The main event of XWA Redemption was fast approaching and the fans in Madison Square Garden are losing their minds, intoxicated by bloodlust and in high demand of having their appetites for further destruction appeased.  Why?  The night had been absolutely stacked with violent entertainment, we’d been taken just about everywhere from a very, very good Falls Count Anywhere match to the return of David Michaels, hardcore matches and street fights, we’d even been taken to Taipei in true deathmatch style but right now the camera turns upon James Best, where “The Face” takes the fans to the darkness of a semi-renovated catering area, what’s not tied down is scattered everywhere.  The lighting in the room is awful, the audio terrible given the empty spaces in the room but still and all we find the troubled writer raking his hands through his hair, his fingers in spasms as they jerk and twitch, James busily fumbling through a drawer of silverware, throwing out knives and forks which fall to the floor and noisily bounce off the concrete.

James Best
“It’s in here somewhere… I need it… need it… where is it?”

James pulls and pulls at a drawer, which bursts open and James begins rummaging through the various shiny things, pulling out a fistful of butter knives, carefully picking through each one, shaking his head, becoming increasingly more frustrated with each disappointed failure.

James Best
“Is this it?”

James pulls out a spoon.

James Best
“No that’s for meth!”

James pulls out a fork.

James Best
“No that’s a dingelhopper!”

James wildly grabs at his hair and tears down on it in an anxious rage, pulling back at his face with wild eyes and holding the back of his head with both hands.  James looks left and right, spinning around and stepping in circles before dropping on both kneepads and near sobbing to himself in defeat, his voice croaked and graveled, arching back and roaring into the air.

James Best
“WHERE ARE THEY?!”

James pounds his fists down on the cold concrete, heaving forced breaths, his facial expression twisted and deranged.

James Best
“WHERE ARE THEY?!!”

James pounds his fists upon the concrete yet again, grunting and ranting, beginning to twitch as he scuttles about on his backside, kicking his heels into the concrete and backing away in a wild fit, pushing backwards until he hits the wall behind him, hanging his head low in defeat before randomly bashing the back of his head against the wall.


James Best
“Where are… where are… where…”

James stops, and dips his head down to look at his jacket, reaching in his left pocket, finally breaking into a smile.

James Best
“No...wait...it's here in my pocket.”

James seems almost immediately calm as he stares longingly at the small orange vial in his hands, shaking it up as tiny capsules bounce around its insides.  James pops the capsule open and empties two pills into the palm of his other hand, hurriedly shoving them down his throat and gulping them down.

James Best
“Ah precious… now you.  You there.  Come over here.”

James beckons the camera, and cameraman closer with a gesture of his finger, holding up the orange vial and squeezing it with his index and his thumb.


James Best
“I can see what you’re thinking… so just to clarify… I’m not a drug addict… I’m not.  I don’t even know what these are, I don’t know if they work, how they work, all I know is I have to take these because the Zoloft does nothing, they tried to give me Cogentin but I’m not schizophrenic, I just like to talk to myself sometimes, but anywho…”

James rolls the vial along and across his fingers and knuckles in very well-practised fashion.

James Best
“I’m under a lot of pressure you see, I’m under a lot of stress and its crushing me like a god damn spirit bomb.  I’m a little more stressed out than usual because now all of a sudden, this golden carrot is dancing in front of me…. hanging above me actually and all I have to do is reach out and grab it.”

James bashes his head back against the wall again, lurching forwards and hanging his arms from his knees.

James Best
“The golden carrot is there, all I have to do is grab it but the thing is, I have to overcome two obstacles… a god damn giant E.G Deal and the man in the mirror, Azrael.”

James bashes his head back against the wall again, lurching forwards and hanging his arms from his knees.

James Best
“I need it... I want it.”

James breaths a deep sigh through his nose.

James Best
“First of all… E.G Deal.  E.G Deal is a giant, near seven feet tall, on the better end of three hundred pounds?  Here is a man who has bulldozed his way through the woods, chopping a few big trees down to get what he wants. I like that.  I respect you E.G, I almost count you as my friend but the problem here is we continually find ourselves on the same stretch of road at some point, a bulldozer changing lanes with a muscle car and I don’t like to share, I’m going to do whatever it takes for me to do to knock you off my road and back into the rut in the sand you came from.  It’s as simple as that… and Azrael…”

James toys with the vial in his hand.

James Best
“Azrael I don’t even know you, have we even had a match together?  We probably have, and I probably won, you see I don’t need to seek counsel in my own reflection, that’s just vain.  I’ve heard you were this twisted, narcissistic psychopath…. Guilty on all three accounts right here, bud!  I’ve heard all these impressive things about you, I vaguely remember you running around with Danny Diamond or Bobby Hope, whoever it was but all I understand is tonight you’re not running around with those guys, you’re running around with me.  Reflect on that.”

James dumps the last of the pills on the floor, pulling a thin razor from the vial and starts cutting the pills up into powder lines.

James Best
“I am this close… THIS CLOSE to what I want, and I’m sorry lads, but I’m not gonna let you two slags take this from me.  I won’t… I WONT YOU HEAR ME!  God damn it you’re making me do this again…”

James snorts a line, his eyes pop wide and he shakes his head vigorously.

James Best
“You see I want that spot,  I’ve worked my ass off for far too long here, I haven’t felt alive since 2009, I’ve been stillborn, I’ve been dead inside because I just sat on my hands and watched the world go by.  Now it’s your turn, your turn to watch me take that number one contender contract tonight then take your world, your world heavyweight championship from whoever is holding at the time and once I have it I will never let it go.

Tonight I’m number one.”

James scrambles to his feet, grabs a chair, grabs a second chair and a small stepladder and stumbles out of the room.  Next stop... the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the number one contender ship!

Fin.