TAG CHAMPS

RECAP
A win. A bruised lip. Wow what a week. What would leave most interested is that the bruised lip has nothing to do with the match won on Breakdown. Hudson snapped and hauled off on Anthony after Ant showed no true feelings about Hudson’s accident. Why should he? Yes, Hudson was his tag partner but look at the world around you. People starve. People watch loved ones die in front of their eyes and Mr. Hudson feels as though the world came crashing down on him cause he had a small car accident. You’d think the kid never left the suburbs once in awhile. Anthony didn’t have time to think about that. He had other things on his mind. For one, his family and for another he didn’t have time for Hudson’s sob stories when their tag team championship match was coming up. Anthony laughed kind of to himself; while he was trying to turn Hudson into another Glacier…Hudson had some kind of influence on Anthony. Interesting.

Location: New Jersey (A Day Before Yesterday)
Scenes open as a man solemnly stands in front of a tombstone. Wearing a black hooded jacket seemingly made of thin material. The only things that could be seen from this dark figure were his pale hands. The place was empty as most people would not be up at early morning, at least not at a graveyard. The man dusted away the decrepit flowers and placed new fresh ones in its place instead. He lifted a finger to his eyes, wiping away a tear. Upon closer inspection, the man was indeed one Anthony “Glacier” Thomas. His lip was still bruised from Hudson’s outburst. He was visiting the gravesite of his late mother. His mother had died from food poisoning years ago by Mark’s ex-wife. She had purposefully killed her in hopes that insurance money as well as the money in the will came her way. She ran off after they realized what happened. He looked up in the sky.

Anthony: What am I doing wrong, mom? Where did I go wrong? Why must my life be one miserable mistake after another? I can’t please my wife. I can’t seem to get Mark on my side. I can’t even seem to keep my tag partner’s anger in check. Why has everything that would seem like child’s play to me years ago have all these complications? What small detail did I overlook? Did I forget to count the emotions of others? The expectations of a man have changed drastically, haven’t they? Remember, mom, how dad just walked out on us and no one gave a shit or looked our way to help us? Now, they expect a man to be able to get his face pummeled in by his tag team partner, to fight over a woman and her child while taking care of their ex-wife and biological children, and even find the time to play trainer to the Underground champion. They expect so much yet reward so little, mom. You know what my current reward is?

A bruised lip and a healing ego. I have yet to reap the rewards I have sowed in so tightly. I work so hard to keep my family and yet I lost it within this year. I work so hard to keep my life stable and yet at every turn here comes another thing ruining it. No one understands me because no one understands bitter pain, the very root of my frustration. Hell, I don’t even understand it. All I know there is a bitterness that has my heart on lock. Sometimes I envy Michael. Yeah, I envy MJ because he’s so free. He is naïve but free. He doesn’t have nor need to have a bitter bone in his body. He reacts the exact way he feels, he never has to disguise and hide his emotions or past. He grew up with loving parents, a nice place, and the only time he has seen the nastiness of life was when he was almost killed and then almost killed himself a few months later. I? I can’t even afford to think about my death. I have children depending on me.

Yes, mom, your grandsons are well but I don’t even know if they see me as a father to them or not. I don’t even know if they even care. Sometimes I sit in these hotel rooms and want to cry. Yeah, the coldest son of a bitch. Well that’s just bullshit. Heartless people don’t think about their kids. They don’t think about how every decision they make takes a serious toll. They don’t care whether how their flesh and blood view them. I say I’m cold. I say I’m heartless. Why? Because everyone has told me that since I was a child. They said I was a cold-blooded individual, they said they saw it in my blue eyes so I believed them. I took on the name Glacier to praise that fact but now that I am much older I look back at it and realize they were just there to put me down. They were just there to make me another cold uncaring human being in the world. It was I who was to fight that stereotype but I gave into it like a fool. Even with Holly, it’s still too late for me.

But it’s not too late for my sons. I have no clue what to do. I have been used to Ashley and me taking care of them. I’m used to us carrying them to Six Flags or wherever. I’m just used to coming home and hanging out with the boys and Ashley. I’ll be honest. I’ll never get used to this divorce. I can never truly sleep in another bed and find myself comfortable. Going home to my wife will never leave my head but here I stand looking for answers. Here I stand wondering why it took me this long and for me to lose this much to see things for what they really are. What sickens me is how I willingly put an innocent person like Hudson, into my world. Why? Just so he could feel my pain? So I could have someone to relate to? What kind of person tries to turn another human to evil? I suppose the only pure left in my life is Holly and I promise to you, mom, that I will never try to make her evil or wrong her. I want her to be as angelic as you.

He looked down at the tombstone, wishing she would just answer him. Wishing she was just give him a word of advice on how to change things for the better. But there the tombstone was: the same solid rock with the same inscription on it. He returned back to his bitter and cold demeanor, realizing that vulnerability got him no closer to the truth of his problem than his cold side did. He walked off, with still no insight on why his life was tougher than others around him. As he went back into the taxi that he told to stay for a few minutes, he wondered if some people were just chosen to live a tougher path than others. Did it build character or just build up more issues that would cause bouts of depression down the road? Anthony had the taxi driver drop him off at the airport. He was miserable and emotionally drained. He looked void of any emotion. So would anyone running out of time and answers. Scenes fade away to black.

Location: Boston, Massachusetts (Yesterday)
Scenes open to Anthony entering his hotel, with duffel bag strap slung over his shoulder and rolling his suitcase in. He closes the door and throws the duffel bag on the floor. He plops down on the sofa. He had let Davis know that he was in the area. Tired and ready to head to bed, he didn’t seem to be in much of a mood for anyone or anything. He could have called Holly but he didn’t feel like it. What was the point? He loved her but everything he ever laid hands on has become corrupted. It had flawed from its perfection. The only thing that shocked him was the fact she had not turned out the same even after being with her for months. He couldn’t even explain it. It was like a miracle or just life waiting for Anthony to build up false hope then crush him once again like he did with his family. He had a bit of a headache. He lay on his side trying to catch a little sleep until his cell phone began to ring. It was a familiar name.

Anthony: He should stop calling, I’m not picking this shit up. Not for him.

He listened as the ring tone continued playing in loops and finally stopped. He just didn’t care what Hudson had to say. What does a man like that have to say after busting Anthony’s lip? “Oh I’m sorry, my situation with Amber made me do it.” Fuck Amber, him, their pet dog, and anything else that causes Anthony to get a hit right in the mouth. Its funny cause the minute Anthony stopped caring about Hudson, that’s when Josh snaps and finally puts hands on him. When Amber no longer cares about Hudson and dumps their baby, he goes off on her. Yet someone is claiming their not an attention whore? Anthony could only shake his head but he also knew attention whore or not, Hudson was a great athlete he could learn a lot from. Even with his psycho shit at times, he was also a very good friend. Anthony couldn’t sleep. He sat a little, flipping his cap forward so the brim of his cap covers his eyes.

Glacier: I don’t want you to see me. I mean Hudson as well as Dillusion and M V. None of you deserve to look into my eyes, my soul. I wonder if sometimes if some strong individuals are called upon to carry the burden of hardships in life or is the hardships of life creating the strong individuals? What blessed boys you all are, even you Hudson. Had family. Had a decent life. What do any of you know about misery since childhood? Nothing. I don’t expect you to but what I do expect, Dillusion and M V, is for you two to cut out the gimmicky bullshit out of respect for all the hard work me and Hudson did to get here. I want to sit here and say you two trying to save the title scene is laughable. I want to tell you that there is no such set up or scheme by us for your specific downfall; we just want the tag team titles. Yet I realize saying this is as foolish as the words that leave your mouth. You’re stupid but you’re not that stupid.

You know you can’t save a tag team division, hell you can’t even save yourself from being laughed at even when you’re being serious. You know that Hudson and me don’t give a damn about you two specifically; our only concern is the tag titles. But here you two are, playing sideshow freaks for the amusement of fans. Why not join a circus and stop wasting precious television time when there are those out there who can do better with it then you two? Why won’t you just disappear? What are your chances of being productive wrestlers in this company? What are your chances of being anything at all? Your families hide in shame and you’ve brought shame to your own damn selves as well as devalued those tag titles but then again it wasn’t like Wheeler and Kinney were doing any favors for the division either. Here is Hudson and me, a couple of guys…misfits who have the tendency of getting shit on at every turn.

We fought the Cherry Pit Rebels as well as other matches. We didn’t run to Olek crying for gold, we worked for it. We fought, we struggled, and we hustled. We got to this spot by hard work. You think we are going to let a bunch of punks who, by some amazing grace of God, luckily beat Wheeler and Kinney hold the gold by the end of Rise to Greatness? You know that it isn’t going to happen. You boys know better than anyone else we don’t have plans to lose to you or even draw with you. No gold is not an option at this point. By contract, you’re legally abided to perform a wrestling match against us at Rise to Greatness but in your heart of hearts you know you don’t want to go out there. You know the inevitable is going to happen. We will rise to the occasion. We will rise to fulfill our destiny. We will rise to Greatness and there isn’t much hope in defeating what will become fact soon enough: Josh Hudson and Glacier, Tag Team Champs.

Anthony laid back attempting to rest his eyes but he still had the hundreds of thoughts running his mind. Tag titles. Holly. Ashley. Davis. Hudson. His sons. His mom. His entire world crashing down on him with no possible way to turn back the hands of time. All he could do was lay there and hope his body would soon give out and he could get some well-deserved sleep before going to Boston Commerce with Davis. Scenes fade away to black.