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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2010 14:23:56 GMT -5
{Inside The Flame} - "Soulfire" Justin Tyger
In The Beginning... |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2010 15:28:50 GMT -5
Chapter 1:
Well, there’s no better place to start than…. Well, the start.
I was born on December 3rd, 1974 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada at Windsor Regional Hospital. Not a lot of people know I was born in Canada, and am half Canadian. Windsor is Canada’s biggest automotive manufactures, and my Dad, who was working for a Ford Motor Company plant in Tennessee in early 1973, when he was 20, got downsized, and the plant offered him a job in the plant that was opening in Windsor in a month or so. Needing the job, Dad picked up and moved to Windsor, and began working.
About half a year later, Dad met my Mom, an English-Canadian, in of all places, a bar. Dad had turned 21 a month or so before, and between you and me, Mom was only 20, and had sneaked in the bar, but to her credit she didn’t drink a drop while she was in there. The two hit it off and started dating in late July. When 1974 rolled around, Things were looking up for the two, as Dad got promoted at his job at the factory, and Mom had a good little job at a restaurant. They celebrated their first St. Valentine’s with… a little pre-marital, and about a month later, Mom got the little blue plus sign, and after a doctor visit, it was announced that the world had booked Justin Tyger! Thanks parents, for not practicing safe sex!
As the months went on, Mom and Dad were excited to have a child, getting engaged about 4 or 5 months into the pregnancy. They threw the idea of getting married before I was born, but decided against it, wanting to wait until after I was born to get married. As my due date came closer, things got hectic, as all first time parents know. The excitement and worry were a lot to handle, but they took it on the chin, and kept going. My due date passed, as baby me showed no signs of coming out any time soon. Nearly two weeks late, the doctors thought it best to induce the labor, as not only was the extended pregnancy was hard on Mom, I was a huge baby. They were worried that my mom wouldn’t be able to give birth to me because of my size, and developing any longer inside of Mom wouldn’t be good for either of us.
December 3rd was the big date for my debut in the world. They tried to have a natural birth, but a long labor, it wasn’t happening. The doctor made the decision that a C-Section had to happen. They went on with it, pulling me out, but there was a problem. The umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck. I wasn’t breathing or crying. They cut me out of the grip, and rushed me over to the table as I turned blue. They rushed, trying for any signs of life. I guess I had the will of a Tyger even when I was a newborn, as Mom said I came to life, roaring like a tiger, before screaming and crying, to the relief of everyone in the room.
Michael Adam Dawson had entered the world, at 9.5 pounds and 26 inches in length. The doctor said I was the tallest baby he ever birthed. Mom and Dad had their first, and only boy, at 21 and 22. They were excited to start their family, as the two were happier than they had ever been in their life.
It was a rough start for ole Soulfire, but it would only go downhill from there....
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Post by SodaGuy on Dec 24, 2010 16:51:54 GMT -5
That was a great first entry, I am looking forward to this. It'll be great.
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Post by legendkiller8 on Dec 24, 2010 18:16:12 GMT -5
Gosh you're a huge baby! I look forward to seeing this one. Good luck.
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Post by TheNinthCloud on Dec 25, 2010 21:15:02 GMT -5
Incredible. Good detail and flawless writing skills. Can't say to much more than that due to it being only the first entry. Unless I read it wrong, the last sentence is implying he's gonna need a 'life push.'
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2010 17:49:38 GMT -5
Chapter 2:
My Mom took to being a mother great. She was one of those women that was just born to be a parent. My Dad on the other hand, he didn’t take to it very well. The stress of now being the only person in the family with a job, as Mom had left her job at the restaurant, and a son was a lot to handle, and Dad didn’t know how to deal with it. He became a common fixture at the local bars, waiting until the last minute to go home. My Mom didn’t like it at all, some of my first memories are of being little and hearing my Mom talk about her day and her problems to me, but she never raised any cain about it.
As the years went on, it was 1981 when I first so pro wrestling on TV. It was AWA, and it was Verne Gagne’s last match. It was against one of the greatest wrestlers I’ve seen, Nick Bockwinkel. The match amazed me, at 7 years old. I’ve never seen anything like it. Gagne went out on top, as the Champion. As everyone was rejoicing, I was hollering bloody murder at my TV because Bockwinkel had lost. For whatever reason, I loved him, even though he was playing the bad guy, and it was Verne’s last moment in the light.
After that, it was pure obsession for me. My Mom encouraged me to like whatever I wanted. Even though she always said wrestling was silly, I think deep down she liked it too. My Dad, on the other hand, hated it. Most nights would be seen as him storming in after work, smelling of cheap booze, hollering and yelling at nothing, shutting off the TV, and telling me to “Stop watching that crap”, and sending me to bed.
No matter what my Dad said, I loved it. I watched all I could, mainly AWA. Like I said, I loved Bockwinkel and Rick Martel, they were two of my favorites when I started watching. Most of the time, I could be found in my room, having an epic hour long match with a pillow, hitting all the moves I’d seen Bockwinkel and Martel do, before getting the glorious win, becoming the new AWA World Heavyweight Champion in front of a huge crowd made up of other pillows and action figures.
When I was 10, for the first time on AWA, I saw Japanese wrestlers Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, and Genichiro Tenryu. I loved them. Something about them amazed me and made me want to learn all about them and All Japan Pro Wrestling, their home promotion, that I could. We didn’t have the internet back then, so I would go to the store a few minutes from my house and hunt down the newest wrestling magazine I could. I couldn’t buy them, as Dad would never allow me to have anything involving wrestling in the house, so I’d read as much as I could when I was there.
“Hey, you like wrestling?” A kid asked me one day as I was reading. “Yeah! It’s awesome!” I said, glancing at him before going back to reading about Jumbo and Tenryu and Stan Hansen, who was on his way to winning the AWA Heavyweight Title. “Me too, who you reading about… Oh! All Japan! I love that!” “Really! Me too! I’ve only seen a few of the guys on AWA, bu-..” “Oh, I have a lot of All Japan tapes at y house, you need to come over sometime! I’m Chris.” “I’m Michael,” I said, as we shook hands.
Running home, excited as could be because of my new friend that loved wrestling as much as I did, I couldn’t have been more happier. As I ran into the house looking for my Mom, I slowed down, my excitement blowing away in the wind. Mom was crying, as Dad was yelling at her. Mom was pregnant again. Dad didn’t take the news as well as Mom thought, blaming it on her, telling her they couldn’t handle another kid. After yelling for a few more minutes, Dad stormed out of the house, probably going to his favorite place, as I walked up to my Mom, hugging his waist, as she tried to stop crying for me.
“I’m excited, Mom...” I said, as she broke a smile through her tears. I walked to my room and laid down. I was really excited to have a brother or sister. Hell, maybe they would like wrestling too, but I was equally scared, knowing know my Mom felt, and how angry my Dad was.
It was really confusing, a lot of a 10 year old to handle. Things got harder as Mom’s pregnancy went on. Dad was hardly ever home anymore, and when he was he was passed out on the couch, so I tried to help my Mom as much as I could, with whatever I could. We were at the doctor’s office, when we learned that she was having a girl. She was excited to have a girl, I was excited to have a sister, and Dad, well... I don’t think he knew for a few days, because he was never around to tell.
I started spending a lot of time with Chris, mainly when my Dad was home, watching all of the tapes we could. I loved it. Jumbo, Baba, Tenryu, Hansen were all better than they were in AWA. There were young wrestlers like Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and others like Masanobu Fuchi. I ate it all up.
I was getting even more into wrestling, I was about to have a sister, I was spending a lot of time with my Mom, and I was seeing my Dad less and less, which as bad as it sounds, was a good thing at the time. Life was ok, other than my Dad’s less-than-stellar-fatherhood.
Until one day, near the end of Mom’s pregnancy. We were at the doctor’s office, Dad was at work, about to head to his bar as usual, me and Mom sat in silence, as the doctor gave us some bad news….
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Post by legendkiller8 on Dec 28, 2010 22:41:26 GMT -5
Ooh. A good entry. Good one and glad he found a friend. Wonder what the bad news is. Good job, I like that your keeping us in anticipation.
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Post by SodaGuy on Dec 28, 2010 23:19:17 GMT -5
I am loving how you are writing this, it's not jumping straight into the career but more so telling a story of how he got to this point, what he went through as a kid, etc. which is great. Keep it up, man!
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Post by Red Dragon on Dec 29, 2010 12:53:32 GMT -5
Great write ups, I really hope you can keep this up like GATTACA because it is some of the most realistic made up character 1st person stories I have read. You have me hooked with the last line, I need to read more. Good luck and keep this up.
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Post by Mike Bockwinkel on Dec 29, 2010 20:11:22 GMT -5
Like the references to my father. ;-)
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Fury
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Post by Fury on Dec 30, 2010 2:39:38 GMT -5
Nice, you have a really good writing style. I'm liking how this is progressing and you really capture to feeling of a kid growing up wanting to be a wrestler. Wrestling with your pillow, watching the AWA and falling in love with their wrestlers (whom I suspect we'll see some of down the line). I was actually thinking about doing something similar to this. Overall though good start, hopefully though you get to the wrestling part and stories of Tyger's career soon though. Good job and I will keep up with this.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2011 3:35:01 GMT -5
Chapter 3:
“You have an infection in your uterine wall,” the doctor said. “It’s hard to know what effect this will have on your daughter until she is born.”
My Mom started crying, as the doctor tried to console her, but eventual left the room to leave us alone. I was still 10 at this time, so I had no idea what the doctor said or meant, but I could tell it was really bad by the tears pouring from Mom’s face. We sat there in the gloom of the office, until Mom got herself together enough to drive home. When we got home, all I knew to do was to go to my room and hide. I sat on the end of my bed, quiet. Mom tried desperately to get a hold of Dad, but as usual, there was no luck. It was certain to me, even at 10, that he was more preoccupied with getting drunk than the possibility of his wife’s pregnancy not going as it should.
I stayed in my room all day that day. I heard a truck drive up, and the door creak open, before I heard Dad stumble and hit the wall, cursing every step of the way. I heard my parents door open, as Dad saw Mom, undoubtedly a mess after the day’s events. “What the hell is wrong with you now?” Dad asked. This set Mom off. She was never one for confronting Dad, especially after a night at the bar, but this day, she tore into Dad. It’s impossible to say he didn’t deserve it, as he deserved everything he got that night.
The yelling match reduced to Mom handing Dad everything he deserved for months, with Dad having nothing to say back, knowing he was wrong. I was laying on my bed, and in between the tears that were running, I couldn’t help but crack a smile. I was proud of my Mom for finally standing up to Dad, and hoped it would change everything.
It didn’t change everything, Mom still had an infection that threatened to kill my Sister, but, to my Dad’s credit, he tried. He actually stopped drinking, coming home every night immediately after work to be with Mom. Life was starting to get better, even though Mom’s pregnancy problems loomed. I was sitting waiting wrestling one night, when Dad walked in. I fully expected to be yelled at and demanded to my room. To my complete and utter shock, Dad sat down beside me, and started watching too. My attention dropped, from Stan Hansen running around like a mad man, to Dad, actually sitting beside me, WATCHING wrestling with me.
I tried to hang out with Chris as much as possible, soaking in all the Puroresu knowledge I could like a sponge. I was young, and already thinking that this would be what I wanted to do with my life. Even after Dad sitting in on an episode of AWA, I knew it wouldn’t sit well with him, so I kept my dreams quiet to myself, even though it burnt a hole in my brain.
The months flew by, as Dad stayed sober and Mom’s pregnancy advanced, and I turned 11. I remember Stan Hansen had just won the AWA Heavyweight Championship from Rock Martel a few days earlier, and as I slept, probably dreaming about an adult me beating up Stan in a title match. I was awakened suddenly by my Dad.
“Michael! Get up! Get up! You’re Mom’s water broke, we need to go!” He hollered, as I shot out of my bed and we charged to the car, on the way to the same hospital I was born. I fell in and out of sleep the way there, before we stormed into the hospital. Because of the problems Mom had, they took extra measure to try and ensure nothing bad would happen to Mom or my Sister. Finally, she started to make her way into the world, but something terrible happened. The infection in my Mother’s uterus caused the placenta had burst, and my Sister was still nowhere near close to coming out.
The minutes faded away, as the doctor quickly decided they needed to do an emergency C-Section. They quickly worked on my Mom to get her daughter out, before finally pulling the baby out into the world, but a lot of time had passed….
I sat cramped in a waiting room chair, asleep, exciting to finally have a sister, oblivious to all that was going on.
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Post by SodaGuy on Jan 3, 2011 4:39:31 GMT -5
This keeps on getting better and better... writing wise. You're able to write this in such a way that it comes off like a biography, so to speak. Fantastic job, my friend! Keep this up.  |
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Post by Red Dragon on Jan 3, 2011 13:38:04 GMT -5
This is all brilliantly writ. I love how your not writing much about the wrestling but still showing how big it is in Tyger's life. Can't wait to read more, keep this up and good luck.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2011 22:32:40 GMT -5
Chapter 4:
As they pulled my baby Sister out, and laid her on the table, it was all to similar to my birth. She wasn’t crying or moving.. or breathing. The worked on her but got nothing. Just as they were about to give up, she let out a quiet whine, showing signs of life. The room breathed a sigh of relief, although no one was out of the woods yet, as they were still uncertain about what the infection, burst placenta, or the lack of breathing had done to her.
The days dragged on, as Mom and my Sister had to stay in the hospital. Dad came in and out as he had to work, but I was still on Christmas Break, so I stayed at the hospital the entire time, although my Mom encouraged me to leave, I didn’t want to. We finally got to see my Sister about two days after her birth. She was a normal baby, ten toes, ten fingers, all the things that were certain for all babies, but one thing was wrong.
All three of us were there, as the doctor told us that the bursting of the placenta had cause her to not receive oxygen between the time it busted and the time she started breathing on the table. She had received brain damage, and most of her brain wasn’t functioning properly. Basically, it was unlikely she would ever be able to do anything, but breath.
The room was quiet for hours, as none of us had anything to say. The day passed, and we were able to go home, although my Sister had to stay at the hospital for the time being. As the day went on, Mom looked back and forth at the clock, as for the first time in six months, Dad hasn’t came home directly after work. When he came home, he wasn’t drunk or anything, but it was obvious he had a beer or two. I honestly couldn’t blame him, it was a hard time, but thankfully he had the strength to control himself.
That was the only time that he did that, that he lost his will power and stopped at the bar.
Until 3 years later, when things crashed even harder.….
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Post by TheNinthCloud on Jan 11, 2011 22:06:31 GMT -5
 . Post another entry. I'm loving this. It's like a beautifully written novel. I honestly clicked on this planning to skim it and force a reply, but good lord. Not any flaws come to mind, and obviously the write up is good. Please don't quit on this. |
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Post by stonecold316 on Jan 11, 2011 22:18:29 GMT -5
HOLY CHRIST, this is AMAZING! I literally found this 5 minutes ago, & I'm hooked. Keep posting, man. You've got a reader in me. Better than anything I could write.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2011 1:19:34 GMT -5
I regretfully have to announce that this will be my last entry in this, I have no time to keep this and GATTACA both up.
….I am, of course, kidding, silly!
Chapter 5
The next three years dragged on. As my sister grew and developed, she couldn’t walk, talk, move, eat, anything. It was the absolute saddest thing I’d ever seen in my life. This poor woman, never even given a chance to live the life we all deserve. If I could go back and change things, I would trade places with her in a heartbeat. Everyone deserves a chance to live, and she never got her chance.
Mom just fell into the worst depression I had seen. The joy was complete out of her life. I was still only 11, but I sat and watched the glowing, happy woman I once called my Mom completely disappear. Dad tried to stay strong for all of us. Of all the bad things he had done leading up to this, he really made up for it during this time. Other than the one slip where he went to the bar, he never went back the entire time. He was a nervous wreck, and he tried his best. I commend him for that.
I started watching more and more wrestling during this time. It was my only release from all that was going on. Stan Hansen left AWA for the greener grasses of Japan, and that left my old favorite, Nick Bockwinkel, back in the saddle as the champion. While I was sad to see Hansen go, I could always see him in All Japan, and I was happy to see Nick with the title again. A new guy was rising the ranks around this time though, a second generation wrestler by the name of Curt Hennig. I loved Hennig also. He was a great talker, a great wrestler, and just oozed star power. Ironically, he was everything I loved about Bockwinkel. Both were absolute class acts. In 1987, the two clashed in a historical one hour draw, one of the best matches I’d ever seen in my life. I sat, glazed eyed, in front of the TV the entire hour. I was so torn as a fan. I loved both, I couldn’t decide who I wanted to win. My Mom, Dad, and Sister were both behind me watching along with me. I think Mom and Dad knew this was a big thing going down, and they watched right along with me.
Later on, the two met in a rematch, and the AWA Heavyweight Championship was on the line, and I was even more torn than before. I watched the match as if my life depended on it, as the two went back and forth. At the end of the match, I watched in shock, as Larry Zbyszko handed Curt a roll of quarters, before Curt knocked Bockwinkel out with a shot, before pinning him! Curt had cheated to win the belt! That son of a bitch! I laid in bed that night, as all of the love I had for Curt boiled over in hate. I couldn’t believe it, he cheated my hero out of the title! It wouldn’t take me long in the business to realize, how amazing Curt was elicit such a response from me, and still kept me watching after. After I did, I loved him even more. Oh, but did I hate him in between then.
The rest of 1987 and 1988 went by, I kept watching all the wrestling, and hanging out with Chris, I could, trying to ignore all the things going on at home. I couldn’t bare seeing my Mom how she was.
It was 1988, I was officially 15 for a few weeks, and my Sister was about to turn 4… Until things took a turn for the worst. It was a cold, snowy night, December 18th. I didn’t know what was going on, as I was only half awake. My Mom was sobbing uncontrollably, holding my Sister in her arms. We all ran to the car, before Dad sped off in the direction of the hospital. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it was bad.
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Post by stonecold316 on Jan 12, 2011 16:41:00 GMT -5
Such talent, man. Maybe you can give me a few pointers. Keep it up.
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Post by TheNinthCloud on Jan 12, 2011 17:08:52 GMT -5
I seriously got pissed whne I read you're little joke.  Your sense of humor deserves a reply. The first few paragraphs had such a powerful sense of realism. Made me wanna cry. Such a deep writing to it. I sat and smiled as I read the bit about wrestling. My depression and sympathy for the family quickly turned to a sense of nostalga (sp?) back when I knew nothing of the wrestling industry, but what I saw on the television. Once again, you left us with a great cliffhanger. I don't see how your going to eventually end this as we (at least I) am always wanting more. Gotta go so I'll say the usual ender: Keep this up. |
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