Post by Rated R on Dec 22, 2014 11:24:50 GMT -5
Knight of the Demon
The Truth of a Revolution; Part 3
Daniel Knight: Ladies and gentleman thank you for tuning in to WFWF.COM, the official home of the WFWF and the only place you’re going to get this kind of content. With The Clash just a week away I have the privilege of sitting down with the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, Trace Demon. We’ll be focusing on the past, present and future including his feud with Drakz and The Final Revolution. Thanks for joining me Trace.
Trace Demon: Yeah, let’s get this thing moving, I’m growing old here.
If it’s not obvious Trace Demon isn’t really a fan of this s**t. More than once he’s told me “Anders, I’m really not a fan of this s**t”. Still, he understands the need for publicity when you’re trying to incite such a thing as revolution and this kind of big, publicized interview is exactly what he need right now. So he’s going to sit there, keep his cool and preach the message the best way he can.
And I’m going to stand right here on the side line to make sure he doesn’t flip out.
Daniel Knight: Well firstly let’s comment on the fact that you’re not really one for these kind of interviews, you’re a very private guy despite being the well-publicised owner of the WFWF. Is there a specific reason you agreed to do this specific interview?
An ease in question, anybody with some common sense can see that. Daniel Knight might be a joke in the WFWF but when it comes down to it he was hired for a reason, he’s very good at these kind of interviews, when he gets a man one on one he knows exactly how to get the best, most ratings-grabbing answers out of them.
Trace Demon: Because WFWF’s website is the one place I know everybody I want to see this will see it. Lila Sleater, Drakz, the rest of the WFWF roster, they need to see this, they need to know the hard reality of things and this is the one way I know they will.
Daniel Knight: How can you be so sure they’ll take the time out to watch this?
Trace Demon: Arrogance mostly, curiosity the rest.
Daniel Knight: Arrogance?
Trace Demon: They’re obsessed, with me, with themselves, their egos rule them. They want to know what I have to say about them because their egos won’t let them not know. At the same time there’s the fact they’re gonna want to twist whatever I have to say to fuel their own little missions. People say I do that all the time, they say I’m a manipulator, but we all do it, we all believe what we want to believe. You’re no different Knight, neither am I and neither are the likes of Drakz and Lila Sleater. Only difference between us all is I know exactly what it is I’m doing.
Daniel Knight: And what is that exactly?
I see Trace smirk, so far this is going exactly as he intended, exactly how he told me it would. No doubt he can’t keep hold of it the entire way through, he knows Knight’s not going to play ball beginning to end as much as I do, but I’m quietly assured that he’s got a handle on whatever it is Knight might throw at him.
Trace Demon: I’m shining a truth on things; I’m telling everybody exactly what their so called heroes and protectors really think. That’s all I’ve ever done. You can say that I manipulate and cheat all you like but I’m no liar, I’ve never said a single word that I can’t justify as the stone cold truth.
Not sure everybody is going to agree with that one but Knight’s wise enough not to argue with him, if he wants to keep some semblance of control over this interview then he needs to be smart when it comes to picking his battles.
Trace Demon: See the not so shiny truth is that there’s not one person in the WFWF that isn’t solely interested in what’s good for them. The difference between what makes someone a ‘good guy’ or a ‘bad guy’ is how they spin what’s good for them. Lila Sleater is only out for herself but everybody thinks she’s the good boss because she’s spinning it like she is while we, The Final Revolution, are only trying to save the company that we love and we’re painted like the bad guys. Are we using whatever means we can? Are we cheating, are we jumping people and doing whatever it takes? Of course we are, because that’s what it takes the get the job done and we have to do whatever it takes to save this company.
Daniel Knight: Right, right, now I’ve got plenty to ask about The Final Revolution later in the interview but right now I want to focus on a man you just mentioned, the very man you’ll face off with at The Clash, Drakz.
Throwing the main course on the table so earlier Knight, I’m disappointed, I expected better from you.
Trace Demon: Right, Drakz, see this match is-
Daniel Knight: No, I don’t want to ask about the match just yet.
Ooh ballsy.
Daniel Knight: I want to ask about your first match against each other, the one you lost.
Very ballsy indeed…
< *** >
8th March 2012
The McGurk Residence
Wayne McGurk: So Drakz in the finals then.
You might find this hard to believe, given the more recent history between yours truly and his daughter Scarlett, but a few years back me and Wayne were close, family even. We trained together, smoked together, hung together, even ran a wrestling school together. He was one of the few people who understood how my mind worked, not well mind you but better than most, and that was good for me at the time. I respected him and his family, his wife Vanessa and his kid Scarlett were like family to me as well.
Which is why it killed him when I destroyed his little girl to get my hands on my second WFWF World Heavyweight Championship.
But clearly that hasn’t happened yet, wouldn’t do for a couple of years after this in fact. This is a far simpler time before Wayne learnt exactly what lengths I would go to to get what I wanted… what I needed… what I still need.
Trace Demon: Yeah, couldn’t have been anyone else could it. If I was ever going to complete my grand slam it’d have to be against a so called legend.
Wayne McGurk: You don’t think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself there?
He passes me over a water bottle, Wayne was always one of the people I could count on in my sobriety and there’s a few who’d argue that losing him was one of the reasons that led to my minor relapse a couple of years back. They might be right but I came through that just fine, stronger than ever. I never needed Wayne, not really. He was a good friend yes but I never needed anyone, I’ve only ever needed myself. If only Wayne realized that sooner he could have seen what was to come, could have saved himself and his family a whole lot of grief.
Trace Demon: What you talking about willis.
Wow, 2009 Trace Demon was not as good at the wise crack pop culture references as 2014 Trace Demon is.
Wayne McGurk: I’m just saying don’t get overconfident, well, any more overconfident that you usually are. Drakz is the furthest thing from a pushover.
Trace Demon: Please, Drakz has been living in Kyzer’s shadow so long that he’s forgotten what the sun looks like.
Wayne McGurk: You say living in his shadow, I say hiding in plain sight. Drakz let Kyzer take front and centre because he knew Kyzer’s ego wouldn’t let him do anything else, Drakz is smart enough to keep Kyzer’s ego big enough that he’s confident and on top form but not too big that he thinks he’s better than Drakz is. You ask me Drakz is the brains of that entire operation and if he wanted to be the star of the “Drakz & Kyzer show” then he’d be the star in an instant.
Trace Demon: When did you become such a big fan of Drakz?
Wayne McGurk: You don’t have to like the person to appreciate the talent. Why do you think I still keep you around?
He laughs and I give him a bemused smirk. But despite the bluster with which Wayne always did business he was always very good at making a valid point.
Trace Demon: I get what you’re saying man but the guy is old, he’s broken down, he’s been around how long and he’s still toiling after the International title because he’s not got enough in him to win the-
Wayne McGurk: Oh don’t even start with that s**t. Mate not too long ago you were running around with the World Heavyweight Championship around that waist of yours and now you’re competing for the International Championship as well. If you want to talk down about Drakz then you better put yourself in that same boat as well.
I offer nothing but silence.
Wayne McGurk: Yeah that’s what I thought. Look, you’ve been doing this long enough to know that careers in this business don’t always follow a straight line right up the card, there’s a lot of things on the go at once and you just go with the flow. Right now the two of you have found yourself competing in that ring for a title and whether it’s the one either of you really wants deep down it doesn’t matter, that’s the one you’re wrestling for. Don’t for a second think that means Drakz isn’t a threat to you.
Trace Demon: Fine, he’s a threat! You happy now?
Wayne McGurk: Do you even believe that for a second?
Arrogance has always been one of my defining traits but the thing about arrogance is that it has to be earned to be pardonable. If a great man or woman is arrogant then they can be defended because they have earned that arrogance. If a nobody, a person who has done absolutely nothing with their lives is arrogant then they have no excuse, no reason to act that way.
Simply put their a d**k.
But me, I’ve earned my arrogance time and time again.
Trace Demon: No. Look I get it, Drakz is a big deal, he’s a hall of famer, him and Kyzer ran the place into the ground once and now I’ve got to run through him to get to a title that’d look so much better around my waist than his. But I’m not scared of Drakz. I’m in the form of my life man, I’m better now than the day I beat DGX for the world title so there’s no way that a washed up old has been like Drakz is going to stop me from becoming the International Champion. I deserve to have gold around my waist, I’ve earned it and Drakz isn’t going to stop me. I’m better than Drakz and I’m going to be a bigger star than he’s ever been. I’m telling you right now Wayne, a man like Drakz is nothing to me, just a stepping stone on my way to being the World Heavyweight Champion once again. And you know what? By the time I’m done with him you’re not ever gonna see Drakz around these parts again…
< *** >
Trace Demon: Yeah, I lost to Drakz, not going to argue that it wasn’t fair, not going to say I deserved to win, I’m not going to play the what if game. I lost. What I will say is that was a long time ago and I’m a vastly changed man. See the old Trace Demon would have flipped out the moment you mentioned that lost, he would have threatened you or leapt across this room and strangled you with your tie.
Daniel Knight: I’m not wearing a tie.
Trace Demon: Then I’d have torn your shirt off and strangled you with that instead.
Only seen him done that once but if I’m being one hundred per cent honest that hot dog vendor did deserve it.
Trace Demon: Like I said, I’m not the same man I was then, I’m not underestimating Drakz and I’m not overestimating my own abilities. I understand exactly what kind of man I’m stepping foot in the ring with, I know how good Drakz is, I know what he can do and I know exactly how far he’ll go to beat me and keep that title. He’s one of the toughest men I’ve ever faced, one of very few who I consider an actual challenge anymore, and he’s going to put up a hell of a fight. That right there is the entire reason I brought him back in the first place, it’s the reason one of my very first steps as owner was to sign Drakz back to an open contract ready for when his back wasn’t made of broken bones. He’s a threat to me. There’s only one man who somebody could say could possibly be better than me and I’d humour them and that man is Drakz. So yeah I lost the first time we met one on one but now I know exactly what I’m stepping foot in the ring with and I respect that, and that makes me dangerous.
Daniel Knight: Are you not afraid he’s got your number though, you’ve faced one on one just once and he walked out as champion. Are you not afraid of a repeat performance?
Trace actually chuckles at that, it’s more introspective than one of actual humour though. He sees things in a way that Knight doesn’t, that’s for sure.
Trace Demon: See everybody keeps talking about that one match, everybody keeps mentioning how Drakz beat me one on one like it’s the only match that matters. Sure it was the first time we’ve stepped foot in the ring together but it’s not like it was the last.
Daniel Knight: You’re talking about the triple threat match.
Trace Demon: I’m talking about the match where I won the International Championship…
< *** >
16th August 2012
Backstage at WFWF Survival of the Fittest
An hour after Survival of the Fittest.
An hour after I became the WFWF International Championship.
An hour after I beat Drakz.
Wayne McGurk: Well done Tracey boy, second time lucky eh.
I haven’t said a word since the match ended, haven’t done a thing. Just sat here in my locker room with the WFWF International Championship draped over my knees. It was never like this with any of the titles that came before and it wasn’t like it when I went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship the second time round. But then there was a difference, a difference I didn’t understand at the time, one that only really makes sense now that I look back on it.
Trace Demon: Yeah, second time…
He perches opposite me, recognises the look of reflection upon my face. I was never a good man to be around when I got reflective back in the day, it tended to get pretty dark pretty quickly. I’ve reigned it in over the past two years, gotten better control of myself, learnt how to handle to the darkness that clouds my mind when things get hard. What I used to use drugs for I now use self-control and I’m stronger for it.
Wayne McGurk: What’s the problem Trace, you just won the title, you beat Drakz, got your revenge and all, what are you so worked up about.
Trace Demon: Two times man, it took me two times.
Wayne McGurk: So? Even the best lose on occasion, not saying you’re one of the best because your ego’s way too big as it is.
I look at him with glazed eyes. I’m as unimpressed now with his attempts at humour as I was back in the day.
Wayne McGurk: I was joking man, your ego couldn’t get any bigger if we tried. Come on, you’re the champ, if there was ever a time when you’ve got the right to be arrogant it’s now. What is your problem?
Trace Demon: I lost Wayne, Drakz beat me. I lost that first match because I was cocky, I was arrogance, I underestimated him and I just wasn’t good enough. I let my own ego get the best of me just like I’ve done ever since I won and lost the World Heavyweight Championship. One failure after the other all because I was too cocky to see otherwise. You told me yourself that first time, don’t get cocky, don’t underestimate him but that’s exactly what I did because that’s what I do, I let my ego get in the way of what has to be done.
Wayne McGurk: Well now you’re just sounding like a self-deprecating buzzkill.
Trace Demon: But I’m right aren’t I?
Wayne McGurk: I’m not gonna argue that you’re an arrogant piece of work man, you have been since the moment I met you. You were an arrogant piece of work when you were on the drugs and you’ve been an arrogance piece of work off of it but that’s as much a strength as it is a weakness. You’re confident, you know your abilities and you know exactly how to use them to win, you’ve just got to get that ego under control. Stop underestimating your opponents; realize that there are people just as good as you are. Find ways to beat them, stop thinking you’re going to get it done without trying. You’re not that good.
Trace Demon: Now wait r-
Wayne McGurk: Nobody is that good. It doesn’t matter how good you or anyone else is there has to be more than just talent. You beat Drakz and that Elias kid because you buckled down and you fought smart, you planned it out and you knew exactly what you were going up against, you didn’t underestimate him, you worked the match the way you wanted to and you got the win.
Trace Demon: You’re right.
That’s when I realized it, that’s when everything changed and it wasn’t Wayne that changed it, not really.
It was Drakz.
Trace Demon: This title isn’t a consolation prize, it’s a symbol. I’m the best in the world, beating Drakz proves it, but only when I play this game the right way. Smart, with a reason to be out there. This wasn’t just about winning a match, it was about proving my message to the world that I am the best. There needs to be a message, there needs to be something to fight for, there has to be a reason to what I’m doing. And Wayne…
See the difference, why winning that International Championship was so different to everything else I’ve done. It’s because it was a revelation, it was the night that my own personal revolution began.
It’s when I started fighting for something bigger, it’s the night I began fighting not only to prove that I was the best but to make sure that the WFWF was the best as well. And the only way the WFWF can be the best is with me as its champion and without Lila Sleater running it into the ground. I respect Drakz, I do, but on that night I knew I was better than him. I’d stared into his eyes and knew that this was a man who was actually a challenge, a man who could if given the chance be the top dog… and I beat him. I was better than him that night and I still am. There was something else I realized on that night, something that has never rung so true. Something I first realized when I was looking down at the International Championship as it lied draped over my knees.
Trace Demon: This was only the beginning.
< *** >
Daniel Knight: So let’s lay it bare Trace, you and Drakz are one a piece, both in the International Championship matches, but this time round it isn’t for the International Championship, it’s for something far more important.
Trace gets reflective, he might be here in body but in that single moment he’s stuck in his own mind. I dread the thought of what his mind might be like, barely understand how he’s been inside it so long without going mad. Oh right…
Trace Demon: The World Heavyweight Championship.
I’ve never seen him look so melancholy. It doesn’t become him.
Trace Demon: I’m not going to give you any s**t Knight, that title is everything, it’s the reason every single one of us is in this business. If you find one wrestler who doesn’t want to be the World champion at least once then they don’t deserve to be in this company. Me, I’ve held that title twice, I’ve won every single thing there is to win, I’m a grand slam champion and a hall of famer and despite all that I still want to be the WFWF World Heavyweight Champion once again. I want that because I want to be the best and to be the best I’ve got to beat Drakz. But at the same time winning that title is about far more than just being the best.
Daniel Knight: Your revolution, right. I’ve got plenty to ask about The Final Revolution but right now I want to get a clear answer as to why the World Heavyweight Championship is so important to your revolution.
Trace’s melancholy look slips and is replaced by a familiar smirk, knowing full well that this is a topic that he can speak volumes on.
Trace Demon: Because it’s a beacon Danny boy, the World Heavyweight Champion always has the eyes of the wrestling world on it. You look at every World Heavyweight Champion in the history of the WFWF and you know that the moment they won the title everybody took notice. I mean you’ve only got to look at Dex, he was handed that title, he never deserved it and he wasn’t good enough to hold it but for the time he had it everybody was watching and talking about him. And if there’s one thing a revolution needs its eyes, ears and mouths. If we want this revolution to be successful, and damn does the WFWF need it to be, then we need all eyes to be on us. Now being the man that I am I know that I already have the attention of all those who watch us but I need more, I need the attention of the entire WFWF.
Trace Demon is many things, I can speak volumes for all of the negative sides of this so called King’s personality, and one of them is most certainly self-righteous. Whether it’s true or not, whether he’s doing this for the right reasons, he believes every single word he says.
Trace Demon: I’m talking the boys in the back, I’m talking about every single man and woman who steps foot in that ring every single week. Being the owner of the WFWF isn’t enough, there’s still those who choose to ignore the message that I’m trying to deliver, the change I’m trying to bring for the better, but there’s one thing they won’t be able to ignore – the World Heavyweight Champion. With that title around my waist every single competitor will be gunning for me which means they’ll all be paying attention, they’ll all hear every single word I say, see every action I make and witness everything I do for the greater good of the WFWF. Yes I want to be the WFWF World Heavyweight Champion for my own ego but this is about more than that, it’s about having the attention of the roster and winning them around to my cause.
Daniel Knight: So having the World Heavyweight Championship is crucial to your revolution being a success then?
What’s he getting at?
Trace Demon: Why don’t you say what you’re actually thinking Knight?
Daniel Knight: Well if you need to be the champion so much, for your revolution of course, then why Drakz? Why help Drakz become the champion? Would it not have been easier if say Dex was still champion rather than a man so much more experienced at this level of the game?
Again Trace chuckles to himself, un-phased. As much as Knight tries to make Trace lose his cool he’s not biting.
Trace Demon: That’s a very good question Knight, a very good question indeed. See I’m not in this to do what’s easy. I told you all why I did it, because the longer Dex had that title the more the WFWF would suffer. Ratings would plummet, attendances would die out, we’d make less money, we wouldn’t be able to pay anyone. If you can’t pay anyone then they quit working and if they quit working then the company is dead. These are the things nobody else looks at, these are the things that Lila Sleater doesn’t think through when she makes her stupid decisions but I do. I couldn’t risk another month of Dex as champion because if I did then I wouldn’t have a company left.
Daniel Knight: So you’re sticking with helping Drakz win for the good of the company?
Trace Demon: I’m not ‘sticking’ with anything, it’s the truth. Drakz is the only man other than me right now who has everything it takes to be the face of this company. Guys like Joe, Demento, Dean, they’re all good but they’re not there yet. You could argue for Schneider but he’s a loose cannon, the first chance he gets he’s going to tarnish the name of this company, the image of that belt and probably some poor girls virginity under the influence knowing his game. I can’t be having that. Drakz is a wrestler, he keeps his personal life personal, he’s not going to ruin our image and at the same time he’ll put asses in seats. It had to be Drakz because he was my only option, I had to save this company and I made the only decision that I could make.
Nobody else here knows it, not from the snake’s mouth anyway, just how much of a lie that is…
< *** >
August 26th 2014
Hours after Battle at the Garden
Jason Anders: What the hell was that?
Trace Demon: What are you talking about?
Jason Anders: That! That… that thing that just happened, that bloody travesty! You just helped Drakz win the title, you could have stopped that, you could have won that match, why did you just let him win the title? Oh god it’s happened hasn’t it, you’ve actually lost your mind.
Trace Demon: I haven’t lost my mind Jason.
This is a familiar feeling, sitting in the trainer’s room, one of the trainer’s crew wiping blood away from my face as the trainer himself tries to stich me up. I’ve been here more than once, this time at the hands of Dex. He had every reason to bloody me like this, I made no arguments against it then and I wouldn’t to this day months later. I cost him the title, a title he might not have deserved but a title he had none the less. I’ve done far worse for far less.
Jason Anders: Then how do you explain it Trace, this was the night, this is when you were meant to take the power back, you’re meant to be champion and we’re meant to be running the show not handing the title to a guy like Drakz.
Something people don’t see about Anders is how hungry for recognition he is. He wants power because he thinks it’s going to get him the love and admiration of his daughter and, to an even more closeted degree, his ex-wife. It’s why I’ve always found him so easy to manipulate. Everyone else sees a weasel, a follower who wouldn’t even dare say a bad word against me, but I know different. Anders is only interested in himself and his family. That’s why I relate so much to him.
Trace Demon: You’re missing the point of it all Anders, you said it yourself, I could have won the title. No guarantees.
Jason Anders: Wait, what are you saying?
So short minded. That’s the problem with the rest of the world, they don’t really think on my level.
Trace Demon: I could have won the title sure, but I would have needed a bit of luck to do it. That wasn’t one on one Anders, it wasn’t just me and Dex or me and Drakz in that ring, there were four of us. All it would have taken was me to have taken Drakz out myself, been distracted while beating on Garrett and Dex could have stolen all my hard work. We both know how I get when I’m beating people after all, it’s not hard to imagine someone fluking their way to victory through my hard work. No, couldn’t take the risk.
Jason Anders: So what, you’re waiting for a one on one shot, that’s what you telling me?
Trace Demon: That’s what I’m telling you.
Jason Anders: Then why the f**k Drakz! Why not help Dex win and gun for him, he’s a much easier guy to topple than Drakz is, a lot less effort, a guaranteed title win right there. Drakz not so much and you know it.
I can’t help but laugh at the short sightedness of it all. How is it that Jason Anders, an intelligent man by all accounts, has been by my side all these months and hasn’t absorbed a single thing about how this all works.
Trace Demon: Attention. Recognition. Impact. Reputation. Take your pick.
Jason Anders: Care to actually explain to those of us without the mind of an evil psychotic genius?
Trace Demon: We’re leading a revolution Anders, we need to be taken seriously, people need to believe that we can do what we say we’re going to do or nobody is going to want to risk their jobs to follow us. Taking the title from Dex doesn’t do that for us, I don’t get any recognition if I take the title from Dex even if it is in a fatal four way. Like I said there’s too many arguments of luck that can be made, too many ways people can talk it down. No, it’s not good enough. We need to do more, if we’re going to win people round then we’ve got to look strong and there’s one sure fire way to do that. And it isn’t Dex.
Jason Anders: It’s Drakz.
Bingo baby. Maybe Anders isn’t quite the lost cause that I’d pegged him as.
Trace Demon: Drakz is their hero, they look at him and they know exactly how good he is and he is good Anders, he’s one of the best, he’s a guy who knows exactly what it takes to win and he’s not scared of doing exactly that. Beating Dex doesn’t mean a damn thing, he’s a nobody, nothing, he doesn’t mean a damn thing to this company and if I’ve got him pegged the way I think I do then he’ll fizzle out and go off running like a b***h because now he knows exactly what it takes to run in the big leagues and he knows he doesn’t have it.
In hindsight it turns out I was exactly right, Dex did go off running home, he couldn’t handle it, he felt what it was like to lose the big one and he realized that he didn’t have what it takes to come back and really earn it. No big loss.
Trace Demon: Drakz though… Drakz is a different story. The people see Drakz and they see an actual champion, not some little rookie who hasn’t earned anything, they know that he can beat anybody in the company on his best day. Well, almost anybody. I mean props where they’re due Drakz deserves to be champion which means people will take notice when I beat him.
I can see the growing realization in his eyes, he’s starting to get it but he’s still got his doubts and his questions.
Trace Demon: If I won that fatal four way then there’s too many excuses. If Dex or Garrett somehow won it and I took the title from them then all I would be doing is beating some undeserving rookie, nobody is going to be impressed by that whether I’m the champion or not. But if I beat Drakz then I’m made, the revolution is made. We make an immediate impact because I’m the man who beat Drakz for the World Heavyweight Championship. The few people who weren’t taking us seriously already wouldn’t be able to doubt us, they wouldn’t be able to claim that we weren’t for real and nobody could say that I hadn’t beat the very best in the business to do it. That’s why it had to be Drakz, that’s why I had to make sure Drakz was the champion. Yes making sure Dex wasn’t the champion was the right thing to do for the WFWF but it worked perfectly for us too. I’m playing a long game here Anders, one far more thought out that you can even imagine, you’ve just got to trust me.
Then again trusting me doesn’t always end so well for people. Makes you wonder why people still trust me at all.
Jason Anders: How did you know Drakz would challenge you?
I can’t help but smirk as he continues.
Jason Anders: How could you possibly know he’d come out there and challenge you? You wouldn’t even have this match if it wasn’t for his challenge. How did you possibly know?
Trace Demon: Because I know Drakz, I know how he thinks and everything that’s happened between us meant he had no choice but to challenge me. One win a piece, me being the one to bring him back into the company, me stopping Dex from breaking up that pinfall. I left his ego no choice but to challenge me. Whether he knows it or not I’m in his head, he couldn’t have challenged anyone else, he couldn’t have wanted to face anyone else, he has something to prove as much as I do. I know people Anders, I know Drakz, I know that he had to challenge me for the sake of his own arrogance. I knew exactly what he’d do. I could tell he was obsessed with the idea of beating me…
And I was right.
Trace Demon: And I know that obsession is the very thing that guarantees me the World Heavyweight Championship.
And I’m right about that as well.
< *** >
Daniel Knight: Okay, so now that we’re onto the topic of what’s best for the WFWF, why don’t you tell me what your problem is specifically with the way Lila Sleater is running things.
Trace Demon: Did you seriously just ask that?
Hold it together Trace, remember not everyone has experienced what it feels like to be victimised by a certain Miss Sleater just because she feels threatened by us.
Daniel Knight: I’m not trying to be confrontation Trace; I’m just trying to understand exactly why you’re trying to oust Lila Sleater if it’s not just to place yourself in power again.
Trace Demon: This isn’t about power Knight, this is about still having a WFWF to wrestle in. See I’ve been around for eight years going on nine and that entire time I’ve spent in that ring wrestling, busting my ass, winning and occasionally losing, picking up titles, accomplishments and that all exclusive hall of fame ring. This company is everything to me, it’s all I know. In the years I’ve been in the WFWF I’ve been an addict, got clean, relapsed and got clean again, I’ve had a kid, built a family, found a sister I never knew I had, I’ve made money, a lot of it actually, ran the WFWF on two separate occasions. In short I’ve done a lot but the most important thing I’ve done is build a life for myself and that is all because of the WFWF.
He almost sounds passionate, serious about every single thing he says, I can’t tell exactly how much of it is the truth and how much he’s practiced in the mirror to make it sound like the truth. That’s one of Trace Demon’s greatest talents, you don’t have to believe everything he says but he’ll damn sure do a good job of making you doubt what you already think you know.
Trace Demon: So whenever anyone comes along that I think is going to jeopardise the company that I love I have to do something about it. Think of King Kraig, Napolean whats-ever-his-name-is, Xavier Pierce, every time I see some no-nothing chump start tearing down the kingdom that I’ve been building since the moment I walked through those doors I go to work. I do everything I can to make sure this company still stands when the dust settles. People might not like my methods, they might see me as the villain of the piece but that’s because I have always done whatever it takes. And I mean whatever it takes. You might not like it Knight, they might not like it, but I always have the best intentions when it comes to the WFWF because I love this damn company because it is the one place I have always belonged.
I can see Daniel Knight trying to remain passive but he’s buying it, he’s seeing a different side of Trace with every passing moment. Still couldn’t tell you how much of what he’s saying is actually true, I’ve known him a while and even I still struggle to discern between truth and lies. Sometimes I wonder how his family cope, whether Alexa ever wonders whether he’s honest with her. How could someone live like that, never knowing whether their being told the truth or not? That’s the detriment to Trace’s talent for lying I suppose, everybody probably thinks you’re doing it every time you open your mouth.
Trace Demon: So yeah, I see a corrupt authority and my instinct is to bring them down. And you know what Lila Sleater is as corrupt as the rest of them. Week in, week out she has done everything to try and make sure that anybody that crosses her is taken out by unfair odds. And she’s proven that I am target number one.
Daniel Knight: But many would feel that the problems between yourself and Lila Sleater stem from your confrontational attitude from the start of her reign. They feel that you could be to blame for these problems between you.
Trace Demon: Why, because I’m the kind of man who speaks his mind? I did nothing to antagonise Lila Sleater other than speak the truth. I told her that this is my company and it is, I’m the owner of the WFWF. I told her that it didn’t matter what she did I’d still be here and I’d fight my ass off every step of the way and guess what, I’m still here and I’m still fighting my ass off every step of the way. I told her the truth, it’s not my fault that she took offence to that.
Daniel Knight: So you don’t think you came across a little… confrontational?
Oh very confrontational, but he’s not about to admit that.
Trace Demon: Maybe, maybe not. Tell me, how long have you been here Knight, how long have you been working for my company?
A particular emphasis on the word “my”, is he specifically trying to put some fear in Knight or is it just a power play? Does it matter either way when both achieve the exact same thing?
Daniel Knight: Two years, give or take.
Trace Demon: Two years. Now tell me Knight, how many times have you been threatened, or argued with, or mocked?
Daniel Knight: It’s… not a rarity.
Trace Demon: Exactly, it’s not a rarity. You knew this coming in, you knew what you were getting into the moment that you signed onto this job. So did Alecia Matthews, so did every single boy in the back. If Lila Sleater thought when she signed up for this job that she was going to have an easy ride of it then she was deluding herself. The WFWF is full of crazies, full of sociopaths, psychopaths, fighters, brawlers, madmen and the odd normal guy who just likes violence a little bit too much to do anything else with his life. The WFWF is not a safe place to play and she knew that when she accepted the job, she’s a tough woman, she’s proven that, she’s also proven she’s a spiteful one. She took what I said personally and that’s where she went wrong. She couldn’t handle the truth and now she’s so hell bent of silencing me that she’s made it her mission to crush me and anyone with me at any costs. And that… that is why I have to stop her.
Daniel Knight: Because she took offence to you insulting the way she runs the WFWF?
Trace Demon: Because she let her personal grudge get in the way of what was right for the company. Now you can say all you like that I was never the most impartial of men while I was running things but I never tried to destroy the careers of the most important person on the show or the young stars who’ll soon enough be fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship. When I ran the show I just made things interesting, she is putting the entire company, present and future, at risk and I…
He looks across at me with another look of reflective seriousness.
Trace Demon: No we, won’t let that happen.
< *** >
The Marriot Hotel
London, England
16th December 2014
Kyle Matthews: Fancy digs man, what do we have to do get a room like this?
Trace Demon: Win the World Championship, main event Superbrawl, run a multi-million dollar company. Take your pick.
Kyle Matthews: Give it a few months.
Joe Bishop: You wish.
Kyle, Bishop and Anders sit around the table. It’s not there for any particular reason, I just felt the need to make the entire meeting feel official. If you’re going to do an official revolution meeting then you may as well do it properly.
Jason Anders: Can we skip the standard bickering between the two of you kids and get down to business, The Clash.
Trace Demon: Exactly, The Clash. It’s simple boys, this is where we set up our end game. We have to leave this god awful country with everything in place.
Joe Bishop: Dude, I’m from this country.
Kyle Matthews: You are aren’t you, why the hell’s it so cold here?
Joe Bishop: It’s winter.
Kyle Matthews: But still.
Trace Demon: Compared to Canada this place is the freaking Sahara.
Jason Anders: Guys, The Clash please. I’ve got a date in two hours and I need to get ready.
Trace Demon: Right, right.
Got to stop getting carried away with “whose country is colder”. I’m doing pretty well but one day I’m going to find myself playing it with an Inuit and get blown out of the water. Also no way does Anders have any kind of date unless it’s with him, his laptop and his right hand.
Trace Demon: I brought you here to make sure you all know the importance of The Clash. This isn’t some jaunt to jolly old England, it’s the flashpoint, it’s the moment where the Final Revolution pushes forwards and makes it clear that there really is no stopping us. Joe, win or lose you need to put an end to Dave Demento, crush him and the Saviours of Salvation stop being a minor annoyance and they simply become dead. Kyle, Anders, your job is to make sure that happens, you understand?
Joe Bishop: I don’t need any help beating Demento.
Kyle Matthews: Well since you lost the last time you kind of do.
Trace Demon: Enough, no arguing, just listening. Bishop, I know you don’t, I know you can beat Demento on your own without even the slightest hint of help, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is Matthews and Anders are there to keep you focused, to keep the outside world from taking you out of your game like it has a tendency to do. Use them, make sure you know exactly what you’re going to do and then do it, don’t get sucked into something you’re not ready for, understand?
He nods, over the past few months Bishop has become a good soldier, a fine man and a strong ally. Exactly what I expected him to become.
Kyle Matthews: And what about you? Don’t you need us?
Trace Demon: Me?
Oh poor boy, haven’t you grown even a fraction of what Bishop has yet?
Trace Demon: Drakz is mine and only mine, I don’t need anyone else in my corner. I’ve already got him and his broken little body exactly where I want it.
< *** >
Daniel Knight: Trace, there’s something that everybody wants to hear about, something that could be called surprising given the amount of respect that you’ve shown Drakz for the vast majority of this interview. That is the vicious attack that you delivered just last week putting Drakz through a table with one of the most dangerous moves in your arsenal, the Hellfire Overdose.
Trace Demon: I’m not sure what the question is Knight.
Daniel Knight: Well the question really… is why?
Trace Demon: Why? You’re seriously asking why?
Daniel Knight: Not just me Trace, everybody. Everybody wants to know exactly why you felt the need to resort to cheap tricks and a sneak attack like that given that this is meant to be the match in which you prove yourself a legitimate leader for the WFWF. Did you not just prove you’re just as bad as you accuse Lila Sleater of being?
Trace Demon: Need I remind you that Drakz struck first?
Daniel Knight: Again, there would be those who would point out that you weren’t entirely honest about that injury.
Trace Demon: That’s not my point Knight, Drakz struck first. What damage he did doesn’t matter, what matters is the fact that Drakz attacked me completely unprovoked, he’s the one who made this physical before it had to be. Now I’m not going to lie when it comes down to it and we’re in that ring competing for the title anything goes but in the build up to that I was perfectly happy to keep it civil. In fact that’s what I wanted because I didn’t want there to be any excuses when I beat Drakz, I didn’t want people saying he wasn’t at his strongest because that detracts from what this means for me and the Final Revolution.
Daniel Knight: You put him through a table with the most dangerous move you have, is that now a slight escalation?
Trace shakes his head at Knight as if he can’t understand why he doesn’t understand. Just like everything else this probably isn’t truthful, just another way for Trace to manipulate things into looking like he’s right and everyone else is wrong
Trace Demon: What would you have me do Knight? Let him attack me and just let it go? That’s not how this works and you know it. He came after me, I had to strike him down otherwise everybody is going to think they can do it. Now yes, I want to keep the WFWF alive and I can’t do that by being weak. It’s not crooked to retaliate against a man who has already attacked you, it’s not conniving to use your brains to outsmart someone, I did nothing wrong when I put Drakz through that table, I simply one-upped him. If he was a better man he’d have seen it coming, but Drakz has always had a problem with shutter vision. He can’t see what’s right in front of his face and, even worse, he can’t see when someone is about to stab him in the back. I know that Drakz is weakest when he doesn’t expect to get hit, that’s how Kyzer broke the man after all, I just used that to my advantage.
Daniel Knight: Speaking of, you’ve never explained how it is you convinced Drakz to come back. Did, as some suspect, Michael Kyzer himself have something to do with it?
Trace Demon: Nah, Kyzer wasn’t even a factor really, but that’s not a story for right now is it.
< *** >
East Phoenix Physical Therapy and Rehab Clinic, Phoenix, AZ
April 28th 2013
I push my way through the elderly and the infirm, trying to blot out the thought that one day with the laundry list of injuries I’ve picked up will likely leave me in very much the same situation as them. Still, hasn’t happened yet and with my kind of money I expect to be able to put myself up somewhere a little nicer. Somewhere where I can avoid the likes of Drakz’s little wheelchair gang.
Though they were a cool set of wheels.
As I exit the clinic I pull out my phone, scrolling through my phone until I’ve found the little man’s number and hitting dial. I kind of hope he doesn’t answer and, in hindsight a year a half later, I still almost wish I’d never made the deal. Still, it brought me to this moment and this moment is the important one, so I suppose this phone call, the one that proceeded it and everything that followed was worth it in the long run.
?: What do you want?
Well it had better be worth it.
Trace Demon: I’ve just left Drakz and his little brigade.
?: Brigade, what the hell you talking about?
Got to wonder exactly how coked up he is right now. Based on the tinge in his voice it’s either that or he’s gone and killed a prostitute, really is only a matter of time.
Trace Demon: Don’t worry about it man, just wanted to tell you it’s done and to keep your mouth shut.
?: Who the hell are you to tell me what to do you f*****g d**k!
A slight pause as he calms himself down, I give him that, call it an added extra for what he did for me.
?: He’s gonna sign it?
Trace Demon: Hell sign, won’t be today but give it six months or so and you’ll get Drakz back in that ring just like I said. Speaking of, how’d you know where he was anyway. Your boys aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now.
He laughs as if I’m the idiot, the little midget doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, too coked up to the eyeballs. If he hadn’t come to me saying he knew where Drakz had ended up then I wouldn’t have even given him a second glance. Never liked DMK when he was stuck in the shadows of the Epoch, sure as hell don’t like him now.
DMK: Oh I’ve got contacts everywhere, you don’t even know the pies I’ve got my fingers in.
Trace Demon: I’d rather not know about where your fingers have been man, I like to keep my conscience clean.
I also like to keep the insides of my stomach off of the sidewalk.
Trace Demon: Anyway, thanks for the lead, now I’d rather never speak to you again if that’s okay. You kind of creep me out and I’ve got a really high threshold for being creeped out.
DMK: Woah woah woah, before you run off to your little weird family set up what about our end of the deal?
See when you make a deal with a midget devil they always want something in return. Not that I’ve made lots of deals with midget devils, only really know one other than DMK and he lives under a bridge and threatens to stab people with forks.
Trace Demon: Fine, fine, tell me about this Dragon of yours…
< *** >
Daniel Knight: Okay So Trace, one last question. Any final words for Drakz?
And I see one final smirk form on Trace’s sinister face.
Trace Demon: Final words? Oh yeah, I’ve got a few…
< *** >
So it’s come to this Drakz. Me and you for the very heart of the WFWF.
I’m not exaggerating.
You see Drakz this might be the biggest match of my career. You might see that as a gross exaggeration but let’s look at everything on the line. The deciding match in our three match series. The WFWF World Heavyweight Championship. And most importantly the impact I need to push our revolution towards its final conclusion. See you are now the one thing standing between me and saving this company, the one man standing between me and preserving the legacy of the WFWF. When I brought you back I didn’t plan on our climactic battle being about more than just proving who the better man is but in the end that wasn’t my decision to make, Lila Sleater forced my hand and that’s what it comes down to. Me, you, the fate of the WFWF
If I’m honest I’m glad it’s you though Drakz because who else could it be really. Dex? Far too inconsequential. Phillip Schnieder? Far too clichéd. But you Drakz, you’re the personification of a defining moment. Beating you for the WFWF World Heavyweight Championship would, at the very least, make a normal man into a star and a star into a legend. But for me, a legend already standing in your midst, it turns me into a saviour. Becoming the World Heavyweight Champion is one thing but beating a man of your calibre in the process means that I will have the power, the momentum… and the title to push this revolution, my Final Revolution, towards our end game.
Because that’s where we’re heading, towards the final curtain for the Final Revolution and there is nobody who is going to slow us down. The Clash is the beginning. Dave Demento, your pretty little Saviours are falling apart at the seams. Nikki’s gone and taken herself out of the game, Penny’s about to do the same against Schneider, Josh is facing the most humiliating loss of his life if Yukio ‘past his non-existent prime’ Blaze beats him and you Demento, you’re about to gift your International Championship back into our hands and we’re going to push you off of the top of your mountain and straight down to the jagged rocks below. By the time we leave Wembley arena there’s not going to be any more Saviours to fight on the wrong side of the war because they’ll all be lying crippled, broken and bloodied in the sewers outside the stadium.
Once they’re dealt with I come to you Drakz and don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a lot of respect for you. I brought you back for a reason. Now sure, that reason was meant to be about proving which one of us deserves to be called the better man, hint: it’s me, but things have changed. I’ve found myself fighting a revolution and you’ve found yourself with something I need. Now yeah, maybe I had a little… well, big hand in you winning that title, but that doesn’t mean I plan on letting you keep it. Actually, based on the whole putting you through a table thing I think you’ve figured that one out yourself already. Sorry for that, actually I’m really not, it was kind of fun. See Drakz, beating you now is a message that I have to send, I have no choice, this was going to be a fair fight, it was going to be about respect, now it’s going to be about doing whatever I have to do to win that title so that we can save this company.
Which brings me to you Lila, and I’m going to make this short and sweet. At The Clash we start checking off our problems one by one. Saviours of Salvation… check. Drakz… check. Lila Sleater…
Well let’s just say you’re time is up.
And the Final Revolution’s time… has just begun.
The Truth of a Revolution; Part 3
Daniel Knight: Ladies and gentleman thank you for tuning in to WFWF.COM, the official home of the WFWF and the only place you’re going to get this kind of content. With The Clash just a week away I have the privilege of sitting down with the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, Trace Demon. We’ll be focusing on the past, present and future including his feud with Drakz and The Final Revolution. Thanks for joining me Trace.
Trace Demon: Yeah, let’s get this thing moving, I’m growing old here.
If it’s not obvious Trace Demon isn’t really a fan of this s**t. More than once he’s told me “Anders, I’m really not a fan of this s**t”. Still, he understands the need for publicity when you’re trying to incite such a thing as revolution and this kind of big, publicized interview is exactly what he need right now. So he’s going to sit there, keep his cool and preach the message the best way he can.
And I’m going to stand right here on the side line to make sure he doesn’t flip out.
Daniel Knight: Well firstly let’s comment on the fact that you’re not really one for these kind of interviews, you’re a very private guy despite being the well-publicised owner of the WFWF. Is there a specific reason you agreed to do this specific interview?
An ease in question, anybody with some common sense can see that. Daniel Knight might be a joke in the WFWF but when it comes down to it he was hired for a reason, he’s very good at these kind of interviews, when he gets a man one on one he knows exactly how to get the best, most ratings-grabbing answers out of them.
Trace Demon: Because WFWF’s website is the one place I know everybody I want to see this will see it. Lila Sleater, Drakz, the rest of the WFWF roster, they need to see this, they need to know the hard reality of things and this is the one way I know they will.
Daniel Knight: How can you be so sure they’ll take the time out to watch this?
Trace Demon: Arrogance mostly, curiosity the rest.
Daniel Knight: Arrogance?
Trace Demon: They’re obsessed, with me, with themselves, their egos rule them. They want to know what I have to say about them because their egos won’t let them not know. At the same time there’s the fact they’re gonna want to twist whatever I have to say to fuel their own little missions. People say I do that all the time, they say I’m a manipulator, but we all do it, we all believe what we want to believe. You’re no different Knight, neither am I and neither are the likes of Drakz and Lila Sleater. Only difference between us all is I know exactly what it is I’m doing.
Daniel Knight: And what is that exactly?
I see Trace smirk, so far this is going exactly as he intended, exactly how he told me it would. No doubt he can’t keep hold of it the entire way through, he knows Knight’s not going to play ball beginning to end as much as I do, but I’m quietly assured that he’s got a handle on whatever it is Knight might throw at him.
Trace Demon: I’m shining a truth on things; I’m telling everybody exactly what their so called heroes and protectors really think. That’s all I’ve ever done. You can say that I manipulate and cheat all you like but I’m no liar, I’ve never said a single word that I can’t justify as the stone cold truth.
Not sure everybody is going to agree with that one but Knight’s wise enough not to argue with him, if he wants to keep some semblance of control over this interview then he needs to be smart when it comes to picking his battles.
Trace Demon: See the not so shiny truth is that there’s not one person in the WFWF that isn’t solely interested in what’s good for them. The difference between what makes someone a ‘good guy’ or a ‘bad guy’ is how they spin what’s good for them. Lila Sleater is only out for herself but everybody thinks she’s the good boss because she’s spinning it like she is while we, The Final Revolution, are only trying to save the company that we love and we’re painted like the bad guys. Are we using whatever means we can? Are we cheating, are we jumping people and doing whatever it takes? Of course we are, because that’s what it takes the get the job done and we have to do whatever it takes to save this company.
Daniel Knight: Right, right, now I’ve got plenty to ask about The Final Revolution later in the interview but right now I want to focus on a man you just mentioned, the very man you’ll face off with at The Clash, Drakz.
Throwing the main course on the table so earlier Knight, I’m disappointed, I expected better from you.
Trace Demon: Right, Drakz, see this match is-
Daniel Knight: No, I don’t want to ask about the match just yet.
Ooh ballsy.
Daniel Knight: I want to ask about your first match against each other, the one you lost.
Very ballsy indeed…
< *** >
8th March 2012
The McGurk Residence
Wayne McGurk: So Drakz in the finals then.
You might find this hard to believe, given the more recent history between yours truly and his daughter Scarlett, but a few years back me and Wayne were close, family even. We trained together, smoked together, hung together, even ran a wrestling school together. He was one of the few people who understood how my mind worked, not well mind you but better than most, and that was good for me at the time. I respected him and his family, his wife Vanessa and his kid Scarlett were like family to me as well.
Which is why it killed him when I destroyed his little girl to get my hands on my second WFWF World Heavyweight Championship.
But clearly that hasn’t happened yet, wouldn’t do for a couple of years after this in fact. This is a far simpler time before Wayne learnt exactly what lengths I would go to to get what I wanted… what I needed… what I still need.
Trace Demon: Yeah, couldn’t have been anyone else could it. If I was ever going to complete my grand slam it’d have to be against a so called legend.
Wayne McGurk: You don’t think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself there?
He passes me over a water bottle, Wayne was always one of the people I could count on in my sobriety and there’s a few who’d argue that losing him was one of the reasons that led to my minor relapse a couple of years back. They might be right but I came through that just fine, stronger than ever. I never needed Wayne, not really. He was a good friend yes but I never needed anyone, I’ve only ever needed myself. If only Wayne realized that sooner he could have seen what was to come, could have saved himself and his family a whole lot of grief.
Trace Demon: What you talking about willis.
Wow, 2009 Trace Demon was not as good at the wise crack pop culture references as 2014 Trace Demon is.
Wayne McGurk: I’m just saying don’t get overconfident, well, any more overconfident that you usually are. Drakz is the furthest thing from a pushover.
Trace Demon: Please, Drakz has been living in Kyzer’s shadow so long that he’s forgotten what the sun looks like.
Wayne McGurk: You say living in his shadow, I say hiding in plain sight. Drakz let Kyzer take front and centre because he knew Kyzer’s ego wouldn’t let him do anything else, Drakz is smart enough to keep Kyzer’s ego big enough that he’s confident and on top form but not too big that he thinks he’s better than Drakz is. You ask me Drakz is the brains of that entire operation and if he wanted to be the star of the “Drakz & Kyzer show” then he’d be the star in an instant.
Trace Demon: When did you become such a big fan of Drakz?
Wayne McGurk: You don’t have to like the person to appreciate the talent. Why do you think I still keep you around?
He laughs and I give him a bemused smirk. But despite the bluster with which Wayne always did business he was always very good at making a valid point.
Trace Demon: I get what you’re saying man but the guy is old, he’s broken down, he’s been around how long and he’s still toiling after the International title because he’s not got enough in him to win the-
Wayne McGurk: Oh don’t even start with that s**t. Mate not too long ago you were running around with the World Heavyweight Championship around that waist of yours and now you’re competing for the International Championship as well. If you want to talk down about Drakz then you better put yourself in that same boat as well.
I offer nothing but silence.
Wayne McGurk: Yeah that’s what I thought. Look, you’ve been doing this long enough to know that careers in this business don’t always follow a straight line right up the card, there’s a lot of things on the go at once and you just go with the flow. Right now the two of you have found yourself competing in that ring for a title and whether it’s the one either of you really wants deep down it doesn’t matter, that’s the one you’re wrestling for. Don’t for a second think that means Drakz isn’t a threat to you.
Trace Demon: Fine, he’s a threat! You happy now?
Wayne McGurk: Do you even believe that for a second?
Arrogance has always been one of my defining traits but the thing about arrogance is that it has to be earned to be pardonable. If a great man or woman is arrogant then they can be defended because they have earned that arrogance. If a nobody, a person who has done absolutely nothing with their lives is arrogant then they have no excuse, no reason to act that way.
Simply put their a d**k.
But me, I’ve earned my arrogance time and time again.
Trace Demon: No. Look I get it, Drakz is a big deal, he’s a hall of famer, him and Kyzer ran the place into the ground once and now I’ve got to run through him to get to a title that’d look so much better around my waist than his. But I’m not scared of Drakz. I’m in the form of my life man, I’m better now than the day I beat DGX for the world title so there’s no way that a washed up old has been like Drakz is going to stop me from becoming the International Champion. I deserve to have gold around my waist, I’ve earned it and Drakz isn’t going to stop me. I’m better than Drakz and I’m going to be a bigger star than he’s ever been. I’m telling you right now Wayne, a man like Drakz is nothing to me, just a stepping stone on my way to being the World Heavyweight Champion once again. And you know what? By the time I’m done with him you’re not ever gonna see Drakz around these parts again…
< *** >
Trace Demon: Yeah, I lost to Drakz, not going to argue that it wasn’t fair, not going to say I deserved to win, I’m not going to play the what if game. I lost. What I will say is that was a long time ago and I’m a vastly changed man. See the old Trace Demon would have flipped out the moment you mentioned that lost, he would have threatened you or leapt across this room and strangled you with your tie.
Daniel Knight: I’m not wearing a tie.
Trace Demon: Then I’d have torn your shirt off and strangled you with that instead.
Only seen him done that once but if I’m being one hundred per cent honest that hot dog vendor did deserve it.
Trace Demon: Like I said, I’m not the same man I was then, I’m not underestimating Drakz and I’m not overestimating my own abilities. I understand exactly what kind of man I’m stepping foot in the ring with, I know how good Drakz is, I know what he can do and I know exactly how far he’ll go to beat me and keep that title. He’s one of the toughest men I’ve ever faced, one of very few who I consider an actual challenge anymore, and he’s going to put up a hell of a fight. That right there is the entire reason I brought him back in the first place, it’s the reason one of my very first steps as owner was to sign Drakz back to an open contract ready for when his back wasn’t made of broken bones. He’s a threat to me. There’s only one man who somebody could say could possibly be better than me and I’d humour them and that man is Drakz. So yeah I lost the first time we met one on one but now I know exactly what I’m stepping foot in the ring with and I respect that, and that makes me dangerous.
Daniel Knight: Are you not afraid he’s got your number though, you’ve faced one on one just once and he walked out as champion. Are you not afraid of a repeat performance?
Trace actually chuckles at that, it’s more introspective than one of actual humour though. He sees things in a way that Knight doesn’t, that’s for sure.
Trace Demon: See everybody keeps talking about that one match, everybody keeps mentioning how Drakz beat me one on one like it’s the only match that matters. Sure it was the first time we’ve stepped foot in the ring together but it’s not like it was the last.
Daniel Knight: You’re talking about the triple threat match.
Trace Demon: I’m talking about the match where I won the International Championship…
< *** >
16th August 2012
Backstage at WFWF Survival of the Fittest
An hour after Survival of the Fittest.
An hour after I became the WFWF International Championship.
An hour after I beat Drakz.
Wayne McGurk: Well done Tracey boy, second time lucky eh.
I haven’t said a word since the match ended, haven’t done a thing. Just sat here in my locker room with the WFWF International Championship draped over my knees. It was never like this with any of the titles that came before and it wasn’t like it when I went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship the second time round. But then there was a difference, a difference I didn’t understand at the time, one that only really makes sense now that I look back on it.
Trace Demon: Yeah, second time…
He perches opposite me, recognises the look of reflection upon my face. I was never a good man to be around when I got reflective back in the day, it tended to get pretty dark pretty quickly. I’ve reigned it in over the past two years, gotten better control of myself, learnt how to handle to the darkness that clouds my mind when things get hard. What I used to use drugs for I now use self-control and I’m stronger for it.
Wayne McGurk: What’s the problem Trace, you just won the title, you beat Drakz, got your revenge and all, what are you so worked up about.
Trace Demon: Two times man, it took me two times.
Wayne McGurk: So? Even the best lose on occasion, not saying you’re one of the best because your ego’s way too big as it is.
I look at him with glazed eyes. I’m as unimpressed now with his attempts at humour as I was back in the day.
Wayne McGurk: I was joking man, your ego couldn’t get any bigger if we tried. Come on, you’re the champ, if there was ever a time when you’ve got the right to be arrogant it’s now. What is your problem?
Trace Demon: I lost Wayne, Drakz beat me. I lost that first match because I was cocky, I was arrogance, I underestimated him and I just wasn’t good enough. I let my own ego get the best of me just like I’ve done ever since I won and lost the World Heavyweight Championship. One failure after the other all because I was too cocky to see otherwise. You told me yourself that first time, don’t get cocky, don’t underestimate him but that’s exactly what I did because that’s what I do, I let my ego get in the way of what has to be done.
Wayne McGurk: Well now you’re just sounding like a self-deprecating buzzkill.
Trace Demon: But I’m right aren’t I?
Wayne McGurk: I’m not gonna argue that you’re an arrogant piece of work man, you have been since the moment I met you. You were an arrogant piece of work when you were on the drugs and you’ve been an arrogance piece of work off of it but that’s as much a strength as it is a weakness. You’re confident, you know your abilities and you know exactly how to use them to win, you’ve just got to get that ego under control. Stop underestimating your opponents; realize that there are people just as good as you are. Find ways to beat them, stop thinking you’re going to get it done without trying. You’re not that good.
Trace Demon: Now wait r-
Wayne McGurk: Nobody is that good. It doesn’t matter how good you or anyone else is there has to be more than just talent. You beat Drakz and that Elias kid because you buckled down and you fought smart, you planned it out and you knew exactly what you were going up against, you didn’t underestimate him, you worked the match the way you wanted to and you got the win.
Trace Demon: You’re right.
That’s when I realized it, that’s when everything changed and it wasn’t Wayne that changed it, not really.
It was Drakz.
Trace Demon: This title isn’t a consolation prize, it’s a symbol. I’m the best in the world, beating Drakz proves it, but only when I play this game the right way. Smart, with a reason to be out there. This wasn’t just about winning a match, it was about proving my message to the world that I am the best. There needs to be a message, there needs to be something to fight for, there has to be a reason to what I’m doing. And Wayne…
See the difference, why winning that International Championship was so different to everything else I’ve done. It’s because it was a revelation, it was the night that my own personal revolution began.
It’s when I started fighting for something bigger, it’s the night I began fighting not only to prove that I was the best but to make sure that the WFWF was the best as well. And the only way the WFWF can be the best is with me as its champion and without Lila Sleater running it into the ground. I respect Drakz, I do, but on that night I knew I was better than him. I’d stared into his eyes and knew that this was a man who was actually a challenge, a man who could if given the chance be the top dog… and I beat him. I was better than him that night and I still am. There was something else I realized on that night, something that has never rung so true. Something I first realized when I was looking down at the International Championship as it lied draped over my knees.
Trace Demon: This was only the beginning.
< *** >
Daniel Knight: So let’s lay it bare Trace, you and Drakz are one a piece, both in the International Championship matches, but this time round it isn’t for the International Championship, it’s for something far more important.
Trace gets reflective, he might be here in body but in that single moment he’s stuck in his own mind. I dread the thought of what his mind might be like, barely understand how he’s been inside it so long without going mad. Oh right…
Trace Demon: The World Heavyweight Championship.
I’ve never seen him look so melancholy. It doesn’t become him.
Trace Demon: I’m not going to give you any s**t Knight, that title is everything, it’s the reason every single one of us is in this business. If you find one wrestler who doesn’t want to be the World champion at least once then they don’t deserve to be in this company. Me, I’ve held that title twice, I’ve won every single thing there is to win, I’m a grand slam champion and a hall of famer and despite all that I still want to be the WFWF World Heavyweight Champion once again. I want that because I want to be the best and to be the best I’ve got to beat Drakz. But at the same time winning that title is about far more than just being the best.
Daniel Knight: Your revolution, right. I’ve got plenty to ask about The Final Revolution but right now I want to get a clear answer as to why the World Heavyweight Championship is so important to your revolution.
Trace’s melancholy look slips and is replaced by a familiar smirk, knowing full well that this is a topic that he can speak volumes on.
Trace Demon: Because it’s a beacon Danny boy, the World Heavyweight Champion always has the eyes of the wrestling world on it. You look at every World Heavyweight Champion in the history of the WFWF and you know that the moment they won the title everybody took notice. I mean you’ve only got to look at Dex, he was handed that title, he never deserved it and he wasn’t good enough to hold it but for the time he had it everybody was watching and talking about him. And if there’s one thing a revolution needs its eyes, ears and mouths. If we want this revolution to be successful, and damn does the WFWF need it to be, then we need all eyes to be on us. Now being the man that I am I know that I already have the attention of all those who watch us but I need more, I need the attention of the entire WFWF.
Trace Demon is many things, I can speak volumes for all of the negative sides of this so called King’s personality, and one of them is most certainly self-righteous. Whether it’s true or not, whether he’s doing this for the right reasons, he believes every single word he says.
Trace Demon: I’m talking the boys in the back, I’m talking about every single man and woman who steps foot in that ring every single week. Being the owner of the WFWF isn’t enough, there’s still those who choose to ignore the message that I’m trying to deliver, the change I’m trying to bring for the better, but there’s one thing they won’t be able to ignore – the World Heavyweight Champion. With that title around my waist every single competitor will be gunning for me which means they’ll all be paying attention, they’ll all hear every single word I say, see every action I make and witness everything I do for the greater good of the WFWF. Yes I want to be the WFWF World Heavyweight Champion for my own ego but this is about more than that, it’s about having the attention of the roster and winning them around to my cause.
Daniel Knight: So having the World Heavyweight Championship is crucial to your revolution being a success then?
What’s he getting at?
Trace Demon: Why don’t you say what you’re actually thinking Knight?
Daniel Knight: Well if you need to be the champion so much, for your revolution of course, then why Drakz? Why help Drakz become the champion? Would it not have been easier if say Dex was still champion rather than a man so much more experienced at this level of the game?
Again Trace chuckles to himself, un-phased. As much as Knight tries to make Trace lose his cool he’s not biting.
Trace Demon: That’s a very good question Knight, a very good question indeed. See I’m not in this to do what’s easy. I told you all why I did it, because the longer Dex had that title the more the WFWF would suffer. Ratings would plummet, attendances would die out, we’d make less money, we wouldn’t be able to pay anyone. If you can’t pay anyone then they quit working and if they quit working then the company is dead. These are the things nobody else looks at, these are the things that Lila Sleater doesn’t think through when she makes her stupid decisions but I do. I couldn’t risk another month of Dex as champion because if I did then I wouldn’t have a company left.
Daniel Knight: So you’re sticking with helping Drakz win for the good of the company?
Trace Demon: I’m not ‘sticking’ with anything, it’s the truth. Drakz is the only man other than me right now who has everything it takes to be the face of this company. Guys like Joe, Demento, Dean, they’re all good but they’re not there yet. You could argue for Schneider but he’s a loose cannon, the first chance he gets he’s going to tarnish the name of this company, the image of that belt and probably some poor girls virginity under the influence knowing his game. I can’t be having that. Drakz is a wrestler, he keeps his personal life personal, he’s not going to ruin our image and at the same time he’ll put asses in seats. It had to be Drakz because he was my only option, I had to save this company and I made the only decision that I could make.
Nobody else here knows it, not from the snake’s mouth anyway, just how much of a lie that is…
< *** >
August 26th 2014
Hours after Battle at the Garden
Jason Anders: What the hell was that?
Trace Demon: What are you talking about?
Jason Anders: That! That… that thing that just happened, that bloody travesty! You just helped Drakz win the title, you could have stopped that, you could have won that match, why did you just let him win the title? Oh god it’s happened hasn’t it, you’ve actually lost your mind.
Trace Demon: I haven’t lost my mind Jason.
This is a familiar feeling, sitting in the trainer’s room, one of the trainer’s crew wiping blood away from my face as the trainer himself tries to stich me up. I’ve been here more than once, this time at the hands of Dex. He had every reason to bloody me like this, I made no arguments against it then and I wouldn’t to this day months later. I cost him the title, a title he might not have deserved but a title he had none the less. I’ve done far worse for far less.
Jason Anders: Then how do you explain it Trace, this was the night, this is when you were meant to take the power back, you’re meant to be champion and we’re meant to be running the show not handing the title to a guy like Drakz.
Something people don’t see about Anders is how hungry for recognition he is. He wants power because he thinks it’s going to get him the love and admiration of his daughter and, to an even more closeted degree, his ex-wife. It’s why I’ve always found him so easy to manipulate. Everyone else sees a weasel, a follower who wouldn’t even dare say a bad word against me, but I know different. Anders is only interested in himself and his family. That’s why I relate so much to him.
Trace Demon: You’re missing the point of it all Anders, you said it yourself, I could have won the title. No guarantees.
Jason Anders: Wait, what are you saying?
So short minded. That’s the problem with the rest of the world, they don’t really think on my level.
Trace Demon: I could have won the title sure, but I would have needed a bit of luck to do it. That wasn’t one on one Anders, it wasn’t just me and Dex or me and Drakz in that ring, there were four of us. All it would have taken was me to have taken Drakz out myself, been distracted while beating on Garrett and Dex could have stolen all my hard work. We both know how I get when I’m beating people after all, it’s not hard to imagine someone fluking their way to victory through my hard work. No, couldn’t take the risk.
Jason Anders: So what, you’re waiting for a one on one shot, that’s what you telling me?
Trace Demon: That’s what I’m telling you.
Jason Anders: Then why the f**k Drakz! Why not help Dex win and gun for him, he’s a much easier guy to topple than Drakz is, a lot less effort, a guaranteed title win right there. Drakz not so much and you know it.
I can’t help but laugh at the short sightedness of it all. How is it that Jason Anders, an intelligent man by all accounts, has been by my side all these months and hasn’t absorbed a single thing about how this all works.
Trace Demon: Attention. Recognition. Impact. Reputation. Take your pick.
Jason Anders: Care to actually explain to those of us without the mind of an evil psychotic genius?
Trace Demon: We’re leading a revolution Anders, we need to be taken seriously, people need to believe that we can do what we say we’re going to do or nobody is going to want to risk their jobs to follow us. Taking the title from Dex doesn’t do that for us, I don’t get any recognition if I take the title from Dex even if it is in a fatal four way. Like I said there’s too many arguments of luck that can be made, too many ways people can talk it down. No, it’s not good enough. We need to do more, if we’re going to win people round then we’ve got to look strong and there’s one sure fire way to do that. And it isn’t Dex.
Jason Anders: It’s Drakz.
Bingo baby. Maybe Anders isn’t quite the lost cause that I’d pegged him as.
Trace Demon: Drakz is their hero, they look at him and they know exactly how good he is and he is good Anders, he’s one of the best, he’s a guy who knows exactly what it takes to win and he’s not scared of doing exactly that. Beating Dex doesn’t mean a damn thing, he’s a nobody, nothing, he doesn’t mean a damn thing to this company and if I’ve got him pegged the way I think I do then he’ll fizzle out and go off running like a b***h because now he knows exactly what it takes to run in the big leagues and he knows he doesn’t have it.
In hindsight it turns out I was exactly right, Dex did go off running home, he couldn’t handle it, he felt what it was like to lose the big one and he realized that he didn’t have what it takes to come back and really earn it. No big loss.
Trace Demon: Drakz though… Drakz is a different story. The people see Drakz and they see an actual champion, not some little rookie who hasn’t earned anything, they know that he can beat anybody in the company on his best day. Well, almost anybody. I mean props where they’re due Drakz deserves to be champion which means people will take notice when I beat him.
I can see the growing realization in his eyes, he’s starting to get it but he’s still got his doubts and his questions.
Trace Demon: If I won that fatal four way then there’s too many excuses. If Dex or Garrett somehow won it and I took the title from them then all I would be doing is beating some undeserving rookie, nobody is going to be impressed by that whether I’m the champion or not. But if I beat Drakz then I’m made, the revolution is made. We make an immediate impact because I’m the man who beat Drakz for the World Heavyweight Championship. The few people who weren’t taking us seriously already wouldn’t be able to doubt us, they wouldn’t be able to claim that we weren’t for real and nobody could say that I hadn’t beat the very best in the business to do it. That’s why it had to be Drakz, that’s why I had to make sure Drakz was the champion. Yes making sure Dex wasn’t the champion was the right thing to do for the WFWF but it worked perfectly for us too. I’m playing a long game here Anders, one far more thought out that you can even imagine, you’ve just got to trust me.
Then again trusting me doesn’t always end so well for people. Makes you wonder why people still trust me at all.
Jason Anders: How did you know Drakz would challenge you?
I can’t help but smirk as he continues.
Jason Anders: How could you possibly know he’d come out there and challenge you? You wouldn’t even have this match if it wasn’t for his challenge. How did you possibly know?
Trace Demon: Because I know Drakz, I know how he thinks and everything that’s happened between us meant he had no choice but to challenge me. One win a piece, me being the one to bring him back into the company, me stopping Dex from breaking up that pinfall. I left his ego no choice but to challenge me. Whether he knows it or not I’m in his head, he couldn’t have challenged anyone else, he couldn’t have wanted to face anyone else, he has something to prove as much as I do. I know people Anders, I know Drakz, I know that he had to challenge me for the sake of his own arrogance. I knew exactly what he’d do. I could tell he was obsessed with the idea of beating me…
And I was right.
Trace Demon: And I know that obsession is the very thing that guarantees me the World Heavyweight Championship.
And I’m right about that as well.
< *** >
Daniel Knight: Okay, so now that we’re onto the topic of what’s best for the WFWF, why don’t you tell me what your problem is specifically with the way Lila Sleater is running things.
Trace Demon: Did you seriously just ask that?
Hold it together Trace, remember not everyone has experienced what it feels like to be victimised by a certain Miss Sleater just because she feels threatened by us.
Daniel Knight: I’m not trying to be confrontation Trace; I’m just trying to understand exactly why you’re trying to oust Lila Sleater if it’s not just to place yourself in power again.
Trace Demon: This isn’t about power Knight, this is about still having a WFWF to wrestle in. See I’ve been around for eight years going on nine and that entire time I’ve spent in that ring wrestling, busting my ass, winning and occasionally losing, picking up titles, accomplishments and that all exclusive hall of fame ring. This company is everything to me, it’s all I know. In the years I’ve been in the WFWF I’ve been an addict, got clean, relapsed and got clean again, I’ve had a kid, built a family, found a sister I never knew I had, I’ve made money, a lot of it actually, ran the WFWF on two separate occasions. In short I’ve done a lot but the most important thing I’ve done is build a life for myself and that is all because of the WFWF.
He almost sounds passionate, serious about every single thing he says, I can’t tell exactly how much of it is the truth and how much he’s practiced in the mirror to make it sound like the truth. That’s one of Trace Demon’s greatest talents, you don’t have to believe everything he says but he’ll damn sure do a good job of making you doubt what you already think you know.
Trace Demon: So whenever anyone comes along that I think is going to jeopardise the company that I love I have to do something about it. Think of King Kraig, Napolean whats-ever-his-name-is, Xavier Pierce, every time I see some no-nothing chump start tearing down the kingdom that I’ve been building since the moment I walked through those doors I go to work. I do everything I can to make sure this company still stands when the dust settles. People might not like my methods, they might see me as the villain of the piece but that’s because I have always done whatever it takes. And I mean whatever it takes. You might not like it Knight, they might not like it, but I always have the best intentions when it comes to the WFWF because I love this damn company because it is the one place I have always belonged.
I can see Daniel Knight trying to remain passive but he’s buying it, he’s seeing a different side of Trace with every passing moment. Still couldn’t tell you how much of what he’s saying is actually true, I’ve known him a while and even I still struggle to discern between truth and lies. Sometimes I wonder how his family cope, whether Alexa ever wonders whether he’s honest with her. How could someone live like that, never knowing whether their being told the truth or not? That’s the detriment to Trace’s talent for lying I suppose, everybody probably thinks you’re doing it every time you open your mouth.
Trace Demon: So yeah, I see a corrupt authority and my instinct is to bring them down. And you know what Lila Sleater is as corrupt as the rest of them. Week in, week out she has done everything to try and make sure that anybody that crosses her is taken out by unfair odds. And she’s proven that I am target number one.
Daniel Knight: But many would feel that the problems between yourself and Lila Sleater stem from your confrontational attitude from the start of her reign. They feel that you could be to blame for these problems between you.
Trace Demon: Why, because I’m the kind of man who speaks his mind? I did nothing to antagonise Lila Sleater other than speak the truth. I told her that this is my company and it is, I’m the owner of the WFWF. I told her that it didn’t matter what she did I’d still be here and I’d fight my ass off every step of the way and guess what, I’m still here and I’m still fighting my ass off every step of the way. I told her the truth, it’s not my fault that she took offence to that.
Daniel Knight: So you don’t think you came across a little… confrontational?
Oh very confrontational, but he’s not about to admit that.
Trace Demon: Maybe, maybe not. Tell me, how long have you been here Knight, how long have you been working for my company?
A particular emphasis on the word “my”, is he specifically trying to put some fear in Knight or is it just a power play? Does it matter either way when both achieve the exact same thing?
Daniel Knight: Two years, give or take.
Trace Demon: Two years. Now tell me Knight, how many times have you been threatened, or argued with, or mocked?
Daniel Knight: It’s… not a rarity.
Trace Demon: Exactly, it’s not a rarity. You knew this coming in, you knew what you were getting into the moment that you signed onto this job. So did Alecia Matthews, so did every single boy in the back. If Lila Sleater thought when she signed up for this job that she was going to have an easy ride of it then she was deluding herself. The WFWF is full of crazies, full of sociopaths, psychopaths, fighters, brawlers, madmen and the odd normal guy who just likes violence a little bit too much to do anything else with his life. The WFWF is not a safe place to play and she knew that when she accepted the job, she’s a tough woman, she’s proven that, she’s also proven she’s a spiteful one. She took what I said personally and that’s where she went wrong. She couldn’t handle the truth and now she’s so hell bent of silencing me that she’s made it her mission to crush me and anyone with me at any costs. And that… that is why I have to stop her.
Daniel Knight: Because she took offence to you insulting the way she runs the WFWF?
Trace Demon: Because she let her personal grudge get in the way of what was right for the company. Now you can say all you like that I was never the most impartial of men while I was running things but I never tried to destroy the careers of the most important person on the show or the young stars who’ll soon enough be fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship. When I ran the show I just made things interesting, she is putting the entire company, present and future, at risk and I…
He looks across at me with another look of reflective seriousness.
Trace Demon: No we, won’t let that happen.
< *** >
The Marriot Hotel
London, England
16th December 2014
Kyle Matthews: Fancy digs man, what do we have to do get a room like this?
Trace Demon: Win the World Championship, main event Superbrawl, run a multi-million dollar company. Take your pick.
Kyle Matthews: Give it a few months.
Joe Bishop: You wish.
Kyle, Bishop and Anders sit around the table. It’s not there for any particular reason, I just felt the need to make the entire meeting feel official. If you’re going to do an official revolution meeting then you may as well do it properly.
Jason Anders: Can we skip the standard bickering between the two of you kids and get down to business, The Clash.
Trace Demon: Exactly, The Clash. It’s simple boys, this is where we set up our end game. We have to leave this god awful country with everything in place.
Joe Bishop: Dude, I’m from this country.
Kyle Matthews: You are aren’t you, why the hell’s it so cold here?
Joe Bishop: It’s winter.
Kyle Matthews: But still.
Trace Demon: Compared to Canada this place is the freaking Sahara.
Jason Anders: Guys, The Clash please. I’ve got a date in two hours and I need to get ready.
Trace Demon: Right, right.
Got to stop getting carried away with “whose country is colder”. I’m doing pretty well but one day I’m going to find myself playing it with an Inuit and get blown out of the water. Also no way does Anders have any kind of date unless it’s with him, his laptop and his right hand.
Trace Demon: I brought you here to make sure you all know the importance of The Clash. This isn’t some jaunt to jolly old England, it’s the flashpoint, it’s the moment where the Final Revolution pushes forwards and makes it clear that there really is no stopping us. Joe, win or lose you need to put an end to Dave Demento, crush him and the Saviours of Salvation stop being a minor annoyance and they simply become dead. Kyle, Anders, your job is to make sure that happens, you understand?
Joe Bishop: I don’t need any help beating Demento.
Kyle Matthews: Well since you lost the last time you kind of do.
Trace Demon: Enough, no arguing, just listening. Bishop, I know you don’t, I know you can beat Demento on your own without even the slightest hint of help, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is Matthews and Anders are there to keep you focused, to keep the outside world from taking you out of your game like it has a tendency to do. Use them, make sure you know exactly what you’re going to do and then do it, don’t get sucked into something you’re not ready for, understand?
He nods, over the past few months Bishop has become a good soldier, a fine man and a strong ally. Exactly what I expected him to become.
Kyle Matthews: And what about you? Don’t you need us?
Trace Demon: Me?
Oh poor boy, haven’t you grown even a fraction of what Bishop has yet?
Trace Demon: Drakz is mine and only mine, I don’t need anyone else in my corner. I’ve already got him and his broken little body exactly where I want it.
< *** >
Daniel Knight: Trace, there’s something that everybody wants to hear about, something that could be called surprising given the amount of respect that you’ve shown Drakz for the vast majority of this interview. That is the vicious attack that you delivered just last week putting Drakz through a table with one of the most dangerous moves in your arsenal, the Hellfire Overdose.
Trace Demon: I’m not sure what the question is Knight.
Daniel Knight: Well the question really… is why?
Trace Demon: Why? You’re seriously asking why?
Daniel Knight: Not just me Trace, everybody. Everybody wants to know exactly why you felt the need to resort to cheap tricks and a sneak attack like that given that this is meant to be the match in which you prove yourself a legitimate leader for the WFWF. Did you not just prove you’re just as bad as you accuse Lila Sleater of being?
Trace Demon: Need I remind you that Drakz struck first?
Daniel Knight: Again, there would be those who would point out that you weren’t entirely honest about that injury.
Trace Demon: That’s not my point Knight, Drakz struck first. What damage he did doesn’t matter, what matters is the fact that Drakz attacked me completely unprovoked, he’s the one who made this physical before it had to be. Now I’m not going to lie when it comes down to it and we’re in that ring competing for the title anything goes but in the build up to that I was perfectly happy to keep it civil. In fact that’s what I wanted because I didn’t want there to be any excuses when I beat Drakz, I didn’t want people saying he wasn’t at his strongest because that detracts from what this means for me and the Final Revolution.
Daniel Knight: You put him through a table with the most dangerous move you have, is that now a slight escalation?
Trace shakes his head at Knight as if he can’t understand why he doesn’t understand. Just like everything else this probably isn’t truthful, just another way for Trace to manipulate things into looking like he’s right and everyone else is wrong
Trace Demon: What would you have me do Knight? Let him attack me and just let it go? That’s not how this works and you know it. He came after me, I had to strike him down otherwise everybody is going to think they can do it. Now yes, I want to keep the WFWF alive and I can’t do that by being weak. It’s not crooked to retaliate against a man who has already attacked you, it’s not conniving to use your brains to outsmart someone, I did nothing wrong when I put Drakz through that table, I simply one-upped him. If he was a better man he’d have seen it coming, but Drakz has always had a problem with shutter vision. He can’t see what’s right in front of his face and, even worse, he can’t see when someone is about to stab him in the back. I know that Drakz is weakest when he doesn’t expect to get hit, that’s how Kyzer broke the man after all, I just used that to my advantage.
Daniel Knight: Speaking of, you’ve never explained how it is you convinced Drakz to come back. Did, as some suspect, Michael Kyzer himself have something to do with it?
Trace Demon: Nah, Kyzer wasn’t even a factor really, but that’s not a story for right now is it.
< *** >
East Phoenix Physical Therapy and Rehab Clinic, Phoenix, AZ
April 28th 2013
I push my way through the elderly and the infirm, trying to blot out the thought that one day with the laundry list of injuries I’ve picked up will likely leave me in very much the same situation as them. Still, hasn’t happened yet and with my kind of money I expect to be able to put myself up somewhere a little nicer. Somewhere where I can avoid the likes of Drakz’s little wheelchair gang.
Though they were a cool set of wheels.
As I exit the clinic I pull out my phone, scrolling through my phone until I’ve found the little man’s number and hitting dial. I kind of hope he doesn’t answer and, in hindsight a year a half later, I still almost wish I’d never made the deal. Still, it brought me to this moment and this moment is the important one, so I suppose this phone call, the one that proceeded it and everything that followed was worth it in the long run.
?: What do you want?
Well it had better be worth it.
Trace Demon: I’ve just left Drakz and his little brigade.
?: Brigade, what the hell you talking about?
Got to wonder exactly how coked up he is right now. Based on the tinge in his voice it’s either that or he’s gone and killed a prostitute, really is only a matter of time.
Trace Demon: Don’t worry about it man, just wanted to tell you it’s done and to keep your mouth shut.
?: Who the hell are you to tell me what to do you f*****g d**k!
A slight pause as he calms himself down, I give him that, call it an added extra for what he did for me.
?: He’s gonna sign it?
Trace Demon: Hell sign, won’t be today but give it six months or so and you’ll get Drakz back in that ring just like I said. Speaking of, how’d you know where he was anyway. Your boys aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now.
He laughs as if I’m the idiot, the little midget doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, too coked up to the eyeballs. If he hadn’t come to me saying he knew where Drakz had ended up then I wouldn’t have even given him a second glance. Never liked DMK when he was stuck in the shadows of the Epoch, sure as hell don’t like him now.
DMK: Oh I’ve got contacts everywhere, you don’t even know the pies I’ve got my fingers in.
Trace Demon: I’d rather not know about where your fingers have been man, I like to keep my conscience clean.
I also like to keep the insides of my stomach off of the sidewalk.
Trace Demon: Anyway, thanks for the lead, now I’d rather never speak to you again if that’s okay. You kind of creep me out and I’ve got a really high threshold for being creeped out.
DMK: Woah woah woah, before you run off to your little weird family set up what about our end of the deal?
See when you make a deal with a midget devil they always want something in return. Not that I’ve made lots of deals with midget devils, only really know one other than DMK and he lives under a bridge and threatens to stab people with forks.
Trace Demon: Fine, fine, tell me about this Dragon of yours…
< *** >
Daniel Knight: Okay So Trace, one last question. Any final words for Drakz?
And I see one final smirk form on Trace’s sinister face.
Trace Demon: Final words? Oh yeah, I’ve got a few…
< *** >
So it’s come to this Drakz. Me and you for the very heart of the WFWF.
I’m not exaggerating.
You see Drakz this might be the biggest match of my career. You might see that as a gross exaggeration but let’s look at everything on the line. The deciding match in our three match series. The WFWF World Heavyweight Championship. And most importantly the impact I need to push our revolution towards its final conclusion. See you are now the one thing standing between me and saving this company, the one man standing between me and preserving the legacy of the WFWF. When I brought you back I didn’t plan on our climactic battle being about more than just proving who the better man is but in the end that wasn’t my decision to make, Lila Sleater forced my hand and that’s what it comes down to. Me, you, the fate of the WFWF
If I’m honest I’m glad it’s you though Drakz because who else could it be really. Dex? Far too inconsequential. Phillip Schnieder? Far too clichéd. But you Drakz, you’re the personification of a defining moment. Beating you for the WFWF World Heavyweight Championship would, at the very least, make a normal man into a star and a star into a legend. But for me, a legend already standing in your midst, it turns me into a saviour. Becoming the World Heavyweight Champion is one thing but beating a man of your calibre in the process means that I will have the power, the momentum… and the title to push this revolution, my Final Revolution, towards our end game.
Because that’s where we’re heading, towards the final curtain for the Final Revolution and there is nobody who is going to slow us down. The Clash is the beginning. Dave Demento, your pretty little Saviours are falling apart at the seams. Nikki’s gone and taken herself out of the game, Penny’s about to do the same against Schneider, Josh is facing the most humiliating loss of his life if Yukio ‘past his non-existent prime’ Blaze beats him and you Demento, you’re about to gift your International Championship back into our hands and we’re going to push you off of the top of your mountain and straight down to the jagged rocks below. By the time we leave Wembley arena there’s not going to be any more Saviours to fight on the wrong side of the war because they’ll all be lying crippled, broken and bloodied in the sewers outside the stadium.
Once they’re dealt with I come to you Drakz and don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a lot of respect for you. I brought you back for a reason. Now sure, that reason was meant to be about proving which one of us deserves to be called the better man, hint: it’s me, but things have changed. I’ve found myself fighting a revolution and you’ve found yourself with something I need. Now yeah, maybe I had a little… well, big hand in you winning that title, but that doesn’t mean I plan on letting you keep it. Actually, based on the whole putting you through a table thing I think you’ve figured that one out yourself already. Sorry for that, actually I’m really not, it was kind of fun. See Drakz, beating you now is a message that I have to send, I have no choice, this was going to be a fair fight, it was going to be about respect, now it’s going to be about doing whatever I have to do to win that title so that we can save this company.
Which brings me to you Lila, and I’m going to make this short and sweet. At The Clash we start checking off our problems one by one. Saviours of Salvation… check. Drakz… check. Lila Sleater…
Well let’s just say you’re time is up.
And the Final Revolution’s time… has just begun.