Better Days #3: Monster Days

[Smash INC]

Keaton Saint in...
Better Days #3: Monster Days

We're passing through a weekend that has the best of APW walking a road to some form of ascension. Only one of them will make the whole journey, but everyone involved will be changed. I remember what Test for the Best was like last year, it was an event that brought out something new in all of us and in my case it allowed for fresh knowledge to be acquired. That was a learning experience for me, much like any night in the squared circle. It is for this reason that I am glad I get the chance to be away from the event, despite it being brought about by my own failings.

After the weekend of the best is up, the tests will not subside. The heroics won't die down for a second because Meltdown is full of people who know that ascension starts from a bold first step. Professional Wrestling is built upon the sweat and the effort of those who are willing to fight for more than just a victory. In some way, it must be why I'm going to be fighting on Meltdown against a deadly force. A match like this brings out something new in all of us and perhaps for me that would be something new to believe in.

I work in the singular more often than not, both in my wrestling and in my thought process. The Patron Saint of Wrestling is not a multi-tasker and with good reason, I'm just not wired that way. But what I do and what I put my focus on tends to be of a level far beyond the average. I am a single man, a singles-based wrestler and a Saint with one patron. As much as this is about the dynamic of two teams jockeying for position, my own focus is about how I as a single person can make a difference. Sometimes the parts are bigger than the whole and it is my opportunity to prove just how far my focus can take me. I have one condition when I enter the ring, the condition is a winning one and the Meltdown faithful will be able to witness what it means to have a man with a sole focus. The power of one can be very powerful indeed.

Multiply that with the rest of the team I'm on and it becomes more than a set of words. The doctrine takes form and gains teeth, it gains a bite to add to the bark and it becomes a little more solid. Anyone watching this right now can hear what I'm saying, but when a doctrine takes form it becomes something that people listen to and it grows from that. Some will sense it further, others might even taste the concept but only the opposition shall feel it. I am a man powered by self-belief and with that I become a man powered by something that does not break down under pressure. A punch may be a simple attack but a punch powered by the force I have is something that has a little more weight behind. Face me and you'll feel it. Face the team and you'll know the same from them as well.

There is a humble truth that I'm wrestling this match on Meltdown because I failed to make it to Test for the Best. That has done many things to me but it has not made my mind any less focused on what this match means for everyone involved. For me it represents something of a larger importance than some others would equate to it. In some way, I've been backed into a corner by my own failings. As the reality of that situation dawns, the animal instincts kick in and become more prevalent. Put an animal in a corner and they will fight back with every ounce of themselves and more. I am a wrestler, but I am also a man who needs to discover something to escape the corner I have been placed in. That's why I will be treating this match with every respect, because I have every intention of going out there to win more than just a victory.

Quite frankly, I want to make a statement of intent. That takes more than just beating someone. A victory can be close, distant to anything between but it can always matter to others outside of it. A victory for the team I represent will matter to certain others if it is done in a specific way. It needs to be dominant, it has to be about the wrestling and it must prove that I haven't lost my focus over the last few weeks. A real wrestler responds to adversity by overcoming it with every fibre of their being and I have every belief that I am the most real of all of us. Meltdown is a proving ground for that.

It's a proving ground for all involved but it goes further than that. everyone in this match is either a great wrestler or they're on the path to becoming one. APW houses the talent but it's up to the individual to make the most of it. When I look at the team, I see Anthony Bailey and I know what he can do. I see Brian Hollywood and I know to some extent what he is capable of. The latter part of this is Ron Rufio, a man I know little about but someone who I can be certain of in one aspect, he's got the most to gain just from being involved in this.

People grow, they develop further as time goes on but there are points in time that we can all point to and say that this was the moment when everything began. The match at Meltdown won't be that moment for me, I've already experienced it in varying forms, Bailey and Hollywood both have enough time under their belt to know that this isn't necessarily their time as well since they're both done things, big things away from this match. Rufio has himself to push and himself to support at this moment. This could be a monster day for him, but there's three very capable wrestlers in the corner waiting to enable something to happen. A Saint marches onwards, unfazed by the daunting tasks ahead. A Saint succeeds in making things happen and Meltdown is the right place for it to occur. Miami will be hot, I will burn hotter.

When it comes to making things happen, one aspect I tend to run into is the idea that a lot of people seem to follow without actively considering it. There's a school of thought that everyone must be the 'new' guy, because being that person means they're the second coming of a prophet-like figure. I've lost some hugely important matches recently and if I had been a more recent addition to the APW roster I may have been tempted to state that I would still become the 'new' variation on the top wrestler in the sport. In all honesty, I'm wiser than that and I have enough experience in the ring to be able to bring the idea back home. If I'm going to be a new anything, I'm going to be the new Keaton Saint. The new Keaton Saint is much like the old Keaton Saint in many respects, and the old one was a man who walked into the biggest wrestling pay-pre-view of the year as a champion. I haven't forgotten that, I won't forget who I am just because I'm walking into this match without a winning streak.

Those memories, those matches belong to the fans who experienced that moment with me. there may be those who look at this match on Meltdown and try to express some sort of pairing between the opposing forces. I don't buy into that policy. A team fights as a unit devoted to knowing how to adapt to any scenario, limiting ourselves to only taking on certain opponents on the other team creates an issue that shouldn't happen. I don't belong to Raab, I'm not one to assume that only one person in a team will want a piece of me. It's about adapting to things as they come, and when you consider the force I have to face then everyone knows it's going to be a war.

It's refreshing to be facing some wrestlers who I don't have a personal feud with, the changes in something as simple as that make it important for me to be able to change the way I approach a match. This isn't going to be personal unless I find myself facing Raab and even then, we're looking at something that isn't as soaked in hatred as other matches I've had. It helps, it helps during a time I need to concentrate on what matters in my own wrestling and not on how personal things have become. The Sindicate were always an important force, a massive detriment to APW and yet I found myself choking under some idealised image of being the only one who deserved to have a beef with them. I haven't forgotten that one either.

Memories are important, I'm here to make it happen at Meltdown and beyond that I'm looking to imprint a deep memory into those who would aim to forget me otherwise. We can already see how the Meltdown regulars are approaching this one, Bailey's a non-factor in their discussions and I barely get a sentence before it falls back onto who pinned who and who is going to take revenge. as I said before, it's refreshing and it leaves the door open for me to say something about it. The concentration on the existing foes you know won't suffice in a match like this, the ignorance that has been displayed is something we can all see as a mistake. Every opponent matters in their own way, especially when they have a chance to beat you without any chance to make up for the loss. When I enter Meltdown I'm going there to beat someone, I'm going with every intention of winning because losing to any single one of these guys is tantamount to a eternal blemish on my record.

Sentinel could get a victory, but who knows if I'll get a chance to face him again. The same applies to everyone aside from Raab since we've had an existing base to work from. So I'm going to aim for a solid victory, because I don't want to regret missing a chance to remind someone that I was the wrestler who made them realise their faults. It takes something special to beat another APW roster member, it takes a lot more to beat them in the way I'm intending. The Meltdown in Miami is a stage for a reason, the show we're going to put on will be unrivalled even by the test for the best. It's how I know I will fight with all my worth. A Saint doesn't back down.

That's the only truth in this as far as I'm concerned, I will not back down to the pressure of four very capable opponents. This match won't be about claiming heads because the skills of all involved will take it beyond a simple competition, we're here to be seen as the better of another but that will fall in response to the sheer force of what happens in the ring. Experience in the situation lends itself well to the future, but I know what it means to adapt to new things and new opponents. Raab may want to decimate me in the ring, but Mr. Eurovision will have to rethink his tactics when I prove to be a dangerous quarry. The game will change even further when one of his team decides that Raab isn't doing enough to get the job done.

Things change, it has to be done. It's why some people say that the only real tradition is that things will always change. it's what brought me here and it will be what makes this match even bigger than my expectations are forming in my head. My idea of what will happen will change as the match progresses until it inevitably matches up to the truth. The result we see will be one forged through the sweat and effort of some of the most tenacious wrestlers in APW. Moreso, the winners will be defined by their belief. I have the faith to walk into the fire and use the flame to my own end. Belief is a very powerful thing in the right hands. If anything gets remembered from this, I hope it's that.

Regardless of the opposing force, one foe stands out in the way he chooses to deliver his message. When I see a man like Jerry Matthews go to great pains to express his disagreement with the sheer thought that someone would try to use his guiding force against him, I tend to shake my head a little. One of the most elementary parts of wrestling is that everyone will find a chink in your armour and exploit it for their own ends. It's in what you say, how you act and how you approach the foe that defines whether you fall or make them see the heel of your boots. I've never once questioned why a ten stone woman can reach the top of the sport when we've filled it with people who are so stuck into their ways they don't question how someone half their weight used theirs to better effect.

This does bring me to Jerry Matthews, a man who will define his actions based on a set of guiding principles. The ring will have eight wresters who have different principles in life and we're going to fight in an arena full of those who differ even more. I'm not going to turn around and start throwing quotes out at a man who has defined his life by the very book I could quote from. I'm not going to try and stab a man with a sword he's got true expertise in. What I will do is say my truth, what I will do is state my intent.

I am Keaton Saint, I have more monikers than I need. I am a man with more experience in APW than the opposition. These are all facts of varying degrees, there are over seven billion people in this world and we're all given a chance to make something matter. I chose wrestling, I chose a guiding principle that I live and breathe. To face a man like Jerry Matthews brings with it a sense of awe and danger in some respects. Any man who believes, regardless of his belief is a powerful foe if they can tap into their belief. Until that applies, I still have the advantage going into Meltdown. I have a team of professionals willing to wrestle to the ends of the earth and we're focused on making a victory a reality. That's a fact and a half for you.

If you believe you can beat that, show me your belief in action. I'm coming to Meltdown to wrestle, to be challenged and then I want to prove that I can withstand it and overcome. That only applies if the challenge ends up being a worthy one. There's no better time than now to face me, so when you're all given the chance I know I want to prove what kind of wrestler I am to all of you. Raab's not getting everything out of this one.

Show me, show the team, show the FANS what you're made of or face the fact that this Saint will not stop his march. In one form or another, Meltdown will see the truth of Keaton Saint.

And Keaton Saint will carry on.