Post by Andre Holmes on Jan 29, 2022 11:56:25 GMT -5
“If you want to test a man’s character, give him power. If you want to know the kind of man he is, look at the people he surrounds himself with. I, however, keep my friends, and loyal fans to me. My family is what I thought was all I needed but I was wrong. I need all the help I can get. We stand together as one and we carry on.” - Destroy Rebuild Revenge, 2016.
ENDGAME.
Eighteen years of living his dream will finally come to an end on the day of the Revolution. The sheer lessons learned on his journey to finalizing the hall of fame earned the career he created from the birth of his dream. On the day of his final match, he would finally lay down the final message he wanted to share to the squared circle but this would not be the end his influence had carried around the world. From his beginning to WEF to now his end in Action Wrestling, this match wasn’t personal. It was his entire life coming to a glorious end.
Violent storms covered the skies over Houston that showered pouring rains down on his humble home in the middle of the night. His children resting peacefully against the clasping blows of splitting clouds the flashing light of vigorous energy striking down the lands. His wife had to share the bed alone for the time being but her mind wandered elsewhere as she faded into the promised land of her dreams taking hold.
There was a room dedicated in his home to everything he had loved. Shelves were built to hold the various championship he claimed around the world. Engraved posters of his crowning achievements in his career but also shared with the personal portraits of his family as well. This room was old, dusty, and hadn’t been opened in years but sat on a chair in the middle was Andre staring at it all. His whole life was detailed around four walls and every section told a story. He leaned forward and cupped his hands together to rest his chin as his eyes just looked ahead.
“I know you can’t hear me Torture but I know somewhere we’re connected. I want to express my gratitude for there isn’t anyone else in the world that could deliver me to the final battle of my life. You did this and even though our futures will change, I will always be thankful for you being the final opponent after nearly two decades of wars.”
He leaned back in the chair. Andre stared at all the wars he had gone through. His championship reigns from WCF, his war against Erin Fausse in UCI, and even his achievements in 4CW, CWC. All these were described from the posters, the championship belts locked away in the shelves, and multiple past merchandise received from his fans. Andre’s lip smiled but straightened as thunder bellowed into his home.
“Torture. You know this was going to happen. There wasn’t a day that passed by that you would have known we would have to face once and for all to settle the argument of who would be the better man between us. This shouldn’t have taken you by surprise but here you are putting on this performance that you of all people who have seen professional wrestling from the inside out was surprised by little old me? Come on Torture, for a man who has been the head of the biggest promotion, your little business plan should have known that I would return solely for you.”
But that wasn’t the case. The more he thought about Torture’s refusal, he chuckled. It grew into a burst of maniacal laughter until he calmed down staring towards the hardcore championship belt in front of him on his work desk.
“But did you really think this was about the hardcore championship? No. This was something more. Something way more. The hardcore championship was the catalyst of it all but I needed a way to get your attention because I waited years for this opportunity and I am not going to waste it. Torture, I envied you. I envied how you had it all. You were the man in WCF and now you’re the one leading future generations to continue the legacy of professional wrestling, dominating the world with Action Wrestling. You have everything in the palm of your hands but with all that grace, all that power, you still have done the one theme of your entire life. Failure.”
Hatred fueled his eyes and the rage boiled in his heart. Andre stood from his chair and looked in front of him at the picture of Torture and him sharing a moment backstage together as friends. He took the old picture and crumpled it in his right hand as the tight fist was made. Nothing mattered to him anymore.
"They said I should have been like you! YOU! The great Torture had accomplished it all in only ONE promotion, Wrestling Championship Federation. When I was WCF Hardcore Champion, the constant comparing to you drove me insane because they all believed I would become the next you. I never wanted to be you Torture, I always knew I was better. What could I have done that resembled you? It was easy. All your career, you have done nothing but whine and complained. Even with everything you've accomplished from your multiple world championship reigns, you wasted it away by putting on this facade that you were a man
who knew what he wanted. The truth is Torture is you never earned anything. You lied, complained, and manipulated you were into the position you are known and that's by constantly throwing people under the bus, creating controversies that led to you leaving and disappearing for years. While everyone else is thankful for Action Wrestling, I saw it as another way to hide the insecurities tearing you from the inside out."
The crumpled picture was tossed into the nearby garbage can. Andre leaned back on the work desk with his arms folded across his chest and his chin tilted down. He stared towards the creaked floors and listened keenly to the beating of raindrops against the window but Andre shook his head and rolled his eyes. The picture became clear to him right then and there.
"I looked into your eyes and saw the true Torture. You've spent your entire lifetime poking, clawing, instigating, manipulating, mauling, and destroying people's lives for your entertainment. You've always been the man in your position to create havoc wherever you went and create the biggest controversies in professional wrestling but the moment someone comes to you as a man and challenges you, you back off. The whole world had watched you go rampant across everyone else's lives, everyone else's careers to the point you've caused mayhem from the Mexico incident all the way to the destruction of UCI Wrestling to where the birth of Action Wrestling was born. You had been the disease that spread everywhere but when I, Andre Holmes, came to you as a man with a challenge, you showed your true colors, the colors of a coward!"
Lightning flashed the room and Andre stood alone by himself. The environment twisted in his eyes away from his home to the center of the ring. Nothing mattered in darkness but a single light showed him. He was in his gear and ready for battle.
"You saw what you always wanted. You wanted what I had all along because you knew you couldn't handle taking accountability for YOUR actions. You pointed the finger at everyone else but failed to realize there were always four fingers pointing back. I came to you because you had to pay for your actions, the time of your mistakes had caught up but no one had the gall to call you out like the way I did which is why you had to appease me by handing me this."
He held the WCF Hardcore Championship in his right hand.
"Again, another manipulative tactic but I saw right through it. I didn't come to defend the WCF Hardcore Championship, I came to defend the injustices you caused against you. You hated what I did. You hated that for the entire month I exposed you as the son of a bitch you've always been and when you fought me, we've never seen a more heated Torture. You came at me with every fighting bone of your body because you knew that I had finally opened the eyes of the entire world to see how you are. This isn't Torture, the co-president nor the retired wrestler, we witnessed Torture, the manipulating, cheating, and lying bastard who would do whatever it takes to win. The Torture who would ruin all to be at the top of the mountain and once again, you are ready to sacrifice it all to protect the one thing that matters in your life, YOU!"
The belt was thrown out of the ring and faded into the eternal darkness. Andre looked above to the light and closed his eyes as he took it all in. The sounds of the audience being against him, the feeling of the tension being at an all-time high, and entering into the world of Torture ready to rip him apart.
"But I have it all. I have everything you wanted. I have the hall of fame status from UCI, the one you forfeited when you helped instigate the Mexico incident and quit during the prime of your career. The hardcore championship reign you failed to achieve despite holding the belt for over a year as you were busy creating cover songs of Adele. The multiple world championship reigns from not one but multiple promotions because you didn't have the balls to expand your horizons and most importantly, the fatherly role of being in your children's lives from birth and raising them without the need to extort them for your own benefit. I have the life you wanted yet you're trying your best to pain the story that I'm the one who has betrayed you. No, Torture. You betrayed yourself. You lost yourself so long ago that any genuine feeling hits a heart of stone. You need this match to truly find yourself again but we both know, only I can give you what you really want."
His eyes opened and he was back in that room again. He sighed and sat down on the chair staring ahead to his life's work finally coming to an end. Andre rubbed his chin and even wiped away a tear strolling down his cheek. This was going to be the last time he'll ever step foot into a ring again. January 30th in Washington, D.C., would be the curtain call. Andre was ready and he would make this moment last forever in time.
"I'm ready Torture. I'm ready to give you what no one else could all your life. We're going into Revolution V as two household names, legends, and two men wanting to sacrifice it all but I've made my sacrifices. Now it's your turn. No more politics, no more controversies, no more lies, no more shame. This will be an old-fashioned match between us but understand that once it is over, I will be the one with the victory but you will be the one with a blank slate. That's what I'm delivering to you. A chance to start over and a chance to do the right thing. You will be a new man with an empty canvas because you will no longer live in shadows or pain. Torture. I love you. I truly do. I want to be the man for you and help you grow.
Action Wrestling will watch you become brand new and better than ever. Torture, this is the day that you will begin a Revolution.
And Torture, that is the day I end my Relevation."
