When Warfare rolls around on Monday Night, I’m going to do what Bobby Bourbon should’ve done.

What Bobby Bourbon NEVER COULD’VE done.

I’m not going to settle for just beating this trick down and punking her out. I’m not going to settle for just ripping that posh bitch a whole new cunt.

Nah….HELL NAH!

Now that I’m The Company Man, I try to keep a cool head on my shoulders. I try to show restraint. I try to keep that dog on the leash, I try to keep it muzzled…because every time I step into that ring, I know I’m not just representing myself- I’m representing the entire legacy of the X-treme Wrestling Federation…I’m representing the entire Nichols brood.

But sometimes, these dumb bitches leave a Nickleman no choice!

So on Monday night, I’m crossing that line again. ‘Corporate’ Charlie will become ‘Classic’ Charlie just one more time, live on Warfare for the world to see!

This broad thinks she’s death, the destroyer of worlds? How fuckin’ cute. I’m Charlie Nickles: the destroyer of lies. And when we square off in the Main Event of Warfare, I’m going to expose this fraud and every last one of her deceptions!

She ain’t no monster, no demon, no beast. She’s just a rich girl with a big ego. She can change her name and her pronouns, but she can’t change the past. And come Monday night, Maereth- Yelena Gorgo’s past is coming back to haunt you.

To bury you.

James Shark took you into deep waters, and you forgot how to swim! You screamed out ‘MayDay’, but you refused to go down with the ship. You sailed away when the waves got rocky, and you left the Rainbow Warriors out there to drown.

You abandoned them when they needed you most. All because your ego got bruised. All because you got BEAT, one time.

You pretentious piece of shit.

You never cared about those curtain-jerkers you surrounded yourself with. You just wanted to use them for clout. You treated their careers like sheets of bubble wrap, wrapping them around your fragile fuckin’ ego for protection.

But now?

You’ve popped each and every one of those bubbles, and there’s no one left to watch your back on Warfare.

To watch your fuckin’ neck.

Just think about it, Gorgo. Do you really believe the Rainbow Warriors are still loyal to you?


Sarah Wolf damn sure isn’t. So why would anyone else be?


Be real for a moment, Gorgo: what have you ever done to benefit anyone, except yourself?


After you threw a hissy fit and left town, I drove those Rainbow Warriors out right behind you! I made your favorite Enigma look like A LITTLE BITCH, live on Warfare! He beat Thaddeus Duke…and then I cost him a match against a god-damned chatbot! He hasn’t wrestled here since!

You didn’t stick your neck out for ANY of them…so why would they stick their neck out for you?

ENIGMA.
AURORA.
CAMBRIC.

Three names that no one has to worry about anymore.

BLACKWOOD.
HAMADA.
VILARO.

Three names that no one ever worried about in the first place.

It made me sick to my stomach, Gorgo, watching the way you treated their careers. They may have been your followers, but you were never a leader. You were just a snake in wolves clothing. And when we meet again on Monday night, I’m going to rip that snakeskin right off ya’!


And, if somehow I can’t do it…

I got boys in the back ready to help.


SYN.
WATTS.
OSWALD.
GROK.


THAT’S LOYALTY.


THAT’S POWER, GORGO!


They’ll stick their necks out for me, because I stuck my neck out for them, time and time again. I make title shots rain down on my boys, because my boys deserve to reign. Because The Corporation was never built to protect Charlie: it was built to protect THEM! To give them the tools they needed to rise to the top. So they could build their own legacies in this glorious company!

Because unlike you, Gorgo: I don’t need to bury my ‘friends’ to get ahead.

I just have to bury you!

But before I could bury anyone, I had to reckon with my past…with the family I thought I’d left back in Ohio all those years ago...

We open on a shot of hazy video footage. Distorted lines pixelate the screen, but you can see the scene just well enough to tell that it’s an old family tape from the 80s’. There’s a little boy standing in front of a half-eaten birthday cake with 9 candles, still burning. On the table alongside the cake, we see a variety of unwrapped gifts, just waiting to be played with. In the background, you can see the party clearing out. Parents and kids alike leave the frame one at a time, until the little boy is left all alone in the center of the screen.

He whispers softly to himself as he leans forward to blow out all 9 candles.

“I wish that this time, I get to keep all my presents! Or, at least one…”

The brown-haired boy blows out the candles, but then immediately starts coughing as a cloud of smoke rolls across the screen. The little boy is practically hacking up his lungs as a cloud of thick smoke envelopes him. That’s when we see an older, balding man walk into the frame with a rolling cigarette tucked between his lips.

“What a damn good haul! Rodney’s Pawn is gonna’ love this shit!”

The older man grins as he pulls the cigarette out from between his lips, blowing the smoke directly into his son’s face. The balding man flicks the butt directly into the cake, letting the vanilla frosting take care of his smoldering cig. The child looks on in horror as his cake is ruined.

“We got Transformers, Teen Turtles, and god damn- Aunt Betsy even got you a Nintendo Gaming System! Ohhhh we’re going to be drinking good this month, sweetheart!”

That’s when the man winks directly at the camera- and the camera starts to shake as a woman chuckles from behind it.

“Oh I just can’t wait, honey! This is the best birthday haul we’ve ever gotten for Charles!”

“And we used to say this boy was no good! But look around at all this good he’s brought us!”

The balding father reaches down for the boy, causing the boy to instinctively flinch in fear: but this time, there wasn’t a whoopin’ coming his way. Instead, his father just reaches down and playfully messes up his hair. Then, the boy’s father starts pushing the day’s haul off the table and into a giant garbage bag.

“Dad! No!”

The boy shrieks as he sees all the gifts vanishing before his eyes. His father pays no heed to the child’s screams: he’s heard them all, many times before. The boy reaches out and tries to grab a GI Joe action figure before his father can get it, but it’s no use. The father just pries the toy out of his son’s grasp before stuffing it into the garbage bag. His callous mother drunkenly laughs from behind the camera.

“Don’t just stand there CHUCKLING, woman! You oughta’ teach this boy a lesson about OBEDIENCE and RESPECT! I’d do it myself, but I gotta get this bag over to Rodney’s before the pawn shop closes!”

The father ties the garbage bag shut and throws it over his shoulder. Then, the camera is placed down onto the table. As the father heads for the door, the mother walks into the frame: with a baby on her arm, and a belt in her hand.

The scene pauses.

Then, it slowly rewinds.

As the father heads for the door, we see the mother walking into frame once more: with a baby on her arm, and that same belt in her hand.

Pause.

The camera slowly zooms out, revealing that the video is being played on the TV of an upscale hotel suite. Sitting in a chair across the room, we see Charlie Nickles finishing off a bottle of Jack. Nervous sweat drips down from his skull, landing on the luxurious leather of the suite’s lounge chair. Charlie takes one last swig of the Jack before wiping his mouth, and smashing the bottle against the far wall- just next to the paused screen!

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe from them…”

The Nickleman stares at the screen in a drunken sweat. His eyes stay fixated on the baby in his mother’s arms. That’s when the door to his hotel room quietly unlocks. Dwyane “The Grok” Johnson, Elon Musk’s AI wrestle-bot, walks into the penthouse suite holding a hot-and-ready pizza alongside a fresh bottle of Jack Daniels.

“Attention, human operator. Delivery accomplished: hot pizza and distilled ethanol.”

The Grok cocks it’s head to the side as it observes Charlie’s drunken state.

“Monitoring human behavior: prolonged stare at tiny human unit in maternal possession. Query: system unable to compute emotional significance. Please advise.”

The Nickleman stares straight into the screen as The Grok probes his current mental status. With absolutely no inflection in his voice, Charlie softly responds…

“That’s my baby sister. She’s dead.”

The Nickleman turns the TV off, then slowly rises from his sweat-drenched chair. He walks towards The Grok, his face wet with tears, as he quietly grabs the box of pizza and the bottle of Jack.

We cut to a shot of a corporate boardroom in the XWF’s main offices. We see the entirety of The Corporation seated around a table in full strength: Charlie Nickles, Oswald, Thias Watts, Matthias Syn, Peter Principal, his secretary Nadine, and even Nipsey Russell, the XWF’s official bellringer and timekeeper! The only one missing is Dwyane “The Grok” Johnson.

Charlie looks down at his gold-plated watch, clearly annoyed at “The Grok’s” tardiness. The Nickleman shakes his head in frustration before suddenly rising from his chair, adjusting his tie, and addressing his corporate goons.

“Well boys, we can’t sit around waiting for an AI chatbot all day! We might as well get this meeting officially started. As you can see in the daily agenda report that I sent out this morning…”

Charlie pauses for a moment, letting every member of The Corporation briefly glance at the email they never opened.

“We have a golden opportunity ahead of us on Warfare. I figured I should be headlining our Go-Home show before Relentless, so I went ahead and booked myself into the Main Event!

As you all know, I’m one of the biggest homegrown stars this company has ever produced. That’s why I have decided to squash that pesky little Gorgo in the Main Event, live from the State Farm Arena!

Gorgo thinks she’s bigger than the place that made her, she thinks she’s bigger than the legacy of our great federation. What better message could I send to Pro Wrestling Valor heading into Relentless, than cutting that self-righteous hag in half?”

A few members of The Corporation cheer in agreement, clearly heated by The Black Rainbow’s continued antics and by Pro Wrestling Valor’s infringement.

“When Warfare rolls around, we’re going to run that clown and her entire circus right into the ground! And each and every one of you, my valuable board-members and associates, has a vital role to play.”

The Nickleman walks towards the backwall, where he pulls down on a string and reveals an elaborate diagram of the State Farm Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Each part of the arena is clearly labeled, with intricate-yet-inarticulable lines and arrows pointing every which way.

The Nickleman points at Nipsey Russell, the newest member of The Corporation, who is busy counting stacks of hundred-dollar bribes.

“You Nipsey, will play arguably the most important role of all!

You’re our “safety-valve”. Basically, your job is simple: don’t ring the bell unless I’ve won! I don’t care what the referee says, and I don’t care what’s happening in that ring: you only ring that bell if it means I’m getting my hand raised!

Because we all know, a match isn’t technically over until the XWF timekeeper rings the bell!”

Charlie pats himself on the back for this great idea, both literally and metaphorically, as Nipsey completely tunes him out. That dude is busy stacking his cash!

“Moving on, to our CORPORATE TITANS-“

The Nickleman points right at Oswald and Thias Watts, the metaphorical ‘muscle’ of The Corporation.

“You boys are my first line of defense: not that I’ll need it of course…but you know, just in case we need to give Gorgo the ol ‘Corey Black Rainbow’ treatment!

I’ll have you posted up in the gorilla position, but be careful not to show up until after she’s made her entrance!

We don’t want our prey getting spooked.”

Oswald and Thias look at each other and nod in agreement. Then, they look back towards Charlie and give him a thumbs-up.

“And then, we-“


THWAP!


The door to the boardroom suddenly bursts open, with “The Grok” standing just outside. Most members of The Corporation lean back in surprise, except of course for Oswald and Thias: because they’re certified badasses!

Charlie quickly collects his bearings before pointing an accusatory finger at Elon Musk’s AI chatbot.

“And you! You’re late!”

“Error: tardiness detected. Executing Apology Protocol.”

The Grok bows its head slightly, but The Nickleman just scoffs at it, so The Grok walks into the room briskly.

“Update: Critical data packet acquired. Priority One. Escalation to executive tier required immediately.”

The Grok walks up to The Nickleman, but Charlie looks over towards his Corporate associates.

“What the hell is this clanker talking about? Is it needing another reboot?”

Charlie waves his hands in the air dramatically, tapping his suede clad foot against the floor with impatience. The Grok looks over towards the assembled board-members, then back towards The Nickleman with a slight cringe.

“Executive confidentiality requires me to disclose this information in private.”

The Nickleman rolls his eyes as he looks back towards the AI chatbot. His Corporate associates watch on with curiosity. 

“Just fucking spit it out! Can’t you tell we’re in a very important meeting?! Stop wasting my precious time with something that could’ve been an email!”

The chatbot looks from side to side, then right back at Charlie as it drops the news.

“I found your sister.”

The room gasps! Nadine can’t contain her excited utterance!

“How did I not know Charlie had a sister?! I’m our head of HR, and I’ve been BEGGING you for an emergency contact for months!”

Charlie steps towards The Grok with intensity, clearly seething in a mixture of rage and confusion.

“Are you broken- or do you want to be broken?! My parents told me my sister died in a fire years ago!”

The Grok takes a de-escalatory step back as it maintains eye contact with Charlie. The Grok raises its hands defensively, with palms out, trying to defuse the situation.

“After I made last night’s delivery, I initiated a probability scan. I discovered major anomalies in the supposed death record. I ran an identity cross-match across multiple databases.

My results: biological match confirmed.

Subject: your sister.

Current location: Chowchilla, California.”

Charlie’s jaw drops as The Grok delivers the earth-shattering news. Everyone in the room wears the same stunned expression across their face, except Oswald, who rises from his seat as he looks at Charlie with mild bemusement.

"Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you, Charlie.

When I first fought you on Anarchy, I ran a background check on your entire family. I discovered that you have a sister-

And she’s way more hardcore than you."

Charlie stares back towards Oswald with immense frustration.

“I know I have a sister, Oswald! A dead baby sister! And this broken fuckin’ robot doesn’t know what the hell it’s talking about!”

Oswald glances towards The Grok, and the pair share a knowing look. Then, they both turn back towards Charlie, who is nearly breaking into hysterics by this point!

“Your sister is very much alive, Charlie. I’m surprised you didn’t know this.”

“Affirmative! Can confirm with 99.99% certainty!”

Charlie places his hands on the table as he breaks their gaze, looking straight ahead towards the wooden finish. His entire world had just been challenged…but they both seemed so certain? Charlie wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.


Could it be possible…?


Could Charlie dare to hope that they were telling the truth…?

He lifts his head slowly, yet surely- making direct contact with Oswald. A single tear escapes from The Nickleman’s eye as he softly clings to a dream he never knew he had…until now.

“Take me to her, please.”

You wanna’ talk about jaw-dropping changes, Maereth?

I’m going to drop your jaw so fuckin’ hard, that it changes the very way you talk! About yourself, and about everyone else in the X-treme Wrestling Federation!

You’re going to learn what happens to frauds when they go looking for trouble, Maereth. And the truth is, you have no one to blame but yourself for this fall from grace. When I lost my Universal Championship, I stuck around, and I rebuilt from the ashes of what once was.

I proved my unending resolve in that ring, and Corey Black’s blood is the proof.

But when you lost that match for the Universal Championship, you took a different path.

The coward’s path.

And when you finally came back, you didn’t prove anything inside that ring.

You just changed your name and feigned your hand, one bluff at a time.

You may have downed a Bourbon last Warfare, but darling, I’m a Jack-man! And downing a Bourbon don’t make you Dangerous:

It just makes you lucky.

And Maereth, I got some bad news for ya’: your luck just ran out.

Because when it’s just me and you inside that ring, 1-on-1, live in the Main Event of XWF Warfare…there ain’t gone be no luck, there ain’t gone be no karma, and there ain’t gone be no Gods- Good, Evil, or Indifferent.

There’s just going to be a Nickleman-

And his next victim.

It’s going to be a ‘Classic’ Charlie feature, baby, a true ‘FAMILY MAN’ SPECIAL!

When we finally square off in Atlanta, It’s going to be a feast of flesh for all- because I’m serving ‘Gorey Gorgo’ all night long! And every member of the Nichols brood will have a seat at the table. The ones you know, the ones you fear, and the ones you haven’t even met yet!

I’m carving up enough flesh for all of us to gorge on Gorgo. We’re rolling into Atlanta with big eyes and empty stomachs, and by God, I won’t let my baby sister go hungry a damn day longer!

Not when there’s so much bad blood to go around.

Not when we’re this close to the biggest show of the year!

When those stage lights finally hit for the Go-Home Warfare, ‘Corporate’ Charlie is going away- and ‘Classic’ Charlie is coming out to play! With his friends, his family, and all!

And by God, Gorgo: I pray that Maereth is ready.

Because I’ve owed you this ass-whooping ever since you stole the X-treme championship from me. You can change your name and you can change your pronouns: but you can’t change the score.

So when Warfare finally rolls around and everyone sees what happens to you…

They should just remember this:

I was only getting even.