The New Path #3: Surviving the End of the World

[Smash INC]

Keaton Saint in
The New Path #4: Surviving the End of the World

It's safe to say that a lot of people knew about the Mayan prediction for the end of the world.

I'm pretty sure there were some movies made about it, sadly the budget wasn't big enough to accommodate the vision and so it looked cartoonish as a result. Now that I think about it, it was probably the acting in that film. I never did think that guy was a good as he was in that other film about the end of the world. Funny, perhaps.

As far as doomsday comes and goes it has to be one of the most popular, perhaps even a celebrity compared to other dates. I knew of it, but before then I first heard of it I was always followed by a shadow of a thought telling me that time wasn't a gift. As the world celebrates surviving one of the biggest non-events in human history I find myself drawn to earlier feelings, stuff I had left behind as I progressed in my career as a wrestler. Something draws it back to me, maybe it's fate or just a whisper of an idea I've been meaning to provide a form to. Whatever it is, I'm willing to hear it out and beyond that I'm willing to share it to the world. The same world that survived yet another doomsday.

It's at times like these that I often wonder what the viewer thinks of me going off on a tangent like this. Maybe it's enticing enough that I'm able to draw from more than one pool of knowledge and develop it into something that relates to my current situation or maybe they're just waiting for me to say what I always say. I will give it my all, I will fight like only I can and I will march as only the Saint of wrestling can do. It's a cliche, but that doesn't make it any less true. The way I see it is that we're all connected, call it a cosmic strand or whatever you feel best suits the concept. It might be wishful thinking rearing it's head once more, but I believe that we can all have an effect on one another. To believe that means only a small step needs to be taken to believe something else, if we can affect one another then surely it's possible to have a positive effect on others.

There is a connection here, it might take some time to get there but there is definitely something.

Doomsday has come and gone but it hasn't been the first time, I remember that there was an explicit prediction that we were all due to face the Rapture in May. Naturally, it didn't happen since we're all here and very much alive. It's been months since that day and those who believed in it so utterly haven't been crushed by the realisation that the end never came, the fact is that they were empowered by it. It's only been a day since the supposed Mayan apocalypse but in a few months those who utterly believed in it will either be crushed by the fact that it never happened or empowered by the fact that life does indeed go on.

There is no middle-ground.

And this is where it all connects to the upcoming gauntlet match at Christmas Chaos, it's certainly more connected than the comments of William D Williams' fans asking me how mad I am and whether I'm going to be devastated when he kicks my arse at the PPV. It's probably impossible to answer the first point without appearing to be flustered but the second point is a simple one. Williams has the capability and the potential to dominate proceedings and whilst he could kick the living hell out of me, it won't answer the true question on the lips of every fan in MSG on that night. Anyone I face in that match could leave me battered and bruised but it means nothing unless they progress, I could face down some of the most devastating moves in the history of the sport but if I'm the one to go on in the gauntlet then all of this talk of kicking my arse would be for naught. Progress where it matters is what counts and quite frankly, Williams might just be a little too smooth to do it.

I'm not a smooth man, if I was then something as important as what the Pillars can become would have started from me. The fact that it started from Sally Talfourd should say it all, if we were to both deliver our thoughts on the same concept she'd be smooth enough to get it across and I'd be akin to a hammer smashing windows. Nobody likes seeing broken glass all over the place. My strength and my progression lies elsewhere, I might be rough but I am the unbreakable one. The way I wrestle comes from the truth I've known even before I set foot into an APW ring. I might not be the best at verbalising my ideals, my theme might state that I'm involved in a war but the core of it comes down to what I do in the ring. I wrestle as best I can, it's that which makes things happen and it is that which becomes the catalyst for a progression that means something. I'm a hammer, I smash walls down with the emphatic power of the belief I have in this sport. Wrestling is good, it is empowering and it allows for something great to be done in front of the eyes of millions.

This gauntlet is my last chance of this year to prove that. There is no middle-ground. Either I take everything I have learnt this year into this match or I take nothing at all, either I show why I became a famous wrestler or I prove that the fame doesn't match up to the real thing. I may be the unbreakable pillar but that doesn't mean I can't be beaten, it's happened more than enough this year. It's down to me to prove that when I talk about improving wrestling it's not out of a sense of smugness but an honest belief that we as a collection of wrestlers can do more for the sport. It doesn't start here, for me it started as soon as I laced my first pair of boots but it does continue here. If I can't bring order to the chaos then at least I can provide one booming piece of advice from it, there's more of us to give and more of us to become.

In his own way, TJ will have his own reasons to prove what it means to be a wrestler. any match takes on a different structure when you're facing an ally, even if the ally in question is a recent one. Things change, ideals change with them. But what the pillars are about is a change for the better, a conscious effort by all involved to push wrestling to new heights and to prove that as wrestlers we can all do more. Ignorance has done more to kill this sport than anything else and yet as a sport we still continue to thrive with a fanbase that is as rabid as ever. TJ knows just as well as I do that this gauntlet is about proving to ourselves and to others that the best wrestler is the one who will fight their allies as strongly as their enemies. The sport is best when it's powered by respect rather than hate and respect is what we can achieve. At least I can say for certain that the result of this one won't be decided by a flip of a coin.

That coin caused more problems than it solved, or at least that would be my line if I was damaged by the news that I would not be entering the gauntlet last. Before APW I had a chance in a similar gauntlet and that experience taught me two things. I know what it means to give it everything over the course of multiple opponents and I also understand that being the last entrant is as much a curse as a gift. TJ has to face the fact that whoever he meets won't be at their best physically, it's a curse for him because he now knows that on a physical level he absolutely must be better than the other man. As for me, much like the doomsday survivors I am empowered by the knowledge I have. It cannot crush me because I have the experience, I know what it means to survive and I'm not a purely physical competitor. TJ may be an ally, he may be a pillar but in terms of the match all he needs to be is an obstacle for me to cross. I'm the unbreakable one and because of that I am the one most mentally prepared for a match that takes from your body, your mind and your soul.

TJ is the Soul of Philly and you can add as many letters to that soul as you want but the soul alone is not enough, I'm the whole thing. Body, mind and soul. It's what prepares me to run the gauntlet and survive. It's why I'm the Saint who marches.


I don't mean to sound condescending to Yarmouth but when it comes down to him I've always felt he's missed that last piece of the puzzle. I've caught a few glimpses of him wrestling and I've gained an idea of what he has been, but I know there's more. There has to be more to a man that is so willing to push against what holds him back. Maybe there's a worrying trend of people focusing less on the possible future and more on the past but when it comes to Yarmouth I know there's a future for him. It might start at Christmas Chaos but considering what he'd have to do to make that happen I have to feel that it won't be the case. I have no intention of being a detriment to his potential but I believe in myself enough to beat him, I believe enough that whatever he brings will be met with an equal and greater punishment from me. Yarmouth will have his day, but for that to happen will take him progressing to a whole new level. Yarmouth's time will come, but on the night of the gauntlet this Saint will be the one left marching. Whatever happens, this is the moment when Yarmouth must learn to shout at the heavens.

Finally, there's the champion. I never claimed to approach the entrants of the gauntlet in any particular order, the event we're about to wrestle at is name Christmas Chaos after all. There may have been no apparent order but leaving the champion for last has always been appropriate, I guess even now it makes sense to provide a certain amount of pride to the man who will be entering this match as a champion. As a champion, you have the most to do because whilst the rest of us can say we had a chance and an opportunity the only thing you have is a duty. A duty to make the world understand why you have that title and why none of those facing you are fit to wear it. Therein lies the challenge, Asylum provided a crack in your shell and a moment where anyone watching would have thought you were the challenger rather than the champion. The last event of the year always provides a certain amount of danger to reputation and our psyche but at least the rest of use have a safety net of sorts.

I've said more than once that there is no middle-ground in this and it is most true when it concerns you, this gauntlet is the greatest test and it is one that will prove to be your undoing should you not live up to the expectation of what a champion should be. A challenger should rise to the occasion and should make the most of the chance they have but a champion must rise to the occasion and they must ensure that every chance is taken. This gauntlet will end your reign if you enter it as the same man you were on Asylum.

I've wrestled enough people to understand when a big shift has the potential to happen. Gauntlets in general are a signal to the world that big things can and will happen in the course of an instant. Your reign is under attack and the only advice I can give is don't be what you were, become what you're meant to be. Whether you heed the words or understand them is a different matter but I'll point it out in another way. I've wrestled someone who pushed me over the edge, I've been in the ring against someone who I had every intent to maim, I've fought against all kinds of influences and I've had to see myself against some of the best that this sport has ever produced. I have never met a man like you that made me question to the very core what it meant to be an Englishman.

I know where I was born, I know where I grew up and I know full well that my accent has retained the same London twang despite my worldly travels. The problem is that when I look at you and how you present yourself I see Notting Hill, I see countless US remakes of comedy shows that get cancelled after three episodes. I see an interpretation of the real thing but I don't see the legitimate claim to the title you carry. Our match on Asylum etched that into my mind to the point where I feel it has been scorched into my forehead for everyone to read. What you've become and what you continue to be is the Mayan prophecy about the end of the world, the televangelist who claimed we'd all be dead by May this year and countless other doomsday prophets who claimed we'd meet our end. Right now, you're a non-factor, you're the equivalent of a fraudster carrying that title until you find a shop to cash that gold. Right now you're a man and a wrestler who cannot beat me in the ring.

If you enter the gauntlet as the champion you are, then we might reach a true mutual understanding as we wrestle for the chance to prove ourselves as the better man. Carry that title, carry yourself and show the world what it means to be a goddamned Englishman in a war and then we';; talk on the same level. Come into this match as a fraud and the only real thing you'll feel is what it means to be defeated by the most real wrestler you have ever come across, and believe me that will hurt you more than a hammer to the kneecaps.

This gauntlet is the last chance, no safety left, no middle-ground allowed. This Saint will march to the ring and deliver everything he has to the world that watches him. This Saint wrestles because he is the unbreakable pillar, this Saint will wrestle because just like the vast majority of the world he just survived the end of the world again.

The Mayans couldn't keep a good man down, nor could the doomsday prophet who claimed we'd all be gone in May. Nostradamus was wrong and the Millennium Bug was nothing more than a harmless gnat. I have survived the world and I will survive in this gauntlet.

In fact, I might even conquer it.