There I was. Falling. Falling. It felt like an eternity that I fell. And as I crashed to the mat, I heard Bearded War Pig announced the winner. That hurt. More than any recent defeat. I really thought I would win. I really really did. That was it for me. The end. Or so I thought.

But then Michael Graves had a proposition for me, a proposition that I simply couldn’t turn down. The opportunity to fight against the Kings. Do you really think that the King Slayer would miss this? Not for the world. And this, this right here, I can’t give it up. Not yet. Because this is my world.

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He defeated me. Fair and square. Just as Doctor D’Ville had defeated me on Savage the week before, despite my best efforts. D’Ville is a fierce competitor, only a fool would deny such a thing. But who stood tall after that match? I did. Bearded War Pig though? Sure, he’s good. But I am better. My last performance did not show that. While the Kings? The Kings probably feel untouchable right now. Doctor D’Ville is on a ridiculous hot streak, turning over Trax at High Stakes, and defeating me the week prior. While Theo Pryce, John Madison and John Samuels pulled off a crucial victory against Vinnie Lane, James Raven and Jonathyn Brown to gain complete ownership of the XWF.

What does this mean for me? Will the Kings keep me around merely to throw me about into handicap matches? To torment me? Well Theo Pryce can do his worst because Steve Davids isn’t going anywhere. I’ll fight every fucker in that locker room if I have to, and if I’m going down, I’m going down swinging.

Things are different this week though D’Ville, I am sure you know that. Do you know why? I’m not alone anymore. I am teaming with the best competitor in the XWF today, the Unviersal Champion, Jim Caedus. I am teaming with one of the greatest Universal Champions of all time in Trax. I am teaming with the Superstar of the Month for April, Michael Graves. I am teaming with AX3, the Trio Champions, and if you four think that this match is going to be a walkover, well, you’re truly mistaken.

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As I struggle to the back after the battle royal at High Stakes, a random press officer from the area tries to get into my face.

“Steve, Steve. You failed twice tonight, after losing to Doctor D’Ville last week, is this the worst run in your XWF career?”

My fists clenched as I turned my head and stared straight through the officer. I grabbed him by the collar and slung him up against the wall. I stared into his eyes about a centimeter away and watched him shit himself.

“Why don’t you get out of my face right now before I showcase you first hand the pain in which I can inflict? Huh? Would you like that…”

I glanced at his press badge.

“Walter. If that is your real name.”

I headed straight for the locker room. People came in and out but I sat completely still, with a towel on my back and my head between my knees. I stared aimlessly at the floor, lost in the motions of defeat.

“Fuck me Steve, you’d think you’d just lost the Universal Championship or something.”

“What in god’s name are you doing here, I told you, we’re through.”

“Ah come on Steve. Put the past behind us. Face it, you need me.”

“And why in God’s name do I need you?”

“We both know you don’t believe in God, bud, so leave that alone. You need me because let’s face it, you’re losing your way. You’re growing stale, and even though you’ve had a haircut, not sure what that’s about by the way, but it looks good, you’re just missing that certain sex appeal provided by, yours truly.”

“Drop the bravado Casanova. We both know you’re not cut out for this business.”

“Maybe not as a competitor, but look, you need something, Steve, buddy, whether you like it or not, I might just be the answer to all of your problems.”

“I doubt it.”

“Listen bud, I don’t think you’ve got much choice, let’s face it, you need all the help you can get, and well, I have a proposition for you, that you might just be too tempted to resist.”

There was a long drawn out pause.

“For fuck sake, get on with it then…”

"Graves. Caedus. Trax. Davids. Versus the Kings… What do you say?!”

“I say you’re goddamn crazy, did you see me get my ass handed to me out there?”

“Yes, yes, you’re on a low, get over it, fucking hell. I can’t deal with you when you’re feeling sorry for yourself. When we’re backed into a corner we don’t just give up. We don’t slump at a bar with pity wiped all over our face. No. We pick ourselves up, we get riled up and we go again and say if you think this if fucking over well you thought wrong because we do not back down, we do not quit. We get up stronger than ever before. And what better way to pick yourself up than by facing the Kings! The men you despise. You can finally get your vengeance on Theo Pryce.”

My pale face quickly turned to red.

“If this is the end, then just come out and fucking say so Davids. Because if you’re hanging on by a thread, then the Kings will rip you apart limb from limb on Savage.”

I grab him by the collar and sling him against the wall just as I did to the interviewer earlier.

“You know what, you know what, THERE’S PLENTY LEFT IN THE TANK!”

I brushed him off. He brushed himself off, his fists clenched and shoved me back.

“Never put your hands on what you cannot afford ever again Steve, you understand me?!”

“Sure thing, Ricky.”

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“I hate to say it, but it’s kinda nice having you back,” Ricky says as he slings back from his desk to stare out of his office which covered the entirety of a top floor tower, Desmond Tower, to be precise, London.

“Yeah well, let’s face it, we need each other. You miss the fame and I miss having the confidence booster.”

“Well don’t be too confident, you’re performing like a sack of shit lately. You’ve got one win since your return, that was against Gabe Reno, and where the fuck is he now?”

“Yeah alright, I thought you were trying to make me feel better.”

“Gotta keep you in check as well dude. By the way did you check out that Theo Pryce promo? I’m just interested, does he actually give you a boner?”

“I think he’d like to think so, the amount he’s going on about it. I think he seemed a little bit puzzled by my promo at High Stakes. He clearly didn’t pay attention.”

“That dude’s smart, but obviously not that smart. It was as clear as day to anyone with a brain that you were walking past gravestones with every single XWF competitor on, and your promo just shot out a few examples. Maybe we ought to get him a dyslexia screening?”

“In all seriousness though. I understand Pryce’s point, really I do. I get that I do not have a leg to stand on when it comes to winning the Universal Championship, and although Samuels did beat me… He was also jumped by Morbid Angel. The Unviersal Championship is a target on your back, and I should have been ready, I should have been prepared. Pryce was right when he said I was an excellent Xtreme Champion, I would argue, one of the best. That’s a debate for a different time of course. He was wrong when he said that is my level though. I know I have struggled of late. I know that to be the Universal Champion you have to defeat the likes of Bearded War Pig and Chris Chaos, as Jim Caedus has done in recent weeks. I know that. I understand that. But I crawled my way to the top like an undying cockroach once before, and I swear that I can do it again.”

“I believe that. I also believe that this absolute dude, Pryce, can’t really talk. His Universal Championship reign wasn’t exactly all that either, and perhaps his level is living off of the tailcoats of others in tag team matches, in trios matches. That’s all he seems to be capable of doing. Granted, he’s secured some pinfalls, he’s not deadweight by any means, but when is the last time that dude competed in singles action? I sure as hell cannot remember, that’s all I’m saying.”

“I know, I know. But look Theo, if you’re watching this, and I expect you are. Differences aside for a moment, the tag team championships, the trio championships, they are coveted belts in this industry, and they are two of the only belts I am yet to win. You are standing in the way of me making history once more, and this time, you won’t be able to knock me over the head with a shovel. I am not naive enough, not foolish enough, to go into this fight all guns blazing, screaming and shouting about how I want my revenge on you. Oh no. I know that that would play directly into your hands. There’s nothing you want more than for me to lose my temper, to come at you with everything I’ve got. Maybe the old me would have done that. But you aren’t facing the Steve Davids of yesteryear. The new me, is way more calculated than that. As calculated as you? Probably not. The way you have wormed your way into control of the company and into holding a tag team championship over your shoulder, shows that you’re the true master of manipulation. Manipulating won’t get you out of the fight we have in store for you on Savage though Theo. I truly hope that you understand that.”

“Course, you aren’t just fighting Theo though, you know that right, Steve?”

“Yes. I know. Me and Theo will go one on one, eventually. I have no doubt. This week is about teamwork. Undoubtedly the Kings are a tighter knit unit than AX3 at the minute. I would be lying if I said otherwise. But Graves and Caedus will sort things out. I know that they will. It could be argued that I have never demonstrated my potential as part of a team. In the past I have tried to lead more often than I have followed. But Sebastian Duke will tell you all of my capabilities as part of a unit. The Brotherhood was a force to be reckoned with. That much could never be argued with… Yet we did not have the success of the Kings. The Kings are the tag team champions. Admittedly down to D’Ville and Unknown Soldier’s success rather than their own, but still, they are the champions. That much can not be questioned. Especially after their valiant victory at High Stakes, they truly were impressive.”

“Oh give me a fucking break Steve. They won with a roll up because Vinnie Lane was being a grade A arrogant cunt and you know it. If Lane hadn’t got in Raven’s way then he would have single handedly taken down all three of the Kings who competed. You’re putting them on a pedestal for…”

“But…”

“But jack shit. None of those men are unbeatable, and you know that. You took one championship from Theo Pryce, and you can take another.”

I looked up at Ricky, he always had a way of being so assured in what he was saying. A confidence that almost bred arrogance. Yet I envied him in many ways. He had a hard exterior, a barrier that prevented people from getting in. We were similar in that respect. Yet he seemed to deal with it far better than I ever could.

“I know. I know I can.”

“Well start acting that way. You seem like you’ve lost before you’ve even started. And this self-pity nonsense, it’s not a favourable quality man.”

“I’m trying okay.”

“Yeah well, fucking try harder dude, I am sick of this!”

He threw his pen straight at my head, the pretty boy cunt.

“Listen, I just want to get a few things straight here, and I want to be serious for a moment. Michael Graves, although I am grateful for the opportunity to be in this match, you were wrong about one thing. You said that you and Caedus would give more than Trax and I. Now I cannot speak for Trax, but I know that I will leave everything in that ring. Every single ounce of fury that I’ve got left will sit in that ring afterwards. Win or lose, I WILL give everything to this match up, and I won’t argue with you about that. I’ll simply show you. And this whole nonsense about whether Steve Davids is down and out or not, is a complete charade. I’m not going anywhere, and if the Kings, really want to overlook me and my capabilities, I am okay with that. They’re in for a shock when I step into that ring with them one more time. I have a deep history with most of them. D’Ville’s match with me a few weeks ago was a match that was around two years in the making, our feud ended before it started when I was put out of action wayback, and upon my return, admittedly, he was the better man in the match. But I got one over him after that match, and he realises that, he’s not a fool. Samuels, also beat me. A great competitor, no doubt. But I had him beat in that buried alive match, he knew it, these people knew it, and I knew it. Before Theo Pryce cracked me on the skull with the shovel, I was going to retain my Universal Champion, and then I would have defended it against Morbid Angel. That brings me to Theo, I’ve spoken a lot about him, because I don’t know, I took his title from him, whether he wanted it or not doesn’t matter, I still took it from him. And he got his revenge. No problem with that. But at Savage this week, it’s a culmination of ALL of that. Every last bit of hatred that runs through these veins will pour into that ring, and one by one, I will inflict damage, I will inflict pain, and I WILL help AX3 to retain their championships while stealing from the Kings what they so clearly cherish, the tag team championships. And I am telling ALL of you, even John Madison, I PRAY the LORD has MERCY on all of you because WE won’t.”

“Well said old chap.”

I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

“Thanks.”

“You’re still a bag of shit though.”

“Yeah good to be back, Ricky.”

3x Xtreme Champion
1x Briefcase Holder
1x Television Champion
1x Universal Champion