WFWF Up The Garden Path: The Spotlight

A war is fought on many fronts. It's not just men shooting at each other from either side of a field. It's not about tanks and planes, bombs and mines. It's not all about plans and alliances. Yes those things often play a part in war.

But it is about hearts and minds as well.

The WFWF is run by people who are motivated by one thing and one thing only.

Money.

They don't care about me, they don't care about Dex, they don't care about the sport, they don't care about the fans. They don't care about our health, I'm the one who has to pay my medical costs. They don't care that 90% of the roster self medicate with alcohol, drugs or pain killers. They don't care about who deserves to be at the top. They really don't give a s*** about any of us.

They care, only, about what will line their pockets.

And in many ways, that makes them incredibly weak opposition.

Because they'll let Trace Demon get close. They'll let me get close. While it's making them money. They'll let us get close enough to taste control. They'll let us get inches away from wrestling away control of this promotion. Because they can't bare to think of losing out on money.

That's the big mistake.

They've underestimated Trace Demon. And everyone, has underestimated me.

They think they can dangle it in front of us, and pull it away when they want. When people get bored of us. When we stop making money.

They don't seem to realise that when the time is right, we will strike, and we will win this war.

Until the time is right, my job is as much behind the curtain as it is out in that ring. And I don't like that, I hate politics. But winning the propaganda war is a necessary evil. Remaining a draw, until the time is right to take control of and rebuild this promotion, is vital.

It's the reason that Lila Sleater has seen fit to put me, the International Champion. A three time National Champion. In the middle of the ring with the chosen one. The special one, Dex.

Because she knows people will tune in. That she can sell that match to the masses.

But she's greedy. Because by doing that, she's missing out on the big pay day, when Trace Demon meets Dex. Trust me, after I'm done with the World Champion, that match isn't happening. Dexter's reign ends when I step foot in that ring with him, even though it's non-title. Because Dexter's short lived career ends when I step foot in that ring with him.

Now I'm well aware that it's not feasible to win a war, without some support. And a revolution can't succeed without a group of people who are dedicated to the cause.

So my focus is as much on winning the propaganda war as it is on winning wrestling matches. I am determined to expose the lies, the deceit, the injustice of the WFWF in its current state. I am determined to expose men like Dex who have been pushed into a position that they don't deserve to be in.

And the way to do that, is to tell anyone who will listen, that you're going to do it. To spread your message to the world.

And then to go out and prove it.

I fully intend to vindicate everything I've said and will say about you, and about Lila Sleater, when we meet in that ring Dex. I will drag you through the mud and then I'll end you. Because I have to.

I have to do that, to make sure this revolution succeeds.

---



Bishop: “Can you believe Lila Sleater's smear campaign.”

I waved the magazine in front of Mary, giving her a chance to glance down the page.

Bishop: “Getting them to ask me about my mental health. It's unbelievable the lengths this woman will go to, to discredit our movement. It's ridiculous.”

Mary: “Yeah whatever.”

Bishop: “I'm serious, this woman is destroying the WFWF. She's tearing it apart from the seams. It used to be talent, desire, that got you to the top. It used to mean something. Now you get there by knowing whose ass to kiss and it sickens me. I honestly can't bare to see it happen, I can't cope with seeing this promotion die in front of my eyes. Something has to be done about this.”

I threw the magazine to the floor as Mary locked eyes with me.

Mary: “I really don't care.”

Well that was unnecessarily blunt.

Bishop: “Sorry.”

I replied sarcastically.

Mary: “I think we've got more important things to talk about. Why should I care about wrestling. We've both got real problems and you can't stop this tirade.”

Bishop: “So what do you want to talk about? Your suicide attempt? Mine?”

Mary: “Well why not?”

Bishop: “What is there to say?”

Mary: “You don't want to talk about how you're doing?”

She seemed concerned.

Bishop: “Not really, no. I'm fine, I've finally got something to get me up in the morning, something to push me forward. I'm fine.”

Mary: “And me?”

Bishop: “I'm sorry, how are you doing?”

That sounded sincere, I'm sure that sounded sincere.

Mary: “Not great.”

Bishop: “Well what's up?”

Mary: “What's up? What's up?! What do you think? I'm miserable. You're the only person I can talk to and you're too busy with this pointless 'war' to spend any time with me. And when you do, you just go on and on about it, even though you know I don't care. I tried to kill myself and for weeks you've been dancing around the subject like it never happened. Why are you incapable of talking about it?”

I can't do difficult conversations I'm just not capable of it. I don't know what to say to someone in this situation, I don't know how to make things better. And we end up sitting in silence, as we are now, while things get more and more awkward. I don't know how to get out of this.

Mary: “You've got nothing to say?”

Bishop: “I don't know what to say.”

Mary: “Well that's great isn't it.”

She said moving towards the door.

Mary: “You're pathetic Joe, you're too cowardly to face up to your very real problems, so you absorb yourself in this fantasy world. Why are you so afraid of telling me how you feel? Why can't you accept that your life is s*** and try to do something about it?”

Bishop: “Because I'm pathetic.”

I replied, mimicking her as she slammed the door and walked out of my flat.

The amusing thing is, this is the first time in three years that isn't true. I have been using wrestling to hide from my real problems. I was being a coward. But now?

I'm doing it simply because...

I love wrestling.

---

I love wrestling.

That may not seem too surprising coming from a professional wrestler. But just coming to that realisation, after myself and Trace Demon stood tall at WFWF Twisted, came as a huge shock to me.

The last three times I've stepped foot in that ring, Reborn, Dream Catcher and Twisted, I've loved every minute of it. And I haven't been able to say that for years. It's no secret that my passion was waning. I felt out of place in the WFWF, I felt like I didn't belong in a promotion that is as unjust as this one. A promotion where some are handed everything, and some are forced to rot.

If anything those issues have been more apparent these last few months. Dex has been handed the World Championship, by Shawn Malakai. Dave Demento has been brought back by Lila Sleater, and despite achieving nothing noteworthy, has been given a ludicrous contract in the hopes that he'll fix her problems for her.

And yet, I find myself loving being a part of this promotion for the first time in god knows how long. Finally I feel good about stepping into that ring.

Why?

Because I know it's changing. You just had to see what happened to Demento at Twisted, to know that things are changing.

Every time I see another decision, made for the wrong reasons, to promote people who have done nothing to deserve it. I smile.

I smile, knowing that it won't last. Knowing that there is a new enemy to the revolution, who has earned themselves the chop.

You can hold that fraud Dex up as World Champion, you can fix Demento back up and send him out for another beating, you can keep protecting the likes of Jayson Garrett. But it's not going to last. Maybe you'll hold out for another week, a month, half a year. Who knows?

But the pseudo-WFWF that Lila Sleater has created will fall. It will die. And the WFWF will be reborn, revived, resurrected, whatever you want to call it. The Revolution IS coming, and when that glorious day comes. When the WFWF is under our control. You better hope that you chose the right side. Because if you didn't, if you made the wrong choice, if you chose personal success in the short term, over rebuilding the WFWF, then you're going to be begging to suffer the same fate as Solomon Crow. You're going to be begging for a spike through the face, like Dave Demento got at Twisted.

Dex, I'm afraid, you're one of those people on the wrong side.

Whether you deserve it or not (you don't), you are the WFWF World Champion. I don't blame you for that. I understand why, when offered the World Championship, you took it. I would have done exactly the same thing.

So don't think that I hate you Dexter. I don't. I hold no animosity towards you at all. I can't speak for Anders or Trace, but I feel nothing but sympathy for you.

Not only have you been denied the joy of earning you first WFWF World Championship, a moment I can still look forward to with great excitement. But more importantly, you have been made a target.

Every single person in that locker room craves the belt you hold. Everyone is looking to do whatever it takes to take that title from you. And you might like to think that you've got insurance with the likes of Jayson Garrett, but believe me, he would snatch that belt from you if given the chance. Anyone would.

The WFWF has been brought into disrepute by Lila Sleater and by Shawn Malakai. I am a victim. Trace Demon is a victim. The WFWF fans are victims. And you Dex, you are a victim.

Lila Sleater is running this promotion into the ground, anyone who understands this business can see that. And it's really inevitable that people will go after her. That people who love this promotion, really love it, will try to rectify the situation.

All you really are Dex, is a distraction from the real problems, from what is really killing this promotion.

It's no secret that Shawn Malakai has an inflated sense of self worth. That's hardly surprising when you consider his inflated levels of success. You just have to look at Thunder, or Wayne, or Williams, or any of the other people he's bled dry, to see that Shawn Malakai is a leech. A man who was carried to the top. But he's blind to that. He genuinely believes that he could have stood tall at SuperBrawl, the World Champion, without years of feeding off other peoples success.

Lila Sleater, as loathsome as she is, isn't stupid. She knew all of that, and she used it to her advantage. She knows that she doesn't actually know how to run a wrestling promotion. But she loves the power and she wants to cling on to it. So she buttered Shawn Malakai up, she fed his ego, she gave him power that no one should ever have, to protect her own.

She let him choose the World Champion. Knowing that rather than looking at what's really destroying the WFWF, people would look at the champion who never earned it. And that they'd blame Shawn Malakai.

Lila Sleater has taken advantage of a dying man's God complex, and she's made you the fall guy Dex.

But Trace hasn't fallen for it. His focus is very much on Lila Sleater.

The sad fact is, that you're the World Champion in name only. Trace Demon is better than you, he is the best in this promotion. And I'm not saying that because 'I'm on his side'. I'm saying it because it's true. It's nothing against you, it's just that the facts are the facts.

And as a result, while Trace Demon focuses on regaining control of the WFWF, I have to focus on making sure that, by hook or by crook, that belt ends up round the waist of the best wrestler in the WFWF.

Lila Sleater is the problem. You have been manipulated, fooled into believing you belong at the top of the WFWF. You don't, but it's easy to understand why you think you belong there. As Joseph Goebbels put it 'If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.'. You've been lied to, and you're a victim of that lie.

But I have to do the dirty job, of putting an end to this façade. I have to bring some prestige back to that title. I have to make an example of you, even though it isn't your fault.

You have been thrust into the spotlight, and it's going to blind you.

OOC: I'm going to sleep now, I really don't know how I feel about this, I really enjoyed writing the final monologue when the card came out but kind of hit a road block after that.