Post by Smash INC on Jun 14, 2015 23:19:34 GMT -4
August 2013 marked the end of a chapter of my life, the closing of a story that had taken me from the independent scene in the UK to the biggest organisation in the sport. I went out proud, taking part in a match that defined who I was and where I stood in the sport and in comparison to others. I always knew that I was a good wrestler, making it to APW proved that. Fighting in Survive and Conquer proved that, winning a championship and getting the chance to defend it at Rasslemania proved that.
But Shockwave 2013 proved something else, I always knew I was a good wrestler and my final match showed that right to the end. I was good, I wasn't the best. Anthony Bailey was ahead of me, the better man and the better athlete. Shockwave proved to be the right ending, the one where the valiant fighter accepts the reality of the situation and bows out with grace. I was good, I wasn't good enough and that was something I was able to recognise.
The reason I call it the end to my story is that I began to collect some notes, forming them together into something that showed where I started and where I ended. That story is complete, Shockwave was a definitive ending to it. I had the beginning, the middle and I had the ending but something told me there was space for an epilogue, a commentary on what conclusions were made. I never knew for sure how I would implement that until Action Packed Wrestling made the call.
Action Packed Wrestling put out the feelers for a reunion show and as you can probably tell, a lot of talented people answered. The wheels turn again as the hype builds for something huge, something that I think will prove itself to live up to the hype once it happens. Part of the reason I'm involved is because I want to be there when it happens, to feel the energy and adrenaline that you can only get at times like these.
There are some familiar aspects to this show and one part of that is the large amount of promotional material floating about the internet, whether it's video on-demand or some other form, it shows that some things remain the same in the sport. What you're not going to see from me is promotional material, that's the specialty of the many wrestlers out there but I feel that things are slightly different for me.
You see, I haven't been a wrestler for nearly two years.
That's one thing I doubt people were expecting me to say but it's an absolute truth. It's been nearly two years since I've wrestled, nearly two years since I've gone through the whole routine to get to the ring in the right shape and the right mentality. It's been long enough since I've wrestled that I can say I no longer am a wrestler. It's why you're not going to see the standard promotional material from me, because that would say that nothing has changed when it clearly has.
Things have changed, but I wasn't the only one to be affected. Once you take a look back to August 2013, once you look back to Shockwave you'll see something else that changed. I departed from APW with my head held high because I gave everything I could and still lost to a man who was better. I left APW knowing that APW would go on forever and that the fans would see the best wrestlers in the world compete on a regular basis and always at the highest level. I KNEW that was what the future held. So take a moment and imagine what it means to be in this position, to take part in a reunion show for the very thing you thought would never go away. I knew APW would last forever, but I was wrong. Things changed, we changed.
I have been around, watching at different places and times and I saw the gradual change. I saw the gradual realisation that so much good competition could only sustain itself for so long. When you get the absolute best in the sport in one location and one of them loses, there's a realisation that perhaps they could take a different road and dominate in another way. Some turned to methods that went against the point of the sport, some determined that their best choice was to rule somewhere else and others, others like myself decided that it may be better to bow out and respect their health.
That's the truth of why I left APW, I knew my body wasn't held together with the amount of strength my mind had. I knew that if I could not be the best of the best then I had to find one moment in time where I could give it my all and be proven right. Bailey beating me was the best thing that could've happened, it proved my conviction and it gave me the chance to say goodbye in the right way.
I guess that brings us to the here and now.
If I'm saying all this about leaving in the right way, about proving my convictions and the changes that happened to APW and myself then why am I here? Because I did leave, I did prove something and APW changed to the point that it didn't last forever. The answer is simply that I need to know what the conclusion is.
I haven't been a wrestler for nearly two years but I still have the mind for it, I lost to Anthony Bailey because he was the better man but that could have changed as well. APW reunites for a purpose but I want to see if it's back for the right one, there's a lot that has been unsaid in these last couple of years and the reunion show is the place to shout it out.
A lot needs to be said, because a lot has happened. I got the chance to start in wrestling in a place where I could develop myself in a huge way, I was able to propel myself to the world stage because of that. I was given everything and I know it, gifted with the opportunities that I wanted to get myself to the stage where I could perform at my absolute best. Even then, it wasn't enough. Even then, there were things I was unable to accomplish.
Even now, there's something to be said about how my career concluded.
Maybe there were things that remained, but how many people have the luxury of being able to say they accomplished what they wanted. How many people get to say that they were able to reach the highest level and see what it was like. I got that chance, to hold a championship in APW and to achieve what I wanted to. My career ended on a high, losing to a man who had my number and someone who I could honestly say was a worthy victor. I could, and I did, walk away a happy man.
I've not spoken much about anybody else in the match because there isn't much I can say, Bailey has been the focus because he was the man I last fought in the ring and even now that won't change. TJ was someone who proved himself to everyone a long time ago and there's no need for me to shout about his accomplishments. What's missing from that part is an admission, that we haven't spoken much and that if anyone was looking for a weakness in us then our communication would be it. As individuals we are strong enough to reach the highest level but as a team we might not be on the same level. That's where the real test lies.
You take a look at Jair Hopkins and there's the immediate difference, the communication TJ and myself have lacked will not be missing with Hopkins and Bailey. As far as the Black Hand is concerned, the history that's been covered has been mine but when you look at the capabilities of Chris Madison and Tommy Knox it shows that they belong and it shows that this reunion show won't be lacking in competition.
What it will lack is order, that's a certainty. Tornado rules never lend themselves well to order, but they do encourage the individual to go to their limits in order to counter everything and everyone that is thrown at them. It's been a long time, but I know what it means to have to face down multiple opponents and know that strength and speed along is not enough.
What it takes is the intelligence to be the man who can survive in that environment and that puts me in a position to be the man who can make the most of it.
I haven't been a wrestler for a long time but I've always been Keaton Saint, I have always been the person who would give their all in the ring and that is exactly what will happen when I step in there with Bailey, Hopkins, Knox and Madison. You're all probably putting the time in to figure out just how you're going to get around someone like TJ, who stands taller and has the kind of size that intimidates all but the most hardened of foes.
So you find your way around the sheer physicality of TJ, you find a way to outfox a man of his size and speed in order to remove the initial advantage. You do that and then the realisation settles in that there's more than one pillar and neither will crumble. You take down the physical specimen and you're left with the thinker, you're left with the man who called himself the Patron Saint of Professional Wrestling. I called myself the embodiment of this sport and for years very few people questioned it because that was who I was in the ring. The thinker, the mind of wrestling.
I won't be as fast or as strong as I was, my body isn't as ready to take the punishment as it might have been a few years ago but my mind is still there. I've still got the intelligence and the tactical nous to make the best of the situation, whatever it may be. Things changed, but I never lost sight of my limitations. I know what I can and cannot do, but what I can do is very good.
What I can do is give everything, because I've done that before. What I can do is prove why I made it to APW in the first place. What I will do is be the man I've always been, the one who set the bar for others to overcome.
This is the epilogue of the man who was the Patron Saint of Wrestling, the conclusion to everything I have done.
Let's find out how much that really is.
But Shockwave 2013 proved something else, I always knew I was a good wrestler and my final match showed that right to the end. I was good, I wasn't the best. Anthony Bailey was ahead of me, the better man and the better athlete. Shockwave proved to be the right ending, the one where the valiant fighter accepts the reality of the situation and bows out with grace. I was good, I wasn't good enough and that was something I was able to recognise.
The reason I call it the end to my story is that I began to collect some notes, forming them together into something that showed where I started and where I ended. That story is complete, Shockwave was a definitive ending to it. I had the beginning, the middle and I had the ending but something told me there was space for an epilogue, a commentary on what conclusions were made. I never knew for sure how I would implement that until Action Packed Wrestling made the call.
Action Packed Wrestling put out the feelers for a reunion show and as you can probably tell, a lot of talented people answered. The wheels turn again as the hype builds for something huge, something that I think will prove itself to live up to the hype once it happens. Part of the reason I'm involved is because I want to be there when it happens, to feel the energy and adrenaline that you can only get at times like these.
There are some familiar aspects to this show and one part of that is the large amount of promotional material floating about the internet, whether it's video on-demand or some other form, it shows that some things remain the same in the sport. What you're not going to see from me is promotional material, that's the specialty of the many wrestlers out there but I feel that things are slightly different for me.
You see, I haven't been a wrestler for nearly two years.
That's one thing I doubt people were expecting me to say but it's an absolute truth. It's been nearly two years since I've wrestled, nearly two years since I've gone through the whole routine to get to the ring in the right shape and the right mentality. It's been long enough since I've wrestled that I can say I no longer am a wrestler. It's why you're not going to see the standard promotional material from me, because that would say that nothing has changed when it clearly has.
Things have changed, but I wasn't the only one to be affected. Once you take a look back to August 2013, once you look back to Shockwave you'll see something else that changed. I departed from APW with my head held high because I gave everything I could and still lost to a man who was better. I left APW knowing that APW would go on forever and that the fans would see the best wrestlers in the world compete on a regular basis and always at the highest level. I KNEW that was what the future held. So take a moment and imagine what it means to be in this position, to take part in a reunion show for the very thing you thought would never go away. I knew APW would last forever, but I was wrong. Things changed, we changed.
I have been around, watching at different places and times and I saw the gradual change. I saw the gradual realisation that so much good competition could only sustain itself for so long. When you get the absolute best in the sport in one location and one of them loses, there's a realisation that perhaps they could take a different road and dominate in another way. Some turned to methods that went against the point of the sport, some determined that their best choice was to rule somewhere else and others, others like myself decided that it may be better to bow out and respect their health.
That's the truth of why I left APW, I knew my body wasn't held together with the amount of strength my mind had. I knew that if I could not be the best of the best then I had to find one moment in time where I could give it my all and be proven right. Bailey beating me was the best thing that could've happened, it proved my conviction and it gave me the chance to say goodbye in the right way.
I guess that brings us to the here and now.
If I'm saying all this about leaving in the right way, about proving my convictions and the changes that happened to APW and myself then why am I here? Because I did leave, I did prove something and APW changed to the point that it didn't last forever. The answer is simply that I need to know what the conclusion is.
I haven't been a wrestler for nearly two years but I still have the mind for it, I lost to Anthony Bailey because he was the better man but that could have changed as well. APW reunites for a purpose but I want to see if it's back for the right one, there's a lot that has been unsaid in these last couple of years and the reunion show is the place to shout it out.
A lot needs to be said, because a lot has happened. I got the chance to start in wrestling in a place where I could develop myself in a huge way, I was able to propel myself to the world stage because of that. I was given everything and I know it, gifted with the opportunities that I wanted to get myself to the stage where I could perform at my absolute best. Even then, it wasn't enough. Even then, there were things I was unable to accomplish.
Even now, there's something to be said about how my career concluded.
Maybe there were things that remained, but how many people have the luxury of being able to say they accomplished what they wanted. How many people get to say that they were able to reach the highest level and see what it was like. I got that chance, to hold a championship in APW and to achieve what I wanted to. My career ended on a high, losing to a man who had my number and someone who I could honestly say was a worthy victor. I could, and I did, walk away a happy man.
I've not spoken much about anybody else in the match because there isn't much I can say, Bailey has been the focus because he was the man I last fought in the ring and even now that won't change. TJ was someone who proved himself to everyone a long time ago and there's no need for me to shout about his accomplishments. What's missing from that part is an admission, that we haven't spoken much and that if anyone was looking for a weakness in us then our communication would be it. As individuals we are strong enough to reach the highest level but as a team we might not be on the same level. That's where the real test lies.
You take a look at Jair Hopkins and there's the immediate difference, the communication TJ and myself have lacked will not be missing with Hopkins and Bailey. As far as the Black Hand is concerned, the history that's been covered has been mine but when you look at the capabilities of Chris Madison and Tommy Knox it shows that they belong and it shows that this reunion show won't be lacking in competition.
What it will lack is order, that's a certainty. Tornado rules never lend themselves well to order, but they do encourage the individual to go to their limits in order to counter everything and everyone that is thrown at them. It's been a long time, but I know what it means to have to face down multiple opponents and know that strength and speed along is not enough.
What it takes is the intelligence to be the man who can survive in that environment and that puts me in a position to be the man who can make the most of it.
I haven't been a wrestler for a long time but I've always been Keaton Saint, I have always been the person who would give their all in the ring and that is exactly what will happen when I step in there with Bailey, Hopkins, Knox and Madison. You're all probably putting the time in to figure out just how you're going to get around someone like TJ, who stands taller and has the kind of size that intimidates all but the most hardened of foes.
So you find your way around the sheer physicality of TJ, you find a way to outfox a man of his size and speed in order to remove the initial advantage. You do that and then the realisation settles in that there's more than one pillar and neither will crumble. You take down the physical specimen and you're left with the thinker, you're left with the man who called himself the Patron Saint of Professional Wrestling. I called myself the embodiment of this sport and for years very few people questioned it because that was who I was in the ring. The thinker, the mind of wrestling.
I won't be as fast or as strong as I was, my body isn't as ready to take the punishment as it might have been a few years ago but my mind is still there. I've still got the intelligence and the tactical nous to make the best of the situation, whatever it may be. Things changed, but I never lost sight of my limitations. I know what I can and cannot do, but what I can do is very good.
What I can do is give everything, because I've done that before. What I can do is prove why I made it to APW in the first place. What I will do is be the man I've always been, the one who set the bar for others to overcome.
This is the epilogue of the man who was the Patron Saint of Wrestling, the conclusion to everything I have done.
Let's find out how much that really is.
