He wasn't sure how far they had walked, but it felt like far longer than it should have been. How big was this place?

When Chris finally stopped walking, he asked Hanari for his torch lighter. His cigar was mostly gone by now, but he was thinking of lighting another one. Chris took the lighter from the hands of his partner and lit it, lighting some hanging torches that sat on the wall. He tossed it back to him. Hanari was horrified by what he saw once the room became illuminated.

Dolls, of all kinds, with their heads turned and twisted in weird positions. Many of them had their eyes gouged out. There was a broken Jack-in-the-Box toy, that just sat in the popped position with no movement. It had CHRIS PAGE written across it in what looked like faded Sharpie marker.

There were ripped and tattered posters on the water-stained walls, and three legged chairs stained with blood and other bodily fluids. There were dead rats and mice all around, small bones and empty fast food take out containers. More dolls with broken and jagged necks.

In the middle of the room--he guessed it was the middle--sat a table with several Polaroids on it. The table was dusty and dirty.

"What the hell--where the hell--is this?"

"We already went over that" Chris was leaning over the table. "I am not going to repeat myself, save that for Page and Main."

Hanari walked over to the table to look at the literal hundreds of pictured laid across it.

"What are these?"

Pictures of Chris Chaos from various points in his XWF career. Stuffing Doctor D'Ville in that casket to win his ticket to Wildcard Weekend. Pictures of him emerging from the cage as Universal Champion. Pictures of him laying in the center of the cage with Reno standing over him, holding the belt. Pictures of him with the Tag Titles, The Trios Titles, The Hart Title and a selfie with AX3. There was a photo of him leaving the building after losing to Main at March Madness last year, a somber and cold look on his face. Picture after picture. Literally hundreds.

One photo caught Hanari's attention. It was him and Steve Justice after beating APEX to win the tag titles.

"Why is this here?"

"Because it was the final nail. It was the burial of Apex. It was the moment that things changed around here, the air became a bit lighter.......we have a chance to do that again."

Hanari noticed another photo.

"What is this?"

It was the moment he and Steve Justice had lost the belts to the 5'2 Mafia.

"Because you got too ahead of yourselves. You were too cocky, too arrogant. You thought that APEX was the peak, it was only the first trail. You need to take a step back sometimes and realize that nobody, and I mean NOODY in this company, is untouchable. You may not beat them, but you sure as fuck don't join them. I kept this here because it showed your progression, Hanari. You kept chugging along when you could have hung it up. You could have let it get to you, but you didn't. You have heart, you're a fighter. You aren't a yellow bellied marshmallow like Chris Page. When you lose you get back up......."

"Chris Page is actually good. Really good."

"Yeah but he's a yes man for Main now. He will never be good again because Robert Main can't let anyone be better than him."

"Except both Soldier AND Engy?"

"You get my point."

"I think even Warstein is better."

"The point is, Chris Page as we knew him is dead and gone. Robert Main killed him like he kills everything else. He won't let anyone get near that Universal Title until he does........."

Hanari picks up a photo of Chaos holding the Universal Title.

".....Hanari you are going to be the next great here. You have such a bright future....."

"What if I want the Universal Title....."

He is holding Chris's photo. Chaos looks down at it and swallows.

"Hanari.....you can be whatever you need to be."

Chris takes the photo from Hanari and throws it back on the pile.

"Give me your lighter."

"You're gonna light it down here? The whole place gonna go up, and I have no idea how to get out of here."

"Give. Me. Your. Lighter."

Hanari does.

Chris throws it on the pile, igniting them instantly.

"Lets go."

The two walk off as the table burns, the entire room filling with a thick, billowing smoke.

Two halves of a different photos flutter down as the two men walk away. One has Chris's hand raised as Tag Champ, the other has Hanari's the same way. They land together to form a full photo, with a ridge in the middle.

Imperfectly perfect.



"Chris Page, when are you going to wake up, hombre? When are you gonna realize that you are nothing more than a goon? A henchman sitting in the palm of the hand of some disfigured freak who only cares about his own reputation? When are you going to realize he doesn't care about you?

Do you remember when you came back? April 24th 2019. I remember sitting home in the Dominican, watching the XWF, and your comeback. It spoke to me. It meant something. I thought you were something. It was real edge-of-your-seat TV. You came into the ring and shut Vinnie up. Do you know hard that is? That dude never shuts up. You came out and declared yourself a captain for War Games. You had a plan to destroy the XWF, and you were very convincing. Shit, even big bad James Raven couldn't shake you.

You know, James Raven, the raging Canadian who is part of the APEX Prophecy that your partner takes credit for? James Raven, the one who has done more for this company than probably anyone else? You stood toe-to-toe. You were back, you two were captaining War Games.......it was a magic moment and you became a super villain even DC couldn't draw up. Your build up to the Pay Per View was epic. It was some of the most riveting TV this company had. You and Raven tore the house down. Then at the Pay Per View you kicked ass. You took down, almost single handedly, the members of this APEX stable that had been running roughshod. You looked fantastic inside that ring after six long years.

Shame that that was the last time you've ever mattered.

Insert Robert Main.

It was Main who pinned you, negating all that hard work. Main was the one who nullified your comeback, stopped you from being the star, and took the air out of your sails. Robert Main WON War Games by pinning YOU. Now, you two are on the same team and you were his first draft pick. He knows what kind of ass you kick in that ring, and he knew he needed you. Are you seeing a trend here, hemano? Don't worry, you will.

So Main snuffs you out at War Games.....you continue your revenge plot. If I remember correctly, and I quote.......

Chronic Chris Page Said:“How many times do we have to do this before you people realize that I’m not going away, my boy’s aren’t going away and that this is SOOOOO much bigger than your little Apex-Prophecy. As a matter of fact, the ONLY reason the Apex Prophecy is remotely relevant to me at all is the Universal and World Tag Team Titles they hold in their camp

Robert Main a show later.

Robert Main Said:ROBERT MAIN: It has to happen. Give me Page, and let me be the one to end this. I pinned him at War Games and I’ll do it again, but he’s made this personal. Make it official, James. I’m not waiting anymore.

AND

Robert Main Said:Chris Page is lucky I didn’t tear the arena apart brick by brick to get to him and tear his head from his body!

Oh, how exciting this was! You had Main's face redder than it already is on a normal basis! You were unstoppable, Chris. You had the best this business has ever seen banding together to take you out, and they were more discombobulated than the French Army in..........well....every war ever. They didn't have an answer for you.

Leap of Faith, I was employed here by this point. I watched from the back, as did everyone else, when Main hit Dead Man's Hand and pinned you clean for the Uno, Dos, Tres. Again, thwarted by the Golden Boy. What do you do? You take the title, hold it hostage, and demand another shot at Relentless. Bravo, real revolution shit, I loved it.

You two created epic matches, but time and time again Robert Main beat you like a senators wife. He took your credibility, he took your flame, and he took your spirit. You are a fighter, Page, it is in your nature. They couldn't control you like they can control him. You were a tea kettle boiling over, a bomb waiting to explode. So they did what they always do, they took their empty suits and bumped them together, rubbing their magic genie wand and made you two a team. That is when he first dug his talons deep into your flesh. He hasn't let go since.

Who did they give you? The Sugay Sisters. Really? That is like baiting a starving rabbit with a carrot. Just a few weeks before, Main was Tag Team Champions with James Raven, now you and him, in an attempt to stop the madness, are given the Sugay Sisters? Main had been kicking your ass pillar to post, you've been fighting back and creating havoc on their shows, so they had to lobotomize you. Take the fight out of you. You got too big on your own, they wanted to tame you like a circus animal.

They knew you were hungry, so they fed you.

You got a taste of victory, you felt dominant again, and you saw an opportunity. Teaming with Main gave you the credibility you needed after a foiled revolution and and entire fed doubting your intestinal fortitude. You let it get to you, you fell into their trap. The days of Robert Main beating you up, you getting up and asking for more, and him beating you down again were over. Main and Page were a "team" now, and all was well. XWF brass got what they wanted, their shows calmed down, they tied the reigns on a little bit tighter, and you began to "kick ass" again being booked against lesser opponents.

But Robert Main and his friends in the back still had your balls in their fannypacks.

Chris Page, the man who had returned triumphantly in a blaze of glory, still couldn't beat solid opponents. You left Main high and dry at Relentless, but then you you had your shot against Soldier......you didn't get the job done. Main still had you by the balls, he was inside your head. If he couldn't beat Soldier, nobody could. Especially you.

You and Shane tore the house down at Lethal Lottery. You looked like the old you again.

I guess, my point here, Page, is that you are an asset. Main treats you like a liability. He doesn't WANT you, he just doesn't wanna face you. He is keeping you down so his life becomes a lot easier. He has you brainwashed into thinking you're some demi-god when all you are to him is a goon. A hench. A sidekick. A placefiller. We've seen this dance before. It is as repetitive as your guy's promos. Neither of you have anything creative to say because for the last 6 months you spent so much time kicking the shit out of each other that you've wasted all the good insults!

Winning the tag belts doesn't make you special, Page. The Tag Team division is dying, and you two are going to run it into the ground. They put Chris Chaos and I together because we are the only combination of competant competitors who have even a remote shot at getting this done. You have been sucked into the Robert Main vortex. You are so much better than this. Main is going to keep you wallowing away down here in the Tag Team Division while he plots his next mission to the top to leave you all behind.

Look at AX3

Look at APEX

Look at Cataclysm.

There is no cataclysm here, there is a slave and a master. Taking these belts from you will be doing you a favor. It will be releasing you from his grasp. You can beat Warstein, Page, but his jealousy and ego won't let you go for that belt because..........he can't. He can't win it again with the current champions we have in place so he is keeping the next closest one who can, you, down.

Break the chains, spread your wings, find yourself, take that trip down memory lane and become CHRONIC Chris Page again........

or don't, and continue to be the moist lips on Robert's Main's limp dick.

How do you want to be remembered?

Viva la Republic!
Viva la Dominicano!
Viva la Hanari Carnes!

Chris Page's Gilded Savior