act eight: what's yet to come
The night sky shatters at the sound of thunder in the air, a gentle pitter-patter of raindrops falling across a glass window echoing through a room. A young man sits within the room, staring, wondering... waiting for inspiration to strike him. Waiting to understand what it is he has to do.
The young man wonders, where will he go from here? He wonders, what could he possibly say that hasn't already been said before? For so long now, that young man has been fighting, and fighting... with a demon known as writer's block.
And the demon has been winning.
It's a curse. At times when the young man needs not the demon's presence most, the demon comes. And then, in the times when the young man has nothing to work with, the demon flees, allowing the young man to have his ideas... but not have them to put down.
The young man tries to remember the ideas, he does everything he can to map out every story, every inch of dialogue that need be written... but, unfortunately, as all things are with the demon, even when he plans out everything to put into any piece, it will not be enough to stop its approach.
Still, the young man persists, knowing that the writer in him, just like the wrestler in him... will forever refuse to quit.
This young man's name is Dominic Pericolo and even though he may be an old legend in the NLCW, he is nevertheless still in the prime of his career and in the prime of his life. He has done absolutely everything he can to ensure his family's future success, as well as his own success.
He has played the game well, as it were, and, no matter what his opponents have ever told him... no matter how much they've reassured him that he will fail, no matter how often they've tried to bring him down... he has always kept his confidence high, and has always believed in his ability to pull through every blockade they try and set in his way.
He knows that any time a failure comes... he can push through it, and he can perservere, and he can find victory lying in wait just a few miles down the road. See, if the tables had turned at When Worlds Collide for Dominic... if that young man had not prevailed against his old friend and long-time rival, Chris Champion? If Champion had, in fact, pulled off a victory that night?
It would only be another month before they'd find themselves standing across the ring again.
Now, granted, the Chaotic Cage may have never even been conceived due to Dominic calling on his rematch clause, but... regardless of that fact, the two would find themselves facing again and, more than likely, the stakes would be raised for the match and it's outcome. Moreover, Dominic would be coming back with even more fire, and even more spirit than he had the first time around... and you can believe that, regardless of what had happened before, the cycle would be making yet another turn when that night came.
The difference between Christopher Champion and Dominic Pericolo has been well documented plenty of times before: the fact of the matter remains that Christopher Champion is always determined to find the perfect end to his story while Dominic Pericolo understands that there doesn't have to be an end to his own.
He knows he can keep pushing forward, and he knows that the greatest ending he could ever possibly offer himself is the natural end to his life in the many, many decades down the line that it may come. Now, his career may be nothing but another chapter in his life's story... but a story doesn't always have to end with the hero's death; far from it, a hero can continue his career, can find its end, and still continue its story without that career simply because he believes in what he is doing.
Now, they might not always be the most exciting of stories-- far from it, in fact some stories are best left untold! After-all, none of us know, for example, how Cinderella and her prince got on after the story had ended. We can only assume that they, as the story says, really did live happily ever after... but, even with that notion, we're never told the problems they're forced to endure in their future.
We don't know if they ever became stronger as a couple, or if they forever remained in a lovesick naivety that seemed to define their early years together. We just, we... we don't know! The writer never did tell us what happened in the end aside from the notion that they lived happily ever after... the writer really only told us enough to know what wound up being the beginning of their newfound story.
Now, of course, others have tried to make a proper ending for their story, but the fact of the matter remains that they aren't the original authors now, are they? Furthermore, what so many fail to realize is... the story's ending was left open for a reason. Why bother making the end of something official when we all know good and well that it's better to leave the reader with the decision of where things go from that point forward?
The perception of a story's perfect end is a happy one but is also one that is filled with pessimism due to the simple fact that, in this life of ours... we shouldn't be searching for an ending. Forever and always we should be focused on how to see our stories continue, and find a way to do it without letting those stories grow old or boring.
Now, in Dominic Pericolo's case, he has always been both a writer and a wrestler. An author of many fairy tales, short stories, works of fiction and non-fiction... he has made rantings and ravings, left opinions and gave reviews... he has told countless tales, and told many stories of his own career. Moreover, to those who cared to listen, he has explained his history... and has revealed to them the purpose of exactly what he does.
He doesn't do this out of a desire to be heard, or to be made important, or to even be seen... he simply does it out of a love for writing. Just as he wrestles out of love for the business. See, unlike his old friends and rivals... Dominic doesn't look at the victory lying in wait for him if he gives it his all.
There may be a small sense of expectation in his eyes for that victory, but even that expectation is easily brushed aside should he come up short, because he already knows what he's capable of doing to turn his path back around.
In the end, Dominic doesn't care about the wins and the losses, nor does he even truly care about some stupid career record where all the emphasis comes down upon how many numbers have fallen behind the letter "l", or how many numbers have been wracked up behind the letter "w". No, he doesn't get pissed off whenever a match outcome doesn't go the way he expected it to-- at least, not anymore, anyway... he finally grew out of that stage.
The only thing Dominic does this for... is for the love of doing it, and for the love of the competition between his peers. The people he thought he could trust to feel the same, and not get caught up in the hysteria of the outcome of a match. Those people he believed wouldn't resort to juvenile tactics to beat him.
The difference all lies in the fact that, yes, Dominic Pericolo does do this out of love... while all others seem to do it out of a desire to be victorious.
And so the night sky shatters overhead with yet another thunderclap as Dominic Pericolo continues blankly staring at the blank sheet of paper before him, eyes blank in thought.
Yes... blank in thought.
For the thoughtlessness that comes with writer's block is a heavy burden, but if one keeps pushing forward... you can always prevail. It may take some time, but... that demon can be broken, and it can be cast out. Eventually, Dominic Pericolo understands the stories he has to write... he understands the stories he has to tell.
See, every person going in to face him... every last person he will have to fight has their own story. Stories... that don't deserve to be truncated down to simple little quips inside of one gigantic, overhanging story. Some can be grouped together-- some of these people he's fight-- however, for many of them... they don't deserve to be confined to just one story alone.
It's not representative of all that they've done, even if he feels it all really does pale in comparison to his own works in the end.
And so, even Dominic Pericolo-- though confident in the success of his own story-- still honors the stories of others... even when they might not be up to par, or even on the same skill level. He refuses to put them down. He may critique them, he may pick apart their works, but he will never call them worthless additions to the roster in the end.
And that's because there are no worthless additions to the NLCW roster... each and every person has worked hard to show the world what they can do, and they each and all deserve their time to grow.
He believes this because over the years of learning how to love this industry, he's also learned to love the thought, the skill, and the passion that comes within the heart of every last competitor he's ever faced in the ring... and especially through the pen, and over the keyboard.
You see, Dominic Pericolo isn't the only author within the NLCW-- far from it in fact because there are many creative individuals there, and some of them, well... some of them choose to just go about degrading the others. They don't see the potential there for greatness, or imagine them to be excellent future authors... they simply view them as passing flavors of the week without any tangible future in their works, ready to go out of style when the big boys come back to town to play.
The thunderclaps fade as the night sky begins to sharpen through the passing clouds now rolling on their way in the heavens. The darkness begins to set in in the room... no more lightning, no more sudden flashes through his window, but instead a calming. A calming sensation... slowly sweeping through the cityside and gradually into his heart.
Dominic Pericolo takes his pen into his hand, staring at the blank page before him... and knowing exactly what it was that was waiting to fill the page.