The scene opens inside of a run down dive bar in Boston, MA. The bar is empty as it seems to be early in the day with the light still shining through the dirty windows of the bar. The walls are covered in stickers, flyers, old beer and liquor signs, and grime accumulated through years, maybe decades, of not being cleaned. To the left we see old, dilapidated tables with chair to match and to the back of the bar we see a small stage probably used for the cover band of the week. To the right we see the bar with time worn stools in front of the actual bar which does not look much better. The walls behind the bar are lined with liquor, mostly of the lower shelf variety. Behind the bar we see a man, appearing to be in his mid-thirties scrolling through his phone, bored off his mind just waiting for his shift to be over. He has dark brown hair, a black t-shirt with a band logo on it and worn blue jeans. One patron is in front of him on the other side of the bar, slumped over on the bar probably passed out from his night of drinking.

The camera then pans in closer to the bartender and he finally seems to notice that it is focused on him. He quickly puts his phone down behind the bar and gives a perplexed look at the camera.

“Oh hey, ummm no filming in the bar it might scare off the customers.”

He points to the empty bar and goes back to his phone.

From behind the camera we hear a female voice, “Umm don’t you know why we are here. You did invite us to come anyways."

The bartender puts his phone down.

“Hmmmm.” The bartender starts scratching at the scruff on his chin. “Gonna be honest with you, I don’t really remember inviting a camera crew to the bar. It sounds highly unlikely; in fact it sounds highly suspicious. Who are you with anyway?”

“We are with the XWF, from what I gather you recently signed to wrestle for them. You are Viper correct?”

Giving the camera a shocked look, the bartender then states, “Viper? That is a name I have not heard in years, decades even. Or is it just a decade? I don’t know. Well I don’t wrestle anymore so you must have the wrong guy. Sooooooo have a good day.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the only ex-wrestler, bartender in the Boston area. I’m pretty sure we got the right guy. In fact, you sound like the guy that I spoke with on the phone about coming to setup this interview for your first match. Dead on.”

“Spot on?”

“Yes.”

“Well shit. I guess I may have agreed to such a thing in an altered state. I have been known to drink a Jameson every now and then.”

Viper nods at the camera and just keeps nodding at the camera, staring at it, deciding what he should say next. Instead he just keeps nodding at the camera and it eventually gets uncomfortable.

The producer from behind the camera finally interrupts his repeated nodding, “Sooooooo, do you have the time or not for the interview?”

“As you can see I am quite busy so I may have to take an ole rain check.”

“You are not busy at all. It is 10:30 in the morning. No one is here besides the man passed out at the bar.”

Viper looks at the man and walks over to him.

“Let me make sure he is alive”

Viper proceeds to smack the old man. The old man has long gray hair and a long gray beard to match. He is wearing a very old tweed jacket that is dirty and torn in numerous places. The camera can barely pick up his worn, blue denim jeans and his bare feet.

“You alive O’Reilly?”

The man doesn’t look up but can be heard, “Digggga…. Whaaaa?”

“Just checking to make sure you are still with us. You need another whiskey?”

“Digggga.”

Viper proceeds to grab a bottle of the cheapest well whiskey he could find. He pours it almost to the top of the glass and puts it in front of the old man. The old man proceeds to drink the whole glass then slams his head back on the bar. Viper puts the bottle of cheap whiskey back on the speed rail and looks back at the camera.

“Ok, so XWF huh? So you are sure I signed a contract?”

“Yes it was sent to us by your lawyer……… A Mr…… Steady Fender. Is that correct? Kinda a strange name.”

“Well he is a lawyer.”

“What does that mean?”

Viper shrugs and continues. “Anyways…. If Steady agreed to the contract it must be a decent one. The man knows how to bargain. Well shit…. I never thought I would be wrestling again, for the big time at that. I should probably get into shape, huh?”

“I mean, I would suggest that you do. It might help you actually win the fatal four way.”

Viper looks at the camera in a concerning manner, “Wait a fatal four way? Isn’t that just great. Is it at least gonna be an easy win for me? First match and all.”

“No, not it’s not.”

Viper mouths some expletives while looking down.

“So what show am I on?”

“Saturday Night Savage. It is gonna be in Burlington, Vermont in two Saturdays from now.”

“Ok. Burlington I can do. Take the train or something. Saturdays though? I work Saturday nights here.”

“You signed a contract, so unless you wanna go to court….”

“Steady won’t want to do that and it probably is for decent money. I’m in.”

“I already knew that, since you signed the contract.”

“Right. Well anyways I guess I should get training. Can we like do a cut type thing here, then come back so I can get focused and what not?”

“We are with you for the next two weeks.”

“Fantastic. Well let me get my shit together and I will get back with you all.”

The scene fades to black with Viper typing on his phone looking very nervous.




The scene reopens back to the inside of the bar. We see Viper and the producer now seated at one of the tables in the empty bar. Still seen slumped over at the bar is the older drunk fellow, O’Reilly, about five empty glasses are seen which use to contain the finest cheap whiskey. Viper’s wardrobe is not much different today besides a black hoody covered in band patches on the sleeves of it. The female producer has short black hair, a pair of Rayban prescription glasses, a puffy gray jacket, a pair of blue jeans and purple converse on her feet. They are drinking what appears to be coffee from the Mr. Coffee located behind the bar.

“Ok we are good to go with the interview. Where do you want to start?”

“Well I am assuming we can just skip over my career and life history since that is probably already known.”

“No we won’t be skipping anything. When is the last time you have even wrestled or been on TV? From what I can tell it has been at least ten years. Also, you never wrestled for the XWF. Basically, you have a whole new audience to get up to speed.”

“Let me refill my coffee first.”

“Whiskey.”

“What?”

“You have whiskey in there not coffee.”

Viper stares at the producer while he snatches the coffee cup from the table. He slowly backs away from the table staring at the producer. He pours something off camera into his coffee mug and then comes back and sits down still staring at the producer.

“Got more COFFEE.”

“I can smell the whiskey from here. Anyways let’s move right along. So first say a little bit on your personal history before wrestling.”

Viper takes a big swig of his “coffee” and thinks for a moment.

“Guess we are gonna do this then. Well I grew up right here in Boston to a working-class family. We didn’t have much money growing up, but we had enough to get by. My father was a union man, my mother worked as well for the state government, and I had one brother. Starting in my teens I got involved in the punk scene here in Boston and have stayed a pillar of that community since then. All the young people look up to me of course, seeing as I was able to break out and become a huge star on TV.”

“Seems like a good point to get to your past in wrestling.”

“Well yes, let us get to that. I assume everyone wants to get to know who this grizzled veteran of the ring is and why he wants to return to the ring in his lower-mid thirties.”

“Aren’t you 39?”

“Upper-mid thirties. I always had a passion for wrestling and after high school I decided to train under the great Boston wrestling legend Regis Regima. After training I started off my grand career with my tag team partner and best friend Maxx, rest in peace.”

“Wait, so your former tag team partner Maxx is dead?”

“I assume so, haven’t talked to him in a bit. He tends to disappear from time to time, so yes he could very well be dead.”

“Kinda grim, but go ahead.”

“Anyways, we formed a stable called The OutlawZ with my wife and had our attorney Steady Fender as our manager.”


“Wife? Didn’t she divorce you after your wrestling career abruptly ended and your life went into a downward spiral?”

“Let’s stay on topic. We aren’t here to dig into my personal life. Or are you, vulture lady?”

“We can keep moving on if you’d like. Just thought your fans and the XWF community would want to know what happened.”

“Indeed.”

Viper shakes his head and takes another generous sip of his “coffee.”

“Go ahead.”

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, we became big stars, winning multiple championships and big matches. We were on top of the world. You know, the usual rock star life. It was full of drinking, drugs, and group sex. The greatest of the great. Life was good and we were at the top of our game.”

“What happened?”

“What happened? Life happened producer lady, life happened. Also, we thought to create our own promotion so every match and segment would be as cool us we were. It would be the top wrestling promotion in the world. Who wouldn’t want to come work for us and be part of the greatest era in wrestling.”

“Yes, I did hear about that. Whatever happened with that promotion?”

“It turns out no one wanted to be a part of it. We had to continue to wrestle ourselves and eventually it failed, and we lost all our money. The OutlawZ split up and everyone went their separate ways. I eventually would start a band called the Coffee Enemas and we toured for a bit. Fast forward a few years and here we are. Being interviewed in a shitty dive bar talking about the past while I work the late morning, early afternoon shift at McDonald’s Irish Pub. Not affiliated with the restaurant chain of course.”

“Of course. So, what happened to your ex-wife?”

“She married some actor in Hollywood and became a big-time star herself obviously. But you knew that, you just wanted to hurt. Well it worked.”

“Sorry about that. So here we are. The big comeback, one last hurrah.”

“Yeah something like that. Anyways, I have a job to do at the moment. This bar isn’t going to tend itself.”

“It could.”

“Shut up. Kindly see go f yourself and leave me be for the day. I will be training later in the week with my new trainer Wade Robinson of the Robinson family. Bye.


Viper drinks the rest of his whiskey and walks away from the producer as the scene fades to black.



The scene reopens to a shot of an alley, most likely located behind the bar. It is a cold New England day and we can see frost covering items in the alley as it appears to be morning in Boston. We see Viper wearing gray hoodie and black sweatpants while doing some jumping jacks. Next to him is an older, African American gentleman also wearing a large black hoodie and gray sweatpants. He is counting along as Viper completes his jumping jacks. Viper eventually stops his routine as the sound starts to fade in.

From behind the camera we here the producer’s voice, “Don’t mind me, you can continue with your exercise routine.”

Viper, now heavily panting, “Nah, Nah, I am good. Been busting out so many of these I can take a break for a second.”

The older man, most likely the trainer he mentioned in the earlier scene, Wade interjects, “Come on Vipe that was only ten. We got a lot more to go.”


“It is the end of the week, I’m sure she wants me to rattle of some promo for the upcoming match or something.”

Viper bends over and keeps panting, “Might puke, so many jumping jacks.”
Wade walks up behind Viper and starts patting him on the back.

“Come on Viper, there ain’t nothing to it, to do it.”

Viper pulls his head up and looks at Wade, “What does that even mean? You are just saying words”

“You can only live day by day, live the dream Vipe, live the dream.”

Viper stares at Wade with a blank look on his face. Then he turns towards the camera.

“I don’t know what any of that means, but I’m sure it is very inspirational. So, at this moment I am feeling very inspired about my training for this match. The big return of Viper, everyone is going to be talking about it I’m sure. I am sure social media is blowing up with #TheBigReturn or #ViperTheMan.”

From behind the camera, “I haven’t seen anything like that.”

“Well good thing I didn’t ask you. I was asking Wade, but you know what? He doesn’t do the social media, so he doesn’t have an answer.”

“I do have the social media Vipe, I haven’t seen anything like that either.”

“Thanks. Thanks Wade. Very helpful. Besides Facebook and Twitter probably being down since there is no mention of this match on either apparently, this is a big match for me, for the XWF and for America as a whole. As seen from my vigorous training I am not taking this fatal four way lightly. I am going to Burlington, Vermont prepared to the max, with two x’s to be exact. The great minds at the XWF have decided to not start me out with a fluff match, but with real competitors. While I may not agree with this decision, I will be ready. I am sure the other three competitor’s will be ready as well, but they have not trained under the great Wade Robinson. The best wrestling trainer this side of the Connecticut River. So I hope you bring your best other three competitor’s…”

“Do you not know who the other three are?”

“Not a clue. I was hoping the generic, other three competitors, would go unnoticed. As I stated before, it has been quite awhile since I stepped in the ring. I kinda, maybe, blacked out the first day you came to interview me, when you told me who was in the match. That may have happened.”

“Well you are facing: Red-X, Zeebo the Clown, and Jim Jimson.”

“Ahhh good to know. Good to know. So, a clown, a part of the alphabet but colored red, and a guy whose parents apparently hated him when they named him. Fantastic. But in all honesty, it does not matter who the other three are in this match, because I will win. How embarrassing would it be to lose in your first wrestling match in five years.”

“Fifteen.”

“Right. I am so happy that you did your research into me. You are a top-level producer my girl, top level. You are basically me if I was a producer and was actually competent in my career field. So, let me wrap this up for you. My first week back on TV. I may not seem like I am ready for this match. But I am like a snake, just slithering through the grass unseen and unnoticed. Until I see my prey and BAM! You just got your shit bit. You like the analogy? You know because my name is Viper, so I am like a snake? Get it."

Wade speaks up, “Very good, very good.”

“Thanks Wade, that is what I pay you for. Wade will be at ringside for my match, so I hope you other three bring your best because you will need it. Maybe not against me, but against the others. Alright let me get back to training, I have a lot of work to do.

The scene starts to fade to black as we see Viper getting down on the ground to do push-ups. Wade kneels beside him to start counting. The scene ends.