act seven: the inevitable future
It's funny how much things change over time, how different a person can become and how far they can trail from who they once were. Some for the better, some for the worse... but ultimately, it happens to everyone. We all change, we all grow, we all evolve... it's part of human nature. If we wish to survive in this world, we have to know how to adapt and move forward, and so many of us have mastered doing just that. For different reasons, mind you, but nevertheless there is not a single person in the NLCW who does not understand the importance of moving forward against all odds.
The problem with moving forward, however, is how one manages to do it. Some of us move forward with our heads held high, whilst some others go blindly into the future, their vision focused on the past. That's the problem I seem to find in everyone else towards me, actually... so many look to my past and they don't see the true story, they just see the surface of an ocean-deep reality. I've heard people talk before, of course... say that I'm trying to relive the glory days-- which, you know? I only retired... what, two years ago now? Just about?
I'm in my early thirties, guys... I'm getting old, but I'm not an old man just yet. What I made was an early retirement and I changed my mind... most people would think it a good thing that I did. I suppose though that it's just the nature of the beast in the end... those that stand against you will conjure up everything they can to try and bring you down, even when those against you are generally good, decent people.
It never changes, that at least is true. From Isaac Reynolds to Carmine Vestieri, the nature of the beast is prevalent in many. There was a saying I used a very, very long time ago... it's fitting, really, especially for those few of the NLCW who believe themselves to be miracles of wrestling: we're nothing like God-- in fact, sometimes, we're driven to become the devil himself.
There was a point in my career where I was driven to the brink and had to be helped back from it by a dear friend of mine, a time where I'd lost my mind and had to regain all sanity just to function well in the ring once more. The NLCW was what provided me with shelter, a new home, a new hope for the future and eventually, a new life course I'd never thought possible. To spell things out here... my best days in the NLCW?
They're not over.
They're not over, because I'm still fighting forward, and as long as I'm fighting in the NLCW, I consider every day spent in this place to be the best day I've been within it. Sure, I can rank some matches in numerical order of importance to my career, but I treat each and every match the same in the end... and I can say this because hindsight allows me to do so. Final Solution? No different to me than a typical Triple Threat match, albeit with the environment changed to something... well, something entirely sadistic, really.
The point is, my matches blur together and yet remain clear memories to me, and that's because I treat every match with the same importance. I did it then, I do it today, even when I've no fear of losing today like I had back then. That's the one thing that so many of my opponents up until this point have failed to realize, and something that many of my critics just don't seem to understand: there's a reason I'm out and about on behalf of the NLCW, there's a reason I'm with our fans more often making appearances, making speaking arrangements, and what have you... it's because right now I can use my abilities as a free agent to help spread the NLCW's fame.
That's what's important, too, it's hooking in more people to see what we're all about. When I'm out there, sure it's my name that draws people in... but I'm not selling them on who I am, I'm selling them on who I work for, who made me, who put me in the world standing I find myself in today. The NLCW has given me as much as it can, and now that I have the resources to give back, that's exactly what I find myself doing. It's honestly, very fulfilling work.
So when I hear critics talk, when I hear opponents claim that I'm a washed up former champion who only holds a title because I can swing a chair? It doesn't offend me, hell it doesn't even really bother me at all... it just makes me laugh. It makes me laugh because even after everything I've proven, even after all the odds defied and the matches won despite all doubt... I'm still underestimated even today. These newcomers to the NLCW look at me and they don't see a legend, they don't even see a wrestler anymore... they just see a washed up former champion and expect an easy win over a guy who should have stayed retired.
They don't know why I retired in the first place, they don't know the plans I put into action or the fact that, through that retirement, I was still making appearances and never resting in my dreams. Rather than learn anything valuable from this story of mine, they think it to be some sort-of challenge to their own superiority and like nothing more than wild apes, they begin to beat their chests and swing their dicks about like it's some sort-of game of one-upsmanship. Because I once had success and came back to the game, they feel like they're being threatened by a person who, in their eyes, has no right to even be around any longer.
Sad fact of the matter is, kids, I'm here right now, I practically never left. It took me just about two years to do for my family's future what it takes most people a lifetime to achieve. The thing that most folks don't realize is, I didn't go to college for wrestling. I trained in a prestigious wrestling school, certainly, but what I went to college for was business... I understand this game better than most people in it do. That's why I was able to capitalize on so much from the NLCW, work together with the board in order to make sure both the federation as well as myself prospered and, beyond that, it's why I was able to act as CEO of the NLCW for the short while I did before handing the reigns over to Dade Midvalley who, and this is just by the by, I brought in in the first place.
Yet so many of the wrestlers still around today, and so many of these wrestlers now new to the NLCW scene, just either don't plain remember or they never bothered to look it up. They never realized the impact I actually had on this place, never understood the goals and reasons I had for what I was doing... why do you think I've yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame? I retired, sure, but I wasn't going to be gone for long.
In any event, after hearing all the criticisms and the comments going on about me, it just... I dunno, it sort-of made me a bit more confident, actually. These people are stretching for whatever they can find to reassure themselves that they'll do well against me. They keep reaching, and reaching, and struggling to grab at some misconceived notion that I'll actually take offense to what they say and let my guard down out of anger, so that they might capitalize on the advantage.
I guess I'm going to have to spell this one out for the fine people who love to talk so much trash, yet seem so very afraid to back it up once their time in the ring begins: none of you, not a single, solitary one of you, could possibly deny me my dreams any longer.
It's that simple, people. You just... you can't. There's nothing left for you to do, I've already earned my dreams, I'm already living my dreams, and when all that's left for me to do is finish this chapter off on this story of mine, you can bet that I'm not about to let someone take the pen out from my hands.