act five: prepare to be educated
Loss and defeat are things not unfamiliar to me... not by a long shot.
The sad fact of the matter is that all throughout my life, I've had to struggle just to make it by. My family wasn't rich, but they had enough to get me off to wrestling school, enough to get me the training I desired to chase a dream into my future. I had to work my way up from that point forward, though... I didn't have enough money to pay my way through the system, after-all. I just had support.
The support of my friends. Of my family. Growing up, I had so many people there supporting me... and, at the time, I had someone who loved me enough to be there to push me forward. Her name was Crystal, and her and I were inseperable back then. She, we... we had everything at the time, and then? And then...
Then, I guess you could say that I lost it all.
A drunken driver took Crystal's life and nearly took my own, and... somehow, I was supposed to bounce back from that? No, fuck, I... I nearly gave up back then because of it. I drowned in the pain of a love lost and I struggled to get by as a human, let alone a human with a dream.
I had to learn to live with loss, but in time, I was able to recover... and in time rediscover an angel from my past. When I finally started my career, when I finally started trying to chase my dream down again, it was in the HWF and I was faced with the prospect of being a young rookie in a foreign place with already established cliques staring me down at the front door.
In time, I made my mark there... and that's when I found Suki again. Over time, her and I grew closer and closer... and though it took so much longer than I think it ever should, we were able to get together, and today? Today we have a family, we... we took everything that the both of us came from and we turned it into a family.
Back then, in the HWF? I was known as one of the best of the North American Title division, always just a step away from reaching the top of the mountain to fight the best that the place had to offer. Yet every time I reached for that peak, every time I tried so hard to climb up and see my dreams come to full fruition, I...
I was handed loss, after loss, after loss.
In time, all the losing made me lose my sanity for a little while. It's sad, but it's true-- the fact of the matter was that back then I couldn't take it all. I had a sarcastic, arrogant, gloating prick of a champion who wouldn't give me the time of day to even pose a threat to his title, and when I pushed him to the limits, he used his influence in the company to come down on me as hard as he could.
And then, when I'd failed all those times, I... I had to watch Champion rise up the ranks and achieve a win that I knew back then and still believe today he deserved way more than I did.
I didn't know how to handle that back then, though. I lost my mind, I... I let go of everything that was true to me and embraced things I never thought I'd ever let myself take hold of. I saw the fans as blood-thirsty, hate-mongering savages that wanted nothing more than to see me torn apart. I lost sight of the family that they had been for me for so long.
I had to find a way, in time, to turn that loss into a place to grow from; and that... that's something I have learned over time to do.
See, I'm not Chris Champion. I've never claimed to be, never tried to be, never wanted to be... because I could never see myself as the one who has to win at everything. I could never let myself get so self-consumed as he is, because I know such a mentality isn't something I can handle.
All throughout my life, Chris... I've been handed my losses. I lost Crystal, I once nearly lost Suki, I lost my mind, I lost titles, I lost important matches, I lost respect, I lost trust, I lost my strength, I lost my job, I lost my hope... but I turned every loss I've ever been dealt into something to grow from. Something to learn from.
Something to make me a better person.
In the end, Champion... you can talk about loss all you want. You can remind me that I've lost to you, you can show the records and you can gloat until the night turns to morning, but it doesn't change one simple fact.
You never learned how to deal with loss, Chris, you just knew to try and run away.
Another loss against you on my behalf isn't going to stop me from moving forward, it isn't going to send me off into the shadows. Face the facts here, Champion... you can beat me time and time again, and I'll forever keep showing up at your doorstep.
All I have to do is beat you once... and you won't know how to live with yourself. And trust me, Chris...
... that day is sooner than you think.