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England v Germany: A history of rivalry

World War I

On August 4th 1914, Great Britain declared war on G
ermany. It was a decision that is seen as the start of World War One. Britain, led by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, had given Germany an ultimatum to get out of Belgium by midnight of August 3rd. In fear of being surrounded by the might of Russia and France, Germany had put into being the Schlieffen Plan in response to the events that had occurred in Sarajevo in June 1914. By doing this, the German military hierarchy had doomed Belgium to an invasion. Belgium’s neutrality had been guaranteed by Great Britain as far back as 1839. Asquith had a very simple decision to make – but one that would have a cataclysmic impact on British society. He could either turn a blind eye to a war in mainland Europe that might have little impact on Britain if she stood as a neutral. Or the British public could see Asquith as the man who stood up to the perceived bullying of Germany and who stood for righteousness and decency. A future Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, described the scene in London in the hours that led to the declaration of war.

"It was eleven o’clock at night – twelve by German time – when the ultimatum expired. The windows of the Admiralty were thrown wide open in the warm night air. Under the roof from which Nelson had received his orders were gathered a small group of admirals and captains and a cluster of clerks, pencils in hand, waiting. Along the Mall from the direction of the Palace the sound of an immense concourse singing ‘God save the King’ flouted in. On this deep wave there broke the chimes of Big Ben; and, as the first stroke of the hour boomed out, a rustle of movement swept across the room. The war telegram, which meant, “Commence hostilities against Germany", was flashed to the ships and establishments under the White Ensign all over the world. I walked across the Horse Guards Parade to the Cabinet room and reported to the Prime Minister and the Ministers who were assembled there that the deed was done."

World War One ended at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in 1918. Germany signed an armistice (an agreement for peace and no more fighting) that had been prepared by Britain and France.

At the start of 1918, Germany was in a strong position and expected to win the war. Russia had already left the year before which made Germany even stronger.

Germany launched the 'Michael Offensive' in March 1918, where they pushed Britain far back across the old Somme battlefield. However their plan for a quick victory failed when Britain and France counter-attacked.

Germany and her allies realised it was no longer possible to win the war. The Triple Alliance had been damaged. Some reasons for this included the fact that the Schlieffen Plan had failed in 1914 and the Verdun Offensive had failed in 1916. Germany was now losing the Great Battle in France and the German Navy had gone on strike and refused to carry on fighting. Furthermore, the United States joined the war in April 1917, which gave the Triple Entente greater power.

Germany was not strong enough to continue fighting, especially as the USA had joined the war and hundreds of thousands of fresh American soldiers were arriving in France. This added greater military strength to the Triple Entente forces.

The leaders of the German army told the German government to end the fighting. Kaiser Wilhelm, Germany's leader, abdicated (left his job) on 9 November 1918.

Two days later, Germany signed the armistice and the guns fell silent. People in Britain, France and all of the countries that supported them, celebrated the end of war - a war that had lasted four years and four months. In London, a huge crowd gathered in Trafalgar Square.

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Scullys "Interview Room"
Location: His home in Miami, Florida.

Scully had recently gotten the green light from his fiance, Natalie to use there spare living room area as an interview room. It was already an office based room, located opposite the main living room. Why not make use of the leather sofa that was barely sat upon and leather chair that Skull sometimes sat in to clear his mind. Skull would chill in the leather recliner with a a couple of shots of Captain Morgan Spiced. He was a rum guy and would usually fill the glass up with lemonade. He didnt drink it straight often. He would also reflect on his XWF career in this room; Here above the mantle piece, the XWF Universal Championship with his name engraved on it, the title he once held, would sit in a frame surrounded by other gold. One half of the XWF Tag-Team Championship, which he has held three times and the XWF Xtreme title also sat nearby. Apart from that he also had other championship gold from other promotions including his days in Total Xtreme Wrestling. A cabinet with gold trophies from his amateur times in his home country of England.


The scene opens with a zoomed in shot of Scullys mate, Matty Curtis aka Curtista. Matty is sat on the leather sofa with a slight smirk on his face and even wore a shirt and tie for the occasion. Matty sat with his hands in his laps as he looked in to the camera owned by Scully's own personal cameraman, Alfie. Matty and Alfie were also good friends of Skull's, his best mates in actual fact. Matty begins to speak.

"Hello XWF, I am Curtista and this is Curtista TV. Now what we have here, if you're currently watching, is MY first interview with one of the most underrated and underappreciated XWF superstars of all time. You may call me biased but the truth is the truth and that's a fact!

Now before we go any further, who else has their own personal interviewer? I mean you can bet your dollar that ninety-eight percent of Curtista TV will include my guest at this very time. Well he will be my ONLY guest from the XWF roster, the rest of you can go be bored on by Steve Sayors. Fuck Steve Sayors with a broom handle!

My guest is NONE other than a former XWF Universal Championship... His name is.. Scully"

The camera zooms out and slightly moves to right to reveal, Scully. Skull nods his head and then approves the introduction.

"Thank you, Curtista. Thank you."

"No thank you, Scully. After all, the XWF Galaxy should appreciate your presence."

"I am used to those ignoramuses. I don't need their approval and I don't need them!"

"They don't deserve you!"

Scully smiles at the compliments given to him by Curtista.

"So first and foremost I want to speak to you about Paragon and your tag-team partner, Finn Kùhn. You teamed up with Finn to take on Dem Niggas on Warfare a couple of weeks back. Up for grabs was a number one contendership for the tag titles. Unfortunately your team lost. Let me ask what went through your mind when you seen Finn get pinned by Michael Graves? I know if it was me, I'd want to smash his face in!"

Scully chuckles and then goes on to say, "I felt exactly the same to be honest. You see, I haven't had much contact with my so called tag-team partner recently. Before we fought Graves and Cadryn, I hadn't really spoken to him. I knew before the match itself, it was going to be difficult because we wasn't on the same page. Sure, I could try and do it all by myself but that's not how teamwork, works, obviously. There was barely any communication between the two of us, no strategy, no game plan.. We wasn't on the same wave length. You might aswell just put me with a randomer. Here you go Scully.. Team with this skinny bitch off the street. Get what I'm saying? Team with the guy flipping the burgers in the XWF cafe. Better yet, team with the guy selling your Scully T-shirts! I'm a three time Tag-Team Champion, with reason. Not because my partner carried me either. The fact is as time goes on, you only put up with so much. I thought about slapping Cadryn outta the way as I watched Finn get pinned for the three count but I knew Finn wasn't ready for no tag-team title match. We wasn't ready!"

"It's such a pity cuz I see so much potential in Finn, it's frustrating."

"It surely is. Finn is a talented wrestler and he has a lot of ability, its just sometimes, you don't know which Finn is going to show up. You have the Finn who wins a tournament, impressively may I add. Then a Finn who doesn't go all out to dethrone The Engineer of the XWF Universal Championship. He's learning though and he can only get better. I'm not going to give up on Finn just yet, Paragon is not dead!"

A slight smirk arose on Scullys face as Curtista proceeds.

"Dem Niggaz went on to become the NEW tag-team champions. Does that not annoy you?"

"As I said me and Finn wasn't ready as a unit. Now stop shit stirring Curtista!"

Skull winks at Curtista who laughs out loud. Curtista knew what he was doing and Scully knew him all so well. Curtis continues with the interview.

" So just last week, Shane comes out and in an interview with that reject, Steve Sayors..."

Scully abruptly interrupts Curtista, "Let me stop you there! Steve Sayors shouldn't even be employed by the XWF anymore. In fact, he shoudn't even be an interviewer. He's a liar but does that mean he's good at his job? No, it doesn't. He's a weasel. At least I know if it was you asking all the dodgy questions and someone come at you, you'd back it up!"

"Well yeah if you're gonna open your mouth expect to stand your ground, not cower like a fanny.
Anyway lets not waste any more time on Steve Sayors... As I was saying, Shane made some shocking relevations about the Main Event on Savage the other week/month. Claiming that Pestalance had indeed won that match, only for 'Loverboy' Vinnie Lane to say otherwise. He claimed it was actually you who won. What do you have to say about that?"

"It's funny you say that, Curtista and I'm glad you brought it up. The fact remains, Vinnie Lane is telling the truth and Shane is just a washed up, shit eating, potato loving... Freak! Why would Vinnie say I won out of anyone? You know our history, everyone knows that I took the XWF Universal Championship from him and that it was because of me, he went into retirement. Vinnie is the owner, he does his job. I've never been Vinnies biggest fan but i respect what he does. Where as Shane is a drunken mess! We have no proof as it went off the air, why? Because Shane was running the show. Convenient? Or just straight up, unprofessional? I'll let the XWF Galaxy decide!"

"It's good to here your side of the coin. So on the upcoming Savage, you have a shot at the XWF Television Championship. Do you believe this is the title shot you had meant to have won on that Savage we were just discussing?"

"I don't know to be honest and I don't care. This is my opportunity and I have it, no matter what! I don't care if the Galaxy like it, I don't care if the roster likes it, hell I don't give a damn if Donald Grump approves. There's nothing they can do about it!"

Skull grabs the bottle of mineral water on the coffee table in front of him. He removes the lid and takes a huge gulp. Skull replaces the lid and slouches back onto the leather sofa.

"It's no secret you called out the former XWF TV champ a few times, he however, didn't give you the match. Chris Chaos lost the championship just last week and now the NEW champ will have his first title defence against you. What do you think of N.A.Z.I?"

"As you said Curtista, Chaos only lost the title last week, to his credit he held on to that title when he took MY pin in that triple threat match at Turning Point at the beginning of March. I had John Holliday out for the count, he took advantage and held the title for nearly 4 months. Chris Chaos didn't give me justice and now justice will prevail when I face the Hitler bummer, N.A.Z.I.

First and foremost England are still in the World Cup... Its coming home! Secondly, Germany are ouuuuutttt! I would blame the German manager for that, he picks his ass too much and sniffs it. Sick freak! There's proof, check it out, use Google. Hes been doing it for years! Thirdly, Scully and England are going to defeat Germany once again on Saturday Night Savage!

Two World Wars and we were victorious. Granted we had quite bit of help in the second one, but winners regardless."

Skull looks directly into the camera as it zooms in on his face.

"Nathaniel, you were one of partners at the Savage Main Event that Shane recently brought up. Do you remember ME winning? Or do you have other memories of that match? You have a chance to give your side and tell everyone that I won! If you say anything different, no one will believe you considering you are German.

You couldn't have a more difficult title defence than against ME. This is where you will really have to dig deep cuz I don't play around. I'm not here to add a successful title defence to your record, I'm not gonna enter that ring, for you to impress everyone with your FIRST defence. Nah. Not gonna happen. You will be known as the guy who held the Xtreme Wrestling Federation Television Championship for a whole week, that's it! I'm taking it off you and I will be a dominant, successful champion who beats all comers. I'm going to be the face of Savage and I am going to become the XWF TV champ. After all, I am #Made4TV.

I'll leave you with this..... We'll start from 3..."

Scully and Matty begin singing the famous England chant....

"There were 3 German bombers in the air." ("In the air"),
"There were 3 German bombers in the air" ("In the air"),
"There were 3 German bombers, 3 German bombers, 3 German bombers in the air.
And the RAF from England shot 1 down." ("Shot 1 down"),
"And the RAF from England shot 1 down. ("Shot 1 down"),
And the RAF from England, RAF from England shot 1 down."

Skull stops singing and smirks, "Then 2. Then 1 Bomber. You get the picture? Then N.A.Z.I. Scully from England, put him down! Da End, Scully Has Spoken!"

A smile arises on Scullys face and Curtista holds up The St. George's Flag as the scene fades.