Post by Spencer Adams on Sept 2, 2019 15:24:05 GMT -5
Part 1: Path 1/4
The echo of small feet smacking against the Earth was carried out in front of me. I find myself following its rhythmic pitter-patter, almost in a trance like state. The small form grabbed my attention instantly. Honestly, I never thought I’d see that panther mask again. Am I okay?
My voice feels muffled and confined to my own being, but I feel the need to call out anyways. I receive no response and pick up my pace, calling out once again as the urgency in my heartbeat increases tenfold.
KOS: WAIT!
They move through space at an inhuman speed, turning to a rough silhouette as a wall of sand separates the two of us and I find myself walled in by blowing grains.
WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT!
WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT!
The chant carries on in sync with his fading footsteps, the BPM intertwining between the two to form a thunderous acapella.
WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT!
WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT!
Faceless figures form the perfect circle, leaving me with no place to move.
WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT!
In front of them stands a smaller circle of young boys, single tears streaming down their faces. I reach out, only to be blinded by the harsh, blinding bang as triggers are pulled without hesitation.
WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT!
WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT!
I scream in horror as thick crimson waterfalls down my face and into the palms of my hands. The outer circle of faceless men steps over their respective cadavers. I feel the early stages of suffocation as my screams fall silent.
KOS: STOP!
The thick red is replaced with a thick layer of sweat I feel covering my face and back from top to bottom. With daylight pouring in through my blinds, I awake, with no one else around.
Part 2: Zoo 1/4
Ring crew member #1: We’re good on this end!
He’s audible, but my attention to detail fades in and out as I make my way down the ramp towards the elimination chamber setup. I see one of them front and center with his hand tapped against an earpiece, a quiet transmission coming from the side of his face.
I feel infatuated by the thick steel structure staring me down.
Ring crew member #2: I mean, we’ve still got to test it for stability.
The first black shirt looks up from his clipboard, nodding in our direction.
With both men now looking at me for a response, I give a nod of my own.
I’d be lying if I said this part wasn’t for me, my pre-game therapy if you will. The door is pulled open and a cameraman is directed to follow. Once inside, I rotate my head to digest the situation. Inside the belly of the beast, I’m home.
You know, don’t worry about answering that, because I can shake my own head for you. Consider it the one and only favor you’ll receive from me. Allison, I feel for you, I truly do. You never really asked for any of this. You lucked out. You beat your fellow prospects when tasked with punching your ticket into these high profile matches and it only gets worse from here and it will be a swift and violent plummet for the future endeavored Ms. Riggs-Preston. Unlike last time, you won’t be able to take a bump or two and roll out of the ring. You’re trapped in here now, in KOS’ world.
I bet you’re feeling real lonely right about now, considering your “biggest supporter” in life tucked tail and ran home. It would seem that the embarrassment of losing to a spastic who doesn’t understand what an inside voice is was just too much to handle and that brings us to right now with the burden being thrown upon your shoulders. The weight has to be a lot right now, but it’s not like you really asked for all of it. Still, the heat is on you and somehow, with more talented and competent newcomers..it’s Allison Riggs-Preston that has won the sweepstakes and will get the opportunity to be violently booted from the top of the card.
You come into this situation with your eyes clearly set on a special someone, one Mr. Odin Balfore and it’s all because your social ineptitude told you that you will be the one to give him his receipt for the negative words that he has for you and your spouse? Allison..don’t you understand that your Twitter fingers have betrayed you? Not only can you not handle Odin between the ropes, but there still remains four more of us chomping at the bit to weed you out from the pack like the lost pup that you are. Whether you choose to be honest with yourself over the situation or not, these walls will not spare you an ounce of wiggle room. So, do yourself a favor. When “Allison Riggs-Preston has been eliminated” is called out over that PA system only a few short minutes after the opening bell, make like your husband and leave. We are not your kind, Ms. Preston.
Part 3: Path 2/4
You know how much this moment means to us, don’t you?
Staring ahead, I keep my mind set on the road ahead. Controlling my breath feels harder with “it” remaining on top of me.
I pick up the pace, but am still unable to shake the tiny figure, their masked face coming back into my sight every time my speed increases.
LEAVE ME ALONE!
I WILL!
Reflex forces me to bend forward as the contents of my stomach are emptied out onto the pavement. Bile clings from my mouth and trails down before tapering off. With a burning in my eyes and in my throat, I march forward, picking up speed along the way.
Part 4: Zoo 2/4
Following along the edge of the in-ring area, I drag my hand across the top rope, staring towards the nearest pod as I come closer into the camera’s view.
This company’s current world champion is a loud, destructive, and shameless individual who puts little care into what it means to carry the top prize over his shoulder and that’s why you need to be honest with yourself. Is the frustration that you wear on your sleeve week after week a representation of any greater sorrow or required much needed general prosperity? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again..you have EVERYTHING Alex and as you stand there boiling over internally, you need to ask yourself just how justified you are in being so disgruntled.
I understand the competitive nature in you, but just remember what you go home to whenever a show wraps up. As down on yourself as you may be over not yet getting that first world title in Action Wrestling, it’s not the end of the world for you and those that you do go home to, can care less because they understand something that you don’t. You’re fighting for competitive pride and that’s as deep as it goes. You have convinced yourself that you have something to prove in this profession, but you have nobody to prove it to. You lack a mission statement with any real depth or one that hasn’t already been fulfilled.
There are a whole lot of fallen people out there, people that you are incapable of representing. There are a lot of folks out there who go home and cross their fingers that everything will be okay, that everything will be “alright”, but Alex Richards gets to go home and drink himself into a blissful stupor at the end of the workday and hold his girlfriend tight and that’s fine, but that isn’t this. You are a big hitter who is more than cut out for elite competition, but you could also retire tomorrow and nobody would view your legacy any different.
Maybe the real pain you’re feeling right now is the fact that you and the people would be fine without one another. You could call it a career and everything would remain exactly how it is after you left. That’s not to say that the loss of talent wouldn’t be felt in some way, but again, what does being a pack leader in Action Wrestling mean for Alex Richards? Absolutely nothing. So, as much respect and love as I have for your ability as a performer, I have no choice but to continue being to you what I am to TFK, because Alex..we need this..but you don’t.
Part 5: Path 3/4
Reporter: KOS, over here!
KOS: Go ahead.
My vision blurs as I lean forward in my seat to pull the microphone closer to myself. I find the reporters all staring toward me, their masked faces becoming increasingly judgemental.
Reporter: Hello?
KOS: Come again?
I hope you know that these circumstances are only going to continue to become more and more difficult to overcome. Adversity is growing. Are you ready to do the same?
I see their faces glitching, alternating between nude and covered up. Suspicion is growing as is my own anxiety.
YES!
They’re all human, confused and curious as to why I’ve frozen up I’m sure. I blink a couple extra times to assure myself I’m actually “here” and nod as I stand up and speak into the mic once more before backing up from the table and head for the conference room exit.
Part 6: Zoo 3/4
Perched on the top turnbuckle, I look down toward the camera which catches me an an inclined angle from below.
You chose this company as your next stop and Action Wrestling has tried to treat it as a big deal, but you’ve left everyone with so much to be desired. A god among men whose mere presence commands major box office matchups and a huge bump in PPV sales? Try an aging “whatever” competitor who is content with poking easily trolled newcomers who by all means should be considered below him in terms of importance and impact. It’s been four months and you’re just now being thrown into a headlining role. Do you know what that is?
It’s because you don’t care. Odin Balfore has become the Jon Jones of professional wrestling and has no problem pissing away his status and wasting all that natural talent while assuming the role of a human recliner. In less than a year, you held more WCF world titles than most people did in their entire careers, but it feels like it should’ve been less, doesn’t it? That should’ve been one long never ending reign that had you in a position of free reign. You should have been unstoppable then, but you weren’t. You should be unstoppable NOW..but you aren’t.
Where did your pride run off to, Odin? Did it shrivel up and die when you found yourself shrugging your way through a thinning locker room or was it the night that you allowed Adam Young to get one over on you for a world title? Absolutely disgraceful, you know that? You were designated as the veteran torch carrier after everyone else wisened up and left WCF depleted, but you fumbled it and you fumbled it hard. You come to AW and you botch an attempt at tag team gold in a division where Red White and Bruised are able to get the job done. Do the rest of us a favor and step aside if genuine hustle isn’t in your gameplan. I’ll do what needs to be done up here. You feel free to battle it out the human filibuster that is Allison Riggs-Preston in the meantime.
I pivot to hop off to the outside where I venture alongside the chamber walls, continuing to admire the links my hand grazes against.
You know, it never ceases to amaze me that you of all people have turned into a critic of myself, my movement, and everything in between. One would assume that given our history together, you’d understand more about KOS or Spencer Adams than hit piece media tells you, but I guess not. It’s as if you’ve spent the last three years living in a house with no mirrors, blind as a bat with a heart full of bitterness. It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? What makes you feel justified in your criticisms? Do you really believe that I’m the selfish one?
Last time I checked, I was the one who took charge of UCI after early ownership had proven they could care less...I was the one who made sure to spotlight those who weren’t given a proper chance to shine in previous places of employment, even when those same people looked at me with disdain in their eyes. I was the one who used my platform to spotlight up and comers and help lift up Kyle Kemp, someone who everyone would say I’m supposed to hate, to a place that WCF would’ve never allowed. Do you know what Kyle Kemp was doing when I placed a call and asked him to be part of #FightSmart, to help me LEAD that group? He was sitting in a WCF locker room..fuming and burnt out beyond relief over his position of stagnation. You know what that guy’s doing now? He’s reaching heights that nobody thought he would, because I saw that in him and said “Hey, come prove to people that you are the man.” He did that. Now, I’m battling through injuries and personal demons to give everyone in these seats and everyone watching at home something that they’ve been sorely missing under champions like Ryan Lockhart and Dandy Divito and that is hope.
Teo, you are the pot calling the kettle black, except there is no kettle in this scenario. You are a championship Gollum who has slowly but surely lost his sense of self. You are everything you claim me to be and that is absolutely selfish. You stuck around WCF, because it was cozy and lacked depth in the face of this company’s existence. You stayed there to die with your gold while I was busy living with mine, so don’t you dare f***ing come at me and call me insincere again, because I AM Action Wrestling. The KOS movement IS Action Wrestling and those people in those seats will let you know. Welcome to the big pond, little fishy.
Part 7: Path 4/4
The commotion building inside the backstage area manages to bleed in through the closed locker room door, voices of AW’s backbone carrying on as if underwater from where I’m standing. On the wall in front of me is an AW poster displaying each of the company’s world champions thus far, each of the faces placed above the silhouette of the squared circle itself. As I stare down my own, I can feel it’s breath brushing against the hairs on my neck, humid and haunting.
Don’t worry, I’m better than he was.
Different, evolved. He had something to live for. He fought for them and they were taken away. Life wasn’t perfect, but when is it ever? He was lost along with them, but KOS is still here. As a man with nothing left, this movement has given me everything. I lost my purpose, but the movement gave me a new one. So...am I going to be that person again?...
I turn around to head for the door, the presence nowhere to be found.
Part 8: Zoo 4/4
I smack my hands hard against the inside of the plexiglass, having trapped myself inside one of the chamber pods.
See, I’ve lived in a place like this every second of my time on this Earth, whether personally or professionally..this..is my humble abode. Have you ever been to the zoo, Dandy? Have you ever walked past the Lion’s enclosure and basked in your own blissful ignorance as you forced its hand with your taunting and your clenched fists banging against the thick layer of glass that separates it from you? Of course you have, haven’t you? Arrogant Dandy..naive Dandy..you’re more mortal than you think you are and if you were to find yourself in front of a predator like that, then what would you do?
This glass isn’t thick, Dandy. It’s not immobile and the moment that buzzer hits, there’s nothing separating you from the lion. The moment that you subjected yourself to the elements of the main event and the world title scene, you made the leap into the enclosure and while gritty, dark, and animalistic territory might not be your natural habitat, it has been mine since I was a cub. I have ways around this structure that would never cross your mind, a reservoir of adrenaline that will make you think twice about what exactly it is that you signed up for in the first place.
That world championship isn’t a weekend stop in the valley for Coachella, but rather a lifetime spent in the deepest part of the desert fighting just to survive and in this structure especially, you’re alone without a fighter’s chance at coming out the other end the same as you arrived. There’s no Yazmin to chime in with a flurry of “Um actually”’s and land you in the position you wish to be. It’s just you and them...and me and I don’t forget. I don’t forget things like the final battle atop that ladder where you sunk your teeth into my flesh as you delayed my rise back to the very top of Action Wrestling.
Don’t get it twisted either, you DID only postpone KOS and the movement taking control of the world championship and representing it and this company as it deserves to be represented. The real kicker though is that you showed me that you wanted that smoke and now, you’ve got it, so congratulations, Mr. Dandy DiVito! You are here! This is it, but it’s time that I put a swift and decisive end to you parading around and disgracing that championship and undermining everything that it means to those people. When that final bell rings and my hand is raised..and thousands of proud members of this movement are making their voices heard, I’ll be alright. It’s just a shame that I won’t be able to say the same for you.