"Scaring the new guys, Chris?"
I remember that day so vividly... it was my first venture into NLCW's halls, my first real experience in interacting with their legends and their biggest name stars. Coming down the hall in front of the two of us, a man with short brown hair whom I recognized from the very posters adorning the wall beside me came to introduce himself to me. Champion knew the man well, as it turned out they'd been friends and rivals for about as long as Champ and I ourselves had been, if not perhaps longer.
He said his name was Rick Majors, and I still remember Rick Majors back then... he was a great guy. He told semi-decent jokes and got along well with over half the roster, the rest holding some form of a long-standing grudge against him for one reason or another. Not that a grudge was a tremendous thing in the business... it only got bigger when people began to make these things personal, when they broke all respect for the person and chose instead to take that grudge into a full-scale war.
Rick Majors, by that point, had already seen his share of war... even against Chris himself. Still, times had changed back then... and they continue to change today, too. It seemed to all of us back then that the NLCW was in for such a grand adventure... a journey into success the likes of which it had never experienced. With JLR running things, even despite the general dislike he carried among the roster, it seemed like the program was steadily picking up steam and gaining support across the globe.
Thursday, August 11th... it would be my first match against the then-NLCW World Heavyweight Champion. In a way, it was intended to be my hazing ceremony into the new company, something that would humble this HWF-Pride bearing newcomer and make him realize the importance of the move he'd made into his new home. I remember Rick Majors slapping me on the shoulder after the three of us spoke for a good five minutes or so, just talking about the company's direction in-general. He smirked at me. He wasn't certain of my ability back then, but... then again, neither was anyone else.
"Facing the champ in your first match, huh? Tough luck, kid... Galen's not the easiest guy to handle out there."
Chris made a quip about Rick handling men that saw the two of them get into a little mock-argument... I remember smiling at the notion that my first match was such a huge one. It wasn't intimidating, it... it was flattering, really. I was thinking, yeah, I might get my ass kicked... but if I make a good showing, I could change the landscape of this entire place in a single match.
Majors had places to be, though... he didn't have a whole lot else to say after his little faux-arguing was through. After shaking Chris' hand and my own, he told us about his plans to get a few of the LCW alumn prepared for a jump to the NLCW. I remember respecting him for his work as a Road Agent back then, knowing by that point just how much he'd already done as a wrestler in-general. He was... well, he was one of NLCW's living legends, and in that first encounter with the man, I quickly realized why.
He told me something that stuck with me back then. It wasn't any sort-of "words of wisdom" moment between the two of us, nor was it a teacher instructing a student for their coming test... it was just a phrase that seemed to fit so well with the persona he'd built throughout the years. A big thing for him, it seemed, was making a good impression upon me as someone I could go to when I needed guidance... and honestly, he made a good impression.
"Well, Avulsion's in a few days, Dom... so brace for impact, because you're getting thrown right into the lion's den with this one."
Brace for impact. I don't know if he'd said the words intentionally, what with his "Impact" moniker... but they seemed so fitting for the time. I was a new face in an alredy long-established company, jumping ship from a newly-closed company I still cared deeply for even back then. I was taking a risk by making this kind-of move at all, let alone diving headlong into the main event scene almost right out of the starting gate... I was either going to make one hell of an impact on the NLCW, or drown in the deep end I'd tried so hard to get established in.
After... God, what's it been? Almost seven years in the business... nearly five alone in the NLCW. After all this time... it's finally coming to an end. The NLCW is closing, and with it I find myself wanting to do nothing more than finally settle down and continue building the family I've dreamed of having for so long with Suki. I... I'm going to retire, to end my career alongside of the place that gave me so much over these past five long years.
Avulsion represents the end of so many things... and the beginning of so very, very many more. So many talented workers suddenly left without a job, looking for work in a market that's still seeking out atheletes to this day... the death of the NLCW really is going to make one hell of an impact in the end. In the lives of the people who love it, in the lives of the people who've lived it... and in the companies of our industry who are about to see an influx of talent across the board because of it all.
And on that final show... in the final match of the company's long, proud history... I get the honor of competing in its final World Title Match against one of the NLCW's most well-known and respected legends. The one man in the NLCW that I've always wanted to stand across the ring from, but never had the opportunity. The years have changed him, circumstances have made him a broken man... but he's still fighting on despite those things, and he wants to do nothing more than see me broken by the end of the night.
"Don't worry about it, Rick... I'm going to be fine."
That night of the match, an NLCW rookie expected to be in for one hell of a hazing trumped their World Heavyweight Champion... and began to carve himself a path to that very title from that point forward. On that night, Rick, I was braced for impact... and I was left disappointed by the showing Galen made against me. For my first match, despite the gravity of my victory... it almost felt empty, in the end. You'd built me up for something bigger than what I was given.
Yet, throughout the rest of my career with the NLCW... I realized that it was my own unexpected impact on the company that I'd had to be prepared for. From Multi-Time World Champion to the company's acting CEO... I've done everything I could imagine for this place, and I'm about to do one more thing before I go.
You gave me advice back then for a match, but in the end... that advice applied more towards my entire career than anything else. So thank you, Rick... I guess I owe you one because of that, and with the chance to repay you slipping from my fingers so quickly, I can only think of one possible gift left for me to give you in return.
I'm going to give you back your gift tenfold.