Post by W A L T E R on Nov 10, 2019 23:57:54 GMT -5
“Dearest” Walter,
You ended his career. You sent my brother to an early retirement without a care nor worry and...and for what?
For your title?
For your pride?
For your...inclinations? Because you can’t control them? Or control yourself?
I’m glad to correspond in letters now because I fear your answers to these questions. Because I think I know the real answer as to “why” you did what you did to him...It wasn’t FOR any of those reasons.
It was for me.
You ended his career. You sent my brother to an early retirement without a care nor worry and...and for what?
For your title?
For your pride?
For your...inclinations? Because you can’t control them? Or control yourself?
I’m glad to correspond in letters now because I fear your answers to these questions. Because I think I know the real answer as to “why” you did what you did to him...It wasn’t FOR any of those reasons.
It was for me.
**********************
Walter and Etta stand on the ground that once held the much ballyhooed Dethfort. It, of course, is but a memory now. It had been made into rubble for some WCF one-off, some now-forgotten, then-barely-viewed tableau about the end of the world or of the WCF or of good taste...The history books aren’t clear on this.
Our US Champion and his keeper had been invited here by someone Etta had come to call a friend. As Etta struggled to deal with Walter, with the monster in her midst, as she wondered if unleashing him at ANY point was appropriate...a woman had reached out and offered an ear, a shoulder, some consolation and guidance.
Nikki Venus: Welcome! Welcome!
Etta: Nikki, why in the shit did you drag us all the way here? This ugly sumbitch is happy to cut a promo from the shitter if anybody will hold a camera.
Nikki Venus: I know Walter is easily contented but for his battling with Corey Black...for one of the first true challenges of his young AW career...I thought it wise to do something grand, something special, something fitting. So here we stand on the now-barren ground that the Jomsviking once called home: the Dethfort. It was a cruel and unforgiving mass, it was nigh indestructible, a legend in its time. And what do you see now?
Walter: Nothing.
He smiled.
Nikki Venus: Exactly. Etta, may I walk with Walter alone?
*********************************
Or at least you think you did it for me. You said he held me back. You said he was my weak-minded, desperate-for-approval lesser half. But even if that were true, he was still my half. Part of me. That you destroyed. That you maimed.
I don’t care about your “tournament.” Or at least I didn’t. But now...now I don’t know. My brother isn’t speaking to anyone, he’s walled off entirely. Our last conversation consisted only of him begging me to rid myself of you. Calling you a monster...inhuman.
But what am I left with? It was always just Roger and I. He won’t call me so now I’m left with...you? The reason he won’t speak with me? The reason his life is without purpose? So now I watch you from afar. I read the words you write me and hear the words you speak to your opponents and am admittedly taken with your sense of purpose, your direction.
And despite myself and perhaps without my better half, my brother-the-conscience, I find myself looking forward to your matches. I look forward to what you do to the lesser men. Men lesser in stature. Men lesser in purpose. Men lesser in ambition and drive and strength and talent.
What is wrong with me?
Why do I want so badly to see you destroy Corey Black’s legacy more than he already has?
I don’t care about your “tournament.” Or at least I didn’t. But now...now I don’t know. My brother isn’t speaking to anyone, he’s walled off entirely. Our last conversation consisted only of him begging me to rid myself of you. Calling you a monster...inhuman.
But what am I left with? It was always just Roger and I. He won’t call me so now I’m left with...you? The reason he won’t speak with me? The reason his life is without purpose? So now I watch you from afar. I read the words you write me and hear the words you speak to your opponents and am admittedly taken with your sense of purpose, your direction.
And despite myself and perhaps without my better half, my brother-the-conscience, I find myself looking forward to your matches. I look forward to what you do to the lesser men. Men lesser in stature. Men lesser in purpose. Men lesser in ambition and drive and strength and talent.
What is wrong with me?
Why do I want so badly to see you destroy Corey Black’s legacy more than he already has?
***************
Nikki Venus: He was like you once, you know.
Walter: Corey Black was never like me.
Nikki Venus: Perhaps Corey Black wasn’t but Creeping Death...He was like you once, of that I am certain.
Walter: I have studied Corey to the best of my abilities. I have delved into the available archives so forgive me if I am mistaken Nicole but Creeping Death was...a monster, correct?
Nikki Venus: It’s Nikki unless you want me to scream loud enough to have that redheaded idiot out there juice you. And most would call Creeping Death a monster. But maybe some would just call him...Evolved?
Walter: I am a man, Nico—...Nikki. I am an Evolved Man but a man nonetheless. I believe in our specie, I believe in our future. It just so happens that so many of my fellow men refuse to evolve...so many are behind the jagged curve of evolution that I must press their neck down upon it. Corey Black is one of those men. But I a monster Nikki? With Alyssa I have been working to control the urges that would have you classify me as a mo--
Nikki Venus looks steps in front of Walter and looks up into his face. She puts her hands on either side of his massive head and pulls it slightly down so she can look deep into his dark, emotionless eyes.
Nikki Venus: I see you, Walter. I see deep into you. Loretta is blind. Alyssa is blind. Half of goddamn Action Wrestling may be blind but I see you...And I know a fucking monster when I see one.
Walter snarls at her unconsciously, uncontrollably like an animal would. Or maybe a monster.
Nikki Venus: That’s right, monster, bare your teeth. Monsters do not scare me. They excite me. So forgo with me the nonsense of you being but a “man” who seeks to control his “urges.” You are Evolution’s great monster who intends to devour this place piece by piece until you’ve purged its entirety. And this week you devour Corey Black. The man who WAS a monster.
***********************
Roger used to talk about how much he respected Corey Black; he’d talk about all he’s accomplished in this business. Roger would go on and on about his place atop WCF, his legacy of XIII, his ability to always out-perform his size and stature.
I couldn’t fucking stand it.
But even my ever-respectful brother would finish with “But...times have changed,” when speaking on Corey Black. Even Roger knew Action Wrestling was not the WCF. And Corey Black would never be its champion, its future. Only its oft-forgotten history, only its ancestor behind glass, as useful as a museum exhibition.
So now I want you to see him bend him until not only his back breaks but his spirit and his legacy and his soul itself go up in dust. That’s what you do right, Walter? You move forward. While men like Corey Black stand on what has been done, what has been built, you turn it all to ash.
So do it again, Walter. Don’t beat him, maul him. You sent my brother to an early retirement, send him to a late one.
Do that and I’ll grant your request. I’ll see you again.
Alone.
-A
I couldn’t fucking stand it.
But even my ever-respectful brother would finish with “But...times have changed,” when speaking on Corey Black. Even Roger knew Action Wrestling was not the WCF. And Corey Black would never be its champion, its future. Only its oft-forgotten history, only its ancestor behind glass, as useful as a museum exhibition.
So now I want you to see him bend him until not only his back breaks but his spirit and his legacy and his soul itself go up in dust. That’s what you do right, Walter? You move forward. While men like Corey Black stand on what has been done, what has been built, you turn it all to ash.
So do it again, Walter. Don’t beat him, maul him. You sent my brother to an early retirement, send him to a late one.
Do that and I’ll grant your request. I’ll see you again.
Alone.
-A
******************
What did you sacrifice this place for, Corey? What did you allow it to die for?
What did you allow the WCF to die for, Corey?
What will you die for, Corey?
Me? Will you die for me, Corey?
Me? I know what I will die for. I will die for my purpose, Corey. I will die for Evolution. When a being comes along truly my superior, truly able to not simply defeat me but to wipe me from his plane of existence from his presence then I will cede to him. That being is not you, Corey Black. And I do not believe the being has been born yet.
But my purpose remains clear in the meantime: to push the rest of you to that end. To push you to that end, Corey Black.
You were the man against whom so many were measured in the WCF. You were the King of All Wrestlers, were you not? That’s why I’m here now, in the shadow of your once-great fortress. I am facing a King. A Legend. I was compelled by so many to do something “epic” to do something grand. I was told that this is my first true test, this is the match with which I make my name. Dethrone the King.
I am not here to dethrone a king. Because I see none. And this is my tournament. This is not a Wrestler of the Year tournament, as it has been billed. This is a Monster of the Year tournament. The wretched troll Dandy Divito scheming and skulking his way through competition across the bracket from me while I, Godzilla-made-flesh maul those unlucky enough to share my side. I will not dethrone the King of All Wrestlers, but he is the next step en route to my crowning as the King of All Monsters.
What do I see instead of a king, Corey? I see a bored, one-time monarch slouching on what could pass for a throne five years ago. I see you slumming with the likes of Frank Patrick Venable and RJ Collins.
I see a man who spent months building something with the lowly being known as Jaice Wilds. I see the man who was bested by L Verez. Neither of these creatures could be bothered to stick around here and make something of the investment you chose to put into them. Will RJ be any different? He has already been absent for a few weeks now. Perhaps your latest project has already folded, perhaps your reverse Midas touch has struck again, Corey.
I see a man old, bored and out of place. I see no king.
What was the last great thing you did, Corey? I know your accidental Hardcore Title reign has carried the ratings-ploy known as “wrestle season” and I offer you kudos for that. You beat all the men you were supposed to, turned away all manner of pathetic competitor being served to you on a silver platter. It’s just sad to me that this alleged “great” of the industry speaks on that lowly time as such an accomplishment.
“True MVP of WrestleSeason”
Congratulations, Corey. You have dubbed yourself the most valuable puppet of a front office that uses you as a prop, an old, reliable favorite trotted out to give their “season” false drama, false relevance, and a false “MVP.”
I suppose I should be thankful that you’re giving yourself any sort of purpose, any sort of meaning. That is how I know you deserve Culling, Corey, you have not had PURPOSE in a long time. What was the last great thing you did Corey? Was the last great thing you did failing to sustain the only place you’ll ever be World Champion? If you were truly driven, if you still had that fire that made Corey Black who he was for all those years...Why couldn’t you save that home? Why couldn’t you save THIS home? After Clash, people will be asking why you couldn’t save yourself.
Perhaps the last great thing you did was reviving and then tarnishing the name of Pantheon by throwing into a handbasket ever half-talented member of the WCF? That was quite a moment...had by Joey Flash. You were Queen Elizabeth, weren’t you Corey, just there as a masthead. Your name was attached just for the rights. What happened to them anyways? Oh yes, the fizzled out and died just like the WCF.
So that wasn’t the last great thing you did either. Perhaps it was here. Perhaps the last great thing you did was allow that once-fearsome entity known as Creeping Death to be the fulcrum of a plot by a lesser-minded Serpent in order to boost his own profile, his own relevance? Do Kings allow themselves to be used in this manner? As a bit player in someone else’s grand tale?
Do we need to even farther back? Maybe the last time you did something GREAT was the first time you did something great. Maybe it was when you beat your father to death. Was your mother grateful for that? Or do you think she loved that man? Even if for a fleeting moment, she loved him. She had three children with him. Maybe your great moment was killing someone your mother loved. And maybe it wasn’t a car “accident” that took her life at all, maybe she wanted to die. And maybe that’s for the best. Otherwise she might be around today to see her son an aging superstar, still dragging himself to the ring attempting to give his life meaning. How embarrassing that would be for her.
So when was the last time you did something GREAT? When was the last time you were truly driven, Corey? You are here as a fluke, as a lark, on a whim. Your Hardcore Title reign exists under the same auspices. The stork dropped that baby in your lap and you’ve clung to it as a purpose because without it you’re unbuoyed, rudderless, MEANINGLESS in Action Wrestling.
All of us know the answers to the questions of your greatness. And all of us know the answer to the most important question, which is: do you still even have a purpose in the wrestling ring, Corey Black? That answer, like all those others before, is one you are acutely aware of. That I am acutely aware of. That we all are acutely aware of.
The answer is no, your porse died with that lime and black you let die in your arms and now claim to have “kicked” from your back. You cannot “kick” your DNA, Corey. It is shameful that instead of hold fast to that title of Mr. WCF, to admit that you are the King of a Graveyard, of a landfill, of a festering rot...Instead of that you denounce it? You call yourself an “Action Wrestling guy?”
That only thing more pathetic than that is describing your time here as “doing gangster shit.”
Your desperation abounds and your words reveal your embarrassing directionlessness.
So hold fast to that title, Corey Black. You will need it after I drag you to the Gallows and leave your sense of self like the rubble of the Dethfort here at my feet. Use that title to remind yourself again:
“I matter. I’m Corey Black, once a King, still a champion. My purpose is here, in my hands, in this title.”
You have managed to obfuscate your directionlessness, your purposelessness, the utter futility of your current state of being via that hardcore titel. Your reign has been longer than I for one would have anticipated but it’s incredible what a man is capable of when he feels the essence of his soul slipping into the ether. Your sights were set on lower-tiered gold with your lower-tiered partner Frank Patrick but when this gold plopped into your lap, you’ve been content to dance the office’s dance with no overarching purpose, no true reason for being or for defending or for fighting.
Because title or not, skills or not, you have no reason for being here. You are no longer carried by anger nor purpose nor ambition but simply by...inertia. If you weren’t in a wrestling ring, you’d have nowhere else to be. You would not even know who you are. So you simply keep showing up again and again and again.
Or perhaps you can do something GREAT this week, Corey, perhaps you can surprise everyone who has watched you struggle to find the wherewithal necessary for this title reign of yorus. Perhaps you can slay the beast.
Perhaps.
But I fear those days are behind you.
Before you failed the WCF and shuttered its doors forever, how many times did you declare that your final home? How many times did Corey Black say to himself, “When it’s over here in the Dub, it will be over for me.” The answer to that question is, of course, unknowable for me but I imagine you made those declarations to yourself dozens of times. Corey Black never imagined himself donning the purple and fighting tooth and nail in hardcore matches. And he certainly never imagined doing it amongst a much younger set of competitors and under a banner other than one that read WCF. But you realized quickly not just how empty your life was without a ring but
So here you are. And I will admit that to this point your skill shave served you well in Action Wrestling. But it is not your skills that will fail you at Clash. It is your drive, or lack thereof. It is your purpose, or lack thereof. It is your heart, or lack thereof.
You blew to shore here like so much of the WCF flotsam. The beach has been kind to you. But I was not washed up with the tide. No, I have stormed this place like Normandy and left nothing but death in my wake.
“...a monster that does not suffer the stench of life, that eradicates its foul odor, cleanses its persistent infection. Life is an aberration to a being like Creeping Death, a virus that threatens to corrupt the throne of an insane reflection.”
Does this sound like anyone to you, Corey? Does it sound like a nigh indestructible United States Champion? Does it sound like a man who has ended the career of Action Wrestling’s allegedly brightest prospect? Does it sound like a man who felled WCF’s OTHER legend Odin Balfore with a single punch? Does it sound like a man with ONE loss since stepping foot into Action Wrestling?
Have I been taken by your extra-dimensional better, Corey? Am I Creeping Death?
No.
I do not creep.
I clamor.
I am the Monster you hear well ahead of time. You know I’m coming as I lay havoc and ruin at my feet. You see the bloodshed, the violence. You hear me imploring, BEGGING all of you to evolve...to be your better selves.
You were the King of Wrestlers once, Corey. You were the height of this business’ evolution once, Corey. But evolution continues. It grinds and grows and it discards its past. Evolution thanks you for your service and your time, Corey, but it is over now. I am here.
BURN IT ALL
SALT THE EARTH
EVOLUTION COMES.