act five: nothing left to fear
It's been a long time since I told a good story, you know. I really did miss it... but hey, that's what happens when you have a family to take care of.
The past several months have been downright amazing for me, and I'm not going to lie about that. Ehno has been both one of the largest responsibilities I've ever had to take on and also one of the greatest sources of joy I've ever had in all my life. Suki and I have bonded more ever since the day he was born than we ever had before, and it's because of this little guy of ours that we're more connected than we could have ever been otherwise. He completes the both of us... he is something unexpected despite all the planning we'd done for him, and for not even a single second have either of us regreted the choice we made when we chose to bring him into our lives.
Right now, Suki's at home with him... taking care of him, watching over him just like she's always watched over me. She's been such an amazing mother and such an incredible wife, she's had to work so hard over these past several months and she's taken everything that she's had to do in stride along the way. I've been there by her side as best as I could be, but... you know, she really does impress the hell out of me.
There are days when I think that I'm mostly there just as her support which, while I'm fine with it, leave me wanting to find some way to help her with her own responsibilities... and yet she just takes them on like they're nothing and finishes them ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, I'm off with my own responsibilities and there are times when I still stumble a little, trying to juggle a career and a budding family all at once.
But don't get me wrong, I may stumble a little but I never let myself fall. This career is important to me only because it's a mix of accomplishing my childhood dreams as well as cementing mine and Suki's dreams for our own family. Through the NLCW, I'm able to reach a great deal of success and prosperity for both myself and my family, and that's wat matters most.
I'm a safer person now in my journey through this career of mine, too... and that has been something that has greatly helped me along the way. I've become a better strategist, a more organized planner, and a much better wrestler overall in the end. It's as if everything that could go right in this life of mine is finally going right, and I'm just left to go along for the ride.
Still, I know better than to think that great things are just going to be handed to me, which brings me... to now.
Sultan of the Squared Circle, an event that I've had one of the most important matches of my career in as well as a tournament that I've never had the honor to participate in. It's taken all these years now, but finally I am participating in that tournament... and I have a very real chance of taking home a victory at the very end of it. This is an opportunity I was never given the chance to go for in my original time in the NLCW, and it's an opportunity that I have no plans of passing over.
It's going to take a lot of effort though, this I know all too well... but I think I've already made it all too clear that I've no intention on losing this thing, so instead, let me clear the air on something that appears to have been miconstrued from my original message in the first place.
I don't expect anyone to fear me... nor do I intend for my tone to convey such a message. Far from it, kids, that's the last thing I want you to do. I'm not something to fear, I'm just another wrestler like any of you. I'm human, with no preconceived notions of being a superman or some kind of monster, and all I ask is that you respect my abilities out there just as I respect your own.
It appears that I have that respect, so from that point on, I'm satisfied.
You see, I'm not going to underestimate anyone that I face on Sunday, nor am I going to just assume that because of how determined I am, I'm going to walk all over them. I know I'm going to be put through hell just to make it to the end, let alone win the whole damn thing, but I'm willing to go through with this because I know what I'm capable of.
I know I can win this thing, regardless of the struggles that I have to go through to so.
The difference maker here is that I'm so certain of my abilities that although I know I'm going to struggle, that belief of mine goes far beyond just thinking I can win... it treads into the territory of my mind that tells me I will win. And you know what?
I believe that.
That's why I want you, Stacy Jones, to throw everything you have at me and anything else you can think of after. That's why I want whichever of Ryan Coleman and Carmine Ventieri to roll into the match fresh off a victory with the belief in their hearts that they can take the entire tournament. I want to have my opponents be at their best when they face me not because I can beat them at their best, but rather so that I can just get the best match possible out of them in the process.
See, there's no reason for any of you to fear me because I'm not commanding your fear out of this tournament, nor would I ever try to command your fear in any other circumstance. My main concern is that I have your respect because, when you do step in the ring with me... I know that if I have your respect, I'll have all your strength to stand against in our encounter.
After all, if you respect someone, why wouldn't you give them your best?
Puts these things about me into perspective a little bit better, doesn't it?
See you Sunday, kids.
P.S.: Oh yeah, and just so you all know? Still gonna win. Respect the hell out of each of you... but, yeah.
Still gonna win.
- Dominic Pericolo.