act two: protecting a kingdom
The NLCW Board of Directors were once a group of men that I could somewhat call a part of my family. They were men I felt I could trust, men I had worked with in the past and men that I felt were of decent ethics and standards. Men that I gladly worked under and with in order to further the NLCW and my own career.
When I returned to the NLCW, the first people I spoke with was the board. My close standing with its members gave me an increased bit of say in the company in comparison to other members of the roster. Between my former presidency in the company to my appointing Dade Midvalley as my replacement as he'd long deserved to be, I had felt that the connection I'd established with the board was a solid one.
On July 13th, 2009... I discovered an ugly truth I'd never wanted to uncover.
F1X... it's a company I in truth have never heard of, but a company apparently in good financial standing and one that's expressed interest in purchasing the NLCW. Apparently, the NLCW Board of Directors were interested in such an endeavour, and would come close to signing the deal if not for the quick work of Dade Midvalley... the only man I knew I could entrust with the position of CEO when I had passed it on to him.
I will never discredit another federation for its works in the wrestling community. F1X, though unknown to me, has apparently well-established itself and has collected a strong following with its fans. I've nothing but respect for the men and women working in the company, but with that being said... I've no interest in a takeover by them. I will gladly work with them, represent NLCW in their territory... but I refuse to see the NLCW absorbed by an outsider federation.
I refuse to see the place that made me be made into anything else.
You see, when I joined back into the ranks of the NLCW, when I made my return from retirement and began cutting a path through the NLCW roster in an effort to revitalize the dying competitive spirit of our wrestlers... I'd been told by the Board that I had their full support in my journey, start to eventual finish. The Board assured me that they trusted me, and that should I return to the rank I'd once held in the company, they would back me 100%.
When I was the Hardcore Champion, they were excited at my ideas for revitalizing the division... until we all realized that those left to compete within it were all focused on the greater prize of the World Title, in some misguided notion that they might obtain it before what they perceived was an inevitable downfall of our company. So, in light of such a revelation... the Hardcore Title was axed.
When I was the Tag Team Champion with Isaac Reynolds, we had made a surprisingly excellent team, taking on and taking down all who stood to challenge us in our path. Yet the issue was that there were so few that stood in our path... so few who looked to step up to defeat us for the titles we wore proudly. Then, to add on to the issues of the tag divison, my own partner left the company for personal reasons and left me fighting on me own.
Inevitably, the tag division was axed as well, and I was left with nothing more to do but make a final trek forward to the mountaintop that awaited me. You see, during my reign as a double-champion... I had began to question the Board's trust of me. Indeed, as a double-champion with a promised shot at any time of my desire to the NLCW World Heavyweight Championship, the Board was, I felt, understandably concerned.
After all, should I betray them, I wouldn't be the first NLCW Legend to do so as a multi-champion.
And so they oftentimes hinted at things in our meetings. Taking the fall, or perhaps respectfully handing the belts to their number one contenders so that I might pursue what they felt was my inevitable desire to reach the top once again. They had misread me entirely, forgetting my purpose for returning was to tie up loose strings and try to revitalize a dying company. The Board decided to trust their own opinions over my better judgment... and because of their misguided focus, we'd lost two once important title divisions to the NLCW.
And so I was left with no choice but to either drop the titles and attempt to move forward... or have them taken from me when the divisions inevitably died off. Despite all I knew, I still attempted to organize a Hardcore Title Tournament in an effort to revitalize the division one last time... but I had no such luck in doing so.
Everyone was too busy looking at the NLCW World Heavyweight Title, the very same title the board was shitting bricks over the thought of me obtaining as an already double champion. The thought that our etire roster was so solely focused on the top prize, ignoring the needs of the federation around them and instead focusing on selfish gain... it was hard to deal with.
It wasn't the same NLCW I remembered. It wasn't the NLCW that Champion and I retired from all that time ago.
And so I did what I felt I had to do. If I was to finally bring the company forward, if I was to take the reigns from the Board and exercise my own better judgment to try and prove to them the things they were doing wrong... I needed the title to do so. I needed to hold a place of authority in the company, and with me already being an on-the-road spokesperson and representative of the NLCW as one of its only remaining legends on the roster... I knew that a World Championship would only bring me greater control over the elements surrounding me.
It would give me the ability to bring the NLCW forward like I once did as acting CEO, and it would help me show the Board the areas in it that I knew needed improvement.
Yet on July 13th, 2009... a week after I'd finally obtained the title I'd sought, the Board sought to sell the company out from under us all. If it were not for Dade Midvalley, we would no longer be without limits... we would be a part of F1X, and as for me? Well...
I've already had one federation fall out from under my feet in the past, and I'm not interested in packing up and moving to a new home twice in my career. The NLCW is my home, and places like F1X should only be places a visit from time to time out of love for the business.
I had planned to show up on Avulsion that Monday, planned to talk about the win and congratulate Carmine on giving me one hell of a match at the pay-per-view. Instead, as I entered the arena, I was treated to the great news of the Board's intent by Dade Midvalley himself. He urged me to let him handle things, he felt he knew exactly what to do... and I believed him, too. I believed in his ability, and I believed in the sincerity of the Board.
On that night, I was right in believing for some things, yet wrong in believing for others. On that night, the Board betrayed the NLCW, and betrayed not only Dade Midvalley, their acting CEO... but their own World Heavyweight Champion as well.
Never considering the drawing power of the roster we have, never considering the great potential for advancement we have if only we put our money into marketing and development for the company, rather than advertising the product itself... the Board saw F1X as a safe haven for their investments and they chose mammon over the NLCW.
And so I left Avulsion without a word, without an appearance... I left before I said something I'd regret, before I did something I'd regret... I left for the sake of the men who'd betrayed me, because God forbid I run into them with the mood I was in after. Then, later in the week, I get a phone call informing me that the crossover promotion between F1X and NLCW, something far less offending than an outright takeover, would begin the following week's Avulsion.
What's more, I was informed that I would be teaming with the only other champion left in the NLCW in "The Shiz"... and I would be facing the team of Carmine Vestieri and Drew Graham.
And I realized, in the end, that I would likely be fighting alone. I trusted The Shiz, I'd seen him fight... but with a team like the ones we were facing, the only way that anything could be learned would be for me to go at it alone in the first place. It would show the F1X wrestlers exactly who represented the true meaning of No Limits in the NLCW, it would give them their first real glimpse of the man called Dominic Pericolo, and moreover...
... it would silence a roaring lion's bravado and prepare him for the rematch he'd been dying to see come to fruition.
I realized that if I defeated Carmine Vestieri and Drew Graham, a coherent, functioning team... if I defeated them in what would essentially come to a one-man effort, it would send a message to anyone who'd stand against the NLCW or its champion. And while it would go against my desire for promoting teamwork between myself and The Shiz, it would also drive home one more point to anyone left ready to fight in the ranks of the NLCW.
It would remind them of the meaning of those first two words, the true meaning of having "No Limits". It would remind them that they have a champion ready and willing to go the distance, go well and beyond everything that anyone could possibly throw at him, ready to cement and establish the legacy of the NLCW into the minds of wrestling fans across the globe...
It would remind them that they have a fire in them all the same as my own, and it's about time they used that and started fighting for our company.
And so now... I stand ready to do what needs to be done. I stand ready to bring the team of Carmine Vestieri and Drew Graham down to size and prove to them that a one-man effort is just as effective when that one man has something tangible, something meaningful, something truly important to be fighting for.
I stand ready, protecting a kingdom. Protecting our kingdom. Protecting the NLCW from all sides, with every ounce of strength left in me.
And when a thousand fall at my side... when ten-thousand fall at my right... I will continue to stand. I will continue to fight.
Continue to define to all what this company's always stood for.
See you Monday, kids.