Backstage in the Philips Arena, a stagehand waits outside a dressing room, arm raised ready to knock. He is accompanied by a small piece of paper, a pen, and rather inexplicably a cameraman. Apparently XWA management likes to film people who aren’t actually part of the show going about doing their jobs. The stagehand knocks on the door, and leans closer to it to listen for a response. Muffled noises are heard from within, which he takes as a sign that he may enter, pushing the door open and stepping inside. The cameraman follows, because there are no rules in wrestling about taking a camera into a dressing room, but when I try it I get in trouble.
The source of those muffled noises turns out to be Minkaro, but they were not muffled noises meant to mean “enter,” but rather muffled noises that are the result of a man trying to undo knotted laces with his teeth. Minkaro is (very nearly) dressed for action, wearing his black and green wrestling tights and one boot. As he savages the remaining boot with his teeth, like a squirrel trying to open a nut, some things that sound like words, but may not be can be heard.
“GEF UNDONE YU BAFSTAD.”
With a grunt of frustration, Minkaro throws the boot away, only looking up when he hears the yelp of pain from the cameraman, who was struck in the shins by the errant footwear. Looking vaguely apologetic for a second, Minkaro is quick to turn his attentions to the stagehand.
”Well, it’s about bloody time you showed up. I’ve been sat here for ages waiting for someone to come and find out who I’m facing tonight. I should be holding a press conference, not telling you so you can scribble it down on your bit of paper there to take it to Caleb Spires. You know, after I beat Example Deal last week, I’d have thought there’d be more people wanting to face me.”
Finally, the stagehand is allowed to speak. ”Um…I actually…, but Minkaro quickly decides that he’s had quite enough of not talking, and launches into another tirade.
”What? It’s not Example Deal? Well then, what is it? Electric Guitar Deal? Evil Genius Deal? Enola Gay Deal? Embryonic Gonad Deal? Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis Deal? Eingetragene Genossenschaft Deal? Am I going about this all wrong, and perhaps E.G. doesn’t actually stand for anything, but is pronounced egg? After the egg-shaped head that I almost kicked off his shoulders on Vendetta 56? I don’t know, but the point is I beat him, which means that now I get to choose my opponent for tonight.”
Minkaro reaches down into his kitbag, pulling out a phone as he does so, before standing to show the screen to the stagehand, and then to the camera. The viewer only gets a brief glimpse, but a Twitter timeline is instantly recognisable.
”After I won that match, my Twitter timeline has been tumultuous; my Facebook feed has been frenzied, my messages have been manic, and my phone has buzzed more tonight than Alexis Rose’s favourite friend.”
Minkaro pauses just long enough to do a wink to camera.
”Everybody is chipping in with suggestions for who I should face. Some people are saying Razor Xtreme, who’s beaten me twice with no reply, a chance for some retribution. Some people are saying that I should face someone like Mark Storey, Dominik Diveraz, or Axel Anvil, to have some flashbacks to the days of 2WWF. Some people have even said that I should pick Alexi Pruzhanov, but I’m not entirely sure those people actually watch XWA. To those people I say no, no, and no. I’m not here to tread ground that I’ve already walked across. I’m not here to put on a nostalgia show like I’m a wrestler at Hardcore Homecoming. I want to face somebody that I’ve never faced before, because I know there’ll be plenty of opportunities to face each and every one of those guys again…except Alexi. That’s why the guy I pick for my opponent tonight is Evan Flare.”
Minkaro pauses for audience reaction, before realising that he’s backstage and the audience is not.
”Why have I picked him, I hear you ask? Because when I look at the World Championship tournament leaderboard, his name is the one that’s right at the top. When I listen in on the conversations amongst the guys in the back, his is the name that I hear most as the man to beat right now. As of this moment, he is probably the best wrestler in the company, which means that he is the only choice I could have made. If I want to hold that world title, that means that I have got to be the best, which means that I have got to BEAT the best. So you write the name Evan Flare on your piece of paper there, and you go and deliver it.”
”Actually, this is a message for you. It’s asking for you to move your car, before it gets towed away. They gave you ten minutes, and I estimate that you’ve used about eight of those.” The stagehand can’t help but smile at the look of shock and horror on Minkaro’s face. ”I’LL LET CALEB KNOW ABOUT THE FLARE THING THOUGH,” he shouts down the corridor at a retreating Minkaro, who is having to adopt a lop-sided run due to wearing only one boot.
Subject: Minkaro "Choosing an Opponent" 
I could picture it happening. 
