The scene opens up to the sight of Landon Axel sitting in the official of his Auto Body Shop, holding a mug of coffee in one hand and his cell phone in the other, Landon takes a sip from the mug whilst flicking through his phone with a flick of his thumb. Landon sighs as he looks slightly down as he stares at his phone, he is on the Sin City Wrestling website, still images of the supershow appears with the sight of Lucian Frost and Jon Dough being victorious that night. Landon rests his phone on his thigh and places his hand around his waist, not too long ago it had the SCW Tag Team Championship belt strapped there, now he felt slightly naked without it and very down that they ended up like most of the other reigns in SCW. Losing in their first title defence. Landon places his mug down on the office table and lets out a long sigh, Axel glances at the door to see his work colleague ‘Ste’ walk in, rubbing oil off his hand with a towel as he grabs a bottle of coke from the fridge.
Ste
You look pretty bummed out, L.A.
Landon nods his head
Landon Axel
That I am, Stephen, that I am.
Ste unscrews the coke to let the gas seep out before unscrewing it fully.
Ste
What’s up? Is it the Chevrolet engine?
Landon Axel
Don’t be silly, I can do that with my eyes closed, no it’s something else.
Ste takes a swig of his bottle, burping afterwards, he walks past Landon and sits on the end of the office table.
Ste
I’m guessing it’s about your wrestling you do?
Landon nods.
Ste
Did you lose?
Landon agrees by nodding his head slowly
Ste
I’m sure there is always next time!
Landon Axel
We do have a rematch clause in our contracts but that isn’t the point, Ste, what is the point is that I was a champion and now I’m not! I held that piece of gold for such a short time but it felt right, ya’know.
Ste
I remember when your friend brought in his car, purred like a dream, drove so smoothly and it felt so right. When he drove away in it I felt lost because I enjoyed working on it, test driving and working on it again. It left a void but it gave me that desire that one day I’ll get that opportunity once again, be it he bringing it back in or I’ll have enough to buy my own, that desire drives me forward and that should work for you too, L.A.
Landon smiles, liking Ste’s metaphors, he takes his mug and takes a drink from it.
Landon Axel
I know what you mean, Ste, I know me and Ethan will get a rematch, but that void is killing me knowing an unproven team now holds what is rightfully ours!
Ste
Did you want to work on the Harley and I’ll do the Chevrolet engine? That might take your mind of it?
Landon Axel
I’ll be fine, Stephen. I’ll see you out there.
Ste nods as he takes another sip from his drink before placing it back into the fridge, Ste slaps the bicep of Landon Axel before leaving, L.A finishes the remains of his drink before placing it into the sink and heads back out into the auto body shop. Several hours pass as the bright Texas sunshine dulls to almost darkness. Ste grabs his jacket and heads off for the evening, Landon lies underneath the Chevrolet tightening some bolts, he slides out and places the tool back onto the workbench and grabs a rag to wipe the sweat from his brow. Landon pulls his phone out and looks at the video footage from Andrew Garcia and Traci Patterson, the duo he will be facing on Climax Control with his random bombshell partner, Jessie Selco. Landon’s phone screen switches from the video footage to an incoming call, the caller ID shows his partner, Ethan Brody, is the one calling but Landon hesitates before answering.
Landon Axel
Hey Ethan.
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
You seen your partner this week?
Landon Axel
Well you’re currently on the phone so no I haven’t
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
Hilarious as usual, L.A, your partner who’ll be aiding you through the ‘Blast from the Past’ tournament.
Landon Axel
Seeing as she doesn’t have my number, and I haven’t seen her on your Twitter, I’m going to suggest that I haven’t.
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
Look I know you’re miffed about the title loss, but we have to move on, we’ll make our feelings known this week but don’t let them blind you from your ultimate goal.
Landon scoffs.
Landon Axel
That’s rich coming from the man who obsessed about ‘The Saviours’
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
I did and still do obsess over them, rightly so after what they did to Drake, but It did deter me from victory and you shouldn’t do that either. We’re the rightful Tag Team Champions, we’re the future of this tag division and we’ll face Frost and Dough soon, even if Ben Jordan and Jordan Williams faces them before us. We’ll get our chance and like I said we’ll make our feelings known during the show.
Landon exhales slowly
Landon Axel
I’m sure Jon Dough will go out and entertain the fans, maybe we’ll crash his party and remind him that there is unfinished business, he is now a two time champion with two different people and this time it’s at our expense. I want those championships back, Brody!
Landon slams his fist into the work surface, he quickly realises that the surface is hard, shaking his hand slowly with a look of absolute pain on his face.
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
You and me both, L.A. We allowed ourselves to be beaten and that is basic wrestling, we failed but we’ll do the next best thing and get through round one of this tournament! To be fair you’ve landed yourself an experienced bombshell with championship credentials!
Landon Axel
Former Bombshell Roulette and Tag Team Champion, I think it could be a good combination, Jessie seems suited to us.
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
To you, Axel, I’m yet to find out who my partner is.
Landon Axel
Well she’s a part of SCW’s longest group in NXT, she’s won championships and holds priceless victories against some of the top bombshells in the SCW, probably an underrated bombshell but one not to be underestimated. We underestimated Frost and Dough and they now have our gold. I won’t be making that mistake, and those midgets won’t grace our screens again, my bad on that I thought it would be funny but what I had in my head was something completely different to what appeared in our youtube video.
Landon hears Ethan’s lighter.
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
Let that be the last bad decision, Landon, I don’t want to see you eliminated in the first round of this thing. We wanted to impress and we achieved title success but let’s make this our defining moment by doing what Roxi Johnson, Gabriel, Odette Ryder and Jordan Williams did last year and make it to the final!
Landon Axel
Looking at the big picture, huh.
Muffled Voice of Ethan Brody
Look I’ve got to go, Landon, always be ambitious L.A because caution gets you nothing. You where the one who was ambitious in bringing me back into this business, now you should start being ambitious when it comes to this tournament, embrace your partner.. not like that.. but embrace the face you have got a partner on the verge of being a grand slam bombshell champion going against two up-and-coming wrestlers in SCW today. Your chance to step out of my limelight and get your own voice! I’ll speak to you later.
Before Landon could reply, Ethan hangs up the phone, Ethan’s words ring around in his head as Landon begins to pace back and forth before standing still, pressing the camera application and switching it to video. Landon lifts it up to head height and checks out the way he looks before coughing and pressing record.
Landon Axel
It’s not often that I post one of these solo, usually my partner Ethan does the majority of the talking, I come in every now and again with the odd word or two. Does that define me as a character being in his shadow, no, Ethan is the elder statesman who’s knowledge is vast and his experience is invaluable. I’ve learnt and still am learning a great deal from him, the ideal training, the ideal education for any professional wrestler. My opponent this week is the ‘Honourable Warrior’ Andrew Garcia, I know Traci is in the contest but I’m not allowed to wrestle her, so my focus is on you Andrew as you’re the protégé of Casey Williams, learning from Ben Jordan and Jordan Williams.
Some could say that has it benefits but you’ve got Ben Jordan, a man who is like us Andrew, a young man who exceled in ACW and gained the Super J Cup last year but his career has just begun! Casey Williams stole the headlines a few years ago, touted as the next big thing… not height wise but career wise, but it just didn’t seem to happen for him. Now Jordan Williams is someone you could say has been there and done that, he’s achieved his most recent prizes of being SCW Heavyweight and Tag Team Champion. But despite the crowning glories of yesteryears, it is what we do in the here and now that defines us.
We could quote lineage of who trained who and who did what, but it’s what we do with our knowledge and what we put into practice, I’ve gained Tag Team success in my short time in SCW but I’m at a learning curb since we’ve lost them and pressing forth our ‘rematch’ claims. It hurts the loss of a championship but I’ll learn from this, make sure Frost and Dough realises who really will claim dominance in the Tag Team division this year. I won’t allow the loss to you and Traci be the lingering stumbling block in my career, I want to succeed in every path set before me, Jessie deserves to succeed after last year’s failure. Andrew, you will learn a valuable lesson come Climax Control. How to deal in defeat. Ben Jordan isn’t use to losing, Jordan Williams most certainly isn’t accustomed to failure, Casey Williams on the other hand.. kinda is. So perhaps he will be your shoulder to cry on when you realise just what has happened on your debut.
A distant noise behind Landon causes him to quickly glance behind before contining.
Landon Axel
Traci Patterson, someone who has a connection with me, we’re both from the great state of Texas. If only I was in the ring in Galveston right now, would of got the biggest cheer of the evening, however I’m on standing in the ring I’m standing here holding a camera phone up to my face talking about Climax Control and the Blast from the Past tournament. I watched your video earlier with your sister, I know you didn’t grasp the concept of the tournament, from my understand it sounded like you don’t quiet grasp the concept of SCW either. The promotion has a strict code of conduct that men shall never touch a woman in the ring, basically saying I cannot lay a finger on you and vice versa, so you shouldn’t prepare yourself against me. That is Andrew’s focus, your focus is on my partner, the former Roulette and Tag Team Champion in Jessie Salco. She isn’t someone you’d like to mess with. I know you’ve got your sister but with the history that Jessie has, one split second-guessing or one blink and you’re in trouble with this ladie, something I think is desirable in a tag partner and someone I hope to be in the second round with, in a few weeks’ time.
Andrew Garcia and Traci Patterson would be anyones worse nightmare on another night, but be it the official opening of the tournament for 2014, Landon Axel and Jessie Salco aren’t going to be the ones first eliminated from this event. We’ll be the first time to guarantee our spot in round two! I know we’re not assured of the brackets for this event or if it’s luck of the draw, we could face someone’s teams that’ll appear later in the show or we could face the team that’ll debut together next week which includes my partner, Ethan Brody. So far Guns for Hire did start the year flying, with a slight blip against the new Tag Team Champions, that won’t stop us from doing what we do best and that’s beat people up. I look forward to the Metal-Head Gun for Hire unit that is Axel and Salco! See you at Climax Control!
Landon presses the stop button with his index finger, re-watching the footage before uploading it onto youtube, which he then sends a link to SCW staffing to post on the wrestling promotions official website. Axel slides his phone back into his pocket, grabbing his jacket, locking the auto body shop up before jumping onto his Harley and sets off down the road as the scene fades away to black..
