Love It If We Made It.
Aug 10, 2018 2:38:42 GMT -5
Reece Stapleton-Shaw, Wade Moor, and 2 more like this
Post by Lockhart on Aug 10, 2018 2:38:42 GMT -5
‘Ryan, you’re up.’
A booming voice filled up the world of void that surrounded Ryan, making him jolt upright, startled and dazed. He glances around at what encompasses him, seeing nothing but empty darkness. His spine shivers, a light coating of sweat beginning to form upon his forehead.
He stands up, but when he looks down, he sees nothing. The voice, ethereal and all-powerful, pierces through the void once more.
‘Hurry up. The show is about to start.’
‘What show?’
The blank world before him warps into something else. Beneath him, a wooden stage now stretches out to each side while a bright spotlight hovers over him. He looks ahead, seeing endless rows of seats, each filled by figures with no faces - but bearing wide, toothy grins at him on stage.
Behind the audience, neon lights that had been shaped into a word flickered erratically, spelling out: THE COMEDY SHOW.
Ryan feels the shiver again, tingling up and down his spine. A bead of sweat drips from his chin, plopping down harmlessly onto the stage beneath him.
‘Crowd, can we give a big welcome to Ryan for coming out here today?’ the voice said, his words reverberating throughout the room. Ryan’s head snapped around, trying to pick out where he was speaking from, but to no avail.
The crowd begins to politely applaud, muttering incoherently amongst one another as they waited for Ryan to speak. Although he can't see any of their eyes, he feels as though the gazes directed at him were piercing - like they were slicing directly through his being and leaving him weak, helpless, and without direction.
‘Maybe we need to give him some motivation?’ the voice questions, much to the approval of the audience, who begin quietly clapping once again.
‘Then we’re all in agreement. Ryan, I’m glad you were able to make it. I didn’t quite know if you’d return my call or not.’ the voice remarked. The tone seems genuine, which bewilders Ryan even further.
‘Your call?’
‘Well, somewhat of a call. More… a cry for help. You’ll figure it out soon.’
Before Ryan can speak, the spotlight on him is dimmed, and another one bursts onto the stage. It hovers around aimlessly for a moment, before positioning itself up to a higher point, now aimed at one object only.
The All-In Briefcase.
‘Not too long ago Ryan, you had it all laid out for you. You were untouchable, indomitable, and unrelenting. You laid out the blueprint for every young man looking to make a mark on the world - every young man that wanted to craft a legacy that would be remembered forever.
‘And you were right there. You worked your way up, and you were arguably just a move or two away from becoming what you had set your sight on being - The World Heavyweight Champion.
‘But you failed.’
Upon hearing the last words, the crowd burst into an immediate, raucous laughter. Ryan’s head begins to swim, his vision blurring, eyebrows furrowing as the audience continue to slight him.
‘You thought you went in with a plan - but honestly? You had no fucking clue what you were doing. You bullshitted your way through every single match, and you somehow managed to come out on top almost every time.
‘But hey, you don’t need me to tell you that, right? Lincoln already summed it up perfectly. When it mattered most, you choked it all away, and now what have you got left? Sure, you won the battle against him - but you know he got it right.
‘You know that you don’t belong here, you’re just making the best of a good situation. It’ll all come crumbling down sooner or later.’
Once again, the crowd begin to snicker and jeer.
‘You just going to sit there and take all that, Ryan? Come on, you’re meant to be the fighter. You’re meant to be making your family proud. Are you really a warrior? Or are you just another drug-riddled fool about to make a mockery out of himself, and everyone that ever believed in him?’
Incensed, Ryan takes a strong step forward.
‘Shut the fuck up. I’m not about to sit here and take your shit - whoever you are. I’ve earned my fuckin’ place here, and when I go out there and obliterate everyone on my way to winning All-In… I’m going to take what I should have gotten back at Pandemic.’
Suddenly, the crowd begins to clap wildly, hooting and hollering for the young man. The stage upon which Ryan stands shifts awkwardly, and rises up a meter or so, bringing him closer toward where the All-In Briefcase is hung up near the ceiling.
‘That’s what I wanted out of you. Excellent. That Ryan… was The First Step, your first rung on the ladder..’
The lights which once read out: THE COMEDY SHOW have now changed, reading out: THE FIRST STEP.
‘You’ve already made your first step in your wrestling journey, Ryan. Remind me, when did it happen?’ the voice queried. Ryan, now with a scowl on his face, answers almost out of complete instinct.
‘The moment I staked my claim at The World Heavyweight Title. At Evolution, I had one goal - to become the number one contender. I had Kyle Kemp and Camila Gonzalez standing before me. They were arrogant, they each believed that they were the only people worthy of challenging for that belt… and then I went in their and fucked it all up. Every dream, every thought of greatness that deluded them, I cast my hand over it and crushed it into oblivion. And I’m about to do it again at Uprising.
‘I already climbed that rung long ago. And now? I see other people who are trying to take my place, trying to get their foot in the door to challenge for the World Title.
L Verez, Sidney J Warwick, Claire Hawkins. Even you, Shadowlove.
‘You’re all knocking at the door, and you’re all asking the question of whether or not you’re really good enough… but you don’t have the answers.’
He chuckles to himself.
'How can one expect L Verez to win All-In, when she cannot yet even figure out her own goal or identity within Action Wrestling? An uber-talented competitor, but with none of the mental game, confidence, or assertion that will EVER result in her being even half the wrestler that you see in me.
‘You bounce around the mid-card like a fuckin’ fool. You hang onto past glory in the UCI Title. You say you want to improve, but you rarely make a meaningful change that will bring about true self-betterment. You're meant to be a Guardian, a Protector, yet you are a perennial failure who cannot even "protect" her own fuckin' integrity or reputation.
‘You’re inconsistent at your absolute best and downright terrible at your worst. You’ve set all your sights upon this All-In match for the last few weeks, but you haven’t even laid the fuckin’ groundwork or foundation that will bring you success in a match such as this.
‘You’re entitled. You hide behind your title of being a Guardian, but if you haven’t figured it out already… I’ve torn apart both Jaice and Alex, the latter being a far superior athlete to yourself. I don’t look up in awe and regard you as a majestic being - I see a weak-minded pleb, unable to control her own mind or her emotions. I’m going to make short work of you at Uprising, and give you a demonstration of what a true warrior looks like.’
He sighs, shaking his head in disappointment.
‘Sidney, just like our poor friend L Verez, I’ve made a career out of bullying #FightSmart. No matter what you lot try to pull, I’ve been a step ahead every single time. Nothing you attempt here will make that any different, I’ve seen every trick Spencer and Kyle can throw at me, but you? You’re a different matter altogether.
‘You’re at a crossroad, Sidney. And after what happened to you in WCF? I don’t blame you. You’re a broken individual. You don’t know who you are, or what you want to be, but I believe in you. I have no doubt that you’ll be able to return to the level of excellence you once showed in WCF.
‘Similarly, believe me when I tell you that even if you do reach that level by Uprising? It won’t mean a fuckin’ thing to me. I could snort a line of coke before our match and still manage to make you look completely out of your league - which you are.
‘You see Sidney, unlike you… I know exactly who I am. Even in WCF, you were a polarizing figure. You demonstrated that you “cared” for people who were discriminated against and whatnot, but you were hiding away something. There was darkness in you, even then. You hid it well, but there were moments where you let the facade slip - the mask you wore in Action Wrestling was already beginning to crack, all the way back then.
‘It showed in the way you competed there, and it showed when you allowed yourself to be recruited and manipulated for months on end by #FightSmart, acting like a complete and utter coward with your constant cheap shots and assaults that were only carried out due to an inherit numbers advantage.
‘I’m my own man, Sidney. I don’t need anyone to help me, guide me, or bring me to a higher level. I set the fuckin’ bar, and I set it higher than anyone in the federation. Every performance I put on is better than the last, and I do it all for myself and my family, not for how the people will perceive me or if they’ll think I’m “good” or “bad”.
‘Show up and don't hide. Step to the plate and get knocked down like the good little bitch that you are. I’ll teach you something about real fighting spirit.’
The faceless figures in the crowd begin to cheer once more, but are cut off by Ryan, whose confidence is now starting to soar.
‘But you, Claire. I won’t need to teach you that same lesson, will I? No. You have a fire and aggression that I can respect, but you have no clue how to harness it. You feel angry, disrespected. You suffered defeat after defeat here, and yet you proved to be hungry and capable, even in the face of adversity.
‘But even with that, people still won’t give you your due. You remain relegated to the middle-tier of the company, while the higher-ups like Camila look down upon you, believing you aren’t even worthy of their time. I bet you will struggle to find people who believe you stand a chance in this match, and that? That’s a true shame. But you know what?’
He scoffs.
‘They’re absolute fuckin’ right. There isn’t a universe where you walk away with the All-In Briefcase after Uprising, Claire. Sure, you’re a talented individual with a wide variety of tricks and skills that you can use, but your mentality is all fucked up.
‘You’re prone to being outsmarted. I said it before - you’re angry, you feel like you’re being overlooked. That gives you every reason you need to fly into a rage and attempt to leave your mark on this match. People like that? These are the people that I thrive against. Look at Lincoln last week, look at Camila when I humiliated her at Evolution. Arrogance, anger, and the inability to control oneself? These are the people I systematically pick apart, and you’ll find very quickly that you’re overmatched by someone of my caliber.’
He smiles now, spreading his arms wide.
‘But hey, at least you’re not alone. Shadowlove will be getting the exact same treatment. This man’s biggest strength is also his biggest weakness. His consistency. Never a bottom-feeder, but never quite a top contender either, Shadow has been content to mess around against competition of varying ability throughout his career in UCI, and nothing has changed during his tenure with AW.’
His face now forms a scowl.
‘You’re still the same unoriginal fool you were when you first began making your name known to the world. The overconfidence you exude on a daily basis is fuckin’ sickening, especially when you consider the fact that you’re a barely above-average performer who is still entirely stuck on the long-gone federation of UCI, and has done almost nothing worth mentioning since making the switch over to Action Wrestling.
‘While staying true to yourself is typically commendable, in this situation you just come off as a complete tool. From your promotions to your ring-work, you make no adaptations or prepare any differently based on the competition you face. You’re content to either make short work of lesser competitors or get embarrassed and put on notice by people who are actually evolving and honing their craft week in and week out.
‘You’re a disgrace to the sport. Within a couple of months of wrestling, I had already become twice the draw and wrestler that you were after having several chances to evaluate yourself and perhaps make some improvements - but you didn’t.
‘Instead, you’re a stagnant and under-achieving dipshit who has plateaued in midcard hell, yet still believes he is enough of a draw to make real waves around here. Well, guess what, Shadow? You’re being given the biggest rub since you started wrestling - being a footnote in Ryan Lockhart’s career, where he wins the All-In match and consequently, becomes World Champion shortly after. Maybe I’ll give you a one-line mention in my biography one day. Other than that? It’s back to being a C-Class athlete for you, my friend.’
The neon lights on the back wall of the dim room now change once more, reading: THE REDEMPTION. The stage shifts upward once more, bringing Ryan another level closer to the elusive All-In Briefcase, still taunting him from the top of the roof, but now not so far away as it once was. The voice, mocking in its tone, returns.
‘You may have already been through your first steps, Ryan… but those steps resulted in you being knocked down and put in your place. Wade Moor ruined that for you, didn’t he?’
The crowd snicker, causing Ryan’s eyes to light ablaze for an instant.
‘Yeah? Well, here I am again. But this time, I ain’t knocking politely on the door to the World Title - I’m about to fuckin’ ram that gate wide open.
The crowd falls into silence, as a hearty chuckle consumes the room.
‘Well well, you beat me to it. Your Redemption, Ryan. Speak on it.’
The room remains quiet momentarily, as Ryan seems to gather his thoughts as his lips are curled in a frown.
‘When I lost, I didn’t expect it to eat away at me the way it did. I felt lost, like everything I had worked toward had been ripped from me in one single moment, like I had been left with nothing except a shell of a being.
‘I have no excuse for why I lost, I simply wasn’t good enough. Did I come close? Perhaps. But that means nothing without the victory to show for it. Once I came to terms with that fact? Once I realized that I still needed to evolve and bring myself to greater heights? That’s when I climbed the second rung toward becoming a World Champion - which I have no doubt I will accomplish once I obtain this All-In Briefcase.
‘But, there are two people who are also looking for Redemption, and that’s Kyle Kemp and Camila Gonzalez.
‘Kyle, you suffer from the same irrational thought processes and irrational beliefs that allowed me to render you useless at Evolution. You’re an entitled brat who has countless excuses for when he loses, but when you win? You brag about it endlessly, as though it will get you more recognition.
‘How about instead of being a whiny cunt with a superiority complex, you man the fuck up and actually take credit for your failures? I beat your ass fair and square the first time we faced off. I was more on point, more aware of our surroundings and the in-ring situation, and flat out just a better performer than you could ever hope to be. That is why I pinned Camila and got my shot at the World Title, and not you.
‘Nothing has changed - you’re still the exact same stereotypical bad-guy, except now you believe you’re being wronged and overlooked by the same company that has given you your stardom. Shut the fuck up. All of you in #FightSmart are the same. You’ve made zero improvements or change in mindset since we first met, and that’s why I’m going to butcher you and your companions in this match-up.
‘Camila on the other hand? She HAS been attempting to make progress, the question is… has it been worthwhile? I gave you the cold taste of defeat at Evolution, Camila. Similar to the one that I got given at Pandemic. It fuckin’ stings, doesn’t it? We’ve both been looking for redemption since then, and this is our chance.
‘The difference is… these changes you’re making? They’re superficial. They’re not within your true nature. You want to become more honourable and respectable, and that’s fair… but deep down? We still see your entitled nature, we still see the little girl who got everything she ever wanted when she was younger, and we still see the person who looks down upon others every step of the way.
‘The belief you have in yourself is admirable, truly. But like all things, when you push too hard for something to become a reality, it just becomes a joke, a caricature. You don’t know what you want to be, all you have is this insane vision that you’ll soon enough become the “greatest Action Wrestling World Champion”, but you have no clue of what it actually takes to get there.
‘I’ve seen it first hand. I saw the wrath Wade Moor displayed at Pandemic, and I felt it torture my body and cut through my soul - but it didn’t break me. It didn’t leave me a husk of the man I once was. If anything, it empowered me.
‘When I beat you at Evolution, we were both unaware of what lay beyond that level we had reached in our careers. But when I beat you at Uprising? You’ll witness a demon in that ring, you will witness The Curse first-hand, and then after that? Perhaps you’ll see what I mean, and you’ll be able to reflect on everything you’ve done up until this point, throw it all away, and become the true competitor that you were meant to be.
‘Until then? You are no threat to me.’
THE AWAKENING.
Ryan now stands well above the crowd from his vantage point, the briefcase now a few meters away.
‘Let The Curse truly awaken, Ryan. Tell them how you really feel.’
Something seems to click within Ryan now, as he now completely ignores the “people” beneath him, and now stares directly upward at the briefcase above him.
‘Spencer you fuckin’ weasel, when will you learn that you’ll NEVER be able to take me out for good? You’ve turned up the heat twice now and tried to negate the biggest threat to your career, but I made it through. And by doing that? You unleashed The Curse, and it’s going to fuckin’ burn you when we step into the ring at Uprising.
‘But I tried, Spence. Those dark thoughts in my head and that feeling in my chest? I tried to hide them, but you couldn’t resist, could you? You had to poke and prod until you finally got through to me. You lead to my Awakening, and now it’s going to lead to your demise.
‘When I won at Evolution, I made it a personal mission to take out #FightSmart, and that starts and ends with you. Sure, I’ve slapped around Max turned Sidney, Brooke, Kyle, and Lincoln on a multitude of occasions, but it’ll all mean nothing if I allow any one of your three participants in this match to walk away with this prize.’
He begins to shake his head adamantly
‘It’s not fuckin’ happening. You may have been a good guy at one point, but now when I look at you? All I see is a coward, a coward unwilling to accept his flaws, and would rather try and take the easy route at every opportunity he gets. You’re a total disappointment to anyone that ever had faith in you, and I’m going to give them justice when I eviscerate you and your entire crew once again.’
The floor beneath Ryan shifts once more, and now he is almost at the highest point, right beneath the briefcase.
‘And then came the invaders, Dune and Corey Black. Two forces of nature. Two men who are apart of an elite group of some of the greatest wrestler of all-time. It would be ignorant of me to overlook either of you, and the threats that you represent in this match.
‘But let me warn you, for all of your continued excellence and dominance - I am not afraid of either of you. I am battle-tested enough at this point to know what two greats such as yourselves can bring to the table, and I have no doubt you’ll give me a run for my money.
‘But the fact remains… this match is rudimentary for me. I have worked my way up until this point by letting out ounces of my blood in the squared circle, and reworking and reevaluating myself each time I have had a misstep or shortcoming.
‘When I look at you two? I see two men who sneer at AW, who laugh at everything that we have worked for. Yet how could you - you especially Corey - when you’ve known nothing but hard work your entire lives? When you know what it takes to make a name for yourself, and a place for that name to be etched in history?
‘When I win this match and put MY NAME in those history books? I’ll look you in the eye, Corey, and respect you as the “King of All Wrestlers”, but even you will acknowledge that, for all of your greatness, Action Wrestling is my haven, and it is where I will craft a legacy that will match Dune’s, yours, and any other man who believes themselves my superior.
‘I will defend my territory, my legacy, and my honour when I step into that ring at Uprising, and I promise you both… I will not allow that to be overthrown by your invasion of our grounds, or from any of the other competitors in this match who believe that there time is now.
‘I have awakened, and it is now MY time.’
After saying this, he reaches for the briefcase, but it has now disappeared from sight. Now, Ryan is back in the void, alone and solitary. He spins around wildly, trying to find his place in the darkness, but he is stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
‘Look at me, Ryan.’ the voice says, clear and powerful.
Ryan turns around, and his eyes take in the sight before him - a man that would have been the spitting image of him, except with cold, lifeless eyes, that were entirely consumed by black.
'Accept me, embrace me. Together, we will conquer this place.'
Ryan wakes up, skin tingling and chilled. He calms his breathing, shuts his eyes for a moment, and then snaps them open as he looks out to the city of Boston from his apartment window.
He knows what he needs to do.
Enter, The Curse.