Brotherhood

[J-Hop]

What’s really, really, realllllyyy .... real?

It’s been a fulfilling ride with my family, my “brothers” as we pretty much grabbed the challenge by it’s horns and took it. People doubted us in singles competition, they doubted us even more when we joined forces. No one took us seriously. No one. No veteran took us serious. They chuckled, they saw one as a rookie and the other as an up and coming star who didn’t need ‘back-up singers’. They titled him as the Eddie Ruffin of the group, ball-hogging the spotlight.

Their mindless, stupid-fucking opinions.

It was a “Dying Breed v. The World” kind of feel. We took it as a chip on the shoulder. Till this day, twice champions of these prestigious tag belts, they still doubt us. They doubt Anthony, who is the golden boy of action-packed wrestling. Every opportunity that was given to him, he cashed in on it and succeeded. William with his ‘sponge-like’ mentality, never makes a mistake twice. Learning and evolving, he’s growing into success.

I just don’t understand ... How much more will they continue to doubt?

They went as far to even say that I’m nothing more than just a shadow of Bailey’s. I’m nothing but a joke. I have nothing, minimal talent with too much shine coming from Bailey. Others say I’m the one who needs to break out and be “that” star, leave Bailey and leave Williams.

A strong “family” bond can never be broken by success, no matter what. Some can never be that committed while others ... it’s important.

I see all these fresh and talented teams, stables, just trying to get that upstart to feel a grasp of “success”. They fight, they scratch, they sacrifice it all just for a shot at some gold for their partners, for their names. They want to be remembered in a fashionable success, not a “Oh, that guy!” kind of deal.

Sang Real ... as many times as one can fuck up that name, thanks to that accent, you two have been doing your best. It might not be always successful, but you strive continually until you achieve your goal. You want to, so badly, to take us, Dying Breed down and have your name on these tag plates. It’s a goal you strive for.

It’s a goal numerous teams strived for when they were pitted against us. Whether they liked us or hated us, they just could not get past the barrier. We’re nowhere near perfect. We have our times of disconnect where things don’t go as planned and it becomes a crazy, wild finish but in the end, we stand tall.

And as much as I hate to kill off a competitor standing in line waiting for those near-sold out tickets ... it’s sold out. You missed your chance a few weeks back. I appreciate you two giving us the fight of our life like previous, but the outcome will however amount to being the same.

These belts aren’t going anywhere fast...


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“Do you remember the timmeeeee, when we fell in love? Do you remembaahhh’...”

Carelessly spinning like a drunken ballet, I stumble but keep balance as I stare at the forever, shining pure gold template of the APW World Tag Titles as we had finally checked into the neat, fancy hotel here in Topeka, Kansas. In the room, a rare visual of three beds, fit for Dying Breed. Our carriage bags were scattered over the floors, unpacking and settling in. Yet all I seemed to have been doing was staring at this title, spinning dizzy in circles and repeating the same damn lines in a ‘off’ falsetto tone.

“What in the hell are you doing, J’?” Williams asked as he was cracking up, just wondering what the hell I was doing.

“Singing to my half of these tag titles, man. Every now and then, you gotta’ show them you care. Not being a ‘weirdo’ homie. It’s just being around us for so long, it was time I gave it some love. Sing to it. Like singing in the shower, feel me?” I said, asking William.

He just shook his head. “No, I don’t! Stop it, you look weird right now.”

I paused, laying the title momentarily on the cherry oak desk table that sat in front of me. Turning away from the mirror, I looked at Will.

“Seriously? You never sung in the shower?”

Will continued to shake his head. “Nope!”

I nodded my head, understanding as I grabbed the title that was now behind me.

“It’s rare that you hold something like this for so long, man. When you do, you grow attached to it, like a body part. You know the feel of being champion. I’m just giving appreciation to this beautiful ass thing, Will.”

“By singing out loud and off-key, one of MJ’s hits? Really?” William said, curious as ever.

Taking another spin, much better than the previous few that I had done. I grabbed my crotch like MJ before holding the title up and outward with the pointed tippy toe stance, even going so far as to making the necessary sound he was trademarked for. William just shook his head as Anthony had entered the room, coming back from a trip down stairs to make sure all was covered with their stay and there were no errors like it once happened before at one of our previous stops.

“What’s going on guys?” Anthony asked as he looked at me and William about five feet from each other.

“Ahh boy!” William lets out with a sigh as he goes to his bed and sits on the side with a smirk on his face.

“What’s up?” Anthony asks again, feeling left out of what went down while he was absent.

“Ahh nothing, I was just singing to this half of the tag titles. They’ve been around us for so long, I just felt the need to I guess, serenade em’. Feel me?”

Anthony took a moment before smirking, he then followed with a shake of his head. “No. I never did that one before!”

“Ah’ come on man! YOU telling ME that you NEEEVVVERRRR sung quietly or out loud to your title? Even when you were the Heavyweight Champ? You never just sung out of random to how sweet it was to be champion? You never directed your attention to that title and sung to it?”

Anthony was just cracking up as he walked over to his bed, putting something on the table. Sitting there on the edge, he popped open his phone, checking through.

“I may have said “Thank You” a few times to it, but never sung to a title. That’s cool though, we have been World Tag Champs for a while so I guess you could say it’s like a relationship.”

I just let out a sigh as I was pretty much the ‘only one’ who was doing it. Singled out, but it was good, unique and it brought a couple of laughs. We needed it, it was a rough trip to Kansas but we powered through it.

“I mean being we got “Sang Real” upcoming, I thought it was appropriate that I sanged real ... to this title.”

Anthony gave a smirk as William just looked at me, almost gave me the Dikembe Mutumbo finger as he shook his head signaling “No!”

“It’s actually pronounced ‘Sanngreeeal’ ... it’s tough but I actually kinda dig it. Standing for Royal Blood.” Anthony said as he broke eye contact from his phone to give me a quick lesson.

“Yeah, that damn accent means everything and even then, I appreciate them for giving themselves a name that really represents them. But as I stand here in this hotel room, I could give a shii--”

“Ooohhh!” William interrupted as he caused me to gasp out the rest of the word.

“Mr. Loose Cannon, Jair Hopkins. They are pretty decent, especially the last time DB faced off against them. They held their own for a bit there. I’ll give them some props, they’re coming into their own. You gotta keep calm. One slip up and they will make sure you regret it.” William continued as he looked at me, still holding the title in my hand.

“Yeah, they had some light, they did well, but they failed to succeed. Again this time, they will fail. I appreciate their hustle, but it is just not their time right now, nor will it ever be!”

Even though it sounded really aggressive-minded and seemed out of my district, I learned that at certain points in life, you have to be aggressive at times. While this wasn’t for the titles, this was a chance to see them as number one contenders again. Which mean it would be a third time overall, couple of weeks in between with facing them which in a way could be trouble.

“We got them man, no need to stress but HEY, onto a different subject. Who’s up for Topeka finest Chinese-takeout?” Anthony said as he put his phone to the side, holding his right hand up.

“Eh, I guess I can take a try at their selection here. I know nothing will touch “Chang Lee’s” restaurant chinese takeout in Brooklyn. I dunno what it is but it always hits me the right way. Puts me to sleep nice and easy.” I said, rubbing my belly.

“Probably that cat n’ dog they sliced up in the back, J’.” William said as my head turned to the side with my hand up, pushing the thought away.

“C’mon man! I don’t even want any now.” I said, shaking off Anthony’s suggestion.

“Yeah, I’ll pass too. Well, what are we going to get. It’s getting late. Pizza?” Anthony said, throwing out another suggestion.

“Hmm... Sounds legit!” I said, looking at my watch as it was twenty-minutes before ten o’clock at night.

“Yeah, that’s a good one, pizza works!” William said, agreeing on it.

Anthony nodded his head.

“Good deal, I’ll call in and place an order!” Anthony said as he picked up his phone and dialed in one of the numbers from the directory list that was provided on the table.

I stared at William who aimed his head down, looking at his fingernails. I grabbed a pillow and threw it right at him as he looked up, odd and wondering why I threw something at him.

“Whatchu’ throwing these nice, plush pillows for?” He asked.

“Dogs and cats? Really?” I said in reply, asking him a question.

He didn’t reply back, yet instead he just laughed.

Sssssaaaaannnnngggrreeeeeaaaaaallllllllllllllllll....

Welcome back, fellas! Welcome back to that ‘hot seat’.

You came for seconds and possibly thirds, huh?

You want to hold these glorious, serenadable titles, dontcha?

You want to be next greatest tag team here in APW, yah?

Well homies, as thrilling as that would be to see and witness ...

IT AIN’T HAPPENING!!!

I admit to it, I’m never one to sugar-coat anything, not even my own performances. The last round we faced, ya’ll put on a show, ya’ll showed ya’ll asses off and gave me and Ant a moment to ponder some things in our corner, and just like a good, clutch “closer”...

We shut down your parade.

I know, it’s easy to mess your name up, but that accent is a dead-on trip. But it’s not about the name, it’s about the meaning. I went on this before when we first met, but I understand it more. You two are brothers, second generation to your father’s. You grew up under their tutelage and like brothers, you went into this all together, looking to come out champions one day, which you were, pre-APW. Looking up your past history as tag champions, you were on a roll until things fell apart management-wise and although I’ve never been through that sort of turmoil, it’s always shitty to lose gold to a company that goes under.

Your journey here in APW has been up and down, up, up and down... like a cheat code. It works sometimes, other times it failed. The bond has grown even tighter since we last faced off which can only mean this makes it much more difficult for us to break through your wall of chemistry, but when there’s will, there’s always a way. We strive off of being “challenged”.

I’m taking you serious because whether you have an accent across your name or not, this all is REAL. You have a chance to become contenders, jumping rankings and having a chance at facing us for what would be a third time. You’re looking for the big pay off, you’re looking to add your name to these tag plates.

One day you will, but that day isn’t anytime soon!

Love and appreciate your ethic to be great. Although I despise you two’s decision in the ring and attitude with arrogance, you do your best each week to leave it laying all in that ring win or lose. I, Anthony, the Dying Breed, we appreciate seeing that from you guys.

And that’s another thing... The name, our name, Dying Breed. Everyone thinks of it differently than we do. It’s out of the box, yet everyone keeps saying how dumb it sounds. Ya’ll ain’t innovative. Ya’ll aren’t innovative. Why name yourselves “Dying Breed”?

Mannnnnn....

It’s like finding pre-historic fossils. It’s rare. You’re not just going to walk one day and find these embedded into some dirt rocks and sandy terrain. It’s rare. Let it sink in. How many stables you see that last this long. How many stables you see around who pride theirselves on getting to the top the right way, not cheating, not ordering or demanding. None of that. We wait our turn and attack on it. We are a dying breed. There aren’t many like us, the mentality, the posture, the whole package. We all have egos, but we don’t let it change us. We remain the same.

I admit, I can get wild, I can be outrageous, sometimes a hassle, sometimes even a distraction but it only makes this foundation richer in content. We all suffer through traumatic mistakes at times but it’s all about how you rebound from it. So far, I’ve been on the incline. Everyone gonna make a joke out of it but heh, it’s just salt to pepper. I don’t let it get to me. I just laugh at it.

I hope you realise Connor and Krown that this road to your dreams is going to continue to be harder and harder with each attempt. I’ve watched you guys do it big in Meltdown, but by now you already know, the water current is different as shit here. You’re learning but I wish you two the best. You beat us, good, I’m happy for you. Believe that the infamous “Third Time’s The Charm” won’t be such as ‘dreamy’ and beautiful as you imaged in your heads.

Peace, Sayōnara!