“Really, Sloan?”

The setting wasn’t important. We could be in a butcher’s shop freezer, on top of Brooklyn Bridge, or nestled in the fertile slopes of Mount Vesuvius, none of that would affect the message needed to be conveyed right now.

“Yous really wanna play this game with me?”

Dentari ran his fingers backwards through his hair to take it away from his eyes. It was late in the day, but he couldn’t let the goading from Mike Sloan slip by unchecked.

“Ok then, but don’t say i didn’t warn yous.” He said shaking his head. He paused before adding plainly and simply. “Sloan, You ain't won shit.“

He wanted so desperately to leave it there and let that be the end. He really did. He wanted to use those five simple words and nothing more as an exclamation mark, but he knew had he left it there even the most unpredictable of opponents would resort to saying the cat had his tongue.

“At the end a' that night who had their hands raised in victory?” Alceo asked, slightly in disbelief that he actually had to ask the question, “Havin’ trouble rememberin’? ‘Cause it sure seems that way. I'll give you a hint shall I? It weren't yous. 'Cause yous was the one on his back counting' the lights after Yoshikazu YAZ, a guy who ain’t even made the playoffs, knocked you out with the Shotei.”

“Any a’ that comin’ back to yous now?”

“You wanna brag about bein' three points behind me? How about you stop flappin' them gums an' pay attention to what really matters.” Said Alceo making the old chatty sign with his hand “One on one, I ain’t lost. Ain’t nobody been able to stop me since week one a’ this here league, an’ ain’t nobody gonna do so neither. Not you, not Sam Turner Jr, not Heidi Christenson, not Jimmy Kort, not nobody!”

An intense fire burned in Alceo’s eyes as he rattled off the list of whomever he could remember scraping their way into the playoffs. He knew he was forgetting somebody... but then they probably weren’t important enough to be remembered.

“All that experience you wanna brag about ain't gonna help yous against me. ‘Cause what a’ yous got to show for all them years wrestlin’?” He asked with a smile “A nice, lengthy losin’ streak back in the early weeks a’ the league, an’ a lucky last grab at points to claw your way into the playoffs.”

“An forgive me for sayin’, Mike, but if it weren’t for Eugene Dewey growin’ a set an’ knockin’ Jiles out I doubt you’da been able to take hold a’ them final ten points at all.” He added, once again with a big ol’ grin.

“Allow me make a suggestion, Mike?” Alceo said, still smiling, “Yous shouldn’t be coming down to the ring to ‘Symphony Of Destruction, nah, try somethin’ a little more fittin’... A little more you... ‘Skin Of’ My Teeth’ maybe.”

He was proud of that one, the smugness was written across his face. That disipated fairly quickly though as he got right back down to business.

“Make sure you got your hearin' aid turned up full, pops, 'cause yous need to hear this.” Alceo said as he tapped on his own ear and mimed turning a dial on the side of his head. He paused for a second, probably to give ‘Old Man Sloan’ enough time to make the necessary adjustments, “Maybe yous gettin' a little senile in your old age, so i'll let yous referin' to my ring as yours slide. I got every right to take exception though, 'cause your only points for six weeks came at my expense. Meanwhile, durin’ that exact same match, I wrapped my hands around the neck a' Evolution an' didn't let go till they was prised apart by Sam Turner Jr. an' his unparalleled ability to stab all a' us in the backs.”

“You say I weren’t nobody back then? Go back, watch the tapes, find the points tables. If yous can find one week before WarGames where Evolution didn’t read ‘Number one, Alceo Dentari’ I’ll gladly eat my own foot like yous so intent on makin’ me do.” Alceo said confidently with his arms spread wide at his sides “Problem is, you ain’t gonna find it, ‘cause it don’t exist.”

And right he was. Even though the first couple of weeks could be considered a technicality based on nothing more than the alphabet, Alceo’s name had topped the points tally ever since the first match in Evolution history.

“Mikey, I’ve been fixin’ to win this league since day one. Right now yous, Sam Turner Jr., an’ one a’ them other schmucks are standin’ between me an’ that final, An’ I tell yous what, none a’ yous are gonna stop me from becomin’ the master a’ wrestlin’.”

“Ain’t that a kick in the head.”

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