[Natalie McKinley]

 The scene opens inside Pure Gym, in Cardiff, on the evening of Thursday 30th April. Stood near to an exercise bike, taking a break from her second workout of the day, is Natalie McKinley, who is wearing a pair of black leggings and a white crop top; using the exercise bike is Simon Jones, who is wearing a pair of navy blue shorts and a grey t-shirt.

As Simon continues to pedal, he brings up the topic of the forthcoming SCW event.

Simon: 'I had a look earlier online, at the betting odds for Mayhem In Morocco - just like the majority of the pundits, and like most of the SCW fans, the bookies don't seem to think that Crystal has much chance of beating you on Sunday.'

Natalie: 'Oh yeah? What are the odds for our match?'

Simon: 'If I remember correctly, the odds I saw were four-to-one for Crystal to win, with you something like eleven-to-eight on to win.'

Natalie replies with a hint of surprise in her voice.

Natalie: 'Eleven-to-eight on for me to win?'

Simon doesn't say anything, responding silently with a nod of his head.

Natalie: 'Jeez; if I don't win on Sunday, a lot of people are going to be shocked: the pundits, the fans...'

Simon interrupts Natalie, to contribute to her list.'

Simon: 'Your mum.'

Natalie groans slightly.

Natalie: 'Don't remind me.'

Simon chuckles.

Simon: 'Seriously though, if you were to lose on Sunday, it would be the biggest surprise in SCW since Amy Marshall defeated Delia, at Blaze Of Glory - or possibly since you pinned Mercedes Vargas, two weeks before Blaze Of Glory.'

Natalie: 'Well, I shouldn't need to tell you that, when the bell sounds on Sunday evening, to start the match, I will it give it my all, to try to retain my title.'

Simon nods his head, in acknowledgement; a smirk then crosses Natalie's face.

Natalie: 'Although, with odds of four-to-one against Crystal winning, if I was to bet on her to win, and then throw the match, I could make a fair chunk of money.'

As Simon laughs at Natalie's remark, the scene switches from the gym to a location around four hundred yards away, and five days later, not long after noon on Tuesday 5th May: now wearing a pair of black trousers and a black jacket, Simon can be seen walking along St Mary Street, in Cardiff.

While Simon walks past The Bunker - a sports bar and nightclub - just ahead of him, Natalie exits a William Hill betting shop. Natalie - who is wearing a pair of pale blue jeans, and a red jacket - notices Simon, but she tries to pretend that she has not seen him, by turning her back to Simon, and walking away. It is to no avail though, as Simon calls out to her.

Simon: 'Natalie!'

Having only taken a few steps, Natalie stops, and then turns back to face Simon, who soon catches up to her.

Natalie: 'Hey, Simon. Are you on your lunch hour?'

Simon shakes his head.

Simon: 'No, I'm on my way home - I've got a half day today.'

Simon casts a glance towards the betting shop, before looking back to Natalie.

Simon: 'Why were you in the bookies - have you had a bet on something?'

Natalie: 'Jack asked me to collect his winnings for him.'

Simon: 'What had he had a bet on?'

Natalie: 'On Chelsea to win the Premier League. And he's going to spend his winnings this evening, on a meal for me and him, at Tempus at Tides.'

Simon: 'Tempus at Tides? I've heard of it, but it's not somewhere I've been to; it's down the bay, isn't it?'

Natalie nods her head.

Simon: 'From what I've heard about it, it's one of the most expensive restaurants in Cardiff.'

Natalie: 'Yeah, it is; after what happened on Sunday, I guess Jack wants to treat me to something.'

Simon gestures to Natalie, to suggest that they move from their current spot, and as they walk along St Mary Street, heading away from the betting shop, the two of them continue their conversation.

Simon: 'So, speaking of Sunday, how are you feeling now, two days later?'

Natalie: 'I've gotten over the disappointment of losing the match, and the disappointment of no longer being champion; now I'm just reflecting on where I went wrong, and trying to assess what I should have done differently.'

Natalie sighs.

Natalie: 'I remember saying two weeks ago, that there was no chance of me being complacent, but now I find myself wondering whether I did in fact make that mistake.'

Simon: 'I didn't see any signs of complacency from you in the past two weeks.'

Natalie: 'Not in the gym, no, but...up here.'

Natalie prods her temple with her index finger.

Natalie: 'I think I may have been overconfident - possibly even to such an extent that it was as if all I had to do to beat Crystal Hilton, was simply show up for the match; I was so certain I would beat Crystal again, that I started looking at who has held the roulette title the longest - besides Mercedes Vargas - to see how much longer I needed to hold the title for, to overtake them.'

Simon: 'Overconfidence is not something that I've ever suffered from - my confidence level is far more likely to be at the opposite end of the spectrum. But if you were overconfident, or complacent, or whatever else, then perhaps losing to Crystal wasn't such a bad thing for you - it could be the kick up the arse you needed, to help you remember what got you to where you were, and to remind you not to take anything for granted in future.'

Natalie: 'Yeah, you're probably right - no-one wants to lose, but maybe it was what I needed.'

Simon: 'So what now? As the former champion, you're entitled to a rematch with Crystal, for the roulette title - do you want that match to happen as soon as possible?'

Natalie replies ironically.

Natalie: 'Well that depends - are you going to return to SCW, to get your return match for the heavyweight title?'

Simon scoffs at Natalie's question.

Simon: 'Not any time soon.'

Natalie grins mischievously.

Natalie: 'It was worth a shot.'

Natalie and Simon cross over Wharton Street, at its junction with St Mary Street.

Simon: 'Come on; this isn't about me - it's about you.'

Natalie: 'Okay, well, if it was up to me, I would choose not to have an immediate rematch with Crystal - I think I would prefer to get a win under my belt against someone else first, before then looking to regain the roulette title.'

Simon: 'Speaking from personal experience, I can understand your thinking.'

Natalie: 'Of course, the powers that be may have other ideas.'

Simon: 'You'll find out what they have in store for you, in five days' time - if you're booked in a match for the next show, that is.'

Natalie: 'You know me, Simon - I'll just continue to train hard, and then wait to see whether I'm needed in Algeria, for Climax Control.'

Simon comes to a stop, as he and Natalie near the end of St Mary Street, and its junction with Church Street and High Street.

Simon: 'Right, I'm going to go for a cheeky Greggs, so I'll see you...'

Simon's sentence trails off; he then shrugs, before continuing.

Simon: 'I don't know - probably some time later this week, I guess.'

Natalie: 'Okay, Simon. Enjoy your afternoon off work.'

Simon: 'Thanks. And you enjoy your meal at Tempus at Tides.'

Natalie: 'I will. Bye!'

Simon: 'Bye.'

As Natalie heads off along Church Street, and as Simon steps into an adjacent Greggs, the scene switches again, to another nearby location, around three hundred yards away, this time inside Brewhouse - a bar - on the evening of Monday 11th May.

Stood at the bar, now wearing black trousers and a pale grey button-up shirt, is Simon Jones. While Simon waits for the bartender to bring him his drink, he is soon joined at the bar by Jack Brown, who is wearing dark grey trousers, a blue button-up shirt and matching tie.

Jack: 'Simon?'

Simon turns away from the bar, to see that Natalie's boyfriend is now stood just a few feet away from him.

Simon: 'Jack! How are you?'

Simon extends his right hand towards Jack, who shakes it.

Jack: 'I'm good, thanks. How about you?'

Simon: 'Yeah, I'm alright. I'm just here with some friends from work - one of the girls got engaged at the weekend, so we're having a drink or two to celebrate.'

Jack: 'One of the guys I work with asked if I fancied a quick pint, and so here I am.'

The bartender places two bottles of Foster's on the bar.

Bartender: 'That's three pounds, please.'

Simon turns back towards the bar, and pulls his wallet out of the pocket of his trousers; he takes a note from the wallet, and hands it over to the bartender. The bartender then opens the cash register, and gives Simon his change.

Simon: 'Thanks.'

Bartender: 'Thank you. Who's next, please?'

As Simon puts the change into his wallet, and then puts his wallet away, Jack points in the direction of a man stood the other side of him.

Jack: 'He was here first.'

While the bar staff serve other people, Simon picks up the bottles of Foster's, and turns to face Jack again.

Simon: 'This is the first time I've seen you since we got back to Cardiff last Monday, following Mayhem In Morocco, isn't it?'

Jack: 'Yeah, it is.'

Simon takes a sip from the bottle in his right hand.

Simon: 'Hey, did you and Natalie have a nice time at Tempus at Tides last week?'

Jack: 'Yeah, we did, thanks; it was a good night - good food.'

Simon: 'It was nice of you to treat Natalie to a meal at one of Cardiff's most expensive restaurants.'

Jack frowns.

Jack: 'I didn't pay for the meal - Natalie did.'

Simon: 'But Natalie told me that you were paying for the meal using your winnings from the bet you had on Chelsea to win the Premier League.'

Jack shakes his head.

Jack: 'I didn't have a bet on Chelsea - or anyone else, for that matter - to win the Premier League.'

Simon: 'Last Tuesday, I saw Natalie coming out of William Hill, and she told me that you had asked her to collect your winnings.'

Jack: 'This is the first that I'm hearing of it.'

Simon takes another sip of Foster's.

Simon: 'So what was Natalie doing in a bookies, that she felt the need to lie about it? Unless...'

Simon then shakes his head, dismissing whatever thought he had.

Simon: 'No - no chance; she wouldn't do that.'

Jack: 'What - what wouldn't Natalie do?'

Simon: 'She...I can't believe I'm even suggesting this.'

Simon places the bottle of Foster's that he is holding with his left hand on the bar; he then turns back to face Jack.

Simon: 'About a week and a half ago - a few days before Mayhem In Morocco - I was with Natalie, in the gym. While we were there, I mentioned to Natalie what odds the bookies were offering for her match with Crystal Hilton - Natalie was odds on, whereas Crystal was something like four-to-one against.'

Jack nods his head.

Simon: 'Natalie then made a comment along the lines of that, if she was to bet on Crystal and then throw the match, she could make a lot of money. Now I assumed she was joking, but...'

Jack interrupts Simon.

Jack: 'You think Natalie threw the match?'

Simon: 'I don't like suggesting it, but why would she lie about her reason for going to William Hill? And why would Natalie then say that you were paying for the meal at Tempus at Tides, when in fact she was the one that was paying for it?'

Jack shrugs his shoulders.

Jack: 'I don't know.'

Simon: 'You were there in Casablanca - you saw the match, and how it ended: Natalie looked like she was trying to hoist Crystal up, to finish her off, but all she actually did was assist Crystal in reaching the final turnbuckle.'

Jack rubs his chin, as he digests what Simon has said.

Simon: 'I didn't really think anything of it at the time - I just thought that it was miscue from Natalie - but now...now I'm not so sure.'

Jack: 'You seriously think she might have thrown the match?'

Simon: 'As I said, I don't like suggesting it, and I really hope that I'm wrong, but there is evidence there, which indicates that Natalie may have lost the match deliberately.'

Simon takes a sip from his bottle.

Simon: 'I had better get back to my work friends, before they think that I've gone home already.'

Simon then retrieves his other bottle of Foster's, from the bar.

Simon: 'Don't say anything about this to Natalie.'

Jack: 'No, of course not.'

Simon: 'I won't take my suspicions any further, unless I get more proof.'

Simon has another sip of his drink.

Simon: 'Enjoy your evening, Jack.'

Jack: 'Thanks, Simon; you too.'

As Simon walks away from the bar, and as Jack waits to be served, the scene fades to black.


Friday 15th May

The scene opens to show the Maqam Echahid, in Algiers. The camera then zooms out and pans down, and into view - stood at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the monument - comes Natalie McKinley; Natalie is wearing a pair of dark grey shorts and a cyan crop top.

Natalie tucks a stray strand of her hair behind her left ear; she then begins to speak.

Natalie: 'After the week off following Mayhem In Morocco, the men and women of SCW are now just two days away from returning to action, with the second show of the African leg of the world tour - just two days until I get the opportunity to recapture something that was taken from me twelve days ago, in Casablanca.'

Natalie quickly glances down, towards the ground, before looking back to the camera.

Natalie:  'The something in question is of course the SCW Bombshell Roulette Championship. And by saying that it was taken from me, I guess I'm being a bit melodramatic; I don't want to come across as playing the bitter ex-champion, so what I ought to have said is that I lost the roulette title - or rather, Crystal Hilton won it, and deservedly so.'

Natalie smiles.

Natalie: 'Yes, Crystal, you heard me correctly; I don't suppose you expected to hear me say it, but I admit that, at Mayhem In Morocco, you deserved to beat me - on that night, the better woman won. I also doubt that you expected to be seeing me again this quickly - I know I didn't expect that we would be in the ring with one another again so soon afterwards - but here we are, just days away from being opponents for a fourth time.'

The camera follows Natalie, as she climbs the first of the three flights of steps that lead up to the Maqam Echahid; once she reaches the top of that set of steps, she turns back to face the camera.

Natalie: 'The match at Climax Control will be the fifteenth match of my career so far, which means that I will have spent more than a quarter of my career doing battle with you, Crystal. And if I defeat you on Sunday, to regain the roulette title, there is then likely to be a fifth installment in our series - and who knows, possibly even more. Having beaten me in Casablanca, maybe you would have liked to move on to a different challenge, Crystal. Thanks to the powers that be, though, it looks like I'm not done with you yet.'

Natalie gives a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

Natalie: 'Did you notice that I said, "if I defeat you on Sunday," and not when I defeat you on Sunday? Ahead of our match at Mayhem In Morocco, I made it sound like it was a foregone conclusion that I was going to beat you, and look where that got me.'

Natalie turns her head towards her right shoulder.

Natalie: 'Where previously the SCW bombshell roulette title was draped over my shoulder, now there is nothing.'

Natalie looks back to the camera.

Natalie: 'That's something that I'm aiming to rectify this Sunday. And to do that, I'm going into this match with a different attitude to the one that I had two weeks ago - I'm going back to basics, and Crystal, I'm not making any assumptions about what will happen in our match; in essence, I'm going back to what helped me to be victorious in our first two meetings.'

Natalie lets out a small sigh.

Natalie: 'And yes, Crystal, I know that back then, you weren't who you are now - we've already covered this. But whatever name you want go by - be it La Paloma, Crystal Hilton, Christina Rose, or something else - the approach that I took when we were twice opponents last August was at least conducive to be me being able to get the better of you on those occasions; it worked me for then, and I can make it work for me again this time.'

Natalie nods her head.

Natalie: 'So gone is the bravado, and the braggadocio; no more boasts of what I can, and will, do - on Sunday, Crystal, you'll be back in the six-sided ring with the young woman from Wales that doesn't know whether she's about to win or lose, but who is quietly confident, and is trying to show she can handle any challenge that is thrown at her.'

Natalie walks up the second flight of steps, as she continues her climb towards the Maqam Echahid; as before, once she reaches the top of the set of steps, she turns back to face the camera.

Natalie: 'The challenge for me this Sunday, is to dethrone the new SCW Bombshell Roulette Champion. And while you have been on Twitter, Crystal, bragging about your recent success, the number of tweets that I've posted in the past two weeks can be counted on one hand, as I have instead been hard at work, in the gym and elsewhere, making sure that I prepare in the right manner, doing everything that I can to try to help me get back to winning ways; I'm not trying to claim that this will be a deciding factor come Sunday evening, but if I don't win, it certainly won't be for the want of trying.'

Natalie shakes her head.

Natalie: 'The fact that you are now the champion, Crystal, guarantees that this match will be different from the last one in some respects, regardless of what the outcome is. Two weeks ago, very few people expected you to win; now though, there has been a swing - there is a greater expectation on you to win now than there was two weeks ago. Can you handle the added pressure that comes with being the champion, Crystal? I know what it feels like - how are you coping with it?'

Natalie leans forward slightly, towards the camera, as if she is expecting an answer; after a moment's pause, she then stands up straight, and continues.

Natalie: 'I'm sure, Crystal, that you won't want to suffer the ignominy of having your reign as the Bombshell Roulette Champion come to an end after a mere two weeks, and without having managed to successfully defend the title even a single time, but it's my goal to make you suffer that misfortune. And while you may loathe me, I'm not motivated by a dislike for you - I just want to regain the roulette title, and to try to make sure that what happened at Mayhem In Morocco was just a blip.'

Natalie climbs the final flight of steps, and once she reaches the top, she gazes up at the Maqam Echahid, before then turning back towards the camera.

Natalie: 'Crystal, I look forward to watching you put forward your version of what you claim to be the "truth," and I will then look forward to seeing you try to back it up in the ring on Sunday evening - I think you might find it harder to do so against me this time, but I guess that we shall find out whether that is the case soon enough.'

Natalie's smile broadens into a grin.

Natalie: 'See you at Climax Control, Crystal.'

Natalie looks towards the camera for a couple more seconds, before turning to her right, and walking out of view. The camera then pans up to show the Maqam Echahid, and after a few more seconds pass, the scene fades to black.