Post by oldprydeaccountdoesnotwork on Mar 6, 2014 16:25:05 GMT -5
“In my heart there is a place
In my heart there is a trace
Of a small fire burning
A sheltering ray shines through this night
Although it's small, it's bright
But darkness is lurking”
A reputation can be a very fragile piece of your life. You can spend twenty years building it and then spend five minutes ruining it. You can work to be the best person you can be, but all it takes is one wrong move and you will be marked for life.
If you get labelled as a hot dog or a risk-taker, you can survive it. Most people would love to have a risk-taker in their wrestling organization. You can also get by when you’re marked as egotistical or hot-headed. Those would get you fired in the outside world but can work for you in this business. What you can’t get is labelled a disgrace. If that happens, anything you do is seen through shit-covered glasses. It looks lousy and stinks to high heaven no matter how sweet the match.
Look at guys like Alex Rodriguez or Mark McGwire. Once their sins came to light, there was no redemption for them. It doesn’t matter if A-Rod comes back and hits 100 more home runs, he will always be tainted. The black mark does not have to be drugs though. It could be something criminal like Maurice Clarett. It could be something disturbing like Ian Watkins. Or it can be something as simple as what you were willing to do to make it in the business that now looks down upon you.
I’ve sadly been down some of those roads. No, not the pedophile shit, that one was just fucked up. But I never appreciated my reputation and what it would become because of the choices I made. If I had I sure as hell wouldn’t be here wrestling under a mask, certain that someone is going to release my identity to the world any day now. Would Dean do it to earn a few extra dollars? I wonder if he will. I could see it happening.
I proved to many that I am not a washed-out loser by winning my first match. But even that didn’t go the way I wanted. Instead of the high flying match against Santos I got a fucking jobber in Steve Martyn. It didn’t matter what I did to him, all the announcers wanted to do was make jokes about me being an alien. Dean knows why I’m here. But he was more than willing to switch me anyway and cost me respect because Santos wanted it.
Dean says he wants me to succeed. He wants to see me get better. But is he just blowing smoke up my ass? Can I trust him? Do I have any choice?
~Things open to a view of the interior of a castle. It is the Great Hall, a place for eating and entertaining. A large group is gathered around the main dining table, gorging themselves on turkey legs and other parts of the animals. The king and queen are seated at the front of the table and are looking around~
King: The food is great, but where is the entertainment? Bring them out!
~Two jesters appear, doing flips as they make their way out. One is an unknown, with his face painted in dark colors. The other is Pryde, masked but wearing the typical jester’s costume. The two do flips past each other, and then stop. They leap around each other, almost colliding but not quite~
Queen: Look at them go!
King: It is what they are trained to do.
~The second jester looks like he is tiring, and so Pryde goes to the finish. He jumps onto the table in front of the nobles, flips backwards onto the second jester and turns him around with a hurricanrana pin. There is no one to count but Pryde holds it for 3 seconds any way. The act finishes and some of the people clap~
King: Very good! You have earned dinner, clowns!
~He throws two turkey legs down the table. The other jester takes it and eats like he hasn’t eaten in months. He runs off into the darkness. Pryde picks up the leg and looks at it without saying anything. The royalty near him laughs~
Royal Guy: Yes, eat your food, monkey, so you can perform for us again! You looked ridiculous!
~Pryde looks at the leg and at him. He is not even breathing hard from all the moves he just did to entertain them~
Royal Guy: You should feel blessed to even be in this room with us and be getting this job! If I were in charge you would have been banished or beheaded by now!
~The others agree. Pryde doesn’t speak. The royal guy takes a big drink of his wine and waves to get it refilled. After it is, he holds onto the waitress and looks back at Pryde~
Royal Guy: Go ahead, dance for us again! Dance!
~The guy throws his wine at Pryde and laughs, with everyone else joining him. Pryde wipes off the wine from the front of his jester’s costume, raises up the turkey leg, and then swings it, taking out the guy who was joking about him. The rest of the guests scream and yell as Pryde starts attacking them~
King: Guards! Guards! This man doesn’t know his place! Teach him!
~Guards come in and try to grab Pryde but he fights them off. One by one he takes them all out. Soon only the king is left, standing in front of the queen. Pryde approaches them still quiet and still not breathing hard~
King: What makes you think you have the right to rise again? You had your chance and you blew it! You deserve to be the jester! Know your place and live with it!
~Pryde reaches up to his face and grabs at his mask. He slowly pulls it off and reveals his face. It is scaly and evil-looking like the alien from the Ridley Scott movies. The Pryde creature steps forward and bares its teeth as the king screams, morphing into a higher pitch. It is the sound of a car horn~
Grant: Damnit, you’re on the wrong side of the road, you British asshole!!
~Pryde sits up in the car, forcefully thrown from the dream he was having and thankful for it. The truck Grant sees goes by close on the left, hitting his own horn at the close call. Grant curses him some more. Pryde looks down at the half-eaten turkey leg in his lap. He rolls down the window and throws the leg out~
Grant: Hey, that was a waste! I thought those legs we got at the fair back there were pretty good!
Pryde: Never again.
Grant: You have another bad dream? You ever thought about talking to someone about those?
Pryde: Like a psychologist? I don’t think I’d want to risk getting locked up in a psyche ward.
Grant: What, because you’re a lunatic wrestler who wears a mask and has major self-loathing issues?
Pryde: Shut up and drive.
Grant: Fine. We’re making good time. I’m glad Crystal was willing to loan us this car. We didn’t have the funds for another flight.
~Pryde takes a deep breath and nods, but it is a painful nod. His ex-wife might have come to the show last week, but true to her word no one had seen her there. Maybe she just watched somewhere from the television broadcast, if it hadn’t been blacked out in Lubbock. Pryde didn’t expect to hear from her again, so it was a surprise to hear that she had given her brother, Grant, this car to use to drive around the states to events~
Grant: I told you she still has feelings for you.
Pryde: More likely she wanted you to be safe and not stranded on the road somewhere with me getting you killed.
Grant: See it however you want.
~The marriage and divorce of Pryde and Crystal is a touchy subject. Both men let the opportunity to talk about it go again. They’re men. Men don’t talk about such things~
Grant: By the way, your phone rang while you were out. You got a text message from Dean.
~Pryde reaches for his phone and then stops~
Pryde: How do you know it’s from Dean? Were you texting and driving, using my phone?
Grant: You put that ‘I’m Going To Get You Sucka’ ringtone on, remember?
Pryde: Right. I forgot about that.
~Pryde checks his phone and brings up the message. He reads it quietly. Grant continues on the highway, with signs talking about approaching Arlington, Texas. The quiet goes on and Grant’s curiosity gets the best of him~
Grant: What did he say? Did he make your next match?
Pryde: Pull over.
Grant: We’re on a highway, there aren’t many places to
Pryde: PULL THE FUCK OVER!!
Grant: Damn!
~Grant almost loses control of the car. Horns honk from the other cars as he goes to the right line. He takes the next exit which takes him into Arlington. He then pulls into the parking lot of the Knapp Heritage Park. Pryde immediately gets out and goes to a big tree. He throws his phone away, smashing it against the tree! Grant hurries after him to stop him from punching the tree in anger~
Grant: What the fuck is going on? Did you get fired or something? We’ll find another place, I swear it!
Pryde: I almost wish I got fired! Damn him, Grant! Damn Dean!
Grant: What? What the hell did he do?
~Pryde walks away for a second to catch his breath. Grant picks up the phone from the ground. The screen is cracked and in pieces of still comes on. Replacing it is going to take money they don’t have. Pryde comes back over~
Grant: So are you going to tell me, or should I try to not cut myself and search through your texts?
Pryde: Dean put me in the Lethal Lottery tournament.
Grant: So? That sounds like a great move for you. You could be in the main event of the next show, isn’t that what you want?
Pryde: But he partnered me with Mario Maurako. Maurako!
Grant: The guy who’s trying to tear down OCW and leads the Family? Ok I can see your problem with that, but he is also a Hall of Famer, isn’t he? I can think of worse partners to have.
Pryde: You don’t understand.
Grant: No I guess I don’t.
~Pryde leans on the tree with his arms out front. He looks close to throwing up~
Pryde: There are only two reasons Dean would pair me with his hated enemy, and neither one is because I can win. Either Dean thinks that I would be willing to lay down and let someone pin me so Maurako can’t move forward, or he thinks that I was the weakest link that he could put with Maruako.
Grant: Maybe it was a random draw, or maybe Dean has something else in mind. You never know with him. I think you’re seeing things that aren’t there.
Pryde: Am I? Maurako would love to win all the titles and Dean can’t let that happen. Why would he even put him in the tournament to begin with?
Grant: Probably something in his contract I bet.
~Pryde kicks out at the tree causing leaves to fall down on them~
Pryde: Looks like I am back to being hated by the fans again. Either I team with Maurako and get the hatred that comes with it or I lay down and they hate me for doing that.
Grant: There’s an easy solution here that you are overlooking.
Pryde: What is that?
Grant: You and Maurako win all your matches, get to the main event of Black Out 2, and then you show the world how great you are by beating a legend and keeping the title safe from the Family. You know if you don’t go along with this, Maurako will just find another Family member to join him and just give him the belt.
~Pryde had not thought about this. The picture of him actually beating someone like Maurako could be exactly what he needs~
Grant: I know you hate your past, but you’ve been wanting the opportunity to change things. Maybe this is how it gets done.
Pryde: Fuck it. We’ll take it one match at a time.
~Grant smiles and gives Pryde back his phone. Broken or not Pryde takes it and puts it back in its cover. He is breathing better now~
Grant: So who will you two be facing in the first round?
Pryde: We are booked against Sadistic Insanity Damian Payne and Drew Stevenson.
Grant: I remember Payne. He fought the Family last week and lost, didn’t he?
Pryde: Yes, his first loss, and the Family beat him up afterwards. If he’s not too sore, he’s going to come into this one with a lot of anger.
Grant: Hopefully he saves all that anger for Maurako and overlooks you.
Pryde: I hate being overlooked.
Grant: Sorry. What about Stevenson? Who is he?
Pryde: No idea. I remember he calls himself a 30-time world heavyweight champion and a six-time Hall of Famer.
~Grant looks over in shock~
Grant: Thirty? How old is this guy?
Pryde: I don’t know. He doesn’t look like he will be a pushover though no matter what his age.
Grant: That’s good.
~Pryde looks at Grant like he is the crazy one~
Pryde: Excuse me?
Grant: Not because he won’t be easy, but because it will mean more if you can take him out. Much better than the asshole you beat last week.
Pryde: That’s true. And I will get the win. I’ll show the other wrestlers and Dean that I’m not someone just to throw to the wolves. I’m stronger than a wolf.
Grant: You’re a wolfman?
Pryde: … Still better than being an alien.
Grant: So can we get on the road again? We have a good drive still to make Shreveport by tonight, and we don’t have money for any hotels along the way.
Pryde: I don’t feel like rushing anywhere. What about this park? The old buildings look cool.
Grant: I don’t think they’re open today.
Pryde: There’s nobody here, so to me, that means it’s open to everyone.
~Pryde goes over and hops the fence. Grant follows him and they go into the park. They start to look at a few of the old buildings, with Grant looking at his watch the whole time. Pryde’s phone begins to ring, and Pryde carefully takes it out to look at it. On the cracked screen is a broken picture of Mario Maurako. Pryde considers it, staring at the face of his new tag-team partner, as Grant moves on through the park. Fade out~
My whole goal of coming to Online Championship Wrestling has been about redemption. In my mind, that always came due to success. I haven’t spent time thinking about how far I would go to gain that success.
In my mind, I thought it would just be about the matches. I would take on anyone who challenged me and thought my mask made me inferior. I would beat them and move on to the next person. I would beat them all until I stood at the top and could remove the mask having proved myself worthy of being there. But I did not think about the other parts of being a wrestler. The backstage moves. The challenges that will be put in my way.
Already, only one match in, I find myself tested. I find myself teamed up with the number one enemy of the company, the leader of the Family, to fight in a tournament with a top championship on the line. Facing two men that maybe I would have called friend in another life, but who I have to battle in order to earn the respect I seek.
I admit I did not expect this to happen so soon. But that is the way of the world. Expect the unexpected.
It’s not about Dean’s war with the Family. I will not be put in as a pawn that Dean can use against his enemy, and I will not let Maurako’s feelings towards the OCW to work against me. It’s not about them. It’s about my battles with my demons, not theirs.
Payne and Stevenson, you might make a good team, you might not. I don’t know and I don’t care. Whether Maurako and I can work together or not, it doesn’t matter. I need to move forward in this tournament in order to succeed.
How far am I willing to go? We will find out.
