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Let's Get Weird! Who Holds the Ticket to the Sideshow's Workings?

Posted: Jul 25th 2019 By: CMBurnham

For two years, the Pandemonium Sideshow has stood by.

Watching.

Waiting.

Terrorizing.

Matt Durden, Draven, Samedi and the Sinister Skunk Ape have carefully bided their time. And like a real side-show, the focus hasn't been on them. They're just the freaks. The oddities. The ones who have been cast out and looked down upon. But no more. The past few months have seen the Sideshow present itself as a serious threat like never before.

The Sideshow has engaged in war before with the likes of the Space Age Heroes and Riker. But now, they've aimed for the very top of WFC, targeting WFC DOO Striker and WFC owner Tim Rockwell.

Individually, the Sideshow has slowly but surely ramping up its presence. Draven had a 6 month undefeated streak in 2018. Samedi has recently stepped his in-ring game up and together these two have formed a formidable duo. And last month saw the return of Sinister Skunk Ape, Jr, the uncontrollable man-beast, who chalked up a victory over the Greatest American Bolo at WFC's debut in Muldrow this month.

But while their in-ring success has been notable, it's their presence backstage and just in the same building that is really the issue. And sometimes, they don't even have to be there to still have a presence. They Ryder Cup saw the Sideshow confront Striker after the event was over. No one knows what was said or exactly what was done, but Striker was not present at the Freedom Rings Rumble ad the mysterious videos had begun. Videos which showed Striker in an unknown place and voiced an ominous message to Tim Rockwell. Videos that suggested terrfying outcomes if Tim did not bow to the Sideshow's will.

The Sideshow amped things up in Muldrow. After setting up the main event for the show, the video screen fired up again and another Sideshow video began to play while Tim was in the ring. But this video was different. In it, the Sideshow recapped much of Tim Rockwell's career, focusing on his standing as a Villain. It mentioned his friendship with X-Cal, even though it was X-Cal who took the WFC Title off of Tim. It revealed that Flex Zerba had been paid well to separate Tim's shoulder at a WCR event in Kansas the second night of the Ryder Cup. And above all, it pushed an agenda that Tim is simply a hypocrite. Not truly a villain or a hero, he is just someone who uses others to achieve an agenda, no matter who he has to betray.

Tim watched the video in astonishment, hoping that it would answer some questions he had, but instead, it left him with more. But at least one of those questions would be answered at the end of the night when, after the main event, the video monitor played again and Striker appeared in a field, recovering from unconsiousness. He swiftly got on his phone and called for someone to come pick him up. But where he had been, exactly what had happened to him and what his current mental state is must still be determined.

Perhaps the most intersting part of this entire scenario is that one key player has been absent for most of the recent parts: Matt Durden himself. The leader of the Sideshow has not been seen in-ring since Night 1 of the Ryder Cup, where he lost to Luke Langley. But more importantly, Durden and the Sideshow were defeated the month prior to that by Rockwell & Striker in a Handicap Match and thi seems to be where the bad blood began between these two groups.

Despite being freed, Striker has yet to issue a statement regarding his condition and more importatnly his memories of his time in captivity. And what do the Sideshow gain by freeing him? Normally the safe suggestion would be that answers will be revealed at the upcoming WFC event, but given the Sideshow and their tactics, it's quite possible that fans will simply end up with a lot of different questions instead.