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Post by Shaun Hart on Jul 11, 2022 17:55:18 GMT
Match Five
Non Title
Standard Singles Match
Alex Kincaid vs Sean Raines ©
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Post by Sean Raines on Jul 20, 2022 6:20:52 GMT
1:30pm Friday, July 15th 2022
A busy Chicago diner, just sitting towards the end of the lunch time rush. The point of the afternoon where there is no longer a line up at the door to get in, a couple of tables actually sit empty, not yet bussed as all hands are on deck to just finish off the service. The kitchen is rattling as the cooks hammer out meal after meal. The buzzing of the front of house staff as meals and drinks leave the kitchen. Raines can be seen sitting towards the back right corner of the diner. Face on towards the camera, someone sitting across from him. The two seem to be engulfed in conversation, from the body language Raines has a bit of a stand-off attitude about him at the moment. Raines enjoys frequenting this diner on Friday afternoon when he isn’t set off away somewhere with his current run within IIW. Raines has been a customer of this particular diner since he was a child, sometimes his mother would take young Sean and Marcus here for the Monday desert special. Every Friday morning the lady who runs the diner bakes fresh apple pie for the daily special.
Raines sits in his usual casual apparel, dark jeans and a charcoal t-shirt with Windy City Motors written across the front of it. The man sitting directly across from him in a purple button up over jeans and a pair of gator shoes. A cowboy hat covering the top of his head, sunglasses blocking out the view of his eyes.
Both men sit with a white mug of diner coffee, steaming away in front of them. As we focus in, the two are in the middle of a heated discussion.
Drayden: “Look Sean, I don’t know why you are being so stubborn about this.”
Raines: “Drayden, you fucking son of a bitch! I tried to help you, I tried to do whatever needed to be done to help you get everything you have ever wanted. I….”
Drayden inturupts mid sentence.
Drayden: “YOU TURNED YOUR BACK ON ME!”
Sean getting a little more aggressive now.
Raines: “I would never turn my back on you! It was you who turned away! You begged me for years to get you into this business. I always refused. Your father did not want you to be part of this life. He always knew that if you got into this business you would try and bring the legacy with you. Try and keep up with what you saw as a child. He didn’t want that for you Drayden. He didn’t want you to attempt those things.”
Drayden: “Because he was a afraid I was too weak! He was afraid I could not handle it.”
Raines: “AND WAS HE WRONG? For how many years did I tell you no? How many times did I tell you that it wasn’t for you. But you had to be a stubborn little prick. You had to go start your training elsewhere. You left, you were gone out of your mother’s life. She was worried sick you little bastard. You didn’t take the time to call your own mother while you were gone. And for what? To go do the training your parents didn’t want you to have? To get trained and go back here for a fight? It was your ego Drayden. Your ego that we warned you would set you up to fail. But after you came back, and you were trained. Who was the first person you called? Uncle Sean. You stepped out behind everyone’s backs and got wrestling training, now you wanted in. I promised your mother that I would keep an eye on you since nothing could stop you from getting into the business. I brought you into the IIW, the place I called home. You went on a losing streak, mostly because as I said, you were not ready. I helped you prep for a few matches and sure enough the victories started to roll in. But then something happened didn’t they Drayden. No, you got a few wins under your belt and you got cocky.”
Drayden: “I showed the world that I had what it took to carry the Raines name in the wrestling business. I could do what you guys did. I could be as hardcore as the infamous Raines Brothers. And then you turned your back on me.”
Raines: “Dray that isn’t how it happened and you know that! We had an agreement. One match, extreme rules, anything goes. If I win you leave the wrestling business. If you win, I retire and crown you the new Legend of Raines. But what happened Dray? I beat your ass all over the arena. I pulled you in the center of that ring. And as much as it hurt me to do, I lefts you lying in a puddle of your own blood, as I walked out of that arena so many years ago. You didn’t have it in you Dray. You are too kind to do what we did. You were brought up right to a loving family, that inner demon was just not there. We had a deal, so I watched you walk away.”
Drayden: “Look Sean, I have come here with an offer. A one-time chance to relive the glory, the spectacular return of Sean Raines to the newly formed XCA arena. So many years battling side by side with my father in some of the bloodiest matches seen in Chicago. The company now owned by the son of one of the XCA madmen, it would be huge!”
Raines: “Dray, I am not going to work for the XCA again. Not because of the violence, not because I don’t think I can do it anymore. Hell, I do that here in the IIW, just not on a nightly basis anymore. The truth is, I don’t want to go to XCA because of you. I tried Dray, I tried to keep you away from this life. And then when you forced the hand I tried to help you. You didn’t want that either, so I just tried watching over you. You were way over your head, and in a bloody and brutal battle…..crashed and burned. You come in here and try to play the XCA was the home of the Raines Brothers card. Which is true, but we fought all over the place. XCA was our creation but now IIW is my home.”
Drayden furious at how the conversation is going stands up, full of rage.
Drayden: “Sean you will regret this! Turning your back on the Raines legacy, the foundation of what XCA stood for. You turned your back on me, on family. You…”
Raines: “First off you little fucker. I didn’t turn my back on shit! You lost that match, your pride hurt. You ran away crying. Drayden I haven’t seen you in eight years, you ran away to who knows where. You turned your back on the family, no one has heard from you since the failure in the ring that night. Then you show up here, pretending it was all the past, like nothing happened. You want to start up XCA again. Why Dray? Because you think it is going to bring back the good old days? Because it was the legacy of your father? No Dray, you want to once again try to ride off the coattails of what Raines meant. You want the glory, but you already found out that you don’t have what it takes. In the ring or running the ship, Drayden the XCA and Marcus are dead. Let it be, let them go. Move on.”
Drayden Raines turns and starts heading out of the diner.
An elderly lady in a blue uniform and apron approaches the side of the table.
Raines: “My apologies Jo. I didn’t know I was going to have to deal with that today.”
Jo: (laughs) “ It’s ok Sean. Family is family. Young Drayden has not been the same since his father passed. Today was the first time he has been in since you two came in after the funeral.”
Raines: “Honestly Jo, Drayden is an adult and he has been making his own decisions for a long time. Although unguided and without any sort of future in mind. He is better off back wherever he has been for the last number of years.”
Raines takes a drink of his coffee.
Raines: “But onto other things….how about a slice?”
Jo: (chuckles) “Of course Sean. Coming right up.”
10:00am Sunday, July 17th 2022
Raines: “The debut of a rookie. Two weeks ago, Alex made his debut. A clean victory, 1..2..3 and Alex Kincaid wins his debut match. Hurray! Let’s get a cake, celebrate the huge accomplishment of winning the rookie match in a new fed. A debut victory, although it can be impressive….it was against Knox. Given who I have seen pull out that victory, it turns out to not be that impressive Alex. You debuted at the last Mayhem as nothing, and you head into your second Mayhem as the same worthless pile of dog shit you showed up as.”
Raines: “You walk into the IIW trying your best to be mysterious. Not a lot of information in out there, a stupid nickname that makes no fucking sense. Trying desperately to cover up and ignore the past. Why do I say this? Truth is, I didn’t Alex you didn’t. In your own words you have come to IIW to turn over a new leaf. Like the leaves of a mighty tree, you have fallen. No longer attached at a great height, lying dormant until the end comes searching for you. But, maybe I am wrong about you? Maybe that is not what you meant by turning over a new leaf. Either way Alex you will not succeed. Don’t get me wrong, I wish you the best in your efforts. At some point in life we all wish we could turn that leaf and start over. At some point we all attempt to. Myself, after touring for so many years I thought maybe I need to. Maybe Sean Raines needs to reinvent. Stop the type of matches, the carnage I have become known for. Maybe Sean Raines goes into retirement as a ruthless brawler rather than a viscous madman. But the funny thing is Alex, you can’t hide or change who you are. Unlike the thought of, if we get bored we can just change our entire being. This is the real world Alex, you can’t just up and change who you are entirely overnight because you want to. This burning desire you have to change who you are is what amuses me so much about your self-appointed nickname. The infinite, holy fuck Alex did they have dictionaries in Cousinfuck, Alberta or whatever hillbilly town you are from? Did you know what infinite meant before you just decided to start calling yourself that? No matter the direction you take you will always end up in the same place. You are destined to be who you are.”
Raines: “For as much as you want to be someone else Alex, let’s have a look at exactly who you are. Who is little Alex trying to hide from? Born in northern Alberta in a shitty mining town couldn’t have been easy, so much pressure for the arranged marriage with your first cousin. But, little Alex didn’t want that for himself. And then to have to deal with your asshole father pissing off the entire community, that lead to little Alex getting his ass kicked on a daily basis. The town hobby being getting drunk and beating your wife and kids, this wouldn’t be what anyone wanted. So little Alex decided he was going to become a wrestler.”
Raines: “You see Alex, we have a lot of stuff in common. My dad wasn’t around, my single mother worked to make ends meet. Leaving me and my brother to run the streets, and fight to survive how we could. We are not so different in that way. We just took different paths when we decided to get into this business. Alex travelled through Canada, a short residency in Florida and eventually finding his way to Mexico. Your training truly began here didn’t it? Training began and your life slowly fell apart. Alex you lost your way. You began travelling fed to fed, not staying anywhere because you didn’t belong anywhere. You truly are veteran of this sport Alex. I can’t take that from you. I have to respect the time that you have dedicated to crafting your skill. Becoming the UKWF North Sea Champion in 2016. That was quite the achievement wasn’t it? You would think. But no. You didn’t win that title the way you should have, you only won because your wife got herself involved in that match. And you stayed here until the fed would close its doors in 2017. Now I believe you started referring to yourself as Infinite in 2018, but you have had many, many name changes since then yes? You would spend years trying to find yourself, to find where you belong. Sky Star, Ace Energy, The Entertainment, Pheonix Trigger, the Ascendant, The Bullet King, King of The North and The Last Son of Professional Wrestling… you had more personalities than a schizophrenic psych ward reunion. Holy shit Kincaid! You kept trying to invent yourself. Why? Because you couldn’t find a home and you wanted so desperately to belong. No one wanted Alex Kincaid, no one gave you the credit that you felt you deserved. You would jump fed to fed trying to find your place. UKWF, Alpha, Empire with IIW staple John Cavanagh, Action Wrestling. You Ascended in January of 2022, XWF with so many of the IIW roster, and now you find yourself at home here in the IIW. But this isn’t actually the first time is it Alex? No you tried your hand in FCPW. But instead of trying to pretend you were again something new you signed up as Infinate Loop Alex Kincaid. And you made a big splash with your debut, yeah. You took the house down, such a great victory, the fans astonished by your level of skill….no wait that wasn’t it. No, instead you decided to run with your tail between your legs like a scared little puppy. You didn’t even stick around to have a debut match. Afraid you couldn’t make it in the IIW either.
Raines: “I am not saying you have no skill in the ring Alex. I am not saying you are not a veteran, you have been around for a very long time. And yes, I know that you have won some titles around the world. None of which helped you feel like you belonged. You won titles, and you lost titles, nothing really interesting there. Why is it that when egotistical pricks call themselves veterans of the ring, they feel the need to tell us about all the titles they won but fail to talk about the fact that they lost them all as well. Zero loyalty to any fed, or anyone. Now, I can’t help but speculate that the lack of loyalty may be the reason Alyssa is not be your side here in IIW. Did she get tired of the lack of focus? Or was it your lack of loyalty? What ever happened to that hateful little bitch that used to follow you around? Amelia Terrace wasn’t it? Your so called business partner? It doesn’t really matter, your lack of loyalty has left you alone, and looking to reinvent yourself. So you reverted back to your personality of 2018. Back when you had championship gold, and a beautiful manager by your side. Now you are just a washed up has been who thinks he is helping to teach the new generation how not to be like Alex Kincaid. Alex I will not deny that you have a tremendous amount of ring ability. You are a skilled technical wrestler. But you don’t have anything to show for it. I have a past as well Kincaid. I have a past that involves things I would rather forget. The difference is I use those things to fuel the fire, to drive me to do what I do. You keep trying to pretend you are someone else, maybe you should give up single wrestling and form a tag team. Scott Stoner is having the same dilution as you are.”
Raines: “In less than a week, we step into that ring at Monday Night Mayhem. In less than one week, you get a chance to show everyone that you didn’t fluke out a victory in IIW. There is only one little problem I have with this match, standard rules apply. This isn’t what I like to do. But with that being said, if I am being sent in to just brawl than that is exactly what I will do. I don’t want you to come into this match with a false hope Alex. Just because I will not be beating on you with a chair, does not mean the anger and intensity isn’t coming to the ring. I am still going to try and make you bleed Alex, it is kind of what I do. This time I am just going to have to keep kicking you in the face until I do. I am not sure what your game plan is here Alex, but mine hasn’t changed from any other match. Beating you ruthlessly, with no remorse until you are unable to continue.”
Raines is standing in his normal neighbourhood gym. We have seen him here before, the gym isn’t anything high class. Just a familiar place where he has been coming to train for many years. Raines stands throwing punches at a worn heavy bag in the corner. Dressed in shorts and having his hands taped, he throws left after right at the bag as he continues.
Raines: “You have a great amount of skill, but the counter to that is that I go for blood. I will simply find a way to break you down, and then beat you until you lose the will to fight. I usually have to find my target on the fly, but this time it is a little different.”
Raines stops for a moment, picking up a towel to wipe the sweat beading down his forhead.
Raines: “No, this time there is a very public record of a severe injury to the left knee. The best advice I can give you Alex, protect that leg. I am going for the leg, and once I take it out than you are just along for the ride. Be prepared to find another name, in another fed Alex. You are not making it through this one."
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Post by Sean Raines on Jul 23, 2022 15:05:36 GMT
8:14am Saturday, July 23th 2022
The sun shines over Sydney, Australia. Cars and other vehicles zip around the city during the busy morning rush, people are running around trying to do whatever it is they have to do this morning. Some head to work, others grabbing a beverage and meeting with an old friend. The shady side of Australia gone about their business last night, so the wandering tourists have a unjustified sense of safety as they freely roam the beautiful city. When you come from a city that changes as the sun goes down, you never gain that feeling of safety, you know it as a less likely chance of bad things happening.
Raines knows the difference. The false sense of safety is only a facade caused by sunlight. King’s Cross isn’t exactly the same millennial gathering place once the sun goes down. Things become a completely different world after the embrace of the warm day sun sets down for the evening.
Sean stands against a rail on the east side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Dressed in a simple black t-shirt and shorts he looks over the busy city below. Through his sunglasses he watched cars zip around, completely ignoring the thousands of vehicles crossing behind him, the hundreds of bicycles and other pedestrians passing by on the bridge behind him. Caught up in the view from the bridge, Raines just takes in the morning sights. Raines gets momentarily lost in his own thoughts, shaken out of them by the noise of a morning train making its way across the bridge.
After being broken from the zone he was just in Raines takes a deep breath before beginning to speak.
Raines: “Well here we are. Sydney , Australia. Known to most of the world for the absurdly big rodent known as kangaroos, surfing and the insanely pissed off magpies. Australia has some interesting things that you will not experience anywhere else in the world. How many places can you go that have this many living species that want to kill you. But regardless of that here we are. The IIW in the home of our own Scotty Adams. On the last Mayhem I pinned Scotty to earn a place inside the upcoming Elimination Chamber match, a chance at the IIW World Title. Scotty put up a good fight, but in the end he fell to Sean Raines. So here I stand, overlooking the homeland of one of my fallen opponents. At one point in history this would have made me king. I would have felt right at home here, a beautiful city filled with descendants of criminals…..has some familiar Chicago vibes if you tell me.”
Raines still not making eye contact, continues to overlook the city as he speaks.
Raines: “Only two days until Monday Mayhem takes over the Qudos Bank Arena. Two days until another action packed card descends onto the people of Sydney. Witness of Caleb Scott going head to head against the completely unpredictable Scott Stoner. The battle of the Scott’s to determine who will get a shot at Australia’s IIW Television Champion. I make my debut in Australia against Alex Kincaid. But where is little Alex for the last couple of weeks? I have waited to see what this idiot has to say, and all we have gotten was complete radio silence. Nothing at all, not a hey fuck you Raines. Not even a hey this is my new “reinvented” name. No, little Alex Kincaid has yet to have the balls to address what is happening Monday Night. Is her scared of what may happen when he gets into the IIW ring with a madman? No I don’t think that is it. Osh and the IIW have decided I am not allowed to beat the living hell out of him with weapons this time. That is fine, I will just have to do it the old fashion way and beat Kincaid around that ring until he can’t take anymore. But let’s talk a little more about the radio silence. Why the silence Alex? Did I rattle you by bringing up your past? Did you go back to the place you are trying to run from? Maybe you changed your name again and are going to appear as a new Alex Kincaid? Oh so many questions. Are you here in Australia? Are you actually coming to Australia? And who is showing up? A new masked man calling himself Diacnik Xela, or maybe you are just going to paint yourself red and bust through a fake brick wall and scream OH YEAH as Alex Kool-aid. No? How about you just cover yourself in feathered pants, use some wings in your entrance and call yourself Alex “Shithawk” Kincaid. You feel free to use any of those ideas Alex. It doesn’t really matter what you are calling yourself, the results are going to be the same. Sean Raines is going to pick you up, and drop you square on your head before pinning you in the center of that ring. I have seen too many like you come and go around my tenure inside IIW. Guys who come in have a match and then disappear. There we go, one more nickname for your collection Alex “Once & Done” Kincaid. New name but also explains why your wife isn’t managing you anymore…she wasn’t a big fan of the Once & Done huh? For the longest time I didn’t know what to expect out of this match. At first I didn’t know anything about you or your ability. But as I looked into you I figured it out, this is your thing. We do happen to have something in common Alex. I too travelled from fed to fed, but not for the reasons you did. No, I did it out of boredom. I exclusively fought Hardcore matches, and when I bloodied enough people, and shortened enough careers things would slow down. I would get bored because I ran out of people to hurt. After I ran out the entire roster that was willing to fight my style I would move on. Not with the intention of finding myself or reinventing who I am, but to find a fresh group of twisted individuals willing to give me a fight. I always made my way back though, it was never show up and leave. I treated it like traveling in the territory days, always making my way back. But that is neither here nor there. All that matters right now is that in two days you step into the IIW ring with me in front of the packed Australian crowd. And as always, I am going to do everything I can to make sure you do not walk out of that arena in the same state you walked into it, that’s if you walk in at all. I am not sure who is coming to the ring but I will look into that brick wall for you. Oh Yeah! See you Monday Night Alex, which ever shows up.”
Raines just laughs to himself and shakes his head at the thought of the brick wall as the camera fades out.
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