October 20, 1999 - Atlanta, Georgia
Fall had settled in on the McKlayn family compound. The leaves had turned a gorgeous mix of orange and brown, and the weather was just turning cool, ‘football’ weather as it was called down south. Despite this the heat had been turned up for the family and tonight it would all boil over. Vincent McKlayn was the head of the family, and just a little over two years ago a potential presidential candidate, many favored him to even win. The rest of the family had a long history of professional wrestling and all the celebrities that came with it. Many had broken into movies and the younger generations were even top picks in sports such as football and baseball. Many called them the Royal Family of Dixie.
They had a wonderful story, Scott McKlayn and his brothers had grown up in government housing and trailer parks. Dirt poor he strived to provide for his family, busting his ass to make it in the wrestling industry. The first generation of the McKlayn family to make it big, Vincent was his nephew and by far the most well known of the family at this point. Like his uncle Vincent had become a household name in between the ropes in the national promotion of World Wide Wrestling, or W3 as it was more commonly referred. Once he retired however he turned to politics promising to help those who couldn’t help themselves. He was revered by everyone. That was until one of his inner circle leaked some information to the public.
The family fortune wasn’t built on just wrestling money, the informant claimed that they were gun smugglers, and hit men, A souther mafia family if you would, and things got really hot after that. It was this cool southern night that everything really got turned up, the FBI had gathered enough information to make a move. The McKlayn family itself had spread throughout the years, having 4 major compounds at this point.
The One in Dallas was hit first. Taken down without any real warning and arresting everyone there. They found millions of dollars worth of illegal weapons.
It was just a few hours later that they hit the one in St. Louis, Missouri with similar results.
By the time they had decided to move on to the one in Miami the family had gotten wind and decided to fight back. It got violent with 6 men losing their lives.
The last one was the original family home in Atlanta, a compound that spread for miles in any direction. The large walls had always been heavily guarded but tonight the world would find out just how heavy. It would go down as a bloodbath with over two dozen lives being lost. But that is not the story we are here for. You see as the battle raged on and lives were being lost, in the far corner of the Estate in a bomb shelter was Lisette Deline. Her husband Marcellus was in the midst of the battle but with her was Doctor Phillip Gud and her housemaid Dianne Chambers.
“Lisette you really need to get to a real doctor this is no place to have your baby,”
“Have you not heard what is happening up top?,” Dianne scoffs “This child has as much chance of getting shot as being properly born if we try to move her,”
“It’s coming Doctor,” Lisette insisted and screamed in pain “you have to make this work..,”
The doctor looks over at Dianne who nods and he takes a deep breath before preparing the room as best he could. It would be a rather quick birth with the good doctor managing to deliver safely. As the dust died down and Lisette saw her world burning around her she knew this was no place for a baby. His father may already be dead and she was certain she would be tossed in jail.Not wanting her child to grow up in a group home she begged Dianne to take him, claim him her own and raise him. Dianne agreed, but she was too old to raise a child so once safely away she knocked on the door of her daughter Robin and her son in law Henry Dawson….
January 28, 2023 - Dublin, Ireland
It had been over a week since I had met with the oversized stranger in the storage yard. Over a week that his story of my birth had rolled around in my head. Over a week I had kept it to myself and tried hard to push it all to the side so I could focus on the insane match that was booked to main event the upcoming Mayhem. I was failing, and failing hard. While I should have been watching old tapes of Joe Montouri in action, watching his rise to the top in IIW, what I had actually been spending my time on was researching the names he had dropped that night.
The last name had rung a bell when he first mentioned it, and when he explained it all I put it together. The scandal of the McKlayn presidential run had overtook the media for almost a decade, we had studied it in school. Still apparently most of his family's legacy had been buried. Wrestling promotions quickly cut all ties with any one even close to the family, matches had been scrubbed from history, awards taken back, even entire title reigns ignored like they never happened. Apparently at the time several of them were active in a major company known as Grandslam Wrestling and the who ordeal bankrupted the company.
“Cuse me Mister Dawson,” The child’s voice snapped me back to reality. “Are you going to sign my picture or not?,”
I was standing outside of a television station near where we were performing this week. I had agreed to do a bit of an interview for the upcoming match but as normal I had gotten here a bit early. As I waited for a group of fans to gather, I had been mindlessly signing my name and must have zoned out on the last kids.
“Of course sorry, I have a few things on my mind,” I said and forced a smile before signing the kids picture, it wasn’t even of me. It was Beckett.
Another kid's voice called out from behind the crowd “Like how you going to get JKOed on Mayhem!,”
“Yea are how the CCPE are better than Second Coming!,” Another chimed in. It always amazed me how they could want my autograph and still hate me. I sighed
“They aren’t the CCPE anymore, they are Mecca or something,”
“I mean they have the same members..,” the kid muttered under his breath
“I know kid it doesn’t make any sense to anyone with a first grade education but Shaun Hart and his crew didn’t make it that far in school,”
“Didn’t one of them die when Crush tossed him off the top of a cage on COMBAT!,” Another child chimed in and I shrugged
“Let’s hope so, but honestly I don’t watch that B-List show its where they stash all the losers,”
“Mister Dawson, they are ready for you now,” A man’s voice was heard over the crowd and I turned to see the television network director. I nodded at him and turned to the kids
“Alright you little snot nosed brats, go bug your parents and make them do their job I got to go get the same questions from people whose been through puberty already,”
They all ran off as I made my way to the director, shook his hand and followed him to the television studio. There was Micheal Morrison sitting down waiting for me.
“They got you doing these things now?,” I asked as I took a seat next to him
“Yea just a few quick questions for you, nothing too major just need to hype the main event some. Is Sawyer with you?,”
“Nah haven’t heard from him for a few days,”
Morrison smiles a bit as he replies “Do I sense dissension in the ranks of ATG? Is the international title causing two friends to look at each other a bit different,”
“Doesn’t Montuori wish, no I have just had some family issues to contend with this week….,”
January 25, 2033 - Atlanta, Georgia
It was noon when I pulled up at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta Georgia. My first meeting with my new friend hadn’t answered as many questions as I had wanted but he had promised to give me a few more answers if I met him here today. I still wasn’t sure I could trust him or what his endgame was in all this but I had to follow the breadcrumbs as much as I could. I sighed and got out looking around, he was a big guy and hard to miss but somehow he had managed to be elusive whenever he wanted to. Lucky for me today he wanted to be found. On top of a hill standing next to a large crypt he stood and waved me over. It only took a few seconds to get to him
“Is this where my mother and father are buried?,”
“No,”
I wasn’t even sure if they were dead but considering everything I knew it seemed like a logical solution. “So what is it then?,”
“This is a family crypt, and lucky for you I got a key,” He brandishes it from his pocket and lets the light shine off it for just a second before turning to open. Did that mean he was family? Or just a worker like he claimed my grandmother was? I nodded and waited til he opened it, at which point he motioned for me to go in.
“Yea sure..,” I muttered as I walked in. The Crypt itself was big as hell with dozens of above ground coffins and even some urns on the walls. I read over a few of the names..
Aaron Chandler, Sami Chandler, Mark Mitchell, Fenix Mitchell, Armani Decano, Brad McKlayn
I recognized a few of the names from research I had done. Most of them younger generation stars that were still active wrestlers when it all went down, they should be around 50 by now but this must mean they didn’t make it out of the gun fight in Atlanta.
“You told me a lot of my family got gunned down right? What exactly is this telling me? I don’t see my parents' names. Are they still alive?,”
“Look Closer,”
As he said it he walked over to one of the coffins and began to slide the large concrete slab off the top of it. The man was jacked as all hell and despite his age still seemed to be able to bench press a sedan. I watched as it slowly slid back and crashed to the ground. He pointed inside and I took a few minutes to build up the courage to actually look.
“But…,” I stammered a bit, “its empty..,”
”They all are,”
January 28, 2023 - Dublin, Ireland
“So you and your partner are preparing for your first ever main event in IIW and despite your success as a tag team in the company the match actually pits the two of you against each other and even adds a nice piece of gold as a potential prize.The catch being one of you have to actually beat the international champion Joe Montuori or each other to win it,”
The words echoed again snapping me back to the present as I looked up and blinked a few times realizing that we were live and Morrison was waiting for an answer. I honestly needed to talk to Beckett about booking these kinds of things without asking me first, that was hard though with her touring japan as she prepared to defend her IIW women’s title in Miracle Galaxy Pro in February.
“That’s a loaded question and you know it Michael. Sawyer and myself are not going to trip over ourselves to get some gold strap. I mean we already got the most important prizes in IIW right now. As far as this being our first main event, well that is IIW’s mistake. We are the big pull, the main Attraction, Second Coming has stormed the gates of IIW and taken three titles in less than 6 months. If they are just realizing the draw we are then it's about damn time. Of course no one has ever accused Shaun Hart of being bright,”
Morrison leans back a bit, tapping his pencil on the desk as he listens. Once I am done he quickly fires back with a follow up.
“Those titles you are so proud of, Joe Montouori would have us believe they are trash titles even pointing to when his Mecca team mates Bam Miller and Fred Debonair tossed them in the trash that prompted a tournament to crown new champs, a tournament I might add ATG lost in,”
I sighed, maybe people focused too much on the past. I know I had been lately, I shook my head and replied “That was then Michael, this is now. I will admit that me and Sawyer were a big green when we just signed and not the well oiled machine we have grown into. Still we have always been far more talented. As far as the value of the titles the saying is, that it isn’t the title that defines the champion its the champion that defines the title. So when Bam and Fred had them they belonged in the trash, they were almost as worthless as that international title the Mecca Golden boy carries around his waist right now. Still when we got the Tag titles we instantly brought prestige to them, and we will do the same for that little souvenir he uses to hold his pants up,”
Michael takes a few moments this way trying to figure out what direction he should take his line of questions.
“So let's talk about the Mecca then. In this falls count anywhere type of match you have to factor them in right? No rules, no reason for them to sit in the back if things go south for their ‘golden’ boy as you call him,”
“Shaun Hart's abuse of power and the cronies he has backing him is the only threat to us not winning this. Still Second Coming has a plan and we are not intimidated by a group of talentless goons with the maturity of a 10 year old,”
“Well…,”
Before he could finish his question I got a text from Beckett.
“I got that name you wanted,”
January 25, 2033 - Atlanta, Georgia
“Ok for the love of god,” I demanded “Who are you and what are you trying to tell me,”
The big man sighed “The McKlayn empire was started by Scott McKlayn and his two brothers; it was a family business. Still just like any other family as time went by the family got bigger. There were three other major players that were brought into the inner circle. My father Kenneth Dunn headed up the operations out of St. Louis,”
So he was a Dunn, that was interesting at least I had some sort of name now.
“Scott’s oldest daughter Arianna ended up marrying his pupil Sean Chandler. Chandler set up an operation in his home state of Texas,”
I nodded as he continued
“The last one was in Miami, a young man that was married into the family and rose up the ranks both in the ring and in the real family business really quick. That man, he is your traitor. He caused all this. Find that name and everything will make even more sense,”
January 28, 2023 - Dublin, Ireland
I had quickly moved to the side and called Beckett “What is the name?,”
“I don’t understand what is going on Rhett, do I need to fly out,”
“Beck your the only one I trust with this, just give me the name,”
“Its pretty interesting,” she replied “Some big wig from Miami that ran with a group called High Society back in W3, his name was Deandre, Deandre Carter,”
“Carter…,” I muttered
“Yea I saw a picture,” She replied “It's for sure him,”
The man who trained us all? The man who promised to tell me everything, the guy who brought me into wrestling was the guy who betrayed my family over two decades ago?!
–END?--