Rage is a monster that will destroy you from within. Those are the words of a wise rat that exists only in a cartoon, but it’s true. It can hurt you from inside and make you something horrible for no one to be around with, except for a few people that completely understand you and still want to be with you, no matter what the risks are. Ariel is one of those beings.
For today, she is not here. She’s back in Detroit, watching the kids. Meanwhile, I’m here, in San Diego, California, at the Omni San Diego hotel, in their gym. I’ve been thinking about the monster that I have to take on next, the aforementioned Rage. He and I once collided in a tag-team match. Things were different back then. Time passed and we went our separate ways, knowing that we would be confronting each other again at some point in time. Soon, at Climax Control, our paths will cross and both of us must do battle in order to determine who is the better man.
So who will win?
Then again, we already know the answer to that, don’t we?
I couldn’t help but smirk, thinking of that final thought while I was working on the punching bag, trying to organize a game plan in my mind, a different way to approach Rage in battle. Within moments, however, that smirk was gone when my workout was interrupted by a knock at the door. I stopped punching and headed over to the door, opening it up. Standing before me was Pussy Willow, one of my colleagues from the Sin City Wrestling organization, a reporter that tries to get the best scoop possible in order to make herself good above her own rank of reporters and interviewers.
Shaking my head in disgust, I turned myself around and walked away from her, leaving her to enter the gym and closing the door behind her. I grabbed a towel and rubbed my face from the sweat that kept on pouring down from my head. I threw it back onto the towel rack whence it came. Lowering my hands to my hips, I waited to hear what she first had to say.
Pussy Willow: I hear that you wanted an interview, so I came as fast I could. Why now?
Kain: Unlike last time, this is on my terms, not on yours. I know you desire answers to questions, so I’d get on with it, before my patience vanishes completely.
Pussy Willow: First of all, as you know, even if you were preparing for your match, you were aware that Mark Ward could not make it last week’s Climax Control. He admitted, although in a mysterious way, that he was involved in delaying your flight, thus making you unable to attend the arena in time for your first tag-team championship match. Did you have anything to do with his flight delay and will be finally addressing him at this week’s Climax Control?
A mental image of Mark’s face, although bruised and battered, conjured up within my mind and I unleashed another smirk before I answered the girl.
Kain: Of course. He did it to me. Why not do it to him? He deserves it. No one will stop me from doing what I have to do to succeed around here. I don’t care if Mark Ward is pissed that I won the tag-team championship, because I deserve something greater than being trumped by forces who think they are better than me. If the stupid son of a bitch has a problem with me, he’ll have to address me like a man. The ball is now in his court.
Pillow Willow: My next question has to do with Jordan Williams, the man who broke your arm and forced you to be on the sidelines for a long while. However, you gained payback recently and he’s now calling his home “an unsafe environment”, due to you and Casey Williams’s actions against him. What do you think about that?
I shook my head and pointed at her.
Kain: That ignorant asshole! Let’s be clear on a few things. He’s the one that broke my arm and delayed me from accomplishing my hopes and dreams! He’s the one who has allied himself with the likes of Mark Ward and Nick Jones! And finally, he’s the one that is a sole hypocrite, putting Casey in jeopardy and costing him the championship! Now, do not get me wrong, Casey Williams and I are not best friends and we don’t see each other eye to eye, but the man fought hard and earned him a chance. The least Jordan Williams could have done was given the kid a break and let him fight for everything he had in order to obtain that championship gold from Spike Staggs. But that didn’t happen now, did it? Jordan Williams, I assure you, will get his ass kicked by me again sometime in the near future and I intend on ending his career once and for all. Do you have any other questions for me, Pussy Willows?
She nodded.
Pussy Willows: Yeah, Kain, one final question. How do you feel about your match with Rage?
As if on cue, I turned away from her, yelled out my battle cry, and unleashed the Quickening on the punching bag. The punching bag split into two as my foot smashed right through it, the sand pouring out of its contents. I landed and slowly stood up, then gazed at Pussy Willow meaningfully. I once again shook my head in disgust as I walked out of the gym and closed the door behind me, leaving Pussy Willow to stare at the gym bag. It is my hope that my answer came across to her loud and clear!
* * * *
I often find myself at a crossroads, a dilemma. However, these problems are solved with solutions. Solutions that are satisfying and yield excellent results and to me, that counts. For the longest time, I have been confronting the best the world has to offer, not to mention the worst. No matter what they throw at me, I’ve conquered them all. Even if it means losing to them in my first showdown, I come back with new tricks and mindgames that stumps them completely. I win. It is that simple.
So when I take a look at a guy like Rage, a man that has clashed with me before and thinks he knows everything, I have to ask myself. Is he the man with all the answers? Then the answer immediately becomes obvious...absolutely not! As it turns out, he is nothing but a clown, trying to impress the high authority with his jokes and musings, then transforms into a beast, attempting to make us take him seriously. Truth be told, he’s someone that I do not believe in nor someone that I would trust in my life. However, in this instance, he did something that I have not achieved just yet; he defeated Nick Jones for the SCW championship.
Rage, to be honest, while I don’t care about your mindless banter regarding your pathetic past, I shall extend to you the same courtesy that you gave to me. Congratulations on beating Nick Jones for the SCW heavyweight championship. Of course, that reign didn’t last long, did it? I didn’t think so, but hey, for what it’s worth, you did great.
But that was in the past, Rage. This is today and you can no longer bask in your previous victories or dream of obtaining gold. You have another obstacle that stands in your way, a man that is determined to crush you, to prove to you that you were never the better man and you certainly aren’t his equal either. In fact, he is your superior in every way, shape, or form. That man is me, Rage. A man that you once fought, in a tag-team collision, no less, and is now facing me under different circumstances. At this week’s Climax Control, you are about to find out, first-hand, exactly what changes I have undergone since my sabbatical. To put it bluntly, you have no idea of the hell you are about to traverse through for one night.
Let’s get something out of the way first; you are a complete liar, filled with an aura of bullshit around your insignificant presence. “I know what you are capable of, Kain. I’ve seen it before?” Here’s the truth that you conveniently omitted to the world; you don’t. Every fight that you’ve encountered in your life, whether it’s a new challenger or an old rival, has always been different. It doesn’t matter who they are, they always come up with new ways to take you down. You are certainly proof of this against your second confrontation against Nick Jones; you changed and you made Nick Jones the bitch that he is in order to win that title. So why are you forgetting this fact now, especially against me? I’ve changed a lot, a new hunger that continues to stir within me. Yes, I want a shot at the SCW heavyweight championship! Who doesn’t? But I can’t focus on that now, because of idiots like you always getting in the way. No worries though; you are no longer teamed up with anyone to face me. You are now thrown into a battle that you cannot win your way out of this time, I’m afraid.
Truth is, Rage, a lot of things has changed around here and it’s unfortunate that you are not here to see it unfold before your eyes. What you have is tunnel vision; you are focused on one goal that you are forgetting about the big picture ahead. Whereas you think with three moves ahead in mind, I think with more than three steps in my mind! I always set my goals and I do what I can to achieve them! Why do you think I’m a successful fighter/wrestler these days, Rage? Since my return, I’ve dominated Argento and thanks to myself and Lucian Frost, we managed to wrest away the tag-team titles from Sinful Obsession, a feat that no one thought was possible. But you see, everything is possible, Rage. At least for me it is! As for you? I doubt it. Your time here is finished and the way I see it, you’ll never see championship gold in your life after I’m through with you.
And here’s another lie; your friends “wish me luck?” I don’t think so. Despite their massive accomplishments, their ego, their insecurity, and their boasting got in the way. Had they prevailed with calmer heads in mind, they would have succeeded in retaining their titles. But they failed, Rage. They failed to capitalize and look what it did to them. Lucian Frost and I broke them, made them look weak and foolish in front of the entire world. We intend to do the same to any who step up to the plate and challenge us for the titles, including the Young Lions, who apparently are looking forward to some kind of payback after we made them look like little school children that didn’t have a clue on what to do on such a monumental occasion! And here you are, vowing a promise to your friends that you’ll never keep, the promise being that you’ll bring me the kind of pain that I never wanted. Lame. Absolutely lame, Rage. Can you come up with something better than that? You think of yourself as a tough monster that cannot be defeated at all. You had the chance to prove that when you held the SCW championship around your waist, but you failed. Just like how your friends did! And you know something, Rage? I’m going to make sure you crawl back to your friends, broken, bleeding, and battered, as a failure.
Thank you for the congrats for the titles and thank you for giving me the props. As I said earlier, you deserve props for taking down Nick Jones, for being something that I wasn’t. But again, that was in the past, Nick Jones. Christmas is going to be spent with my family, as I hand my kids their presents and watching Ariel smile widely on that day. And the greatest thing about Christmas, you ask? I’m going to start and end that day with a bang, a glorious victory that will be talked about in the years to come, Rage. You, on the other hand, will receive nothing. Nothing at all.
Merry Christmas, Rage, and I’ll see you at Climax Control. Be prepared to bow at my feet, acknowledge me as the greatest of them all, and call me The King Of Kings! For that’s exactly who I am and who I shall forever be, Rage. You’ve been warned, Rage. After I’m done making you my bitch all over the arena in San Diego, you will have wished that you didn’t face me that night. Your loss is my gain, Rage. It’s only a matter of time…!
