Having finally made it back to Phoenix after a few days in London that saw Theo partying with the Princess and then taking part in one of the most physically taxing nights of his life. A screw job lose at the hands of Kinwrathi, a sneak attack by Peter Gilmour, serving as a lumberjack for Shane only to be stabbed in the back by that very same man. And now, Theo is back at the office for a few days before getting back on the road so he can participate in a tag team match on Saturday night with fellow Black Circle member Mr. Supernova against the current X-Treme Champion, Steve Davids and Tony Santos.

As part of the requirements listed in Theo’s contract under heading “Miscellaneous Services” Theo has to take part in at least one, one on one interview with Steve Sayors every month. With January coming to a close Steve has decided that now would be a good time for said interview to take place. Of course Steve is still locked in his dungeon so the interview will take place via conference call.


“Mr. Pryce, you have a phone call.” The soft almost angelic voice says over the speaker on Theo’s desk phone."

“Wonderful, is it Steve Sayors?”

“I think so, he sounded rather nasally so it was hard to understand exactly who it was.”

“Yeah that’s Steve. If you were to picture the stereotypical movie nerd that would be Steve.”

“I see. Well he is on line 3 for you.”

“Thanks.”


Pressing the Line 3 button on his phone Theo begins the scheduled interview.



“Steve, como estas?”

“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish, Mr.Pryce.”

“I don’t actually. I took three years of it in high school, well more like two and a half.”

“A half? Did you quit mid-year?”

“No, I took Spanish one twice, so I feel like it’s dishonest to say I took three years of it.”

“I see, a moment of honesty from you, that must have been difficult.”

“You know Steve, I’m not nearly the asshole that you think I am.”

“Well it’s not just me, but we will see won’t we.”

“I suppose so. So what have you got for me Stevie boy?”

“Well let’s start with the events of last week’s Madness. You had a match with the newcomer Haden Oliver Thomas, a crown defense at that. A lot of people were unhappy that you elected to defend your crown against a guy in his rookie match, when there are other, perhaps more deserving guys waiting for a shot. Guys like Peter Gilmour, or Sebastian Duke. What do you have to say to that?”

“That’s interesting Steve, and you know what, maybe they have a legitimate beef but the beauty of being the King and having the Crown is that I get to decide who my opponents are, and when I will defend the crown. If they don’t like it oh well, that’s their problem. If and when any of them become the King than they can do what they want, fight who they want and when. Simple as that.”

“Ok that makes sense I guess. So why did you pick Haden, why him specifically?”

“Simple question begets a simple answer. Haden came in here as if he were Theo Pryce junior, the only thing he didn’t steal out of my bag of tricks is a cocaine addiction. Women, money, power, hey that all sounds familiar. I wonder where he came up with that. Do you have any ideas Steve?”

“None whatsoever.”

“Steve did anyone ever tell you that you are a shit interviewer?”

“Yes, many times in fact.”

“Glad to see you’ve taken it to heart.”

“Ok so you beat Haden and now he is your court jester for the next two weeks. We all saw him with you on Shove It dancing around and serving drinks. You have one more week utilizing his services, what do you have planned?”

“Well Steve, I gave my regular assistant Jimmy Durance the week of so he can learn how to mack on girls, the guy has about as much skill getting a woman as you do. So I gave him some homework. In the meantime Haden is here at the office as my personal bitch boy for the next week. Making copies, fetching my suits and making me coffee. I must say, he makes an excellent cappuccino. He must have learned that at prep school or something. But yeah, that’s the plan for now. Who knows, I might extend his services indefinitely, he seems to be a bit rudderless at the moment. Apparently some of his investors didn’t like seeing him lose on national television, especially since they warned him to back down. But hey, I guess he deserves some credit for having spunk and a solid business plan. He went from someone never even heard of to my shadow in no time. Appearances on late night talk shows, main events in the XWF, the guy’s a legend now. At least in his own mind. But in reality he’s my assistant. In fact, I’ll bring him in here, you can ask him some questions if you would like.”

“No that’s ok, this interview is about you.”

“Oh come on Steve, you are no fun.”

“I’ve been told that. Alright so moving on. You had a match on Shove-It with guy who has been laying low for the last several months Kinwrathi. And he beat you. How does that make you feel? King of the XWF and you lost to a guy like Kinwrathi?”

“Did I?”

“That’s what the official record says.”

“Does it?”

“Yes it does.”

“Well Steve, yeah I lost. A bit of a bullshit ending, obviously. I’m sure you saw the footage. The ref calls for the bell despite never actually quitting. But hey that’s typical of the XWF. Another tainted lose to go on the “official record.””

“Looking over the record I see you’ve lost 4 matches now.”

“Something like that.”

“How does that work? How do you sort of lose a match?”

“You’ve seen the footage Steve. I assume Shane gave you a little TV in that dungeon of yours. Two tag matches were my partner was pinned, a singles match where someone held my leg down that the ref apparently never noticed and now this match with Kinwrathi. I have yet to lose a match legitimately but whatever. I’m not the type to dwell on that sort of stuff.”

“Really because it’s sounds like that is exactly what you are doing.”

“Steve, your new found balls are something else. You’ve got some fight in you, I like that. Here’s what I will say about Kinwrathi, win, lose or draw the guy pushed me further than I expected. He showed me something. A lot more than many that have come before him.”

“It almost sounds like you respect the guy.”

“If that’s what you want to take out of it so be it.”

“Ok, now let’s talk about the Main Event of Shove It. Shane the former leader of the Black Circle and the Owner of the XWF turned his back on you guys before losing his head. What are your thoughts on that?”

“On his losing his head or turning his back on the Black Circle?”

“Either, both.”

“Well I heard that “paper” Champion Steve Davids mention something to the effect that Shane was the glue that held the Black Circle together. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Shane was as much of a hindrance as he was a help. When Luca turned on the Circle he did nothing. Not a fucking thing. When the Administrator showed up what was his response? To bring in two guys from the outside to help him fight his battles. He basically pissed all over Eli James and now look what happened? Shane got his head cut off because he lost sight of what was important. I guess maybe that will happen when you are half blind, or because you are an untrustworthy piece of shit. Either way, he had this company by the balls, he had it all and he let some bible thumping red neck take it all away from him. That’s his legacy. So no, Shane wasn’t the glue that kept the Black Circle together, and we won’t crumble without his leadership. There are plenty of guys in the Black Circle capable of leading.”

“Such as yourself?”

“Perhaps.”

“Well then I guess I will just come right out and ask then, are you going to be the next leader of The Black Circle?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I guess we will all find out. Who said the group needs a leader to begin with? Sure we’ve had a “leader” in title only, but that’s all he was. He was the Queen of England with an eye patch. Nothing more.”

“And now he’s gone. At the hands of Eli James and his Congregation. How do you feel about that?”

“I think I’ve already expressed my feelings on that Steve. The XWF replaced one dictator with another. Simple as that. It’s funny to me, people made Shane out to be the worst guy in history, and yet Eli James kills two people on national television and no one bats an eye. The guy makes promises to hand out briefcases to every member of his stable, no one says a word. I don’t recall Shane ever doing that. Hell, Eli just promised to strip one of the current champions of their title. Again, silence.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“Because people are hypocritical cowards. No one wants to be ruled but they all want to be led.”

“What do you mean by that? That seems contradictory.”

“It’s not Steve. It might be a little more for you to comprehend but it’s really simple. People need to be led, they need direction, people, left to their own devices are idiots. A prime example are the lines painted in the middle of the street. If people weren’t so pathetic they would be able to figure out how to drive down one side of the road to go one way and how to drive down the other side to go the other. Rather than driving down the middle of the road. But people can’t seem to figure that out on their own, so lines have to be painted. People have to be given direction, they need to be told what to do otherwise it’s chaos. So like I said, people need to be lead. As it pertains to being ruled it’s like this. You can tell people what to do until the second that it conflicts with what they want. Even if what you are telling them is for the good of everyone, it doesn’t matter. People are selfish, narrow minded, they see their view on things and no other.”

“Alright, I guess I can see that. Now let’s talk about your upcoming match. You and Mr. Supernova are taking on Steve Davids and Tony Santos, talk to me about that.”

“Well let’s see, we have Steve Davids, current X-treme champ, sort of…”

“What do you mean by sort of?”

“Well Steve, I was getting there. It’s like this. Steve Davids talks a lot of shit about how Gilmour was an awful X-treme champ, and he’s exactly right. Gilmour might have been the worst X-treme champ this company has ever seen. Until Steve Davids. What the hell has Steve Davids done since winning the title? Which by the way, he did by pinning one of the companies most well documented jobbers. Sure it was 1 vs 3 but not really. It was every many for himself and Davids lucked out. I can’t believe I am saying this, it literally makes my stomach hurt to do it but Davids is a paper champ. You want to talk about beating a no body to win the match. JTC? Really. Hanging your hat on beating JTC is about as pride worthy as being a quadriplegic in foot race.”

“Some harsh words for the X-treme champ there. And what about his partner Tony Santos?”

“What about him? You mean the “Stable killer” Tony Santos. What do you want me to say about him? Have you ever seen the movie “A Bronx Tale”?”

“No I have not.”

“Well there is a character in that movie named Eddie Mush, in the film everything he touches turns to absolute shit. Everything. That’s Tony Santos. A walking, talking, fire starter. Smokey the Bear’s worst enemy. Outside of that I have very little to say about that talentless asshat. We’ve faced each other once before, he was the first person to ever get broken in half by The Pryce Check actually, and then he and his team mates lost. He does that a lot actually. Lose that is. But we don’t need to rehash known facts like that.”

“Well those are all the questions I have, any parting words Mr. Pyrce?”

“Yeah just a few.”


Theo pulls out a piece of paper from his desk, holds it up to eye level and starts reading…

Pull these scars off my eyes Lost from the world A child searching for her dad You left me there alone With him to rape my world And I lived through the years a girl Pleading why In my dreams last night I saw your face You held me and washed away my tears Then I woke to realize you're gone I'm drowning in solitude again I thank God for my mother's love Through years of broken innocence She carried me through the light

“What was that?”

“Those are the song lyrics to Peter Gilmour’s theme song, “Daddy’s Fallen Angel” by the Hollywood Bad Boy’s most favorite band ever, “In This Moment” I want everyone to think of those words the next time the supposed “X-treme Icon” makes his way to the ring because I have to be honest nothing says “X-treme” like a song about a girl.”

“A parting shot from the King, I should have expected nothing less.”

“No Steve, you shouldn’t.”


Fade to black.