A few months ago
Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Golden Ring Casino is alive with patrons trying to win their fortune, and set themselves in to an early retirement, which in turn, only helped it's owners, London Underground become a step closer to retirement. The camera focuses on Jamie Dean, sitting at the bar, looking at his watch and waiting. His wait quickly finishes as Samantha Marlowe approaches him.
"Hi darling!" She says with her soft southern tone.
Jamie spins around, seeing Sam and quickly standing, reaches his arms out wide and wrapping them around the little redhead.
"It's great to see you!" Jamie says with excitement in his voice.
The two hug at the bar for a few seconds to let me moment sink in that it is the first time they've been around each other in a long time.
"I was so excited when I got your messages to meet me." Jamie says with a grin, but Sam's reaction changes.
Sam brushes the hair from her eyes as she steps back from hug, looking at Jamie with a confused look on her face.
"My messages?" She says with a tone of surprise in her voice. "I got a message from you and a plane ticket sent to me."
Jamie looks equally confused as he rests his hand on Samantha's shoulder.
"No..." He says as he trails off. "I got a message from you, and a plane ticket asking to meet you here at this time."
"Looks like you two have been played for mugs." Daniel J Morgan says as he approaches them from behind.
The two turn around with a jump, but the owner of the Casino smiles at them, raising both his hands.
"It seems that Mr. Bear wanted you both here at the same time." Daniel informs them.
"Mr. Bear, huh?" Jamie says with a grin. "I know a few bears I've called mister before...."
"And now I'm gonna have nightmares." Daniel comments. "But if you'll follow me, Mr. Bear is waiting for you in a private gambling room."
Daniel points across the casino and beckons the two to follow him before turning on his heels and walking away. Cautiously, Sam and Jamie follow Daniel across the crowded floor to a room to the side and lifts a key card, holding it to a reader. A bleep and a lock opening follows and Daniel opens the door, leading them in to a room with a blackjack table set up and a serve yourself bar.
"I'll leave you to it." Daniel says as he slips past them and out of the room.
The two's eyes are instantly drawn to a chair with it's back towards them, not showing who is in the seat.
"Mr.... Ahem, Bear?" Jamie says slowly.
A few seconds pass and the chair spins around to show.... Bear! Ben Jordan's lovable Akita dog just sitting in the chair looking at them. Jamie and Sam look at each other.
"Bear...?" Sam says slowly "You sent us those messages?"
"Don't be silly ginge." Ben Jordan's voice can be heard saying. "He's just a dog, he's got no fingers."
Jamie and Sam's head turn towards the bar and Ben stands behind it looking at them with a wide smile on his face.
"I mean it would be pretty impressive if he could, but using a phone to send a message is a bit out of his range, but his poker game is getting better by the day."
Ben walks from behind the bar, prompting Sam and Jamie to rush towards him, wrapping their arms around him in a three way hug.
"Where the hell have you been?" Jamie says loudly. "No calls, no messages, disappeared from Social Media, so where the hell have you been?"
"What he said but twice over" Sam adds. "And how did you do the message thing?"
"Well if you two will let me go, I'll let you know." Ben says with a grin. "Take a seat or something."
The two release their grip on Ben and move towards the table, sitting down and Ben moves to the head of the table.
"Well, to answer the message thing." Ben starts. "Live with a spy for all those years, you tend to pick up a trick or two, wasn't difficult getting you both here at the same time."
"You could have just called." Jamie says bluntly.
"Yeah, but where's the fun and drama in that?" Ben says with a cheeky smile. "I mean what is life without a little mystery?"
Ben walks around the table and sits at the other end, next to Bear.
"Where have I been is a difficult one to answer." He says tapping his chin. "Things haven't been good, or bad, but they have been slightly on the one extreme to the other side of thing. Mentally, I wasn't in the best place and I had to get to the bottom of them and the truth was, I wasn't happy where I was. My passion had gone with pretty much everything, things I used to love, I stopped caring about, things I liked doing, didn't have it in me to do anymore."
"We could have helped." Sam says with a touch of concern in her voice.
"I was beyond help." Ben says as he looks at her. "For years I've been able to do what I want, when I wanted and even with all the money in the world to the point I could do anything I wanted, I wasn't happy. I went travelling again to give myself that spark back in to life, saw some great things. I gave money away, I went back to London just to smell the smoke and sit on my fave park bench. I watched some football, tried to get back to the old me."
"So for months, you were just reliving your youth." Jamie comments.
"Well, not only that." Ben says with a shrug. "I was also going through a divorce...."
Stunned silence filled the room as Jamie and Sam look at each other with open mouths, stuttering for words as they look back towards the calm Ben.
"Way to bury the lead..." Jamie finally managed to get past his lips.
"Look, if you never saw that coming, then you need a trip to Specsavers mate." Ben says with a smile.
"What happened?" Sam mustered up the courage to ask.
Ben rubbed his chin as he looked at Sam.
"We were closer then close, she felt like my best friend, like the person I could rely on for everything I wanted in life." Ben says with a sigh. "But we became two different people in two different places in life. I guess I was slowing down while she was speeding up. She was making something of herself making more money, while I was happy being that guy who knew I had enough money for life and didn't have to worry about working for anything anymore."
"Do you still talk?" Sam asked.
"Not really." Ben says. "She's off doing her thing taking over the world, and me and Bear here, we're just a couple of bums knocking around the world."
"So everything you own together?" Jamie questions.
"All gone." Ben tells them. "House in Maine, house in Jersey in the Channel Islands, both gone. I guess she kept the New York one, that was always hers. Businesses sold directly to her, I got a lot of cash out of it, more so then I started with."
"Are you ok?" Sam asks Ben, the concern in her eyes shining through.
"I'm sad about it." Ben says with a false smile. "It's one of those things where ya meet someone and thought they'll always be there. Who would have thought a bloke from the East End and a girl from Australia would have clicked the way we did and yeah, it was sad when she went, and I know she'll surface again and I hope she's happy, really do, but it was time for us to move on. I mean who knows what the future holds, but I am ok in general."
Sympathy fills the room from both Jamie and Sam as they look across.
"Wait..." Jamie says picking up on something. "You sold your houses?"
"I did." Ben says with a smile. "Made a pretty penny off them too."
"So where have you been living?" He asks
Ben ruffles the fur on Bear's head and looks across at Jamie.
"Where ever we want." Ben says with a grin. "We've got up in the morning, and said to ourselves what do we want to see? Where do we want to go? What place does the best whatever and off we go. Hell, me and the fella here would be watching restaurant shows and think something looks good and we'll pack up and fly across the country."
"Just like that?" Sam says with a raised eyebrow.
"Just like that." Ben repeated. "I don't actually own anything other then the plane, the expensive cars, sold them, my possessions that wasn't sentimental, gone. I mean I got some stuff that means something to me being looked after by a family member in London, but that stuff barely fills a room. The expensive clothes, gave them to a charity shop, gave most things to charity shops. Even sent a few things this way."
"Wait a second..." Jamie says slowly. "That huge donation of stuff to make a games room at Oasis..."
"Yep, sent direct from the Channel Islands." Ben says with a grin, "You're welcome."
Jamie stares at Ben with a look of surprise on his face.
"My point is, I have a suitcase, a bag I can throw over my shoulder and that's it." Ben tells them. "No matter where I go in the world, that's all I need."
"You can't really do that forever Ben." Jamie tells him. "Everyone needs a place to call home."
"Maybe your right JD." Ben tells him "but this world mate, it's a stunner. there's places around that can blow your mind, seriously. For me to pick a place to call home proper, I need to make sure it feels right and I'm open to anywhere in the world."
"Anywhere in the world?" Jamie questions.
"Well, not Australia cause everything tries to kill ya there, or New York, ex wife might try to kill me there." Ben says with a chuckle. "Don't fancy a mud hut somewhere. Maybe I'll buy a private island or something."
"You could buy a ranch in Texas?" Sam adds. "There's some great one's there, Bear can run for miles."
"Only time this guy runs is to the kitchen when there's some bacon on the go." Ben says with a smile.
He looks at Bear who seems to tilt his head with an agreeing nod.
"See, he agrees with me." Ben says with a smile. "But I might need a place in Vegas for a bit, or nearby."
"Oh?" Sam says with a questioning tone.
"Well rumour has it that a certain little wrestling company is bringing back a couple of tag titles that I haven't won yet." He says with a smile. "And I love being a completionist with certain things so I wouldn't mind getting my hands on those things and I have the perfect partner in mind."
"I don't think SCW will let me do that, even if I did lie and say I identify as a woman." Jamie says with a wink towards Ben.
"Not you, ya plum." Ben says holding back a laugh. "I was talking about ginge there."
Ben points his finger towards Sam who looks surprised by Ben's train of thoughts.
"I don't know..." She says slowly.
"We've teamed before and been bloody good." Ben reminded her "So close to Blast From The Past winners, so I think we stand a real shot at this, not half a shot, not a little shot, but a real shot at winning those championships."
"I'm still not sure." Sam says scratching her head.
"I think we should discuss this over bacon." Ben says with a grin. "Lots of bacon, all the bacon in the world I'm thinking."
Bear didn't need to hear anymore as he jumped off the chair and made his way to the door. Ben stood up and prompted Jamie and Sam to stand up too.
"I think it's a good idea." Jamie says with a nod. "I got the perfect team name too."
"Yeah?" Ben says as he walks past him.
"Well, we were Team BJ." Jamie says with a wicked grin. "You two could be Team BS!"
Ben rubs his hand on his forehead, trying to hide a smile.
"Never change JD..." He says as he heads towards the door.
Well, discussions were had, bacon was eaten, fans took selfies.... With Bear, and all was agreed, Ben Jordan and Sam Marlowe were well and truly in!
Earlier today.
A park in Phoenix, Arizona is alive with people enjoying the now summer sun, beating down on the bright green grass. A fountain can be seen in the fore shot, the sun shining down on the rippling waves as drops of water hit the pool below. The camera spins around to see Ben Jordan sitting on a bench, his bacon loving, loveable pet, Bear sitting at his side. The camera moves closer to Ben who clicks his fingers, causing the scene to freeze, the gentle breeze through the grass stops, the camera shows the fountain to be frozen in time and not a muscle is moved from anyone walking past. The camera switches back to Ben who smiles down the camera.
"Alright people." Ben says with a smile.
He lets out a long sharp breath.
"Been a while since I've had to say that and have a little rabbit with you all about a match, been a bloody long time since I've had a rabbit." He says with a serious look on his face. "I seriously hope I'm not too rusty at this thing, I mean a lot of things have changed since we last spoke people, a lot in my personal life has changed but what hasn't changed is my love for you lot, so cheers for all the good messages sent and all of that."
Ben holds his hands together in the shape of a heart.
"It's literally bonkers on how many times I've nearly stepped back in the ring, but you lot know my history, you lot know that I am human enough to get depressed and suffer from stress and anxiety." He admits. "You lot know just how it goes, and I nearly ended up in the Blast From The Past tournament, straight up people, I nearly did that but I wasn't all there yet, I wasn't in my own head yet, and thankfully, SCW got some very late sign ups to get that thing going without me, which was probably for the absolute best, I didn't wanna make myself look like a plonker, but I'm sure you're now all wandering what state of mind am I finding myself in these days."
Ben taps his chin and lowers his eyebrow, waiting just for a few seconds for his thoughts to formulate.
"I feel pretty damn spiffy at the moment." He says with a smile on his face. "As one chapter ends, another one starts and when I heard about those Mixed Tag Team titles coming back, I said to myself Ben, you've done a lot in wrestling, you've done a lot in this world, but you've never held those Mixed Tag Team championships. You've won everything else but those Mixed Tag belts, you've never had the chance to hold them. You should have had a crack at it a long time ago but you never got the chance to be that guy, but now you do. You've won everything else, so why not go and win these things?"
He tilts his head as he looks down the camera.
"Why not indeed." He says with a slight grin. "I won't lie, I ain't always been the most reliable guy about over the last couple of years, I've come back and hit the wall pretty quickly cause my head wasn't screwed on and I'm sure some of you people might be thinking this is just another one of those moments where I come back, not a lot happens, I bugger off again. I'm sure people see my name on the card and thought of not this guy again. A few months back, you might have been right and I might have buggered off again, but not this time. Not a chance, cause there's a new lease of life in me at this point, there's something in me that I haven't felt in a long time, the passion is there, the passion is back and those Mixed Tag Titles are going to make me drive faster, drive further, push harder and what a way to prove to the world that I am capable of doing it, then going against two world class opponents."
Ben stopped for a second to catch his breath before continuing.
"Tempest is seriously phenomenal." Ben says seriously. "Honest to God, this woman should be going after the top people in the division because she really is that bloody good. Probably the most underrated star on the roster. Thing I like about Tempest is she knows her role in this place and she gets on with it. Go against whoever wants to go, accept fights with smaller people because they want to test themselves against someone bigger and plays the part lovely. I can honestly respect that and that could get people to believe these championships are no less then what you deserve again. I know you've tasted that gold before and I know that you want to taste it again. You know what it's like to be that champion and I know what it's like to want to regain what you lost, I've been there, so I almost feel bad for being the guy that is gonna stop you from qualifying for that bug supercard match, but the urge in me to show the world I still got it is too strong. It will be an honour to share the ring with ya Tempest, but I gotta do what I gotta do."
Ben looks down at Bear, who turns his head to look back at Ben. Ben strokes him on the head before looking back down the camera.
"And the person in the ring going up against me is an absolute SCW legend. Well, lets be honest, he's a legend everywhere he goes..." He starts "Austin James Mercer."
Ben pauses to let it sink in a little.
"This ain't gonna be the first time I've shared a ring with Austin and I hope it's not my last." He says genuinely. "Because every time I'm in the ring with that man, it is absolutely magic. I mean I pride myself on being good, I pride myself on giving it all and I do, but when I'm in the ring with Austin, things flow proper, things are something else. It seriously is what was put on the card for me, it's a dream match and if I did it fifty times, it would still be a dream match every single time because of the respect I have for that fella. I know I sound like I'm fangirling but I am telling ya straight, there's not a wrestler on the planet who has worked with him that would say anything differently."
Ben waves his finger.
"But it doesn't mean I respect him too much and that's gonna cost me." Ben says with a slight shake of his head. "It doesn't mean that I'm getting in that ring and becoming all star struck and all that stuff at all. I mean of course it's a pleasure to share the ring with him but it will be more of a pleasure to beat him and move on and join the other teams in the big match. Beating someone like Austin James Mercer isn't just bragging rights, it's momentum, it's like a slingshot to the stars, it's a high that you live on, that motivates you to feel invincible, that makes you feel like you're walking amongst angels, it's what you need to do if you want to give confidence. I know many would baulk at taking on someone like Austin, might even have a little accident in your undies, but I'd rather push myself against Austin James Mercer then say Bill Barnhart, because the win means more. No disrespect to Bill but the absolute buzz of winning differs between opponent, the thrill of winning changes depending on who you're up against and Austin is an absolute shark. You wanna get the wins over the sharks. I mean imagine it, you're out there fishing, you feel a bit of a tug, do you wanna land that shark or that minnow?"
He tilts his head as if he's waiting for an answer.
"You're going for Jaws mate, all day long." Ben says with a wink. "And that's who Austin is, he is the shark in this and that's what you aim for and the confidence I'm gonna get in myself after defeating a man like Austin is gonna be unreal, it's gonna be absolutely madness. Add that thrill to my experience, drive and the fact that I got a Hall of Famer as a partner and there's gotta be teams sitting there wondering how to stop us, because I'm pretty sure whoever wins this match on Sunday with us and Tempest and Austin, are going to go through favourites to win the whole thing, surrounded by the hype, the buzz, the feeling that they can't be stopped and believe me people, I want that to be me and me ginge, I want it to be us going through and I am gonna stop at nothing not to let the ginge down, not to let myself down, and not to let the fans down. I've done that once too often and it's time for me to not let them down, it's time for me to show the that this return is not gonna be the ultimate let down like so many others have been."
A look of determination crosses his face.
"The Ben Jordan over the last year, eighteen months has been a let down to you all and a let down to me personally." He admits. "It's been hellish at times and I've let a lot of people down. I disappeared from friends, I disappeared from family, I disappeared from fans, but that stops now. I will no longer be a let down, I will no longer put myself through that, I will no longer let anyone down. That is why it starts on Sunday where I start making up to everyone for who I became, I will show you that you are never wrong to back me. The stage is set perfectly for this big comeback, not a random match with random people who you've never heard of, a match with consequence, against two respectful opponents, a match I get to team with one of my closest friends, a match that has importance. What better way to show you all that Ben Jordan is back in a big way and he is not in the mood to disappoint one single person. The Cockney King is back to eventually rule over the mixed tag team division. The Cockney King is back to show you all that things are going back to normal around here, where you're not getting a version of the best Ben Jordan there can be, you're getting the absolute best of who Ben Jordan was, and who Ben Jordan is right now and believe me good people sitting and watching this, that is the best Ben Jordan you've ever seen. World champ Ben was pretty damn decent but trust me when I say this is gonna be a whole new level of Ben."
Ben rests his hand on Bear's head and gives it a slight tussle.
"The past is the past." Ben says with a smile. "And I wouldn't change it, but the future, it's gonna be bright as the sun. Everything starts with one little step and this is my little step towards being a champion again and frankly, I can't wait."
He grins widely.
"Well, I think you've heard me prattle on for a bit now, so it's time for me to disappear..." Ben says with a firm nod.
"Hey prat." Sam Marlowe's voice can be heard saying as she walks on to the shot, taking a seat next to Ben.
Ben raises an eyebrow at Sam and points around to all the people frozen in their spot.
"How did you....?" He asks "I mean everyone else stopped but you just have a wander around?"
Sam smiles and shrugs her shoulders at Ben.
"I guess you're just still a bit rusty at this whole thing." She says with a warm smile.
Ben sighs as he looks down the camera, rolling his shoulders back with a shrug.
"Tempest, Austin, I'll see you both Sunday." He says with a quick glance towards Sam.
Ben winks as he looks down the camera for the last time.
"Laters people!"
Ben clicks his fingers and the scene around him starts to move again, Ben smirks at Sam.
"Rusty my arse." He says with a chuckle.
Sam smiles and rolls her eyes at Ben as the scene fades to black.
