How I got here
Jan 12, 2020 19:27:51 GMT -5
Allison Riggs-Preston, Ned the Intern, and 2 more like this
Post by Roger Wright on Jan 12, 2020 19:27:51 GMT -5
The image of Roger Wright comes into focus on the screen, all we see is his bust, as he smiles at someone off camera. A voice floats in off camera.
VOICE: Tell us about yourself.
Where do I even begin, it’s been a rough life, then a great life, and now a wonderful one. I think that’s how it goes though, you struggle through parts, but in the end if you push, if you persevere you get to where you want to be. That’s the story of my life. It would be easy for me to come out here to tell you that there were no struggles, to hold my head up and pretend that everything in my life has always been perfect, but then I would be lying to you, to everyone, but most importantly I would be lying to myself.
Roger reached down, grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap and took a swig.
It all started that fateful day when I was 18, three weeks from graduating, coming home to find out that my parents had died in a plane crash. Everything was mine now, but I wasn’t ready. People gather around you in those times, they want to help you, prop you up, try and help you, but they never actually give you what you need. They never give you closure. There is no closure when you lose your family that early. But that pain, the struggles that came from it hardened me, built me into the man I am today.
Never did I have a knack for running the ranch, it was always an afterthought, a thought that reminded me of what I didn’t have anymore. That’s why at 21 I threw myself into the world of wrestling, it was the only thing that took my mind off the pain, the only thing I ever really felt good at. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that it was easy, no it was quite hard to be honest. People hated me for reasons I couldn’t even fathom, they treated me terrible.
Maybe that was my fault, coming in thinking that it was a place where we respected each other, a place where there was some friendly competition. Sadly that isn’t what I found. Instead it was anger at being the new guy, anger because I was different. I picked up on the sport, excelled rather quickly, and that didn’t help the cause either, it only seemed to make things worse.
Roger took a swig of his water and licked his lips.
Imagine winning your first Wrestling World title at 21, winning it in a match with 5 other guys, a match that no one even thought you had a chance to win it in. Now imagine that match came six months into your career. That was the pressure that I put on myself, I went into the match, and walked out with the title. Then held onto it for six months, beating everyone they put in front of me.
That was pressure, it was also a target, a giant bullseye on my back and everyone thought they were going to be the marksman to hit that bullseye. That was when things went from terrible to better though, the fans loved me, I loved them, and more importantly I loved what I was doing and was making enough money to invest into the ranch. So I did invest that money, and slowly that thing that held me down, that was a hole in my life became a beacon for me.
It’s amazing what a simple distraction can do, because no longer did that ranch bring me down, it built me up, it became the rock I needed when people came after me, the safe place to get away from the pain of the outside world if you will. So as I wrestled, as I made more money, I bought more land, invested harder into the farm and ranch, started a company with my name on the door and grew it. And now here we are, all these years later, 6 world titles later, and in a new organization, ready to prove to a whole new group of fans that Roger Wright is the best this business has ever seen.
Roger finished the bottle of water, adjusted himself in the chair and again licked his lips.
Things have gone well so far haven’t they in AW. Three matches, three wins. But we all know that success isn’t just measured by the number of wins you have. There is so much more to it, the fans love me, I see the signs, get the mail and letters of appreciation. In my world that is the most important thing, it’s that happiness the fans get when they see me get into hat ring, when they see me do what I believe I was born to do.
There is no greater feeling than the rush of thousands of people chanting your name, seeing that look in your opponents eyes, knowing that you are better than them and you get to show the world you are. Make no mistake, there are times that I may say some mean things, hell probably come off arrogant, but the reality is I know who I am, what I am, and what I am capable of.
That doesn’t mean there is no respect for the other man or woman across the ring. It couldn’t be further from the truth, when you know the pain of what getting in the ring means, you know the pressure that other person is on. But you can’t let that understanding of their pain bring you down, you can’t give in just because you feel a smidge of empathy for them, you have to push on, press harder, hold down that urge.
In the end though, you can still respect them, as you saw with myself and KOS last week. Sure we are going to go to war for his U.S. Title, and yes I am going to walk out of there holding that belt high over my head, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect the guy. You have to respect a man that has grown to that level, or you are simply doomed to fail and fall short of your own dreams.
Even when my greatest of enemies have come after me, I have respected them, and because of them I am the best wrestler I have ever been. I never let them bring me down, never let them take from me who I was, and I never became them either. See that is what helped me to grow, to rise above, to become the champion that I have been, that desire to never become the people who hate me.
This week I have to team with KOS, and you might think to yourself, how is that going to work out. It’s going to be fine, KOS and I will get along, because we both know that at the end of the day the show is more important than our own selfish pride. We will go in there and beat Carnivore and Ragingdead, and then when the time comes, get into the ring and put on the best damn show anyone has ever seen. And in the end, I will be the new AW U.S. Champion.
The scene fades out, as Roger simply smiles at the camera.
TWO DAYS LATER
We see Roger making his way down towards the stables on his ranch. There in the pen is Marie, his five year old daughter riding her horse, the trainer watching with a smile on her face. “She’s doing good Mr. Wright.” The woman said, her eyes never leaving Marie as she rode the horse.
“I can see that. She has a mighty fine teacher.” Roger said as he propped both arms over the top of the fence and leaned forward.
“Would the lady of the house like some riding lessons?” The teacher asked.
“Lady of the house?..” Roger trailed off a bit puzzled. “Oh you mean Anicka. I doubt she would consider herself the lady of the house.” Roger half laughed.
“But she is here every night that you are. Am I missing something?” The teacher smiled as Marie made a turn around a barrel and began a slow gallop.
“Well, um...shit.” The dawning realization of what the woman was saying just struck Roger. “You know sometimes we just don’t see things the way others do, do we? Keep up the good work.” Roger pushed away from the railing and began to make his way up the hill towards his house.
As Roger stepped into the house, he was met by Shane, long time friend and President of Roger Wright Inc. “Do you know what a hostile takeover is?” Shane asked.
“Yup.” Roger replied as he pushed past him and into the living room where Anicka was sitting on the couch drinking her morning coffee.
“Then you know that is what you are doing with Pro Biller?” Shane asked.
“I do.” Roger replied, his eyes glued on the magnificent woman sitting on his couch.
“Who the hells idea was that?” Shane asked.
“Ani thought it would help with the problems we have.” Anicka chimed in.
“Oh great, now she is making business decisions?” Shane stomped pas roger, poured his own cup of coffee.
“She proposed it, and I reviewed it, it’s a great idea.” Roger replied.
“But...fuck yeah it is, I was going to tell you that it’s having the effect that we wanted.” Shane resigned to the fact that things were working and that they had been Anicka’s idea. To say that Shane was skeptical of her even still would be an understatement but he had been doing a better job of not showing it.
“See you two can play nice.” Roger replied, Anicka giving a little growl in response.
“Yeah I will take that as my cue to leave so you two can swing from the fucking rafters.” Shane shook his head and moved for the door, the last thing he heard as it swung shut was a loud growl and what sounded like two bodies slamming against the floor.
VOICE: Tell us about yourself.
Where do I even begin, it’s been a rough life, then a great life, and now a wonderful one. I think that’s how it goes though, you struggle through parts, but in the end if you push, if you persevere you get to where you want to be. That’s the story of my life. It would be easy for me to come out here to tell you that there were no struggles, to hold my head up and pretend that everything in my life has always been perfect, but then I would be lying to you, to everyone, but most importantly I would be lying to myself.
Roger reached down, grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap and took a swig.
It all started that fateful day when I was 18, three weeks from graduating, coming home to find out that my parents had died in a plane crash. Everything was mine now, but I wasn’t ready. People gather around you in those times, they want to help you, prop you up, try and help you, but they never actually give you what you need. They never give you closure. There is no closure when you lose your family that early. But that pain, the struggles that came from it hardened me, built me into the man I am today.
Never did I have a knack for running the ranch, it was always an afterthought, a thought that reminded me of what I didn’t have anymore. That’s why at 21 I threw myself into the world of wrestling, it was the only thing that took my mind off the pain, the only thing I ever really felt good at. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that it was easy, no it was quite hard to be honest. People hated me for reasons I couldn’t even fathom, they treated me terrible.
Maybe that was my fault, coming in thinking that it was a place where we respected each other, a place where there was some friendly competition. Sadly that isn’t what I found. Instead it was anger at being the new guy, anger because I was different. I picked up on the sport, excelled rather quickly, and that didn’t help the cause either, it only seemed to make things worse.
Roger took a swig of his water and licked his lips.
Imagine winning your first Wrestling World title at 21, winning it in a match with 5 other guys, a match that no one even thought you had a chance to win it in. Now imagine that match came six months into your career. That was the pressure that I put on myself, I went into the match, and walked out with the title. Then held onto it for six months, beating everyone they put in front of me.
That was pressure, it was also a target, a giant bullseye on my back and everyone thought they were going to be the marksman to hit that bullseye. That was when things went from terrible to better though, the fans loved me, I loved them, and more importantly I loved what I was doing and was making enough money to invest into the ranch. So I did invest that money, and slowly that thing that held me down, that was a hole in my life became a beacon for me.
It’s amazing what a simple distraction can do, because no longer did that ranch bring me down, it built me up, it became the rock I needed when people came after me, the safe place to get away from the pain of the outside world if you will. So as I wrestled, as I made more money, I bought more land, invested harder into the farm and ranch, started a company with my name on the door and grew it. And now here we are, all these years later, 6 world titles later, and in a new organization, ready to prove to a whole new group of fans that Roger Wright is the best this business has ever seen.
Roger finished the bottle of water, adjusted himself in the chair and again licked his lips.
Things have gone well so far haven’t they in AW. Three matches, three wins. But we all know that success isn’t just measured by the number of wins you have. There is so much more to it, the fans love me, I see the signs, get the mail and letters of appreciation. In my world that is the most important thing, it’s that happiness the fans get when they see me get into hat ring, when they see me do what I believe I was born to do.
There is no greater feeling than the rush of thousands of people chanting your name, seeing that look in your opponents eyes, knowing that you are better than them and you get to show the world you are. Make no mistake, there are times that I may say some mean things, hell probably come off arrogant, but the reality is I know who I am, what I am, and what I am capable of.
That doesn’t mean there is no respect for the other man or woman across the ring. It couldn’t be further from the truth, when you know the pain of what getting in the ring means, you know the pressure that other person is on. But you can’t let that understanding of their pain bring you down, you can’t give in just because you feel a smidge of empathy for them, you have to push on, press harder, hold down that urge.
In the end though, you can still respect them, as you saw with myself and KOS last week. Sure we are going to go to war for his U.S. Title, and yes I am going to walk out of there holding that belt high over my head, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect the guy. You have to respect a man that has grown to that level, or you are simply doomed to fail and fall short of your own dreams.
Even when my greatest of enemies have come after me, I have respected them, and because of them I am the best wrestler I have ever been. I never let them bring me down, never let them take from me who I was, and I never became them either. See that is what helped me to grow, to rise above, to become the champion that I have been, that desire to never become the people who hate me.
This week I have to team with KOS, and you might think to yourself, how is that going to work out. It’s going to be fine, KOS and I will get along, because we both know that at the end of the day the show is more important than our own selfish pride. We will go in there and beat Carnivore and Ragingdead, and then when the time comes, get into the ring and put on the best damn show anyone has ever seen. And in the end, I will be the new AW U.S. Champion.
The scene fades out, as Roger simply smiles at the camera.
TWO DAYS LATER
We see Roger making his way down towards the stables on his ranch. There in the pen is Marie, his five year old daughter riding her horse, the trainer watching with a smile on her face. “She’s doing good Mr. Wright.” The woman said, her eyes never leaving Marie as she rode the horse.
“I can see that. She has a mighty fine teacher.” Roger said as he propped both arms over the top of the fence and leaned forward.
“Would the lady of the house like some riding lessons?” The teacher asked.
“Lady of the house?..” Roger trailed off a bit puzzled. “Oh you mean Anicka. I doubt she would consider herself the lady of the house.” Roger half laughed.
“But she is here every night that you are. Am I missing something?” The teacher smiled as Marie made a turn around a barrel and began a slow gallop.
“Well, um...shit.” The dawning realization of what the woman was saying just struck Roger. “You know sometimes we just don’t see things the way others do, do we? Keep up the good work.” Roger pushed away from the railing and began to make his way up the hill towards his house.
As Roger stepped into the house, he was met by Shane, long time friend and President of Roger Wright Inc. “Do you know what a hostile takeover is?” Shane asked.
“Yup.” Roger replied as he pushed past him and into the living room where Anicka was sitting on the couch drinking her morning coffee.
“Then you know that is what you are doing with Pro Biller?” Shane asked.
“I do.” Roger replied, his eyes glued on the magnificent woman sitting on his couch.
“Who the hells idea was that?” Shane asked.
“Ani thought it would help with the problems we have.” Anicka chimed in.
“Oh great, now she is making business decisions?” Shane stomped pas roger, poured his own cup of coffee.
“She proposed it, and I reviewed it, it’s a great idea.” Roger replied.
“But...fuck yeah it is, I was going to tell you that it’s having the effect that we wanted.” Shane resigned to the fact that things were working and that they had been Anicka’s idea. To say that Shane was skeptical of her even still would be an understatement but he had been doing a better job of not showing it.
“See you two can play nice.” Roger replied, Anicka giving a little growl in response.
“Yeah I will take that as my cue to leave so you two can swing from the fucking rafters.” Shane shook his head and moved for the door, the last thing he heard as it swung shut was a loud growl and what sounded like two bodies slamming against the floor.