Post by Sam Kidsgrove on Sept 11, 2022 4:29:04 GMT -5
Thursday, September 8th
Kidsgrove is feeling good, he’s had a long stint at the gym this morning, everything just felt right and went exactly how his goals were set. So he is in a very good mood as he sets foot in his house. He’s been out since 6am so Zooey was in bed when he left. He gave her a silent kiss as he left and returned with coffee and flowers, as he does every single Thursday. Thursdays are the days they are guaranteed to spend at home, no matter what, so they always use it as a day to look after their relationship, keep the foundations strong, and be together. The pattern of the day was set a long time ago. Kidsgrove goes to the gym, he gets home and Zooey is playing music - usually her latest pop song favourite or something from a show. It’s how it’s been for years at this point, with no exceptions.
So it’s surprising to Kidsgrove when he walks into the house to silence. No music, no joy or merriment of any kind. Nothing.
Concerned, he calls out. “Sweetness?”
“In here” comes the reply from Zooey. A rather sniffly reply. Kidsgrove gently puts the stuff down on a countertop and wanders into the lounge, where Zooey is curled up on the sofa, holding a pillow. She’s been crying for a while. Immediately, he springs into action, sitting next to her on the sofa, and accepting the cushion being replaced by himself. She snuggles into his chest and continues to cry.
After a while, he asks the question.
“What happened?”
She looks at him in shock
“You don’t know?”
A million things go through Kidsgrove’s head at this point, is Zooey ill? Emily has had a relapse or hurt? Matt, Ben? AW closed? Any one of these would make Zooey upset and any of these would make their lives change.
He shakes his head.
“I’ve been at the gym, my phone was off. What’s up? Is it Emily?”
She doesn’t say anything, she just switches the TV on with the remote control. A picture of HRH Elizabeth II shows on the screen with the caption “Queen Elizabeth II has died”.
“What’s this?” He asks, confused. “A joke surely?”
Zooey shakes her head as she switches the channel. Another picture, but the same caption.
“Christ.” Kidsgrove says, stunned more than anything.
“Are you OK?” Zooey asks, looking at him with a concerned face. Kidsgrove looks back at her, more confused than anything.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Cos, like, she’s your Queen?”
“And? She was like 96 years old, it was happening eventually. Sure we’ve met her a tonne of times and she was always a friend to us but she’s not my family, she isn’t my Queen. I’m American now.”
“Still, you gotta feel something, right? She’s a big part of how you grew up and you’re still kinda proud of your British side. She’s still your Queen in that way.”
Kidsgrove simply smiles and kisses Zooey’s forehead.
“Nah, you’ve always been my Queen. Besides, I don’t have time for being distracted - I have a huge match to mentally prepare for and it’s media rounds tomorrow, then travel on Saturday, then more media Sunday before getting in the ring on Monday and claiming what should have been mine years ago. That’s what matters in my world right now. Am I sad for the family and people affected? Sure. But I can guarantee that Americans right now are much more mortified than I am. As you prove here yourself.
How are you doing yourself? You were close to her whenever we met.”
“I’ll be OK, just hard to process, y’know?”
Kidsgrove holds her tightly, kisses her forehead and says “Yeah, I know."
Friday, September 9th.
Kidsgrove is in the ESPN studio, ready to go. He’s on a panel of sports stars, ready to talk about this weekend’s events - as the resident AW representative, he’s ready to talk about all that is AW - specifically his match, one of the biggest in his career to date.
With him, there is the host, Sage Steele, NFL’s Patrick Mahomes, NBA’s Joel Embiid and Women’s football superstar Alex Morgan.
The panel is there to talk about the weekend’s sporting events, Kidsgrove is more than ready to get into his match against Kano. They’ve just had a 10 minute talk about the NFL opening day and how Mahomes is ready to lead the Chiefs to the Superbowl. They’ve talked to Joel Embiid about the impending NBA season and how well pre season camp is going. They’ve just finished talking with Alex Morgan about the end of the World cup qualifiers and the US chance of winning the world cup next year in Australia and New Zealand. So next up is Kidsgrove, who’s expecting to be talking about his upcoming huge match against Kano. Kidsgrove is all smiles as Sage begins.
“So, Sam. Terrible news coming out of England this past 24 hours, our commiserations to you and everyone there at this time. What are your thoughts on the new King?”
Sam looks puzzled for a split second, then hits his stride.
“Well yeah he’s not an unknown quantity, we’ve known about him for years - but that’s beside the point. You see on Monday we…”
“Good, good. Do you think the socio economic principles of the Royal family fit into a modern day England?”
“That’s not my place to say, but Kano on Monday….”
“Excellent, but what of the legacy that the Queen has left, huge boots to fill right?”
“Right but Monday night is a massive oppor…..”
“Ok, that’s great - let’s get a word from our sponsors.”
The show goes off air and immediately, Sage looks at Kidsgrove.
“Look, we want to talk about the Queen, no offence but this is a much bigger story than you and whatever you’re doing, so let’s talk about the Queen. OK?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, you’re our resident Brit, so you’re here to talk about the Queen - that’s how it goes. Of course if you don’t want to we can easily let you go and David Beckham is always available on speed dial.”
“Fuckin’ Media.” he says, exasperated “Sometimes it’s just insane. I’m here, on a sports programme to talk about my sport, not a 96 year old who unfortunately passed away.”
The outburst prompts Sage to look at him icily.
“OK, well thanks for coming then.” She shouts at a producer “Can we get David Beckham on the phone? Thanks!”
With that, Kidsgrove shakes his head and leaves the stage, immediately walking over to the producer, who’s on the phone to Beckham.
“What was that about?” He asks as soon as the phone is down.
“America just wants to know about the Queen bruh, they don’t care about your match."
“They don’t care? What do you mean they don’t care?”
“Well it’s just a nothing match ain’t it? You're up against Kano, I mean who the hell is that? The Queen? That’s a big story, it changed the world.”
“But you’re a sports channel!”
“Doesn’t matter, all demos are hooked by the story, we can switch up if we need to.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. I’m here on the cusp of the biggest match of my career and all you wanna talk about is something that isn’t even relevant to my sport, but my old nationality?”
“Welcome to the industry pal, first time here?”
Kidsgrove shakes his head.
“This is an amateur league shit man, this is the kinda shit Kano would pull.”
Sunday, September 11th.
Kidsgrove is in Alabama, ready to do the media tour of local radio stations. His “tour” involves sitting in his hotel room, mic’d up and waiting for the stations to call him, so he’s sitting in his chair - in the hotel’s conference room, with technicians beside him.
While he waits for the first call, he’s making idle chit-chat with one of the technicians.
“Sad day for both of us.” Says the technician, who’s doing a final check of the sound quality.
“Why is that bud?” Asks Kidsgrove, nonplussed.
“Well your Queen died and it’s September 11th.”
“Shit, it's that date? Yeah, sorry man - did you know anyone involved in that?” Asks Kidsgrove, sombrely.
“Nah.” Replied the guy, without any fanfare. “Just a sad day in our history really.”
“Well, hopefully tomorrow is a better day.” Kidsgrove tries to be sympathetic, but the sound guy just brushes him off as he hears the first interviewee in his ear.
“First up is KBN8, we’re going live in 5”
Kidsgrove nods, then gets his game face on.
“We’re here with Sam Kidsgrove! Esteemed Hollywood Actor and will be in the Main event tomorrow night at the Kraft Mayo! Sam, we’ll get to that in a moment - but tell me your thoughts on the death of the Queen and whether or not this is a conspiracy to overshadow 9/11 by the British.”
Kidsgrove’s eyes roll way back to the back of his head. “Oh wow” he says and dies a little inside. He thinks to himself “This is going to be a long fucking day” and signals for the technician to grab some painkillers because the headache that’s coming on just will not go away.
Some time later
Kidsgrove is finally done with his media rounds and is back in his room. Zooey is there, flicking through a magazine as Kidsgrove angrily paces.
“Literally none of them wanted to talk about the Main event. None. Here I am, trying to sell the biggest match of my career and all anyone wants to fuckin’ talk about is the Queen and some mad conspiracy that her death overshadowed 9/11. What the fuck is America’s media?” He lets out in frustration
“That I didn’t see coming, going full conspiracy. Not like the British are any better.” Zooey sounds actually quite impressed.
“This is the biggest match of my career so far.” Kidsgrove continues. “Not because of the opponent, but because of the opportunity. An actual #1 contender match for the World Championship? Finally! After all those years of sucking it up and watching people take my place in the queue, after all those years of being the “almost there guy” I finally get a genuine shot at being number one contender. No having to pay off a referee to get into a match I should have been in already, no being given a shot at the end of a gruelling tournament where I had to face ridiculous odds. Just a good ol’ number 1 contender match. Sam Kidsgrove v Kano.”
He imagines the billboard and the names on the headline screen.
“Fuckin’ Kano.
No wonder everyone only ever wanted to talk about old dead women and a terrorist attack. I mean sure the guy made a name for himself since he got here, winning the CBS title and all, but he’s been here for like a month.
I get that I can only face who’s put in front of me but honestly? Kano? They want me to sell a match, that’s the biggest night of my professional career but try to sell Kano? Yet again this is AW management trying to fuck me over - this is their whole “Yeah but we put you in that position to win the title but your number 1 contender match drew nothing, so what can we do?” Shit when it comes to contract negotiations innit? After all, they had a whole roster to choose from but decided to put me up against the Urban Guerilla. Who’s main claim to fame is winning the CBS title thanks to Odin, who just took it off him a week later because he can.
We’re talking about a man who has all the convictions of a rodent. The minute shit got real in Hawaii and he saw that he needed to put some effort into his family business and wrestling he decided to hand off the shit to his little brother. Soon as he knew the cops were probably sniffing around to be honest, just washed his hands of everything and let B-Real just take over.
Let him take the fall when things go wrong, make out that he was legit all along and his Brother was the head of the family all this time - he was just doing his wrestling in Japan, he can’t say what was happening.
All while he reaps the rewards.
Shit like that is disgusting. Now I know his family business is less than legit, I mean it’s obvious. I’ve worked with enough crime families to get a picture financed in Hollywood to know just how it works but even criminals have some semblance of honour in their families right?
I never saw a member of the Italian mafia just up and give the firm to his brother because he wanted to avoid the cops and pretend he had a career in wrestling. I never saw the Yakuza do that shit. Even crime families feel this guy has no honour or courage. They probably look at him and his family, think he’s a joke and are circling his little compound even now, ready to take their turf because Hawaii is a good expansion opportunity for them.
All while this guy comes to AW and tries to take my spot, tries to take the one thing I’ve worked for for the past few years. The latest in a long line of people who wanna use my name to get a title shot.
I studied his tapes, watched his matches in Japan. The Japanese gave him a hilariously appropriate name - they called him the King Killer.”
“The King Killer? They get a lot of Kings in Japan?” Asks Zooey, mirthfully.
“Yeah, the King Killer, rather appropriate really. The Japanese are a funny bunch and prophetic too.
You see, I know for a fact the Queen was in perfect health last week, I spoke to her.”
“You spoke to the Queen last week?”
“Yeah, we talked about Corgis and shit, she just wanted to catch up, you were out. She just had to get some shit off her chest because she was worried the new Prime Minister was going to be an utter shit show.
But irregardless, she was in perfect health.
My best guess is she saw the card for this week and saw that I was up against Kano, then had a heart attack while laughing at the absurdity of the man.
So in a way he did kill a monarch. Just simply by being himself, a guy who is handed opportunity after opportunity but squanders it almost immediately. I’m not just talking AW either - I mean he’s been here a month and has been handed a CBS title and a #1 contender match for the world title already, but in general life.
The guy literally was handed a family “business.” He was handed a legacy to protect, he was handed his career in Wrestling as a front, he was handed everything to him. He’s not earned a single thing in his life.
Whenever he has been handed something he’s just thrown it away immediately. His business? Gave to his brother to protect himself. The CBS title? Lost it immediately to the guy who gave it to him. His number 1 contender to the World title?
Well here we are, on the eve of the next thing he’s going to throw away.
Because while he thinks he’s got a destiny, or thinks he deserves to be here in this slot, the truth of the matter is he’s there by accident. Like King Charles, he’s never had a say in the matter, he’s not there because of talent, or because of anything he’s done or said, he’s not in this position because he’s got a great track record or because he can bring numbers.
He’s there because of luck. He’s there because someone needs to be there. AW management could have just sent Pasternak out there and declared me as number 1 contender, just like they did with Lissie fuckin’ Hope. They could have sent a tweet, or an email blast or any number of things to say “Sam Kidsgrove is challenging for and winning the World title on the 10th October against that dickhead Gerard Angelo.
But no, Sam Kidsgrove doesn’t get that treatment, he has to fight the Urban Guerilla for his shot. He has to take down the King Killer on the week that the Queen died. He has to take on a whole goddamn crime family in Hawaii to get his shot on the week of 9/11.
He has to carry both the US and UK’s burdens on his shoulders and give everyone a feel-good moment because both countries are grieving this weekend. What better way to help heal the grief than have the son of both countries, the man who has represented both with honour and pride finally taking his chance to compete in the main event for the #1 contendership?
And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
I’m proud to go out there tomorrow night and give it my all for the UK. I’m proud to go out there tomorrow night and give it my all for the US.
Tomorrow night, I’m proud to go out there, and leave it all on the line for every single person out there who’s in grief right now, to show them that life does go on and to celebrate what we can have - celebrate the future while remembering where we came from.
Tomorrow night I’m taking down Kano, no mistakes, no distractions. He’s going to want to crawl back to his brother and have gang fights over cocaine rather than step foot into the ring with me again.
Tomorrow night, I’ll be number 1 contender and I will go on to beat Angelo next month. I can’t afford to fail."
Kidsgrove is feeling good, he’s had a long stint at the gym this morning, everything just felt right and went exactly how his goals were set. So he is in a very good mood as he sets foot in his house. He’s been out since 6am so Zooey was in bed when he left. He gave her a silent kiss as he left and returned with coffee and flowers, as he does every single Thursday. Thursdays are the days they are guaranteed to spend at home, no matter what, so they always use it as a day to look after their relationship, keep the foundations strong, and be together. The pattern of the day was set a long time ago. Kidsgrove goes to the gym, he gets home and Zooey is playing music - usually her latest pop song favourite or something from a show. It’s how it’s been for years at this point, with no exceptions.
So it’s surprising to Kidsgrove when he walks into the house to silence. No music, no joy or merriment of any kind. Nothing.
Concerned, he calls out. “Sweetness?”
“In here” comes the reply from Zooey. A rather sniffly reply. Kidsgrove gently puts the stuff down on a countertop and wanders into the lounge, where Zooey is curled up on the sofa, holding a pillow. She’s been crying for a while. Immediately, he springs into action, sitting next to her on the sofa, and accepting the cushion being replaced by himself. She snuggles into his chest and continues to cry.
After a while, he asks the question.
“What happened?”
She looks at him in shock
“You don’t know?”
A million things go through Kidsgrove’s head at this point, is Zooey ill? Emily has had a relapse or hurt? Matt, Ben? AW closed? Any one of these would make Zooey upset and any of these would make their lives change.
He shakes his head.
“I’ve been at the gym, my phone was off. What’s up? Is it Emily?”
She doesn’t say anything, she just switches the TV on with the remote control. A picture of HRH Elizabeth II shows on the screen with the caption “Queen Elizabeth II has died”.
“What’s this?” He asks, confused. “A joke surely?”
Zooey shakes her head as she switches the channel. Another picture, but the same caption.
“Christ.” Kidsgrove says, stunned more than anything.
“Are you OK?” Zooey asks, looking at him with a concerned face. Kidsgrove looks back at her, more confused than anything.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Cos, like, she’s your Queen?”
“And? She was like 96 years old, it was happening eventually. Sure we’ve met her a tonne of times and she was always a friend to us but she’s not my family, she isn’t my Queen. I’m American now.”
“Still, you gotta feel something, right? She’s a big part of how you grew up and you’re still kinda proud of your British side. She’s still your Queen in that way.”
Kidsgrove simply smiles and kisses Zooey’s forehead.
“Nah, you’ve always been my Queen. Besides, I don’t have time for being distracted - I have a huge match to mentally prepare for and it’s media rounds tomorrow, then travel on Saturday, then more media Sunday before getting in the ring on Monday and claiming what should have been mine years ago. That’s what matters in my world right now. Am I sad for the family and people affected? Sure. But I can guarantee that Americans right now are much more mortified than I am. As you prove here yourself.
How are you doing yourself? You were close to her whenever we met.”
“I’ll be OK, just hard to process, y’know?”
Kidsgrove holds her tightly, kisses her forehead and says “Yeah, I know."
Friday, September 9th.
Kidsgrove is in the ESPN studio, ready to go. He’s on a panel of sports stars, ready to talk about this weekend’s events - as the resident AW representative, he’s ready to talk about all that is AW - specifically his match, one of the biggest in his career to date.
With him, there is the host, Sage Steele, NFL’s Patrick Mahomes, NBA’s Joel Embiid and Women’s football superstar Alex Morgan.
The panel is there to talk about the weekend’s sporting events, Kidsgrove is more than ready to get into his match against Kano. They’ve just had a 10 minute talk about the NFL opening day and how Mahomes is ready to lead the Chiefs to the Superbowl. They’ve talked to Joel Embiid about the impending NBA season and how well pre season camp is going. They’ve just finished talking with Alex Morgan about the end of the World cup qualifiers and the US chance of winning the world cup next year in Australia and New Zealand. So next up is Kidsgrove, who’s expecting to be talking about his upcoming huge match against Kano. Kidsgrove is all smiles as Sage begins.
“So, Sam. Terrible news coming out of England this past 24 hours, our commiserations to you and everyone there at this time. What are your thoughts on the new King?”
Sam looks puzzled for a split second, then hits his stride.
“Well yeah he’s not an unknown quantity, we’ve known about him for years - but that’s beside the point. You see on Monday we…”
“Good, good. Do you think the socio economic principles of the Royal family fit into a modern day England?”
“That’s not my place to say, but Kano on Monday….”
“Excellent, but what of the legacy that the Queen has left, huge boots to fill right?”
“Right but Monday night is a massive oppor…..”
“Ok, that’s great - let’s get a word from our sponsors.”
The show goes off air and immediately, Sage looks at Kidsgrove.
“Look, we want to talk about the Queen, no offence but this is a much bigger story than you and whatever you’re doing, so let’s talk about the Queen. OK?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, you’re our resident Brit, so you’re here to talk about the Queen - that’s how it goes. Of course if you don’t want to we can easily let you go and David Beckham is always available on speed dial.”
“Fuckin’ Media.” he says, exasperated “Sometimes it’s just insane. I’m here, on a sports programme to talk about my sport, not a 96 year old who unfortunately passed away.”
The outburst prompts Sage to look at him icily.
“OK, well thanks for coming then.” She shouts at a producer “Can we get David Beckham on the phone? Thanks!”
With that, Kidsgrove shakes his head and leaves the stage, immediately walking over to the producer, who’s on the phone to Beckham.
“What was that about?” He asks as soon as the phone is down.
“America just wants to know about the Queen bruh, they don’t care about your match."
“They don’t care? What do you mean they don’t care?”
“Well it’s just a nothing match ain’t it? You're up against Kano, I mean who the hell is that? The Queen? That’s a big story, it changed the world.”
“But you’re a sports channel!”
“Doesn’t matter, all demos are hooked by the story, we can switch up if we need to.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. I’m here on the cusp of the biggest match of my career and all you wanna talk about is something that isn’t even relevant to my sport, but my old nationality?”
“Welcome to the industry pal, first time here?”
Kidsgrove shakes his head.
“This is an amateur league shit man, this is the kinda shit Kano would pull.”
Sunday, September 11th.
Kidsgrove is in Alabama, ready to do the media tour of local radio stations. His “tour” involves sitting in his hotel room, mic’d up and waiting for the stations to call him, so he’s sitting in his chair - in the hotel’s conference room, with technicians beside him.
While he waits for the first call, he’s making idle chit-chat with one of the technicians.
“Sad day for both of us.” Says the technician, who’s doing a final check of the sound quality.
“Why is that bud?” Asks Kidsgrove, nonplussed.
“Well your Queen died and it’s September 11th.”
“Shit, it's that date? Yeah, sorry man - did you know anyone involved in that?” Asks Kidsgrove, sombrely.
“Nah.” Replied the guy, without any fanfare. “Just a sad day in our history really.”
“Well, hopefully tomorrow is a better day.” Kidsgrove tries to be sympathetic, but the sound guy just brushes him off as he hears the first interviewee in his ear.
“First up is KBN8, we’re going live in 5”
Kidsgrove nods, then gets his game face on.
“We’re here with Sam Kidsgrove! Esteemed Hollywood Actor and will be in the Main event tomorrow night at the Kraft Mayo! Sam, we’ll get to that in a moment - but tell me your thoughts on the death of the Queen and whether or not this is a conspiracy to overshadow 9/11 by the British.”
Kidsgrove’s eyes roll way back to the back of his head. “Oh wow” he says and dies a little inside. He thinks to himself “This is going to be a long fucking day” and signals for the technician to grab some painkillers because the headache that’s coming on just will not go away.
Some time later
Kidsgrove is finally done with his media rounds and is back in his room. Zooey is there, flicking through a magazine as Kidsgrove angrily paces.
“Literally none of them wanted to talk about the Main event. None. Here I am, trying to sell the biggest match of my career and all anyone wants to fuckin’ talk about is the Queen and some mad conspiracy that her death overshadowed 9/11. What the fuck is America’s media?” He lets out in frustration
“That I didn’t see coming, going full conspiracy. Not like the British are any better.” Zooey sounds actually quite impressed.
“This is the biggest match of my career so far.” Kidsgrove continues. “Not because of the opponent, but because of the opportunity. An actual #1 contender match for the World Championship? Finally! After all those years of sucking it up and watching people take my place in the queue, after all those years of being the “almost there guy” I finally get a genuine shot at being number one contender. No having to pay off a referee to get into a match I should have been in already, no being given a shot at the end of a gruelling tournament where I had to face ridiculous odds. Just a good ol’ number 1 contender match. Sam Kidsgrove v Kano.”
He imagines the billboard and the names on the headline screen.
“Fuckin’ Kano.
No wonder everyone only ever wanted to talk about old dead women and a terrorist attack. I mean sure the guy made a name for himself since he got here, winning the CBS title and all, but he’s been here for like a month.
I get that I can only face who’s put in front of me but honestly? Kano? They want me to sell a match, that’s the biggest night of my professional career but try to sell Kano? Yet again this is AW management trying to fuck me over - this is their whole “Yeah but we put you in that position to win the title but your number 1 contender match drew nothing, so what can we do?” Shit when it comes to contract negotiations innit? After all, they had a whole roster to choose from but decided to put me up against the Urban Guerilla. Who’s main claim to fame is winning the CBS title thanks to Odin, who just took it off him a week later because he can.
We’re talking about a man who has all the convictions of a rodent. The minute shit got real in Hawaii and he saw that he needed to put some effort into his family business and wrestling he decided to hand off the shit to his little brother. Soon as he knew the cops were probably sniffing around to be honest, just washed his hands of everything and let B-Real just take over.
Let him take the fall when things go wrong, make out that he was legit all along and his Brother was the head of the family all this time - he was just doing his wrestling in Japan, he can’t say what was happening.
All while he reaps the rewards.
Shit like that is disgusting. Now I know his family business is less than legit, I mean it’s obvious. I’ve worked with enough crime families to get a picture financed in Hollywood to know just how it works but even criminals have some semblance of honour in their families right?
I never saw a member of the Italian mafia just up and give the firm to his brother because he wanted to avoid the cops and pretend he had a career in wrestling. I never saw the Yakuza do that shit. Even crime families feel this guy has no honour or courage. They probably look at him and his family, think he’s a joke and are circling his little compound even now, ready to take their turf because Hawaii is a good expansion opportunity for them.
All while this guy comes to AW and tries to take my spot, tries to take the one thing I’ve worked for for the past few years. The latest in a long line of people who wanna use my name to get a title shot.
I studied his tapes, watched his matches in Japan. The Japanese gave him a hilariously appropriate name - they called him the King Killer.”
“The King Killer? They get a lot of Kings in Japan?” Asks Zooey, mirthfully.
“Yeah, the King Killer, rather appropriate really. The Japanese are a funny bunch and prophetic too.
You see, I know for a fact the Queen was in perfect health last week, I spoke to her.”
“You spoke to the Queen last week?”
“Yeah, we talked about Corgis and shit, she just wanted to catch up, you were out. She just had to get some shit off her chest because she was worried the new Prime Minister was going to be an utter shit show.
But irregardless, she was in perfect health.
My best guess is she saw the card for this week and saw that I was up against Kano, then had a heart attack while laughing at the absurdity of the man.
So in a way he did kill a monarch. Just simply by being himself, a guy who is handed opportunity after opportunity but squanders it almost immediately. I’m not just talking AW either - I mean he’s been here a month and has been handed a CBS title and a #1 contender match for the world title already, but in general life.
The guy literally was handed a family “business.” He was handed a legacy to protect, he was handed his career in Wrestling as a front, he was handed everything to him. He’s not earned a single thing in his life.
Whenever he has been handed something he’s just thrown it away immediately. His business? Gave to his brother to protect himself. The CBS title? Lost it immediately to the guy who gave it to him. His number 1 contender to the World title?
Well here we are, on the eve of the next thing he’s going to throw away.
Because while he thinks he’s got a destiny, or thinks he deserves to be here in this slot, the truth of the matter is he’s there by accident. Like King Charles, he’s never had a say in the matter, he’s not there because of talent, or because of anything he’s done or said, he’s not in this position because he’s got a great track record or because he can bring numbers.
He’s there because of luck. He’s there because someone needs to be there. AW management could have just sent Pasternak out there and declared me as number 1 contender, just like they did with Lissie fuckin’ Hope. They could have sent a tweet, or an email blast or any number of things to say “Sam Kidsgrove is challenging for and winning the World title on the 10th October against that dickhead Gerard Angelo.
But no, Sam Kidsgrove doesn’t get that treatment, he has to fight the Urban Guerilla for his shot. He has to take down the King Killer on the week that the Queen died. He has to take on a whole goddamn crime family in Hawaii to get his shot on the week of 9/11.
He has to carry both the US and UK’s burdens on his shoulders and give everyone a feel-good moment because both countries are grieving this weekend. What better way to help heal the grief than have the son of both countries, the man who has represented both with honour and pride finally taking his chance to compete in the main event for the #1 contendership?
And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
I’m proud to go out there tomorrow night and give it my all for the UK. I’m proud to go out there tomorrow night and give it my all for the US.
Tomorrow night, I’m proud to go out there, and leave it all on the line for every single person out there who’s in grief right now, to show them that life does go on and to celebrate what we can have - celebrate the future while remembering where we came from.
Tomorrow night I’m taking down Kano, no mistakes, no distractions. He’s going to want to crawl back to his brother and have gang fights over cocaine rather than step foot into the ring with me again.
Tomorrow night, I’ll be number 1 contender and I will go on to beat Angelo next month. I can’t afford to fail."
