Be Brave

Apocalypse 2025 #2

{{ Thursday, September 12
Harvey, LA
Amy’s house }}

Everyone is familiar with the phrase ‘be careful what you wish for,’ very few moreso than Amy Chastaine. Many times in her career she’s asked for or demanded someone to step into the ring with her… only to later wonder if it’s worth it, and on a few occasions, regret the whole thing. An even shorter list of people have made her question if the cost was worth it more than once. One of those people?

James Evans.

Long-time SCW fans know that this isn’t the first time Amy has crossed paths with James. Ten years ago, James got overly offended when Amy refused an advance, and he harassed her and stalked her until she had no choice but to fight back in the best way she knew how – in the ring. It was a match she wanted, and she won it by making James submit. But the depths the whole thing dragged her to, reminiscent of the abuse she endured at the hands of her first husband, along with the personal issues she was enduring at the time, made her wonder if she had done the right thing.

Fast forward to now, where Amy had gone into the Flame with two goals: make things hard for the men who attacked her, and survive to chase James Evans for being the man who pulled the strings. She had made her intentions very clear in her blog post before that show. James was the World Champion at the time but that didn’t matter to Amy. Win or lose, for either of them, she was zeroed in on her target… Until her target was injured and rumored to be gone for a long time, perhaps for good. Amy turned her wrath to the man who’d actually hurt her and she got her justice for that at Rise to Greatness. It may seem like we’ve already covered that, but bear with this narrator if you will.

Following the post-Rise break, the birth of Bree and Josh’s daughter, the start of Loki’s training at BlackOut, SCW got back into gear and Amy had a few loose ends to tie up. She had just paid what she owed to the Shinigami Foundation by distracting Creek and LeCavalier, allowing the Foundation to claim the Tag Titles, when James Evans stunned everyone by running out and leveling Wil Peirce before turning his attention to her. Everyone else in the ring seemed shocked to see him, but Amy was not.

Her target was back in play.

Amy didn’t waste any time in calling James out, demanding to face him at Apocalypse. And that is where the phrase ‘be careful what you ask for’ enters. Amy was unable to attend Breakdown last night, as she was one trainer short at BOA for the week. James Evans obviously knew this and took the opportunity to brutally attack not only Simon, but Jaina too.

Maybe the cost was finally too much.

Jaina had insisted she was okay, despite her bruised ribs, but Amy couldn’t keep from blaming herself. Ever since Jaina was three years old she had been a target for Amy’s enemies in the ring. She should have known better than to antagonize a man as dangerous as James and then not be at TV where she could keep an eye on things. Everyone at BOA told her it couldn’t be helped, and rationally she knows that. It upsets her just the same, though.

None of this made Amy feel any better about Loki beginning classes. Amy hadn’t told anyone about the conversation she heard between Loki and Josh, but it weighed on her mind. She’d heard them in the middle of it, but it wasn’t hard to figure out that Loki had been talking about wanting to learn a more violent style than anyone expected, and Josh tried talk him out of it. Amy had to admit that her son had a quickness and fluidness that can only come from a natural ability, the result of being the progeny of two very skilled wrestlers. In watching Loki go through the beginner drills, she had to blink a few times and remind herself that was her son out there, because his movements reminded her so much of his father, Dustin Diablo. The fact that the man had been dead for the last several years made it even more eerie.

So, imagine Amy’s trepidation as she walks past Loki’s bedroom door on her way to her own room to shower before bed, when she hears a familiar voice from his TV speak Dustin’s name; a line of commentary she’d heard many times over. There’s no way Loki could be watching that match, could he?

Amy knocks on the door, but doesn’t wait for an answer before opening it and stepping in. Loki looks up, and quickly pauses the TV. On the screen is a chamber match, paused as Amy is starting to climb one of the pods. She was right – Loki was watching VWA’s 7th Circle of Hell from 2015. The one she won, but more concerning at the moment was it’s also the one Dustin was also in and Amy eliminated him from the match by beating the absolute shit out of him with a steel pipe. The officials declared him unable to continue and had him carted out. Amy just stares at the frozen screen, knowing exactly what point in the match it was. Before she jumped off of that pod and destroyed her knee the first time, and before she picked up the pipe.
“Mom….”
“When did you decide to watch this?” Amy speaks still staring at the screen. At the time she had barred Jaina and Loki from seeing the match, and prevented them from watching it for years. She never wanted Loki to see it at all, and it had taken her a long time to be okay with the idea of Jaina seeing as she got older. There were very few matches in Amy’s career where she went as far as she did that night over ten years ago, but this one was different. Dustin didn’t leave that cage under his own power, and she had been the cause of it.
“I dunno, a few weeks ago. Thought that if I was gonna watch video to learn from, I should start with your most famous ones. Or, infamous I guess. Both you and Jaina never wanted me to watch, so it had to be something terrible, right?”
Amy sighs, leaning against the door frame. “Loki… at the time I didn’t want either of you to see it—”
“Don’t, Mom. Don’t try to explain, or apologize, or whatever it was you were gonna say. We know why. And you were probably right at the time. I hadn’t fully understood yet the kind of person he truly is, was. But now it’s pretty clear he deserved what you did, and everyone knows it. Especially me, and especially after what happened when he turned up here when you and Dad got married.”
Dustin had crashed the wedding, angry at the fact Amy contacted him to sign over his parental rights so Wyatt could adopt Loki. Shortly afterwards… Dustin was dead, by his own hand and a high caliber handgun. This was the first time Loki had come close to discussing any of it in years. Amy goes into the room fully and sits on the edge of the bed next to Loki.
“It was never just about that, though. About him. I knew you’d eventually see the truth. I just… never wanted you to see me like that. I know I’ve done some pretty brutal things since then, but…. That?” Amy gestures to the still-paused screen. “That was different. You know, I don’t even remember doing it?”
“That’s what Jaina told me. But I don’t know why you wouldn’t want us to see you fight like that, no matter who you were fighting. You were a badass, Mom! You still are. Since you went back for the Flame, even before that when you fought Ryan when we still thought he was Simon. You shouldn’t be ashamed of how you had to be sometimes.”
“I’m not ashamed, Lo. I’m proud of my career, and most of my actions…. It’s just… you’re my son. No parent wants their kids to see them like that.”
“That’s just it, though. I am your son. But I’m his, too, as much as all of us would rather ignore that. We never talk about it anymore, but we both know I have it inside me, mostly from him but you too. Isn’t it better to learn to deal with it now, instead of have it explode out of me when I can’t control it? Like in school when I broke that kid’s wrist, remember that?” Amy nods. She remembers, that Loki hurt the other boy because he had said something cruel about Dustin’s suicide. “See? So I started watching stuff. Yours and his.” Loki points to a small stack of DVDs. “Remember that box of DVD’s he sent me for Christmas the year of this match? And the figure with the mask, the rare one?”
“I remember. You didn’t open it until your birthday. I thought you got rid of those.” The figure was still on the shelf. Amy always wondered why Loki kept it; she knew it couldn’t be because of the value.
“Nah, I just shoved them to the back of my closet. What if I wanted to watch it again some day? Well, that’s now. And I gotta tell you Mom, now that I’m older? It all looks different. As a kid, before he disappointed me one too many times… I just thought it all looked cool. Even the more brutal stuff I knew you didn’t like me seeing. Now though? I can see the why. With his stuff and with yours. Most people get normal, regular matches. But some get that.” Loki gestures to the TV again. “Not everyone deserves to be demolished by that dark stuff.”
“No, they don’t. In fact, most don’t.”
“But the ones that do? The deserve every ounce of it. There’s no in between. And that’s what I want to do, Mom. Know the difference, control when to let that “devil” loose, so to speak.” Amy shakes her head at the word play. “There’s no point in fighting who I am. I might as well start learning now how to use it.”
There’s no debating the point. “I suppose that’s better than pretending it doesn’t exist. I just want you to be cautious. Keep your head. And never be afraid to come to me with anything. I know I’ve always said that to you growing up, but that was personal. Now I mean business. When it comes to the ring, I am no longer Mom.”
Loki nods, he’d already accepted that distinction when he started class. “Okay. Then I want to t ell you something. This thing with James Evans? He deserves that.” Loki points at the TV once more.
“You think so?”
“Mom! He tried to get his cult to take you out, he won’t even give you the respect of doing it himself. That’s a bigger insult than trying at all. Just last night he jumped your friend and my sister just because you called him out.”
“Okay, you have a point.” Amy wouldn’t admit that she had already thought about what she would have to do, how deep she would have to dig, to be prepared to face James again.
“So give it to him. All of it.”
“I don’t know if I have all of that in me anymore. That match was ten years ago, I’ve put my body through a lot since then.”
“Yeah, but so has he. If you don’t have all of that, you can still give him everything you have left.”
Amy pauses a moment, the words striking her in a way she doesn’t think Loki meant it.
“You know… I just might do that.” Amy gets up and grins. “I’ll let you get back to that.”
Loki just nods and unpauses the TV. Amy resists the urge to turn and watch herself jump off the pod.

Instead, she walks out and across the hall to her own bedroom. Closing the door, she leans against it, eyes closed. Her worst fear was happening – Loki was going to become just like his father. He obviously has the same psychological intelligence. He has a natural ability that would only improve in time. And there was that conversation she heard between him and Josh. It was happening, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She could refuse to train him, but he’d just go somewhere else once he’s eighteen and then she’d have zero control at all. If she had a hand in it, maybe she could mitigate some of the darker tendencies.

If this was the kind of mentality Loki wanted to bring to the ring… she had to get out of it. Amy wanted no part of being around to watch her son descend into darkness up close. Give James all she has left? Yes. Great idea. Come Apocalypse, Amy decides that win or lose… she was leaving it all in the ring. Including her boots.

September 20
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Hello once again, Dear Readers, and welcome to the deepest recesses of my mind.

I won’t pretend that haven’t often used this platform as a sort of…. Public journal, to express my thoughts, work out some frustration, all while giving all of you a reason to tune in and watch me do what I do best. But this time might be a little different.

This time… I’m writing about James Evans.

I’ve done that before, more than a few times. But now on the day before I’m set to face him again, for the first time one on one in almost ten years…. I gotta tell you my friends, I have some feelings about this.

After I defeated James back in 2016, I watched as he’s come and gone from the SCW ranks several times. I’ve done the same – hell, I had a whole retirement that I came back from in that time. I’ve watched as he pretended to be a good guy who learned from his mistakes, fooled everyone into believing that he’d overcome all the mental health issues he’s seemed to struggle with for most of, if not all, of his career. Watched as he became World Champion. Did things to others that made even the toughest and jaded people in the locker room and in the fan base cringe. And through it all, I wondered…. When would everyone else see what I knew? When would James stop pretending to be anything other than what he is? A cold, violent man who cares about no one but himself and nothing but his own interests?

And here we are. The latest version of himself that James has decided to present to us all. Leader of Fall of Man. Some kind of mentor or advisor to Waylon Creek and Billy Heaven, and to a certain extent, Ryan LeCavalier. But most of all, a sadistic individual who will stop at nothing to remove those he sees as obstacles to his success.

I’m not sure I was actually seen as an obstacle. I was just a means to an end, when James was trying to get into Simon’s head, after Simon made a comment about his intentions of becoming World Champion. James couldn’t stand to hear anyone was planning on coming after him, taking what he felt was his. And so… he had Fall of Man try to take me out, just to send a message to Simon.

I don’t think he anticipated my resilience, or my refusal to just let it all go. He forgot who he’s dealing with. While James was recovering from… whatever it was Chris Dumont may or may not have done to him, I made it my mission to show Fall of Man that they can’t just attack and try to injure anyone they want and get away with it. James wasn’t around for me to continue to find a way to make him face consequences for what he tried to do to me. Waylon Creek was, and given he’s the one who got his hands dirty, I was okay with that.

But James fooled everyone, once again. He made SCW think he was too hurt to return any time soon, but I have to say I was not surprised at all to see him when he ran out to the ring after the Tag Title match where Creek suffered one more consequence of fucking with me. Here’s the thing… I don’t think James was injured at all. Not physically. Sure, Dumont knocked him down pretty hard, but we’ve all seen James take harder falls and more brutal hits than that and show up for work a week later. No, I think the only thing that was injured… was his pride. So he took a short vacation to collect himself, then picked his moment to “shock” SCW. And here’s something else I don’t think many people have concluded. James didn’t do it to take control of Fall of Man back. Or to make the Shinigami Foundation pay for taking the Tag Titles away from them.

Nah, he did it for one reason and one reason only.

Me.

James knew I called him out around the Flame. He knew I was coming after him no matter what title he may or may not have held, because he knows none of that matters to me in the same way it matters to him. And he just could not stand the fact that with him out of the way for a while, I did not give up. He hated that I defeated Waylon on the biggest stage there is. He hated that I was not and never will be intimidated by any of them.

Oh, he tried, though. James tried to get inside my head. He waited until I was not at Breakdown to sneak attack my friend and my daughter, to make some point or send some message.

James. The only message you sent to me was that you finally deemed me worthy enough of your full attention, instead of delegating me off to your minions. But here’s where you failed, and where most people fail when it comes to facing me… nothing you can do is going to scare me off. I cannot be intimidated or manipulated. Most people in this business know that after the last twenty years of my career, but it seems you just refuse to learn. Did you really think attacking Simon and Jaina was going to make me back off?

I’m the one who called you out in the first place! I’m the one who was wronged in the first place! I did absolutely nothing to you other than stand at the side of my friend Simon while we both were attempting to deal with his sorry excuse of a brother. I never said I wanted the title you held at the time. You weren’t even on my radar until you had Fall of Man try to end my career!

The biggest mistake you ever made, James, was always over reacting to some perceived slight or insult, and failing to follow up on your threats of payback. I’m not going to discount all the things you have done, all the accomplishments and championships you do have to your name. There is no doubt that you are one of the most decorated and one of the most dangerous men in the business.

The trouble for you is… I’ve made my career fighting and overcoming the most dangerous men who have ever laced up a pair of boots. You’re overlooking the same thing they all did… that somehow, just quietly, I’ve become one of the most dangerous women in this business, and even more so because of how people continue to underestimate me. I didn’t survive cages and ladders and blood loss andfire and three knee repairs to be so easily overlooked.

I’ll state the obvious. I’m old. I’m broken down. My boots should be on display somewhere instead of still on my feet and kicking asses like yours. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you be the one who gets the satisfaction of forcing me out under duress.

When I slide these boots off and leave them behind… it’ll be because I want to, not because I have to, like in 2019. And until then… you’re going to get everything I have left, until I have nothing left to give. That means I have nothing to lose, James… and that makes me the most dangerous person on this roster.

And you picked a fight with me. Good luck.

~ Still kicking
Amy Chastaine