris move his head closer to focus in on the sign before looking in my direction.
"Elephant Joy?" He said in a questioning tone. "What the fuck is Elephant Joy?"
"It's a place where elephants sit and smile at ya." I replied.
"The fuck?" Came back from Fenris, causing Aron to laugh at his reaction.
"You get to go learn a little about elephants." I started "Well, usually, but the fella said that we can feed 'em, have photos taken with them and ride them. Mate, I've done a lot of things in my life but ride an elephant is not one of them."
"There's a lot of things I don't want to do in life and ride an elephant is one of them." Fenris snapped back.
"We're here now." Aron said, trying to hide a smile. "We can't sit and ride elephants around Vegas, we might as well go and ride them."
I looked around quickly, causing Aron to look at me curiously.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"When you said you can't ride an elephant around Vegas, I expected Despayre to pop up and say challenge accepted or something." I said with a laugh.
A small Indian man approaches the gate we have reached.
"Mr. Jordan!" He said with an excited tone. "Welcome to Elephant Joy! Please come this way."
He opened the gate for us and the three of us moved in through it. I caught him out of the corner of my eye, lock the gate behind us. I looked around the big open green habituate, and true to his word from an earlier phone call, the place was closed for tourists as it was after hours. The only people that could be seen was the people who took care of these amazing animals. I even caught a look of surprise on Fenris face as we walked through the grassy area towards a herd of elephants.
"Wow..." Fenris muttered under his breath as he looked around.
"Couldn't have put that better...." I replied as we stopped in front of two elephants.
"Now this is Shanti and Rangoli." the man told us.
"Can I get a picture with these guys?" I asked like a kid in a candy store.
"Of course." The man replied before muttering something in Indian.
The two elephants moved closer as I handed my camera to Fenris. Fenris nodded as I moved in front of them. One of them started to move it's trunk up and down the front of my shirt, causing Fenris to snicker and look towards Aron.
"That one must be a female." He said with a laugh.
"The ladies love me." I said to Fenris "But most of them know my missus would kick their arses, and probably mine so ya know...."
"Probably his too." Aron said as he jetted a thumb towards his brother.
Fenris snapped his head towards Aron before looking back at the camera and raising it up and snapping a picture of me with these two lovely elephants. I moved towards the two brothers to have a look at the picture and nod with approval.
"Nice one." I replied. "Go on then you two, your turn, go strike a pose."
Aron immediately moved towards the elephants, but Fenris took a little encouragement before conceding and moving towards them. The other elephant started to rub his trunk over Fenris chest.
"And that one must be a fella." I said to Fenris.
Fenris raised his finger, but I quickly cut him off.
"Say cheese!" I said loudly and Fenris reverted back to his usual moody pose as I snapped the picture. "Perfect."
Fenris grumbled something under his breath as he moved back towards me, looking at the picture on my camera.
"Gentlemen." The Indian man says to us, getting our attention. "Would you like to ride these elephants?"
"No." Fenris said bluntly.
"He means yes we would." I replied, firing Fenris a look. "When we're in Egypt, you can make me ride a camel, pretty sure I've seen a picture of you riding a camel before."
I look in to the camera and wink.
"Fiiiiiiiiiiine" Fenris replied.
The man turned to the herd and made a strange clicking noise, two other elephants breaking from the pack to move towards him.
"If you would..." he said, pointing his hands towards the elephants.
"How are we supposed to get on them?" Fenris whispered.
"Well you get a running start and you jump really high." I said with a grin.
"Smart ass!" Fenris quickly fired back.
The man made another clicking noise and the four elephants laid down on the floor, allowing us the chance to mount them.
"Would have preferred to see you try and jump on one of those bad boys to be honest." I said to Fenris with a grin, only to be met with his middle finger. "Charming."
Well, I'm pretty sure you don't wanna see us ride around on these elephants for a while, although there was a moment where Fenris nearly fell off, and then I nearly fell off laughing at him. That's all I would have needed, calling the boss and telling him I'm injured cause I fell off an elephant, would never have been able to show my face in SCW again. Other then that, the evening went swimmingly and the masala tea at the end of it capped off a decent day in the wonderful city of Jaipur.
I say capped off but I had one more thing to take care of. I had a promo to cut on my opponent for Sunday. It was great having a chilled day with fans and elephants, but for now, it was time to be a wrestler once more...
Selling matches has always been an important part of wrestling and it was time to do that part again, I think it actually comes a little more naturally to me than others cause I could talk the ears off the deaf but anyone can stand in front of a backdrop and just chat away, anyone could sit down with our lovely, lovely interviewers and have a chin wag, we see it all the time on the shows, but I liked to do things a little differently. I like to pick a memorable setting, I like to go to a place where something stands out in peoples minds and I'm in a country that has some amazing sights, so I decided to sit myself across the Man Sagar Lake, just so while you listen to me, the wonderful Jal Mahal is there in the picture. Considering the sun has gone to bed for the night, and the lights over there are lit up like Christmas, it's a quality backdrop. Backdrop aside, I still have a job to do and that's to talk about someone and that would be Mac Bane.
"Alright people." I start with, as usual.
A quick warm smile from me greets the camera.
"First off, what a beautiful country and what amazing people here." I say with a soft, honest tone. "Everywhere I've been, I've been mobbed, I've had fans come to me and talk to me in the most respectful way, I've smiled so much, me boat race hurts but it's been so worth it to be around you lovely lot, thank you."
The Indian fans have been an absolute blast. Such welcoming people.
"And they seem as excited as I am for Sunday to come." I say with a smile. "Everywhere I've gone, it's people talking about me against you Mac Bane. I'm sure you've had the same thing, everywhere is buzzing that after seven months, it's finally happening. You were calling me out last year, I signed a contract to come back for a year to be in the ring with you Mac and all we got was a tag team match, it felt anti climatic, it felt like there was no point to coming back, so for seven months, this match has been on my mind and the fans mind because mate, they have not stopped talking about it to me since I got here. It's finally happening. Everyone expected after Blast From The Past was done, you'd be yelling my name, it had been a common thing for so much of your work leading to that final, my name had constantly fell out of ya gob until you won it and then what?"
I quickly do a zipping motion across my lips.
"Silence." I said softly. "Not a sausage, not a dicky bird and Matthew Knox became in your line of fire. I mean I get it to some extent, the things he was a part of, the things he did to you personally, I get it a million percent. I get that after you lost, there was some revenge to be had, I understand that and you two beat seven bags of manure out of each other at Summer XXXTreme and got that shiny belt back, but it did kill a lot of expectation from the fans. Think back, think hard about what I said when I came back to SCW, I talked about you, I talked about being mentioned, you mentioned me more, the fans got excited, they thought damn, we're gonna see two guys who are a wrestling match made in heaven go out it. The guy with more SCW history against the guy who spends every bloody day of his life making new history. That got the fans excited, that got me excited and nothing happened."
I couldn't help but shrug.
"And it reeled me in to nothingness." I admit. "It made me sit and wonder why I came back, why I busted my knackers in the gym to lose the pizza belly, but this week Mac, I remember that feeling on why I came back when you mentioned my name, I remembered that buzz because these people here in India have reminded me just what a big deal this is. The fire long burned out of me when it came to facing you, part of me went through the stages of grief till I found myself face to face with acceptance, till I found myself looking at myself in the mirror and needing a new plan of attack. I went and took on everyone put in front of me and had a bit of success give or take a King for the Day match. The thought of this match faded but this week, everyone I've run in to have made me feel excited again, they've made me feel alive again, to some extent, so have you."
Mac did it with one tweet.
"You tweeted at me that I have honour for not wanting a championship match." I say with a nod. "And you're right Mac, bang on right, I had to talk Christian and Mark out of it. When they said to me about it and told me I was going against you for the belt on Sunday, I had to raise my hand and tell them I wasn't worthy of that shot, I wasn't at that level. It's weird because I've seen people who would sell their own grandmother for a championship shot. I remember back in the day, long before you got here, but the old school SCW people will remember and the fans will remember the days when Jessie Salco would call out a different champion every week, goad them in to accepting a match with her and beat her, yet the next week, she'd call out another champion. I reckon the bosses are watching this and shuddering at the memory of that, but she was constantly trying Mac, she was calling out the lowest champ, losing then calling out the next level champ and rinse and repeat. I think she must have been the only person in SCW history to face every champion in one cycle and still end it without a belt, so I've seen people who would give up their lives just for a shot at gold, but that's not me Mac. I believe in earning it, I believe that nothing should be handed to you, nothing should be given to you on a gold platter, I believe in doing something big to earn it and when I heard about this match and spoke to the bosses, I told them I need to earn it, I told them I can not potentially be a champion again just like that, I need to earn it. I got the strange look on their faces coming back at me, but it was the right thing to do, and I told them there was one thing I could do to earn it."
I put up one finger to emphasize that point.
"And that was to beat you without the belt on the line." I said honestly.
I knew that in my heart, that was a risk, this might have been my last shot at a major title but I also knew I had to do the right thing.
"This was the right thing to do." I say seriously. "I knew in my heart Mac that the right thing to do was to prove I could hang in the ring with you, I knew that there was no other choice but to beat you to earn that championship match. I don't wanna be one of those fellas who got the shot based on the past, I don't wanna be one of those guys who got the shot without a big win under my belt, I don't wanna be the guy who could possibly start off a championship run with people yacking behind my back that I didn't deserve to be in the match in the first place. You are a good champion Mac, three time, right? Not many people can have that claim to fame, and not many people can carry the company like you did. If me or anyone else is gonna get that belt off ya, they need to hit the ground running and I ain't running just yet, but a win over you me old mucker and I ain't just running, I'm sprinting like a bloody lunatic. I'm breaking world records. It took some talk but Christian and Mark saw it my way and that in your eyes, gives me a little bit of honour, adds to the saint Ben thing, but it also gives me that little bit of motivation."
I look to the side at the Jal Mahal before looking back at the camera.
"It gives me the mood, the urge to do better because I've been around this place a fair old time, lot of my wrestling career was here in SCW." I comment. "And I've seen the roster stacked beyond belief where it was tough to get at the top because the talent was immense, but I ain't blind these days, we're working with a thinner roster and I see that spot at the top next to you, I see there's a gap on that mountain you sit on. I can see all it takes is a little bit of a run being put together to get up there. I am putting together that run and I see the chance to get up there by beating you Mac. I see the space just below where you are, is empty cause you're so far ahead of everyone else on this roster, you're in a different league but I win on Sunday, just get that win and I'm right there behind ya, I'm right there near ya and people are gonna be looking at me seeing that I am legitimate, I'm not living on past achievements, I'm still a threat, and I can still be champion. People will be looking at me saying now a shot is earned."
I nod slowly.
"There will be people who will go against me of course." I say with a shrug "But there will be a lot of people sitting there thinking the next supercard, Mac Bane defending the championship against yours truly would be the icing on the cake to say hello to the fall. This is my motivation a bit Mac, the fact you lit a little fire under me again with a tweet, me knowing that this could be all or nothing for me if I wanna show the world I still have what it takes."
I really did.
"People are not silly, they know we had a beer or two on the cruise." I say with a smile. "Well, five or six, but they also know that when I'm on form, when I'm on fire, I can change the who path of my career in one match. I've done it so many times and this is one of those matches that regardless of what happens in that ring, my path changes. If I win, people are gonna see me as the biggest threat to your title that you can possibly have, if I lose, I know I'm going to go back down the bottom and look at it in a different way, work with people I want without the pressure of being a champion, and yeah, I know the pressure, I get to work with the lower card, I gotta build myself up again. Either way, after Sunday, my career path will change once more. I know what direction I want it to go in."
I point upwards.
"And only I can get it to go that way Mac, only I can push myself in that direction." I say as I lower my finger. "No one else can do this but me. I know I said when I faced Agostino, it was a chance to turn the tide and start to get back to who I was and I did just that, I flipped the tide around and I started moving upwards and I need to continue that Mac and come Sunday, if I can get past you, get myself back in that main event scene, that tide continues to flow the way I want it to. That's the goal mate, and you're gonna be facing one hell of a motivated Ben Jordan, and that fella, just like this thing beside me."
I point to the Jal Mahal.
"Is an absolute thing of beauty." I say with a wide smile.
I take a deep breath and look deep in to the camera.
"I think I've chatted your ear off long enough so it's probably time for me to knock this one on the head." I say as I push my lower lip out. "But I'm gonna leave you all with this thought. Come Sunday, magic could happen, come Sunday, you good people who have called for this match all year could see something very special. If I was you lot, I wouldn't miss it for the world, because it's gonna be bloody good."
A wide smile crosses my face.
"Anyway you lovely lot, time for me to go. I'll see you all on Sunday." I say with a nod.
I quickly wink at the camera.
"Laters people!"
And with that, the scene fades to black.
