Post by Kurt on Mar 9, 2014 22:39:49 GMT -4
Don’t Stop.
March 9th, 2014
3 Hours to Night I
“You changed this place…forever. I hope you know that.”
The declaration lingers as Amy Noble fixates her gaze onto the man standing before her. He smirks as he runs his hands through his hair, intermittent with streak of gray and brown. Faded scars, unhealed scabs, and near permanent under-eye bags reside on his face like the crumpled edges of a beautiful tapestry. Kurt Noble leers out into the empty arena as he leans against the ropes, his fingers fiddling with a golden flyer, highlighted with the words “HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE.”
“Jeff asked me if I knew that my first night on Overdrive against Pence Weatherlight,” Noble says, dragging his fingers across the ropes. “That was…two and a half years ago. A lot happened in those two years. Johnny Rebel. CJ Gates. Nobledrive. Rasslemania XIII. Terry Marvin. The Undisputed Championship. Survive and Conquer. Doug Fresh. Chris…”
“Us.”
“Most definitely us,” Noble agrees as he thumbs the gold band on his ring finger. Amy ambles forward, placing her hand on Kurt’s shoulder as his grin wanes.
“So I guess that begs the question Kurt…why are we back here tonight? “
Noble’s eyes dart to the golden flyer riffling between his fingers, which Amy calmly removes.
“You could have said no,” she says with a tone of serenity, a lack of scolding. “You could have had a stand in. No one would have blamed you – no one. Some memories…just aren’t worth reliving.”
“And some demand it,” Noble mumbles. His eyes shoot to one of the banners near the firmament of the arena, labeled the following:”
LEGENDS UNITE
KURT NOBLE & DELIKADO VS. CHRIS MADISON & TOMMY KNOXVILLE
RASSLEMANIA X
“You didn’t come back for them,” Amy counters, her tone still genial. She wraps her arms Noble, her head lying on his shoulder.
“Do you miss it?” she asks surreptitiously. Noble’s grin returns as he wraps his arm around her.
“It was a part of me for seven years,” Noble answers. “This was my life: Standing in the ring, with not a care in the world besides figuring out the labyrinth of my opponent. How was I going to beat them? Was I faster? Stronger? Could I outthink them? Sometimes it was yes. Sometimes it was no. But, after the ending of Rasslemania last year, I knew one thing was true. I didn’t change this place.
“This place changed me.”
Noble ‘s eyes dart to the other banners, displaying the names Noble knew so well: CJ Gates, Johnny Rebel, Level-One, Terry Marvin, Jack Benevolence, and a slew of others.
“We want to believe that everything we do in this squared circle is going to change the world forever. The truth is…it doesn’t change. Life goes on. You’re a giant next moment, only to be dwarfed the next. You’re a God one day, and a myth the next. I don’t know Chris Madison or Tommy Knoxville, but they became the next wave. Sooner or later, they’ll retire, and the next bunch will come in. One man, woman, or child can’t change the ebb and flow of that tide. Things never change…but people sure do. You miss it like you your great, great ancestors. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
“Like Delikado and I…we’ve been through a lot over seven years. I wouldn’t have ever achieved what I did without him.” Noble touches his knee-brace furtively.
“Like you and I,” Amy quips, eliciting a smile from both.
“Just like you and I,” Noble concurs. Noble pivots, and Amy hands him his oak cane as he begins to limp towards the stairs. She opens the ropes for him, and he steps out. The two begin to make their up the ramp.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it sometimes,” Noble continues. “I’d be lying i a small, pulsing part of me wasn’t looking forward to this match tonight. It’s been years since Delikado and I could even begin to be considered on the same side. I’d be lying if I said a small part of me wasn’t looking forward to that fresh competition again; guys like Madison and Knoxville used to be the highlight of my months. I’d get to prove myself against guys who were just waiting to take my place, but now, after everything I’ve been through…they’ve already taken it. Nostalgia lost to something far more valuable.”
Noble scratches the back of his head, peering back into the empty arena, one that will soon be packed with a voracious, pugnacious crowd.
“Peace.”
Before Amy can respond, a vibration fills the air. She reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a cell-phone. She swipes the screen.
“It’s 4MW calling again,” Amy asserts, the slightest hint of disdain drifting in her voice. “They must have heard you’re back for the night. Makes the fourth company tonight. Should I tell them the same thing I told the others?”
Tacitly, Noble’s eyes drift towards his wife, who smiles; she places the phone back into her jeans pocket.
“Good,” she says. The two peer out into the empty arena once again as Noble exhales.
“There is one thing I’m going to miss more than anything though,” Noble says, his eyes hazily peering at his wife out of the corner of his gaze.
“What’aya say?” he asks. “For old time’s sake?”
The two lock hands as they step back to the curtain.
“I’ll get the camera.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…tonight’s the tonight. Tonight’s the night the night we end the fight. Tonight’s the night we see the light. Tonight’s the night to do what’s right. Tonight is Rasslemania X.
“Tonight is the end.
“But, after seven long years, I’ve come to a conclusion. It came to me six months after I left APW, while I was lounging at home, putting together a lesson plan for my students. I’m a teacher now, by the way. I lead others to a different drum. I came to that conclusion after hearing about last year’s One Night in Hell. Some names I recognized, some I didn’t. I thought I’d be surprised to hear Terry Marvin at lost the Undisputed Championship. Honestly?
“I wasn’t.
“There wasn’t some magical fluttering feeling, any bitterness at not being the one to do it, or any lingering feeling of dourness. The heavens did not fall for such a trifle. There wasn’t anything. I went right back to my lesson, and just like that….life kept going. That’s the conclusion I came to.
“That’s why I’m here tonight, with Delikado, to face both Chris Madison and Tommy Knoxville - known as the Black Hand, apparently. When I got told this would be my final match with Action Packed Wrestling, I smiled. I didn’t smile because I thought this would be an easy victory – it won’t. You both possess the energy and resilience that I left behind years. I didn’t smile because I thought I’d finally put my career to rest beating two names I’d never crossed before, adding them to the likes of Terry Marvin, CJ Gates, Johnny Rebel, and a plethora of others. I didn’t smile because I thought Delikado would betray me…again. You know why I smiled?
“Because this match is more than wins and losses.
“Everyone asked me what I was going to say about the two of you. In the olden days, I’d have researched the two of you, ripped you about apart with a diatribe like no other, and brought that same intensity to the ring. I’d have belittled Knoxville for accomplishing damn near little across the whole of APW, or Madison for trying to use me as a stepping stool. I’d have slammed like like I slammed Michael Jennings, Evan Envi, and everyone who thought my back was a nice pathway to top of Mount Goldenville. I’d have brought the same thing I brought every match: Kurt Noble.
“Instead, I bring you something else tonight…
“Curtis Parker….the teacher.
“And that man can sit here, quite earnestly, and say with 100% certainty…that I have nothing bad to say about either of you. For the final match of my career, I choose not to belittle…but to enlighten.
“That is why I’ve returned for one final match.
“See, we’re all just small town girls and city boys, livin’ in a lonely world – we do this like a religion. We hop on these midnight trains goin’ anywhere – wherever our company tells us to go. That, by chance, has brought the four of us here tonight – to a smokey room, with the smell of wine and cheap perfume. When this match is over, Delikado and I will fade away into nothingness. Everything we’ve done, everything we’ve accomplished…it’ll all be outdone by the next generation. And that…
“Is okay by me.
“So, that brings me to the two of you. You’ll try your best to beat when the time comes. You’ll do your damnedest to cross our names on your bucket lists. You’ll fight the hardest you’ve ever fought in order to close APW in a way that shows that you’re better than the ‘great’ Kurt Noble and Delikado. You’ll put yourselves on the map as one of the greatest tag teams ever, or so you hope. My advice to you on your way to achieving that goal?
“Don’t stop.
“Don’t ever stop.
“This place changed me by showing me that all you can do, all you can ever hope to do is change what comes after you. You can be the change you want to see in the world. I couldn’t ever change Level-One. Terry Marvin was always going to be Terry Marvin. In the end, I couldn’t even change Chris Hart. These names will be gone sooner than later. You can, however, be the model for what others hope to be – the kids, the neophytes, the trainees. But you, and those that will come after you, and those that will come after them have a valuable lesson to learn from tonight:
“It goes on and on and on.
“We’re just strangers waiting up and down the boulevard – shadows, searching in the night, living just to find emotion. Well, I’ve got it here tonight…
“Don’t ever stop believing.
“Maybe you can’t ever change the world, but Goddamit, don’t stop trying. I don’t care how you treat this match tonight. Maybe the two of you will cheat. Maybe you’ll do anything to put a “Hall of Famer” away. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be better than us. Whatever path you take, take it honestly – and live in a way that ten years from now, when you’re on the verge of retiring, the youngsters of those time will reverse you, respect you, and push themselves to their limits.
“You two have worked hard to get your fill. You’ve paid a lot to roll that dice. So, you got what you wanted – two ‘legends.’ Tonight, some will win, and some will lose – Hell, some were born to sing the blues. Everyone is putting their eggs into one basket tonight, saying this is one of the most important matches ever for them. Me?
“It’s not.
“Because whatever happens tonight, I end my career knowing that I tried to do what was best for wrestling. I tried to be an example that people with hardships, disabilities, and instability could thrive to. I tried to stand above the politics, the bullshit, and everything in-between. Did I always succeed? No. Did I fall sometimes? Of course. Does it matter in the end? It doesn’t.
“Because it goes on and on and on and on.
“I used to think there would never come a time when the wrestling world wouldn’t need Kurt Noble. I saw Nobledrive as a way to quench not only my own thirst, but to sate the drought of every man, woman, and child that needed a hero. A year ago, I learned that not to be true…the world kept going on without me. The world didn’t stop. Even if I lose tonight, to two of the finest wrestlers this company has the pleasure of hosting, I won’t fill the need to fill that void. There won’t be a hunger to get back in that ring and fulfill myself. After seven long years, I found what I wanted, needed, and loved. It wasn’t wrestling.
“It was those that loved me back.
“And that’s what I’ll never stop doing: Being the person they need me to be. Even when this match is over, whether Madison has pinned my shoulders, or Knoxville is standing triumphant over me, it won’t matter. Whatever this match comes to, I’ll go out knowing that when that final bell rung, and I left it all out in the ring, I wasn’t Kurt Noble…the man that viewed himself as “The Megastar.”
“I was Curtis Partker…the man that brought his best, time in and night out.
“That’s who you’re both getting tonight. The name Kurt Noble will eventually be forgotten…but the hardwork, the passion, the dedication, the compassion, the composure, the kindness that came with that name…that’ll NEVER be forgotten. That’s what I hope to bring to both of you tonight, Delikado be damned. Tonight, I’m going to be the model of a man that believes the world can be changed, just a sliver at a time, in a roped ring.
“You might not get my best. You might not get my brightest. You definitely won’t get my most savage. You will get me. That’s all I can give you. Maybe, just maybe, maybe maybe maybe…
“You’ll learn something about being a true wrestler. That is why I’ve returned for the end.
“For Rasslemania X.
“For my final match in my career.
“For both of you.
“This is it. This is my final time to make believers in that ring. So, yes, gentlemen….
“I won’t waste it.
“I will wait, patiently as can be, until you come to me. I’ll watch you cheat if you have to. I’ll watch you slobber over the chance of breaking me so badly that I can’t even move for three seconds. I’ll push myself to be on equal footing with you, and with a hint of luck, maybe Delikado and I can put on enough of a team to actually beat you. Maybe. Maybe so.
“I do it for you. I do it show you that good, honest people can get what they deserve. I do it show you that sometimes, grudges are best left behind for the sake of progress. I do it for the people that love this business.
“But, I must confess…there’s one final person I do this for.
“I’ve never met them. They’re going to be sitting out in that arena tonight, or perhaps watching from home. They’re going to be young, or perhaps even old. They’re going to be watching a man with a limp, a busted face, and gray hair take on two masters of the ring, and get thrown around like a sack. They’re going to think it’s over in the first five minutes.
“But it won’t be. They’ll be interested when that man fights back, and gives it his all. They’ll watch him throw Madison out of the ring with all his might. They’ll be august watching him move around like a man half his age. They’ll be awestruck when that man takes to the air, and moonsaults off the top rope. They’ll have never seen something like that before.
“If that man wins, they’ll cheer. If that man loses, they’ll watch him stand up, and raise the hands of the man that beat him. They’ll watch him say goodbye, and turn to their parents, with just a single thought on their mind…
“’I want to be JUST like him when I grow up!’
“It’s not a great victory. It’s a tentative wish, at best. It’ll be arduous, strenuous, and downright impossible some days…but one day, that person will enter the ring knowing that hard work, perseverance, and character got them to that point. They probably won ‘t even remember the name of the man they saw at Rasslemania…but they’ll remember being amazed at what he could do.
“And the cycle will live on.
“That, ladies and gentlemen, is what making believers is all about.
“It’s been seven years - Seven long years. It didn’t end last year. There was one final statement to be made…tonight. Rasslemania X marks the end of a lot of things. It ends a lot of careers. Many of us will move on from here, never to cross paths again…but the lessons learned here will never die. They’ll go on…
And on.
And on.
And on.
“Don’t ever stop. Change the world, one night at a time.
“Don’t stop believin’.
“Not now.
“Not then.
“Not you.
“Never.
“Viva la Vida ladies and gentlemen…it’s been an honor.”
-
-
-
“It would be a stronger world, a stronger loving world, to die in.”
- John Cole.
March 9th, 2014
3 Hours to Night I
“You changed this place…forever. I hope you know that.”
The declaration lingers as Amy Noble fixates her gaze onto the man standing before her. He smirks as he runs his hands through his hair, intermittent with streak of gray and brown. Faded scars, unhealed scabs, and near permanent under-eye bags reside on his face like the crumpled edges of a beautiful tapestry. Kurt Noble leers out into the empty arena as he leans against the ropes, his fingers fiddling with a golden flyer, highlighted with the words “HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE.”
“Jeff asked me if I knew that my first night on Overdrive against Pence Weatherlight,” Noble says, dragging his fingers across the ropes. “That was…two and a half years ago. A lot happened in those two years. Johnny Rebel. CJ Gates. Nobledrive. Rasslemania XIII. Terry Marvin. The Undisputed Championship. Survive and Conquer. Doug Fresh. Chris…”
“Us.”
“Most definitely us,” Noble agrees as he thumbs the gold band on his ring finger. Amy ambles forward, placing her hand on Kurt’s shoulder as his grin wanes.
“So I guess that begs the question Kurt…why are we back here tonight? “
Noble’s eyes dart to the golden flyer riffling between his fingers, which Amy calmly removes.
“You could have said no,” she says with a tone of serenity, a lack of scolding. “You could have had a stand in. No one would have blamed you – no one. Some memories…just aren’t worth reliving.”
“And some demand it,” Noble mumbles. His eyes shoot to one of the banners near the firmament of the arena, labeled the following:”
LEGENDS UNITE
KURT NOBLE & DELIKADO VS. CHRIS MADISON & TOMMY KNOXVILLE
RASSLEMANIA X
“You didn’t come back for them,” Amy counters, her tone still genial. She wraps her arms Noble, her head lying on his shoulder.
“Do you miss it?” she asks surreptitiously. Noble’s grin returns as he wraps his arm around her.
“It was a part of me for seven years,” Noble answers. “This was my life: Standing in the ring, with not a care in the world besides figuring out the labyrinth of my opponent. How was I going to beat them? Was I faster? Stronger? Could I outthink them? Sometimes it was yes. Sometimes it was no. But, after the ending of Rasslemania last year, I knew one thing was true. I didn’t change this place.
“This place changed me.”
Noble ‘s eyes dart to the other banners, displaying the names Noble knew so well: CJ Gates, Johnny Rebel, Level-One, Terry Marvin, Jack Benevolence, and a slew of others.
“We want to believe that everything we do in this squared circle is going to change the world forever. The truth is…it doesn’t change. Life goes on. You’re a giant next moment, only to be dwarfed the next. You’re a God one day, and a myth the next. I don’t know Chris Madison or Tommy Knoxville, but they became the next wave. Sooner or later, they’ll retire, and the next bunch will come in. One man, woman, or child can’t change the ebb and flow of that tide. Things never change…but people sure do. You miss it like you your great, great ancestors. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
“Like Delikado and I…we’ve been through a lot over seven years. I wouldn’t have ever achieved what I did without him.” Noble touches his knee-brace furtively.
“Like you and I,” Amy quips, eliciting a smile from both.
“Just like you and I,” Noble concurs. Noble pivots, and Amy hands him his oak cane as he begins to limp towards the stairs. She opens the ropes for him, and he steps out. The two begin to make their up the ramp.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it sometimes,” Noble continues. “I’d be lying i a small, pulsing part of me wasn’t looking forward to this match tonight. It’s been years since Delikado and I could even begin to be considered on the same side. I’d be lying if I said a small part of me wasn’t looking forward to that fresh competition again; guys like Madison and Knoxville used to be the highlight of my months. I’d get to prove myself against guys who were just waiting to take my place, but now, after everything I’ve been through…they’ve already taken it. Nostalgia lost to something far more valuable.”
Noble scratches the back of his head, peering back into the empty arena, one that will soon be packed with a voracious, pugnacious crowd.
“Peace.”
Before Amy can respond, a vibration fills the air. She reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a cell-phone. She swipes the screen.
“It’s 4MW calling again,” Amy asserts, the slightest hint of disdain drifting in her voice. “They must have heard you’re back for the night. Makes the fourth company tonight. Should I tell them the same thing I told the others?”
Tacitly, Noble’s eyes drift towards his wife, who smiles; she places the phone back into her jeans pocket.
“Good,” she says. The two peer out into the empty arena once again as Noble exhales.
“There is one thing I’m going to miss more than anything though,” Noble says, his eyes hazily peering at his wife out of the corner of his gaze.
“What’aya say?” he asks. “For old time’s sake?”
The two lock hands as they step back to the curtain.
“I’ll get the camera.”
-
-
-
-
-
THE FINAL NOBLEDRIVE
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…tonight’s the tonight. Tonight’s the night the night we end the fight. Tonight’s the night we see the light. Tonight’s the night to do what’s right. Tonight is Rasslemania X.
“Tonight is the end.
“But, after seven long years, I’ve come to a conclusion. It came to me six months after I left APW, while I was lounging at home, putting together a lesson plan for my students. I’m a teacher now, by the way. I lead others to a different drum. I came to that conclusion after hearing about last year’s One Night in Hell. Some names I recognized, some I didn’t. I thought I’d be surprised to hear Terry Marvin at lost the Undisputed Championship. Honestly?
“I wasn’t.
“There wasn’t some magical fluttering feeling, any bitterness at not being the one to do it, or any lingering feeling of dourness. The heavens did not fall for such a trifle. There wasn’t anything. I went right back to my lesson, and just like that….life kept going. That’s the conclusion I came to.
“That’s why I’m here tonight, with Delikado, to face both Chris Madison and Tommy Knoxville - known as the Black Hand, apparently. When I got told this would be my final match with Action Packed Wrestling, I smiled. I didn’t smile because I thought this would be an easy victory – it won’t. You both possess the energy and resilience that I left behind years. I didn’t smile because I thought I’d finally put my career to rest beating two names I’d never crossed before, adding them to the likes of Terry Marvin, CJ Gates, Johnny Rebel, and a plethora of others. I didn’t smile because I thought Delikado would betray me…again. You know why I smiled?
“Because this match is more than wins and losses.
“Everyone asked me what I was going to say about the two of you. In the olden days, I’d have researched the two of you, ripped you about apart with a diatribe like no other, and brought that same intensity to the ring. I’d have belittled Knoxville for accomplishing damn near little across the whole of APW, or Madison for trying to use me as a stepping stool. I’d have slammed like like I slammed Michael Jennings, Evan Envi, and everyone who thought my back was a nice pathway to top of Mount Goldenville. I’d have brought the same thing I brought every match: Kurt Noble.
“Instead, I bring you something else tonight…
“Curtis Parker….the teacher.
“And that man can sit here, quite earnestly, and say with 100% certainty…that I have nothing bad to say about either of you. For the final match of my career, I choose not to belittle…but to enlighten.
“That is why I’ve returned for one final match.
“See, we’re all just small town girls and city boys, livin’ in a lonely world – we do this like a religion. We hop on these midnight trains goin’ anywhere – wherever our company tells us to go. That, by chance, has brought the four of us here tonight – to a smokey room, with the smell of wine and cheap perfume. When this match is over, Delikado and I will fade away into nothingness. Everything we’ve done, everything we’ve accomplished…it’ll all be outdone by the next generation. And that…
“Is okay by me.
“So, that brings me to the two of you. You’ll try your best to beat when the time comes. You’ll do your damnedest to cross our names on your bucket lists. You’ll fight the hardest you’ve ever fought in order to close APW in a way that shows that you’re better than the ‘great’ Kurt Noble and Delikado. You’ll put yourselves on the map as one of the greatest tag teams ever, or so you hope. My advice to you on your way to achieving that goal?
“Don’t stop.
“Don’t ever stop.
“This place changed me by showing me that all you can do, all you can ever hope to do is change what comes after you. You can be the change you want to see in the world. I couldn’t ever change Level-One. Terry Marvin was always going to be Terry Marvin. In the end, I couldn’t even change Chris Hart. These names will be gone sooner than later. You can, however, be the model for what others hope to be – the kids, the neophytes, the trainees. But you, and those that will come after you, and those that will come after them have a valuable lesson to learn from tonight:
“It goes on and on and on.
“We’re just strangers waiting up and down the boulevard – shadows, searching in the night, living just to find emotion. Well, I’ve got it here tonight…
“Don’t ever stop believing.
“Maybe you can’t ever change the world, but Goddamit, don’t stop trying. I don’t care how you treat this match tonight. Maybe the two of you will cheat. Maybe you’ll do anything to put a “Hall of Famer” away. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be better than us. Whatever path you take, take it honestly – and live in a way that ten years from now, when you’re on the verge of retiring, the youngsters of those time will reverse you, respect you, and push themselves to their limits.
“You two have worked hard to get your fill. You’ve paid a lot to roll that dice. So, you got what you wanted – two ‘legends.’ Tonight, some will win, and some will lose – Hell, some were born to sing the blues. Everyone is putting their eggs into one basket tonight, saying this is one of the most important matches ever for them. Me?
“It’s not.
“Because whatever happens tonight, I end my career knowing that I tried to do what was best for wrestling. I tried to be an example that people with hardships, disabilities, and instability could thrive to. I tried to stand above the politics, the bullshit, and everything in-between. Did I always succeed? No. Did I fall sometimes? Of course. Does it matter in the end? It doesn’t.
“Because it goes on and on and on and on.
“I used to think there would never come a time when the wrestling world wouldn’t need Kurt Noble. I saw Nobledrive as a way to quench not only my own thirst, but to sate the drought of every man, woman, and child that needed a hero. A year ago, I learned that not to be true…the world kept going on without me. The world didn’t stop. Even if I lose tonight, to two of the finest wrestlers this company has the pleasure of hosting, I won’t fill the need to fill that void. There won’t be a hunger to get back in that ring and fulfill myself. After seven long years, I found what I wanted, needed, and loved. It wasn’t wrestling.
“It was those that loved me back.
“And that’s what I’ll never stop doing: Being the person they need me to be. Even when this match is over, whether Madison has pinned my shoulders, or Knoxville is standing triumphant over me, it won’t matter. Whatever this match comes to, I’ll go out knowing that when that final bell rung, and I left it all out in the ring, I wasn’t Kurt Noble…the man that viewed himself as “The Megastar.”
“I was Curtis Partker…the man that brought his best, time in and night out.
“That’s who you’re both getting tonight. The name Kurt Noble will eventually be forgotten…but the hardwork, the passion, the dedication, the compassion, the composure, the kindness that came with that name…that’ll NEVER be forgotten. That’s what I hope to bring to both of you tonight, Delikado be damned. Tonight, I’m going to be the model of a man that believes the world can be changed, just a sliver at a time, in a roped ring.
“You might not get my best. You might not get my brightest. You definitely won’t get my most savage. You will get me. That’s all I can give you. Maybe, just maybe, maybe maybe maybe…
“You’ll learn something about being a true wrestler. That is why I’ve returned for the end.
“For Rasslemania X.
“For my final match in my career.
“For both of you.
“This is it. This is my final time to make believers in that ring. So, yes, gentlemen….
“I won’t waste it.
“I will wait, patiently as can be, until you come to me. I’ll watch you cheat if you have to. I’ll watch you slobber over the chance of breaking me so badly that I can’t even move for three seconds. I’ll push myself to be on equal footing with you, and with a hint of luck, maybe Delikado and I can put on enough of a team to actually beat you. Maybe. Maybe so.
“I do it for you. I do it show you that good, honest people can get what they deserve. I do it show you that sometimes, grudges are best left behind for the sake of progress. I do it for the people that love this business.
“But, I must confess…there’s one final person I do this for.
“I’ve never met them. They’re going to be sitting out in that arena tonight, or perhaps watching from home. They’re going to be young, or perhaps even old. They’re going to be watching a man with a limp, a busted face, and gray hair take on two masters of the ring, and get thrown around like a sack. They’re going to think it’s over in the first five minutes.
“But it won’t be. They’ll be interested when that man fights back, and gives it his all. They’ll watch him throw Madison out of the ring with all his might. They’ll be august watching him move around like a man half his age. They’ll be awestruck when that man takes to the air, and moonsaults off the top rope. They’ll have never seen something like that before.
“If that man wins, they’ll cheer. If that man loses, they’ll watch him stand up, and raise the hands of the man that beat him. They’ll watch him say goodbye, and turn to their parents, with just a single thought on their mind…
“’I want to be JUST like him when I grow up!’
“It’s not a great victory. It’s a tentative wish, at best. It’ll be arduous, strenuous, and downright impossible some days…but one day, that person will enter the ring knowing that hard work, perseverance, and character got them to that point. They probably won ‘t even remember the name of the man they saw at Rasslemania…but they’ll remember being amazed at what he could do.
“And the cycle will live on.
“That, ladies and gentlemen, is what making believers is all about.
“It’s been seven years - Seven long years. It didn’t end last year. There was one final statement to be made…tonight. Rasslemania X marks the end of a lot of things. It ends a lot of careers. Many of us will move on from here, never to cross paths again…but the lessons learned here will never die. They’ll go on…
And on.
And on.
And on.
“Don’t ever stop. Change the world, one night at a time.
“Don’t stop believin’.
“Not now.
“Not then.
“Not you.
“Never.
“Viva la Vida ladies and gentlemen…it’s been an honor.”
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“It would be a stronger world, a stronger loving world, to die in.”
- John Cole.
