Monday April 16th
Climax Control in Berlin was a great night and a horrible night all in one for the new number one contender to Nick Jones’ SCW Heavyweight Title, Rage. He had not one, but two grueling matches to win the knockout tournament. Bobby ‘The Convict Cage” put up one hell of a fight, but just couldn’t match the strength and brutality lashed out by Rage. Rage had hoped that “True Brit” Johnny Brown would advance , so he could finally shut that British idiot up, but unfortunately for both, Johnny Brown fell a little short, and was defeated by Goth.
And what a battle it was between Goth and Rage. Rage had been just itching for his chance to face Goth the past few months. Ever since Goth had showed up in SCW, he had been much more than a thorn in the side of the Seven Deadly Sins. But Synn had told Rage that he and Gabriel had the situation under control, and for the most part they did. So Rage controlled himself.
Goth nearly had Rage beat, and more than once. Rage had the size advantage, but Goth’s sheer brutality in the ring almost proved too much for the Sin of Wrath…almost.
In the end, Rage did what he said he would do since the beginning. He won the tournament and secured his status as number one contender to the Heavyweight Title. But it was what happened after that victory that really got the beast within Rage begging to be unleashed. It was what Nick Jones did, with the help of two members of his entourage that put Rage in the worst mood he has been in in years. And that doesn’t bode well for the current champ.
How do you know that Rage is in his worst mood in years? Simple. Rage hasn’t spoken one word since Nick Jones, Tony and Big B attacked him in Berlin. He hasn’t uttered one single word since Sunday night. Every member of the Seven Deadly Sins has taken their turn trying to get the big man to talk. Everyone that is, except Despayre and his trusting teddy bear companion, Angel. They’ve watched as Gabriel and Shane have mocked their angry stablemate, only to receive nothing more than the look of death.
Synn has even tried to easy route by giving encouraging words to the big man about the prospect of winning the Heavyweight title, but alas, Rage has not spoken. None of them knows what to do, but they do know one thing. If something isn’t done soon to get Rage to talk, once he steps into that ring with Nick Jones, his anger may very well get the best of him and cost him the title.
Cue Despayre, Angel and a couple bottles of hotsauce. Hot sauce?! Yes, hot sauce.
While the rest of the group all decide to go get something to eat, Rage had decided to stay behind stewing in his anger. He had declined the invitation to go along, simply by disappearing into his hotel room.
“Suit yourself, big man.” Shane said as Rage ignored their invitation. Gabriel was about to approach Rage, but Synn held out his arm, holding him back.
“Leave him,” Synn said, shaking his head. “He’ll come around in a day or two.”
Gabriel simply walked away with a shrug of his shoulders. Kittie, Shane and Fantasia all follow behind him, talking amongst themselves, but Despayre stands there for a second, looking at Angel, then to the door to Rage’s room.
“Joshua?” Synn asks, waiting for him to follow, but Despayre bites his lip.
“Joshua, what is it?”
“Angel knows how to get Rage to talk, but I think he’ll just yell.” Despayre replies.
“I think it’s best to just leave him alone for now. Now, let’s not leave the others waiting and go get some lunch.”
“Okay, but Angel says we should bring something back for Rage, though!” Despayre says, skipping off down the hall.
Synn offers a chuckle and says, “Ok, we can do that.”
The two then disappear down another hallway to find the others. Just down the hall, the door next to Rage’s room opens and out walks another familiar face. Misty’s flaming companion, Electra Blaze, walks out and leans against the wall with a smile. She holds an envelope with a signature flame design going around the edge. Rage’s name is written on the outside.
Electra slides the envelope under the door, then knocks before quickly running off down the hall. Seconds after she is out sight, Rage emerges from his room, holding the envelope in his hand. He looks down the hall, a furious expression on his face. He looks at the envelope and crushes it in his fist, then throws it on the floor before disappearing back in his room.
A Couple Hours Later…
Rage is laying on the bed in his hotel room. He has his hands behind his head, and he is staring at the ceiling. He has his earphones in, and is listening to what can only be described as ‘angry music’ on his i-pod. Very loud, very angry music. He doesn’t hear the knocking coming from the door. The knocking turns to pounding, but he still doesn’t hear a thing.
Outside his room, Gabriel is furiously pounding on the door, trying to get Rage to answer. Shane and Despayre look on curiously, wondering where Rage could be.
“Maybe he went for a walk?” Despayre asks, as Gabriel looks at Shane, shaking his head. Gabriel is holding a paper bag, presumably with some lunch for Rage. He also holds a soda in his hand for the big man as well.
“Rage doesn’t go for walks, Despy” Gabriel replies, banging on the door once again. “No, the big angry monster is ignoring us, and we haven’t done anything to him. Shane, go get the extra key from Synn.”
Shane nods and walks off. Inside Rage’s room, he is still laying on the bed, the music still blaring away in his ears. Music that loud makes you wonder how he hasn’t gone deaf yet! A couple of minutes pass when the door swings open. Rage lifts his head and looks over as Gabriel, Despayre and Shane all walk in. He acts as though he doesn’t care that they are there, and gets back to staring at the ceiling. Gabriel walks over to him, sets the soda on the nightstand and drops the bag of food on Rage’s chest. He pulls one of the ear buds out of Rage’s ear.
“You can thank Despy for the food. He thought it would be nice to bring you something since you’re still sulking.”
Rage looks at the food, then to Despy and just gives him a thumbs up as his way of saying ‘Thank You’. Gabriel shakes his head and walks away, for once showing he’s annoyed with Rage. Shane and Despy follow suit. Once they are safely out of his room, Gabriel turns to shane, a mischievous smile now on his face.
“Serves the big ape right for what’s about to happen to him. By the way, good idea Despy.”
“You can thank Angel.” Despy says.
The three wait outside Rage’s room for the events to unfold. Back inside, the smell of the food is too much for Rage to bear anymore. He sits up and opens the bag, taking out a spicy chicken sandwich and some fries. He throws a couple of the fries in his mouth before he unwraps the sandwich and takes a bite. He chews for a few seconds, an uncomfortable expression appearing on his face not long after. When he swallows the first bite, he lets out a huff, the sandwich a little spicier than he had anticipated.
After the second bite, his lips and cheeks are flushed red from the heat of the sandwich. Once he swallows the contents from the second bite, the heat is just too much to handle so he grabs the soda off of the nightstand. He removes the lid, deciding to take a big gulp, rather than drink it through a straw. He takes a giant gulp, and swallows a large amount, before spitting out what was left in his mouth. He looks at the drink, infuriated.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!?!”
Switch to outside his room where Gabriel, Despy and Shane are all snickering and laughing.
“What do you know…it worked!” Gabriel says, laughing.
The door swings open and Rage looks at them, breathing heavy and his face the color of a tomato. He glares at Gabriel, while Despy and Shane share a laugh.
“What…the hell…was that?!” Rage sputters out, occasionally spitting, trying to get the horrible taste out of his mouth. He looks like he is about to lose the rest of his lunch.
“Spicy chicken sandwich a little too spicy for ya?” Gabriel responds with an innocent laugh.
“The sandwich I can understand being that spicy, but what the HELL was with the cherry coke?! Or, at least I think it was cherry coke…”
To answer Rage’s question, Despayre holds up not one, but two empty bottles of hot sauce, and not just any hot sauce. This was the kind of hot sauce that makes your mouth feel like it’s been lit on fire, and makes tears form in your eyes. The kind of hot sauce that crazy idiot from Man vs. Food Nation would attempt to win a challenge over. Rage looks at the empty bottles and growls.
“Oh, that’s real funny you guys. Real fu…lippin funny.” Rage somehow manages to keep himself from dropping an F-Bomb in front of Despayre, thus having to add even more money to the swear jar.
“Angel said it would get you to talk, and it did. Angel wins!” Despayre says. Rage looks at Despayre, then briefly glances at Angel, shaking his head.
Rage is about to slam the door in their faces, but Shane has had enough. He holds his arm out, placing a hand on the door, and uses his strength to keep the door open. Despayre takes that as his cue to leave and skips off down the hall to his room. Gabriel looks at Rage and Shane as the two get into an evil stare-down.
“Right,” he says. “I’ll let you handle this, Shane. Maybe you can knock some sense into him.” Gabriel pats Shane on the back, then just like Despayre, walks off down the hall.
Shane holds his foot at the bottom of the door, rendering Rage unable to close the door. He folds his arms across his chest and glares at the angry man in front of him.
“Look, I know you’re pissed off at Nick Jones and what him and his entourage did to you in Berlin, but this whole attitude you got towards us has to stop.” Shane snaps at Rage.
Rage lets out a sort of snorting laugh. “Newsflash, Shane, I’m an angry guy. Sin of Wrath here, remember?”
“No kidding, but now you’re taking your anger out on us, which takes it to a whole new level. Despy and Angel were just trying to help, and you were about to slam the door in his face! That was uncalled for. You need to learn to laugh a little, bud.”
“Excuse me if I want to be left alone right now, and FYI, that hot sauce shit didn’t help. Unless you call instant heartburn helping.” Rage suddenly lets out a loud belch, and holds his stomach uncomfortably.
Shane waves his hand in front of his face, getting a whiff of just what Rage was talking about. “Christ, you aren’t kidding, mate!”
“I got more where that came from, trust me. God damn, where did Despy get that idea from?!” Rage wipes away the last beads of sweat from his forehead.
“It was Angel’s idea.” Shane says, correcting Rage. “I think he got it from some show back in the states called Tanked or something. I don’t know. Look, my point here is try to be nicer to us. You should be celebrating winning that tournament and becoming number one contender, but what are you doing? Staring at the damn ceiling!”
“Oh, I’m celebrating. I’m celebrating the fact that in just two weeks, I’ll get to beat Nick Jones within an inch of his life and suffer no consequences for my actions!” Rage’s temper begins to flare again.
“No consequences?” Shane repeats. “You could be wrong there, bud.”
Rage shakes his head. “No, I’m right. Nick Jones won’t be able to walk out of that ring after London Brawling.”
“If you go into that match only wanting to inflict as much pain on Nick, it’s only going to do one thing…cost ya the Heavyweight Title.” Shane says, trying to get through to Rage.
Rage scowls and is about to offer his defense, but Shane stops him.
“You’re one of the toughest SCW has to offer, mate. There’s no denying that,” Shane begins. “You know you can put an end to Nick’s reign and become the new Heavyweight Champion, and every one of us in the Sins know you can do it, too. But if you don’t control all this anger, it’ll cost you everything. Nick knows how to take advantage of his opponent’s weaknesses, and your anger mate is both a strong point and a weakness.”
Rage’s nostrils flare as he takes in every word Shane said. “I don’t know what gives you that idea, but my temper will be perfect in control…all over Nick Jones!”
Shane shakes his head. “That’s not what I mean. Okay, think about this. Say you’ve got the upperhand on Nick. You’re dominating him…unleashing that beast inside you, to the point the ref thinks you’re going too far, and you’re losing control. Who’s to say you won’t accidentally overstep your bounds and lay a hand on the ref if he tries to stop you and you get yourself disqualified?”
Rage shakes his head in disagreement. “Not gonna happen, Shane.”
“But it could, regardless of what you say. Do you want the Heavyweight Title or not?”
Rage sighs and says, “Do you really need to ask that? You know damn well I want that title!”
Shane nods. “Good. Then start acting like it and get that anger under control. I’m not telling you not to be angry, because let’s face it, someone looks at you funny and you get pissed off. Just don’t give Nick Jones something to use against ya, because he will. You can count on that.”
“Nick Jones won’t have shit to use against me.” Rage growls back. “He proved one thing when he attacked me in Berlin.”
“And what’s that?”
Rage smiles a sadistic smile and replies, “He can’t beat me without his entourage helping him. He can’t overpower me. At London Brawling, I’ll make sure to handle Nick’s entourage, and then Nick Jones is all mine as well as that pretty little belt of his.”
Shane pats Rage’s arm with a smile. “Don’t you worry about his entourage, mate. After that stunt, I’m sure they won’t be allowed at ringside. The title is as good as yours bud.”
“No doubt about it, Shane. I’ve never been this confident going into any match in my life.” Rage replies, calmer than earlier.
“And you should be. You’ve proven yourself worthy of the Heavyweight Title. It’s your time to shine, mate.”
“You give these pep talks to Gabriel and Despy, too?” Rage asks, actually cracking a bit of a smile.
Shane shakes his head. “No. Don’t need to.”
“Why’s that?”
Shane now cracks a smile and replies, “Because they know they kick arse.”
Rage’s smile suddenly turns into a scowl. “Very funny.”
“I try. But it got you motivated and thinking clearly, so my job is done for now. I think I need a beer now. You wanna head over to a pub? I know some good ones, bud.”
Rage shakes his head. “If I go out to a pub with you I’ll be tempted to drink more than my share of beer, and I don’t want to experience a hangover like I had in Berlin. I’ll pass for now.”
“Fair enough. Remember what I said, though.” Shane replies.
“If I don’t you’ll just talk my ear off again, and I don’t want to sit through that again.”
“Damn straight I will. Well, I’ll catch ya later, bud.” Shane says, before walking off down the hall.
Rage glances to the floor where the envelope Electra had left him earlier still sits, crumbled on the floor. He looks at it, tempted to read whatever she left him, but he decides against it, and disappears back inside his room.
Tuesday April 17th
The scene opens up outside of a local park, not too far from The Royal Albert Hall in London. Rage is seen sitting on one of the many benches in the park, looking deep in thought.
“Today, I’m doing something I normally don’t do, even on a good day. I never sit in a park and just think, even when I’m in one of my ‘content’ moods. It’s just not me, but today, I think I need to clear my head a little, but Shane’s pep talk helped yesterday..Go figure. For a guy labeled the Sin of Pride, he sure can motivate even the most stubborn assholes.”
“In just twelve days I’ll be going into the biggest match of my career. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my chance at Heavyweight gold before, back in GXW, but I’ve never faced a guy as tough as Nick Jones. Nick Jones may get my temper flaring, but I gotta hand it to the guy, he’s one tough son of a bitch. I’m actually looking forward to this match, and not because I plan to beat the hell out of him, either. Simply because Nick Jones is the kind of opponent I have been begging for since I came to SCW. A real challenger.”
“I’ve said it so many times recently, but so far, I haven’t been given a real challenge. Most of these idiots I have faced just can’t match what I can dish out, and I’ve breezed through each one of them. Well, with the exception of Tom Dudely, anyway. It’s because of all these guys that I’ve been thrown against that I’ve had to second guess myself and think to myself ‘Am I really ready to be the Heavyweight Champion?’”
Rage lets out a laugh, and two people walking past look at him. Rage glares at them, and gets back to thinking.
“Such a stupid thought, I know. I’m one of the best SCW has to offer and here I am, actually being insecure about my talent. Hell, if I wasn’t one of the best, and honestly, the angriest monster out there, I don’t think I would have been invited in the Seven Deadly Sins in the first place. At least, I don’t think so anyway. I’m sure Synn has his other reasons, but I won’t get into that. My point here is that I’m a f*cking beast, and not once have I tasted the joy of carrying Heavyweight gold.”
“But Nick Jones has, and more than once. He likes to use the phrase ‘It Aint Bragging if Ya Back it Up’, and he has backed it up every single match of his career so far. He may be cocky asshole, but he knows how to walk away with the win, and I gotta admit, I have a little bit of respect for the guy…just a little.”
“Nick’s singles record in SCW is at what, six and oh right now? At least, last time I checked, I think that’s where it was at, but hell if I care to keep track. I don’t even keep track of my record. Shane had to point it out to me the other night, and it got me thinking. Nick Jones likes to brag about his record, well, I got bragging rights too, apparently!”
“As it stands right now, my singles record in SCW sits at four and oh. Four wins…no losses. I’m undefeated in singles competition, just like our Heavyweight champ. I’ve only suffered one loss so far, and that was when me and Jamie lost the tag team titles to Sean Williams and Wyatt Peterson.”
Rage lets out a low growl, and once again, people stare at him. He simply flips them off, and they scamper off, appalled, and seemingly afraid of the big man.
“I’m still pissed off about that, but in a way I’ve gotten over it. Both Jamie and I were destined for far greater things it seems. He’s over in BACW kicking ass and causing chaos like he normally does, while I continue to kick ass here in SCW. Back when the whole lethal lottery tournament for the tag titles started and I got paired with Jamie, I was floored. You know what thought popped into my mind? Last time I went for Heavyweight gold, Jamie Staggs outlasted me in that match! Jamie Staggs! Seriously? Shit, I don’t even want to get started on that right now.”
“I’ve held only two different championships in my career so far…two. Back in GXW, I won the Television title. I held it for about a month before losing it to Synn…go figure. If GXW had stayed afloat I probably would have added a couple more titles to the list of my achievements, but not everything works out how we want them to right? I had my shot at the GXW World Championship and I blew it, and just when Shane and I were on the road to capturing tag gold, GXW went POOF! After that, I left the wrestling world, at first, voluntarily, but then…well, I don’t feel like getting into my days in prison again.”
“When I signed with SCW I had different plans in mind. I wasn’t expecting to get involved in the lethal lottery for the tag team titles, but I let certain people talk me into it. It paid off, and I had my first taste of tag team gold. Short lived as it was, it was a taste of what everyone knew in their minds was to come from me. The Sin of Wrath is destined to wear more than just Tag Team Gold…No offense to Jamie Staggs of course.”
A large group of pigeons walks around the ground around Rage. He looks at them, then kicks his foot out, scaring them away, and he grins and laughs.
“After losing the tag team titles, I went almost two months without a match. I sat back and watched as Nick Jones defended his title time after time, defeating everyone they threw at him. I wanted to say something. I wanted to confront Mark Ward or Christian Underwood, but I didn’t. I was just waiting for someone else to do the job, because I wasn’t sure I was ready. I didn’t come into SCW expecting to ever go after the Heavyweight Title. I wasn’t even sure I wanted it…until now.”
“As I sat back and watched as Nick Jones took down everyone he faced, I really got to thinking. There had to be a reason that Nick Jones was still the champion. There had to be a reason that not one person was able to dethrone the cockiest son of a bitch SCW has ever seen. And I figured out that reason. I’m the one who is destined to end Nick Jones’ reign here in SCW. I am the one who is the one who will defeat Nick Jones’ and become the new Heavyweight Champion.”
“If that weren’t the case, then I wouldn’t have won the knockout tournament. I wouldn’t have gotten through Tom Dudely…Bobby ‘The Convict” Cage…Goth. I would have lost to one of them for sure. But I didn’t. I stormed my way through each one of them, and I gave Nick Jones a preview of what is in store for him at London Brawling. And when Nick Jones attacked me, with the help of two of his lackeys, he was only showing me one thing…he’s scared.”
“Nick Jones is afraid to face me, because deep down, he knows what I know…what everyone else in SCW knows. Nick knows that after London Brawling is said and done, I’m going to be the one with my hand raised in victory with the Heavyweight Title hoisted above me. And I can do it without any help.”
“I’ll have everyone’s support and confidence leading me…motivating me. What does Nick Jones have? False hope, and not a chance. He’ll try and hide his fear, but when I look at him…I know. I’m nothing compared to anyone he has faced so far. No, I’m a million times better, and stronger!”
“All the doubts I had in my mind before have been completely washed away. My mind is clear and my sights are set on one thing and one thing only. The Heavyweight Title. In twelve days time, that dream will become a reality. In just twelve days, The Sin of Wrath will be known as SCW’s newest Heavyweight Champion.”
The camera zooms on Rage’s face as a sadistic smile appears.
“And there is not a damn thing Nick Jones can do to stop it.”
