“Late night?”

In actuality, Centurion hasn't slept much over the past two weeks. Part of that was due to the fact that he was filled with cheese and Scotch for the Holidays, but the other part is because of what happened in the final Anarchy of 2023. The result bugged him…but not for the reason many thought.

We open up inside the garage at Centurion’s cabin in the Poconos. There, we see Centurion standing in front of a punching bag, sweat dripping down his face after just finishing a workout. On a bench against the wall sits a TV with the Centurion Vs The World match playing. Standing in the doorway of the garage is Ruby, who has a green robe wrapped over her, and a concerned look on her face.

“Something like that.” Centurion says, slightly winded as he grabs a water bottle and begins to drink it.

“I’m worried about you.” Ruby says in a plain voice. “I've seen you take losses hard, but this is something different. You've become obsessed with what happened, and it's not good for you or anyone around you. You'll get another shot at the Anarchy Title. You know that…”

“You think this is about the title?” Centurion says, interrupting Ruby. “Rubes, I promise you, the title has NOTHING to do with what's going on right now. Am I disappointed I lost the belt? Sure, who wouldn't be? I'm always disappointed when I drop a title. But Sean Parker is a decent dude with a lot of talent, and I know he's going to be a great champion, and someday we're going to have a match that's going to tear the entire fucking building down around us.”

“Ok…” Ruby says, now more confused than before. “So if it isn't about the belt…”

“It's about Dyson!” Centurion yells as he backs up from the punching bag. “It's about the fact that a fascist Eva Braun wannabe can one day just announce “oh, by the way, I'm not a racist anymore!” and everyone's fine with it! It's about the fact that Madison Dyson can “die”, have the entire company shut down in order to find her murderer, and then just shows up anyway like nothing ever happened! And it's about the fact that Jett Sterling has basically turned a blind eye to ALL of it, and is even looking at building the entire brand around her. THAT'S what this is about.”

Centurion begins to pace around the garage as Ruby looks on, concerned over her boyfriend's most recent outbreak. She wants to comfort him. She wants to say exactly the right words to get him to calm down and move on from the anger he's feeling…but she doesn't know what those words are.

“This is exactly what she wants to happen.” Ruby says, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah, well, there's another win she can put down in her book.” Centurion snaps back. “Like, I don't get how no one cares. Her stepping into that match should have been the biggest scandal in professional wrestling after all she's done to people, and yet it isn't even mentioned. No one talks about it on Twitter. The Discord server has been really quiet…”

“You're on an XWF Discord server?” Ruby interrupts, puzzled by this news.

“Of course.” Centurion responds in a matter of fact tone. “Really weird place. Cool to see some outburst by folks who have left the fed a long time ago but still want to remain relevant, but there isn't much substance in it. Anyway, I haven't heard a peep from the folks who have a complete breakdown the moment you say something that might be misconstrued as a gay joke. This is the living embodiment of the Shane Carter Era. There are two folks from that era that still float around and wrestle from time to time - her, and Unknown Soldier. Every time they come back, they're giving these hero welcomes like they're injecting life back into the federation. The same people who put out statement after statement about how the XWF has “moved on” from those disgusting days somehow refuse to move on from two of its biggest beacons.”

“Jett Sterling did say it was an open challenge.” Ruby says, playing Devil’s Advocate. “And you said it yourself that there could have been any number of wrestlers that could show up. You were prepared for that opportunity.”

“I was prepared for wrestling matches.” Centurion says through gritted teeth. “Not for some fun house clusterfuck Jett came up with while tripping on Robitussin one right.” Centurion takes a deep breath before collecting himself. “I'm not making excuses for my loss. This is professional wrestling, shit happens, and you have to be prepared for everything. I just know now the deck that's being stacked against me. A smarter man would just walk away from Anarchy, let Jett run that place into the ground, and move on with my life.”

“But you never claimed to be a smart man.” Ruby says with a smile before Centurion is able to say it.

“Exactly.” Centurion responds back with a smile of his own. “If Jett wants to try and cast me to the side, he's going to have to do a hell of a lot better than trotting Madison Taylor Greene out there against me. I may have lost that match two weeks ago, but I gained a purpose - primarily, shoving Dyson back into the depths of Hell that she crawled out of. After that, I'm going to have a LONG talk with Sterling about the future of the Anarchy brand, and my place in it. If he's smart, he'll listen to everything I have to say.”

Ruby smiles, seeing that Centurion has gone from angry to determined as his breath calms down and his speech lowers in tone. She glances at Centurion, then over at a clock on the wall, saying “12:37 AM”.

“Don't be up too late.”