A New Path #3: Expectations

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Keaton Saint in
A New Path #3: Expectations

That Girl & Her Big Idea

We are taught to instinctively react to loud noises and the flicker of a bright light. That goes back generations to when our ancestors had to be aware that any loud noise and any bright light could mean danger or worse. Modern convenience has stripped away the need to fear those things but the instinct is still there and every so often it appears with no regard of how modern we have become.

When Sally Talfourd walks into a room it's like someone lit the fuse to a firework factory, instinct tells us this is something to fear despite Sally Talfourd's history and despite the fact that she tends to represent the better side of professional wrestling. Instinct takes over not because of her character or her ability but because in a sport filled with a reverie of thought and belief, she stands out as someone who poses a potential danger because of who she is.

Wrestling has seen plenty of thinkers, minds who have surpassed the norm and gone on to prove that outsmarting your opponent can be more important than ever even in the most physically demanding matches. Sally Talfourd is a thinker but she isn't the only one, I've seen plenty of people in the ring who think every move out with precision. Sally Talfourd is also a doer, someone who is willing to go above and beyond the requirement of a professional and place herself in a position where she can prove that sheer physicality isn't a match for the ability to actually DO something with it. Of course, she's not the only doer in the world and that's not the reason the spark of instinct goes off in my head whenever she's around.

I've seen plenty of thinkers and doers in my time. I don't think I've ever met someone who comes up with as many big ideas as Sally Talfourd and THAT is what makes her the equivalent of setting off an explosion. A loud noise, a flash of light and a landscape forever changed stand as the hallmark of a bomb. When Sally Talfourd walks into a room with a big idea in her head, things happen.

When Sally Talfourd walks into a room and says that she's been looking for you for ages, things happen. A big idea in professional wrestling changes the landscape forever and she has a tendency to come up with some of the biggest. They're dangerous, they are triggers for that instinctual fear that resides in all of us and yet as much as I'm aware of all this I still turn around and agree to the damn thing.

That girl and her small talk, that girl and her big idea. That Saint who just won't turn down the opportunity.

I have my reasons.

The New Experts as a group are long gone but as a concept it holds up for others to take the mantle. Big ideas changed the landscape and at least for a couple of weeks it felt like everything was leading to the right conclusion. Sally Talfourd has her heart in the right place and that has to be a reason why I didn't turn around and laugh at her for coming up with another big idea.

Maybe it's the same reason wrapped up in a different bow but I want to believe that it's possible to change professional wrestling for the better on a permanent scale. I've got a reputation that was partly gifted to me based on what I did before I came here. But I was never the only one that should have been given the chances and the opportunities that I have been given. There are other wrestler out there who are unsung heroes of the sport and if there is a chance to make their voices heard then I want to be a catalyst for that. Big ideas change the landscape, I have to be involved for that change to be for the better.

There's still an aura of mystery surrounding whoever I pissed off enough to attack me before I made my official debut on Asylum. It's no longer enough for me to want to know who did it, I want to know why. That can't be answered if I'm constantly watching my back for a sign of another assault or some sort of threatening message. I angered someone enough to provoke them and yet I still don't know what caused it to happen. Sally's big idea doesn't just aim to change the landscape of Asylum, it offers a chance for me to divert my mind away from a mystery and a chance to work on a solid foundation. I want to forge something that can't be broken, I also want to be able to do that without having to watch my back every single second. Call it an ulterior motive or not, it's still a good reason to be involved in this.

My last reason is simple. Fear and instinct may teach us to be aware of the loud noise and the flash of light but my growth as a person and as a wrestler have taught me to appreciate more than just the four corners. I love a good firework, and when it explodes I love the idea that it can light up the sky for a moment. That girl and her big idea will light a fuse.

Boom, indeed.

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Seeds of Change

When I last faced Slade Craven before our Asylum match, I made an assumption that we had both done everything we could in our respective encounters and there was nothing more to be said or done. Asylum proved that the story we had to tell was still unfinished and Slade Craven brought out something new in me that I wasn't expecting to happen. I may be jinxing myself here by saying this but I think we've both finally given all that we could give in our matches, I don't think facing off again is going to add anything extra to what has been told. I could be wrong, I just don't think I am.

The important result of that match and perhaps our encounters in general was that in the end I was victorious. Slade Craven may be the "Main Man" but the final bell stated loud and clear that I was the one left standing. The difficult hurdle of Slade Craven has been surmounted and the reward for that is another hurdle, twice as wide and three times as large. A regular match dictates that the reward for a win is the chance to say that success is its own reward. A match that involves a seeding is somewhat different and the reward is much more tangible in return.

Success being its own reward is enough for some but when you're faced with the very real prospect of being able to walk into a gauntlet with a huge advantage, the game changes. But that is why I joined Asylum in the first place. A new path for Keaton Saint, something to make the Patron Saint of Wrestling become a different and better man in the ring. A challenge like this is new and dangerous and it needs to be given every bit of focus I have.

What's more important is that both of my opponents in this are new for me. A new path, a new challenge and the chance to prove that success can be rewarding enough. Forget the buzzwords and the soundbytes because this match is about bringing out the best in all of us, for me it comes down to a simple point once we reach our individual peaks. This match offers a massive reward for the winner and something equally damning for the loser, that should be enough for the three of us to walk into this with the belief that we're going to claim the reward for our own.

It's going to take the best of both TJ and Farquhar to beat me because I have every intention of walking to that ring with my gameface on and the absolute best of what defines me in the ring. The Saint will march in with every intention of coming out on top. The match we have is a showcase for all involved and the victory to be gained would stand by itself, no need for a post-match analysis or some sort of expert look into what could have or might have happened.

We have this match to say one thing.

The winner was the better man, look at what they accomplished. Whether you're the Soul of Philly, Quintessentially English or you simply are who you say you are, the victory is something that will matter and will stand the scrutiny of your peers and fans.

It's strange to an extent to look at this match and realise that the defending champion is involved. Julius Farquhar may stake a claim to a variety of things but I'm sure he doesn't need to make a case for why he's a fighting champion after this match. It may not be for the title explicitly but the implications of this match stretch into Christmas Chaos and beyond. Farquhar is staking his reputation on the line in order to come out on top against myself and TJ. It's a ballsy move and I respect the degree of tenacity it takes to attempt it but I don't believe it will be accomplished. I shouldn't believe Farquhar can win, it's my duty as a wrestler to give the best of myself in order to prove that the only true victor in this is me.

Farquhar is a noble man in some respects. I don't claim to be one myself, considering what happened to our resident Noble in the last few months I expect it's better that I don't claim to be that kind of person. I am Keaton Saint, I wrestle and I know who I am explicitly. I'm not a Farquhar, I'm not a Cholmondeley and I'm not the Tap Out champion just yet but what I am is a wrestler. Wrestling defines me, it defines what I have been for the last few years and it is the most important facet of my being.

Whatever Farquhar may be expecting from me, I only have one thing to offer. My best, the wrestling that defines me and the best of what I can do in the ring. This match IS a title match as far as I'm concerned and he'll be getting the title challenging Saint that has been within me. the best of who I am against the best of who he is, only one of the two can stand up to the challenge and I have to believe it will be me. I wouldn't be wrestling if I didn't believe I had the capability to give my all to the sport and the fans.

England expects and so do the fans of Ohio, I aim to make my victory a reality to all the fans of Asylum and of professional wrestling as a whole.

Moving away from the champion, we turn towards the shooting star of this trifecta. I guess that would make me the middle-ground of the three but I won't go into that further. TJ, the Soul of Philly and a man who I've yet to face in the ring. Progress has a strange way of tying things together, one of the first lessons I ever learnt about wrestling was from a woman who embodied the spirit of Philadelphia and now here I am taking on the soul of that very city. the questions about Philly cheese steaks can be left for another time but one aspect of this I'm really looking forward to is the fact that you are at a crucial point in your career.

Everyone in wrestling has a moment when they're a rising star of some kind, it might be immediate or it might happen many years into their career but when it does, magic happens. TJ, your rise is an important event and something that the fans will want to chronicle for the prosperity of the history of the sport. That rise comes at an inopportune moment for both of us however.

Your success in this match would be met by a failure on my end, it's not something I'm willing to let happen without a fight. It's part of the reason I'm really looking forward to this match. I've got a chance to contend with a champion and a chance to face someone with the desire and the skill to reach that desire. It's a challenge that pushes all of us to the peak of our abilities and ensures that everyone involved learns something permanent and tangible as a result.

The lesson here for all of us is simple, the best of us will be rewarded greatly. The one who doesn't meet the mark will be damned to climb the mountain with nothing but a rusty hook whilst the one who neither falls nor succeeds will be left wondering what else could have been done.

I've been in a position before where I had to wonder what else could have been done. I know what it's like to have the advantage of coming in last for a gauntlet match and more importantly than that I know what it means to lose from that position. That experience taught me that nothing is certain, I don't expect a victory but I expect to tackle those who believe they've already won.

Victory itself is uncertain, but I will give my all to ensure that any victory does not come without the right effort. My best will determine who succeeds and who fails in this match, my best will do everything to ensure that I'm the one with my arm raised in the end. I am not a noble man, I am not a soul in the world of wrestling and I am surely no angel.

I am Keaton Saint, the man who has seen a future with him holding a championship. The man who has seen the worst parts of a gauntlet before. The man who knows that seeds must be laid for change to occur. I am prepared for the soul, the noble and the opponents I must face. All you two have to do is be prepared for the Saint.

Because the Saint will march, the foundation of that is unbreakable.

The question is whether the Saint will be marching in first, last or fourth.

It's a question I'm willing to answer with every ounce of my being, that's why I'm the Patron Saint of Professional Wrestling.

That's why I won't be the one to tap.