Breakdown 11-18-21 #2
October 7
Orlando
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The morning of Under Attack, I woke up in Drake's bed, had a quick shower, and went back to me and Tommy's hotel room. I tried to enter as quiet as I could, but he was already awake. I could smell coffee.
“Morning.”
“Hey...”
We looked at each other a few moments, then Tommy grabbed two cups and poured coffee like nothing was weird.
“Did you enjoy your night?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
I watched as he fixed one cup the way I like mine, then he handed it to me. “Good. I'm glad.”
“Really?” I wasn't sure if that was sincere or sarcasm. Tommy made his own coffee and turned back to me. “You do know where I went, right?”
“Yeah, I know. Honestly shocked it took this long. And I am glad you enjoyed it. I'm hoping though that now you can turn your attention to you and me. I hate to keep pushing this but I also can't let this be put off any longer... we need to talk about this.”
I sipped my coffee and sighed as I sat at the table. “Yeah, I know. I came to that conclusion last night.”
Tommy raised an eyebrow. “How the hell.... you know what, I don't want to know.”
“I'm not sure I could really explain if even if you wanted me to. I just know I can't keep avoiding it.”
Tommy sat across from me at the table. “Okay. Good. So, let me start with bringing up that damnable internet article... I know you've seen it by now.”
“Yeah, and the half-dozen copies by other sites.”
“Then you've read how they're trying to make it sound like you and I are just about done.” It wasn't a question.
“I did. Are they really wrong?”
Tommy tried to hide it but I caught the flinch. “That's what I'm trying to figure out. Are they?”
“I guess that depends on how this conversation goes, doesn't it?”
“I suppose. I'm just gonna say what's on my mind, I want you to come to the ring with me tonight. Prove that trash wrong, show the world we're still on the same page, as solid as ever... but I thought we should actually be on the same page first.”
“I agree, we should be. But how can we be when you aren't even reading what I'm saying?”
“To be fair, you haven't really said much of anything to me concerning anything important since Breakdown, other than that cheap shot about Charlotte the other day.” I looked down at my coffee, he wasn't wrong. “So talk to me. I'm listening right now.”
Ashley had said it should be easy, I just had to say what I told him. Drake asked me why I went to him now, and my answer was the root of all of this. Control.
“Okay. Forget Trios, it's not even about that, it never really was. You know me, right? I've never wanted to be controlled, held back by, or defined by a man. Any man. So-”
“You have to know I wasn't trying to do any of that, babe.”
“Maybe it wasn't your intention, but that's what happened. You didn't want me to go through with the deal I made, so you physically held me back. Do you not see how that looked to me, after I had just told the world I was sick of being seen as second to you?”
“You're not second, though. We're a team, in and out of the ring. One isn't more important than the other.”
I shook my head a bit, slow. “I believe that you see us that way, but that's not how most of the world sees it, and it's not how it feels. I'm always under you.” In any other conversation one or both of us might have snickered at that, but not in the middle of this. “No matter what I do, I'm just not considered to be on your level. So getting physically stopped from getting in the ring... it's not even a metaphor anymore, Tommy, you literally held me back! Not just in the ring, but to control my actions, to stop me from keeping my end of a deal. How do you think that felt? Held back and controlled?”
Tommy sat back in his chair, looking at me as if he'd had the world's biggest mystery revealed in front of his eyes.
“I... I have to admit, that never crossed my mind. I wasn't thinking about any of that. It wasn't some malicious attempt to hold you back, in any manner. I just didn't want you to do something you otherwise wouldn't have, just for me. I asked you do that once, with Ashley, and look how that turned out.”
Seems Ashley was right, Tommy still had a hang-up about the whole thing. “I thought you weren't mad about that.”
“I'm not. Not really, I can't be.”
“Yes you can. You have a right to feel how you feel. If you want me to cut him off-”
“I don't. I want you to do what makes you happy. You have to know that I'm not and wouldn't ever try to actually hold you back or control you or anything of the sort!”
I pushed my coffee cup away, it was lukewarm now and that's just gross. “I know that rationally. But... you know my history. Well... most of it. I think I should tell you about something.” I then explained everything about Jackson. How at first things had seemed fine, he didn't seem to care about my free-spirited ways. But then got pushy. Possessive. Smothering. And I ran.
“Fuck's sake...”
“I never brought him up before because I literally forgot. I had blocked the whole thing from my memory, that's how much he fucked with my head. Nate said his name in a passing comment a few weeks ago, and it all came back.”
“Is that why you wanted to bring the deal back, seemingly out of nowhere?”
“I think so. I kept having random memories, and dreams about things that happened. I admit the thing with Ashley at the party happened before Nate brought Jackson up, but after that? I just felt... trapped, all the time.”
“And now you feel trapped in your career too... because of me. Fuck...” Tommy leaned on the table, looking at me with the most remorseful expression I think I've ever seen, on anyone.
“I know you don't mean to put me in that position, but it's how it is. And Trios... I know you did what you had to do for your team. But I can't help how it made me feel. Controlled and held down and... below you.”
“I don't know what to say, except I'm sorry, and I love you.”
“I know you are. I love you to, baby, I really do. I don't think you ever really understood how huge just saying that to anyone was for me. But... we can't keep working this way. It's suffocating me.”
There was a few moments of silence, and I noticed Tommy swallow, as he processed everything I said. “What are you saying, you don't want to team up anymore...?”
“No, I'm not saying that at all! I love teaming with you. We just have to do something different.”
“Like what? There's nothing I want more in the world than to make this work, I just need to know what you need me to do.”
“I don't know.” I shrugged. Tommy sighed. “Let's just get through tonight, and we'll figure it out after. You have a contract to win. That's the priority right now.”
“Okay. Will you come to the ring with me?”
It wasn't just Tommy asking me to be in his corner. He'd started this talking about the dumb article and wanting to prove them wrong. He was really asking me if we were on the same page, if we were okay. I grinned. “Yeah. I'm with you.”
“Good.” Tommy smiled.
“Now... can I tell you about an idea Drake had, for his match tonight?”
Gotta credit Tommy for not flinching at all when I said Drake's name, and for agreeing to the idea Drake and I had discussed the night before.
* * * * * {{During Under Attack – after Drake's match}} * * * * *
Drake's idea for his match with Crystal Zdunich had gone off perfectly. Halfway through the match, I made ay to the ring, Tommy behind me. We caused a distraction, then I did my best to crack the bitches skull. Drake had no respect for the woman, because she seemed to have no respect for SCW or the business. He suggested we use her to make a statement, show the strength of the Jackals. Tommy loved the idea, it would also show he and I working together, adding more nails to the coffin of that ridiculous article. Once we got to the ring, it had been Tommy's idea for me to give Crystal the killshot. He and Drake discussed it as they held her up, and I made the bitch see stars.
Tommy and I got backstage after the utter destruction of Crystal Zdunich. A few steps past gorilla, I stopped and pulled him into a hug. He held me tight, and I whispered in his ear.
“That was a good start.”
“I thought it would be.”
It wasn't a huge moment, but it was something. Drake had been tasked by Cian O'Dwyer to give Crystal a test, but it was me who made the statement. Tommy gave me a kiss, the first one we'd shared in over a week, and I almost forgot where I was. Fuck, I missed the taste of him. He pulled away though, and just as I looked up, I saw Drake approaching.
“Well done, thank you both for your assistance.”
“Hey, it was your idea. We just executed it.”
“Anytime, brosef. Jackals stick together.”
I nearly did a double take. I had never heard Tommy use that term to anyone he didn't consider a friend. Accepting that Drake was my friend (and whatever else after the previous night) and being an ally in the ring was one thing, this was something else. I watched as the men shook hands. Things had changed. It seemed like they knew it, too.
“Indeed we do. Speaking of, I must go. I am meeting Minerva to help her prepare for the chamber.”
“Tell her I said kick ass.”
Drake gave me a nod, then walked off.
Tommy grabbed my hand and we started down the hall towards our locker room.
“I have another idea for tonight.”
“Aren't you inspired?” I smirked.
“I am! Who needs Trios, when we can force hands another way?” Tommy's team had lost earlier in the night. I wasn't surprised, not after Asher Hayes' dumbfuck ass got himself arrested and Cid Turner took his place. Cid basically allowed the team to lose. Tommy and I were pissed in the moment but it didn't seem to matter anymore.
“What way?”
“We fuck with Lucas. Again. He's got the Underground Match. There aren't any rules. We keep pissing him off, he'll want to fight us. Simple as.”
“What about Christy?”
“You're not really interested in getting in James' way, are you?” Tommy knew the history and story there.
“Not at all.”
“I didn't think so. So... Lucas it is. We'll make another statement, potentially get you another spotlight, and make them give us our rematch, all in one swoop.”
“You. Are. Brilliant.” I grabbed his face and kissed him. “And hot.”
“Save that energy, we'll need it.”
Tommy was right. We watched the show on a monitor, and waited for our moment.
* * * * * {{During Underground Title match}} * * * * *
Tommy and I burst through our locker room door, and slammed it shut. We'd just escaped the chaos that was the Underground Title match. We did what we planned, jumped Lucas, pissed him off. What we didn't count on though, was that crazy bitch Kim Williams helping him fight us off! You'd think she would have been happy for the help in kicking his ass, but noooo. Whatever, we did what we needed to go and got the fuck out of there. After catching our breath a moment, Tommy turned to me.
“You okay? Your back?”
“It's probably bruised, but I'll live.” Kim had hit me with some kind of bat.
“Despite that shot, I think we made our point, don't you?”
“Yeah, I think so. Lucas knows we're not fucking around. And so does the rest of SCW.”
Tommy pulled me close and rubbed the spot on my back where Kim hit me. “This is us at our best, you know. When we work together, not against each other.”
“Are you saying that for my benefit, or your own?” That was probably petty, especially after our conversation in the morning but I couldn't stop myself from saying it.
“Both. I never meant to work against you, didn't want to. I know you didn't, either.”
“I didn't. I just wanted to do something... other than be your plus one. Not that I don't love being at your side, I just need to be more.”
Tommy placed his hands on my shoulders, and looked me directly in the eyes. “Hey. You are my number one, and it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks.”
“What if it matters to me?” That sounded pathetic. I never cared what anyone thought of me personally. But my career was something different. “Not personally... professionally.”
“If it matters to you, then we'll make them see you the way I do. I don't know how yet, but we'll make it happen. You're beautiful, and badass...” He kissed me. “And deserve all the recognition possible. I will make sure you get it, I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
We stared at each other a few seconds, then Tommy pulled me close again and kissed me, deeper than seconds before. I clung to him tight, barely able to breathe. It had been almost two weeks since we'd had sex, and in that moment it didn't matter that I'd been with two other people in that time span... the fact was, as much as I'd enjoyed both, for different reasons? Neither of them were Tommy. And he was what I needed. We were both sweaty and sticky from the night's events – his match, our run ins – but I didn't care as I slid my hands up under his shirt and over his ribcage and chest. Soon I had his shirt off, and he did the same to me. He started to pick me up, but I wouldn't let him. I needed to control this. Instead, I pushed him backwards til he backed up against the armchair in the room. I gave him another gentle shove, and he fell into the chair. I peeled my tights off, underwear along with them, then climbed into his lap. Tommy reached down to his own pants but I stopped that, too. He finally got the message – I was in control. I reached down and unzipped his pants, pulling them down just enough to expose what I wanted. I lowered myself onto him slowly, as deep as possible. I just sat there, motionless, for a few moments, savoring the feel of him. Tommy moved under me, and I started rocking slowly. He wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close as I moved. Even though it was slow, and almost no thrust to be spoken of, more of an undulation... it wasn't very long before we both groaned in release. I didn't get up, instead I leaned against Tommy, his arms still around me.
“Babe?”
“Yeah?”
“As incredible as that was... please don't make me wait that long to have you again.”
I pulled my head up and looked him in the eyes. “Never.”
As we kissed again, I thought to myself that maybe spending time with Drake wouldn't be as dangerous as I thought in the immediate aftermath. No one compared to Tommy.
November 10
Santa Barbara
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Two days after Under Attack, there had been another stupid article, this one based off a picture someone managed to get of me and Drake, outside the back of the arena after the show was over. We were waiting for Tommy, he had forgot something in our locker room. Drake had asked me how my back was feeling after that shot Kim Williams gave me, and had placed his hand on my back. So of course whoever was watching from the shadows got that as a picture. I saw it online, Drake was looking at me concerned, and I thought I looked like I was talking, cause I was.... but whoever wrote the trash piece said I looked like I was grinning and being flirty. What the fuck ever. I mean, if they're gonna run with that trash, they should at least catch me when I'm actually acting that way. Tommy seemed way more concerned about the articles than I did, I wasn't sure why. We knew we were good, let the dirtsheets think what they want. I did give Drake a heads up about it, just in case he cared. He didn't. I did my best to get Tommy to let it go, and he said he would try, but I had my doubts.
It was Wednesday afternoon and I was in my studio. Not hiding this time, but genuinely working on my piece for the film prop contest Nate told me about. During the week I spent in here mainly ignoring Tommy, I had started and ditched no less than four different ideas. But after Under Attack and everything else that happened that weekend... I decided on my piece. It's two sets of handcuffs. One cuff flat on the bottom as the base of the piece, the 'chain' going straight up to the other cuff. The second set interlocked with it, the other cuff of that set sort of dangling down. The interlocked cuffs though... are open. I'd been working on it all morning, trying to get the chain links just right, and the whole piece perfectly balanced so it stood up on it's own. I had the door closed out of habit, but I had stopped locking it. I had just got the balance right and the whole thing was standing perfectly straight, centered over the one cuff on the table, when Tommy knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Tommy came in, holding his phone. He looked like he had something to say... but stopped when he saw the piece on my work table.
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah?”
“I mean... your work is always amazing, but I meant the fact that you've actually been working on something.”
Tommy hadn't been in this room since before our argument, so this was the first he'd seen of the piece. I gave him a look, my head slightly tilted. “What, I thought it was an excuse to avoid me.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it was, in a way. But hey, I got this beauty out of it.”
“What is it, exactly? I mean, I can see it's handcuffs, but....” Tommy shakes his head, not getting it.
“It's us. Metaphorically.”
“You never told me you wanted to use handcuffs in bed...” He smirked.
“While that does sound like fun, that's not what this is. Look...” I pointed to the interlocked cuffs. “They're connected, but not locked. They're free to come apart any time they want. Even with that freedom, they choose to stay together.” I smiled. I had no idea if the meaning of the winning piece would be written into the script of the movie, but this what I knew I needed to put into art form. Tommy looked at it closer, then back at me.
“I see it now. That's actually brilliant.”
“The concept isn't my idea, it's based on this pagan ceremony I read about a few years ago.” Tommy gave me a look. “Hey, I had diverse friends when I was a bartender. Anyway, it's called a handfasting, and it's like a wedding. They use a ribbon or a rope to literally tie the couple's hands together, but the knot is very loose, easy to slip off. They chose to be tied together. But I'm more hardcore than ribbons, so I used handcuffs for the same idea.”
Tommy had looked closer at the piece as I explained. When I finished, he turned back to me.
“As I said... brilliant. If you don't win this thing, it's rigged.”
“I think you might be just a little bit biased.”
“Doesn't mean I'm not right!”
I laughed. “I hope you are. It would be a pretty big deal.”
“And something you did on your own.”
“Yeah... there's that.” Getting recognized for something on my own was my main motivation for doing this, and even though I never explicitly said so to Tommy, I knew that he knew that.
I dusted off my hands on my stained t-shirt, then pointed to the phone in Tommy's hand.
“Was there something on that thing you wanted to tell me?”
Tommy looked down, as if he forgot he was holding it. “Oh, right. I just got a notification from SCW, it seems the powers that be have got their head out of their collective asses. Breakdown card is out.. we're getting our rematch.”
I stepped closer, reaching for his phone to look. “Really? We are?” Tommy handed me his phone and I saw the card for myself. “I'll be fucked...”
“What, again?” Tommy smirked.
“Hey, you're the one who woke me up at two AM, so don't give me that shit.” We'd had a lot of fun making up for that week or so of me being a stubborn idiot and sleeping in this room instead of with him.
“I didn't hear you complaining. Just screaming.” He smirked as I handed him his phone back.
“Do you know what this means?”
“That I make you scream?”
“No! I mean the match!” I laughed, and he chuckled.
“Yeah, I know what it means. We're bringing our titles back home. Again.”
“Yes, exactly. For the fifth time.”
“That's right.”
I stared at him. “You really don't know what that means.”
“Why don't you tell me?”
“It means... this is how I get the moment I've been wanting. When I was spending a lot of time in here.... one day I was thinking about getting the rematch, and it being our fifth reign if we won, and that sounded like a lot. So I looked it up. No team in SCW has ever held the titles five times before. If- no, when we get the titles back... we'll break a record.”
Tommy's expression turns serious. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. I read over the title history three or four times. Look...” I grabbed my phone and pulled the tab up on the SCW site, I still had it open in my phone's browser. I scrolled down, pointing out the notations next to title changes, indicating what number reign it was for that specific team. “We're tied at four with only one other team. Some individual people have held it more than four... you by yourself are at six, cause two were with....” I didn't want to say it.
“Yeah, with Dave, I know.”
“Right. But as a team? Its us and The Dresser Boys at four. When we beat Order of Chaos... we break the record.”
Tommy scrolled back and forth, reading and counting the notations himself.
“Holy shit... how did no one notice this before? Not even SCW?”
“Oh I bet they're fully aware. But they don't give a fuck about us, they don't want us to have that distinction! SCW doesn't want to admit that we are the best tag team this company has ever seen. We just have to force them to accept it.”
“This is great added motivation to go out there and take back what belongs to us, but how does us breaking a record give you the defining moment you want?”
I set my phone down and smirked. I was hoping he'd ask that. I walked up close to Tommy and laid one hand on his shoulder. “Easy, baby. Because you...” With my other hand I pointed my finger into his chest, and trailed my fingernail down the middle. “Are going to let me score the pinfall. I will be the person who won the match, and set the new record for us.”
I leaned up and kissed him. When I pulled back, he was smiling.
“That would mean a lot to you, wouldn't it?”
“So much. I need this.”
“I did say I would make Trios up to you, and we would find a way to make the world realize and recognize your worth. This is definitely one way to do that.”
“So you'll do it? If you're in when it's almost over you'll tag me in to do the deed?”
Tommy brushed my hair back before answering. “You got it. And not just because I feel like I owe you or anything like that... but because you deserve it.”
I didn't know what to say in response, but it didn't matter. Tommy made it impossible for me to speak anyway when he kissed me.
We're gonna break a motherfucking record. It will be the defining moment I've been working for since I got to SCW.
ON CAMERA
I bet y'all thought this Trios bullshit was gonna fuck with me and Tommy so much that you wouldn't have to deal with us as a tag team anymore. I'm sure once Round One was over with, every other pissant team in the company, and maybe a few who haven't formed yet out of fear of facing us... were hoping, praying to whatever God gets them off, that we wouldn't be able to handle the pressure, the tension... the way Round Two ended.... and SCW would be rid of The Connection. Even the fucking dirtsheets are trying to instigate this bullshit trying to make it sound like the end is nigh.
So sorry to disappoint you all.
I'm not one to lie so I'm not gonna tell you it wasn't hard. I'm not gonna pretend I wasn't fucking pissed. I'm not gonna act like we didn't fight. But there's a reason we're called The Connection. It's not just what we have, it's what we are. The hot mess that Trios turned into would have split up probably 95% of every other team or couple in this company, but not us. In case you haven't realized yet... Tommy and me don't give up. On anything. Not on being the best team in SCW, not on the Tag Titles, and not on each other. I know, sounds pretty fucking sappy coming from me, right? But it's the truth. Having loyalty and having the balls to face someone you've had a disagreement with and don't want to lose... and tell them your deepest feelings and fears so you can get through the bullshit? If you want to call that sappy, you go right ahead, but if you ask me? It's fucking hardcore, and most of you don't have the courage or even decency to do so.
Yet, here we are. Trios is over... and after all the shit that was thrown at us, that we dug out of? Neither of us have a contract to show for it. You might think I'm pissed about that, and okay.... I am a little upset. Everyone would love to have an insurance policy in their back pocket. But pissed? Nah. We have proven over and over and over again that we don't need help getting what we want, we don't need shortcuts to keep this division in the palm of our hands. Fucks sake, we've been carrying it on our backs for over two years now! That's not a complaint, by the way. We don't do what we do begrudgingly, we do it because it's necessary. We do it because we know that we are the best team this company has ever seen, and if you don't believe that? We're gonna prove it to you tomorrow night.
After jerking us around ever since Apocalypse, leaving the Tag Titles off the Under Attack card, the new Head Dick in Charge finally came to his senses and realized there isn't any other viable option to challenge Order of Chaos, no matter how much he and probably the Board doesn't want to admit it. Tommy, me, and the other Jackals have made SCW our playground for months and I know how much the suits hate to look like they're rewarding what they consider to be bad behavior. Here's the thing though... if we were just given what we deserve, we wouldn't have to do half the things we do!
If we were just given our rematch right away... Lucas Knight doesn't get attacked before Trios, or at Under Attack. Yet... we had to show everyone that we're not fucking around. We're not backing down, moving on to something else, like every other team who's lost the Tag Titles has done. Each and every team can get right in my face and argue with me until then run out of breath that yes, they did care about the Tag Titles when they held them, yes they were important... all this bullshit. But the proof is in the SCW Title History. How many teams actually backed their words up and kept pursuing the Tag Titles after they got beat? How many teams stuck together no matter how much SCW tried to hold them back, or how low on the totem pole they fell?
How many?!
I'll tell you.
One.
The Connection.
No other team holds the Tag Titles or the tag division as important as we do. And tomorrow night in Breakdown's main event? We're going to prove it, when we make history. That's right, you heard me. I'm not just pulling things out of my fantastic ass, it's true. The next time Tommy and I become Tag Team Champions, it will be the start of our fifth reign. No tag team in SCW's history has held the Tag Titles five times. No other team cared enough try. There 's another team who had four reigns, but that was a decade ago. In all these years there hasn't been any other team who has left such a mark on this division, who has defined this division as we have. Sure, all the haters can talk about how becoming five-time champions just means we lost them four times. That's a fact, not gonna argue it. But what it also means...
… is that we've never given up.
Order of Chaos. They wanted so much to become champions, to claim and accomplishment they couldn't do back in the day the firs time they teamed up. Great, they beat us, congratulations. But just look at history. They aren't any different than every other tag team that has stepped foot in an SCW ring. They don't care about the titles because they live and breathe the Tag Division. They wanted a notch carved, a box checked off. Once they're beat... they're going to be just like every other team who held and lost the titles. They'll move on.
Like Frozen Hell. They only wanted to beat us so Regan Street could gain Supreme Championship status. Golden Boys, Adam Allocco wanted to pretend like he still matters. Suited and Booted? Lucas Knight is gonna have the distinction of giving up on this division twice, you saw how fast he forgot all about it after he and Chris Cannon lost the titles! They were just trying to keep Cannon relevant. And let's not forget the team we took the titles from at Rise to Greatness... Autumn Valentine and Ace Marshall... I mean, Ace fucking gave up on the titles before he even lost it! He passed the responsibility on to someone else!
That doesn't happen with me and Tommy. Literally every other tag team in history has eventually moved on, given up, forgotten about the Tag Titles. They were a stepping stone, a pit stop on the way to something they considered to be bigger. Everyone else... they used the Tag Titles as a prop, on their way to trying to do everything in this company.
For us? This is everything.
We aren't giving up, we aren't moving on. We're taking back what belongs to us! This is what we do, this will be our legacy, our page in the history books. Proof once and for all that no other team cares about the Tag Titles as much as we do, and proof, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are everything we have said we are for over two years... the greatest Tag Team in SCW! Order of Chaos got their long awaited Tag Title reign at our expense. Christy made her Supreme status legit... now it's out turn to do something even bigger... at their expense.
Lucas and Christy? They'll be fine. Christy has the United States Championship, and Lucas is now Underground Champion. It's almost like they're already showing you that the Tag Division is secondary to him. I know full well that Christy was US Champ before Apocalypse and that Lucas didn't ask for a UG shot. Not the fucking point. The point is... they wanted to complete a checklist, and now that it's done, it won't matter a flying fuck to them when they lose the Tag Titles... because they have other gold to keep them warm at night.
This would probably be the point in these things where you might expect me to start tearing down their skills or throw out some cheap shots, but I'm not gonna do that, like everyone tends to do to us. I don't need the ego boost that comes with that childish bullshit. Only people who are insecure about their position feel the need to throw that shit around, to make themselves feel better. I know I've been very vocal lately about being fucking sick to death of being seen as the weaker link in this team, the second best, every other metaphor for it you can think of. I don't need to talk down to people to build myself up, I know that I'm better than all of you assholes claim I am, I know that The Connection is the best tag team in the world. We prefer to let our accomplishments speak for themselves, because compared to us, the jokes and insults really just write themselves.
That's how I make myself feel good, that's how I prove everything people say about me wrong. So, instead of hurling playground insults at our opponents... I'm gonna do something about it once we step into that ring! I'm gonna be the one that ends this Order of Chaos fairy tale and etches our place in SCW's record books. All I have to do... is decide which one of you I'm gonna pin to do it. Never again is anyone going to think that I'm the dead weight of this team, the world is going to recognize that none of what we've done could have been done with anyone else but me at Tommy's side. Our connection, that everyone seemed to think was fragile enough to be shattered over fucking Trios.. is what makes us the greatest.
We've proven it over and over and over and over again in the past two and a half years that we've defined and carried this division on our backs, and we're going to prove it again tomorrow night, when we beat Order of Chaos, take our titles back for a fifth time... and set an SCW record. No matter who likes it or not, you don't have a choice. No matter who thinks other teams have been better. They haven't been, or else we wouldn't be breaking the record.
This is our division. And we will not give it up. We're taking it back.