January 6th, 2006: NLCW Avulsion
I didn't even plan to compete that night... had no idea that it would become one of the most important nights of my career. It was cold in the back that night, unusually cold... I walked down the hallway expecting to shoot the shit with a few friends and enjoy the show backstage with some of the guys during the night. I made a habit of showing up for Avulsion as often as I could, regardless of whether I participated in it.
Thank God I showed up that night... I'll never forget the first words I heard when I turned on the monitor in my own locker-room, setting my gym bag down on the bench beside me.
"--tonight, I am going to announce the signing of a NO COUNTOUT, NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH between the champion Dillon Durst and the challenger Dominic Pericolo!"
Bryan and Aaron were both excited about the news, as were the fans... it seemed like the perfect match to cap off NLCW's Rising Sun, our next big event we'd been preparing for. I finally had done it, just a week before I'd beaten Shane Perry and earned the second chance at the title I wanted so badly... knowing the match and what to be ready for this far in advance was something I planned to use to my advantage.
However, just as I started to question where I could get my hands on some more match tapes of Dillon Durst, and where exactly I'd left the tape from our match at NLCW Slamfest... Rockingwell dropped a bomb on everyone that left me sitting stunned on the bench, my hand still left trapped in the gym bag I'd been digging through.
"And that match will take place..... TONIGHT!!!!!"
"Tonight", he said... the words just seemed surreal to me. I'd been working my ass off to get the shot again, and I'd heard rumblings of Durst's discontent with the company, but... to think that I'd suddenly get thrust into a match for the world title out of nowhere, with little to no time to prepare... it was sheer lunacy for me at first.
Until I realized what an opportunity I was being given, the chance to redeem myself and prove myself a capable champion all in one night... it was a chance I'd never be given again. My hand was still in the gym bag as I thought of the opportunity I'd been presented... and it was around that point that I'd realized I'd brought my ring gear with me for the night.
I don't know what you could call it. Luck, maybe instinct from having done it so many times in the past... all I know was that I had no idea I'd be competing that night, but I still brought my ring gear as if I was. It's not like I expected to even be standing on-call, it's just... I brought it with me anyway.
Maybe a part of me knew something big was going to happen. By that point, I was more concerned with how fast I had to get myself ready, because I planned on going full-out against Durst and not allow him to catch me with the same mistakes I'd made at Slamfest.
In any event, that night... it really was something special after-all. All the way up until the start of the match, I had people approaching me, encouraging me to get out there and kick Durst's ass. These days, I realize that for some of the staff, it was just their way of getting me prepared to hopefully usurp Durst before he might potentially leave the company with the title, and yeah... I'm not so naive to think that none of my supporters had any selfish reasons for cheering me on. Hell, some just did because they hated Durst in-general... not because they felt any particular way about it being me who was going to take him on.
In the end, Rick... that night was the culmination of everything I'd dreamed of as a child. The fans were roaring their support for me, the gold was clutched close to my chest in my arms, and for the first time in what had felt like forever for the fans of the NLCW... the hero got exactly what he'd been working so hard to obtain for far too long. If we're going to talk about the realization of my childhood dreams involving wrestling, well... that night certainly did it for me.
That night... that night began the roller-coaster ride that was my first NLCW Heavyweight Title reign, and man... we kicked that thing off with a bang. Shane Perry and Bucky Skyler both wanted a piece of me almost immediately after my victory that night, which set us up for the inevitable three-way match we'd have a month later at Rising Sun. Now that... that was a night on an entirely different level all together.
It was the first night I ever actually feared for my own safety in the NLCW. James L. Rockingwell had gotten the idea to purchase the rights for the Final Solution match from the defunct-HWF, and he basically planned on tossing the three of us in there for one of the most brutal, destructive, heinous matches the place had ever seen before that point, nevermind ever since. I got out of there without any serious injury, but... well, Enigma still has some of the scars from the burns he suffered that day. I honestly believe he takes pride in those marks, though... I think it reminds him of the hell he's put himself through to get to where he is today.
... though, come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure where that is anymore. It's... sad, really, a lot of old faces have came and gone throughout the years. Some I've kept in-touch with, others I've lost contact perhaps forever from... but, in the end, those friendships I've held onto despite everything, I'd never trade for anything.