Las Vegas, Nevada on a bright morning. A small office block is seen with an SCW logo on the door. The camera jumps inside to see Hot Stuff Mark Ward strolling up some steps, Starbucks cup in hand and puts a hand on the door handle in front of him, attached to a light oak looking door. The name plate on the door reads "Sin City Wrestling HQ". Hot Stuff looks at the camera.
HS: What do you think we are? Some multi billion corporation bullshit where out PA's have PA's? Fuck off. It's a room, with a few more rooms that are offices, a common area, some other shit around. Occasional fella sitting at a laptop being paid to tweet, a secratary to answer phones and shit. We don't have lots of staff running, we don't have lots of hallways where people stand around a water cooler and talk bollocks about their favourite television shows. There's just us. Welcome to the behind the scenes shit you lot never appreciate. SCW isn't run by countless people. It's run by three main, a couple of office staff that double between Twitter and editing promos and getting them on site and experienced wrestlers that work at the show. Why do you think we have so many people you see on screen but don't wrestle? Because they're all backstage working on one thing or another. A lot of our talents double to do other shit here. Here's something you don't know. Spike Staggs, Jordan Williams, Shane Boswell, Fantasia, even Austin Parker on occasion, work with people backstage to come up with new shit. There ya go, new facts learned for you lot today.
Hot Stuff pushes down the handle and forces open the door, walking in to the office and looking to his left, to see a young female secratary. The camera follows in and Hot Stuff nods politely at the woman and turns to the right, pushing open another door. Inside the next room, a table is seen with chairs all around it.
HS: Part board room, part doing fuck all room.
Around the room, a couple of sofas and chairs. Against a wall, a fridge is seen, with a counter that has cups, coffee machine and other kitchen stuff.
HS: Part kitchen too.
Mounted on a wall, a huge flatscreen television, underneath, a Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, sit next to a disk playing device. A music system is seen not too far away.
HS: This room, things get sorted out, everything from listening to theme music, to watching videos of new talent, to shooting hookers on a computer game. Fun times, eh?
Hot Stuff turns to the table to see Christian Underwood and Erik Stagg's sitting down, with paperwork in front of them. Hot Stuff walks over and places the Starbucks cup on the table and pulls out a chair, casually putting his feet up on the desk. Christian glares at him.
Christian: You're late.
HS: I'm always late.
Erik nods in agreement.
HS: What you should do, is you was a bright spark, is tell me the meeting starts an hour earlier, and I might turn up on time.
Christian: I did, and you're still late!
HS: Why break habits of a lifetime?
Christian huffs and pushes Hot Stuff's feet off the table. Hot Stuff looks at him and quickly turns to Erik, while resting his elbows on the desk.
HS: Talent relations guy. What's the good word?
Erik slides some papers in front of Hot Stuff.
Erik: Hate to say it but talent release forms.
I look at Erik and pick a pen up from the table.
Erik: Christian and I have signed them reluctantly.
Hot Stuff doesn't even look at who's name is on them, but quickly signs at the bottom of one and throws it back in Erik's direction and pulls the second one in front of him, signing it and throwing it towards Christian.
HS: File them, tell them they can fuck off when they're done with their current advertised commitments or their arses get sued.
Christian: Wait, you're not even gonna look at them?
Hot Stuff rolls his eyes, pulling the papers back in front of him, reluctantly looking at the names on the front of the forms.
HS: Oh wow, people gonna miss her, she was wank material.
Erik: Yeah she was.
Christian shudders at Hot Stuff and Erik.
HS: What? If it was a dude, you'd say the same and me and lacky here would be shuddering.
Hot Stuff looks at the second form and raises an eyebrow.
HS: Someone wanna explain this one to me?
Erik shrugs
Erik: Guess is he's got something else lined up.
HS: Fair enough.
Erik: We need to talk replacements for these. We have options, lots of them.
Erik shuffles through a few papers on the table and passes some to Christian and some to Hot Stuff.
Erik: Now we know we have that freaky fella all but tied up, and we've been in talks with those ACW guys Ben and Mickey for a while. With the space opening up, we have options to replace these guys in days if we wanted to.
Christian: I've spoken recently to someone we know very well from the past, maybe we should consider him.
Hot Stuff shakes his head.
HS: Guys from the past, why? So that someone can moan and bitch about us just giving jobs to people we knew. I've been in touch with someone lately, solid worker, wanted to come here, I couldn't see a space for him, sent him over to JJ at ACW, who signed him on the spot.
Erik: Maybe we should come up with a deal with ACW? We're already linked to them, we have workers working for both already, maybe we can do a talent sharing thing with them.
Christian: It's an option.
Hot Stuff picks up his cup of coffee, taking a sip and looking around the room.
Erik: I could just scout hot indy talent.
Hot Stuff points a finger at Christian.
HS: Not hot in buns of steel.
Christian pokes out his lower lip in mock sadness.
Christian: Damn, I was gonna voulenteer to vet all those guys personally.
Hot Stuff leans back and puts his feet back on the table, smiling towards Christian. Christian runs his fingers across his head.
Christian: You got that look on your face again?
HS: I know, it's gorgeous, isn't it?
Erik reaches for his phone.
Erik: Should I get the lawyers on standby for this?
Hot Stuff waves a hand towards Erik.
HS: Nope, I know exactly what we do in this situation.
Christian: Care to enlighten us.
HS: Sure, we do nothing.
Hot Stuff leans back in the chair proudly, while Christian and Erik look at each other in slight bewilderment.
Erik: Nothing Mark?
HS: Nothing Erik.
Christian: Seriously, nothing?
HS: Seriously nothing?
Christian: And the thinking behind this is?
Hot Stuff takes his feet off the table and places his elbows on the table instead as he looks firstly at Christian, and then at Erik.
HS: Ace Baldwin, Casper Grey, Kevin Carter, Giani Di Luca, Derek Thorne, Thatcher Rex, Amy Marshall, Faith, Roxi Johnson, Danica Jones, The Young Lions, Blood Omen.
Hot Stuff nods proudly, but Christian and Erik still look slightly lost.
Christian: Yes?
HS: These are the people who can step up and grab this company by the bollocks and lift it right up. Ace Baldwin and Kevin Carter have main event written all over them. These people show they have talent. Why go and water these people down with people who can't be bothered? The future of SCW for years to come is already there. If they show commitment, think outside the box, go out and get noticed by walking up to one of our camera crews and say "film this" at one of our shows, to air through the show, it would show that they want it and that's what I'm looking for. People with skill and commitment willing to work and we have this already on our roster. What's the point of going out picking up people who wanna work two shows, make up some stupid excuse and piss off?
Erik: So work with what we have?
HS: Exactly. Anyone of the people I mentioned could break out here and be main eventing this place in weeks rather than months, weeks! If they put in the effort on the shows, we can not ignore them. I'm sick of us sitting there, pissing away time and money watching these apparently brilliant talents who show up, record a promo, show they're not as good as they think they are, get their arses beat all over the place, and fail to send in promos. They're as bad as the people who say "I should be winning, I should be higher up." When all they do is throw in a promo a week and show up. People can argue it's the same people in the top matches, but the reason for that is because they put in the effort. We put on TV what the fans want to see. A lot of these guys turn up and think that it's easy, they don't want to improve because they think they're great but they're not. They show up eyes closed, I mean look at what we have backstage at shows?
Christian: Well in your office, strippers.
HS: Same that's in yours.
Erik: I have a couple sitting around just in case the moment strikes too.
HS: I'm talking about the wealth of experience. People think these ex GCW, GXW, ASFW stars turn up here and just get pushed up because of who they were. Nope, it's because they work for it. They're all sitting in the back waiting for people to go ask them stuff, ask them to work with them, ask them to improve, but not one of them do. These are the same people that whinge and want us to do everything for them short of wiping their arses. I'm gonna hate to admit this, but it's not all ex stars we know, but people like Kain too. If you go and ask Kain what he thought of your stuff, the man is brutally honest, you can learn there. Odette Ryder is so far over with the fans, she could teach, Casey Williams, former champ in many places, could teach a few things, no one asks them.
Christian: You're going off point here.
HS: I'm bang on point here. My point is the talent is here already, if they wanna get noticed, they can do it. I'm not willing to sit around hiring just anybody to make up the numbers anymore, it wastes our time, it wastes their time. The people I mentioned should be getting pushed up. If they see a chance, they should take it, most of them will take it. I don't see the point anymore of hiring people who think they're better then they are. You two are on Twitter, how many times have you seen a wrestler talk big, get you interested, you then go and watch a promo, then a match and realise everything the think about themselves, is all in their head?
Christian: I don't use Twitter that much anymore, people ruined it.
Erik: I've seen it. People talk big but nothing there to back it up.
HS: Right. There's a couple on the roster now who are the exact same thing. "I'm a former champion, I'm this, that and the other." but under this spotlight, you're not. SCW has the best competition in the world, we have more potential than anything else. If we feel the need for replacements, we have some lined up, but it's time to go for a different kind of wrestler, ones with their feet on the ground.
Christian: So in that big long speech, can we come to the conclusion that you're sick of people not putting in the effort and moaning about it, you don't wanna hire random people, just the ones we've spoke to for a while, you've named lots of stars you wanna see headlining, and you've left boot prints on the table?
Hot Stuff nods at Christian.
HS: I'd also like to drop some of our so called stars out too but we'll save that conversation for another day.
Erik: So does this mean we push those ones mentioned?
HS: I think if they show they have the commitment and put in the effort, yes. When word gets out about this, it's down to them to take the initative and step up. It's all there for the taking.
Erik: And I don't have to sit around spending hours looking at clips of new wrestlers?
HS: Right, just give Ben and Mickey a call, keep them informed that we're still considering them, regardless of the not bringing anyone in tweets that are bound to hit the net at some point.
Christian: Might wanna give them a heads up before they start hitting the dirt sheets and things like that.
Erik nods in agreement with Christian and picks up his phone. Erik stands up and moves away from the table, sitting down on one of the long leather sofas away from Hot Stuff and Christian.
HS: Can I go now? Pretty sure I got other things to do.
Christian: Like run off to London as usual before a match, put your feet up?
HS: No actually, this match against Billy James is old school Christian, so old school when we had to do radio interviews, television interviews, watch our fellow stars on Judge Judy and Jerry Springer. Where we run around the local areas to promote things. Well I'm gonna do that.
Christian frowns
Christian: Well, if you end up on Judge Judy, get me her autograph.
Hot Stuff rolls his eyes.
HS: I'm not gonna end up on Judge Judy, Christian, but I am gonna promote the shit out of this thing, because these little new guys who think they're the dogs bollocks, need to see what I can do. They think boss, they think I sit in here all day, freting over contracts, looking for the next big thing, all that crap. Instead, I want to show them all that I'm still the real deal, the total package, the best all rounder in the world. I just don't have to get beat up every week to prove it, because I'm already so far over, everyone else is in the distance.
Christian: Well speaking of that match, was you ever planning on telling me you was gonna change the whole damn thing live on television?
Hot Stuff smirks.
HS: Was you ever gonna tell me you was even gonna book me in a match with that has been?
Christian shakes his head.
Christian: Nope.
HS: How long have you been planning this and waiting for the right moment to spring this shit on me?
Christian: For a while. You're not the only boss around here. You're not the only one who can smell an oppotunity a mile off and see there's money there. For us to keep SCW going, we need to make this green stuff called money, we can't all just check down the back of our sofa's and pull out thousands.
HS: That's cause I made thousands, millions even, by headlining shows for years. Why do you think I didn't have to piss around after GCW? I could just sit back with my feet up and just do media shit. I became one of those talentless hacks that come out of reality shows, but I had credibility, because I worked my nuts off to get it. I didn't have to go to Japan like you and make money that way, because I had it sitting there waiting for me when I was willing to put my feet up.
Christian: And having a wealthy father didn't help you at all?
HS: It had it's moments, but it wasn't needed.
Christian: And for the record, I wrestled in Japan and part time because I loved it, not because I had to. There's a difference there. I did it because I loved it, but I could have sat there, lived comfortably.
HS: Became a hairdresser or something.
Christian: If I wanted to, yeah, but I loved it.
HS: Maybe someday, I'll have to spring a match on you like ya did with me. After TSSA, I was done. I was a little gutted at the result, but I was happy calling time on things, but I'm partly glad you put this one on me, because I finally get to end all the stuff from years gone by, bury the ghosts and give up happy and victorious.
Christian: Oh plu-eeze! You think Billy will be your last match?
HS: I hope so. I'm ending this the way it should be done, by beating the mortal enemy.
Christian: Don't you get it by now?
HS: Clearly not.
Christian: There's always gonna be someone else that's gonna be digging at you, to be pushing you to take one more match, because people just wanna kick your ass.
Hot Stuff looks taken back by this comment.
HS: Ain't no one gonna kick my arse princess. People should get the message now, once I beat Billy James, then you need something special to even come close to me.
Christian: Is that you giving Billy James credit?
Hot Stuff shakes his head fast.
HS: Don't be fucking stupid, but on the grand scale of things, Billy has done a lot. Look at my record with the occasional match here. I beat Spike and Jordan, two men who earned the right to be in the ring with me for years of what they've done for wrestling. When I beat Kain, he was a beast at the time, defeating everyone and hurting people for fun. When I took on the TSSA, they have done more in their career than most wrestlers will ever dream off. Taking on Billy James, is taking on the man who has been a thorn in my side for years and this one should have been ended many years ago. There will not be anymore Hot Stuff Vs Billy James after this one, five is enough. I don't care who tries to step up, if they aren't legends or people who are former world or heavyweight champs, then they're not important to me, like Matthew Kennedy.
Christian sighs.
Christian: Could have had a battle of Britain match there with meat pies involved.
Hot Stuff shakes his head slowly.
HS: Give ya mind a day off, would ya? Kennedy isn't good enough. On this roster right now, there's maybe three I would consider a match with. The rest can fuck right off. There's a couple not on the roster I wouldn't mind going against too.
Hot Stuff smiles and points to Christian.
Christian: Take that smile off your face now, not happening.
HS: Pussy.
Christian: Bitch.
Hot Stuff smirks.
HS: Someday.
Christian: Don't hold ya breath there solider.
Hot stuff looks fake sad as Erik returns to the table and sits down. Christian and Hot Stuff turn their attention to him.
Erik: Spoke to Mickey, he rambled something, spoke to Ben, he rambled something. but they're fine with it. Also said something about us needing to pay them more if they win the ACW tag team championship.
HS: Yeah right, pay people more.
Hot Stuff looks at Christian and Erik.
HS: Right, can I go now, I'm pretty sure I got some of that old school promo work to be getting on with.
Christian just nods.
HS: Really need to get you one of those gavel things to give a good bang to when meeting end, would make you look so much cooler.
Christian: Piss off.
Christian blinks
Christian: Did I really just say that?
Erik nods as Hot Stuff stands up.
Erik: You've been hanging with him way too long.
I wink towards Erik and give a quick thumbs up towards Christian and walk towards the door, gripping the handle tightly and opening it. Stepping through the door, Hot Stuff gives a quick nod to the receptionist and through the second light oak door, shutting it behind him. He leans back on the door and talks.
HS: Compared to usual, that one was a pretty quick meeting. You should see us at the start of the year, coming up with a schedule and shit like that. That meeting is a pain in the arse. Come to think of it, you should have seen us a month ago sitting there working out all that crap for the tour. That stuff was madness trying to pick six out of twelve countries to go to, then watch Christian run up phone bills calling around, while Erik and I shot some hookers on the PS3. Compared to usual, this one was a walk in the park, but there's millions of things we do on a daily basis for this place that you lot don't see. Think about that next to you wanna slate SCW, or moan about one thing or another because the truth is we pick up the slack, because some won't. We work hard to give a lot the life of luxary. Do you know how many days off I actually get? Maybe two a week if I'm lucky, rest of the time, I work sixteen hour days. Makes your promo shooting and wrestling look a bit light. Only reason I got a few more days off this week and next, is to contemplate kicking the hell out of Billy James. It will happen, we all know it, but we don't want that sneaky greasy bastard with a hair style that went out in the nineties, to get close to actually beating me.
Hot Stuff pauses
HS: Wow, ninties joke, remember those times like it was yesterday. Makes ya feel old, but this one is a match to roll back the clock after all. Right. Time for a radio interview, training session, meeting an old face you lot haven't seen in a while, I have but you haven't and then it's time to talk a lot more directly to the man who has decided now it the time to try relive the good old glory days.
Hot Stuff leans off the door walking towards the stairs, bouncing down two at a time. Hot Stuff get to the main glass door of the building.
HS: Time to meet that old face.
Hot Stuff pushes the door open to see a smiling Angelica standing there.
HS: Hello gorgeous.
Angelica leans back against a bright red car. Hot Stuff puts his arms around her as she kisses him. The two break off the kiss and Hot Stuff winks at the camera.
HS: Still fit as fuck with an arse to die for! Still mine too.
Angelica takes Hot Stuff by the hand and the two walk to the car.
KNPR 88.9 FM is the location as Hot Stuff stands outside the studio of a the small radio station in Las Vegas. Angelica stands with her arms around Hot Stuff's neck. Angelica looks around with a look of disappointment on her face.
Angelica: Couldn't have found a better, cleaner place than this one.
Hot Stuff shakes his head.
HS: Nope. This whole thing is about being old school, back then when I was kicking Billy's arse for fun, we couldn't just bounce on national radio to promote a nearby show, we had to jump on one that hits the locals, ones the locals listen to, to get them to spend their cash on watching me look amazing every night of the week.
Angelica: You made it look easy baby.
Angelica puts her hand on Hot Stuff's chest.
Angelica: Is this gonna take long? Cause I know a place, with a hot tub, where me and you can have a little fun.
Angelica winks, everything pointing to pure sexuality.
Angelica: The hot tub fits more than just us baby.
A wide smile crosses Hot Stuff's face as he looks at her.
HS: I don't know sexy. I gotta get this done and out the way, than get my arse kicked in to shape a bit by Jordan, and listen to him moan about how this match is a bad idea, and that I should call it off before it's too late and either Billy or I will end up getting seiously hurt.
A man walks out of the studio.
HS: Dave?
Dave: You got it good buddy. I'm the DJ, DJ Dave.
HS: Well that's not cheesey in any way DJ Dave.
Dave: Got a nice little ring to it, don't you think?
HS: Sure
Hot Stuff fires a look toward Angelica as if to ask what this guy has been smoking, but Angelica shrugs back.
Dave: Just come in to the booth, I'll ask you a few question, throw the lines open, take a few calls, you all good with that?
HS: Sure. Just try and keep it mostly about the business. I know I got others hitting radio stations this week to promote matches and stuff.
Dave opens the door and pushes it open. Angelica kisses Hot Stuff on the cheek. Angelica's voice become a whisper
Angelica: Hot tub.
Hot Stuff nods and follows Dave in to a grotty looking studio. Dave point to a chair and Hot Stuff sits down, placing a headset over his ears and pulling down a big hanging microphone in front of him. Hot Stuff looks up at Dave as Dave glances at his producer, counting down with his fingers, cuing Dave in. As he points at Dave, Dave starts to talks.
Dave: Hello and welcome back to KNPR 88.9 FM, you're listening to DJ Dave. We're joined by a great guest today, who's gonna talk to you about his upcoming show. He is a former wrestling champion all over America, a global name in the world of entertainment, an icon in wrestling circles and has been voted as the best wrestler of his generation by countless polls over the years. He needs no introduction, as his company Sin City Wrestling, has become a big name in the Vegas area, growing by the week and attracting international stars. Ladies and Gentleman, he is Hot Stuff Mark Ward. Welcome to the Studio Mark.
HS: Great to be here.
Dave: Tell me Mark, what's it like running Sin City Wrestling?
HS: It's different than what people think. It's a lot of hard work behind the scenes. It's not just a case of send the wrestlers out there and let them get on with it. It's about finding arenas, attracting the people, staying within budget, advertising the show, constant research of places on where we can sell out, where we can make money to put towards the next show.
Dave: SCW has grown immensely since it opened, some say it might be growing big enough to take out on the road. What do you think of that?
HS: I don't think we'll go out on the road, we owe Vegas a lot, breaking in to California was nice, but I can't see us as a company who haul things around week in, week out. Our wrestlers don't need to get dragged from city to city, the cost is crazy to do such a thing. We're always gonna walk before we run, if not, we'll have to company, because we'll be financially in a mess. As it stands, we're making money and keeping things within budget. Fans from all over get to watch us and people travel to Vegas to see us, to see what we put on, that makes us more popular than shoving things down their throat, like we'd have to do if we were going from city to city.
Dave: What do you put the growth down to?
HS: Hard work.
Dave: People think it could be because of who you and Christian Underwood are.
HS: Well Dave, a certain big wrestlers from the eighties went to a company already known, and it added nothing to them, if anything else, it made them worse. We've improved week in, week out and become better and better. We've stepped it up every week and it's down to hard work from people who want to entertain. We have a lot of hungry wrestlers there, who could be at a higher level, but they're not hungry for the fame and bright lights, they're hungry to build something, to be a part of something special and to sit back in years to come and say I helped this place grow. Our success is down to solid experience, and the hunger of the wrestlers with potential to be the biggest thing in the world.
Dave: You spoke about travel costs, but you manage to take SCW on overseas tours, where does the money come from there?
HS: Overseas tours are slightly different. People want us there, people will come out and see us. I've paid out for these things, Christian has paid out for these things, other investers have paid out for these things and each have made profits. We go there knowing that these fans may only get to see us once every couple of years, they come out to make this special for them and we give them what they want.
Dave: South America is next for SCW.
HS: It is. It's gonna prove interesting to see how our talents handle it. On past tours, some where just flying in and out, doing what they wanted, but I think a lot of our talents will love being in South America and will soak it up a bit.
Dave: What's the dream tour for you?
HS: Honestly, I'd like to do a year long world tour, but not sure how or if we can because of the NWA deal we're linked to. Lot's of paperwork to deal with and all but I wouldn't mind something like four to six dates on each continent, hitting some places that others have never been to.