Post by Markw on Aug 19, 2014 15:02:39 GMT -5
WFWF Battle At The Garden – The Tipping Point
It's inevitable, that to get what you want, you have to make sacrifices. You can't change anything, you can't gain anything, without giving something up.
I'm sure people will dispute that. But no one will convince me otherwise.
To become a professional wrestler, a three time National Champion, the International Champion, I have sacrificed a lot. Don't worry, this isn't a sob story, it's just the truth.
If you want to achieve anything, you have to give up on things that you care about. You have to make crapty decisions. You can't have your cake and eat it to.
Greedy people, like Lila Sleater, will try. And they'll always fail.
And generally, it's the people who sacrifice the most, who focus all of their efforts into getting what they desire, who come out on top.
If you want a revolution, you have to be willing to revolt. If you want glory, you have to risk failure.
And you can't have either, if you're mind is somewhere else. You can't have either, if there's anything, niggling away in the back of your mind.
You have to be dedicated, to an almost unhealthy degree, if you want to be the best.
---
Mary: “I think you should stop.”
Bishop: “Stop what?”
Mary: “Wrestling.”
Ha!
Mary: “I'm serious.”
Silence fell over the room, the sounds of my heart beating against my chest now the only audible sound. I could hardly contain my fury at the suggestion, from a person I've known for no more than a few months, that I should give up everything I've spent my life working for.
Mary: “I know this isn't what you want to hear. But you're in a very fragile state right now. It's not that long ago, that you were about to throw your life away. You need help. And I know I'm in no place to preach, but at least I'm willing to accept I need help. You're channelling everything, all of the crap that life has thrown at you, into this 'war', and it's going to kill you.”
Bishop: “Who the f*** do you think you are?”
Mary: “The only friend you've got.”
She replied, coldly. Knowing that comment would nag away at me.
Bishop: “I love wrestling, you have know idea how much I've sacrificed for this. I've given up my education, moved half way around the world, I've bled buckets for this... don't you dare tell me to give it up.”
Mary: “I'm just trying to help you. You're tearing your life apart, I imagine that's what led you to that balcony, and I honestly believe it's going to kill you. You might not like to hear that, but it's true. You can't keep driving people away.”
Bishop: “Wrestling is the only thing that keeps me sane, I'm not throwing that away.”
She, like me, was growing increasingly frustrated.
Mary: “I was just trying to help you, I obviously shouldn't have bothered.”
Bishop: “No you shouldn't.”
I replied bluntly, which got a glare from her. I owe Mary an awful lot, everything really. I wouldn't be the International Champion without her, I wouldn't have rekindled my affection for wrestling without her, more to the point, I wouldn't be here without her. But her attempts to 'fix' me had already led me into the biggest mistake of my wrestling career, aligning with Solomon Crow. Now she felt the need to convince me that I should give up the only thing I still love. The only thing that brings me any satisfaction. When I'm out in that ring, vivisecting a Dave Demento or a Yukio Blaze, I feel alive. As sickeningly cliché as it sounds, it's maybe the only time I do really feel alive.
Mary: “It's not wonder you're miserable.”
She moves towards the door of my little apartment.
Bishop: “Wait.”
Mary pauses and turns to me.
Bishop: “I'm sorry... I just can't. Wrestling is all I have, it's everything to me. I need it, if that makes me miserable, so be it.”
She opened the door and she walked away, leaving me, once again, alone.
---
What really saddens me about this clash, Dave. Is that, when I defeat you, cleanly, it won't be because I'm better than you.
It will be because, 'Dave Demento was in no fit state to wrestle'.
Kudos, you've got your excuses in early, and that phantom concussion ought to save a scrap of your reputation. It's a real shame because I was so looking forward to showing the whole world that you're nothing but a fraud. And now, you're going to look brave, resilient, strong. You're going to come out of the worst beating of your life, with your reputation enhanced, because you've made yourself the victim. And you've made me a monster.
It's disappointing that you're not willing to back yourself to beat me. It's a shame that you're going to feign injury just to save face.
But clearly, you aren't man enough to go into this match without an excuse for defeat. I guess that's understandable though, when you consider the fact that, if we're going to be honest here, a Joe Bishop win is inevitable.
We only have to look at our last encounter to see that. Last time you decided to step foot into the ring with myself and Trace Demon, you got a spike through the face. You were defeated, and you looked like a joke.
Any sane man, would have walked away.
You're clearly not a sane man, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
To get anywhere in this business you have to have that in you. If you do a Solomon Crow, a Reckless, give up after one beating, then you get nowhere.
I've had some pretty humiliating defeats, and like you, I've never given up. And right now, I'm the International Champion, I've just defeated this companies World Champion and I am standing shoulder to shoulder with the best wrestler in the WFWF.
So it's obvious that you have some of the required characteristics to make it in professional wrestling. You have that little bit of insanity that I believe you need to make it to the top.
The problem is, that alone isn't enough to succeed. Another crucial element, is talent.
And Dave, that's something you just don't have.
You have failed time and time again, and yes you keep getting back up, but you're always going to be knocked down again. You keep lose, you put yourself back into the heat of the battle, and you lose again.
You're stepping foot in that ring with me, but nothing has changed. You're not suddenly capable of going toe to toe with me Dave. And I think you understand that.
I think you know that you're just going to have your head smashed in again. And that's why you've concocted this concussion.
The truth is, I don't need to worry about what you're capable of. I don't need to think about what surprises might be coming my way at Battle At The Garden. Because you, quite simply, aren't capable of causing me any problems.
You aren't capable of beating me.
And I know saying those words, 'you aren't capable of beating me', will motivate you more than anything else could. But I don't care.
I don't care, because it's true.
You'll bring your a-game. You'll give it everything you have. You'll do everything you can to end me.
I won't do that.
And I'll still win.
See I don't need to. And frankly, this match with you, has to take a back seat. I'm concerned with what happens to the WFWF World Championship first and foremost. I'm not concerned about you, because you're no threat to me.
So I'll turn up, I'll do enough to retain my title, and I'll head back down that ramp with it. Unless I have to, I won't get out of first gear.
And if I have to, well then you can consider that a moral victory. Either way the perception will be that you bravely soldiered through injury and were heinously ripped apart by the International Champion. Whatever happens you're going to walk away with a moral victory.
But Dave, a moral victory, is still a defeat.
There is realistically, only one person who stands between The Final Revolution, and the two major WFWF championships at Battle At The Garden.
It's not Lila Sleater, or 'The Golden Boy' or Dex, and it's certainly not Dave Demento.
The only person who poses any threat to us, at Battle At The Garden, is Drakz.
He is the one man in these two matches, that deserves to be in the ring with myself of Trace Demon.
I proved last week that Dex doesn't, I've proved the same on more than one occasion when I've come up against Jayson Garrett. And Dave Demento has one of the worst records in the WFWF, it's a travesty that he has been given a chance to compete for my WFWF International Championship. An absolute joke.
Unlike those men, Drakz is a threat. You can reel off the accolades if you want, World Champion, International Champion, National Champion, Tag Team Champion, HOF inductee. More impressively, the man who stopped Phillip Schneider becoming a Grand Slam Champion on the biggest stage of them all.
There's no doubt, that unlike Jayson Garrett and Dex, Drakz is a man who has earned his spot in that match. Who has every right to step into the ring with Trace Demon.
That match is going to come down to one thing, and one thing only, who is better. Drakz or Trace Demon?
Now I don't know an awful lot about Drakz yet, I don't know what makes him tick. I haven't stepped into the ring with him, so I haven't needed to know. But what I do know, is that no one. No one, wants that title more than Trace Demon right now.
Not only does he need to prove a point after losing that belt. But more to the point, he needs it. We need it.
If The Final Revolution is going to bring down Lila Sleater, remove all signs of her disastrous regime, that has brought the WFWF to its knees. If we are to rebuild the WFWF, take it back to its once great heights, then we're going to need leverage. It's how Trace got me to help him gain control of the WFWF at Battleground, it's how he got Penny Shannon to do the same. And the World Championship, the International Championship, that gives us all the leverage we need.
Drakz is battling for personal gain. Of course he'll want to win that match and it will mean an awful lot to him. He wants to be the World Champion. He'll want to prove he's the best in this federation. But he has a lot less to lose and a lot less to gain.
See for Trace, the prize is so much greater. Because everything Trace has built, rests on this match. Trace Demon's career, my career, Jason Anders career, may well rest on Trace Demon winning that belt.
Everything we are working for, everything that we have slaved tirelessly for, rests on Trace Demon vs. Drakz. But unfortunately for us, it's not simply Trace Demon vs. Drakz one on one, it's a race between Trace Demon and Drakz, to see who can pin one of the whipping boys first.
And that element, is the only danger. Because wanting, needing, it more than Drakz, isn't going to be enough. Not if Drakz is in the right place at the right time. Not if Trace loses his concentration for three seconds. Because in that time, Drakz could have pinned Dex, like I did last week, or Jayson Garrett like he did, and he'll have that belt.
So it's going to boil down to, not just who wants it more. But who is smart enough, to create that window, that brief opportunity, to pin Dex or Garrett, while the other isn't completely focused.
I may not be directly involved in that match, and sure I don't know an awful lot about Drakz. All I know is, that he's the threat.
That's my assessment.
And personally, I think it's going to come down to, who can out think the other. Who can engineer a situation that allows them to win that belt. Who can tip things in their favour.
If my two matches with Trace Demon, if that Battleground match, if the last month, have taught me anything at all. It's that Trace, will always win the mental battle.
If I'm right, if he does. Trace will win the World Championship. And Lila Sleater's empire, will fall.
---
Mary was right of course, she is the only friend I have. I have driven people away, torn my life apart, in pursuit of the greatness. In my so far unsuccessful attempts to become the greatest professional wrestler in the world. And I've been left with comrades, but with little else.
Was it worth it?
Well to be honest, that depends on whether I succeed.
My sacrifices, like pretty much every other professional wrestler, were made for a reason. In an attempt to achieve something. I thought I was doing it for the World Championship, but in recent months the prize has become much greater.
I'm doing it now, to save professional wrestling. To save the WFWF. To save everything that still gives me an ounce of satisfaction. To save the only thing I really love.
If I can succeed, if Trace Demon and Jason Anders can succeed, then it was worth it. And it would be worth so many more sacrifices to reach that point.
If we fail. Then there was no point.
If we fail, then my entire life to this point, has been a complete failure. And I will be left with, well with f*** all.
Needless to say, the stakes are high. And failure, is not an option.
I like to come back here every now and then. To hear the sea roaring down the beach. Sit on this old wooden bench and contemplate. Often about how close I came to taking my life that night, but mainly just as somewhere to clear my head, to get away from the complications of every day life, and to think about what I need to do, to get to the top. And to help rebuild professional wrestling.
Unfortunately, it appears that Mary is aware of this fact, as she interrupts my trail of thought and takes a seat next to me.
Mary: “Hey.”
Bishop: “Hey.”
She smiles unconvincingly as I glance up at her.
Bishop: “Cigarette?”
I moved the box towards her.
Mary: “No thanks.”
Bishop: “What are you doing here?”
She obviously realised I wasn't best pleased at being disturbed, she did at least seem less hostile than usual, although for once that might not be too helpful.
Mary: “I figured you'd be here, just wanted to see how you're doing.”
Bishop: “I've been worse.”
Not much though.
Bishop: “You?”
Mary: “Ditto. Counselling is helping, you should give it a try.”
Bishop: “Yeah... that's not happening.”
Mary goes to respond, but I stop her, my tone of voice lowering the mood.
Bishop: “We probably need to talk.”
Mary: “That sound ominous.”
It is.
Bishop: “Nothing is more important than wrestling to me, not now, not ever.”
Mary: “I know that, but you obviously aren't happy, something has to change.”
Bishop: “But I am happy, when I'm in that ring I feel on top of the world. I know you think it's a stupid crusade but I really believe we're changing things and I'm enjoying ever second of it.”
A half-smile struggles to stretch out across Mary's face.
Bishop: “But if it fails, then I end up back here, back where I was a year ago.”
Mary: “Don't say that.”
Bishop: “It's true, and there's every chance it's going to happen. If I'm not 100% focused on the WFWF. I can't keep doing this Mary.”
Mary: “What?”
Ugh.
Bishop: “I can't try to force a friendship with you because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I spend too long concerned over my crapty social life and it's destroying my career.”
Mary: “That's it?”
I nodded and Mary, not saying a word walked back down the pier, looking as vulnerable as she did the day I met her. My ties to the outside world cut and my focus solely, on winning this war.
---
Lila Sleater is developing a habit of making very, very silly decisions.
And they seem to be revolving, largely, around her underestimating me. Clearly she thinks that I'm a nobody, a lackey, incapable of achieving anything without Trace Demon's help.
But she's dead wrong, and it's going to cost her the WFWF.
First, at Reborn, she puts me in a steel cage with Trace Demon and Solomon Crow. Given the animosity between myself and Trace in the past, that mistake was understandable.
But what I can't understand, is the decision to put me, a three time National Champion. The current International Champion, a man who has three times more WFWF wins than Dex. In the middle of the ring, with the hand picked WFWF World Champion. Did she really think that little of me? Did she really think that I would step into that ring, roll over, and let people think that Dex stands any chance of besting Trace Demon?
Did anyone think that would happen?
Well it didn't. I beat Dex.
And the result is, Dex has been humiliated and Lila Sleater looks incompetent.
I know that's got to hurt Lila, it has to. Having YOUR WFWF World Champion, the face of YOUR WFWF embarrassed on free TV by a man who you clearly think very little of.
And of course there's the third mistake, perhaps the greatest error of judgement on your part.
Not only do you bring Dave Demento, a man who I must once again stress has done absolutely nothing, back as your fixer. As the man who will apparently bring down 'The Final Revolution'. But you then assume that without the help of Trace Demon and Jason Anders I will fail. That sticking me inside a steel cage with Dave Demento will result in me being found out.
Well you are, once again, very wrong.
All you have really done, by locking me in a ring with your attack dog, is given me something to bounce his head off.
Oh and you've removed his escape route of course. Thanks for that.
Dave Demento is a condemned man. And yes, I am the executioner, but I wouldn't have gotten him anywhere near the guillotine without your help Lila. Remember that. Remember, as you watch Dave Demento's face squished up against the steel mesh, that you put him there. You cost that man his career. You cost him his livelihood. You cost him everything that makes his life worthwhile.
Oh and you blew a whole lot of money doing it. I know that's the one that's really going to hurt.
So let's recap, in four shows you have...
a) Given myself, Anders and Trace the perfect opportunity to make an instant impact.
b) Destroyed Solomon Crow's career.
c) Destroyed any credibility Shawn Malakai's hand picked Champion had (though I'll admit, he didn't have much in the first place).
d) Condemned Dex and Dave Demento's careers to an embarrassing and painful ending.
e) Cost your business a s*** ton of money.
Not a great run then?
Well be warned, it's only going to get worse from here on out.
Your mistakes have gone a long way to destroying this company. But fortunately, your mistakes are making it very easy for us to take it back. You're giving us an opportunity to rebuild it.
It will be rebuilt. Due to the extent of the damage you've done and will continue to do while you've got your grubby little paws on the promotion I love, it's not going to be done over night. But it will be, and it'll be without Lila Sleater. Without Dave Demento. Without Solomon Crow. Without Jayson Garrett. And without the unfortunate but corrupted Dex.
The dark days are coming to an end, the revolution looms near. And at 'Battle At The Garden' we will make a huge step to getting this promotion back on track. We will take the title from the fraud, and we'll return it to its rightful owner.
And you, you will lose your Champion, you'll lose his second in command and you'll lose your attack dog.
You clearly think very little of me Lila, it's cost you a lot already, at 'Battle At The Garden', on the biggest stage of all, the tipping point will be reached. And you'll know, that it has cost you your company.
You're finished.
I'm sure people will dispute that. But no one will convince me otherwise.
To become a professional wrestler, a three time National Champion, the International Champion, I have sacrificed a lot. Don't worry, this isn't a sob story, it's just the truth.
If you want to achieve anything, you have to give up on things that you care about. You have to make crapty decisions. You can't have your cake and eat it to.
Greedy people, like Lila Sleater, will try. And they'll always fail.
And generally, it's the people who sacrifice the most, who focus all of their efforts into getting what they desire, who come out on top.
If you want a revolution, you have to be willing to revolt. If you want glory, you have to risk failure.
And you can't have either, if you're mind is somewhere else. You can't have either, if there's anything, niggling away in the back of your mind.
You have to be dedicated, to an almost unhealthy degree, if you want to be the best.
---
Mary: “I think you should stop.”
Bishop: “Stop what?”
Mary: “Wrestling.”
Ha!
Mary: “I'm serious.”
Silence fell over the room, the sounds of my heart beating against my chest now the only audible sound. I could hardly contain my fury at the suggestion, from a person I've known for no more than a few months, that I should give up everything I've spent my life working for.
Mary: “I know this isn't what you want to hear. But you're in a very fragile state right now. It's not that long ago, that you were about to throw your life away. You need help. And I know I'm in no place to preach, but at least I'm willing to accept I need help. You're channelling everything, all of the crap that life has thrown at you, into this 'war', and it's going to kill you.”
Bishop: “Who the f*** do you think you are?”
Mary: “The only friend you've got.”
She replied, coldly. Knowing that comment would nag away at me.
Bishop: “I love wrestling, you have know idea how much I've sacrificed for this. I've given up my education, moved half way around the world, I've bled buckets for this... don't you dare tell me to give it up.”
Mary: “I'm just trying to help you. You're tearing your life apart, I imagine that's what led you to that balcony, and I honestly believe it's going to kill you. You might not like to hear that, but it's true. You can't keep driving people away.”
Bishop: “Wrestling is the only thing that keeps me sane, I'm not throwing that away.”
She, like me, was growing increasingly frustrated.
Mary: “I was just trying to help you, I obviously shouldn't have bothered.”
Bishop: “No you shouldn't.”
I replied bluntly, which got a glare from her. I owe Mary an awful lot, everything really. I wouldn't be the International Champion without her, I wouldn't have rekindled my affection for wrestling without her, more to the point, I wouldn't be here without her. But her attempts to 'fix' me had already led me into the biggest mistake of my wrestling career, aligning with Solomon Crow. Now she felt the need to convince me that I should give up the only thing I still love. The only thing that brings me any satisfaction. When I'm out in that ring, vivisecting a Dave Demento or a Yukio Blaze, I feel alive. As sickeningly cliché as it sounds, it's maybe the only time I do really feel alive.
Mary: “It's not wonder you're miserable.”
She moves towards the door of my little apartment.
Bishop: “Wait.”
Mary pauses and turns to me.
Bishop: “I'm sorry... I just can't. Wrestling is all I have, it's everything to me. I need it, if that makes me miserable, so be it.”
She opened the door and she walked away, leaving me, once again, alone.
---
What really saddens me about this clash, Dave. Is that, when I defeat you, cleanly, it won't be because I'm better than you.
It will be because, 'Dave Demento was in no fit state to wrestle'.
Kudos, you've got your excuses in early, and that phantom concussion ought to save a scrap of your reputation. It's a real shame because I was so looking forward to showing the whole world that you're nothing but a fraud. And now, you're going to look brave, resilient, strong. You're going to come out of the worst beating of your life, with your reputation enhanced, because you've made yourself the victim. And you've made me a monster.
It's disappointing that you're not willing to back yourself to beat me. It's a shame that you're going to feign injury just to save face.
But clearly, you aren't man enough to go into this match without an excuse for defeat. I guess that's understandable though, when you consider the fact that, if we're going to be honest here, a Joe Bishop win is inevitable.
We only have to look at our last encounter to see that. Last time you decided to step foot into the ring with myself and Trace Demon, you got a spike through the face. You were defeated, and you looked like a joke.
Any sane man, would have walked away.
You're clearly not a sane man, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
To get anywhere in this business you have to have that in you. If you do a Solomon Crow, a Reckless, give up after one beating, then you get nowhere.
I've had some pretty humiliating defeats, and like you, I've never given up. And right now, I'm the International Champion, I've just defeated this companies World Champion and I am standing shoulder to shoulder with the best wrestler in the WFWF.
So it's obvious that you have some of the required characteristics to make it in professional wrestling. You have that little bit of insanity that I believe you need to make it to the top.
The problem is, that alone isn't enough to succeed. Another crucial element, is talent.
And Dave, that's something you just don't have.
You have failed time and time again, and yes you keep getting back up, but you're always going to be knocked down again. You keep lose, you put yourself back into the heat of the battle, and you lose again.
You're stepping foot in that ring with me, but nothing has changed. You're not suddenly capable of going toe to toe with me Dave. And I think you understand that.
I think you know that you're just going to have your head smashed in again. And that's why you've concocted this concussion.
The truth is, I don't need to worry about what you're capable of. I don't need to think about what surprises might be coming my way at Battle At The Garden. Because you, quite simply, aren't capable of causing me any problems.
You aren't capable of beating me.
And I know saying those words, 'you aren't capable of beating me', will motivate you more than anything else could. But I don't care.
I don't care, because it's true.
You'll bring your a-game. You'll give it everything you have. You'll do everything you can to end me.
I won't do that.
And I'll still win.
See I don't need to. And frankly, this match with you, has to take a back seat. I'm concerned with what happens to the WFWF World Championship first and foremost. I'm not concerned about you, because you're no threat to me.
So I'll turn up, I'll do enough to retain my title, and I'll head back down that ramp with it. Unless I have to, I won't get out of first gear.
And if I have to, well then you can consider that a moral victory. Either way the perception will be that you bravely soldiered through injury and were heinously ripped apart by the International Champion. Whatever happens you're going to walk away with a moral victory.
But Dave, a moral victory, is still a defeat.
There is realistically, only one person who stands between The Final Revolution, and the two major WFWF championships at Battle At The Garden.
It's not Lila Sleater, or 'The Golden Boy' or Dex, and it's certainly not Dave Demento.
The only person who poses any threat to us, at Battle At The Garden, is Drakz.
He is the one man in these two matches, that deserves to be in the ring with myself of Trace Demon.
I proved last week that Dex doesn't, I've proved the same on more than one occasion when I've come up against Jayson Garrett. And Dave Demento has one of the worst records in the WFWF, it's a travesty that he has been given a chance to compete for my WFWF International Championship. An absolute joke.
Unlike those men, Drakz is a threat. You can reel off the accolades if you want, World Champion, International Champion, National Champion, Tag Team Champion, HOF inductee. More impressively, the man who stopped Phillip Schneider becoming a Grand Slam Champion on the biggest stage of them all.
There's no doubt, that unlike Jayson Garrett and Dex, Drakz is a man who has earned his spot in that match. Who has every right to step into the ring with Trace Demon.
That match is going to come down to one thing, and one thing only, who is better. Drakz or Trace Demon?
Now I don't know an awful lot about Drakz yet, I don't know what makes him tick. I haven't stepped into the ring with him, so I haven't needed to know. But what I do know, is that no one. No one, wants that title more than Trace Demon right now.
Not only does he need to prove a point after losing that belt. But more to the point, he needs it. We need it.
If The Final Revolution is going to bring down Lila Sleater, remove all signs of her disastrous regime, that has brought the WFWF to its knees. If we are to rebuild the WFWF, take it back to its once great heights, then we're going to need leverage. It's how Trace got me to help him gain control of the WFWF at Battleground, it's how he got Penny Shannon to do the same. And the World Championship, the International Championship, that gives us all the leverage we need.
Drakz is battling for personal gain. Of course he'll want to win that match and it will mean an awful lot to him. He wants to be the World Champion. He'll want to prove he's the best in this federation. But he has a lot less to lose and a lot less to gain.
See for Trace, the prize is so much greater. Because everything Trace has built, rests on this match. Trace Demon's career, my career, Jason Anders career, may well rest on Trace Demon winning that belt.
Everything we are working for, everything that we have slaved tirelessly for, rests on Trace Demon vs. Drakz. But unfortunately for us, it's not simply Trace Demon vs. Drakz one on one, it's a race between Trace Demon and Drakz, to see who can pin one of the whipping boys first.
And that element, is the only danger. Because wanting, needing, it more than Drakz, isn't going to be enough. Not if Drakz is in the right place at the right time. Not if Trace loses his concentration for three seconds. Because in that time, Drakz could have pinned Dex, like I did last week, or Jayson Garrett like he did, and he'll have that belt.
So it's going to boil down to, not just who wants it more. But who is smart enough, to create that window, that brief opportunity, to pin Dex or Garrett, while the other isn't completely focused.
I may not be directly involved in that match, and sure I don't know an awful lot about Drakz. All I know is, that he's the threat.
That's my assessment.
And personally, I think it's going to come down to, who can out think the other. Who can engineer a situation that allows them to win that belt. Who can tip things in their favour.
If my two matches with Trace Demon, if that Battleground match, if the last month, have taught me anything at all. It's that Trace, will always win the mental battle.
If I'm right, if he does. Trace will win the World Championship. And Lila Sleater's empire, will fall.
---
Mary was right of course, she is the only friend I have. I have driven people away, torn my life apart, in pursuit of the greatness. In my so far unsuccessful attempts to become the greatest professional wrestler in the world. And I've been left with comrades, but with little else.
Was it worth it?
Well to be honest, that depends on whether I succeed.
My sacrifices, like pretty much every other professional wrestler, were made for a reason. In an attempt to achieve something. I thought I was doing it for the World Championship, but in recent months the prize has become much greater.
I'm doing it now, to save professional wrestling. To save the WFWF. To save everything that still gives me an ounce of satisfaction. To save the only thing I really love.
If I can succeed, if Trace Demon and Jason Anders can succeed, then it was worth it. And it would be worth so many more sacrifices to reach that point.
If we fail. Then there was no point.
If we fail, then my entire life to this point, has been a complete failure. And I will be left with, well with f*** all.
Needless to say, the stakes are high. And failure, is not an option.
I like to come back here every now and then. To hear the sea roaring down the beach. Sit on this old wooden bench and contemplate. Often about how close I came to taking my life that night, but mainly just as somewhere to clear my head, to get away from the complications of every day life, and to think about what I need to do, to get to the top. And to help rebuild professional wrestling.
Unfortunately, it appears that Mary is aware of this fact, as she interrupts my trail of thought and takes a seat next to me.
Mary: “Hey.”
Bishop: “Hey.”
She smiles unconvincingly as I glance up at her.
Bishop: “Cigarette?”
I moved the box towards her.
Mary: “No thanks.”
Bishop: “What are you doing here?”
She obviously realised I wasn't best pleased at being disturbed, she did at least seem less hostile than usual, although for once that might not be too helpful.
Mary: “I figured you'd be here, just wanted to see how you're doing.”
Bishop: “I've been worse.”
Not much though.
Bishop: “You?”
Mary: “Ditto. Counselling is helping, you should give it a try.”
Bishop: “Yeah... that's not happening.”
Mary goes to respond, but I stop her, my tone of voice lowering the mood.
Bishop: “We probably need to talk.”
Mary: “That sound ominous.”
It is.
Bishop: “Nothing is more important than wrestling to me, not now, not ever.”
Mary: “I know that, but you obviously aren't happy, something has to change.”
Bishop: “But I am happy, when I'm in that ring I feel on top of the world. I know you think it's a stupid crusade but I really believe we're changing things and I'm enjoying ever second of it.”
A half-smile struggles to stretch out across Mary's face.
Bishop: “But if it fails, then I end up back here, back where I was a year ago.”
Mary: “Don't say that.”
Bishop: “It's true, and there's every chance it's going to happen. If I'm not 100% focused on the WFWF. I can't keep doing this Mary.”
Mary: “What?”
Ugh.
Bishop: “I can't try to force a friendship with you because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I spend too long concerned over my crapty social life and it's destroying my career.”
Mary: “That's it?”
I nodded and Mary, not saying a word walked back down the pier, looking as vulnerable as she did the day I met her. My ties to the outside world cut and my focus solely, on winning this war.
---
Lila Sleater is developing a habit of making very, very silly decisions.
And they seem to be revolving, largely, around her underestimating me. Clearly she thinks that I'm a nobody, a lackey, incapable of achieving anything without Trace Demon's help.
But she's dead wrong, and it's going to cost her the WFWF.
First, at Reborn, she puts me in a steel cage with Trace Demon and Solomon Crow. Given the animosity between myself and Trace in the past, that mistake was understandable.
But what I can't understand, is the decision to put me, a three time National Champion. The current International Champion, a man who has three times more WFWF wins than Dex. In the middle of the ring, with the hand picked WFWF World Champion. Did she really think that little of me? Did she really think that I would step into that ring, roll over, and let people think that Dex stands any chance of besting Trace Demon?
Did anyone think that would happen?
Well it didn't. I beat Dex.
And the result is, Dex has been humiliated and Lila Sleater looks incompetent.
I know that's got to hurt Lila, it has to. Having YOUR WFWF World Champion, the face of YOUR WFWF embarrassed on free TV by a man who you clearly think very little of.
And of course there's the third mistake, perhaps the greatest error of judgement on your part.
Not only do you bring Dave Demento, a man who I must once again stress has done absolutely nothing, back as your fixer. As the man who will apparently bring down 'The Final Revolution'. But you then assume that without the help of Trace Demon and Jason Anders I will fail. That sticking me inside a steel cage with Dave Demento will result in me being found out.
Well you are, once again, very wrong.
All you have really done, by locking me in a ring with your attack dog, is given me something to bounce his head off.
Oh and you've removed his escape route of course. Thanks for that.
Dave Demento is a condemned man. And yes, I am the executioner, but I wouldn't have gotten him anywhere near the guillotine without your help Lila. Remember that. Remember, as you watch Dave Demento's face squished up against the steel mesh, that you put him there. You cost that man his career. You cost him his livelihood. You cost him everything that makes his life worthwhile.
Oh and you blew a whole lot of money doing it. I know that's the one that's really going to hurt.
So let's recap, in four shows you have...
a) Given myself, Anders and Trace the perfect opportunity to make an instant impact.
b) Destroyed Solomon Crow's career.
c) Destroyed any credibility Shawn Malakai's hand picked Champion had (though I'll admit, he didn't have much in the first place).
d) Condemned Dex and Dave Demento's careers to an embarrassing and painful ending.
e) Cost your business a s*** ton of money.
Not a great run then?
Well be warned, it's only going to get worse from here on out.
Your mistakes have gone a long way to destroying this company. But fortunately, your mistakes are making it very easy for us to take it back. You're giving us an opportunity to rebuild it.
It will be rebuilt. Due to the extent of the damage you've done and will continue to do while you've got your grubby little paws on the promotion I love, it's not going to be done over night. But it will be, and it'll be without Lila Sleater. Without Dave Demento. Without Solomon Crow. Without Jayson Garrett. And without the unfortunate but corrupted Dex.
The dark days are coming to an end, the revolution looms near. And at 'Battle At The Garden' we will make a huge step to getting this promotion back on track. We will take the title from the fraud, and we'll return it to its rightful owner.
And you, you will lose your Champion, you'll lose his second in command and you'll lose your attack dog.
You clearly think very little of me Lila, it's cost you a lot already, at 'Battle At The Garden', on the biggest stage of all, the tipping point will be reached. And you'll know, that it has cost you your company.
You're finished.
OOC: If someone has any advice to help make writing scenes a less arduous and unfulfilling experience throw your advice my way, because I'm really frustrated about it at the moment.