Post by T-Marv on Mar 10, 2014 3:34:01 GMT -4
She should be furious.
She should impress upon me all that I'm risking, all that I'm putting in danger with my egotistical attempt to hold onto the life that has left me a crippled shell of a man that I once was.
Lord knows it's exactly what I'd be doing.
Maggie Marvin smiles down at the wrapped up bundle of joy in her arms, her blue and white hospital gown parted just enough so the newborn's mouth can find it's source of food. Her hair is discheveled, her face that of a ball of stress that hasn't slept in days.
But right now... the sight before Terry's eyes has NEVER been more beautiful.
Once again, my wife proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's heads and shoulders better than me as a person.
Maggie looks up from the hospital bed and the proud smile on her face is a true thing of beauty. She blows a slight kiss at Terry who can do nothing but return the sentiment.
Not only would she never say something like that to me... she simply doesn't believe it. In her heart of hearts, she understands. She gets me, gets who I am, gets how I tick more than any single person has in my 40 years of existence. She is my sole mate, my perfect combination of everything I value.
She knows maybe better than I do why I must step back into that squared circle for a company I abandoned 6 months ago and help it give the final farewell it deserves.
The blond haired baby girl who's right hand is clinched in a ball as she desperately drinks down the milk, opens her eyes. The deep blue sapphires stare directly into Terry's and melts his heart. He wipes away a tear and sucks in a deep breath to continue.
My broken body is not even close to 100 percent. Standing up is a chore, let alone running with any semblance of the speed I once had. The blows on the body bag feel like jello slamming into a brick wall and the legendary endurance that once defined my the greatest thing that's ever happened to wrestling... shattered somewhere on the cold concrete in a Las Vegas Parking Garage.
Terry visibly winces as the memory of that night plays over and over in his head. As the unforgiving feel of foreign plastic and metal ripped into his side and leg and sent him on a vertigo nightmare into the air before landing on the cold concrete waiting below. Not that he was conscious for that impact. The pain had already swept him under with it's sweet embrace.
It was so easy to give up, so easy to give in. It would have been so comfortable, so welcoming to let the darkness wrap it's arms around me and squeeze tight. After all, most folks would be down right envious of the career that I’d had. Some would kill for it. One almost did. There was no shame in walking away, no shame in living my life with all the blessings I had left. I mean, look at them.
He nods toward the happy mother and child cuddled up.
Who wouldn’t consider that the perfect life?
He turns toward the camera for the first time.
But fate is a fickle bitch, and the REAL SHOW isn‘t the type of guy to let things fade away into the dark. No matter how much I wanted to. No matter how I desired to let it all be over. These things have a way of taking over and assuming a life of itself. So here I am just shy of Rasslemania X and the final match of my career.
Now, I‘m not an idiot, so I‘m very well aware of the slack jawed yokels flapping their gums around the horn and exactly what they‘re opinion of my return is. I‘m sure they‘re saying my Ego has pulled me back into the ring.
And in part, they‘re right.
Terry smirks a bit and shakes his head.
I‘m sure they‘re saying that I only came back to pull the spotlight right back on me and remind the world that I‘m still here.
And in part, they‘re right.
And I know they‘re imagining that I‘ve only come back to ensure that one of the sought after spots in the APW hall of Fame ballot was given to the longest reigning Undisputed Champion of ALL time….
Terry smiles and winks at the camera.
In all honesty, there‘s a thousand reasons why I came back… but two of them are sitting in that room right now. I know, I know, how could leaving my newborn daughter and wife to hop into a ring and endanger my well being POSSIBLY be for them?
If I can‘t stand up and overcome my challenges, if I can‘t rise above my obstacles, if I can‘t stand on my own two feet and be the man I was born to be, then how the hell can I possibly convince them that I could be a good father, a good husband! A mans worth is about his choices. It‘s about how quick he gets back on that bike after getting knocked off. And If I‘m worthless as a man.. I‘m worthless as a father. And that beautiful little thing in there deserves the VERY BEST that can be offered. So I pulled myself together and drug myself back into that ring, not just to prove something to all of you, but to also prove to myself that I can do ANYTHING….
And I will, cause those two most important women in my life… they don‘t deserve a cripple as the man of their household… they deserve a CHAMPION!.
Terry pauses a second and regains his composure.
And of course, how could one of those reasons not be the man who I will be locking horns with on night three of the FINAL Rasslemania in APW history?
Adrien Specter is the most respected man in the wrestling world. He has been everywhere, done everything, and has some how lived through all the pain and torture to tell the tale. He‘s a man who‘s body has been twisted, ripped apart, and mutilated more than even mine has, yet he‘s never once given up, never once walked away.
Terry shakes his head in awe before continuing.
Yet still, the questions are thrown in my face. No matter how appealing the match between The Real Show and The Ghost truly is, the twisted world we live in has to take something beautiful and break it down until it‘s ruined as nothing but an ugly confused mess. They dare to ask ‘But Terry, why Adrien?’
Is it not enough that I want to see once and for all which of us stands tall on that pedestal when the smoke has cleared and the battle is over?
Is it not enough that I respect the man on a level that I‘ve rarely shown to anyone else in our profession, and would find it an honor that my last match is against him?
Is it not enough that people have begged for this match for AGES, to the point that twitter has blown up, that APW has been flooded with mail, that everyone in the world is buzzing about this possibility?
Terry shakes his head with dissapointment.
Clearly not. It seems that the tear it down mentality that has engulfed this world in recent years wants something jucier, something raw, something they can sink their teeth in.
And as I‘ve always done, I‘m more than happy to inject the world with the truth, with the REAL story.
All the reasons listed before were 100% true… but the most sincere justification why I chose Adrien Specter, is to kick his ever-loving ass and knock some god damn sense into a man who is wiping his shit with the legacy he‘s built before pissing all over it!
Terry’s face instantly goes intense as he glares into the camera.
I get it Adrien. Your little thirst for vengeance you’ve been on lately, taking the boots to Doug E Fresh and trying to destroy the man for attempting to ruin every single facet of your life is more than understandable. He‘s the lowest of the low and, and there‘s a million wrestlers standing in line right behind you to rip off a piece of the professor and roast him over an open fire. But you let it get out of hand. You allowed your hatred to overshadow every single quality that you once held dear and you allowed him to change you into a true MONSTER!
And in the end Adrien, You let HIM WIN!
He has destroyed you, the real you, and you‘re desperately close to losing that man forever and never having the chance to get him back. You are lost Adrien, like the stray little puppy who‘s taken too many twists and turns and has gotten himself trapped far from home with absolutely no hope of ever returning.
Terry stares dead into the camera.
Think I’m lost? Full of shit? Dead wrong?
Then you haven’t been paying attention Adrien. See, I’ve the ability to read people like they’d never want to admit. Ask Level One who’s dug into his soul more often that the Real Show with a piercing glare. Ask Aubrey J. Parker who saw truly deep down to what she really was before she even saw it himself. Ask Drake Mosa who needed an act of god and a homicidal Motorist to put me down so he could deny the truths that I spoke so clearly about him.
You see Adrien, I know all of this because I‘ve been there.
I was the guy who was so consumed with my own petty bullshit that I put on the blinders and allowed all the others around me to fade away like NOTHING. I hurt every single person I‘ve ever loved because there was NOBODY there to yank me back to reality and say ‘QUIT BEING A JACKASS!’ So, I will be that man for you Adrien, I will be your judge and jury. And when I carry out the sentence, you will have the choice to take a good look at the truth staring you right in the face, or deny everything go back to being the edgy little sociopath that you so LOVE being.
Don‘t tell me that attention doesn‘t feed you Adrien, that flirting with the dark side doesn‘t invigorate you something fierce. I can see it in your eyes. I can see in in the way you take pleasure on defiling your opponents. You love it, and you eat that shit up like some attention starved whore begging for another screw so they can feel relevant once again!
That darkness will be the end of you Adrien. It will leave you cold and empty. It will cost you Val, and it will cost you the only thing you still have love for… this sport!
Terry takes another deep breath before turning around and staring at Maggie and Dru… the icons in his life that represent his redemption, that represent his own purpose.
Adrien. When you look across the ring from me when the bright lights of the BIGGEST show of all time begin glaring down on you, your blurred vision won’t see a respected opponent who could craft one of the greatest matches of all time. You wont see someone who once looked at you as a friend, as a comrade. You won’t see someone who stood behind you and cheered you on as you took your war to SCW. Instead, your distorted mind will simply see a cripple ripe for the picking who you can sacrifice to your maniacal little mission and use as a stepping stone towards that one thing that has eluded you regardless of your many accomplishments, true greatness.
You will do what so many have done before you and overlook the man who brought GIANTS to their knees! And like all of those fools, you two will find yourself desperately grasping for answers, wishing that you somehow had it in you to rise above the unexplainable force that just won‘t stop, that just won‘t fade away, that just won‘t DIE! See Adrien, I’ve accomplished that which you seek. I sat at the golden throne at the top of the mountain. And if you think for one second that I’m going to roll over and let you have your way with me because of a little ouchie some craven prick marked me with half a year ago, then you’ve already lost!
I don‘t fear you Adrien… like the others who have fallen before you begging for mercy as they quiver in their boots, there is not a scared bone in my body. I’ve looked into the face of true terror and I’ve simply given it the bird and moved on. So your biggest strength, your most important advantage is gone out the fucking window. To me Adrien, you’re not the big bad going bump in the night. You’re the decaying old tree branch scratching at the window, pretending to be something you’re not!
But there‘s no fooling me Adrien. I will stare into the truth of your soul and force the reality that hides underneath to come out. I will expose your true face to the world and make them KNOW that the enigma they‘ve always cowered over was nothing more than a façade. When you‘re laying there in the middle of that ring and staring up at the lights wondering what the hell just happened, perhaps you‘ll actually use that little brain of yours and wizen up. Or perhaps, you‘ll find yet another way to fool yourself.
Either way, the one certainty that will come from Rasslemania X will feature GOD‘s GIFT TO WRESTLING overcoming all odds and raising his arms in victory. Predictable? Yes. Cheezy? Yes. But just because the outcome is something you can‘t handle Adrien, doesn‘t make it any less inevitable!
Terry stares down at his feet for a second. He closes his eyes and for a moment, everything is quiet and still. Thoughts rush through his head, and we see him almost visibly fight them off, like a bad flashback.
Finally he opens his eyes and slowly looks up.
But even Adrien Specter isn‘t the most crucial reason that I have to return, that I have to have ONE MORE MATCH.
You see, the last time the public world saw The Real Show, I was laying there broken and bleeding. I had been defeated. Now, I‘d been beaten many times. I‘ve lost many times. But no matter how badly things went for me in that ring, I‘ve never… EVER been defeated.
In that moment, everything that I was, everything that I‘ve accomplished, and everything that I stood for was erased forever and replaced with that image. When people thought of Terry Marvin, they thought only of his destruction.
As bad as that was… that wasn’t the way most APW fans remember me. They remember the man who had turned his back on the company that made him everything he was again. They remember the back of my head as I sent up a middle finger and told them all to go strait to hell.
That is not the legacy I want to leave behind. That will not be my final image in the sport that has given me more than I‘ve ever given back.
Instead, I‘ll do what the Real Show has always done, and I‘ll give them one hell of a memory to hold on to for the rest of their lives. I will let them watch me go out on top, with my head held high, as a winner on the grandest stage of them all, on the final celebration of APW‘s crowning acheivment. I will let them see me leave as has always been destined… riding off into the sunset as the KING of WRESTLING.
It‘s what I deserve.
It‘s what the fans deserve.
It‘s what APW deserves!
Terry smiles one last time as he gets close up to the camera.
Before the final curtain goes down.
Before I take my final bow.
Before the lights are turned off for good, I will give everyone one HELL of a final encore.
And Adrien… Every single ounce of determination and drive that I‘ve ever experienced will go into ripping you to shreds and putting you in your place.
You see, for me, there is no tomorrow. There is no after. For me, there is no ‘next time.’ Everything that I have, everything that I am culminates in THIS last match Mr. Specter… and I promise you that even with your vast experience, there‘s no way in hell this is something you‘re even remotely prepared for.
Terry flashes one last smile.
Well folks, the time for talking is done, and I have nothing left to do but put my money where my mouth is and back up all my talk like I’ve done each time in the past. So I guess there‘s only one statement left…
Terry winks before turning around and walking back into the hospital room to join his family. The scene fades to black, but just after it does, one final sign is shown.
IT‘S SHOWTIME
She should impress upon me all that I'm risking, all that I'm putting in danger with my egotistical attempt to hold onto the life that has left me a crippled shell of a man that I once was.
Lord knows it's exactly what I'd be doing.
Maggie Marvin smiles down at the wrapped up bundle of joy in her arms, her blue and white hospital gown parted just enough so the newborn's mouth can find it's source of food. Her hair is discheveled, her face that of a ball of stress that hasn't slept in days.
But right now... the sight before Terry's eyes has NEVER been more beautiful.
Once again, my wife proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's heads and shoulders better than me as a person.
Maggie looks up from the hospital bed and the proud smile on her face is a true thing of beauty. She blows a slight kiss at Terry who can do nothing but return the sentiment.
Not only would she never say something like that to me... she simply doesn't believe it. In her heart of hearts, she understands. She gets me, gets who I am, gets how I tick more than any single person has in my 40 years of existence. She is my sole mate, my perfect combination of everything I value.
She knows maybe better than I do why I must step back into that squared circle for a company I abandoned 6 months ago and help it give the final farewell it deserves.
The blond haired baby girl who's right hand is clinched in a ball as she desperately drinks down the milk, opens her eyes. The deep blue sapphires stare directly into Terry's and melts his heart. He wipes away a tear and sucks in a deep breath to continue.
My broken body is not even close to 100 percent. Standing up is a chore, let alone running with any semblance of the speed I once had. The blows on the body bag feel like jello slamming into a brick wall and the legendary endurance that once defined my the greatest thing that's ever happened to wrestling... shattered somewhere on the cold concrete in a Las Vegas Parking Garage.
Terry visibly winces as the memory of that night plays over and over in his head. As the unforgiving feel of foreign plastic and metal ripped into his side and leg and sent him on a vertigo nightmare into the air before landing on the cold concrete waiting below. Not that he was conscious for that impact. The pain had already swept him under with it's sweet embrace.
It was so easy to give up, so easy to give in. It would have been so comfortable, so welcoming to let the darkness wrap it's arms around me and squeeze tight. After all, most folks would be down right envious of the career that I’d had. Some would kill for it. One almost did. There was no shame in walking away, no shame in living my life with all the blessings I had left. I mean, look at them.
He nods toward the happy mother and child cuddled up.
Who wouldn’t consider that the perfect life?
He turns toward the camera for the first time.
But fate is a fickle bitch, and the REAL SHOW isn‘t the type of guy to let things fade away into the dark. No matter how much I wanted to. No matter how I desired to let it all be over. These things have a way of taking over and assuming a life of itself. So here I am just shy of Rasslemania X and the final match of my career.
Now, I‘m not an idiot, so I‘m very well aware of the slack jawed yokels flapping their gums around the horn and exactly what they‘re opinion of my return is. I‘m sure they‘re saying my Ego has pulled me back into the ring.
And in part, they‘re right.
Terry smirks a bit and shakes his head.
I‘m sure they‘re saying that I only came back to pull the spotlight right back on me and remind the world that I‘m still here.
And in part, they‘re right.
And I know they‘re imagining that I‘ve only come back to ensure that one of the sought after spots in the APW hall of Fame ballot was given to the longest reigning Undisputed Champion of ALL time….
Terry smiles and winks at the camera.
In all honesty, there‘s a thousand reasons why I came back… but two of them are sitting in that room right now. I know, I know, how could leaving my newborn daughter and wife to hop into a ring and endanger my well being POSSIBLY be for them?
If I can‘t stand up and overcome my challenges, if I can‘t rise above my obstacles, if I can‘t stand on my own two feet and be the man I was born to be, then how the hell can I possibly convince them that I could be a good father, a good husband! A mans worth is about his choices. It‘s about how quick he gets back on that bike after getting knocked off. And If I‘m worthless as a man.. I‘m worthless as a father. And that beautiful little thing in there deserves the VERY BEST that can be offered. So I pulled myself together and drug myself back into that ring, not just to prove something to all of you, but to also prove to myself that I can do ANYTHING….
And I will, cause those two most important women in my life… they don‘t deserve a cripple as the man of their household… they deserve a CHAMPION!.
Terry pauses a second and regains his composure.
And of course, how could one of those reasons not be the man who I will be locking horns with on night three of the FINAL Rasslemania in APW history?
Adrien Specter is the most respected man in the wrestling world. He has been everywhere, done everything, and has some how lived through all the pain and torture to tell the tale. He‘s a man who‘s body has been twisted, ripped apart, and mutilated more than even mine has, yet he‘s never once given up, never once walked away.
Terry shakes his head in awe before continuing.
Yet still, the questions are thrown in my face. No matter how appealing the match between The Real Show and The Ghost truly is, the twisted world we live in has to take something beautiful and break it down until it‘s ruined as nothing but an ugly confused mess. They dare to ask ‘But Terry, why Adrien?’
Is it not enough that I want to see once and for all which of us stands tall on that pedestal when the smoke has cleared and the battle is over?
Is it not enough that I respect the man on a level that I‘ve rarely shown to anyone else in our profession, and would find it an honor that my last match is against him?
Is it not enough that people have begged for this match for AGES, to the point that twitter has blown up, that APW has been flooded with mail, that everyone in the world is buzzing about this possibility?
Terry shakes his head with dissapointment.
Clearly not. It seems that the tear it down mentality that has engulfed this world in recent years wants something jucier, something raw, something they can sink their teeth in.
And as I‘ve always done, I‘m more than happy to inject the world with the truth, with the REAL story.
All the reasons listed before were 100% true… but the most sincere justification why I chose Adrien Specter, is to kick his ever-loving ass and knock some god damn sense into a man who is wiping his shit with the legacy he‘s built before pissing all over it!
Terry’s face instantly goes intense as he glares into the camera.
I get it Adrien. Your little thirst for vengeance you’ve been on lately, taking the boots to Doug E Fresh and trying to destroy the man for attempting to ruin every single facet of your life is more than understandable. He‘s the lowest of the low and, and there‘s a million wrestlers standing in line right behind you to rip off a piece of the professor and roast him over an open fire. But you let it get out of hand. You allowed your hatred to overshadow every single quality that you once held dear and you allowed him to change you into a true MONSTER!
And in the end Adrien, You let HIM WIN!
He has destroyed you, the real you, and you‘re desperately close to losing that man forever and never having the chance to get him back. You are lost Adrien, like the stray little puppy who‘s taken too many twists and turns and has gotten himself trapped far from home with absolutely no hope of ever returning.
Terry stares dead into the camera.
Think I’m lost? Full of shit? Dead wrong?
Then you haven’t been paying attention Adrien. See, I’ve the ability to read people like they’d never want to admit. Ask Level One who’s dug into his soul more often that the Real Show with a piercing glare. Ask Aubrey J. Parker who saw truly deep down to what she really was before she even saw it himself. Ask Drake Mosa who needed an act of god and a homicidal Motorist to put me down so he could deny the truths that I spoke so clearly about him.
You see Adrien, I know all of this because I‘ve been there.
I was the guy who was so consumed with my own petty bullshit that I put on the blinders and allowed all the others around me to fade away like NOTHING. I hurt every single person I‘ve ever loved because there was NOBODY there to yank me back to reality and say ‘QUIT BEING A JACKASS!’ So, I will be that man for you Adrien, I will be your judge and jury. And when I carry out the sentence, you will have the choice to take a good look at the truth staring you right in the face, or deny everything go back to being the edgy little sociopath that you so LOVE being.
Don‘t tell me that attention doesn‘t feed you Adrien, that flirting with the dark side doesn‘t invigorate you something fierce. I can see it in your eyes. I can see in in the way you take pleasure on defiling your opponents. You love it, and you eat that shit up like some attention starved whore begging for another screw so they can feel relevant once again!
That darkness will be the end of you Adrien. It will leave you cold and empty. It will cost you Val, and it will cost you the only thing you still have love for… this sport!
Terry takes another deep breath before turning around and staring at Maggie and Dru… the icons in his life that represent his redemption, that represent his own purpose.
Adrien. When you look across the ring from me when the bright lights of the BIGGEST show of all time begin glaring down on you, your blurred vision won’t see a respected opponent who could craft one of the greatest matches of all time. You wont see someone who once looked at you as a friend, as a comrade. You won’t see someone who stood behind you and cheered you on as you took your war to SCW. Instead, your distorted mind will simply see a cripple ripe for the picking who you can sacrifice to your maniacal little mission and use as a stepping stone towards that one thing that has eluded you regardless of your many accomplishments, true greatness.
You will do what so many have done before you and overlook the man who brought GIANTS to their knees! And like all of those fools, you two will find yourself desperately grasping for answers, wishing that you somehow had it in you to rise above the unexplainable force that just won‘t stop, that just won‘t fade away, that just won‘t DIE! See Adrien, I’ve accomplished that which you seek. I sat at the golden throne at the top of the mountain. And if you think for one second that I’m going to roll over and let you have your way with me because of a little ouchie some craven prick marked me with half a year ago, then you’ve already lost!
I don‘t fear you Adrien… like the others who have fallen before you begging for mercy as they quiver in their boots, there is not a scared bone in my body. I’ve looked into the face of true terror and I’ve simply given it the bird and moved on. So your biggest strength, your most important advantage is gone out the fucking window. To me Adrien, you’re not the big bad going bump in the night. You’re the decaying old tree branch scratching at the window, pretending to be something you’re not!
But there‘s no fooling me Adrien. I will stare into the truth of your soul and force the reality that hides underneath to come out. I will expose your true face to the world and make them KNOW that the enigma they‘ve always cowered over was nothing more than a façade. When you‘re laying there in the middle of that ring and staring up at the lights wondering what the hell just happened, perhaps you‘ll actually use that little brain of yours and wizen up. Or perhaps, you‘ll find yet another way to fool yourself.
Either way, the one certainty that will come from Rasslemania X will feature GOD‘s GIFT TO WRESTLING overcoming all odds and raising his arms in victory. Predictable? Yes. Cheezy? Yes. But just because the outcome is something you can‘t handle Adrien, doesn‘t make it any less inevitable!
Terry stares down at his feet for a second. He closes his eyes and for a moment, everything is quiet and still. Thoughts rush through his head, and we see him almost visibly fight them off, like a bad flashback.
Finally he opens his eyes and slowly looks up.
But even Adrien Specter isn‘t the most crucial reason that I have to return, that I have to have ONE MORE MATCH.
You see, the last time the public world saw The Real Show, I was laying there broken and bleeding. I had been defeated. Now, I‘d been beaten many times. I‘ve lost many times. But no matter how badly things went for me in that ring, I‘ve never… EVER been defeated.
In that moment, everything that I was, everything that I‘ve accomplished, and everything that I stood for was erased forever and replaced with that image. When people thought of Terry Marvin, they thought only of his destruction.
As bad as that was… that wasn’t the way most APW fans remember me. They remember the man who had turned his back on the company that made him everything he was again. They remember the back of my head as I sent up a middle finger and told them all to go strait to hell.
That is not the legacy I want to leave behind. That will not be my final image in the sport that has given me more than I‘ve ever given back.
Instead, I‘ll do what the Real Show has always done, and I‘ll give them one hell of a memory to hold on to for the rest of their lives. I will let them watch me go out on top, with my head held high, as a winner on the grandest stage of them all, on the final celebration of APW‘s crowning acheivment. I will let them see me leave as has always been destined… riding off into the sunset as the KING of WRESTLING.
It‘s what I deserve.
It‘s what the fans deserve.
It‘s what APW deserves!
Terry smiles one last time as he gets close up to the camera.
Before the final curtain goes down.
Before I take my final bow.
Before the lights are turned off for good, I will give everyone one HELL of a final encore.
And Adrien… Every single ounce of determination and drive that I‘ve ever experienced will go into ripping you to shreds and putting you in your place.
You see, for me, there is no tomorrow. There is no after. For me, there is no ‘next time.’ Everything that I have, everything that I am culminates in THIS last match Mr. Specter… and I promise you that even with your vast experience, there‘s no way in hell this is something you‘re even remotely prepared for.
Terry flashes one last smile.
Well folks, the time for talking is done, and I have nothing left to do but put my money where my mouth is and back up all my talk like I’ve done each time in the past. So I guess there‘s only one statement left…
Terry winks before turning around and walking back into the hospital room to join his family. The scene fades to black, but just after it does, one final sign is shown.
IT‘S SHOWTIME
