Post by Blade on Dec 15, 2010 18:54:06 GMT -4
It’s time.
You will know when it’s time because you will feel a thousand eyeballs penetrating your skin like lasers; making it unbearable to continue; your knees will begin to tremble, your legs are shaking, the pressure is upon you.
Maybe you have crossed that fine line and stepped out of your depth, crashing into a world where you are the odd one out. No matter what other people do; eating light bulbs, barb razor wire across the back, death defying stunts, you know you are unable to contemplate that, you will sink before you can swim.
“The Epitome of Excellence”
If only it were “the Epitome of Extreme”.
I have signed my life away now, but I don’t intend to look back; the time has come for me to try something new, and if that means pouring my blood, sweat and tears into it, then so be it.
It’s time to play this game;
Time to play it my way.
You will know when it’s time because you will feel a thousand eyeballs penetrating your skin like lasers; making it unbearable to continue; your knees will begin to tremble, your legs are shaking, the pressure is upon you.
Maybe you have crossed that fine line and stepped out of your depth, crashing into a world where you are the odd one out. No matter what other people do; eating light bulbs, barb razor wire across the back, death defying stunts, you know you are unable to contemplate that, you will sink before you can swim.
“The Epitome of Excellence”
If only it were “the Epitome of Extreme”.
I have signed my life away now, but I don’t intend to look back; the time has come for me to try something new, and if that means pouring my blood, sweat and tears into it, then so be it.
It’s time to play this game;
Time to play it my way.
~~~ ~~~
‘You have got to be kidding me…’
Anthony James is deep in conversation on the phone, by the tine if his voice we must assume it is his agent. In recent weeks he has been signed up to a new promotion, somewhere that he can once again sink his teeth into the world of wrestling yet again. Little did he know at the time he was signing his life away to the IWC; the Insane Wrestling Championship.
‘You do realize that this sort of match could kill me’
‘You wanted back in the world of wrestling, this was the only shot I had at getting you settled before the Christmas period.’
‘This isn’t exactly what I had in mind; can you really see the epitome of excellence putting his body through all sorts of pain just to be able to wrestle again? I had somewhere in mind, preferably on a beach surrounded by near naked women; not by sweaty men with a glazed look of desperation in their eye ready to kill me at any given opportunity’
‘Yeah, but you are Anthony James…’
‘And your point?...’
‘You take on anything and everything, you are the man…’ It’s clear that his agent is using a sarcastic tone, but knows this will appeal to him.
‘I am aren’t I? I am Anthony James…’ AJ smirks as his ego has just been stroked.
‘Exactly…’
‘Don’t get too confident, you are not off the hook yet; you need to find me a place to stay and preferably one that won’t involve me getting rolled out on a stretcher at the end of my matches’
‘We will see…’ The agent is tired and frustrated at AJ, knowing that the IWC is pretty much the only promotion that would take him. ‘Anyway, I got to go… business…’
Before AJ can speak, the phone goes dead. ‘Fucking Idiot, I need to fire his ass…’ AJ is furious but knows at this time of year, there aren’t many people hiring, and this could be his first and last shot at stardom once again.
Plugging his phone back into the charger, AJ continues his way around the kitchen; dinner time. The smells are over powering, but it’s always good to be able to cook a dinner fit for a champion.
‘I can’t believe I still let him put me through this; he gets a decent cut, more than I want to pay him anyway, and he still lumbers me in a hell hole. It’s easy for me to knock it because I’m the new guy in town, but I know what I like. A simple wrestling match where I can showcase my talents; a place where I can push myself when I want to push myself, normality is what I seek. I don’t see the point where everyone claims to be more extreme than the next person, where they claim that they are the most brutal when a weapon is placed in their hand; anyone can become hardcore when they clutch a steel chair and swing it as hard as they can.’
‘It’s hardly impressive is it?’
‘All I can say is at least it’s a job; work hasn’t exactly come easy at the moment and I don’t see myself conforming just to fit in, well at least not as much as I have to. From what I can tell it makes sense to have a cool edgy nickname; something that makes you sound like you are above you opponent and are a hell of a lot meaner than them; ‘The diva of extreme’, ‘the barbed wire buzz saw’, yeah they sound cool, but at the end of a day, that’s all it is; a name. It doesn’t add anything to your in ring ability, and it sure doesn’t make you hardcore just because you say you are, and from what I can see I am surrounded by a lot of ego’s like that.’
‘I could rename myself ‘the epitome of extreme’ just to give me that edge, but it’s not going to happen, I strive to be excellent and that’s the way I shall play it. I plan on making my stay here as hassle and as pain free as possible and if that means flying under the radar then that’s what I shall do. The past is in the past, and I’m pretty sure that no one here in IWC gives a damn about where I came from or what I could do, it’s all about the here and now and what I can do; what I can achieve and accomplish, and that is what I look forward to showing you.’
‘It isn’t going to be easy as pretty much everyone here has had time to acclimatize and do their homework on their opponents, which is all good if that’s how each person consistently performs, but in this world each match is different to the next.’
‘It becomes easy when you have it in your head to say that you are the best; if you are highly opinionated then it usually becomes clear that you cover your eyes with blinkers, unwilling to listen to anyone else, not wanting to take the advice of your peers to help you progress…’
‘I on the other hand do not need that advice; I do not need to do that homework.’
The pots and pans are starting to build up on the side as everything AJ cooks seems to burn, but this doesn’t faze him. In his own little world it is all perfect and nothing will bring him down.
‘I can hear the cogs working in your heads and you are asking why? Why Anthony James do you think you are better than the rest, why?’
‘And that answer is simple…’
‘Because I am.’ AJ smirks, the thought of stroking his own ego pleases him
‘You can call me cocky, or maybe even arrogant, and for that I will say thank you; I am not stupid and I know what I need to do to survive, I am not here to risk my life, I am here simply to put on a show, become a champion and collect my paycheck.’
‘I like how Massacre on 34th Street has been booked; I find myself in one, quite possibly even 2 matches that I don’t have to win, all I have to do is outsmart my opponents and survive; it is purely that simple. I can hazard a guess that my opponents in this extreme battle royale are going to come out all guns blazing, trying to prove that they are far superior than the other six wrestlers in the ring, they will all have egos that need stroking and will have one thing in their mind; winning. It’s quite possible that someone will possess the skills and ability to wipe out that whole ring, and without sounding ignorant, I believe I possess that skill set.’
‘I am not here to make friends, and showboat to everyone, and as much as I protest about being here I may as well try to enjoy it. It may very well kill me but we all have to start somewhere again.’
‘I can see the names booked for this match and can see that most of them have earned the right to fight in this qualifier match, they have been around IWC for a while now, possibly since the start, and then they see me floating in and potentially taking away their opportunity for a chance to fight for the Insane title, so in my eyes that already makes me enemy number one. I don’t blame them because if someone better than me was thrown into a match that I thought I had a chance of winning, I would be pissed too.’
‘It would be easy to go through the list of names and pick fault, but I don’t know the difference between an Isabella Pazzini and a Damien Dimitri, they are just merely names that stand in my way of progressing to the final later on in the night. I am sure everyone will have a different story to tell, and I am sure that it will be great, possibly even award winning, but when it comes down to it will they have the persistence to carry on and take what is there? I can see everyone trying to pull out something special, whether it is Judo Jimmy breaking out some crazy kung-fu; or even Amber Stevens flashing a bit of amber to catch someone eye, the main thing that they will have to remember is that they are on show.’
‘It may be cool for them to try and excel in this match, but I have no shame in admitting that I will fly under the radar and take every opportunity I can to stay safe. Some will say this is a sign of weakness and that I don’t belong; but to me it’s clever.’
‘It’s not always about winning, unless there is something at stake, and this time there is.’
‘Anthony James, the IWC Insane Champion’
‘Has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?’
A smile grows across AJ’s face as he likes the sound of what he has just said; with his dinner prepared he takes off his apron and picks up his plate of food making his way out of the kitchen
