Darkness fills the room, other than one stream of light breaking through the top of the closed curtains. A bed is seen, with two figures sleeping peacefully inside as the digital alarm clock lights up, showing the time at one thirty two AM. The bed covers start to move as someone rolls over in the bed, moving closer to the other person. The sound of a baby crying blasts through a nearby baby monitor, lights on the front turning from red to green. Someone rolls over, lifting up the monitor, eyes slowly opening.
"I got this." The Aussie accent of Odette Stevens is heard saying.
"No." My croaking voice replies "Stay where you are."
I place the baby monitor back down and swing a leg out of bed, putting it on the cold bedroom floor, before spinning myself out of bed and placing my left leg down. I reach over to a nearby chair and lift a robe from it, standing up and wrapping it around my body. I pull the front part of the robe together and tie it quickly with the rope as I move towards a side door. I switch on a night light near the door, slightly brightening the room. My eyes blink rapidly as I quickly try to adjust to the light in the room, although it's dimness barely lights up the room, before moving towards a crib. I reach my hands down towards my crying son, a smile on my face as I lift him on to my shoulder and moving towards a chair and sitting down, holding him across me.
"Now I know you're not hungry or need changing cause mummy did that fifteen minute ago." I tell him "So my guess is you're just bored and because your hands are not big enough to pick up a Playstation 4 controller and you're about eighteen years away from legally playing GTA, you just need someone to hang around with."
I put my finger near my sons hand and he wraps his hand around it, the sound of his cries stopping.
"You woke me up to just hold my finger?" I say with a smile
I look down with pride at my first born, slowly waking up and adjusting to the light.
"Young and innocent" I say to myself "But the world will change that. I know you won't understand anything I'm saying right now, and you won't remember it, but I'm probably gonna sit here and tell you this so much over your life time."
A slight yawn escapes my lips.
"I have so much to teach you" I start "And I will over time, but I'm gonna let you in on something that you're gonna need to know. The world is a horrible place, people will come in to your life and try and change you, try and change who you are, but you shouldn't let that happen. You need to be your own man and not let anyone drag you down. People will come in to your life and they will lie to you about such little things, about who they are, what they've done, what they do, hell, even where they are, but you don't have to listen to them. You just need to listen and learn from family, from people who will drop everything to help you."
I look down at my sons eyes open, looking around the room.
"I didn't have that for most of my life and for most of my life, I wasn't a good person." I tell him "I did bad stuff and then I met granddad Synn. That really is his real name by the way. Then I met uncle Shane, Auntie Fantasia, that's not her real name, by the way. Then I met uncle Despy, Uncle Chris, Aunt Kittie and Uncle Rage and finally, I met your mother."
I can't help but smile thinking back.
"Then I met a lot of people, some good, some bad." I say thoughtfully "But the family will always be there for you, they always was for me. Even when I do bad things, these people will defend my actions. Even when I was in trouble, even if I get in trouble now, they'll still come running to help me. Even uncle Rage and he's a miserable bast.... guy sometimes."
I look down at my son pulling on my finger.
"It doesn't matter if Granddad Synn is about to open a twenty year old scotch he's been dying to try, or if Uncle Despy and Angel are teaching a Mr Self Help class, or if Auntie Fantasia and Uncle Shane are off doing naughty things in public, or if Uncle Chris is scaring the locals with his crazy eyes, or if Auntie Kittie is off listening to the voices in her head or if Uncle Rage is beating the snot out of someone for giving him diet coke instead of normal coke." I start "They'll always come running to me if I need them, like I would for them. These are the kind of people you need to be around, not the liars, scum bags and cheats of this world."
I lift my son a little higher up and closer to me.
"You're gonna see and feel a lot in your life." I tell him "People will make you feel great things like love, and make you feel bad things like heartbreak, but one feeling you will never feel is the feeling of being alone. You was born in to a conventional family with an unconventional extended family that will keep an eye on you. I can already see the trouble you and uncle Despy will be getting in, in years to come."
I watch my sons eyes slowly start to shut.
"But if he asks you to walk a tiger down the Vegas strip. Just don't" I say with a laugh "Daddy used to have a tiger and uncle Despy decided to take him for a walk one day and it scared a whole lot of people and got uncle Despy in a lot of trouble with a lot of people. There was screaming and shouting and people running and yeah, it was madness."
A tiny yawn appears from my boys lips.
"Am I boring you?" I ask with a smile "There's so many stories I can tell you about your family, so many fun ones, some not so fun but full of meaning beyond most peoples understanding. They see us and they don't understand how we can be a strong family, yet we are and you're part of that now. You don't know it yet but you're part of something special. Maybe someday you'll follow in your parents footsteps and be a world champion."
I pause for a few seconds.
"But then again, hopefully not." I say with the left side of my mouth curved down "Wrestling has given me a lot, it gave me a wife, a family, it gave me you. It gave me chance after chance to make seriously good money and be known all over the world, but there's a lot of snakes in that world. You see guys cheered on TV, and behind the cameras, they're not good people. They'll use people to get where they are. Then you see the guys booed on TV, and they're pretty much hard working and good people. It's a messed up game son, full of messed up people that make me look normal."
I watch my sons eyes close completely.
"You'll have some of the family here tomorrow." I tell him "So you can hang around with them for a bit. They'll probably bring you all kinds of presents and things you're gonna love."
I stand up and walk towards the crib, softly laying him down and pulling the cover up over him. I lean over looking at him for a few seconds, watching him sleep, before turning around and seeing Odette standing in the doorway, looking towards me.
"Very cute." She says with a smile.
"How long have you been standing there?" I ask Odette as I move towards her.
"The whole time." She tells me.
I wrap my arms around a smiling Odette as the camera fades
Now we do a little fast forward to the Sins being over here in London, feel free to watch Despayre's promo to see them in Vegas, then over here.
"Gabriel?" Synn's voice booms out "Are you listening to me?"
Outside the house, beautiful sunshine booms down across the back garden of our London home, shining off the bright green grass around us as my head rests on a wooden table as I sit in front of Synn. Synn hammers his fist on to the table causing my head to fire straight upwards, looking at Synn through weary, tired eyes.
"Eh?" I sleepily say.
"I said are you listening to me?" He repeats.
"No." I reply "Had a rough night, was awake four times. Little guy takes serious pleasure in waking me up. What did I miss?"
"I was talking to you about your match you have in Tunisia this week." Synn tells me
My body straightens up as I look at Synn with lowered eyebrows.
"What match?" I ask.
"The match I've been telling you about." Synn starts "You, Despy and Shipman teaming together."
I raise my eyebrow at Synn.
"Ok, so main event obviously." I start "Let me guess, they're gonna give us some decent competition, so Watts, Jackson and Raab maybe?"
"Not exactly." Synn tells me
"Then who?" I ask
"Kris Halc, Tim Staggs and Johnny Tsunami" He informs me "And it's also not in the main event."
"WHAT?!?!" I yell out "Are you fucking with me?"
"I'm afraid not." Synn says with a sympathetic look on his face. "I was also disappointed when I saw they had you face the Nobodies, but thought you would have seen the card by now."
"No." I start "I've had other things to be dealing with. SCW know my situation and they're dragging me away from my family to face a guy who has a belt that's not on my level, a guy Kain beat last week and someone who has never had a match in SCW before? What kind of shit is this? Plus I'm not in the main event? At least tell me the main event is decent."
"Raynin Vs Mikah" Synn tells me.
"Are you joking? Little miss 'Fill her promo with absolutely pointless crap that puts people off watching it' against..." I pause for a second "Whoever the fuck Mikah is. Seriously, who booked this shit?"
Synn looks at me blankly, not saying a word.
"I should be here instead of involved in pointless matches." I say a little more calmer "If it was an important match, fine but lets be honest, there is nothing for us to gain from this. Nothing at all. They get lucky and pull off a win, they gain everything. Who the fuck had a word in the bookers ear about this shit? I got this horrible feeling someone has been forced in to giving this match to raise the profile of those and piss on the established Sins."
Synn shakes his head, disagreeing with my comment.
"Or maybe they see this as a way to show your dominance and these three are just being sacrificed." Synn says.
"Either way, I don't wanna leave my family to be in such a pointless match." I reply "What do we get out of it? What's the motivation for me to get on a plane to another sand box country and actually have a match against people who don't deserve it? I get nothing out of this at all."
"Other than teaming with Shipman and Despayre" Synn quickly fires back "This is something we've wanted to see for a long time. The fans wanted to see it, I wanted to see it and deep down, you wanted it to happen."
"Without trying to sound selfish." I start "Fuck the fans. I wanted it to happen and then my priorities changed, I thought I had a deal to wrestle sporadically and defend my title. Not to be in a match with three people who look at themselves as nobodies, so why the hell should I look at them as somebodies."
"It's three more men you can add to the list of people you've beaten." Synn says, trying to convince me.
"Nice try of appealing to my sense of ego." I tell Synn "But these three are not worth my time. We're talking me showing up, winning in five minutes and leaving."
"In that case..." Synn starts "I will book you on the last fight out so you can win in five minutes and be home by the end of the night. It's a three hour flight time. You'll be home before you know it. Plus you get to team with your brothers and get an easy win."
I breathe deeply, slowly shaking my head.
"And how do I tell my already tired wife that it's all on her while I fight no ones?" I start "If it was a title defense, I'm sure she'll be ok with it. It's worth the hassle, but it's not, it's against a no one and two of his no one mates."
"I'm sure she can be persuaded" Synn says with a tilt of his head.
"I'm not so sure." I start "She's tired as hell right now, and there's me flying off to do a pointless match. I'm the world champion, I shouldn't be in this situation where I'm taking on people who really don't matter. I think you should talk to her."
"You think I'm crazy to tell a sleep deprived woman that her husband is being stolen away for a couple of days?" He says "She's your wife, not mine."
"A couple of days?" I start "Screw that. I'll fly out Sunday morning and fly back Sunday night. I won't be gone for a couple of days. As tiring as this is, being a dad, I'm actually loving it, so I won't be gone for a couple of days."
Synn slowly nods his head.
"Ok." He starts "Sunday morning it is."
"Good." I reply "Be damned if I'm gonna miss too much family time. Just make sure you go have a word with the powers that be, that my next match better be worth my time, or I'll be taking my title belt and going on strike."
"That would be a first in SCW history" Synn says with a chuckle.
"If ever anyone was gonna pull off a first, you know it would be me." I state "But seriously, this booking shit needs to get sorted out quick, because I'm not fighting nobodies my entire career. My opponents after this better be decent, or I'm just not gonna bother turning up for them."
Synn shrugs his shoulders
"I can't make you show up for your matches." He says "But this one, you'll be giving me a chance to see all three of my boys in action in the same ring."
"And a guaranteed win." I say arrogantly.
"First you have a bigger challenge to deal with." He says with a nod of his head.
I turn my head behind me to see Odette walking towards us, carrying our son, a bright, proud smile on her face. I quickly turn back to Synn.
"Biggest challenge of my life" I whisper to Synn.
The camera fades as Odette gets closer.
I'm not gonna bother you with the conversation that took place between Odette and I. She wasn't pleased but understood that kicking the hell out of people is what I do. Needless to say, Sunday morning, I will be on that plane and The Nobodies will be living up to their uncreative name
Nobodies....
Who books this shit?
A new dad gets dragged away from his young family, just to have a match with.... nobodies....
Who's bright idea was it to put the SCW World Heavyweight champion in a match with three guys who are exactly what they say they are. Who's idea was it to pull me away from my family, not even to be in the main event?
Hello, big arse title belt holder here. Just embarrassing...
Let's be professional anyway.
Three men, only one with any kind of credibility and that would be Kris Halc. A champion, a man who was touted as a future star in SCW that has this mind block of being somebody, a man dragged down to levels below him, thanks to the two jobbers that he hangs around with. A man that couldn't get past a man I've beaten in the past, in the form of Kain, at a supercard, that he had to get an assist from the same man that is holding you in to mediocrity.
Kris, out of the three, you're the better man, yet you seem to not want to be somebody because your friends are nobodies. Are you scared to actually step up and show your worth? Why do you keep that anchor around your neck, dragging you down in to nothingness, just to appease the two that you are closest too? The thing is, you are the one who has decided to keep yourself in chains and this presents a problem to you, a big problem that is likely to cost you big time in the immediate future. Your choice to not want to be someone, means you have to carry two others, it means you have to have the extra pressure put on yourself to succeed, to try and force your way in to the limelight, but these two are boulders changed to your ankles Kris, these two men are two men who will drag you down in to the bottom of the ocean, these two men will destroy you.
Break the chains Kris...
Get yourself away from them while you have the chance, force them out of your life before you and pulled under so much, that you won't be able to breathe, cut them lose before they end you.
You're a champion, a man who is meant to represent an entire division but you can't do that while you have these two infants wrapping their arms around your legs and clinging to you. See, they know they are the real Nobodies of SCW, and that they need you so much more than what you need them. They see that, you don't. You need to see this Kris because they will be the death of you. They will make you as worthless as they are.
Be free.
Be free of the people who hold you down, have some respect for yourself and ditch the losers who will keep you as a nobody and become a somebody. Stop sitting there in a pit of self pity because people don't ask you for autographs, or because people walk past you in the street. Stop whining and bitching because you don't get invites to appear on shows, radio and at events.
Seriously, get over it, ditch the losers and actually be somebody, because right now, you're just embarrassing yourself. You're better than that Kris, you're better than those two losers holding you down. Get it done pal and start being a somebody.
We can all see it, only you can't but the main culprit holding you down is Tim Staggs...
Yes, I know who you are too Tim and you are holding him down.
We know you actually are not a patch on your parents when it comes to ability, star power, mic skills, your not even close, but you've been around wrestling long enough to know that when you have nothing, you latch on to someone much more talented than yourself to actually get yourself noticed and that is exactly what you've done here. You've grabbed on to a champion and refused to let go, just to be known. You tried to prove your loyalty by stopping Kain from taking your buddies title, but loyalty doesn't make up for lack of talent in the ring.
Because you have the Staggs name, because your parents are multiple time champions, means absolutely shit compared to real talent. A name is meaningless, but you trying to live on your family name is about as good as it's gonna get for you. It's about as far as you can go.
You just don't have it kid.
Yes, I can call you kid because this match sums it up nicely, it is men against boys here. What are you really gonna do when a psychopath like Chris Shipman has you cornered with that look in his eyes that screams out that he's about to rip out your liver and eat it raw?
For the record, that's not me talking tough or trying to make you piss your pants Tim, it's a very Shipman move, there's a good chance he's gonna actually try that.
Back to the original question Tim, what happens then? What emotions will be running through your body at that point knowing that this man is capable of that very thing? This is why you are well and truly out of your depth, this is why you should have stayed training rather than getting in to a ring at a big company like SCW that I control, that I run. You couldn't even hack it in the watered down Arizona State Wrestling fed for untrained losers. You couldn't even show your worth there and really expect to come to SCW and play with the big boys?
Kain gave you a lesson that you shouldn't forget, and now you're up against the best SCW has to offer in me.
You're out of your depth.
You shouldn't be here Tim and you shouldn't be in this match, you shouldn't be anywhere near the same ring as I am. You should be messing with people on your level and not in this match. The powers that be have now put you in a very bad position, a sink or swim, a baptism of fire, the lot, but you will not rise, nor will you swim. You're not gonna be in the ring with just anybody. Decorated champions that have been around each other for around the same time that your parents were still wiping your nose and watching you play with power ranger toys. We are a unit and not thrown together in five minutes. We are experience over youth, been through wars you couldn't even come close to imagining. Now consider what we've done and what you've done in your handful of matches that you can count on one hand. There's a big difference Tim, a very big difference.
This is gonna be like no other for you Tim, this is gonna be an experience that you will have nightmares about for the rest of your life. This will haunt you every time you lace up those boots because the flashbacks of the amount of suffering you're about to allow yourself to go through, will be the most painful thing ever to happen in your short and uneventful life.
This is the life you have chose, now it's time for you to see the dark side of things. I am the dark side of things Tim. Being in the ring with me is not how dreams are made, it's how nightmares and therapy begin.
Not bad enough that there's two of you but there's a third.
Johnny Tsunami...
I remember you also from ASW, jobber to the jobbers, a real life nobody. People like you make me wonder what you really have to do to get a job in SCW, cause clearly, if they hire people like you, it's not too tough.
Welcome to the big time, a match in Sin City Wrestling, sneaking in the back door like all these others that really shouldn't be here, but somehow, you made it here and well, this is your debut, what you've 'worked' to get.
This is one to remember, one for the scrap book.
A debut against the SCW World Heavyweight champion, a debut against the man who follows no one and leads everyone. This is history Johnny, big time history, cause no one has ever stepped in to SCW and instantly debuted against the top person here and there's a good reason for that. Even an idiot like you should work out that you need to have SCW experience not to crack under the pressure, an SCW crowd is like no other, they smell bullshit as much as the rest of us. They know when someone is not ready to be in a position that they are handed and they will get on your back, they will rip you apart without a second thought.
This is where you will crack.
That point when you step in to the ring and know you have no one on your side, when they know this is a mismatch of talent and you shouldn't even be employed let alone in the ring with a sick fuck like Shipman, a talent like Despayre and a champion like me. You haven't done a damn thing to earn this like others have. This is a very valued position where people would kill just to be in your shoes and try their luck. Hell, Andrew Watts had to win ten on the spin to be in the ring with me and you Johnny, you're no Andrew Watts.
You're not even close.
I should be insulted by being put in this match against you. I should be more than angry that I have to lower myself to even have to talk about a waste of time like you, but fear not Johnny, I'll do it anyway because people listen to me, they know my name and they'd rather hear from me than someone like you.
I'm gonna let you hold another record.
You're gonna be the guy I pin in under ten seconds. I haven't got time to waste with people like you and I don't get paid by the hour, so I will be taking you apart in the quickest possible time so I can get my arse out of this country and back home where I belong.
This is gonna be a rough night for you Johnny, a really rough night. You may have everything to gain and nothing to lose, but you will not be gaining a damn thing from us. You are not part of the next big group, you are exactly what it says on the tin, a nobody, and you have to be somebody to defeat me.
This match is a waste of my time, I get nowhere by defeating these fools but I will do so anyone because there is some pride in my bones and a point to prove.
A point I hear you say?
Yes, a point. Look at what's come before The Nobodies.... just look. The New XTremes, The Players Club, the embarrassingly named Dream Chaserz, The Five Elders, The Players Club, The Rejects, The Mean Girls...
What do they have in common?
Correct, none of them are here now, all stables have gone down like the Titanic. Only one remains, one that has been here from the start, The Seven Deadly Sins. We are the ones that will last the test of time, and we will be the first to put cracks in the foundations of The Nobodies. You will become another group that no one remembers, while we stand tall. This is all about us being the dominant group and sending another packing. I'm not claiming we scared off all those groups but when they saw they could never be as successful as us, they knew not to bother anymore. This match will teach you that you too are never going to hit our level.
This match is ours, that simple and anyone who predicted otherwise.... Go fuck yourself. I'm a champion for a reason and I refuse to lose against people not up to my level.
This is gonna be one hell of a short night's work, because I'm not coming to mess around and The Nobodies will get back to doing what they do best. Laying on their backs, looking at the lights and wondering what the hell just hit them.
May God have mercy on your soul....
Cause we will not...
