[FADE IN. An empty arena, with a wrestling ring set up, a lone spotlight falling dead centre. We can just make out a watermark on the canvas – MCW. Standing in the light, dressed in his casual jeans and t-shirt, is “The Dragon”]
Karl: The last time Adam and I were in a match in MCW, he walked away with the World Heavyweight Championship, as I was treated where I lay to make sure there was no permanent damage. As that show closed, he lay on the plywood roof of a three storey cage, clutching the belt we’d just fought so hard for, and I lay in a broken mess of barbed wire and plywood. Both of us were bloodied and beaten.
That match is still a DVD staple – the only Mayhem Mountain match, from Major Championship Wrestling’s Culture Shock pay-per-view, two thousand and three. Not too long after that, MCW closed down, right before a tag team match pitting myself and Christian Sands against Rocko Daymon and Adam Benjamin, where if someone pinned Adam, they got his title.
Now, we get to see a one on one encounter in a straight wrestling match. Main event of the final MCW show, one fall to a finish. It’s a shame, then, that Adam sees fit to rewrite history to suit his own ends.
Yes, Adam. Rewriting history. You think I thought I was too good to face you when MCW reopened its doors? I’m sure you never spoke then to Sands about it – about how as soon as I heard the rumours, I got in touch with him and said if he wanted me on board, I would be more than happy to turn up. Do you know what his response was?
I was too big a star for what he wanted MCW to be. He wanted MCW to be where stars are made, not to rely on stars coming in from other promotions in an attempt to grab ratings, just so they could then stifle the home-grown talent. When MCW came back, I was preparing to square off for the Empire Pro Wrestling World Title, as well as the Chad Merritt trophy in TEAM. On top of those, I had placed top five in two Natural Selection tournaments, and had the Empire Pro Wrestling Intercontinental Championship. He didn’t want me in from the start because he didn’t want people to think it was the Karl Brown show – he wanted the roster to grow, and give the opportunity to others that Bolich had given me in the old MCW. He told me to give it a year or so, so MCW had gotten on its feet, and built itself to where he wanted it to be, with its own stars – then give him another call, and he’d be happy to have me aboard.
Is that ducking you?
And then, when Sands gave control to Latham and Johnson, I got in touch with Leonard. I said that since you wanted to go one on one with me in MCW again, I’d come in for the one off. He said he’d be happy to put that match on – but he wanted to see how things panned out for me in Empire Pro first. With the two of us holding titles, and me going into a match for the World Title, he didn’t want to run the risk of having Ryan come down on him with his team of lawyers. So, we waited. And waited. The wait was infuriating, but we had to keep waiting to see what happened.
Am I too important to be wasting my time with you? No. You’re one of five people I consider the toughest opponents of my career – you, Sands, Molotov, Troy Douglas, and Maelstrom. I’ve never had a problem facing anyone at any time in any match that the promoter wants to make. How many people in their third match compete in a three tiered cage match, with barbed wire and weapons? How many people get told they’re competing in a chain match at bell time? How many people are willing to face someone the calibre of Eric Davis and put a challenge out to someone like Sebastian Dodd for the same night to make good on their position as number one contender to the Intercontinental title?
No, Adam. I’ve never ducked you, and I never would.
As for me brushing you off in the locker-room? I treat you the same way I treat anyone. Ask any of the people in the Empire Pro locker-room – they say hi, I’ll say hi. They ask a question, I’ll answer. I’m just not one for small talk. I’m not the most sociable person in the world, and I’ve never claimed to be. It’s a strange society that expects everyone to act the same way. It’s an unimaginative mind that sees everyone as being the same, because the cold hard reality is that as carbon-copied as the ‘in crowd’ likes to think itself, as much as societies and governments like to think they can plan based on how other people act – life’s full of different people. It’s a lot more interesting that way.
I do remember you asking if I wanted to team with you. And yes, I turned you down. And no, it wasn’t because of what I thought about you. It’s because I prefer working alone. As much as I loved playing rugby, no matter what position I was put in that match, I preferred the athletics season, where it would be me against everyone else in the event. I preferred my fencing, where it was one on one. I preferred my martial arts training, when it was down to me, and the effort I put in. The problem for me with teams is that it becomes too easy to avoid working on your own weaknesses. I’m not knocking any tag-teams – but even in the greatest tag teams, each member had their weaknesses, which were hidden by the strengths of their partner. In the Hart Foundation, you had Jim Neidhart’s strength, and Bret Hart’s technical ability. In the British Bulldogs, you had Davey Boy’s strength and youth, combined with the experience and superior speed and technique of the Dynamite Kid. Even the three teams that were in MCW in two thousand and three were the same – one part of the team had strengths that hid the weaknesses of the other. If your weaknesses are being hidden, then you feel less inclined to work through them and make them strengths.
That’s something I don’t want. I don’t want to have to rely on someone else to bail me out of a situation if I get in over my head – it’s down to me, and whether or not I can push beyond my limits. I get more chance for that working on my own.
Does that really imply that I think of myself as being better than you, Adam? Or does it show that I have different priorities?
Priorities which don’t include conveniently forgetting to mention certain parts of history. You say that the only reason I’ve got the Intercontinental Title is because I didn’t face you – that the only reason I won the title was because you were concentrating on the TV title so much that you didn’t come out and ensure I didn’t win.
That you have my number, and that when something’s on the line against you, I choke?
Amazing how quickly you forget. As I recall, I won the right to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship in January two thousand and five in a one on one number one contenders match on Aggression. A lot on the line there, as I was in the middle of quite the slump as I recall. At the end of that match, my hand was raised in victory.
And the man laying defeated in the ring?
Adam Benjamin.
The reason I have this title isn’t because I didn’t face you – it’s because I faced and defeated you for the right to challenge Sebastian Dodd for the belt. I didn’t win the title just because you didn’t come out and cost me a title for the second time – I won it by facing a man who I didn’t even know I was wrestling, because Sebastian Dodd had transport issues. I faced a former Intercontinental Champion, a man who went on to win the A1E World Heavyweight Championship a matter of a few months later.
The truth is, Adam – I hold this title because I beat you. You hold two wins over me, but you do not have a foolproof strategy for beating me. Two of your titles may have come at my expense, but you’re not seen as the bigger star.
[Karl pauses, thinking something over, his face showing that he’s come to a realisation]
Karl: Maybe that’s why you’re so insistent on facing me. You want to test yourself against me again, yes – but ask yourself, why? If you wanted to test your technical skills, why not lay an open challenge for Viktor Molotov? I’ll be the first to admit, as a technical wrestler, he’s far superior to me. Why, when MCW reopened, did you want to face me again?
To prove that you’re the best wrestler from England? That can’t really be it, Adam. You see, the major difference between me and most wrestlers from Britain is that I don’t make a fuss about being British. I’ve never made much of an issue of it – sure, I’ve used it as an excuse for not getting certain cultural references that some opponents have used, but I’ve never waved the Union Flag to get people to look at me. Truth be told, I’ve never cared about nationality, either mine or my opponents. So, we were born and raised in the same country. I’ve always considered myself a human being rather than British – a member of the totality of the human race, rather than ascribing to a socio-political ideal of Britishness, Europeanness, or whatever. It’s not that I’m not proud about my heritage – it’s more that I take my heritage back further. So, it can’t really be that you just want to prove you’re the best wrestler from England. And if it’s to prove yourself the best technician, there are better people out there you could go after.
Do you want to know what I think, Adam?
You want to show that you’re better than the young upstart that in his first year in this industry had some of the greatest matches of the year. The rookie who placed twelfth in the ENN top two hundred and fifty for two thousand and four. The man who in a little over twelve months, challenged for the MCW Heavyweight title, the EPW Intercontinental championship, the NWL Heavyweight championship, and placed third in the Natural Selection tournament. You want to prove to yourself that you’re better than the man who went through two thousand and five with only one loss to his name – a fourth placed finish in the Natural Selection Summer Solstice. You want to prove that you’re better than the man who won the TEAM Invitational tournament, took Empire Pro Wrestling’s World Champion to a time limit draw, and has not been pinned in singles competition since two thousand four.
I’ll admit, Adam, that my list of accolades is impressive for someone with less than three years under his belt. I’ll admit that I may seem to be arrogant about what I’ve done when I say that none of it is really that important. But it makes me feel sorry for you if I’m right – if part of the reason you want to face me again is jealousy, because you’ve had your own successes.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but something about the way you speak seems to suggest otherwise. When you try and talk yourself up by saying you’ve got my number, when our history contradicts you – when you say I only hold the Intercontinental title because I didn’t face you, when history contradicts you, it suggests envy. And this match deserves that much more.
The MCW that we represent deserves more.
I’m not going to pretend that we’re representing those on the roster today, because we’re of a different time. We don’t represent Latham and Johnson’s MCW – we represent Bolich’s. We were the headliners of the first pay per view, representing Too Cool Tommy Kain, Theo, Andrew Dalton, Mike Diamond, and Christian Sands, to name a few.
We are what MCW was. We are no better than the MCW of today. But we can and will give the company the send off it deserves. This time, there’s nothing on the line but pride. It’s not about jealousy. It’s not for titles. It’s not about proving who’s the best wrestler from England.
It’s about Major Championship Wrestling. The company that gave us both a chance and launched us on the path towards the summit of this profession. And it’s about pride – who wants the win in MCW’s final match more, and who is going to push themselves beyond their limits to attain that goal?
You’ve got my number? Step foot in the ring, and see if you can beat me for a third time. When the final bell rings, we’ll know who has whose number.
And we’ll have just given MCW the send-off it deserves.
[FADE OUT]
