Post by Carter Shaw on Nov 27, 2022 3:26:46 GMT -5
9/10/22
The man raised his glass of his whiskey towards Carter’s, tilted enough to bring the liquid all the way up to the lip.
“Cheers. To the fools we were. To the fools we are. And to the fools we always dreamt we’d be. And if you’re not willing to admit your foolishness, then cheers to me. For I am all three.”
Shaw sat with his head tilted, taking in the showmanship. In spontaneous agreement, Shaw reached out to the glass pushed toward him prior and raised it in response before both men took a sip.
“So you take a habit in attending meetings with strangers, Mr. Shaw.”
“I don’t-”
“It wasn’t a question. I know those you’ve met with, I know those you’ve had dealings with and I know with whom you’ve had holdings with, Mr. Shaw. I know more than you’d even guess about you, son.”
The slight smirk that has held constant on Shaw’s face flexes flat in response to being called son.
“Which is why you knew I’d come then, Mr. Callaway.”
“I had 2 glasses out for the whiskey, didn’t I? Ya see, Mr. Shaw…”
The man leans back comfortably in his chair, the casual nature would be off-putting to most.
“I take great pride in my ability to read people. I take great pride in understanding a situation, even before it has time to fully play out. So when I reached out to contact you, I had a pretty good feeling you would meet with me. Having no idea why. Having no idea who I am. I sense that this is a situation you’ve come to enjoy over the years, hasn’t it?”
“Is this actually a question this time?”
“Let me assure you of something right out of the gate, this is a two-way conversation. This isn’t like those you’ve dealt with in the past. A two-way road. This is heads up poker.”
His voice, strained through rough edges, commanded attention. He spoke so soft yet stern, a British accent that had been put into a blender with some other undistinguishable long stays elsewhere. Shaw only knew a last name, an address, and a proposition. Shaw had done exactly what the man seemed to have expected. He followed an unknown voice into an alley.
“So I suggest you play your opening hand then, before I grow bored with the adventure.”
Even with the abrasive tone, one that also commanded attention, there was still a lightness in the air within the room. The grizzled man across from him held his hands out with open palms, seemingly in appreciation.
“I know that you’ve lived through one hell of a roller coaster. I know that this year has not turned out to be what you had hoped it would be for you on a personal level. I know of your physical setbacks and I know of the warfare you took part in before that. And above all else, Mr. Shaw, I know that you have the uncanny ability to make heads roll.”
“I didn’t take you for one to beat around the bush when I first stepped foot in here, Mr. Callaway.”
The man smiled a devil’s smile in response, leaning forward onto the wooden desk in front of him, taking a sip of his whiskey before putting the glass down and looking into Shaw’s eyes as if he were staring down an entire existence…
It feels like too long ago that I was standing victorious in the 2022 Havoc Rumble. The last man standing. Solo. Alone. It feels like so long ago that I traversed a Road To Evolution that had me clawing back from what The Empire did to me, to come within a fucking EYELASH of regaining my AW World Championship against all odds.
It feels like so long ago since I was told that I was down to two options. Two paths diverged in a yellow wood. Option A was to stop. Stop fighting, stop competing, stop pushing forward. An option I had never taken for a single second of my life. Option A was to address the injury, fix it, heal it, and invest in my own future. Option B? Option B was to watch the wheels fall out from under me and dig my own career grave.
It feels like so long ago that there wasn’t really an option.
But it wasn’t that long ago now, was it? It wasn’t that long ago that I was thee force to be reckoned with in that AW ring. It wasn’t that long ago that I was on the precipice of saving this company from another piece of shit holding it hostage. It wasn’t that damn long ago that I was putting it all on the line week in and week out for Action Wrestling and continuing to prove what I had already proven, and that is that Carter Shaw is FOR REAL. It wasn’t that long ago that SAINT SHAW WAS BORN.
…So what did you do with your summer vacation?
The irony of it all is that as I walk my way back to AW action and look to return to that ring at more than 100% healthy and ready, it also appears that at Turmoil I’m walking towards the LIGHT.
Plenty have asked me why I decided to announce an open challenge for Turmoil. Why not save the surprise for the night of Turmoil, right? Come out, announce my medical clearance and full recovery, challenge the locker room for someone to step up and fight me, and use the surprise to my advantage. Hell, why even ‘open challenge’, right? Why not gun for the bastard Dandy DiVito or Jill Park as they wage war against each other? Why not challenge someone outright, try and pick up the pieces of someone who had just had their Wrestler Of The Year dreams crushed.
…haven’t we learned anything? You’re askin’ the man who cashed in his All-In briefcase to be ADDED to the Main Event of Evolution in 2021. You’re asking the man who wanted to earn his way the hard way. The way that earned respect and shut down doubters into speechlessness. You all know how I play this game by this point. So I wanted an open challenge issued with plenty of time to prepare. For someone to have enough light shed on the situation to fully prepare for a date night with Carter Shaw.
If anything, I put myself at a damn disadvantage, didn’t I? The preparation see-saw sees one side riding high in the air. What can I say, I’m a gluton for punishment.
This is one of the most important statement makers of my career, of my life. I’ve never had to kill momentum. I’ve never had to step away and put the fists down. I’ve never had to stop. So re-staking my claim to this ring that I’ve fuckin’ OWNED for the span of time that I did is the most important thing I’ve ever challenged myself with.
And I’m not walking into Turmoil with any soft ankles, naw. I ain’t poppin’ up on the AW injury report with some ‘questionable’ designation. This ain’t a game time decision. I’m a FULL GO. And you know what Saint Shaw does at full go? I win matches, championships and Havoc Rumbles. I smash legends and drown rookies.
Nothing’s changed except AW has never seen me rested.
I’ve dared to dream since Day fuckin’ 1, learning the ropes of Action Wrestling just enough to step up to the likes of Spencer Adams. Learning what it’s like to step outside of your own stubborn pride with Philidor Holdings. Charging forward with no fear or regret, that is daring to dream.
And thanks to saving a life this year, the Saint exists to inspire more than anybody AW’s ever seen. Came from nothing to take everything, that’s how you inspire. Being the face of an entire city, being the one to RUN into a burning building when everyone else is sidewalk clenching? That’s how you inspire. And now that I’m back to 100%? The Saint Shaw World Tour gets a resume and the inspirational story will reach new heights.
I’ve conquered every single obstacle life has thrown into my path, and we’re not just talking about an inspiring 3+ years of Action Wrestling. We’re talking 28 years on this fucking planet where the wind has never been at my back. And here I am, welcoming another one with open arms.
Who is Carter Shaw? LIGHT?
Is that you, Wesley? Rising from the fucking grave I put you in? Perhaps IllumiDaddy himself is coming to illuminate the dark? Is that you, Howard Black? It would be a pathetically unclever play from you to try and hit the juxtaposition of LIGHT and Black. God, I would love to have you be the sacrifice to my proof of health.
Please, please, Ash Blake walk down that ramp…
Is that you…Frank…Patrick…Venable? Atlanta’s favorite son coming to Philly to get his ass kicked again by Carter Shaw?
Where did Crow McMorris even go?
Or maybe we’ve appropriately got a brand new face to AW claiming this spot? Regardless of who has answered this challenge, regardless of who considers themselves an incoming light, all that matters for me is this…
I’m here for the electricity of that crowd when that guitar riff hits, those green strobes dance on the stage, and I have the honor of stepping through the curtain. I’m here for that feeling right before you walk up the steel steps, that slight flutter of a stomach butterfly that exists no matter how many times you’ve stood in that exact same spot…and I’m here for the moment when you step between the ropes and all of it goes away.
I’m here for the fight. I’m here to HIT and to GET HIT. I’m here to continue to turn heads. And as great as it feels to say…
I’m Carter Shaw. Ex- AW World Champion. Winner of the 2022 Havoc Rumble. Ex-Television Champion. Former Mr. All-In…
It ain’t good enough, because I’m just gettin’ started.
And you? Answering my challenge? I look forward to finding out what you’re here for. But lace those boots tight. Strap in. BECAUSE CARTER SHAW IS BACK, BABY.
And the extent of the glory you’ll get at Turmoil will be showing us all who you are, because you will not be getting the opportunity to double up. There is no way in hell you’re beating me. Not on this night.
Come on down. Fight me…
I’ll leave the light on for you.
“I’m a former associate of a man you knew well. Peter Garvey.”
Shaw’s head stood straight up, his spine tightening.
“And no, not through the avenues from which you had come to know him. Garvey and I, our relationship predates any of that. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t know every piece of business he took part in from that day. I do. Know. Everything. And what I also know is that over the long span of time that I worked with that man, I never once heard him voice respect for anyone. It was like it was some kind of weakness, extending his respect. That is, until you.”
Shaw was silent. Completely silent.
“And I want to extend that same respect to you, Mr. Shaw. I’m glad I was right about you, so that we could both find ourselves in this office. Because I have a business proposition for you. One that is mutually beneficial and one that will not interfere in your current affairs for your job.”
“What exactly is it that you want from me?”
The way the laugh billowed out of Mr. Callaway was volcanic in nature.
“No, no, no, Mr. Shaw, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not a matter of what I want from you. It’s a matter of what you want from me.”
