Year One

[Kurt]

Year One

“You don’t know how you’ve changed things in APW, do you Mr. Noble?”

~ President Jeff, September 1st, 2011~

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August 25, 2012

“My name is Kurt Noble…and I am going to beat Terry Marvin at Shockwave.”

“My name is Kurt Noble…and I am going to dominate Terry Marvin at Shockwave.”

“My name is Kurt Noble…and I am going to destroy Terry Marvin at Shockwave.”

“My name is Kurt Noble...and if I can’t do what I’ve promised, that name doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

Noble exhales as his hands streak through his hair, pushing it back and revealing his graying roots as he stares into the mirror. His nostrils flare as he turns on the faucet, splashing water in his face as he breathes out. As he turns off the faucet, his looks up, his eyes drifting to his barren left ring-finger. Noble’s eyes close as the water falls down his cheeks and onto his white wife-beater. His eyes open, fixated on one sight in the mirror: Kyle Demens.

“Happy anniversary!” she exclaims as she lunges towards Noble, throwing her arms around him. She adjusts her bright blond hair and black fit-form dress in the mirror.“Well, almost anniversary. It still counts!”

She nuzzles against his back, but Noble moves away from her, subsequently wiping his face with a pink towel with the initials “KD.”

“Thanks Kylie,” he mutters, his eyes distant from her exuberant smile. She snatches his hand.

“C’mon, I’ve got a surprise for you!”

She leads him out of her apartment bathroom into a living room that could only be described as germ-less. The perfect pink furniture, glossy windows, and scuff-less wooden floors all glisten against the bright overhead lights of Kylie Demens’s apartment, and yet Noble eyes are drawn outwards into the black, August sky…and away from the three-tier cake in front of him!

“Surprise!” Kylie shouts, drawing Noble’s hollow eyes to the poisonously golden cake, shaped in the form on the APW Undisputed Championship! “Like, I know it’s not good to eat cake a day before a Pay-Per-View, but it looked SO delicious when I picked it up! We can save for after your defense!”

Kylie drags one finger across the edge, licking off the frosting…but Noble’s eyes remain fixated on the word “Happy” in “Happy One Year in APW!” Kylie leans in to hear his reaction, but the room remains filled with silence as Noble only stares.

“I thought about getting two cakes, you know, just to be totally symbolic, but a girl’s gotta watch her figure!” Kylie flashes Noble a grin, but he only returns her gesture with a sentence.

“I’ve failed.”

Noble stumbles back from the cake, backing into Kylie’s sofa, his eyes drowning as he stares at the cake.

“What is there to celebrate Kylie?” Noble asks in a soft tone. “Two belts? A few wins? How can I stand here and enjoy any of it when my managers are sitting at home, icing themselves constantly? How can I even think about eating when my soon-to-be-ex-wife is sitting at home, without anyone to protect her? My company lies in anarchy, worse than when I found a year ago. Tell me Kylie, What the fuck am I celebrating?”

He finally meets the damaged eyes of a less-than-enthusiastic Kylie Demens, who moves in closer to Noble, taking his wrist.

“A new beginning,” she answers with a wide-smile. “You may think this isn’t going to end, but all your problems are going to end in 24 hours when you beat Terry Marvin. Everything will be better-“

“You think putting his shoulders to the mat for three seconds is going to clean the blood from my hands?” Noble snaps as he sits down, staring at his palms. “I watched Terry Marvin destroy everyone that was important to me, and you know what I did? Nothing. I let him shit all over the rules of this company for the last eight months, and you know what did to stop him? Nothing. Keaton Saint, Chris Hart, Medea, Monkwood…Amy…I couldn’t save any of them.”

“You had the Undisputed title to defend,” Kylie responds as she sits next to Noble, leaving no space between them. “It wasn’t your job to micromanage APW, especially with his idiotic your management was in handling your schedule. When you’re at the top, you don’t have time to worry about everyone beneath you.”

Noble looks around the empty apartment, his hands quivering. “The top? This isn’t the top Kylie; it’s the bottom. That’s what the Undisputed title’s done to me. I have never been more alone in my entire career, and you know who I have to blame?”

“Terry Marvin,” Kylie interjects before Noble can answer his own question. She reaches over the couch, and pulls up Noble’s Undisputed Championship. “And it’s all because of this…your Undisputed Championship. You made it clear one year ago that this belt was yours; no one elses’s, especially not Terry Marvin’s. Tomorrow night, you’ll do what’s necessary and-“

“You don't get it, do you? This belt has brought me NOTHING. I have NO ONE left because of this! Fuck the Undisputed title.”

Noble takes the belt, and flings it across the room! It crashes into the counter-top, leveling part of the cake! Noble sighs as the cake topples, before moving to clean it up.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” he blurts out, but before he can clean it, his phone vibrates in his pocket. Noble takes it out, and Kylie moves towards the cake.

“Sounds important!” she says with an undiminished smile on her face. “You get that, and I’ll clean up the cake. I’ve got a surprise for you when you get back!”

Noble stares down at her as she begins to clean the cake. He walks back into the bathroom, and flips open his phone.

“Hey Jeff,” he says.

“Hey Kurt. Sorry to catch you so late, but I just wanted to congratulate you on the one-year anniversary. You making your appearance at Shockwave last year gave this company the boost it needed, and I have no doubt seeing you walk into the event with the Undisputed Championship will continue to build up this company’s reputation even more!”

“Thanks,” Noble mumbles.

“Also, I just wanted to say that your new contract was just approved by the APW Board of Directors, and they were relieved to see a bit of lightened load on your managerial end. That’ll definitely translate well on your end-“

“Excuse me, what?” Noble juts in, his brow sharpening.

“Your new contract. It was signed by your new representative, that small blond girl. She had Alexander Monkwood’s credentials, and being that the rest of your team was…well, incapacitated, she ironed out your new contract. It’s a shame that Monkwood, Medea, and Mrs. Noble have been let go, but Ms…Demens, I believe was her name, is confident that you’ll focus better with a smaller management…”

Noble’s eyes widen as his jaw slacks.

“…Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that it’s all been worked on, and we’re glad to have you for at least another year.”

“…”

“Kurt?”


“Yeah,” Noble whispers, his face matching the whiteness of the towel next to him.

“…Well, uh, that’s all I had for you. Good luck tomorrow night Kurt. I wish you the best against Terry Marvin. Congratulations on a fantastic first year-”

Noble says nothing as his phone drops, smashing against the ground! His gaze turns towards the living room. He marches past the room, stepping right over the cake, getting face to face with Kylie.

“You know, we might be able to salvage some the cake-“

“What have you done?” Noble asks faintly.


“I was just cleaning up a bit, to make sure-“

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?”

The color finds itself back into Noble’s face as his entire face flashes, as if set aflame. Kylie jolts back as she twitches.

“What are you talking about?!?” she asks.

“YOU FIRED MY MANAGERS! YOU FIRED MY WIFE!” Noble bellows, his voice causing Kylie to shiver. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?”

Noble backs her into a corner, his face resembling a bull-dog as he forms a snarl. Kylie responds…by bursting into tears!

“You h-h-heard them Kurt!” she pleads through watering eyes. “T-they were going to get you to quit against Terry! I-I-I…I couldn’t let that happen! APW NEEDS you, and t-t-they didn’t understand-“

“You bitch,” Noble snaps as knuckles whiten, blood trickling down his right wrist. “I thought you were my friend. I thought we were going to save APW together…I was wrong; about everything. I let you destroy everything I’ve accomplished over the last year because I was obsessed with being the best…but not anymore. I’m going home.”

Noble limps towards the door as Kylie’s years flow. She yells as as his hand touches the door.

“I did it to protect them!”

Silence. Noble pauses against the door, before turning towards a puffy-faced Kylie Demens.

“As…as long as they were around, T-T-erry was going to use them against you; because he k-knows you care about them. I c-c-couldn’t let him hurt you anymore…so I used my D-Daddy’s contact info to r-remove them from your contract. I…I thought it would h-help you…to let you fight Terry with n-nothing between you two. I’m…I’m SO sorry!”

Kylie’s head slams into her palms as her wailing continues. Noble’s face drains of color as his hand slips from the knob.

“You…you did that for them?” Noble asks in a hushed tone.

‘N-not for them…” Kylie stumbles over towards a door, and opens it…

And Noble is met with a thousand different Kurt Noble’s staring at him. Kylie’s bedroom is filled to the brim with Kurt Noble merchandise, from every Nobledrive t-shirt to every PPV poster tacked to the wall. Bobble-heads, DVDs, even coffee mugs…all with Noble’s face, all staring at the dumbstruck Undisputed Champion. Like in a trance, he walks into the room, surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of eyes, all staring at him.

“Holy shit.”

“I did it for you,” Kyle says as she wipes her nose. “Because I couldn’t let Terry Marvin win. You’re a hero Kurt; you’ve shown that to me in every match you’ve wrestled in the last year. I have every match, every Nobledrive, all your TV time…it’s all taped here. I’ve seen your greatness…even if APW has forgotten….but I’ll NEVER forget. I’ll NEVER abandon you. I want what’s best for you…”

Kylie leans over, and picks up the Undisputed Championship, pushing it into Noble’s arms.

“I want you to fight for what’s yours…because no one else will. No one else can. No one else is brave enough to stand up to Terry Marvin except you. You’ve stood up to the worst in APW: Biggs, Johnny Rebel, CJ Gates, Blade, Level-One…you’ve done exactly what you said you would do in your first ever appearance in APW: You’re better than they are. You’re the best APW has ever seen…and Terry Marvin wants that to stop. I wouldn’t let him do that, so I did what you’ve been trying to do: protect APW from him. I cleared the field so you could do what’s necessary…

“End Terry Marvin.”

Noble looks down at the belt, and then at the line of blood down his palm, now dropping on the belt.

“I can never go back to the way things were if I do what you’re asking me to do.”

Kylie takes a step towards Noble, her hands lightly gripping his.

“And you can never face them again if you don’t try,” Kylie says. “You have to crush Terry Marvin…or he’ll rise again. Don’t beat him. Don’t make him submit. Don’t even hurt him.

“End Terry Marvin as APW knows him…and you will never have anyone in APW ever threaten you again.”

Noble’s eyes dart back and forth in his head…until Kylie leans in towards his face. She whispers into his ear.

“Do it for Amy.”

She leans in close towards his lips…before turning his head towards her web-cam set up in the room.

“You know what you have to do...”

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NOBLEDRIVE

“Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Xcel Energy Center. August 28th, 2011.

“I want you to think back to that night Nobledrive Nation. I want you to think back to the moment that my Titantron video played. I want you to think about the first time I stepped into an APW ring. I want you to think the “KURT NOBLE” chants that shook your seats, like you had trapped thunder in the arena that night. I want you think back to the moment I clobbered Biggs with the Undisputed Championship.

“I want you to remember when I wrestled my first match against Pence Weatherlight on September 8th, 2011, in Paris France.

“11 days.

“I want you to remember when I took the Overdrive championship from Johnny Rebel on October 23rd.

“45 days.

“I want you to remember how I defended APW in the Survive and Conquer on January 29th, 2012,

“154 days.

“I want you to remember when I stood victorious at the end of APW Rasslemania with the Undisputed Championship on March 25th.

“210 days.

“I want you to remember the moment I ripped the Sinidcate in half, turning myself into one of the handful of dual champions in APW history.

“315 days.

“I want you to remember everything that I do as I mark my one year anniversary in Action Packed Wrestling by stepping into the ring to face Terry Marvin at APW Shockwave. I want you to remember my triumphs, my failures, my rises, my falls, my gold, my blood, everything I gave in that ring over the past 365 days.

“Thinking about it? Good. So am I. After year one of my APW career, arguably one of the most successful years ever in APW history, I want you feel how I’m feeling right now…but it’s not enough to tell you. As I reflect back on the entirety of the last year…let me show you how I feel:”

Poll Question: Who is to blame for what happened to Amy Noble?
Terry Marvin: 25%
Kurt Noble: 75%

Courtesy: actionpackedwrestling.com

“Let me show you what I see:”

Who is going to win at APW Shockwave?
Kurt Noble: 17.3%
Terry Marvin: 83.3%

Courtesy: actionpackedwrestling.com

“Let me show you what’s right in front of me:

Marvin is the man and is about to get after it!!!

Would love for Noble to retain, but I just can't overlook Marvin and what he has managed to do since returning.

However I got a gut feeling that TMarv is going to escape with the title which in reality is no shame because the man deserves it.

“You want to know how I feel after year one of my APW career?

“Weak.

“Unwated.

“Like nothing.

“32 matches.

"19 wins.

"10 losses.

"3 draws.

"3 title matches.

"3 PPV Main Events.

"2 Championships around my waist.

"1 year.

“Everything I’ve done because of you Nobledrive Nation. You know what I got to celebrate my one year anniversary in APW? A big, loud message from all of you.

“’Fuck you Kurt Noble.’

“’For all the hours you’ve put in, for all the injuries you’ve wrestled with, for all the blood you’ve lost in the ring, for all the stitches, for all the inter-promotional events fought in APW’s name, for all the Noble-Neckbreakers, for everything you’ve ever done for us…

“’Fuck you Kurt Noble.

“I sit here, with the APW Undisputed Championship across my waist, less than 24 hours before the most important match of my career. I sit here, the most unappreciated Undisputed Champion in APW history. I sit here, knowing I defend you from the man you ‘love’ the most.

“That would be you, Terry.

“You are ‘Year One’ Kurt Noble.

“You are the man that arrived in APW amongst a wave of momentum, riding it to the Overdrive Championship. You’re the man that demolished competitor after competitor, rising to the top of Overdrive like it was no more difficult than climbing a ladder. You’re the man that captured earned your Undisputed Title shot by outlasting the best APW had. You are the one that everyone’s paying attention to.

“And it’s my job to ‘beat’ you.

“To beat ‘me.’

“I can’t lie to myself Terry: You, more than any wrestled in the last year, are deserving of this shot at me. I can’t lie when I say that you disgust me. I can’t lie when I look back at the complete mockery that you made this show with your Goddamn fake referee, your handcuffs, and your bending of President Jeff. I can’t lie and say that I didn’t notice you pounding down Keaton Saint when I put down CJ Gates. I can’t lie and say that I didn’t know you were rising to the top, right alongside me. I can’t lie and say that you haven’t hurt me; because you have. That’s what you makes you different Terry Marvin.

“That’s what makes you a winner.

“Because while we exist on opposite sides of the spectrum, we are the two most important people on this show. We are the two wrestlers that have ruled the last year….but there don’t get to be two kings. We know how this game of thrones ends; with one of us bending to the other. I face you with the entirety of APW behind you; the roster believes in you. The crowd knows you can do it. You have run off anyone in my corner that knows I can do this: Medea, Monkwood…Amy…they’re all hurt because of you. They’re all gone because of you.

“So going into the match that will single-handedly define 2012, I face you…alone. I entered Shockwave 2011 with no friends, and I return to Shockwave with no friends. I am literally all that stands between the most vicious man in APW and the Undisputed Championship.

“And that’s exactly how I want it.

“Because you’ve taught me a valuable lesson Terry: The people I love most are always going to be the ones that get hurt. You made that perfectly clear in one moment that has changed the way I see time itself.

“It has been 23 days since you slammed a steel chair into my wife’s head, changing everything I believed was acceptable in APW.

“I think about how helpless I felt every hour since the 552 hours ago that you handcuffed me to the ring and violated my family.

“I hear that sound of that steel chair meeting her skull once a minute, since the 33120 minutes that you killed the man I thought I could be against you.

“But now the time has come Terry…now’s the time to pay the debt you earned but you and I know that 3 seconds out of the 1,987,200 seconds since you hurt my family isn’t going to be enough to settle this; to make me forget everything you’ve done to her, to me, to APW over the past year. To a regular fan that hasn’t followed our stories in the past year, this is just another PPV Main Event to go in the APW archives…but that isn’t what this is Terry.

“This is the moment where I cripple you, Terry.

“Because I can’t treat you like I treated Johnny Rebel or CJ Gates: pinning you isn’t good enough. You have proven time and time again that simply putting you down isn’t good enough. When I made you submit the week after I won the Undisputed Championship, I knew that wasn’t going to be enough to put you down for good. I can’t tell you how many times I regret not twisting your ankle to dust until security dragged me off your mangled body. I wasted my chance to stop you.

“I will NOT waste it again.

“This time…you and I are getting exactly what we wanted. You wanted to show that the ‘invincible’ Kurt Noble was anything but; that my 365 days of success was only successful because you weren’t in it. I know that you want to be the one to finally put down the ‘greatness’ of Kurt Noble, once and for all. You’re getting that. You know what I’m getting?

“The chance to show you the real Kurt Noble.

“The moment you showed me how vulnerable I really was, was the exact moment you unleashed something I’ve held back for the last year of my career. In my first match against Pence Weatherlight, Angela Medea told me that I had a rage inside me; and that if I couldn’t control it, I would destroy myself, and possibly APW. I spent a year trying to contain it, even when pushed to my very limits. I always knew that there was a line I couldn’t cross.

“And you spit all over it.

“But now I find myself with no one to whisper ‘stop’ in my ear. You’ve pushed them all away in a systematic effort to weaken me for our title defense. The polls, the questionnaires, the blood on my hands…it’s all put me in the smallest corner of the smallest box I’ve ever been in. You have made me weak, Terry Marvin. You have left me with one option:

“To let the hatred flow. You have me so far under your boot that my hatred, my resentment, this rage inside me only has one way to flow: Up.

“Right into you, Terry.

“So I ask you this: Don’t study the film of me from Rasslemania, when I fought for gold. Don’t watch me defend my belt at Mayhem, where I fought for quality, or at Test for the Best, when I fought for stability. On August 26th, I fight this battle for one reason.

“Revenge.

“So as you remember everything that I’ve done over the past year, I want you to forget it…because that’s not what you’re getting. You asked, and now you got me. So, let me make this loud and clear Terry Marvin…

“I am going to fucking hurt you.

“I’m going to wrestle this match like my life depends on it; Hell, for me, it does. My family is my life. That’s why I’m glad that you put them in the hospital: So they can’t see me the moment that bell rings, and I move straight in to break your Goddamn neck. I won’t waste your time with puny arm-holds or fancy technical wrestling; because you’re not CJ Gates. Instead, I’m going to treat you like a cockroach. I’m going to take my boot, place it on your throat, and press until your blood is on my boots. I don’t want you to scream; I want you to remember.

“Clang.

“Clang.

“Clang.

“I want you to remember my wife as I put my hands around your throat, showing you a kind of viciousness you’ve never seen. Don’t think the rules will save you either; the rules will betray you. I’ll make sure every choke-hold ends at four; every rope-break ends before the five. You’ve fought so hard to dismantle the rules…and now I’m going to use them against you.

“I’m not going to look for a three-count or a submission; after all, when my Monkwood begged you to stop, you didn’t. When Angela Medea couldn’t fight back, that didn’t stop you. I don’t care about beating you; that won’t stop you from coming back. I only care about one thing Terry:

“I care about fucking hurting you.

“Because when the blood fills your mouth, and the match is stopped via knock-out, I WON’T stop; like you used the security against me, I’ll use them against you. I’ll MAKE them come for me, and pull me off of your cold, bleeding body. I’ll MAKE Jeff ORDER me to stop. Like you drove away from me, I’ll MAKE that ride the LONGEST of your life as I do EVERYTHING in my power to keep you in the arena. Everything you’ve used against me, I will use against you.

“And when I’ve sent you back to your wife, a bag of bones of blood, the EXACT way you sent my wife back to me, you’ll remember 2012. When you lie in a hospital bed, surrounded by your sobbing wife and…well, no one else, I’m gonna visit you with flowers: exactly what you sent my wife. I’m going to put them besides your nice little bedside table, lean down, and watch as the life drains out of you, and you know what I’m going to say?

“’The debt has been paid.’”

“Make no mistake Terry Marvin…

“I AM GOING TO FUCKING HURT YOU.

“That’s the only real way I can celebrate the past year of my APW career: Knowing I stopped you from ever hurting anyone again…and you know what’s funny? In the end, I will be resented for it. The crowd will boo me when I make you scream out in pain, only to ignore it. They’ll demonize me for my revenge, for protecting my family. In the end, I’ll become the bad guy for doing the right thing: for saving APW. A year ago, it ate me up to think about being hated. One year later…

“I’m ready to be hated.

“If standing up for the defenseless makes me hated, so be it.

“If protecting those that can’t protect themselves makes the villain, so be it.

“If breaking Terry Marvin is what I have to do to finally make APW safe…

“So be it.

“Because APW needs a hero that doesn’t hide behind contracts and his Championships. They need a hero willing to fight. They need a hero willing to not stop evil, but destroy it. They need a hero that doesn’t care the bullshit of fame. They don’t need Terry Marvin.

“They need ME.

“Amy needs me.

“And the only way I can go back to her with my pride and my honor intact is by knowing that I made things right. Maybe I won’t be the decent man that she wants me to be…but I’ll be the man that protected her. I’ve damaged our relationship more than I can ever imagine by bringing Amy into out fight Terry, and I’ll never make that mistake again. We all have a role to play here Terry.

“So let’s play.

“One year ago, I told myself that they needed me to set a role of decency in APW. I lied to myself, saying that would make me better than Level-One, Sally Talofurd, and Biggs. Make no mistake Terry: I intend to be better than any man that’s ever walked into APW…but I know now that I can’t do that through winning titles or Main Eventing PPVs. I do it by doing what I’ve failed to do for the last year: By stopping men like you.

“And in one night, I’ll erase all my failures; I’ll set the standard for a new year by stopping the most dangerous, most volatile, most powerful man in APW history. In doing so, I’ll do what President Jeff told me I was destined to do: Change APW forever. I’ll be remember as the man that restored balance to Overdrive, as the man that showed no fear against his enemies, and maybe…just maybe as the greatest Undisputed Champion hi history. But, most importantly…

“I’ll be remembered as the man that ended Terry Marvin’s showtime.

“So here we are Terry: The last year of our careers has been building to this moment. This won’t be the Match of the Year because it’s the best match of the night; it’ll be the Match of the Year because on this night, we’ll determine whose year this really is. On August 26th, the entire world believes that you will walk out with the Undisputed Championship. I can tell you that the second part might be true. The first cannot be.

“Because if you have EVER needed to believe me Terry…believe me when I tell you that you don’t walk away from this. You unleashed this Shockwave.

“And it is going to end you.

“I am going to end you.

“And when I do Nobledrive Nation…you’ll remember who I am one more time…but for tonight, for one final time, I’ll remind you:

“My name is Kurt Noble…and I am going to beat Terry Marvin at Shockwave.”

“My name is Kurt Noble…and I am going to dominate Terry Marvin at Shockwave.”

“My name is Kurt Noble…and I am going to destroy Terry Marvin at Shockwave.”

“My name is Kurt Noble...

“And I end ‘Year One’ of Kurt Noble when I end Terry Marvin.”