“Miss Grey, Jay Omega leave another message for you. I-“ Dani Chow paused as she walked into Great Room only to find Sidney Grey passed out in a drunken stupor and a video playing of her and Gina Van Zyl dressed as Ruby during their appearance together.  Dani’s face contorted into a mask of disgust as she snatched the remote from the coffee table and flipped Gina off before turning off the television. 

Dani covered Sid with a blanket and glanced down at her phone as it chimed.  She frowned, seeing yet another message from Jay Omega for Sid.  “…for fucks sake…” Dani muttered under her breath as she put the phone away and ran her hands down her face in frustration.  War Games was Sid’s opportunity to get back on the road to gold in the XWF, but instead of focusing her efforts on the future, she seemed stuck in the past.  The King of the XWF was more concerned with annoying Centurion and grieving her lost friendship with Gina than unifying the team she had cobbled together.

If Team Drunky Kong stood a snowball’s chance in Hell, it would come down to dragging Sid out of her funk…

---

“Centurion, Jay Omega, and Vagabond?” The Producer asked.  “I have to admit…with the exception of Omega, I don’t understand this team at all.”

Dani could only shrug her shoulders.  “Sid hasn’t been thinking clearly since Gina stabbed her in the back.  Picking Centurion was one big joke and then she dragged Jay Omega into this for some ungodly reason, probably because it was the only name she recognized looking though her whiskey goggles!”  She sighed.  “Vagabond was just the last one left to be picked after she screwed him over by taking his Captain’s seat.  No telling what that guy is going to do now!”

“So, this team is screwed, huh?“

Dani rubbed her temples. “I don’t know…unless she gets invested, this is going to be the biggest Shit Show in the history of War Games.” 

---

SIDNEY’S RESIDENCE
The Following Day

Dani sat a steaming cup of coffee in front of Sid and watched as she picked it up, sniffed the air, then frowned.  “This isn’t Irish?”

“Too early for Irish.  You drink black…good for hangover.” Dani retorted in her sing-song accent.

Sid glared at Dani.  “It’s never too early for Irish!”  She put the cup down and pushed it away.  “There’s a quart of Bailey’s over there!”

Dani rolled her eyes as she picked up the cup, then fixed Sid with her gaze.  “When you call Jay Omega? He leave you 20 message about War Game!”

Sid frowned.  “20 messages?  What is he, a love sick teenager?!”

“Really? You leave that bitch Gina Van Zyl 100 message after she stab in back.  You live in glass house!”  Dani said as she prepared Sid’s coffee.

Sid ignored Dani, pretending not to hear her.  “Maybe I should make Jay the Captain…since he’s so eager for War Games.  What do you think?”

Dani brought the mildly Irish coffee over and handed it to Sid.  “You Captain!  You already steal from Vagabond and pick entire team!  XWF not make more change.”

Sid gave a dismissive wave of her hand.  “Look, I don’t give a flying fuck about War Games!  I just wanted to screw Centurion, and now I have.  I don’t give a damn about this team!”  She took a sip of the coffee and immediately frowned.  “Did you put Baileys in this or fucking butter?  It tastes like shit!”

This time it was Dani’s turn to ignore Sid’s statement about the weak drink.  “Why you pick Jay Omega?  You try to screw over too, even after Jay Omega help you?”

“No!” Sid blurted out, even before she had a chance to think about why she had picked Jay. “Maybe!  I don’t know!”  She took another sip of the coffee and scowled at Dani.

---

“So, we know why you picked Centurion.” The Producer asked.  “But if you didn’t care about the team, why pick Jay Omega?  He actually helped you a few weeks ago.”

“WHY IS EVERYONE ALL OVER MY BACK ABOUT WHY I PICKED JAY?!” Sid yelled.  “I’m the King of the XWF and I don’t need a reason to do any fucking thing I want!”

“That’s true.  You used your position to steal the captain’s seat.  You also used your very first pick on a man that wants nothing more than to see you broken after everything you did to Ruby.  But that still doesn’t explain you picking Jay Omega with your very next pick.  Why not pick The Universal Champion?  Why not also try to screw over the man that took your title?  You picked Omega for a reason, and it wasn’t because you wanted to screw him over too.”

Sid looked away from the camera, considering walking out, but she didn’t.  After a moment, she laced her fingers and turned her attention back to the Producer and their question.  When she answered, it was with a coldness that wasn’t even typical of Sid, herself. “Why not screw him before he can screw me?”

“What do you mean?”

Sid leaned back in her seat and shrugged.  “Yeah, Jay helped me and he’s a ‘great’ guy or whatever…but why?  Am I supposed to be some doe eyed idiot because he was nice to me, then I just turn around and wait for him to stab me in the fucking back?!  No…in this world there are those who fuck and those who get fucked!”  Sid narrowed her eyes.  “I do all the fucking around here!”

“I don’t believe that.  Jay Omega is the only wrestler in the XWF that you’ve bothered to open up to…other than Gina Van Zyl…oh.”

Sid smiled, but there was no mirth in it.  “I don’t need friends or allies.  I’m the King of the XWF!  I became the King without any help and I will do whatever I want, to whomever I want!  Centurion thinks that he’s screwing me over at War Games?  He’s an idiot…by picking him, I already won!  As for Jay?  Yeah, he helped me get my Anarchy Title back…but I don’t owe him or anyone else a goddamn thing!”  She snorted.  “I know Jay wants to win…and now I’m going to be the reason that he doesn’t! Fuck him!”

“Are you really willing to toss this opportunity away, just because you want to stab someone in the back?”

“Do unto others…”  Sid flipped off the camera and abruptly left.

---

Someone, ANYONE…tell me why do I have to have a reason for doing anything…anything at all? 

“Why did you steal being a Captain from Vagabond? He earned it!”

“Why did you pick Centurion? He’s just going to screw you over!”

“Why did you pick Jay Omega? He’s your friend, don’t sabotage him!”

Look, I’m The King of the XWF and that means that I can do what I want, when I want and I don’t have to ask permission from ANYONE!  It’s a perk of being King that very few of you will ever know.  However, those of you who are curious…watch and see what you’re missing out on!

Becoming King of the XWF paved the road for me to become Universal Champion on the very same night that I beat two other pretenders to the throne!  That is a feat that will never be equaled!  And before any of your pea-brained idiots bring up the fact that I lost the Universal Title on my first defense…realize that it was stolen from me because I didn’t realize the power I rightly possessed as King!  Even after I was forced into a match that I didn’t chose, I could have used my royal influence to right that wrong.

I should have known better, but that’s all on me.

Now, I’m a much wiser King.  I know my power and I’m unafraid to use it.  I used my power at May Day after XWF Management attempted to pass me over and not make me a War Games Captain!  Seriously, how in the hell does that even happen?!  I could have kept quiet and let them make my reign meaningless, but I refuse...

I REFUSE!!!

I staked my claim to become Captain and then I proceeded to use that very same power to hold over those who would hold power over me! 

No, I didn’t ‘steal’ being the Captain from Vagabond…I took what was mines by right!  Why would I have to compete in some ridiculous Captain’s Match when I have already proven that I’m the best in the XWF?  Did The Chicago Bulls make Michael Jordan tryout for the team every year?  NO!  They realized that without Jordan there was no fucking team!  Theo saw reason and he made the right choice in naming me Captain.  Vagabond was just the one who got his Punk Card pulled.

Now everyone is telling me to ‘watch out’ because Vagabond is going to stab me in the back!  Well, I didn’t pick him to be on my team, he was just like every other talentless hack that ends up on a team by default because no one picks them!  I won’t be watching my back for Vagabond, he just needs to make sure that he falls in line and stays the hell out of my way!  The last place he wants to be is on my bad side!

Speaking of…

Centurion has been a pain in my ass ever since I sent his caregiver into early retirement.  Truth be told, Cent should be thanking me!  After the beating I gave Ruby, I sent her home to him as the perfect companion!  They can both enjoy liquid diets together, tandem wheelchair racing, and shitting in colostomy bags as a couple!  If anything, I brought them both closer together!  Now, at War Games, he is going to realize that his glory days are FAR behind him and the only chance he’ll ever get to being close to the heights I reached in a single night is by being my BITCH!

No, this isn’t the end between Old Man Cent and I, this is just the beginning!  I trampled all over Ruby and her stupid legacy and when I was done, I sent that cow out to pasture!  The last memory that anyone will ever have of Ruby, is her crying while being carted out of the arena like a green and yellow sack of garbage!  She WAS The Face of Anarchy, but now that honor and title is forever mines!  Next up I become a legend…right after I retire Centurion and I send him out of the XWF on his fucking back just like I did to his girlfriend when I crushed her hopes and dreams!

It's becoming a running theme…

Jay Omega had hopes and dreams of being King, but I ended that for him…and dare I say earned his respect in the process.  Yeah, he helped me when I needed it…but I don’t owe him or anyone else a damn thing!  Am I suppose to be his good buddy now because he did me a favor?  I’M THE FUCKING KING, he should bend over backwards to accommodate my every goddamn whim!

I don’t care that he’s a good man!  I don’t care that he’s an honorable man!  I don’t need him…I DON’T NEED ANYONE! 

I dashed Jay’s dreams on my way to becoming King and now I get to dash his dreams at War Games too!  I know he respects me…HE SHOULD!  EVERYONE SHOULD!  But I don’t respect him…I don’t respect anyone!  He’s not going to turn on me because I’m not going to give him or anyone else a chance to!

I made this team, and it’s the perfect team…FOR ME, which is no fucking team at all!  I don’t need teammates, allies, or friends!  I just need you all to recognize whose world you’re living in.  Call me vindictive…call me a bitch, just make sure that you preface it with KING!

Maybe I should congratulate Team Good Boi right now.  I mean, as Captain…that responsibility should fall to me.

Ned Kaye, congratulations on putting together a team that I can honestly say that I mostly envy.  Your first choice was an absolute banger in Mark Flynn.  Even I’m smart enough to realize that…second to me, he is one of the most skilled competitors in the XWF.  The man is the definition of a work horse.  I can legitimately count on both hands the number of days I have seen him without a title around his waist.  You know, it’s funny; if Mark had beaten Bobby Bourbon at March Madness, the single greatest performance in XWF history would have never happened.  Mark would have retained his title and gone on his merry way and I would have never been called out and had the opportunity to become Universal Lady King.  Still…I can’t help wondering; what if.  What if Mark HAD won and then called out The King to put that championship on the line?  Would I have been able to survive him and still become one of the greats?  One has to wonder. 

It’s a shame that circumstances are now different.  If I didn’t have to teach a bunch of children a lesson, Mark would have been tops on my list.  Moreover, wouldn’t it be just as interesting to see me test myself against Mark to see if I could have still become Universal Champion at March Madness?  I wonder…but, that will unfortunately be a question to be answered on another day. 

As good as Mark is, there’s someone else that I find just as interesting…but maybe for a different reason.

Ned, you also got your hands on the one man in all The XWF that I want to get my hands all over…Isaiah King!  You know, it’s funny…I didn’t think I had a chance to get Isaiah, and when he went undrafted in the First Round, I couldn’t believe my luck.  Trust me, passing him over was the hardest thing that I’ve done since coming to the XWF.  I mean, look at the man!  He’s got the body of a god and…and…probably a lot of other amazing qualities too!

I know I shouldn’t keep going back to March Madness, but by all rights, I should have faced him in the second round, but Dolly cheated me out of an opportunity to let him pin me in the center of the ring…or wherever he decided to lay on top of me.  I was so angry that Dolly had stolen that chance from me that I literally tried to rip her head off her shoulders!  Yeah…I know…I said it was really about Sarah Lacklan, and that’s mostly true…but still…Isaiah…hummmm, yummy!

This was actually my second chance to get my hands on Isaiah. He was mines for the taking…and I could have fucked him just like I’m going to do to the rest of my team…but I’d never dream of doing that to another King…at least, not the way I’m going to do it.  I’ll get another chance to have my way with Isaiah in time…to be sure! 

And then there’s Crash Rodriguez…

Okay, I got nothing.  I’m going to assume that Crash is like my Vagabond, you didn’t really pick him but someone had to!  Well, I don’t actually know the guy, maybe he’s the next Mark Flynn…but if I had to put money on it, he’s probably just the next Crash Rodriguez.

Ned, you have already had the pleasure of going down in defeat to me at a PPV.  I have no doubt that you were already preparing yourself to go down once more.  Who could blame you?  It would have been a forgone conclusion.  Fortunately, for you…your King is generous and kind.  I think that you know that, and I also think that after I beat you at March Madness, you went back to your locker room and you breathed a sigh of relief.  I know that you THOUGHT you wanted to be King, but when you faced me you had to come to the realization that your shoulders are not broad enough to carry the weight, as I have had to do.  I think you know that through your failure, I in fact actually saved you from a greater failure…and you are welcome!

So, now at War Games, I will once again be manganous and show you an even greater kindness when I stand aside and show my ‘team’ the power that I wield.  Instead of facing the wraith of The King, I shall show mercy.  Of course, that being said, don’t you go getting yourself a big head over all of this.  Even without a team, I think you know that I could win this match all by myself.

I simply choose not to…

---

“So, that’s it?  You picked a team filled with highly capable professional athletes and you’re just going to hang them all out to dry?”

Sid yawned, obviously bored with the same line of questioning.  “I’ve told you this several times; this is MY team to do with as I please!  If I choose to run it into the ground, that is my right!”

“Okay, that’s true and I understand the beef with Centurion.  Picking him first was…weird, but I’m really stuck on Jay Omega.  I know you are saying that you want to stab him in the back before he does the same to you, but that really does ring a bit hollow to me.”  The Producer waited for a response, and when it didn’t come, they dug a bit deeper.  “Are you sure that this isn’t more about what happened with Gina than Jay?”

Sid couldn’t hide her anger as she spoke through bared teeth.  “Enough about Gina!  That chapter is over and finished…and so is this!” 

Sid flipped off the camera as she walked off the set.