Post by goodburn on Jun 11, 2012 3:54:00 GMT -4
Progress
Kyle and I are taking a stroll in downtown Grand Rapids, enjoying some R&R, which is much deserved from being on the road for three weeks with the Meltdown show. We don’t get to enjoy our own home city very often, only being able to be with friends and family perhaps once a week. It will probably grow even rarer as Kyle climbs up the ladder of Meltdown, and eventually will be signed to a bigger show like Asylum. So we are enjoying the free time while we still can.
Both of us pass various shops. This is downtown, so most of them are women’s clothing stores which interest neither of us. We simply continue to walk down the street, enjoying the nice weather that the day has provided to us. I am rather curious why Kyle decided to win his match this past Monday on Meltdown, so I decide to ask him about it.
“So, couldn’t help yourself,” I ask Kyle, “something made you want to win last Monday?”
“Raab had it coming.” Kyle says, “I may not care about this stupid tournament, I don’t even care about qualifying. But I sure wanted to humiliate Raab again. It just so happens that I now advance further into this big mess APW calls a tournament.”
“You know,” I continue, “Raab still has another chance to qualify. You may meet him in the ring again.”
“What’s the deal with all of this?” Kyle says, sounding a bit annoyed. “Everybody is pushing me towards having some stupid feud with Raab. What kind of feud would that be? I have beaten the guy twice now. My last match I made him tap out. What do I have to prove against Stefan? There are much bigger fish to fry on Meltdown. Apparently there is some real talent on this show.”
We continue to walk down the street, Kyle mumbles something under his breath, “Although, I can’t spot any of them…” As Kyle finishes his mumbled sentence; two younger ladies, in their 20’s walk past Kyle. Both naturally give Kyle a sentence look, with smiles on their faces. I remember the days when they would be looking at me… Kyle does what he usually does, ignores them. It seems to leave a bigger impression on women when you ignore them. That’s his theory, not mine.
Kyle stops walking and looks into a store window. I look into the window with him. It’s a baby supply shop; in the window is a pastel painted crib with similar colored toys.
“What do you think?” Kyle asks me, “Not about the toys. What do you think about APW?”
Good question, what do I think about Action Packed Wrestling? This will be our fourth week here. That’s certainly enough time to form an opinion about a place. I’ve formed large opinions about people even before I have talked to them. Shouldn’t I be able to have a pretty big opinion on APW? In fact, I do.
“In a talent perspective,” I start, “I think Evan Envi is probably your biggest threat. But from what I can, he feels the same way about you. In a lot of ways, you two are mirroring each other step for step. The only real difference between the both of you is: he has a championship belt. But he can’t use that against you. You weren’t around when that title was vacant. Although, I can’t see Evan bragging about him having a title belt, and you not having one. The title isn’t even a year old, so it’s no big deal.”
“Is there anyone else?” Kyle asks me.
“Well,” I start again, “it seems to me that this week’s Meltdown has really pumped up the main event. Everyone in it is a big name on Meltdown. There is even that mystery opponent on the other side to consider. Although, this is already a dream match because you and Evan are going to be in the same ring, doesn’t even matter that you are on the same team. People have been wanting to see what would happen if you two got within a yard of each other.”
Kyle continues to look at the store from the window, “What about Rivera? Is she better than Yarmouth?”
“Not by much…” I confess to Kyle, “It actually looks like Meltdown just wants to feed another rookie to Evan, to make his title reign look impressive. Don’t get me wrong, she is nice to look like. But her going up against Evan for the North American Championship is not going to be nothing more than a butcher on Evni’s part.”
I try to put a positive spin on things. “But you gave Yarmouth a big win last week. Rivera is just as good, if not better, than Yarmouth. You won’t have a problem with her this week.”
“I’m not worried,” says Kyle, as he continues to look at more items in the baby store, “I have proved that I can work miracles. I can do it again this week.”
I begin to get curious as to why Kyle as stopped at this store. “Is there something you have to tell me? Do you have some sort of big news?”
“No, I don’t have any news like that.” Kyle answers back, “Someday though, probably when I want to be annoyed all day long. Let’s get back to the opinions though, who is this Shadow guy?”
“Well Shadow,” I start, “he wanted to be pushed back down from the big show. What he wanted was obvious; he wanted to get some easy wins, face off with the rookies of APW, what he gets instead is this. He now has to face the three biggest names in Meltdown. He is going to be intimidated, he is going to be a wreck, and he is not going to know what to do. H wanted an easy match, but instead he is in the main event with a mystery partner, and one of the rookies that he wanted to get a quick win over.”
Kyle looks on, I’m not even sure if he is paying attention to me anymore. I don’t know what it is about this store. The thought of Kyle having a child… It scares me. The thought of me being old enough to be a grandfather scares me even more. Kyle turns to me and nods.
“So you think Dita Morgan is a push over then?” Kyle asks me. I begin wondering why Kyle is asking my opinion. I decide to ask my own question.
“Why do you want to know?” I give Kyle a puzzled look. After all, I am truly puzzled about all of the questions.
Kyle turns back to look into the store, looking to be in deep thought, “I went to see a professional psychologist. I am not happy. I haven’t been happy in a long time… I wanted to know why. Are you aware that I am not nice?”
“Yes.” Is the first thing that pops into my head. I do not say it out loud, but I assume the question was rhetorical.
“It never occurred to me,” says Kyle, laughing a bit, “I always hear parents say to say what’s on your mind, don’t hold things in, and tell the truth. It turns out all those things turn you into a jerk! On the upside, I don’t have a temper, I am patient, and I am successful. Happiness though? No.”
“So, what you are telling me is; you were trying to be nice to me?” I say to Kyle.
“Yes,” answers Kyle, “I was trying to be nice. I thought it would be nice to ask you what you thought of what was going on. I also thought it would be nice to look at that good looking store clerk while you were talking.”
I look further into the store, and see the women Kyle was checking out… No wonder it looked like he wasn’t listening to me… It looks like Kyle has a thing for women with long brown hair, big cheeks, luscious lips, and generous in the chest area…
Kyle turns away from me, and both of us continue our stroll down the street of downtown Grand Rapids.
“You make some good points,” says Kyle, “Evan and I in the same ring does make this a main event. Pity that we are on the same team, or else this could have been a real treat. Instead we are facing two nobody’s, and possibly a somebody from Asylum or Overdrive. None-the-less, this is a main event, but only because of one side of the match. The other side belongs in the dark match.”
I try to catch up to Kyle. He has something on his mind, which is making him walk at a faster pace than usual. “So, you’re not worried at all of who the mystery opponent may be?”
“Nothing I can do about it, right?” Kyle answers back, “I’m not going to be pulling my hair out over whom I might be facing. I usually don’t know who I am facing until the night before the match anyway, so what does an extra day matter? Maybe if they hurried up and told me at a reasonable time what the matches are going to be, a mystery opponent would actually matter! Lucky for me, I’m in the main event so they told me ahead of time.”
“Well, as your manager,” I chime in, “I should tell you that Meltdown has attracted some major attention from some of the big stars of Asylum and Overdrive. There are rumors of Kurt Noble, Jason Kash, even Level One has taken notice of Meltdown, and most Mega Stars want to be part of the growth of Meltdown. So when they say it’s a mystery opponent, they are very serious about the mystery part.”
Kyle stops and turns to me, completely halted at the sidewalk. “You really think Kurt Noble, Level One, or Jason Kash has the time to be partners with washed up Mega Stars like Shadow? Or time for complete Non Stars like Dita Morgan? I’ll tell you what each of them are doing right now; Kash is searching for the next big breasted diva wrestler to give HIV to, and it’s not going to be Dita Morgan, Kurt Noble is too busy celebrating whatever it is he finds a reason to celebrate, Level One is too busy being overshadowed by everyone else! So don’t try and tell me that there is any possibility that any of them are going to be tag partners for a has been, and a has not.”
Kyle turns back around, and starts walking down the street again. I am a bit too hurt to start walking towards him right away. I think Kyle’s claim of him not having a temper may not be entirely true. An idea pops into my head, I figure I should share it with Kyle.
“They may not have time for those two,” I start saying, “but what about you? What about Evan Envi? Both of you are the quickest rising Mega Stars in APW… They may want to knock you down a peg. Plus, you never know what kind of favors the Meltdown GM has called in for this match.”
Kyle stops dead in his tracks, and thinks about it. “Our general manager doesn’t know the first thing about recruiting big names to his show, we show up to his door step and he gladly accepts whoever comes in. He doesn’t realize he has too much on his plate, and so the show is going downhill fast. If he got any of those guys, I’ll take that back. But if these guys want a piece of me, and can’t even tell me when and where I am going to face them, then they really are overrated and have no business in the same ring as me. If they want to derail me so I don’t get to knock them down myself, so be it. I’ll be waiting. Then again, they’ll all too busy.”
Kyle starts walking again. I have had time to compose myself from Kyle’s previous outburst, and start walking to him again.
“So, your previous partner is doing well…” I inform Kyle, “I hear he is to the letter F…”
Kyle chuckles a little, “Oh wonderful, one step closer to spelling failure.”
I laugh along with Kyle, “It sure was nice of you to help such a man advance one step further to qualifying for the Test for the Best tournament.”
“Oh no…” says Kyle. “I almost had that dumb tournament out of my mind. One more chance to face that insufferable, Stefan Raab. Or maybe even get a chance to face off with the choke master, TJ. Whatever, the guy makes mistakes but decides just to blame his partner. Not really my problem, right?”
“TJ might make it your problem.” I tell Kyle. “I hear he wants to get his hands on you again.”
“Oh of course!” Shouts Kyle, “Just like every other guy I have beaten here on Meltdown. Lucky for me, after this week I can add three more names to the list of people that hate me. Shadow will want to tackle me down, along with Dita Morgan, and a person I don’t even know yet! Blessings all around for Goodburn! Want to know why? On Meltdown, I’m the guy to beat. It’s going to be that way until I get poached out of here by whichever guy is smarter. Chances are, Jeff is still too hung over by Noble to pick up anybody that may hurt glory boy.”
I definitely think Kyle may have an anger problem. But it’s best not to tell people with anger problems such news.
“Sure is hot out here today,” I say, “maybe a drink will cool us off.”
“Oh yes,” says Kyle, “do you think I am getting a hot head suddenly?”
I stop dead in my tracks, “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just hot out, that’s all.”
“Listen here,” says Kyle, “I may get worked up when I realize that every Meltdown Mega Star wants a piece of me. Who wouldn’t? I may even get angrier when I realize that I am stuck on Meltdown because the respective general managers are too scared to have me on their show because I’ll make their big stars look terrible. And I sure do get angry when I realize my only way off Meltdown is to win this entirely pointless tournament! So pardon me! But I don’t want a drink!”
Kyle storms off. I decide not to follow. Maybe the psychologist isn’t the worst idea ever made. Maybe it’s just what Kyle needs. I may need one after the month is through.
