Sidney Grey was on top of the world, just as the title of her show indicated.  She had entered March Madness on a lark, looking for little more than some extra screen time in the XWF.  It was meant to be an introduction to those who didn’t have the time or desire to watch Anarchy.  Yet, by the time things were all said and done, Sid had proven that she was more than just a passing fancy on the show that everyone thought was a joke…Sidney Michaela Grey had become The ‘Lady’ King of the XWF.

Perhaps some would say that she had an easy time of it, but they would be foolish to do so.  Money Oswald was a ring veteran and someone who could and would beat anyone who left him with an opening.  Sid never did, and that win propelled her to the next level of competition.

Dolly Waters was by far one of the most dangerous competitors in the XWF and no one had Sid beating her in their match…including Dolly who made it known that she wasn’t losing to a ‘B-Show’ player.  Maybe it was overconfidence or maybe it was that one bad night that we all sometimes have, but when it was all said and done, Sid had dispatched another long-time roster member and people were taking notice.

The challenge of Jay Omega was a battle of generations; the new school versus the old.  Conventional wisdom had Jay winning 99 times out of a hundred.  He was younger, stronger, and faster…but he wasn’t craftier.  As good as Jay was, and he was very good on that night, he wasn’t good enough to defeat years of ring experience and guile.

Perhaps, this is when people actually started to see, but surely the ride would end here.

On to the Final Four and a meeting with a man who was an absolute buzzsaw in Ned Kaye.  Ned had been in the game long enough to know all the tricks and he was good enough to counter every last one of them.  Ned fought with pure passion and emotion, this was his night to bring things back around…to come full circle, but it wasn’t his night.  Ned was good…but he was good on a night that he should have been great.

And then there was the finals…on a night that should have belonged to the sickest cunt to ever wear a crown.  Noah Jackson was fighting for recognition…he was fighting what he deserved…he was fighting to take what was sure to be his.  By all rights Noah should have been King and his father should have been proud, but sometimes when you’re fighting to be recognized, you lose sight of what the real goal is.  Noah did…Sid did not.

On a night in which Sid had lost her Anarchy Championship, the first one she had every held…if even for only just a night, she had realized an accomplishment that a multitude of others had sought…especially Raion Kido, but we’ll circle back to him in good time.  Sid was The ‘Lady’ King of the XWF and no matter how many times a masked assailant jumped her from behind, they would never be able to take away her accomplishment.  They would have to wait an entire year to do it…and though they would all try to deflect and pretend that it didn’t matter…it was a one and done, Sid had no intention of letting that happen as she returned to Anarchy to re-claim what was stolen from her.

They say, the best laid plans are the easiest to derail, and Sid’s plans were derailed in the wildest way imaginable.  After wrestling three grueling matches, and after taking a shot with a baseball bat, Sid found herself called out by the best the XWF had to offer…a man who had managed to win the Universal Championship on the main event of the biggest show of the year.  Bobby Bourbon was unstoppable and one might say more than ready to make sure that March Madness wasn’t about some tournament that only came once a year, like Vinnie Lane on his birthday, but the show would be about the man who put his stamp on the company in the main event.  Bobby called out Sid…putting it all on the line against a faded star past her prime.  In that moment, he would make her one of the elite in a trial by fire, going one on one with the Champion.  There was no shame in losing to the best, especially when you were the King.

Logic suggests that Sidney Grey got lucky and danced around that ‘one bad night’ that caught Dolly Waters unawares.  Sid had fought the match…or matches of her life on a single night and in the end had accomplished even more than she realized she could…or maybe even should have.

The night could have easily been Peter Vaughn’s, Ned Kaye’s, or Noah Jackson’s.  No one would have been surprised to see any of them as King…Universal King (Cunt).  But what about the others?  Any of them could have been right where Sid was if things had broken one way or another.  Dolly didn’t cry over spilled milk; she squared her shoulders and showed the entire fucking world that she deserved accolades and she could have been Queen.  Isaiah King…and this is pretty fucking cool, would have been King Isaiah King!  He lost, but he pulled himself up by his bootstraps and fought like a mad man (much to Sid’s lustful delight) and became a champion, who would have been King-King.  Then there was the man that graced the front of the very first promotional poster for March Madness V, one that some would say was the face and the odds-on choice to win it all, Raion Kido.

Raion was looking to realize a dream that had been stolen from him one year prior.  He should have been King then, but the new year brought new opportunities and he wasn’t one to be denied a second time.  The odd’s makers lost their collective minds and ruined the front of their jeans when the wheel of fate landed on Sarah Lacklan.  It was a dream match for most and a challenge that Raion knew would make him an odds-on favorite to win…and win he did, much to Sid’s delight.  What happened next was probably a blur…or maybe it was compliancy.  The Lion who would be King, was toppled and fell back to earth, not unlike Mufasa himself.  His hopes and dreams turned into a nightmare that he would have to relive and dwell on for another year.

Do you see a theme here?

Raion picked himself up and dusted himself off, just like Dolly and just like Isaiah, using his failure to become King and turning it into an opportunity to become a champion.  No one was surprised to see The Lion with gold around his waist…but maybe more than a few didn’t expect him to waste little time in cashing in his opportunity to add to his legend…by bringing down The ‘Lady’ King of the XWF…just when she was reaching the highest of highs.

People could say whatever they wanted about Sid’s in-ring talent, she was never going to be called ‘the greatest to ever do it’ but when it came to promotion, there was no one better!  Sid wasted little time showing the world what the XWF had to offer…and who sat on top of it.

Of course, it was those that sat under it, who bore the brunt.

---

Dani Chow looked a worn and haggard mess as she sat in the confessional.  She leaned back in her seat, breathing a heavy sigh.  “WHAT?!!”

The Producer asked, “Ms. Chow, you don’t look so good?  What’s been going on?”

“Well, for starters I-“  She was cut off as her phone rung and she looked at it, rolling her eyes in disgust.

“You don’t have to answer that right now.  The Confessional is a safe space.”

“FOR WHO?!” She immediately shot back, raising her hand as she answered her phone, immediately changing her voice as she spoke in a clipped accent. “Miss Grey, how I can help you?”  She listened to her employer on the other end of the line going on and on.  Dani couldn’t help but to mimic stroking one off as she rolled her eyes.  “Ummm, yes Miss Grey!  I understand.  Two settings, for you and Gina Van Zyl. Dani Chow understand.”  She turned off her phone, rubbing her temples.

“Is everything alright?”

Dani stared off camera, attempting to gather her thoughts.  “I have been running around since the moment she won King of the XWF and the Universal Championship!  From the moment she walked out of AT&T Stadium, it has been non-stop!”  Dani imitated Sid’s voice, and it was eerie how spot on it was; “Hey Asian Girl! Schedule a guest appearance for me on this fucking radio show that NO ONE listens to!”
She snorted. “Hey, stop boiling cats for your dumb egg drop soup and book me an appearance on this cooking show for drag queens!”



“Why is there a cooking show for drag queens?”

Dani shrugged.  “Duh! I assume they have to eat too!”

“Er…okay, I guess.”

Dani’s hands clutched themselves into tightly balled fists.  “Do you want to know what the worse thing is?  HAVING TO DEAL WITH GINA VAN ZYL!” Dani shook with anger.  “That bitch drives me fucking crazy!”

“I don’t even get that relationship.” The Producer stated.  “They hated each other, and now they are best friends…after everything that Sid did to her?”

Dani sighed.  “I don’t know, maybe it’s a South African girl thing!  All that running around buck naked in the bush or whatever it is they did over there!”  Dani snorted as she laughed.  “Did you see the two of them at that charity event?  It was literally one of the most dysfunctional things I have ever seen!”

---

OUR JUNGLE FRIENDS
Animal Sanctuary
A few days prior...

Sid grumbled as she signed autographs and took photos with fans, all the while as she struggled to keep up with Gina and the tour guide showing them around the conservation area.  Sid yelled, “Can you slow down?!”

Gina whirled around with a look of exasperation on her face. “You insisted on tagging along!  Why can’t you keep up?”

Sid posed for a picture with a fan, smiling brightly as the camera flashed, then just as quicky pushing them away. “I have obligations Dear, I’m the…”

“Universal ‘Lady’ King…PAIN IN MY ASS!” Gina yelled.  She turned and started to climb the ladder that led to the orangutang enclosure. 

Sid abruptly stopped, staring up at Gina as she made her way to the top.  Sid gulped as she took a step back.  “M-Maybe…I’ll just wait here.”

Gina looked down, planting her hands on her hips.  “Will you just hurry up! Clyde ‘the friendly orangutang’ is waiting up here to give you a hug!”

Sid scoffed.  “Yes…probably high on Xanax and looking to rip my face off and eat my eyeballs!  No thank you!”

“…we can only hope…” Gina muttered under her breath before stamping her feet.  “ARE YOU COMING?!”

Sid wrung her hands as she took a tentative step on the first rung of the ladder, then backed away, shaking her head. “No!  You go…I’ll wait down here!”  Sid looked around nervously, then pointed.  “Oh, look!  I think I see Isaiah King!  I’m going to see if he’ll let me hold his title…while he’s still wearing it!”

Gina turned and stared into the camera, before throwing up her hands and stomping off after the tour guide.

---

Dani let out a heavy breath as she ran her hands down her face.  “It was so fucking annoying listening to her cry all night about that not being Isaiah King…” she smirked, “…some Michael B. Johnson or Jackson dude or whatever!”

“Yes, but you were saying about Gina?”

“Yeah, her!”  Dani stuck out her tongue, pretending to gag.  “I don’t know what Sid sees in her!  I mean, it’s not like she even pretends to be her friend!  All she does is just show up and start sucking!”  She paused, “And not in the good way…just like, sucking the air out of the room!  She clearly hates Sid…so why is she even bothering to hang around?”

“Well, Sid is a lot of things, but she’s one of the most successful stars in the XWF right now.  Gina could do worse than to hitch her star to Sid’s, even if she doesn’t like her…very much.”

“Well, I thin-“ Dani paused again as her phone buzzed.

“I told you, you don’t need to answer that.”

Dani ignored the producer as she read the text message from the official XWF account.  She held up her hand.  “Hang on, I have to call Sid.”  She dialed the number and waited a few beats until Sid picked up.  She adjusted herself before launching into her usual fake broken English accent. “Miss Grey, so sorry, I know you very busy, but XWF call again about match stipulation.  They need decision soon!  I-“  Dani paused, looking at her phone.  “I think she just hung up on me!”

“Well, I’m sure it was for something important.”

Dani rolled her eyes.  “You wanna bet?”

---

SIDNEY’S HOME

Sid glared at her phone, randomly pushing buttons.  “CHRIST! How do I make her stop bothering me?”

“Jesus! Just mute your phone!” Gina said, turning back to the wall of magazine covers featuring a fresh-faced Sidney Grey.  One that hadn’t seen nearly as many miles as the one in the room had.  “These are great.  I didn’t know photos could last this long without totally turning yellow and just fading away!”

“Ha, Ha! Very funny!” Sid said as she pressed a few more buttons on her phone, then gave up and dropped it into the saltwater fish tank.

“HEY!” Gina yelled.  “You can’t do that! That might hurt the fish!”

Sid picked up her drink and gave a dismissive wave.  “Well, if it does…they can call for an ambulance.”

Gina watched as the cellphone settled to the bottom of the tank, then turned and glared at Sid.  “I really don’t get you!”

Sid raised her eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Gina walked across the Great Room.  “You’re probably one of the most infuriating people I’ve ever met.  Nothing and no one gets you down.”  She paused, “Except when you almost peed yourself at the animal sanctuary.  What was that all about?  Were you really afraid of Clyde?”

Sid’s demeanor changed as her mood grew serious.  “I saw the video of that crazed chimp attacking that poor woman!  You can’t trust apes…and from what I hear, there’s a fucking Gorilla roaming the halls of the XWF, so you better watch out!”  Sid was silent for a few moments, then she sighed as she turned to Gina, her expression frank and earnest.  “Look, it’s not the monkey…it’s the heights…I don’t do them anymore.”  Sid glanced down at her right knee.  “There was an…incident that happened early in my career, and I just never got over it.  Climbing the turnbuckle, ladders, all that nonsense…I’m over all that.”  Sid shrugged.  “Like you said, I don’t let stuff get me down…and neither should you!”

Gina couldn’t help but to give a mirthless chuckle.  “That’s easy to say when you’re King Hot Shit with your big shiny belt!”

Sid responded. “I’ve had to work very to become ‘King Hot Shit’ thank you very much!”  She pointed at Gina.  “I can show you.”

Gina narrowed her eyes.  “What makes you think that I need to be shown anything by you.”

Sid smiled. “Gina, I saw the way you were looking at my Universal Title when we were on Warfare together.  You can’t tell me that you don’t want a piece of some XWF gold for yourself.”

Gina looked away in deep contemplation, then shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t need gold, I have Penelope.”

Sid groaned and chased down the rest of her drink.  “Suit yourself sweetie, but you know you could do better!”

Gina growled, “Be careful Sidney!”

“In your career, Gina.  Stop being so defensive!”  Sid sat down beside her and Gina instinctively slid away a few inches.  “You and I had our problems, but that’s all behind us now!  We could be running Anarchy, Madness, or Warfare right now!  There’s plenty of time to play house, later!”

Gina ignored the poke.  “Well, you probably need to worry more about Raion than what I’m doing.  Seeing how your first Anarchy Title defense went, I wouldn’t go getting all cocky, if I were you!”

“What do the children say? Don’t get it twisted?”  Sid soured at the mention of her tainted loss against HGH.  She knew she had him dead to rights and it was only an attack from a baseball bat wielding manic that had prevented her from retaining to be The Universal Anarchy ‘Lady’ King.  But there would be time enough for that AFTER she dealt with Kido and his ridiculously ill-timed challenge.  “My ‘loss’ will be rectified the moment I get a rematch for the title!  HGH had better enjoy his time in the sun with what belongs to me, because after I send Raion back to his big mouth, flat-chested girlfriend…empty handed, it will be time for me to reclaim what’s mines.  You’ll see, Dear…and then, maybe you’ll be ready to learn.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Gina said with a hint of sarcasm.

Sid started to say something, but she looked annoyed as she heard a loud noise coming from Dani’s empty office.  “Jesus!  She better not have left that vibrator running in her desk again!  I’ll have that entire office set dragged out of here and set on fire!” 

Gina followed Sid to the door, more out of morbid curiosity than anything.  “Are we going to have a barbecue?”

Sid watched as the paper spooled out of the fax machine and she tore it out as it finally stopped.  She quickly read over it with a haughty smile.  “Well now, look what I have here.”  She held up the paper and gave it a good shake.  “Champion’s prerogative!  I get to chose the stipulation for the match against Raion.”  She grinned as she danced from side to side trying to think of the perfect match.  “Maybe there’s a match that’s like a drinking game, every time someone escapes a pin or breaks your submission, you have to take a drink!”  Sid snorted, “We all know that guy can’t hold his fucking liquor!”  Sid smiled, “I’m going to talk to someone about that match…hell, I might lose on purpose!”  Sid grinned, then grabbed a pen from Dani’s desk and scribbled down her match choice.  She looked at the fax machine and the paper in her hand, then frowned.

Gina chimed in. “Are you about to tell me that you don’t know how to use a damn fax machine?!”

Sid grimaced. “The stupid girl I hire to take care of me does all of that stuff!”

Gina laughed.  “You know, most people use their phone for that.  Maybe you can ask the fish to send it…if they aren’t all dead yet.”

Sid groaned as she looked at the flashing lights on the fax machine. “It can’t be that hard…she’s not even from this country and she does it!”

Gina rolled her eyes and walked in, taking the paper from her. “Jesus Christ!  I’ll do it!”

“HOORAY!!” Sid said, giving Gina an unwanted hug.  “I’ll fix us more drinks…” she paused, “…then we can try to find ‘The Chelsea LeGrand Show’ and make fun of how stupid she is!”  Sid smiled as she started to do the Wednesday Dance from the Netflix show

Gina watched Sid as she danced out of the room, bursting out laughing as she shook her head.  She caught herself, having fun and she put an abrupt stop to it.  She took a deep breath as she set to preparing the fax back to XWF.

---

Sidney was happier than she had ever been as she sat down, dancing in her seat.

“Well, don’t you look upbeat for someone who is about to face off against a rather tough challenger soon.” The Producer said.

Sidney’s dance slowed to a few quick shoulder movements. “Raion is tough!  I’d never sit here and say anything different.  He’s well respected in the XWF and outside of the company for a very good reason.  He’s focused and he’s determined…but he’s also stupid and over eager, just like 90% of the people in the business right now.  None of them know how to take a championship…hold on to it and make it special…make their title reign really mean something.”

“Didn’t you lose your Anarchy Title on your first defense?”

“DIDN’T YOU LOSE YOUR VIRGINITY ON YOUR FIRST…NEVER!” Sid folded her arms angrily.  “The Anarchy Championship was my first title ever, and it got stolen from me by Ruby!”

“Ruby?  She’s retired.  What makes you think that was her?”

Sid’s expression soured.  “You don’t think I recognized the odor of ‘Old Man SCent’ all over my attacker?  Obviously only Ruby is desperate enough to let a 75-year-old man slobber all over her like he was trying to gum his way to the center of the world’s most bland banana lime Toosie Pop!” She gave a dismissive wave.  “I challenged her to appear on Anarchy and face me…so I can humiliate her one last time!”  Sid chuckled to herself.  “I’m getting quite good at that, you know!”

“What’s that?” The Producer asked.

“Humiliating people’s girlfriends!” Sid answered with a sly grin. “Just the other day I was having such a civil and fun conversation with Kido about how I was going to humiliate him for wasting his cash in on me, and all of a sudden his lame girlfriend jumps in and starts yapping at me!  And do you know what I said?”

“No, but you’ll probably tell us anyway.”

Sidney laughed, “I told Raion that the only reason he kept old flatso around was because he liked having a nice flat surface to color his comics on!  ISN’T THAT FUNNY?”  Sid burst into hysterical laughter.

“I don’t think Raion is into coloring comics.  He’s an anime fan…assuming that is something you want to make fun of.”

Sid gave a dismissive waive of her hand.  “I’m not going to go for the low hanging fruit with Kido, I’m sure that’s what everyone does, and I think he makes the majority of them pay for selling him short.  Well, I have NO intention of doing that.  Kido likes cartoons and flat chested women, that’s his deal and in spite of it, he’s not doing half bad.  He might have come up short at March Madness V, but he bounced right back after finding out that the answer couldn’t be found at the bottom of a glass of alcohol…you’ve got to get through a few bottles before you find the answer!”  Sid chuckled.  “Oh…and he's going to love what I have in store for him!”

“So, you decided on a match stipulation that heavily favors you, I’m assuming?”

“Are you serious right now?” She nodded her head.  “OF COURSE, I DID! I’m not a moron or some goodie two-shoes who wants to fight everyone on their terms!  I’m the fucking champion!  They need to fight me on mines!”  Sid took a deep breath.  “Raion probably thinks that he’s just going to lay down his stupid little challenge and separate me from The Universal Championship on my first defense like what happened with the Anarchy Title, but he has another thing coming!  He’s fought some of the best and he's beaten some of the best, but when he faces me …he’s not only going to be going up against The ‘Lady’ King of the XWF…he’ll have to face his fears to overcome me and take my title…and that’s not just a tall order…that’s going to be a damn near insurmountable task!”

---

XWF HEADQUARTERS

The fax machine spung to life and a nameless/faceless admin person lifted the paper from the machine as it spooled out.  He chuckled as he looked at the paper.  “Holy shit!  I should have known that old ass Sidney Grey would actually reply back by fax!  Who does that these days?!”  The worker bees all shared a good laugh over that as he headed for the door.  “See you guy for lunch in a few.  I need to get this up to management.”  He looked at the paper and chucked.  “Man, I can’t believe Grey asked to compete in a ladder match!  She’s totally going to break her hip!”

---

Gina Van Zyl smiled to herself as she headed home from Sid’s place.  She wished that she could see the look on the old crone’s face when she saw that her dumb match choice had been changed to a ladder match against Raion Kido, not that he needed that kind of advantage.  Still, it served Grey right for everything that she had done to her since the first moment they met up in Vixen Pro, until the terrible night they’d spent together at Ball Buster’s strip club.  Sid had been nothing but evil…cheating and knocking her unconscious in their match and nearly caving her skull in with a football helmet in the LFL.  The woman was a fucking menace and it would serve her right to lose her precious championship in her first defense, just like she’d lost her Anarchy Title.

Gina turned on the radio and to her surprise the same song Sid was dancing to in the house was playing.  Gina listened to the tune for a few moments, then abruptly turned it off…preferring to drive in silence.  Sid wasn’t going to make this sad for her…she had this coming and come Warfare The ‘Lady’ King would finally get what she deserved…