The scene begins with a close-up on Silent Witness’ face. He is bleary-eyed, his hair is messed up and his eyes are bloodshot. The picture quality isn’t great, because he is holding up his camera phone in front of him to film himself.

Silent Witness: Morning everyone. The time is…

The former LSD Champion turns his head towards his wrist to check his watch.

Silent Witness: … Nine-sixteen, on Wednesday the twenty-fifth of January. Today, HOW are sending over a cameraman and a reporter for one of those “A Day In The Life” things, before…

The hall-of-famer opens his mouth and lets out a yawn, before rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

Silent Witness: … before my first match back in High Octane Wrestling. They’re not due over here for another hour or so, but I thought I’d film a little bit myself so you can see the whole day. I’ve just woken up, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, and I’m gonna get up and freshen up.

The camera moves and points to the floor. There is a ruffling sound, before Silent Witness’ feet come into the picture. The camera moves again as Silent Witness stands up, before focusing once more on the returning star’s face.

Silent Witness: Ok, so I need to brush my teeth, get some breakfast and generally prepare for the day ahead. First things first, though, I need to take a shower. I won’t be filming that – sorry ladies – so I’ll be back with you in just a minute.

There is a clicking sound, before the scene cuts to black. A moment later, the picture is back and now Silent Witness is sat at his kitchen table. The camera phone is still focusing on his face, but we can see a bowl of cereal in front of him on the table. The hall of fame inductee looks a lot fresher – his hair is fixed, he is clean and he looks, well, awake. He has a smile on his face and looks ready to go.

Silent Witness: Hey guys, I’ve had my shower and just fixed myself a bowl of cereal and some toast…

The camera moves to focus on the breakfast – shredded wheat and toasted wholegrain bread with butter with a glass of O.J. – before focusing once more on the “LSD Legend”.

Silent Witness: … It looks delicious; I’m looking forward to eating it. The time now is nine-forty-three, so the production guys should be here soon. I’ll eat this and the next time you will see me is on a proper camera instead of this crappy thing! See you soon.

The scene cuts to black. It very quickly opens up again, still on Silent Witness’ phone, focusing on him once more.

Silent Witness: Hey guys, I know I said I wouldn’t be using this thing again, but I just wanted to give you a little bit of a behind-the-scenes look at what happens in HOW, with the production and all that cool stuff.

The camera moves and focuses on a HOW employee setting up the camera. Silent Witness begins talking, whilst focusing on the cameraman.

Silent Witness: This is Joe; he’s been with HOW since forever. He’s a real pro and damn good at his job. All those action shots backstage, when guys are beating the crap out of each other in the parking lot or wherever, it’s usually Joe that’s first on the scene with a camera. He’s been here so long now that he sorta anticipates what’s going to happen and is just ‘there’ when it happens. How are you doing, Joe? All good?

The cameraman nods and smiles, before Silent Witness focuses the camera elsewhere.

Silent Witness: Let’s see what else we can find…

The camera pans through the entire HOW team as Silent Witness tries to find something, or someone, to talk about.

Silent Witness: There’s the sound guy… There’s the runner… There’s… Um… Well I’m not sure what that guy does, to be honest…

He continues to move the camera around the team, before focusing on Brian Bare as the make-up girls add the finishing touches.

Silent Witness: There he is folks, the man that will be interviewing me today – the one and only Brian Bare! How are you, Brian?

Silent Witness moves closer to the HOW reporter as Bare smiles.

Silent Witness: Are you looking forward to today?

Brian Bare: I’m all good, buddy.

Silent Witness reaches out a hand, which Brian Bare greets with a handshake.

Silent Witness: It’s good to see you again, man. Let’s have some fun today.

Silent Witness turns the camera back on himself.

Silent Witness: Ok, I guess there isn’t too much happening right now. Hopefully you got some insight into what goes on, anyway. I think we’re almost ready to go with the real camera now anyway, so I’ll shut this off and let the HOW guys take over. See you in a sec.

The camera phone shuts off again and the scene cuts to black. We fade back in, this time with a much clearer picture from the HOW cameras, on Silent Witness and Brian Bare, sat in the HOW star’s living room. Brian Bare is sat on a brown, leather armchair, while Silent Witness sits next to him on a matching sofa. The floor is covered with a light-brown carpet and the walls are a beige colour. The wall is decorated with pictures taken from Silent Witness’ personal photo collection, mostly of views from various places around the world.

Brian Bare is smiling as he looks into the camera, ready to introduce the show.

Brian Bare: Welcome, HOW fans, to a very special interview. As you can see, sat alongside me is a High Octane Wrestling hall-of-famer. He is a former Commissioner, he is the only two-time Undefeated Tag Team Champion in HOW history. He is a man whose name is etched into HOW history for his accomplishments in the LSD division; indeed the very mention of his name makes whoever holds the LSD Title nervous. He is, of course, the one and only Silent Witness.

The HOW reporter turns to face the man he has just introduced.

Brian Bare: Thank you for this unique opportunity.

Silent Witness simply nods with a smile, as Bare turns back to the camera.

Brian Bare: Today, we are going to be following Silent Witness as he prepares for his first match in HOW for two-and-a-half years. We will get an insight into his preparation, his mindset heading into the ABI and his thoughts on all things HOW.

Bare once again turns to Silent Witness, smiling.

Brian Bare: Firstly, though, I’d like to take this opportunity to be the first to officially welcome you back to High Octane Wrestling. It’s great to see you back and I know that the fans around he world are excited to see you lace up those boots again.

Silent Witness: Thanks, Brian. It’s great to be back and I’m just as excited as the fans. Mayhem can’t come around quickly enough.

Silent Witness is smiling as he speaks, clearly happy to be back in HOW.

Brian Bare: Now, I guess the first question is an obvious one; what made you come back? And why now?

Silent Witness: It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Over the past six months or so, there has been some dialogue between myself and Lee Best about coming back and it almost happened around September, October, but it just wasn’t feasible at that time. I think now, with it being a new year and a new start for a lot of guys in HOW, the timing fits. With the annual Invitational tournament starting, it just made sense; for HOW and for myself.

Brian Bare: I want to discuss the ABI with you in more detail in a little while, but I will ask you your initial thoughts on the tournament. You have been handed a tough group, which includes the returning Hall-of-Famer, Darkwing, the current LSD Champion, Shane Reynolds, and the ever-improving Austin Reeves. When you first saw the groups, what was your reaction?

Silent Witness: Well, if I was looking at the invitational from the outside, I’d pick Shane to win the whole thing, so when I was grouped with him I knew I had a tough road ahead. Obviously, I’ll be doing my best to stop Shane from advancing, so it’s going to be an interesting few weeks as the group sorts itself out.

Brian Bare: What about the other groups?

Silent Witness: I think the first thing you notice is that there are no easy groups. I mean, David Black, Townsend and Mike Best got drawn together – how do you pick a winner out of that group? I think Scottywood has made a mistake picking Chris Kostoff in the HOFC group and I think Ryan Faze feels like he’s got a lot to prove this year, so it’s going to be tough to pick a winner there. Not to mention there’s three Hall-of-Famers in there.

Brian Bare: Will you be watching the matches in the other groups? Or will you be concentrating solely on your own group?

Silent Witness: I think you have to pay attention to what’s going on in the entire tournament. There are too many potential winners out there to ignore what’s happening, but obviously I’ll be focusing on my own matches as much as I need to.

Brian Bare: Before we get too bogged down in that, I want to get a better look into Silent Witness’ life outside of the ring. Care to show us around a little bit?

Silent Witness and Brian Bare stand up and walk towards the door.

Silent Witness: Sure. I’ve got the decorators in at the moment so I can’t show you everything, but I’ll take you around the cool stuff.

Silent Witness walks out of the living room and is followed by Brian Bare and the cameraman. They take a left out of the door and head down a long hallway, past a staircase. Silent Witness stops about halfway down and points to a frame on the wall. The camera catches up and focuses on a title belt.

Silent Witness: This is the IWA Championship belt. That’s a fed I owned back at the beginning of the millennium; it kinda sucked, but it was fun while it lasted. So, I kept the belt as a little memento. Next to that, though, is a much more important title.

Silent Witness points to another frame and the camera focuses on the HOW LSD Championship. In the frame with the belt are photos of Silent Witness performing a Fisherman Suplex on Splinter, as well as The Silencer. There is a third photo of Silent Witness stood on the ropes in the corner of the ring, holding the LSD Title aloft. Below all of this is an engraved plate that simply says “Silent Witness: LSD Champion”.

Silent Witness: That’s the first LSD Title I ever won. No disrespect to Splinter, because he gave me a good match, but it was probably the easiest of the four. I’ve got frames like this for each one dotted around the house – it’s something I’m very proud to have achieved and it’s nice to remember those days.

They continue walking down the hallway and Silent Witness opens a door at the end. He steps aside to allow Brian Bare and the cameraman through first. The camera pans around a room with bare walls, a few dumbbells and other training equipment in the corners of the room and a wrestling ring in the centre. Silent Witness steps back into camera shot and turns to Brian Bare.

Silent Witness: So, Brian, want to get in there and have a match?

Silent Witness jokingly aims a couple of punches towards Brian Bare’s stomach.

Brian Bare: I think I’ll pass, thanks!

Bare smiles as Silent Witness pats him on the back.

Silent Witness: To be honest, this room doesn’t get much use. I toyed with the idea of teaching and training wrestling for a little bit, maybe open up a wrestling school, but I only got as far as putting this ring in h

Silent Witness points to the empty walls.

Silent Witness: These walls were going to be filled with flyers and photos from matches throughout my career – you know, like a boxing gym does? Maybe one day I’ll get around to finishing it off. Anyway, I just thought I’d show you this room because even though it doesn’t get used much, it’s still pretty cool to have a wrestling ring in my house. Let’s go this way.

Silent Witness leads the way to a door in the corner of the room. He opens the door and walks through, followed by Bare and the cameraman. The doorway leads to a garage with three exotic cars – a Ferrari F40, a Bugatti Veyron and a 1949 Jaguar XK 120.

Silent Witness: Unlike most guys in HOW, I invested my money wisely and have been rewarded with the ability to live comfortably, with a few perks. The Bugatti cost a little bit more than I should have spent, but it’s just so damn beautiful!

Silent Witness runs his hand over the top of the Veyron with a child-like grin on his face. He turns to face Brian Bare.

Silent Witness: I love cars, man. I’d love to open up a display for old, classic cars once I’ve retired from getting my ass kicked for a living. The Jaguar would be right in the middle, pride of place. That thing is a masterpiece.

Silent Witness opens the door to the cream-coloured vehicle and sits in the driver seat.

Silent Witness: This is one of the original, aluminium-body models. They only made 240 of these, and then they switched to steel. I’d love to get one of the 1953 drophead coupe models, with the roll-up windows. Maybe that will be next.

The HOW star hopped out of the vehicle quickly, closing the door behind him. Silent Witness then punched a button to open the garage door.

Silent Witness: To be honest, there isn’t much else to see here at the moment because of the renovations, so how about we go out? I’ve got an appointment that I have to keep.

Brian Bare: Sure, let’s go.

The camera fades out with Brian Bare and the cameraman following Silent Witness out of the garage and into his driveway.

We fade back in with Silent Witness stood outside the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles on West Sunset Boulevard. Brian Bare is alongside him.

Brian Bare: Why are we here today?

Silent Witness: I do a lot of charity work these days… There’s a kid in there with bowel cancer that’s spread to his lungs and its terminal. The Make-A-Wish Foundation contacted me and asked me to pay him a visit… It seems he’s been a HOW fan since he was two or three and loved watching Silent Witness. Who turns down an opportunity to put a smile on a child’s face? Not me, that’s for sure.

Silent Witness is visibly moved by the situation and has a sombre look on his face. He looks back towards the hospital for a few seconds.

Brian Bare: This is obviously something you have a lot of time for. Is there any particular reason for that?

Silent Witness turns back to face the reporter.

Silent Witness: Nothing has happened in my own life, but over the past year or so, doing these kinds of visits for various charities, it starts to get to you when you see these young kids living out their last days. So I try to help where I can, try to put a smile on their face. It’s not much, but I think it helps.

Brian Bare: Ok, let’s go inside.

The camera fades as the pair walk towards the hospital. We fade back in with Silent Witness facing away from the camera, walking towards a young boy, probably around twelve, sitting upright in bed with a beaming smile. Brian Bare is behind him and quickly stops. He turns to face the camera to whisper his thoughts.

Brian Bare: His name is Peter Buckley, he’s a local boy and he’s a big HOW fan. Silent Witness has been his idol ever since he won the LSD Championship for the third time, six or seven years ago. Peter hasn’t got much time left, unfortunately, so Silent Witness has organised a surprise for him.

Silent Witness walks up to Peter and shakes his hand.

Silent Witness: Hi Peter. I’m Silent Witness. I heard you weren’t feeling too great, so I wanted to come and visit you.

The young boy is speechless, but his smile doesn’t fade.

Silent Witness: You know I’m coming back to HOW, right?

Peter nods his head.

Silent Witness: Well, I know you’re one of my biggest fans, so to say thank you for that I’ve organised something special for you

The boy looks at the HOW star, wondering what Silent Witness has set up.

Silent Witness: I’ve arranged for you, your parents and your little brother Stephen to come to Monday Night Mayhem and sit in the front row. You will be ringside for my first match in two and a half years! How does that sound?

Peter turns his head towards his parents in the corner of the room. His mother is crying as his dad hugs her. He turns back to Silent Witness and vigorously shakes his head up and down, before reaching out to hug the HOW star.

Peter: Thank you so much! You are my favourite, I’m so glad you’re back!

Silent Witness chuckles to himself as Peter releases his hug.

Silent Witness: You are most welcome. I’m looking forward to seeing you on Monday night. So tell me, who else do you like in HOW?

Brian Bare steps in front of the camera.

Brian Bare: We will leave Silent Witness for a moment to talk with Peter and try to get a few words with Peter’s parents.

Bare walks over towards the Buckley’s with the cameraman following behind.

Brian Bare: Mr. and Mrs. Buckley, can we get a few words?

Mrs. Buckley wipes away a tear and nods in the affirmative.

Brian Bare: Thank you. Firstly, I think everyone can see how much this means to Peter and the whole family, having Silent Witness coming to visit him in hospital. Can you express in words what it means for Silent Witness to arrange for you all to come to see a HOW event? It covers all medical costs, all flights, accommodation, everything.

Mr. Buckley: It’s incredible. We were so pleased he agreed to meet with Peter in the first place, but this is beyond what we could have expected.

Mrs. Buckley: He is a wonderful human being. This may be the final time we go somewhere together as a family and I can’t think of anything Peter would enjoy more.

Brian Bare: Mr. Buckley, I-

Brian Bare is quickly interrupted.

Mr. Buckley: Please, call me David. My wife’s name is Abigail.

Brian Bare: Ok, David. I understand that you are from a modest background, so you haven’t been able to take Peter to the HOW events that have taken place over the years here in California. With that in mind, is there anything you would like to say about HOW or Silent Witness?

David Buckley: It’s been difficult over the past year or so with Peter’s condition. We know he doesn’t have long left with us, so for HOW and Silent Witness to do this for us is incredible. We can’t thank them enough.

Brian Bare: Thank you for your time.

Brian Bare turns to face the camera with a sombre look on his face.

Brian Bare: Folks, we are going to take a break from filming right now and give the family some privacy. We will be back with you shortly.

The camera fades to black with Silent Witness jokingly holding Peter’s brother in a Silent Night manoeuvre.

We cut back in at Silent Witness’ home in Los Angeles. Witness and Bare are once again sat in the former’s living room. Silent Witness is looking relaxed and has a beer on a coffee table next to him.

Brian Bare: Well, folks, it’s now five thirty-seven in the evening. Out of respect for the family at the Children’s Hospital, we didn’t want to film any more of what is a very difficult set or circumstances. We also wanted to give Silent Witness all the time he needed with the family, so here we are, a couple of hours after returning from the hospital. Silent Witness, now that you have had a chance to gather yourself after what was an emotional experience for you, what are your thoughts?

Silent Witness: Obviously, I want to wish them well. I can only imagine what they are all going through at the moment and I hope the little things I can do make a difference and give them at least some joy.

Brian Bare: I want to move on from this subject and discuss your future in HOW. I think one of the main questions people are going to be asking is what is your motivation for returning? You’re a multi-time LSD and Tag Team Champion, you are in the HOW Hall of Fame, you are widely regarded as “Mr. LSD”, and after seeing this new side of you today, there doesn’t appear to be any of the anger that fuelled you in the past.

Silent Witness: It’s an understandable question. There are plenty of reasons not to make this comeback and you have listed some of them there. There are also plenty of reasons why I absolutely should come back, and I want to make it clear that I still have the desire to compete. Just because in my spare time I do some charity work, it doesn’t mean when it’s game time in HOW I won’t be ready. I’ve been around long enough to know if you’re not focused, you will get found out. The difference now is that I have learned to separate what happens in HOW from my personal life. I’m looking forward to Monday Night Mayhem, so I can show the whole world that Silent Witness is back, and in a big way.

Brian Bare: Speaking of Mayhem, your first match back in two and a half years will be against Austin Reeves, one of the standout performers in HOW over the second half of 2011. There are a lot of people talking about Reeves as a future HOW World Champion and a real contender in this year’s invitational. He isn’t someone you’ve come up against before, so how do you feel going into this match? The one thing I’d like to point out is that now we have moved on to discussing HOW, your demeanour has changed significantly – you are chomping at the bit and ready to go!

Silent Witness becomes self-conscious and notices he is edging ever closer to the front of his seat, hands gripped to the armchair as if holding himself back. He smiles, stops and leans back in his chair.

Silent Witness: I guess I am a little anxious to get going. I’m as calm as you like away from HOW, but once I get into my competitive mindset, I’m just raring to go. As far as Austin Reeves goes, yeah, he’s an unknown quantity as far as I’m concerned, but he is in the same boat. The advantage I have is that I’ve been watching him for months, where as all he has got to go on is the past. He will probably argue that he knows everything I can do, but I’d like to think I’ve adapted my style during my time away. I don’t think the Silent Witness coming in to HOW now has been seen for a long, long time.

Brian Bare: So you are confident of victory?

Silent Witness: Absolutely. There is an element of not knowing which Reeves will show up, given what happened on Mayhem this week, but I think I can handle anything he throws my way. Future World Champion or not, he’s not in my class when I come at him full throttle.

The HOW legend takes a sip from his glass, raises his eyebrows towards Bare and continues.

Silent Witness: That said, I’m not saying this is an easy match; far from it. Reeves is a great competitor and I expect a very tough match. I just don’t see any way in which he beats me. Aside from his qualities as a wrestler, there’s also the Best Alliance element that seems to rear its head when one of their boys is struggling.

Brian Bare: Speaking of the Best Alliance, one of their members – one that you have quite a history with – was interested in catching up with you this week on Mayhem.

Silent Witness frowns, adjusts his position in his seat and takes a breath, calming himself.

Silent Witness: Shane Reynolds.

The former LSD Champion smirks and takes another sip of beer.

Silent Witness: Yeah… He’s always had issues with me. Even when he was fighting the fight against the B.A. he had a problem with me. There was always tension there. This week he wanted to trade old war stories or something, I guess. I’ll deal with Shane when the time comes to deal with Shane; March fifth, 2012. He is my last ABI match and most likely the match that decides which one of us advances. If he wants to air his issues before then, I’ll make sure I’ve got a box of tissues handy for him to dry his eyes.

Brian Bare: So you’re not thinking about him at all at the moment?

Silent Witness: He’s in my group and he’s the LSD Champion, so there’s always an element of interest there, but in general, I’m not too alarmed. There’s a yoghurt pot in my fridge that’s due to go off in two days – that’s more alarming than Shane Reynolds right now.

Brian Bare chuckles, which in turn produces a smile on Silent Witness’ face.

Silent Witness: I’m just concentrating on Austin Reeves at the moment. I’ve got a few charity commitments this week that I’m looking forward to, but other than that my mind is fully focused on Austin Reeves and how I’m going to beat him. I can sit here all day long saying I’m going to tear him a new one and do this and that to him, but I don’t need to go all Chris Kostoff on someone to win a match. I’m a thinking man’s wrestler and anyone that thinks about it will see that I’m simply better than Austin Reeves. He doesn’t have the skill set to compete with someone like me. I mean, I’ve been in wars, I’ve been in brutal, bloody matches and I’ve been in straight up tactical battles. I’m diverse, I can cope with any style and I’ve seen it all. As good as Reeves is, he doesn’t have anything that I haven’t seen.

Silent Witness frowns a little, takes a sip of beer and continues.

Silent Witness: I mean, I’ve been in the ring with Kostoff, Narcotic, Darkwing, Shane Reynolds, Mark O’Neal – hell, even Scottywood – do you think Austin Reeves has got anything new and exciting that they didn’t have? He would probably argue that I haven’t got anything he hasn’t seen before, but what I’ve got earned me four LSD Championships and a spot in the Hall of Fame. My legacy is secure, but unless he produces something extraordinary he’s going to be another footnote on Wikipedia as far as HOW is concerned.

Brian Bare: Aren’t you concerned that the pep talk he received on Mayhem will boost the drive and determination he has going into this match?

Silent Witness: I think it will definitely boost his determination. I just don’t think, after about two minutes of having to face an exemplary performer, he will have the heart, desire or ability to compete.

Silent Witness pauses, then leans forward in his seat and raises his voice.

Silent Witness: Brian, it’s this simple; Silent Witness is better than Austin Reeves. He can say whatever he wants, but when it comes down to the two of us in the ring on Monday night, Austin Reeves simply cannot compete with excellence. He is a good wrestler - maybe one day he will be HOW World Champion, but right now he doesn’t have the arsenal to beat someone like me.

Brian Bare: I would imagine Austin sees things differently, so what do you think he sees as weaknesses in Silent Witness?

Silent Witness: The first thing is that he’s expecting me not to show up. He probably thinks this will go the same way as most of HOW do, which is the same way it went midway through 2009. I truly hope he believes that, because he’s in for a massive shock if he does. Secondly, he probably thinks that I don’t have the desire, the ability or the stamina to keep up with these younger guys. Sure, I’m from an older generation of superstars but I’m still in great shape and I’ve still got the desire to win. I want to get something straight here because I’ve heard of a few rumours and some gossip backstage at Mayhem this week: This is not “one last run” for Silent Witness. I’m not here to make up numbers in the Abby – I’m here to prove once and for all that I’m an All-Time great in HOW. You asked earlier about my motivation for returning to HOW.

Brian Bare: Yeah…

Silent Witness: Well, I’m a four time LSD Champion – I intend on making that five-time Champion in due course. I have never competed for the HOW World Championship and I have an opportunity in this tournament, so my main focus right now is to show the likes of Jace Parker Davidson, Mike Best, Rhys Townsend et al, that I am good enough to compete at that level. I’ve been pigeon-holed in the LSD division for years and it’s something I will always pursue with great vigour – hell, facing Silent Witness at his best in an LSD Championship match is like facing Tiger Woods at his best on a Sunday at a major – but I’m here to show the whole damn world that I’m better than what they believe. I could be a four-hundred time LSD Champion rather than four-time, but people inside HOW still wouldn’t give me the respect I deserve because they don’t see the LSD Championship as important. They don’t realise that the four most-important HOW World Champions of all time – Jatt Starr, Chris Kostoff, Max Kael and Shane Reynolds – have all held the LSD Championship at some stage. They don’t remember Silent Witness taking the LSD Title and making it more important than the World Championship, or if they do remember they choose to ignore it.

Silent Witness angrily stands up, sending the coffee table and the beer resting on it sprawling across the floor. Brian Bare looks on in shock.

Silent Witness: The LSD Championship has been the stepping-stone for many HOW superstars and my affiliation with it makes people look at me as a stepping-stone, but instead of distancing myself from the LSD title, I will do what Shane Reynolds should be doing – I’m going to champion it by proving in the ring that I’m no stepping stone, that I should be taken seriously. Austin Reeves will undoubtedly make the mistake of under-preparing, but by the end of Monday Night Mayhem, everyone will stand up and take notice. Everybody will say “Silent Witness is back. Silent Witness is a threat in the Abby!”

Silent Witness kicks the coffee table, shattering it into a thousand pieces, before walking off, leaving Brian Bare in complete shock.

Brian Bare: Well, folks… I think it’s clear that Silent Witness is here and he means business. Austin Reeves is in for a tough match on Mayhem and all I can say is that I’m glad I’m not going to be standing in the opposite corner to Silent Witness come Monday night. I hope we have shown you an insight into a true HOW Hall of Famer today, folks. As far as this reporter is concerned, I think the second coming of Silent Witness has begun and I couldn’t be more excited for Monday Night Mayhem!