The camera fades in to Ben Jordan sitting in a brown leather chair with a sombrero on his head and wearing a bright green shirt. He smiles down the camera.
"Hola amigos..." he starts "And alright people!"
He winks down the camera.
"Hope all you lovely people are doing well on this fine day." he says with a smile. "I'm Ben Jordan and here I am knocking around in the lovely country of Mexico as we look forward to Sunday's Violent Conduct IX and it's gonna be an absolute cracker of a night. The whole card looks proper decent. All over the place, proper wicked card and of course, yours truly is on it."
He fires a thumbs up towards the camera.
"I get a shot at gold and it's gonna be pretty sweet people." He says calmly. "But you know how these things work from time to time. I sit here and give you an introduction and then show ya what I've been up to all week and Mexico has always been a blast, I used to come here all the time with..."
He trails off, looking away from the camera for a few seconds before coming back to make eye contact with it.
"Well, I used to come here all the time." He says recovering quickly. "And I love this place but it's been the first time I've been here in a while without a band of gold on my finger so as you can imagine, a bloke in Mexico with not a lot holding him back, could have a very bonkers time around here and this week has been just that."
He closes his eyes and shakes his head.
"Absolutely bonkers." Ben says again. "I didn't have to do the media stuff as such, like interviews and what not, I am what SCW calls a boots on the ground bloke. That pretty much means I go out there and meet proper people in the cities and towns we're in and talk them in to parting with their hard earned wonga and picking up the last few tickets or signing up to the SCW Network to give us all a butchers and we thank you all for that. That's pretty much my job so that's exactly what I did. I got me bum ready and I went for a wander around the place and met a bunch of lovely people, who I spoke to and got them either buying tickets or the show, proper salesman over here, but good people wasn't the only things I met."
Ben grins widely before continuing.
"I met meself a new four legged friend that can party like an erm..." He delays for just a second. "Like an animal."
Ben scratches the side of his cheek.
"Kinda helps if you are an animal but still." He says with a shrug. "So yeah, Mexico has been a whole lot of fun this week, but I know what part you wanna see. I mean I mentioned it so I'm guessing you very much wanna see what I'm prattling on about when I'm talking about a new four legged friend, right?"
Ben cups his ears with both hands.
"I'm gonna take a punt and guess you said right to that." He said with a little smile. "So lets show you just what happened when the Cockney King met Guti!"
Ben waves his finger around in a circle.
"Roll that stuff please mate." He says with a thumbs up.....
"Ben?" The southern toned voice of Sam Marlowe could be heard saying. "Ben, wake up."
Ben blinks his eyes but quickly shuts them as the sunlight hits his pupils.
"I know you're awake." Sam says impatiently "So open those eyes."
Ben takes a few seconds and attempts to open his eyes again, but quickly shuts them
"Nope." he says bluntly. "Not doing it, too bright, someone turn the sun off please."
A few seconds of silence passes before a splash of water hitting Ben's skin could be heard, causing the Englishman to sit up straight.
"I'm up, I'm up..." He gruffly says. "I'm.... huh?"
He looks around, trying to figure out his surroundings, and focuses his eyes on a swimming pool next to him.
"I'm confused." He says slowly.
He looks down at his body, seeing himself in white shorts and a pale blue buttoned up, short sleeve shirt. Next to him sit a sombrero.
"Result!" He says happily.
He reaches for the Mexican hat and picks it up, putting it on his head and smiles as he blocks out the sun from hitting him in the eyes. He looks around to see himself poolside in his private rented villa that he had been staying in for a few days.
"Boy, you have a lot of questions to answer." Sam says with a chuckle. "But we'll start with an obvious one."
"Is the answer seven?" Ben says sleepily.
"No." Sam quickly replies. "Who is that?"
Her arm points beyond Ben and towards someone or something in the distance. Ben turns his head to see a goat aimlessly wandering around.
"That's erm..." he starts to mumble. "That's erm Goat."
"His name is Goat?" Sam says confused.
"Actually his name is Guti Olmo Alonso Torres." Ben says rubbing the side of his head. "His initials spell goat, so I called him Goat."
Ben puts his finger up.
"Just a sec Ginge." He says to Sam.
Ben looks directly down the camera, away from Sam for a second.
"Now I did something very clever with that name, and most of you won't pick up on it." He says with a cheeky smile. "But if you do, I will buy you a pint and a bag of pork scratchings. Anyway, back to the story."
Ben looks towards Goat and gives him a thumbs up before looking back at Sam.
"And why is Goat the goat here?" Sam asks. "How did you end up with a goat walking around here, hmm?"
Ben looks at Sam with a tilted head and taps himself on the chin.
"So I was at this posh thing last night." Ben starts "And I was being my pleasant charming self and they had this goat as a pet, called Goat. I was standing there and all of a sudden, Goat started choking on a peanut, so I jumped in and saved his life."
Sam rolls her eyes at Ben before raising her eyebrow at him.
"Right..." She says slowly. "Now what really happened?"
"Funny story actually." Ben says with a slight smile.
Que the harp music and a flashback to the night before. Ben, as mentioned, was a boots on the ground wrestler for SCW when it came to drawing in a crowd and being in Mexico was no different. A lively busy street came in to focus and Ben walked down, drawing the glances from people who recognized him. It only took a few seconds before camera phones were pointed in Ben's direction and Ben stopped to pose for a few fans.
"Hola." He says with a grin as camera flashes went off around him. "Hope ya all good!"
He stands still for a few seconds, waiting for the phones to be returned to their pockets before he gave them a final wave before moving on. He heard loud music coming from the other side of the street and quickly looked towards it.
"That place looks alright." He utters to himself. "Seems pretty touristy, might be a few here on holiday that I can rabbit in to coming to the show."
He looks both ways before crossing the narrow road, leading to the other side and moves a little closer to the source of the music, passing through people before finally catching the neon sign of a bar.
"Looks nice." He muttered to himself.
He took a few steps closer but a chalkboard caught his eye, causing him to smile widely as he read the sign out loud.
"Meet GOAT, the shot drinking goat!" He says to himself, unable to stop himself from smiling at the thought. "Only in Mexico!"
The sign was enough to convince him to go in and Ben walked towards the door of the bar, peering inside for a few seconds before walking through the door. He looks around at the busy dance floor area, watching people shake to the music and get their groove on before turning his attention to the bar. He shuffled over to the bar and looks at the barman.
"Where's the goat?" Ben says excitedly. "The shot drinking goat?"
The barman looks at Ben and nods his head to the other end of the bar where he does indeed see a goat.
"You buy the drinks, Guti will drink them." The barman says with a heavy accent.
"Mate, if he can drink them, I'll have a shot competition with him." Ben says with a smile "and I'll buy them all night."
The barman nods and takes a bottle from the back shelve and nods his head for Ben to follow him down the bar. Ben walks down the bar and the barman clicks his fingers towards the goat, who quickly looks at him and moves towards a bar stool and jumps up on it.
"Gotta be a mountain goat." Ben says to himself with a smile.
He watches the barman pour out two shots in two glasses and place one in front of Ben and one in front of the goat. Ben picks up his glass and lifts it to his lips and the goat reaches his head down and somehow grips the glass. With a quick jerking moment, the goat whips his head back and drinks the shot and Ben follows suit. The goat drops the glass back on the bar and Ben grins widely.
"Other then watching Fenris fall off an elephant, that could be the greatest thing I think I've ever seen!" He says holding in a laugh.
Ben looks at the goat and then the barman.
"Keep 'em coming mate." Ben says pointing to the glasses in front of the goat and himself and watches the barman do as he's told.
AN HOUR LATER.
A clearly drunk Ben sits next to the goat at the bar with his arm around Guti the goat. Ben waves his finger.
"I'm telling ya my old mucker." Ben says. "Some things in life ain't worth the hassle, like some women, like I was married and stuff and it didn't work out, you get me goat.... Hahaha, get me goat! But yeah, was it worth it? Yeah, but like the way I see it, I was so angry when it all went Pete Tong and mad, you understand what I am saying?"
Guti the goat nods his head at Ben as if he can understand every word Ben says.... Or maybe it's just the way Ben is recalling it...
"And like being angry wasn't worth the hassle." Ben tells Guti with slurred words. "So one day, I got up, cause I was staying in a motel or something, or maybe I was on a beach, I dunno, I can't remember and I said Benjamin! It's time to stop being angry so you know what I did?"
Guti makes a noise towards Ben.
"That's right!" Ben replies. "I went and found a pizza place and I got a pizza and wasn't angry, no pineapple on it though. Hey! Do goats like pineapple on pizza."
Guti looks at Ben with what can be considered an angry look on his face and shakes his head.
"But you guys eat tin cans, right?" Ben asks.
Guti this time nods his head up and down.
"What about tin cans on pizza?" Ben asks tapping his chin in thought.
Guti the goat this time shakes his head at Ben and makes another noise towards him.
"You're probably right." Ben says with a slow nod. "Tin and cheese probably don't mix too well."
Ben looks at the barman.
"More shots for me and my buddy here!" Ben says as he points to the goat.
The barman rolls his eyes but pours anyway.
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH MACARENA!" Ben's voice can be heard shouting as the screen switches.
The middle of the dance floor can be seen and Ben is smack dab in the middle of it, with a sombrero on his head, drunkenly dancing around and Guti the goat stumbles around him in a circle.
"I am more of a dance machine then those dance machine thingys, what are the called again?" Ben questions himself. "Oh yeah! Dance machines!"
Ben continues to dance as he shouts down at the goat shaking his head.
"You know what we need me old goat friend?" Ben asks as he looks down. "We need shots, shots, shot, oh yeah, shots, shots, shots, and chocolate!"
Guti nods in agreement...
ANOTHER THIRTY MINUTES PASS.
Ben and Guti stumble out of the bar, both their faces covered in chocolate and start to wander down the street.
"Where did you get that chocolate from?" Ben asks. "Cause you the man goat! Or goat man.... New superhero name. Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh GOATMAN!"
Guti nods in agreement and the two wobble down the road.
"Hey, are you any good at playing cards?" Ben asks him. "Cause I got cards!"
TWENTY MINUTES LATER.
Ben and Guti sit at opposite sides of a table, Ben holding five cards in his hand and looking at the goat across the table from him with an intense look on his face with a pile of money between the two.
"I got you this time Goaty McGoaty!" Ben says as he adds more money to the pot.
Ben flips the cards over to show four kings.
"Have that goaty!" Ben says proudly as he reaches for the money but Guti hits the table and flips over his cards, showing four aces. Ben looks down in disbelief.
"Oh bloody hell!" Ben says with disappoint in his voice. "I can't believe you beat me again!"
Back to the present, Sam looks at Ben in disbelief.
"So you met a shot drinking goat, got wasted, danced with him, and lost money playing cards?" Sam says shaking her head.
"And got chocolate..." Ben adds.
"And got chocolate" Sam quickly repeats. "Then fell asleep here?"
"Well, that's the long and the short of it yes." Ben tells her. "Bigger mystery is who gave me this sombrero."
Sam slowly shakes her head at Ben.
"If it was any other person, I wouldn't believe a single word of it." Sam says seriously. "I would think it's some chubby guy sitting in bed writing a story about a character he made up."
Ben puts his finger up to Sam, turns and looks directly in to the camera and winks. He looks back to Sam.
"Forth wall breaking again, huh?" She says with a smile.
"It has to be done sometimes." Ben replies with a wink. "On with the not so forth wall stuff."
"Because it's you, I believe it happened." She tells him.
"I've had worse nights." Ben replies.
"Anyway." Sam says to Ben. "Time to shake yourself out of your stupor, so we can go and do something today."
Ben stands up slowly and shakes his head at Sam.
"I need to sober up a bit first." Ben tells her.
A wicked look appears on her face.
"I got a cure to sober people up quickly." She tells him. "I'm been reading about it on the internet, I don't know if it works, but you can try it if you want."
"Sounds like a plan..." Ben says to her with a smile.
Sam looks directly in to the camera and winks before nudging an unsuspecting Ben right in to the pool. Ben lands hard causing a huge splash.
"Damn it Ginge!" Ben yells out as he wipes his hair out of his eyes.
"Well, did it work?" Sam asks him with a cheeky smile.
Ben opens his mouth to yell, but he shrugs his shoulder and nods.
"I think it did." He says surprised. "Cheers Ginge."
"Anytime!" Sam says with a laugh.
The camera goes back to Ben in the pool.
"Alright. Let's send this back to Ben sitting in a chair, probably wearing that sombrero, ready to cut a promo." He says. "Back to you Ben!"
The camera fades back in to Ben sitting in the chair, sombrero still on his head as he smiles down the camera.
"Thanks Ben!" He says with a wide smile. "Love Mexico, but obviously, there's a reason that's brought me south of the border down Mexico way and that's obviously that big old mixed tag team championship match."
Ben smiles down the camera.
"Not gonna lie to you people, I've been looking proper forward to this one for a while." He said seriously. "It's a big match against two top people and a chance for me to win something I've never won before. I've won every other title, I've been at the top of the mountain and I've had some low times, but you get to a point in life where you want to be remembered and I want to be remembered as the bloke who has won it all, has done it all. I mean we only get once shot at life and lately, I've seen that anything can end out of nowhere. You might not know it but you could be smiling at people for the last time, so we need to sit here and leave your mark on this world, leave something behind that you're gonna be remembered for."
He looks thoughtfully down the camera.
"And I could be remembered for a few things." He says humbly. "The charity work, the whole Saint Ben thing but when it comes to this business that we choose to be in, it's about making a professional memory that will last a life time and for me, I want it to be the guy who held every championship in SCW and I only have one to go, those mixed tag team championships."
Ben waits for a few seconds before continuing.
"It's actually gonna be one of my toughest challenges yet." He says with a tone of honesty in his voice. "I know you can sit there and say that me and Sammi are more experienced, more ready to knock a couple of young 'uns off their perch but actually, you might be a little surprised by how tough this challenge is. I'm not gonna sit here and look down on anyone at all here because we were all young once in this business and a lot that went on to be at the top, shocked a lot of people early in their careers and these two we're up against at Violent Conduct IX has everything a person needs to succeed as a wrestler, and I do mean everything at all. I'd put a lot of cash on the fact that these two are World champions waiting to happen, I would put my house on it, if I actually owned one these days, that those two would go on and be leading solo divisions at some point because they do have it all, so I wouldn't write them off just yet."
Ben runs his hand across the brim of his sombrero.
"Eiley is made for the top level and I would bank on the fact she's gonna get there someday." He says with a slow, intentional nod. "She's made for it but if she's learned anything from her world class trainers, they would have told her the importance of keeping a lower level belt first, using that to get used to those solo situations and to do it along side a partner right now, well I know the woman is gonna scratch and claw her way to trying to keep those titles as long as she possibly can. Thing is though, she's up against one hell of an opponent in Sammi and Sammi's been in the ring with her, she knows what's she needs to do to get hold of that win and Eiley, she's gonna do it."
Ben pauses for a second before continuing.
"I know I didn't have to talk about Eiley but I wanted to give a little credit where it's due." Ben says with another slight nod. "I need to talk about Oliver Zahn."
Ben rubs his chin before continuing.
"I've been in the ring with Oliver and the geezer is no joke." Ben says in complimentary fashion. "Absolutely no joke. Fella is proper talented and like Eiley, will find his way to the top of Sin City Wrestling at some point. He's going places and I feel bad that I need to end that championship run of his so soon because he's killing it, but I have a slight issue here. Like I said, I want to be a champion again to have me remembered by people when they come to thinking about pro wrestling, but it goes a little bit beyond that. Lately, a lot has happened to me, more then a few kicks in the gooleys, but the one thing that has stuck with me is the cravings to hold gold again. It's actually been haunting me for a long time. I haven't held a championship in forever, it feels like an eternity and it caused me to have my doubts about me and my future. I got to thinking is Ben Jordan good enough, is Ben Jordan ready to retire now? Should I have just retired a couple of years back when I was being told that I was too old, that I should be finished and I won't lie, it proper got to me."
Ben's faces turns to one of silent reflection for a few moments.
"Was I over the hill." He asked rhetorically. "But that craving for gold, it was there and it dragged me through those self doubts. Now I've never been one of those people who showed up, asking for a title shot, losing, then asking for a different title shot, it's never been me at all, I had to earn it, earn something. Then I lost my way a bit, a divorce happened, houses got sold, life came at me hard and I still had those urges. Then I got a chance to earn something and yeah, fluffed that one right up by not even getting a chance to wrestle for those belts in an epic match. I never got the chance because I messed up but I got redemption, I got a chance against none other then The Barnharts to get in there and Sammi and me, we earned that win. All though those darker times, the urge never fades, it was like losing the qualifier and beating The Barnharts was destiny to make this come back stronger then it was before, and you know what else is destiny? Those championships leaving with me and Sammi."
He points to his waist.
"Have you ever had that moment where you can feel something getting closer and closer? Like it's just around the corner and it's about to happen real soon?" Ben asks. "Because I get that feeling every single time I think about this match. I get that feeling every time I sit and think about those championship belts. I get that feeling right now just talking about it and it gets me excited because I know that feeling is gonna come true. I know its right around the corner and that on Sunday night, those championships are going to have new owners."
He points to himself.
"This is not a slight on you Oliver." Ben confirms. "Because I wasn't messing around when I said that you will be top champions at some point. I will not be one of those blokes who sit here and tell you that you're not good enough, I'm not even gonna go with what most would and say that experience is gonna win through and all those other tired lines. I genuinely learned a lot about you in our match and I know there's something special about you, so I'm not knocking you or your skills in any way, but this match goes higher then wrestling to me. I need this Oliver, I need to get a bit of luck because this year so far has been absolutely rubbish for me from a personal stand point and I ain't having 2023 as the worst year of my life and I can change that in an instant by getting hold of championship gold and that's exactly what I need to do. You should see this as a chance for yourself to move on up in the ranks. I know you can hold these belts and a single belt too, but this is your chance to focus on single glory, concentrate on making it on your own."
Ben pauses for a second.
"And I believe that you could actually make it on your own." Ben says honestly. "I really think you could so don't see losing those belts on Sunday as a knocking you on your aris thing, think of it as a little bump that knocks ya closer to where you should be."
Ben waves his finger.
"Think of it as everyone getting what they want." Ben says thoughtfully. "Me and Sammi capture the belts, you and Eiley get to step up and go against top single people and everyone's a winner. It's gonna happen one way or the other Oliver, so you might as well make lemonade out of these lemons. I just don't want you disheartened by it all mate because you have a lot of wrestling still in ya and you've been decent champions but everything in live moves on as I constantly keep being reminded and this is all our chances to move on. You were the right team to win those belts mate but now it's time for you to move on because this is my time, this is Sammi's time, this is the start of where me and Sammi start record breaking runs with the belts. This is what is gonna put me in people's minds come the end of my career. I've held the others for a long time, won a ton of awards but yeah, I want this one too just because I want that cherry on the top of my career, and who doesn't like cherries?"
He smiles.
"I don't know how much longer this career of mine is gonna last." Ben says honestly. "I might wake up one day and say sod it, I got enough to live on for the rest of my life. I could buy a house where ever I want and be Ben Jordan, the guy who is just a normal guy and not be Ben Jordan The Cockney King, the wrestler, but I'm not gonna wake up with that thought in my nut until I take those titles from ya. The urge for the gold is too strong for me right now and I can't let down the people who have supported me for years, I can't let down my family and I can't let down my friends and most importantly, I can't let myself down."
A sullen look passes across Ben's face.
"And believe me mate, I've let myself down so much lately, I'm sick of it." He admits. "I've let myself down over and over and over again because something comes up and I lose focus, but not anymore. This is where I stop letting myself down, Violent Conduct is where I stop letting myself down and start picking myself up and there's no better way to do that then becoming the top dog of a division once again and that is something I will be doing."
He nods and smiles.
"It's something I have wanted for a long time, but the motivation to bounce back has been a tough one, but that's all gone people, the toughness has gone and the motivation is back!" He says confidently. "I can't see any other outcome for Sunday because this cockney bloke has got his fire back and he is gonna walk out with his bestie and be a champion once more. There's nothing that's gonna stop me from doing just that, because the stars are lining up, the confidence is flowing and there's not a person on that show more motivated then I am to go out there, wrestle my heart out and win, then I am."
He leans back in the chair and looks down the camera.
"It's gonna be a bonkers match, don't get me wrong, but this is something I need to win." Ben says firmly. "And Eiley, Oliver, me and Sammi are coming in to do just that. I can't wait to have a butchers at how your careers go on from here, but on Sunday, you'll be looking at brand spanking new Mixed Tag Team champions!"
Ben tilts the sombrero back a little.
"Right you lovely lot." Ben starts. "I have taken up enough of your time, so I will knock this malarkey on the head now. Seriously, tune in for this show, defo watch with match cause it's gonna be a proper Barney, and I'll see you all on Sunday at Violent Conduct."
Ben winks and smiles down the camera.
"Laters people." He says as his usual final words.
The camera fades to black.
