After my match with Mia Sanchez...my eyes are drying up from the tears that I just shed. I sit on the chair and look at the title that is draped across my shoulder…the WORLD heavyweight champion. I have been working too damn hard for the past few years and, now, I have held EVERY title in the X-Treme Wrestling Federation…Looking at every title history and seeing my name on that list is a personal thrill for me to see on a daily basis…and to know that I have done it is pretty fucking sweet.
I smile as I lean back on the locker and look up at the lights. I remember back to my first title win…and think back to how happy I was…how ecstatic my life was that I finally held gold in a company that I was getting better acquainted with time and time again. How, right then, I was going to go out there and win every single title that the X-Treme Wrestling Federation had. I was a young kiddo back then…I had no idea that I would be actually here…holding the last title that I needed to fulfill that little rookie’s dream. Who knew I was going to be THAT successful? Who knew that I was going to make such an impact on the company that I was a novice at, at first? Heh.
I take the title off of my shoulder and lay it across my lap and the reflection of my face. I look at the title and then lay my hand softly across the top of the belt…the ripples, the etchings, the divots all move across my fingers and this feeling brings me back, for some reason, to the moments where I held the X-Treme title. The ripples in the gold were replaced with the stickiness and the smoothness of duct tape. I couldn’t feel anything like I feel now, though, because if I would have taken off that duct tape the whole title would have been in pieces. Winning that belt seventeen times, of course I tried one time. It was like a puzzle. Not a fun kind either. I chuckle over the thought of me putting together that title.
I drape the title over my shoulder again and stand back up. I walk over to this mirror that’s in my locker room. I walk up slowly to the mirror and as I do I remember my two tag titles and how I got strange partners, from someone who I carried on my shoulders from day one to someone who I saw that not all people that I team with don’t give one hundred percent when they are with me.
I look at the mirror with the title draped around my shoulder…still with that smile attached to my face. My smile then turns into a smirk…that smirk…that picture. I remember seeing this. The reflection in the mirror before I won…it pictured me in this same exact pose…it knew that I was going to succeed if I was going to believe in myself and, yet, here I am…holding the title…believing in myself. Pretty friggin’ cool, if you ask me.
I hear my phone buzzing in my pants that are hanging up, as I am still dressed in my wrestling gear, and I dig through the pockets to find the phone. As soon as I picked it up, I hear screaming on the other side. I know those screams of joy and they only can come from one person.
MIA!
I just heard! You won! I mean, wow! I never thought you’d come out on top! I mean, I don’t even know who you faced…who’d you face?
Um…Mia…
Yes? Who did you face?
Her name wa…
Her? You beat a girl?! What the hell were you thinking?! You got yourself into a match with A GIRL!? Are you crazy? Is she alright?
She was going to kick my ass too, if that helps any?
Buzzkill! I listen to her talk and notice the mirror image begin to chuckle a little bit. I hang my head and let her go on her rant.
First off, let me say one thing perfectly clear. Jayzon Williamz…you came and jumped me from behind and beat me to an almost bloodied mess after my match with Centurion and you did a damn good job of doing that. It’s nothing that I haven’t been through before. I’ve been jumped and attacked on numerous occasions and all, Jayzon, is benefit to the fact that I held the title that they wanted to hold themselves. However, I’m glad YOU attacked me Jayzon, because…you see…I’m on a mission now. I mean, I have now held every title in the X-Treme Wrestling Federation and there’s just one more spot left for me to check off…and that spot, Jayzon, is where you are currently standing at…
…The Hall of Legends. You see, I’ve been trying to get my ass in that place ever since it opened its hallowed halls. Walls that were filled with memories and names like yourself…Jem…Steve Jason…Centurion…Bliz and others telling tales of what they have accomplished and their proudest moments in that very ring. You attacking me, Jayzon, just gave me another story to put up on my already growing wall. I do hope we both make it to the pay per view unharmed, because…Jayzon…I’m not going to let you have what drapes over my shoulder without putting up one hell of a fucking fight.
Anyways, let us get down to business of my next match and it’s against…Peter Gilmour. Yes! I finally get to go one on one with this guy. I mean, I heard so much about him. He got to be good, right? I mean, he is the X-Treme Ico…wait…he’s what?
The X-Treme Icon? The X-Treme Icon?! Did he beat me in title reigns or something? That’s it? That’s how many times he’s won the X-Treme title? Doesn’t he know that I made that title? Doesn’t he know how many times I’ve taken that title to the top of the pops? Gah! Alright, let’s start over.
Ahem…Peter Gilmour CALLS himself the X-Treme Icon. He doesn’t have a clue as to what being the X-Treme Icon entails. He doesn’t know that being the X-Treme Icon pertains to making something that’s been in the dumps for so long and change it into something that people want to see…that people need to have on their card time and time again. Peter doesn’t know that becoming the X-Treme Icon takes a lot more than just winning that title numerous times…
…It’s quality over quantity.
Not only that, people, if your ONLY claim to fame in this world is winning the X-Treme title…then you need a new fame to claim. I mean, yes…I call myself the “X-Treme Icon” but look at what I have done AFTER becoming the X-Treme champion. The matches I have won, the main events I’ve partaken in, the titles I…heh…held in this company. It’s endless. I don’t just stop at seventeen time X-Treme champion. I know that 17 X-Treme championships only equal out to a US title win…but, guys, just look at the fun I had since my last X-Treme title win. I hold something that 17 US title wins won’t even come close to doing. I became the World heavyweight champion.
World heavyweight champion…something that, Peter, you aren’t going to be for a long, long time. Now, I didn’t say “NEVER” going to be…but I did say “AREN’T” going to be for a reason. Because, who knows? Maybe one day the X-Treme Icon that you claim that you are will blossom into the X-Treme Icon that, well, I have going for myself.
But, Peter, this is no “passing of the torch” moment. Oh hell no! Why the hell would I pass the torch to someone like you, Peter? Someone who nobody likes, someone who thinks that he’s the shit and nobody else can touch him, someone who thinks, yes THINKS, he’s better than everybody and that people can’t light a match to his resume, when…looking at his past performances, is better known for getting shut up once a month by someone who is ten times better than he is. This month, as you can see…is my turn. It’s my turn to shut the mouth of the biggest mouth I’ve seen since, well, me. But there’s a difference between you and I, Peter. That difference, is I back it up and I plan on backing up my mouth this week, the next week, and for however long it takes before, Petey, I can’t talk anymore.
Peter, to me…you’re nothing. To me…you’re just…there. There to cause trouble, there to do nothing, there to just annoy the fuck out of people, a pest, a little gnat, someone whose job it is to get under your skin and just pick, pick, pick at you. If you keep at this lifestyle, Pete, you are looking at your last match and, honestly, I wouldn’t mind doing it, either. And, you know something? I know that there is an entire roster of individuals that would hoist me up on their shoulders and carry me out of the damn arena if I wound up knocking you out of action for good. Yeah, thinking about it…I would be doing the X-Treme Wrestling Federation a good service if that this Thursday night will be the last you’d ever see Peter Gilmour in ANY ring, let alone the X-Treme Wrestling Federation ring. Peter Gilmour, in this ring…you got to walk it before you can talk it…I walked before I talked…and, by the looks of things…when you got in the X-Treme Wrestling Federation all I heard was you…
…TALK! TALK! TALK! Peter Gilmour…if I don’t shut you up just for one second…I’ll bring the duct tape and shut you up once and for all! But, Petey…I will leave you with this…no matter what you do…no matter what you become. You will NEVER EVER be the X-Treme Icon as long as I am alive and. Peter, I will personally give you YOUR X-TREME VERSION of your very own “WELCOME TO THE BIG TYME MOMENT!”
Peter, there comes a time in every man’s life where he takes a step back…looks at what he has done…and smiles. For me, I took that time last week for that.
I lay on my bed…finally…a day all to myself. I haven’t been home in over a month and it just feels good to be back on American soil and a bed that I love to lay on. The morning light shines through the window and in my half closed eyes. I wake up and rub my eyes. It’s been a full week since I saw my last reflection talk to me. I look at the reflection in the mirror and rub my eyes.
I think I may have broken the curse…or whatever the hell was. However, as soon as I thought that thought…I hear laughter…I look up and notice that the reflection is there looking back at me with a big smile on his face.
You thought you did pretty good for yourself, eh? I mean, look at you…you’re the World champion! There’s nothing more that a man can do in this situation, am I right?
Well…yeah. I mean, every title has been won that the XWF has ever had. What else is there to do?
I walk to the side and notice that the mirror image is walking with me but not looking at me, like I am looking at him.
Zach…remember last week? When you won that title? What was the first thing you did? Seems like you are having trouble, there, chief. Remember? You were thinking about the titles that you have won before. The first title and the X-Treme title and the tag team title. I want to focus on, maybe, one of those titles.
What the hell do you want?
The X-Treme title story. Tell that back to me. I’ll stop you when I come across something to, you know, see something that I like. Go! Talk!
I sit down on the bed and look at the mirror.
Um..ok…I remember winning the title and running my hand across the title…
NO! You mentioned the fact that you COULDN’T run your fingers through the title because it would…what?
Fall apart…into…pieces.
Like a, what?
Puzzle?
BINGO! Now that we got that…here we go. Look, all of your titles have been like pieces of the X-Treme championship title. But, you see, it’s not just that simple, Zachary. You see, there’s another aspect of this. The “glue” or “duct tape” as you would like to put it. Something that would make it all one piece, something to make it whole. You get what I am saying?
You mean, something that makes it…all worthwhile?
Yes, Zachary. That’s exactly what I mean. Right now…you have ALL the pieces of the puzzle…all the pieces to that X-Treme title and, now, there’s just one part missing and that’s the thing that makes a title a title. The thing that makes the puzzle a puzzle. The thing that makes “Big Tyme” Zach Rizza…”Big Tyme” Zach Rizza.
I cock my head to the side and the reflection begins to laugh again.
Alrighty, look…l am only going to tell you this once. You look at all the titles you have won…and you have won a ton of them, as you already know. The title you have now…the World title…is like that small piece of the title plate that you are trying to find...but just can’t….find. However, you need that piece because that piece is REALLY REALLY want because it’s REALLY REALLY important to have. It’s the main piece, the keystone piece, if you will to your brick wall.
Wow, you are filled with analogies today, aren’t you?
Shut the fuck up, I’m on a fucking roll here. The X-Treme title…the piece that made you, well, unique in a way. It’s like that one really big piece that was shaped weird. You knew it’s distinct shape…you knew it’s feel…you knew everything there is to know about that piece…but others don’t see the specificity of that piece…besides you.
Or how about the tag team titles? The one that looked like it was two separate pieces but there was only one connecting piece to it and no matter how hard you tried, and trust me I know you tried your ass off, but you just couldn’t get that bond to break?
Or maybe the TV title, I believe you won it when it was called the True Violence title? The duct tape was so strong that it caused the duct tape to rip and the tape just was stuck on the plate for good?
I get all of that, man. But…what do you mean? What do I have left to prove?
Rizz, that’s for you to find out. That’s for you to see for yourself what lies in waiting. I’m not here to tell you everthing…but I think…deep down…you know EXACTLY what you have to do…Trust me. You are just so close in getting that duct tape that, who knows? Maybe it will happen this year…maybe it will happen next year…
But here’s my final words on this issue: If you DON’T fight for the “duct tape” do you have a title? No. You just have a bunch of split metal plates that are worthless. The glue defines who they are….this thing you have left…is something that will define YOU for all fucking eternity.
Those, indeed, were his final words as when I began to speak I noticed that my reflection was mimicking my every move…so I just stop.