The Social Experiment: The Afterthought [o1/o2]

[Blade]

All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible

-William Faulkner[/center]

______________________________

RASSLEMANIA VIII


If it were a circus, it would be referred to as the biggest show on the earth.


APW isn’t a circus; Rasslemania STILL is the biggest show on the earth.


CJ Gates vs. Blade vs. Johnny Rebel vs. Kurt Noble


I hope you have picked your winner; because I have.


Surprisingly, I pick myself to win and become the Undisputed APW champion. I have been made to feel like an outside favourite to win this thing and who am I to disappoint. I have no backing from my fans, from my family and from the other APW staff so I feel an upset coming on. I am never one to be kept down, and I will Survive, I will Conquer and I will reign supreme.


The FIVE things that keep me sane and keep me pushing
forward?


Passion


I have plenty of passion. I always wanted to succeed but have always been old that I am not good enough.


Belief


Believe that I am your NEXT Undisputed champion


Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back


I don’t fear anyone. If I did then I wouldn’t be where I am today. Take a chance and show everyone that I am the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.


Step up to the Challenge


The bar has been set and I am more than ready to step up and prove that I am a man.


Keep your ego under control


Forget that, My EGO is what has made me who I am today. If I didn’t have this, then what am i? I am a scared fool who will let other walk all over him, I am not that person.


Rasslemania VIII


Dreams will be lived, hearts will be broken.


I am the man that intends to live that out.


#YearOfBlade

______________________________

The Social Experiment: The Afterthought

Monday 19th March 2012
TOP LEVEL GYM
5002 Madison Ave. Suite U1
Indianapolis



“Well I am surprised to see you here!”


A voice echoes across a quiet gym and Blade is in the corner working on some weights as he stops in motion dropping the dumbbells to the floor. Looking over his shoulder a merry Jackson is waddling over towards him slowly clapping as he draws nearer.


“I have scoured every single club around here and not one single place has you on their guest list. You refuse to answer your phone and the man at the motel said you left early this morning with your gym bag over your shoulder. Surprisingly I chuckled to myself and thought that I would never find you here Pete, but I guess you can colour me purple because this is a miracle.” Jackson speaks in a surprised voice as he finally reaches Blade.


“Its ok, you can stop laughing now…” Blade frowns at Jackson’s remarks.


“Don’t get me wrong I am over the moon that you are here working on your game as it finally means you are taking shit round here seriously, its finally gotten to you hasn’t it?” remarks Jackson as he reaches out and pats Blade on the shoulder.


Knocking Jackson’s hand away Blade responds. “What’s gotten to me?”


“The pressure of being at the top, and after the past few weeks I don’t blame you, you need to get your head together so we can finally get the big pay day we deserve…” sounds a confident Jackson as he makes the universal money sign with his fingers.


“Nothing has gotten to me as you say…” Blade pauses and shakes his head. “In the words of Charlie Sheen I haven’t exactly been WINNING as of late and maybe this is one opportunity that I don’t want to let pass me by…” Blade is interrupted by Jackson.


“It’s all good kid, I’m playing wit’ ya. Its finally good to see you getting in the right frame of mind because as of late, people have finally let go of the undercard moniker for you and are finally seeing you as a threat to CJ Gates for the Undisputed championship…” a smile forms across Jacksons face.


“Huh?” Blade looks confused as he doesn’t seem to realize what Jackson is on about as he reaches backwards to steady himself as he sits on one of the weight benches.


“Twitter Blade…” Jackson pauses. “Twitter…”


“Twitter? What the hell are you on about Jacko, you know I don’t use that shit…” Blade is stopped in his tracks as Jackson begins to touch the screen on his iPhone.


“I know you don’t use it…” responds Jackson. “I use it for you.” Jackson pauses and smiles at Blade. "When you started all of this Year of Blade nonsense I decided to take it to the social networks for you, and to say it has been successful has been an understatement.”


“So you are saying that I am getting far on Twitter? How exactly does that help me in the ring?” questions Blade.


“It doesn’t…” States Jackson. “But it has put you on the map. You aren’t quite Trending like Kurt Noble at the minute, but you are up there…” Blade holds his arm up and stops Jackson mid sentence.


“So what you are saying is that I can’t even beat Noble on a silly invention like Twitter, never mind in a wrestling match?” Blade looks confused and shakes his head at Jackson with a look of disgust on his face. Jackson continues to play with his iPhone and pulls up Blades twitter logs.


“Nah Blade, you misunderstand, this is all about getting your name out there and getting your fan base back.” Jackson responds with a smug look on his face.


“My fan base?” questions Blade. “You mean the same fans that turned their back on me at last year’s Rasslemania? The same fans to who chose to follow Gates while they let me suffer?” Blade looks disgruntled and confused as Jackson acknowledges him.


“Yeah those fans.” Mutters Jackson. “You need to have some fan base and publicity whether it be good or bad. Take this for example…” Jackson pulls up one of the first tweets.

APWfanatic @apwefed Main Event at Rasslemania looking good. How did Blade get there? #overrated #RasslemaniaVIII

“See they are talking about you…” Jackson is stopped in his tracks.


“So you really think that this is good publicity? The fact that the fans don’t even think I should be in the main event at Rasslemania…” Fed up of being interrupted Jackson does the same thing to Blade and continues.

APWSux0rz @apwefed I didn’t think it could get any worse and then you add Blade to the mix #AFTERTHOUGHT

Blade pipes up once more. “Again, I reiterate my statement, how is this going to make me feel better and get me in the right frame of mind when the people who are supposed to love this event can’t take me seriously?" Questions Blade as he is becoming more frustrated with the Tweets.


“Wait, there is more…” Mutters Jackson as he flicks his phone looking for more.

SteedJAX @apwefed Oh yeah that’s right the soon to be NEW Undisputed APW champion BLADE!! #YearOfBlade

Blade laughs to himself. “So what you are saying is that you are pretty much my only supporter in the world?”


“Kind of…” Mutters Jackson. “But like I said, good or bad, it’s all good baby. We have spread…” Blade interrupts Jackson once more.


“You have…”


“Correction…” Jackson adjusts his position. “I have spread the word that Blade will be taking over the world and 2012 is your year; it’s not my fault that you are unable to see that yet …”


“What am I meant to be seeing Jackson? You tell me…” Blade rises up from his seated position. “From what I am hearing is that you are the only person who has any faith in me and that is all because you know the figure that you will be receiving should I actually win that match…”


“No there is more to it than that…” Jackson reclines further against the wall


“Sure there is. For once it would actually be great if you thought I could win this match. Sure things haven’t exactly been going my way in recent weeks, but I haven’t really had the chance of a clean victory. Everywhere I have turned Rebel has been so far up my ass that he has seen what I had for breakfast; his attitude has stunk, but he has forgotten that I was actually the man who got him to Rasslemania safely, without me Gates and Noble would have finished him off weeks ago…”


“That is true…” Jackson says nodding in agreement.


“People can call me an afterthought, but it just goes to show that they haven’t actually been following the shows. Jeff added me to the mix because he was sick of Rebel trying to run things around here bu…”


“That is also true…” Jackson responds once more.


“If you actually let me finish.“ Blade pauses and shakes his head at Jackson. “That wasn’t the only reason Jeff added me to the mix. He knows I still have a score to settle with Gates, a score that should have been settled months ago, but once again Gates manages to get his friends together and actually stop me from taking what should be mine…”


“The Undisputed championship…”


“Correct Jacko, you have been following. You see, I may have teamed with Rebel, but who has actually come out the better man here? I could have been buried on the Rasslemania show, the greatest show that APW has to offer, but instead I used Rebel to my advantage and now I am headlining a show that I opened last year…”


“With Gates and you were unsuccessful, yeah I get that part…”


“Full of beans today aren’t we. What you are failing to see is that Rebel, Gates and Noble didn’t see this coming. They were unable to focus their attention on what was right in front of them because they were all too greedy. The title blinded them when it glistened in the lights and that is what destroyed the friendships that we once had formed. It wasn’t about being the bigger man and moving on with the times each getting their individual chance to become the best, they all wanted to get their first, myself included. I may have been an afterthought, but I have always been the underdog that upsets the cause. I don’t have the need for a huge fan base following, I can cheer myself on to be the best; I don’t have to play under handed mind games because when it is all said and done I will do and say things to people’s faces. I don’t have to be the one that stabs anyone in the back because I never had that trust to begin with. I am not disappointed with how events have turned out, but I know now each man is ready for the biggest fight in their life and each man is going to try and better the next.”


“Ok, you kind of lost me, but I see where you are coming from…”


“What you are failing to see Jacko is that no matter who is on the top of the pile, there will always be another Blade, another Kurt Noble, and another Johnny Rebel breathing down their necks looking to humiliate and demoralize the person that stands before them; it’s one sick and twisted game and this is one I intend to win. This is why you see me in the gym today and not in the local night club. I know I have to focus and I know that I am seen as the one who can cause a major upset, and that is all well and good, but for me to actually achieve anything I have to be prepared, I have to be prepared not to choke.”


“I don’t see you choking…” claims a confused Jackson.


“That’s where you fail to know the real me buddy. I have never been at the top and I have never held a singles championship here in APW, but the truth is that really doesn’t matter, I have never had the chances to do so. I have had one title shot at the Overdrive title and people are still saying that I couldn’t even win it when Rebel was lying down for me. They failed to see the truth. I have always been held back which lets me live the lifestyle I want to leave, the beer, the women the late nights, the party lifestyle; in all honesty, who wouldn’t want to live that? But I have a chance now to stick two middle fingers up to the world and finally say that I am the best and I got here without you.”


“That’s where I come in remember. I got you the chance to become the CWC North American champion and together we did that.” Jackson says smiling.


“Yeah we did, and I also went down in the history books as being the shortest reigning champion in history. Come to think of it, whenever you have set anything up for me, it seems to end up in ruin. It’s a good thing that I have chosen to do this alone, otherwise I would be having more interesting matches like I did with Cyrus as Christmas Chaos and Yarmouth and Survive and Conquer…” Blade is interrupted once more.


“Yeah, but without those matches, you wouldn’t be here right now so don’t bite the hand that feeds you…” Jackson responds with meaning trying to state that he has made Blades career.


“Either way Jackson, I am not taking this lightly. I want to win this for me and no one else, I want to settle some old scores and I want to paint a target on my back so that people know that I finally mean business.”


“And you will my friend, you will.”


“Don’t patronize me buddy. Look, although its been great to hear about your social experiments online, I really don’t need this distraction. So if you don’t mind.” Blade abruptly motions Jackson towards the exit of the gym.


“Message understood boss, message understood.” Jackson stands from the bench and shakes his head as Blade turns his back on him. He shuffles towards the exit and looks back to see an empty gym as blade has headed back towards the locker room. Jackson sighs. “Guess that didn’t last too long.”

______________________________

As the locker room steams up from the hot water running in the shower, I run my hand across the mirror revealing a distorted image of my face. Is this the man that I really have become? Bitter and twisted and quite happy to pass up a chance to become the best there is? Elated that he has no fan base and will quite happily wallow in self pity?


Am I really that man?


A man that will pass up any given opportunity to become the best in order to stab people in the back?


A man that will stop at nothing to make sure he gets what he wants?


Yes.


I am that man.


Nothing and no one will ever change that and its only a matter of time until people wake up and realize it. I am no longer the man that needs to be accepted, the man that seeks approval from his peers. I am the man that will simply get the Job done.


Am I Noble?


I don’t think so. I am not distinguished and nor do I claim to be.


Am I a Rebel?


Quite possibly, however I do know my limits and as much as I want to rebel against the cause, I find myself slipping back into normality.


Am I a Gate?


I find myself slapping myself across my face as I ask that question.


F’n Idiot.


I am Blade, now it’s time to show the world what I really am made of.

______________________________

“The countdown is finally over and Rasslemania is finally upon us. Less than a week away and the biggest show on the wrestling calendar takes place. It’s time for the big boys to step forward and claim what is theirs, and that is exactly what I intend to do.

“There is no love lost between myself and my opponents for what sees the end on the horizon, but we all know that this is far from the end. The losers will merely want one more chance at the big time and will stop at nothing to get it, where as the winner will have a larger target on their back as more and more people look to take them out.


“I am not going to say CJ Gates hasn’t been a worth champion, but everyone has to have their time in the sun and his darkness is nearly here. Maybe it’s the fact that he has become overly confident and learned to trust people again; something he should never have done after I stabbed him in the back. The Exchange Rate may be dead, but the fire that was lit still burns and he knows that. He cannot for one minute turn his back on me because he knows that I am the ultimate opportunist and will stop at nothing until I get what I want. Sure he has his work cut out for him, noble and Rebel are worthy adversaries, but when it comes to the crunch, he knows that I am more of a threat to him. I stood by him when times were tough and fought until the bitter end. He knows that I can go the distance and will always be keeping one eye on me knowing that at any given moment I could strike.


“How does it feel CJ knowing that I am back breathing down you neck with every step I take?


“How does it feel?


“I know you will be looking at me thinking that I will give up easily and remembering that anyone in this match can be pinned to become champion, you don’t want the weakest link screwing you over. That was what you thought of me right? I was the weakest link of our partnership?


“Shame on you CJ, you should know me better by now. You should know that I fight right up until the last moment and that I could be the one who takes away your prized possession. You know deep down that me winning would hurt you the most. You wouldn’t be able to take it because of how far I have come in such a short space of time, maybe this time I won’t kick myself for not doing better at test for the Best because remember, It only took me 3 months to get to this stage. I know, I know, you will say everything back at me because that how you roll, but the way I see you is still as a spoilt little rich kid who wears a silly cowboy hat just to make himself feel better.


“It’s a shame that Gates and I are meeting under these circumstances because without Noble and Rebel, the main event could be so much sweeter. I don’t really have much to say about Noble because every time I have faced him, Rebel has screwed me out of the victory. I must ask myself why that is, but I already know; he wanted to make me look weak. Rebel took away every opportunity I had in order to make me look like I couldn’t handle myself or hang with the boys at the top. That is all well and good, but it’s going to come back and bite him in the ass because he really didn’t see this coming.


“Noble may just have it in his heart to make himself think that he will be victorious, I even hear that his soul mate Christ Hart is already planning his celebration party, but what happens when he comes up short? It becomes a commiseration party? This may very well be Nobles last chance at being the best, and failure to do it now will haunt him for the rest of his short career. He may think that he has the upper hand because he has the experience, not that it matters does it Kurt?


“I am sure you will have lots of stories to tell your grandchildren, but winning the championship at Rasslemania is not one of them.


“Now there is no love lost between myself and Rebel, but at the end of the day all of that is another story.


“A story that will be told.


“A story that will unfold.


“Just you wait Rebel, just you wait.