The agents of the matrix wanted to ensure James Shark had no part in War Games.
Or maybe it was the Wrestling Gods that had pity on y’all.
Trust me, if it was up to me - I would have shown up and caused beautiful destruction. Fortunately for the nice men and women of the XWF some greater power had intervened and shifted my focus in a different direction….
DECEMBER 6 2024 || 5:48 PM
A television mounted high up on the wall flickers to life and immediately reveals a mugshot of James Shark wearing an orange jumpsuit. The familiar tone of a sudden news report blares throughout the room of a Texas Jailhouse - demanding attention as something major has just happened.
For weeks, fans had questioned Shark’s inactivity on social media and lack of involvement at War Games. His absence was strange considering he just made a huge return to wrestling, picked up a major win.
But now it appeared all questions would finally be answered.
A female reporter’s voice can be heard speaking over the flashing images of Shark. Big headlines cover the screen such as ‘GOING TO JAIL’ and ‘WRESTLING CAREER OVER’.
“We bring you breaking news out of Dallas, Texas today as the TV Champion of the Xtreme Wrestling Federation, James Shark has stepped into a whole new kind of ring - this time, the legal system.”
“Known for his cocky personality and a career built around controversy, Trash Talk Royalty himself could be facing up to a maximum of two years in prison. The charge? Parental Kidnapping - also known as Interference with Child Custody - along with violating a restraining order from his ex-wife Harley Jo.”
“This shocking saga unfolded yesterday morning when Shark flew to Texas and went to the school his four year old daughter was at and picked her up in the early morning without authorization.
By the time an amber alert was issued - Shark had already disappeared with the child. It wasn’t until approximately 11 hours later that Shark returned her unharmed to her home.”
“Although Shark returned to action in November, it appears he will need to go back into retirement as this will affect his career. Shark has an extensive criminal record which experts believe will be likely to affect any leniency from the judge.”
“Aight - turn that shit off, already!”
Shark’s voice breaks out, sounding agitated as some laughter could be heard in the background from the officers in the room.
Shark stands behind bars in a holding cell, gripping onto the steel bars tightly as he stares a hole through the officers that are across his cell, sitting behind a desk.
Two of them could be seen taking photos and posing with his TV Championship while another makes eye contact with him and walks towards him.
“I don’t know why you’re giving me that look, bud. Your actions have consequences.”
“Your department should hold they word. When y’all booked me in last night I was told I’d get VIP treatment.”
The officer nods his head as puts his hands out.
“And you are. You don’t like our VIP accomodations?”
Shark rolls his eyes and turns his head over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of what is behind him. Another inmate is passed out on a bench from intoxication, their upper body covered in vomit while their pants are drenched in urine. The smell was awful and it was clearly obvious why Shark was pressed up against the steel bars - he wanted to be as far away as possible.
“Can’t say I do”
“You know I was at the scene that night, right?”
Shark tilts his head to the side, confused at what he meant. Shark looks over at the nametag the Officer was wearing: S. Richards, it didn’t ring a bell.
“I was one of the responding Officers when you overdosed in Vegas. I used to work out there for a bit. And now here we are. Isn’t that interesting?”
Shark takes a deep breath, looking down at the cement floor, gripping the steel bars tighter.
“You’re lucky to be alive. I would have thought that whole ordeal would have been a lesson learned for you. But again. Here we are.”
“Yeah, here we are”
“I just don’t get it. A guy like you. All the talent in the world. Money, success, women. A lot of guys would kill to be in your shoes. A lot of people would be grateful. Do good things with the opportunity. But not you.”
“Nope, not me.”
“No. You consistently throw it all away. Over and over, aga-.”
Shark quickly looks up and snaps for a moment, interrupting Officer Richards with sarcasm.
“I didn’t know the VIP treatment came with a counseling session.”
Shark was already agitated and without sleep, this topic just made the whole situation much worse.
“This is great. Do y’all have a tip jar? Somewhere I can leave a review? I mean, wow, gettin’ lectured by some fat cop that has no clue what he’s talking about while I inhale the smell of your Five Guys breath and another man’s bodily fluids.”
Now it’s Richards’s turn to snap back, he steps forward and gets closer so he is face to face with Shark - only the bars separating them.
“That attitude is exactly why you can’t dig yourself out of the holes you create.”
“Only you don’t know me. Folks could kill to be in my shoes but it don’t mean they’d last.”
“You feel good about yourself?”
“Do YOU feel good about yourself? I’m NOT the bad guy here, bruh.
Shark shakes the bars, raising his voice.
“While your co-workers play with my Championship and you stand here with a thumb up your ass - there’s REAL bad shit goin’ on. People gettin’ murdered, women gettin’ raped, children gettin’ -
“ - Taken?”
Shark ungrips the bars and steps forward, his chest hitting the steel. There is a tense staredown between the two of them, the officers at the desk stop posing with the TV Championship as they notice the stand off. One of them steps out of the desk to intervene but suddenly a woman walks past him, tall, confident, the way she carries herself demands respect.
The two officers at the desk look at one another clearly surprised to see her here. Her sharp leather jacket and even sharper gaze was enough to make even veteran Officers stand a little straighter. She bravely steps to Officer Richards and clears her throat.
“Solomon. Step away from my client and open the cell door, now.”
Richards mouth drops open for a second. He looks at the woman then over at Shark. The woman flashes some signed paperwork that confirms Shark’s bail has been posted. Richard glances over it and lets out a defeated sigh as he unlocks the door.
“Camila Vasquez. Why am I not surprised?”
He opens the cell door and gives Shark a look.
“No wonder you get away with everything - she’s your lawyer.”
Camila wasn’t just any lawyer. She was known as one of America’s best. Prior to becoming a lawyer, she had spent the majority of her career in the District Attorney’s office, handling everything from corporate fraud to cartel takedowns. She was part of high profile cases that made headlines across America.
Camila switched over to private defense a few years ago but not a lot of people knew she was in Shark’s pocket. Shark steps out the cell and frowns.
“What took you so long? ”
Camila’s no nonsense attitude comes out as she points her finger at Shark’s face immedaitely.
“Don’t start”
Shark puts his hands up and walks past her, he walks over to the other officers and snatches his Championship off of the desk. He can hear their whispers as he walks away.
“That woman was a criminal’s nightmare, now she’s defending people like Shark!?”
Camila meets Shark halfway towards the exit. Shark looks around, he was surprised his head trainer and mentor was nowhere to be found.
“Clayton?”
“Just me.”
“Wow. OG really cares.”
“He’s livid. He saw this coming a mile away. It’s exactly why he didn’t want you back in wrestling to begin with. You’re enough trouble as it is but with wrestling you just become chaotic. He said you can’t get out of your own way.”
“Man I ain’t tryna hear all that now, I already heard enough from ‘Big Back’ over there. What was bail at?”
“$47,000”
Shark had his hand on the door about to open it but as soon as he heard the figure he let go and turned his head in shock.
“You said WHAT!?”
“You violated a restraining order, triggered an amber alert, and resisted arrest among other things.”
“That’s some bullshit. They even making it an odd number just to tug on my nuts.”
“I could have knocked it down to at least 40 if you would have just done as I asked and kept your mouth shut during the hearing.”
“I was defending myself!”
“THAT’S MY JOB. ‘Trash Talk Royalty’ doesn’t apply in the courtroom. You leave all that to ME in there!”
Camila yelled out sternly. Her loud voice is followed by silence, then laughter from across the room. Shark turns his head to see the Officers amused.
“Walking Diabities over there really enjoying you poppin’ off on me.”
“Then shut up and go so we can talk in a more private setting because I’m NOT done.”
Shark shakes his head and storms out the door, Camila follows behind and the two quickly rush down to the parking garage, avoiding the public’s eye. They enter the back of a limousine that’s waiting for them.
The two get into the backseat and sit across from one another. Camila doesn’t take her eyes off of him.
“Shark. You’re going to need to control your fucking temper from here on out. I understand this is not how you were planning to spend your Friday evening - but you play stupid games, then you win stupid prizes.”
“Oh, so me tryin’ to be involved in my daughter’s life is a stupid game? What was I supposed to do? Harleen ain’t dropping the restraining order.”
“Your approach was stupid James, yes, it was fucking stupid. You just single handely eliminated any chance of seeing her any time soon so I hope the 11 hours was worth it.”
James opens his mouth to speak but no words come out. Not only is he mentally exhausted from today’s rollercoaster of events but Camila’s words hit home.
He looks down and shakes his head, the two ride in silence for a couple minutes before he speaks.
“Sometimes I feel like I aint ever left Silent Hill. Leadin’ up to that match with Mastermind I just kept havin’ these recurring dreams. Just some god awful shit, Camila. Some real nightmare fuel. All about Kaydence and how I ain’t there for her.”
Camila’s expression doesn’t change, she watches James as he speaks.
“You could have called me before acting erratically.”
“Harley wasn’t gonna stop. She blocked me everywhere. First it was less visitations then supervised visits. Then BAM! Restraining order. Like come on Cam’, a blind man could have seen how this was playin’ out. I had to see Kaydence again. Even if that was gonna be the last.”
“It won’t be the last but you’re making it impossible to stay in her life.”
“You don’t think I know that? I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to see her. There was too much time lost. I hadn’t seen her since damn near losin’ my life last year. I wanted her to see my TV title, see that her Dad is a Champion again. I needed her to hear me say how much I love and how I will always love her. I didn’t think I was ever gonna get that chance. If that was the last time I see her then at least…”
Shark’s voice starts to crack a bit as he pauses to recompose himself. It was very rare to see him in this form. Finally, there was a change in Camila’s expression, a bit of sympathy could be shown as she reached over and put a hand on his leg, allowing him to continue.
“....I don’t even know if she’ll remember. She’s still so young. But goddamn you should have seen the look on her face when she saw me. Happiest I ever seen. All that deep emotion she felt has to be remembered. I just want her to be able to look back on this day and know this ain’t my choice.”
Camila nods her head and sits back.
“Then don’t give up on her. But let me take care of that part. We have to fight this first. Your court date is February 16. I’m not looking to deny guilt. The evidence is overwhelming. I’m goin to do my best to keep you out of jail but I need you to promise me you’re going to let me do my job. I don’t need any more surprises from you.”
Shark lets out a low sigh before nodding his head.
“So a couple months, what am I gonna do till then?”
Camila looks over at Shark’s TV Championship resting on his lap, she nods her head towards it.
“I like how that looks on you. Keep it. We can portray you as a successful, disciplined professional.”
Shark begins to laugh out loud. The idea of someone labling him as a disciplined professional seemed so far-fetched. However he stops laughing when he sees the death stare Camila was giving him. He knew that if anyone was going to be able to convince people of that in a courtroom - it was her.
“As I was saying. We can portray you as someone that takes his career seriously. Someone the locker room looks up to. Not the reckless degenerate they all think you are.”
Shark looks down at his Championship and slowly nods his head. He then begins to smirk.
“Well they got me against Latoya Hixx for my first defense so I’ll be good.”
“Wrong.”
Shark blinks. Confused.
“That’s not who you are facing. You know I’m not a fan of this stuff but that’s definitely not the name I remember seeing.”
“The hell you talking about!? Who am I facing???”
There was some panic in his voice.
He was never one to shy away from a challenge but after last night’s events the last thing he needed was a tough opponent.
A long line up of XWF wrestlers begin to flash into his mind, wondering who it could be. The only two names that he felt made sense were Cypher and Madison Dyson given their verbal exchanges.
Camila searches for the event on her phone.
“Here it is. Warfare. December 16. James Shark puts his XWF Television Championship on the line against…… Charlie Nickles.”
“Oh for FUCK SAKE.”
Shark grabs his Championship and tosses it over to where Camila is sitting in frustration.
“Y’all are killing me man. What is this? Just give Shark bad news day?”
“Not a suitable opponent for you?”
“No it ain’t, this motherfucker is a goddamn cockroach. No matter what you do he won’t die. Dude held this title twice already too!”
Camila grabs the Championship and shoves it back onto his lap.
“Well you better make sure he doesn’t get it a third time.”
“Yea whatever. Anyways, you got any good news for me???”
Shark says, looking defeated as the limousine comes to a halt. Camila winks and reaches forward, pushing open the door.
“I just might.”
As Camila opens the door, Shark catches sight of someone standing outside. He instinctively leans forward and tries to get a better look. The moment his eyes locked onto the figure, his frace froze in disbelief - like he’d just seen a ghost.
Standing before him was none other than Gunnila Kempe. A former training partner, good friend and lowkey ex-girlfriend. It had been over a year since they’d last seen or even spoken to each other, now here she stood, as if stepping straight out of a memory.
Gunnila puts her hands on her hips and shoots him a playful glare.
“We’re supposed to cause trouble together, asshole. I’m not impressed by this.”
The scene opens to a skyline view of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The bright lights from the city glow in the night sky. Suddenly the city begins to blur as a figure walks into focus.
James Shark appears, wearing all black, four diamond necklaces hanging from around his neck, the XWF Television Championship in hand.
Aura.
Charlie Nickles.
Welcome to what will be, the worst day of your fucking life.
It’s hard to explain to a non-wrestling fan why you are a tough match-up for me. I mean, look at you.
You look like the smelly homeless man outside of my local 7/11 that is constantly smearing his own feces on his face!
But every TRUE wrestling fan knows that I got my hands full here. Every real fan knows you are nobody to fuck with. You have paid your dues with some of the most violent beatdowns I’ve personally ever seen.
When I told my people that I was goin’ to return to the ring, they all said it was a bad idea. They said that because of opponents like YOU. They were petrified over the thought of me goin’ toe to toe with someone like YOU.
An unhinged, sick, twisted, bastard that will take everything I throw at him and just keep on coming.
But that’s where the dick sucking stops.
Your toughness and ability to take punishment don’t phase me. You like to brawl and you’re damn good at it, so what? I could walk into any bar right now and find thirty of you idiots.
You’re nothing special, Charlie.
Controversial? As far as I’m concerned, the only thing ‘Controversial’ about you is the fact that you have bigger tits than Aurora.
You know what I see when I look at you and your career? A glorified punching bag.
At 45 years of age, the side effects are already on display. You’ll be sitting in some old folks home soon as a fucking vegtable from all the abuse you’ve taken so far.
But damn, gotta admit - the fact that you hold that Xtreme Championship really makes my dick hard. Christmas is definately coming early for me because now I get to have another Championship.
I know you looking at this match as history in the making. You want to win this Television Championship for a third time. Be a double Champion. All that good shit.
But understand that nobody gives a fuck about that. It’s been done before. What I’mma do? That’s REAL history.
In my XWF debut I captured the TV title - and in only my second match I’m going to capture the Xtreme title.
That’s TWO matches, TWO wins and TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS. I’m going to speedrun this company at everybody’s expense.
For a guy that has been profusely masturbating to my Wikipedia page for the past week, I just don’t understand how you didn’t see this coming. Like how did you not comprehend the threat that was before you???
Maybe it’s because you only read what you wanted to see. Fixated on an opportunity to cancel me with criminal records from fifteen to twenty years ago that you know NOTHING about.
Out there parading around like a little whore begging for attention with all the information you ‘uncovered’ from a few clicks.
“Please guys, Shark is a real lowlife, he should be runned out of this industry!”
Don’t call yourself Controversial, a better word would be Contradictory - you smelly, little hobo.
I think everybody knows if XWF was a good person contest, James Shark loses every time. I think people ALSO know that you’d lose alongside me. So what were you really trying to prove?
Did your family not LEAVE you? Why? I heard it's because you couldn’t provide for them financially and spent too much time slitting your wrists.
OOOF…
I’m the last person to speak on family right now BUT at least I’m trying to make things right. What did you do?
You just got all angry, turned into “THE INCREDIBLE HOBO” and started attacking your co-workers outside of the ring.
Not even to their face. From behind. Very brave of you, chicken-shit.
Wrestlers are one thing. We’re trained to expect stuff like that, we signed up for this. But what about the production staff? They ain’t trained! But you went after them too, didn’t you?
Oh-oh-wait- It gets better…..
What about that time you took a steel chair and used it to smack the holy shit out of a fan!???
But I’m the lowlife right, y’all?
No wonder Connie, Emily and Tyler skidaddled.
Failed as a man to yourself.
Failed as a man to your family.
Failed as a man in your career.
I don’t need to find your Wikipedia page to know that’s the story of your life. We’re all sinners, bruh - but only one of us is a man and don’t be pretendin’ otherwise.
I’d love nothin’ more than to get Connie’s fine ass some tickets to Toronto’s Warfare show but she’s still probably gettin’ throat fucked by “Pedro”. How you lose your wife to a four foot dude that speaks no word of english is beyond me.
Maybe your kids can have tickets, though?? I got Emily and Tyler in the front row. Just don’t hit them with a steel chair, okay? Even though they’ll be cheering me on they still your kids at the end of the day.
Man. I hope people are uncomfortable listening to this. I hope they can feel the disdain I have for you. If it isn’t already apparent to you -this is personal for me. You made it that way.
Should have just kept your head down and let me do the trash talking. But no. You had to go shoot yourself in the foot.
Speaking of shooting…
I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the one that really shot yourself in the head in 2021. You’re just a weak little boy that still can’t shake his depression away. I could give a fuck less if you my elder.
You can ‘Sharkboy’ this and ‘Sharkboy’ that all you want but we all see who the real boy is here, Nickleboy.
It’s laughable that you try to come off as anything else.
Take the other day for example: You’re standing tall at that podium, wearing a suit for the first time in your life, acting all confident, smart ass attitude with nothing coming out of your mouth but diarrhea.
You have the audacity to go up there and say I’m not a Champion? Do you see what this is, bruh? Is this not a Championship to you?
Shark lifts up the XWF Television Championship to the camera. The camera then zooms in and focuses on the nameplate.
What does that say? It says my name, you stinky, illiterate fuck! Meaning I hold this Championship.
Do you know what that means?? It means James Shark is a Champion, shit-for-brains.
In fact - I’m a multiple time Champion. I’m a Champion that’s beaten other Champions, I’m a Champion that’s held multiple titles at once. I’m a Champion that was away from the game for a goddamn decade and became a Champion AGAIN.
Charlie Nickles won’t change that. Casper the friendly ghost crawling into his asshole and callin’ himself Demos won’t change that either.
Put on that leather mask on Monday. See how far that takes you.
So again, Charlie Nickles, welcome to what will be the worst day of your fucking life. And the best night of mine.
James Shark, still, XWF Television Champion.
James Shark, new, XWF Xtreme Champion.
Could care less about giving one up. History will remember me holdin’ both.
Thanks for the cheese.