Post by Jack Ryan on May 22, 2009 18:29:26 GMT -5
"It's amazing how one simple phrase can change your mind about something you were so certain about. When I left wrestling, I thought I was done with it. It was just a fun chapter of my youth, something I did for a while, and grew out of. Like playing Baseball in High School and College, then graduation day you get an office job and never throw another pitch again. But, when I got that call, everything changed. Like that movie with Dennis Quaid, but the name escapes me. One phone call, and the dude goes from being a High School teacher to a Relief Pitcher. That's how this went. A man I haven't heard from in ages, out of the blue."
"Mr. Ryan, PWW is back open. We'd like to offer you a job."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-I sit here, on my balcony of my high rise apartment, over looking the vast exapanse of Jacksonville. Chair slightly tilted back, feet kicked up on the railing, all in all I suppose I look at ease. The deck of cards in my hand has been shuffled so much they are showing permanent creases from being bent. That's what I do to ease my restlessness, shuffle a deck of playing cards.-
I've been.. at a loss you might say for the last few days. I knew I was supposed to fulfill my obligations and entertain all of you people by telling you all what I think of Seth Drabble. But for a while I didn't know where to begin.
-I shrug.-
I started by watching and rewatching The General torment the poor boy under the guise of training, and that helped very little. What do you tell someone who is litterally being forced to risk death just to have the chance to learn how to wrestle? He's a wimp? That it's nothing? That I went through worse? I'd like to say all of that, but I know I can't because it would just be playing it up for the camera. And I've learned that when you do that... It comes back to bite you on the ass.
-I tilt my head back to look up at the sky a minute. If there's peace in the endless blue, I haven't found it.-
And well, as I sat there and listened to him speak. I realized I saw a lot of everything I had admired in the guys I watched while I was just a kid. That gritty determination to be the best, the sheer will to win that very few possess, even though most are trained from the beginning to have it. I was taught to expect to win, to walk into the ring, knowing that you were the better athelete and no matter what happened, you were destined to be the victor. Sounds familiar doesn't it Seth?
-I pause to let it sink in, shuffling the deck again, taking a random card out, flipping it in my fingers before inserting it back into the deck.-
However, Ed had one simple rule. No matter what the outcome of the match was, you forgot it immediately. Win.. Loss.. it was all the same. You stopped caring, and you focused on next week. That's the one thing I don't see in you. Seems to me like you would be more than happy to just take after the ones that mentored you, and remember everything. Letting it all fester inside you until you break down. Terrible thing to say, I know. But that's just what I see happening.
-I pause again, hoping he gets the point. Hoping he realizes that I'm trying to help him, and not piss him off. Pissed off people make mistakes, that much I know.-
Now that all of that is out of the way, I need to ask you a question. Some time ago, I heard a report from another promotion that Davey Boone had been killed. That he was shot, in the face, on live television. The reports came that it was not a work, it was not a staged set-up, that it was one hundred percent real. So, you tell me what the hell happened. Because not only do I want to know, I think the world needs to know. The people who support us deserve to know the truth Davey. At least that much, if not more.
-I take one single, purposeful card out of the deck, holding it in my hand, the moniker facing away from the camera.-
I suppose that's the end of it. Monday night, I'll rebegin the quest I began so long ago after that PWW World Heavyweight Championship. A place I was so close to. And it all starts with you Seth. I wish you the best, but.. I'm only going to say this once. Talon.. is dead.. there is only me now..
-I reach across the air between myself and the camera, placing the card in the lens of the camera.-
"Mr. Ryan, PWW is back open. We'd like to offer you a job."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-I sit here, on my balcony of my high rise apartment, over looking the vast exapanse of Jacksonville. Chair slightly tilted back, feet kicked up on the railing, all in all I suppose I look at ease. The deck of cards in my hand has been shuffled so much they are showing permanent creases from being bent. That's what I do to ease my restlessness, shuffle a deck of playing cards.-
I've been.. at a loss you might say for the last few days. I knew I was supposed to fulfill my obligations and entertain all of you people by telling you all what I think of Seth Drabble. But for a while I didn't know where to begin.
-I shrug.-
I started by watching and rewatching The General torment the poor boy under the guise of training, and that helped very little. What do you tell someone who is litterally being forced to risk death just to have the chance to learn how to wrestle? He's a wimp? That it's nothing? That I went through worse? I'd like to say all of that, but I know I can't because it would just be playing it up for the camera. And I've learned that when you do that... It comes back to bite you on the ass.
-I tilt my head back to look up at the sky a minute. If there's peace in the endless blue, I haven't found it.-
And well, as I sat there and listened to him speak. I realized I saw a lot of everything I had admired in the guys I watched while I was just a kid. That gritty determination to be the best, the sheer will to win that very few possess, even though most are trained from the beginning to have it. I was taught to expect to win, to walk into the ring, knowing that you were the better athelete and no matter what happened, you were destined to be the victor. Sounds familiar doesn't it Seth?
-I pause to let it sink in, shuffling the deck again, taking a random card out, flipping it in my fingers before inserting it back into the deck.-
However, Ed had one simple rule. No matter what the outcome of the match was, you forgot it immediately. Win.. Loss.. it was all the same. You stopped caring, and you focused on next week. That's the one thing I don't see in you. Seems to me like you would be more than happy to just take after the ones that mentored you, and remember everything. Letting it all fester inside you until you break down. Terrible thing to say, I know. But that's just what I see happening.
-I pause again, hoping he gets the point. Hoping he realizes that I'm trying to help him, and not piss him off. Pissed off people make mistakes, that much I know.-
Now that all of that is out of the way, I need to ask you a question. Some time ago, I heard a report from another promotion that Davey Boone had been killed. That he was shot, in the face, on live television. The reports came that it was not a work, it was not a staged set-up, that it was one hundred percent real. So, you tell me what the hell happened. Because not only do I want to know, I think the world needs to know. The people who support us deserve to know the truth Davey. At least that much, if not more.
-I take one single, purposeful card out of the deck, holding it in my hand, the moniker facing away from the camera.-
I suppose that's the end of it. Monday night, I'll rebegin the quest I began so long ago after that PWW World Heavyweight Championship. A place I was so close to. And it all starts with you Seth. I wish you the best, but.. I'm only going to say this once. Talon.. is dead.. there is only me now..
-I reach across the air between myself and the camera, placing the card in the lens of the camera.-