act four: what really matters most
There was a lot that I was never able to experience in my first run in the NLCW, as I've said on multiple occasions.
I was crowned Road 2 Slamfest champion one year. I earned the NLCW World Heavyweight Title twice... a rare feat for many to accomplish, and hardly something to complain about. I worked my ass off and accomplished a respectable career, facing some of the greatest names the NLCW has ever known. In many ways, my first run with the NLCW... it was blessed, it was something I was able to look on and proudly smile, telling myself I did good while I was there.
And I did do good... I know that, I can accept that; however, personally? I don't feel I did good enough.
Let's face facts here: I'll never be a Cruiserweight Champion. I'm a large guy, unless I managed to knock a few inches off my height and go on Jenny Craig or something, drop my muscle and just over-all tone myself down at an inhuman rate... I doubt I'll ever be qualified to reign as a Cruiserweight. Things like that, they don't bother me, you know? If I can't do it because I'm not physically capable of doing it, like, at all... that's okay. Pericolo's never give up, but they do know when something is just plain impossible.
Yet there was so much outside of that and the World title that I could have been, and I skipped over it all. I could have been Hardcore Champion-- something that I'm making up for now with my current reign-- and I never even bothered. I could have gave a run at the Television Championship, arguably one of the most respectable titles in the NLCW due to the forced dedication of the champion to defend it week after week after week, nonstop, until he or she finally loses that title. Why I never gave that a go, I'll honestly never know... but I'm going to make up for that, too, eventually.
I could have gone for the American Championship. There's nothing wrong with that title by any means, and oftentimes it helps breed some of the greatest future stars of the NLCW. Going back to hold onto that title just once... you know, that wouldn't be so bad. I just wish I'd have had the sense to do it on my first go-round.
Tag Team Champion? Feh, had I actually stuck with Tanya like I'd planned to in the first place, had I actually given her a chance as a partner... I was so focused on what I perceived was for the good of the company. I mean, in the end, it was... but what was the cost for that? Weren't there any other ways I could have gone about protecting the NLCW without alienating the people I called my friends? I was working so hard... I neglected someone who legitimately wanted a partnership there, and I ultimately let them down.
Champion? We were too busy fucking around off-screen and beating the piss out of each other on-screen and, hell, vice-versa too. Who else did I have to tag with? Alex Jay? We barely knew each other, and though we hold all the respect for each other in the world, I never truly knew if Jay could trust me entirely as a person, let alone as a tag partner to rely on in the ring. Violent A? We respected each other, for sure, and he knew as well as I did that if we were on the same side of the coin, we'd have each other's backs regardless of whatever shit got in the way... but that was just the problem: we were never on the same side of the coin. Shane Perry?
... no, just no. Perry would sooner have whipped my ass with a spiked belt than he would have tagged up with me willingly. That man saw me as an obstacle that refused to budge from his path, and he'd do anything just to get me out of the way.
So Tag Team Championships were out of the question for the time because of stupid mistakes I'd made along the way and potential allies being either busy with their own thing or just not 100% certain of how I'd be as a partner. The latter, of course, is probably my fault by a large margin... trust was something I'd built with people as an individual representing the company, but as a man working among a team? That... that was going to take some time in building trust, probably.
Still, there were other titles left I could have carried for awhile, right? Sure, there was... there was... the Slamfest Title! Yes, exactly, I had never been a Slamfest Champion. I had heard stories of prestigious title-holders, such as Bucky Skyler and Mr. Showtime and the like... but to get that title you had to do a lot of string-pulling in order to be involved, and you damn sure couldn't be participating in any other match at the time.
Well, for me... Slamfest was always a busy time of the year. My first was against Durst for the World Title, a match that I ultimately failed to overcome in the end. Then, there was the second year... a match that marked the beginning of the end of my career. A controversial match between myself and Chris Champion over the World Title which, ultimately, ended in a draw between the two of us. For another year, the history of the World Champion never failing at a Slamfest was protected by me at least bringing Champion to that draw... and then we had this latest one.
What a Slamfest that was.
In the end... my announced return had no better place to be than on Slamfest, and I remember shocking the ever-loving hell out of Midvalley as I stepped into his office. To be truthful, I'd kept it mostly a secret from everyone but my family, friends, and the board of directors I'd worked so closely with for so long. The details were ironed out and in what felt like no time at all, Slamfest had arrived and it was curtains-up for my return.
You know... it's funny, now that I think about it. I've lost once and drawn once on Slamfest, and I've not wrestled at all in another... but despite all my hard work throughout my career, I've never actually won a match at Slamfest, have I?
I suppose that's something I'll have to fix this year, too.
Yet there's still one accomplishment left that I've never actually achieved. Something that I've thought about many, many times in the past, but ultimately decided against going for due to my own agenda within the company at the time. It's a tournament that only comes once a year, a tournament that gives its winner a title shot at any time of their choosing. It's a tournament that has launched names into stardom and promised a bright future for whomsoever could make it through to the end.
A tournament that does more then just crown a champion... a tournament that crowns a Sultan.
Sultan of the Squared Circle.